Alliance

by Andrew Stride

  Shemo was still standing outside the cage and to be sure the Ammarla wasn’t going anywhere, he instructed a couple of Squalvolvans to push a boulder up against the door.

  “Try and move that with your mind,” Shemo laughed and was about to walk away when the odd couple turned up, Scar and Animal. That thing was still alive! Mica shouldn’t have been all that surprised and it was still smouldering from its ordeal.

  After a brief exchange, Shemo stopped and picked up the remains of David’s wristband. “Thought you were being clever, did you? Helping one of the humans escape.”

  Mica shrugged.

  “We’ll see how clever you are when these two catches up with it,” Shemo nodded and the two Squalvolvans took off towards the portal.

  All the cages were emptying and everyone was being marched out of the camp towards the new portal. Could she have done more to stop this? Perhaps, but she knew it would have probably cost her, her life and she was no good to anyone dead. She wasn’t a lot of good to anyone stuck inside this cage and she had to hope that what she’d done for David wasn’t going to get him killed.

  Mica was desperate to see if Sie and Shou were among the people being led away. Well, they had to be and she shook the cage in frustration.

  Despite the morning light, there were still dark shadows in the cavern and the line of people quickly disappeared and the feeling of failure bubbled to the surface and Mica broke down. She had held it together for so long and alone now, she had no one to be strong for. Feeling defeated, she returned to Robin and wrapped her arms around him.

  “Looks like it’s just the two of us.”

  She was still hoping for a miracle and searched for a sign that Robin might return, but her thoughts were interrupted and this could mean only one thing, the humans had reached the other portal. Mica was back on her feet, but immediately felt weak, as if the life-force was being drawn from her body. She was overcome by a wave of emotion, but this time the feelings were not her own.

  Having formed a close bond with Sie and Shou, she was feeling their anxiety. They were obviously witnessing something traumatic and their fear and panic hit her hard.

  Mica tried to speak to them, but nothing was getting through and then suddenly the feelings stopped and she knew they were gone. Not long after this, the second portal closed. It was like a door slamming in her face because even if she escaped this cage, there was no way of following them.

  Quite a number of Squalvolvans must have left with the humans, as only a handful returned to camp and thankfully Shemo wasn’t among them.

  Mica drifted to the back of the cage, her mind in turmoil and the idea of giving up was strong, only this would mean Robin, Sie and Shou had sacrificed themselves for nothing. She looked over at Robin and noticed that he still had his backpack and not just that, his Jimbo stick too.

  Could she repeat her trick with the fire and get herself out of here? Of course, she could and with the Jimbo stick, she would have a fighting chance against the remaining Squalvolvans. It was either that or wait for a rescue that probably wasn’t coming.

  Finding it difficult to think clearly, Mica sat on the ground and took Robin’s hands in hers. “What would you do?” she whispered and felt herself welling up again.

  Mica was giving in to her emotions and she had to stop, as this was accomplishing nothing. She forced herself to think about her options, not that there were many.

  If she took off in her spirit form, she would very likely end up like Robin and to use the fire again, she needed the Squalvolvans to move away, but they were congregated around it. Not for warmth, but in anticipation of more humans coming through.

  The fire crackled and flared and she had been watching it long enough to know that this meant something was about to emerge. The Squalvolvans knew this too and they turned expectantly, ready to receive another batch of helpless souls.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Karma

  After screaming at the top of her lungs, Sha took off across the sand and moved with such speed and agility that Boroc was having trouble keeping up. At first, he thought she was hoping to find a way through the wrecked entrance of the Awang, but she changed direction and now he feared she’d lost the plot and was running off into the desert.

  Seeing what these animals had done was enough to drive anyone crazy, but Sha knew what she was doing and without warning, she dropped to her knees and started frantically digging in the sand.

  This pretty much confirmed to Boroc that the human had flipped and when he caught up with her, she was still digging.

  “Don’t just stand there, help me.”

  “Help you!”

  “Yes, quickly, we have to get down there.”

  It was only now that Boroc could see what Sha was trying to do. She was attempting to uncover something buried in the sand and he dropped to his knees beside her. Their efforts were soon rewarded. Between them, they had exposed a hatch; identical to the one Sha had guided them to the night before. Now all the digging made sense. Clear of sand, it was obvious this hatch hadn't seen the light of day in quite some time and even Boroc was having difficulty prising it open. Getting it open was only half the problem; there was also the uncertainty of what might be waiting on the other side. Boroc leaned into it and with a squeal of metal against metal, the hatch finally gave in.

  Having expected the worst, it was only stale air that greeted them, so without delay, they descended the ladder into the darkness. Sha didn’t know her way around its interior and Boroc heard her curse as she walked into something, then a clatter and finally some light. The light faltered a couple of times, but became stable. The interior was pretty empty, having been stripped of its original contents and could have once looked similar to the underground shelter they’d spent the night in.

  This particular shelter was abandoned once work had been completed on a far larger project beneath their feet.

  Sha was standing over another hatch. “Open it slowly.”

