by Calista Skye
Then Dar'ax's big hand is on my shoulder. I look up. The dactyl is flying away again, less lazily now, and Dar'ax's sword is dripping with a liquid of some kind.
“That one won't be back,” he says with a tight voice, staring after the wounded creature.
But there are others, and while it's hard to separate them in the darkness, there's enough moonlight to be able to see that there's a pack of them.
The Nusin are long gone and I peek out to see if Fluffy is okay. But she's nowhere to be seen, and Gerk is also gone, like he usually is when we're not riding him.
I quickly grab two rocks for my sling, because I sense that we won't be staying put here for much longer.
“Let's get out,” Dar'ax says and takes my hand, leading me out of the ruined hut and walking fast into the jungle, where the tree trunks are dense and the dactyls hopefully can't see us through the canopy of green leaves.
Then I hear a suspicious noise from behind us, as of bat wings flapping, and I whirl around. There are three dactyls flying straight towards us between the trees, smaller ones that are only about the size of winged bears and not of airplanes, like most of them.
I fumble with the sling I've fastened to my arm, knowing that I won't have time to get it off. “Dar'ax!”
My caveman turns around and sees the danger, and he just has time to lift his sword before the first dactyl is on us. It veers slightly to the side when it sees the long metal edge waiting for it, and I feel the whoosh of air as its wingtip passes right by my head. It soars hard into the air, crashing into the leafy jungle canopy and leaving a big, irregular hole in it.
Its two friends are coming for us now, but now Dar'ax is ready for them, and he cuts the head off the first. The headless body tumbles wildly into the jungle and hits a tree with a leathery thud.
The other is smarter and keeps its distance to Dar'ax, drifting easily around him and then coming straight for me. The beak opens and it adjusts its four bat-like wings to come at me from above.
And I have a rock ready in my sling. The dactyl is probably inexperienced, and its much smaller than the ones I've seen so far on Xren. It scares me much less than the bigger ones.
I'm scared, of course, but I force it down and aim for the dactyl in just the same way as when I practice.
I swing the sling around twice to get it up to speed, and then I release the rock. It misses the dactyl's mouth, which doesn't really seem possible with a gape that big, but it strikes the root of one wing and seems to ruin the attackers rhythm. The wings start to flutter, disorganized and out of synch, and it first seems to break off its attack. It soars over me, and I think it's going to ascend through the same hole as the first one made in the treetops.
Then it screeches, a much thinner noise than the ones we'd heard before, but it still freezes my heart, because there is immense anger and menace in it.
It doubles up in the air and then shoots down again, its slitty eyes focused on me.
But I'm ready with my last rock in the sling, already rotating fast around my head, and I release it as hard as I can.
It flies right underneath the dactyl and disappears into the woods.
The dactyl beats its wings once to speed up towards me and I freeze up. I can't even yell. I'm defenseless now, and this attacker won't be fooled. I swear the dactyl smiles when it understands it.
Then there's a wild roar so loud the trees rattle. A dark shadow passes between me and the death from above, I finally have the sense to duck, and the next thing I know is that the dactyl is on the ground and Dar'ax stands above it, wildly hacking at its dead, wingless body, roaring in fury, sending dactyl blood and flesh spraying out in all directions.
It's his rage again, the one that was first ignited when the Nusin killed everyone in his tribe and which is now triggered by someone attacking me. I don't know what to do about it. It's horrific and repulsive, and I'm afraid to go near him when he's like this.
“Dar'ax,” I try. “It's dead.”
He gives me no sign that he heard me. I guess I'll just have to let him ride it out.
Then there's movement right at the corner of my eye, and I'm so highly strung right now I can't help squealing as I spin around. Then I'm staring right up and into a huge mouth that's all teeth the size of shovel blades.
Then Dar'ax is between and this new monster, and he roars wildly and hacks blindly at this new monster with his sword.
But in the same heartbeat, I realize that that's the wrong thing to do.
“Dar'ax! Stop!”
He's consumed with fury and keeps going, hacking and slashing like a ferocious windmill. The new dino has thick skin, and each stroke of the sword sounds most of all like steel hitting concrete.
It doesn't surprise me – I know it feels like sandpaper to the touch. Because I know this dinosaur very well, and I can see the wooden stick going down its side.
“Dar'ax!” I try again. “It's Gerk! Stop it!”
Only then does he freeze with his sword lifted, as if waking up from a deep, violent trance.
And Gerk the freaking T. Rex stands there for a moment. Then the giant dinosaur takes a step backwards, something I've never seen him do before and which I didn't even know he could. Then he puts his head down close to the ground and sneers.
It's the first time a dinosaur has sneered at me, and I'd prefer it if I never experience it again. I would prefer that very fucking strongly. Because I swear my heart goes still in my chest, and I definitely stop breathing from sheer terror.
But that's nothing compared to what happens a split second later: the giant T. Rex roars. And never mind not breathing – I clamp my hands over my ears, but still the sound rattles the teeth in my mouth and shakes my ribcage like the spin cycle of a gigantic washing machine. It's a sound that I can't even compare to anything else. I mean, a thousand cotton sheets being ripped end to end and then run through an angry moon rocket? Not even close.
I know the end of my life has come. No dino roars like that and doesn't mean to kill right after.
I grab Dar'ax's hand. But for once, even that doesn't make me feel safe. Gerk is just too big and terrible.
Then the roar is over and the jungle is more quiet than I ever thought possible. Everyone and everything is keeping their heads down, mortified to be the target of the anger behind that roar.
Gerk looks at us with his huge, yellow eyes. His immense teeth are dripping with pink slime, which is partly the blood of some kind of prey he's recently hunted down.
We stand like that for a breathless moment, the three of us old friends who are suddenly not on good terms anymore. Then Gerk calmly turns around, with a smoothness and agility that nothing his size should be able to display, and walks away. For once he just walks straight ahead, crashing into the jungle and leaving a wide trail of broken trees and trampled bushes. He scrapes his side onto a huge tree, and the control stick Dar'ax has fastened on him falls to the ground.
Dar'ax and I have to hit the ground to not be hit by the T. Rex's giant, swinging tail, and then Gerk is gone.
We sit on the ground staring after him for a good while. I think we both sense he'll never be back.
Then I get up and pick up a rock for my sling. I think I'll need ammunition from now on. “Gerk come to help us against irox,” I state calmly, although my insides are boiling. “Then Dar'ax attack him. Is that what