  As if he was going to do it any other way. Without saying anything, Boroc clasped both hands down on the hatch and put some weight behind it. Nothing happened. He looked up at Sha as if searching for an answer and then tried again, but the hatch wasn’t budging and Boroc grumbled loudly in frustration.

  “I’ll have to blow this thing open.”

  “No.”

  They had both been so engrossed in their attempts to get the hatch open that they hadn’t noticed the glowing spirit form of an Ammarla moving towards them. Robin had found them and now aware of his presence, Boroc raised his Zolt-Arc, ready to blast him.

  “Wait,” shouted Sha.

  “Put that away. I’m here to help,” said Robin.

  “It’s an Ammarla. Do as it asks,” said Sha.

  Boroc slowly lowered his weapon, but not convinced, he held onto it.

  “I’ve been trying to get through to you. We need your help urgently.”

  “An Ammarla asking for my help. Never thought I’d see the day.”

  “I can’t say I’m overjoyed, but a lot has happened since the last time we met. You’re all we’ve got.”

  There was a look of shock on Sha’s face. “You two know each other?”

  Neither of them acknowledged the question and Robin continued. “We have to hurry. The Squalvolvans are rapidly shutting down the outposts and they have taken many human captives.”

  Old news thought Boroc, but he didn’t say anything.

  “We can’t get the hatch open. Can you help us?” asked Sha.

  “Let me take look,” said Robin.

  Robin’s glowing form floated over the hatch and then disappeared through the floor.

  “How amazing,” said Sha.

  Boroc just grumbled.

  Robin quickly removed a length of pipe that had been jammed into the handle of the hatch and then floated back up to where Sha and Boroc were waiting.

  “It’s done.”

  The hatch opened easily, but before Robin left them, he explained that th
e fire portal below their position would take them to where the humans were being held captive.

  “Be prepared for a fight,” said Robin.

  “I’m always prepared for a fight,” said Boroc.

  Quite suddenly, Robin’s glowing form flickered and disappeared and now it was up to them. Sha and Boroc looked at each other and as formidable as they were as a team, Sha was nervous about what might be waiting for them. She wondered if Boroc could see through her hard exterior because it was impossible to tell how he was feeling and without a word, Boroc stepped up to the open hatch.

  “I’ll go first.”

  The drop was considerable, about fifteen feet and he hit the ground with an impressive thump and waited for Sha to join him. She wasn’t expecting Boroc to assist her, but he caught her easily and eased her down to the ground. His cold exterior, hiding perhaps a glimmer of warmth towards this human.

  Sha looked past him, down the passage, hoping the Squalvolvans might have missed someone, but she knew it was unlikely. No one was going to give up their right to be here and the Squalvolvans would have met with considerable resistance. A fight that would have only ended badly for the humans.

  The Ammarla had informed them about another fire portal and Sha was eager to get down there, her weapon drawn and ready.

  “Let’s go, follow me.”

  Boroc could have quite easily led the way, but this human’s knowledge of these passages probably equalled his, so he didn’t protest. The cavern below was quite different from the others he’d visited, it was split over two levels, which was partly due to a cave-in that happened many years ago. An occurrence that had been triggered by the Shamozolts excessive mining. Many lives had been lost in the collapse and the Shamozolts were dragging bodies out of this place for weeks. Their biggest fear was that the collapse would change the course of the river and flood the ore-rich seams. Fortunately, this didn’t happen and they continued extracting ore from the site.

  Sha was hoping to find the portal in the upper part of the cavern because this passage would lead them straight to it, but her hopes were dashed. In fact, this place looked deserted and she was beginning to think they might be too late.

  Sha had not eased up at all, desperate as she was to find some survivors and her training regime was paying off now. Even so, running in full body armour for extended lengths of time was still a challenge.

  They stopped briefly to assess the situation, although it was still impossible to see into the lower part of the cavern from here. Confirmation that the portal was still open would have to wait a while longer.

  They started moving again and began seeing evidence of a skirmish. Bits of broken body armour and weapons lay scattered across the area and in the poor light; Sha continued her search for survivors. The Squalvolvans had hit them hard and seeing the aftermath, she wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic and dreaded the possibility of coming across a downed comrade.

  They both caught sight of something together and as they got closer, Sha’s worst fears were realised. It was a casualty, a female, her bloodied blade by her side and her eyes widened when she caught sight of Sha. Her injuries weren’t immediately obvious at first glance, but then it was clear that either her spine or neck was broken. Sha rushed to her side, while Boroc stayed well back and waited.

  There was nothing Sha could do except comfort her and she took her last breath in Sha’s arms.

  Boroc couldn’t read the emotions on Sha’s face, he didn’t have to. If this had been a downed comrade of his, he knew what he would be feeling right now.

  They moved on and finally arrived at the collapsed part of the cavern. Having got this far, they stared into its depths and there it was, the fire they’d been expecting. At this distance, it was impossible to see if there were any Squalvolvans down there, but that was pretty much a guarantee. Another certainty was that the portal wouldn’t be open indefinitely, which meant they had to get down there fast.

  They made their way to a path that looked to have been hastily hacked out of the rock and Boroc recognised this as one of their, get me to the ore as quick as possible efforts. Crude but effective and it would come in handy now.

  Boroc was chomping at the bit, which was one of his less attractive traits and knowing he could cover this terrain twice as fast as she could; it was time to let him charge ahead. Sha’s only condition was that he leave some of those bastards for her.

  Sha wasn’t exactly going slow, but moving any faster and she would be at risk of losing her footing. She lost sight of Boroc pretty quickly and it was only the occasional blast from the Zolt-Arc that gave away his position. What he was firing at was anyone’s guess because she still hadn’t seen a single Squalvolvan.

  She estimated that she was halfway down and another flash of light confirmed to her that Boroc had reached the bottom.

  Sha took her eyes off the path for a split second to look across at the fire. She noticed it was changing colour and hoped this didn’t mean it was about to go out.

  Sha made it to the cavern floor in good time and a little worried she hadn’t seen a blast of light from Boroc’s weapon in a while; she headed straight for the portal.

  There was something on the ground in front of her and she leapt over it and caught sight of a number of mutilated bodies. She checked them over quickly in case she needed to finish them off, but Boroc had done a thorough job.

  Sha closed in on the fire, expecting to see Boroc, but there was still no sign of him. It was quiet, maybe a little too quiet. Then she saw something running towards her from out of the darkness. Sha readied herself, turning to confront it and was relieved when it turned out to be Boroc.

  “Enjoying yourself?”

  Boroc responded with a grunt. “Took your time getting here. You ready to finish this?”

  “I was born ready.”

  They neared their objective and Boroc took out a few more targets, headshots mostly. It was a bizarre experience to see the headless Squalvolvans standing there as if they’d lost something, not realising their heads were no longer attached. Sha followed through by knocking each one to the ground and driving her sword through their chests, to be absolutely sure.

  Sha retrieved her blade from the last of the downed Squalvolvans and when she looked up, she was on her own again, well not entirely because she had become the target.

  On a charge, these Squalvolvans took to running on all fours and the animal in them emerged. Sha held her nerve, getting ready to introduce her blade to the nightmarish creature hurtling towards her.

  Then she noticed Boroc, he hadn’t been far away after all, it was just that the light in here was making it hard to keep track of him. She could do this, only her confidence waned a little when one Squalvolvan turned into three. They were coming straight at her, their bodies conditioned with fighting skills to match and Sha knew it would take every bit of her training to survive this.

  Her blade started high and arced down sharply and she felt the heat of the Squalvolvan’s breath on her neck as their bodies came close, but didn’t actually touch. A splattering of warmth told her that her blade had made contact. Sha had been aiming for the Squalvolvan’s throat but had opened up its chest instead. A mere flesh wound for a Squalvolvan.

  Sha was airborne and while twisting through the air, her blade carved through the flank of the second Squalvolvan. She landed perfectly, but the third Squalvolvan was upon her and it knocked her flying. Sha’s armour took some of the impact and her body had been conditioned to take more punishment than the average person.

  Sha’s life depended on her being able to respond quickly and she was back on her feet with time to spare and the advancing Squalvolvan impaled itself on her blade. If this thing had a heart then she would have surely pierced it, but the physiology of this beast was a mystery and it just kept pushing.

  Sha needed to regain control of the situation before she became the next victim and with a firm grip on her blade, she stopped resisting and dropped in front of the Squal
volvan. Unable to stop its momentum, the beast carried on and collided with a stone column.

  Sha had freed her blade and was up on her feet and launched a two-handed attack before the Squalvolvan had fully recovered. Her blade sliced into its skull, which should have been a death blow, but the beast was still kicking and she was grabbed and pulled towards its gaping jaws. Her blade was all that was keeping them apart and she leaned into it, cleaving its skull.

  The Squalvolvan’s grip suddenly weakened and it slumped forward, taking Sha with it and its deadweight was now lying across her lower body. She was vulnerable to any further attacks and to make matters worse, she knew the beast wasn’t completely dead.

  She could hear Boroc firing off plasma bolts and these explosions were lighting up the cavern. Sha struggled to free herself, adrenaline pumping, but her legs were still trapped and there was a thumping sound of something pounding towards her.

  The best she was able to do was free her blade, she would go down fighting at least.

  It stopped right behind her. She remained still, hoping it would move on, but ready with her blade if it didn’t.

  “You taking a rest?”

  “Boroc!”

  He loomed over her and grabbed the Squalvolvan. There followed a bit of a struggle, but Boroc had his dagger drawn and quickly removed its head. “You’re meant to be killing them, not playing with them.”

  Ignoring Boroc’s comment, Sha was back on her feet and ready to cover the remaining distance to the portal. The fire had definitely changed. It burned with a reddish glow and was giving off a lot of smoke.

  What Sha had interpreted as smoke, was actually the Formless Ones and Boroc hesitated as he watched them moving in the flames. They could see him, he was sure of that and if this was their only problem, it would have been bad enough.

  A couple of Squalvolvans appeared from out of the darkness, an easily recognisable duo and between them, they were dragging a human. It was David and he wasn’t going quietly.

  Boroc started running, he’d forgotten all about the Formless ones, but they hadn’t forgotten about him.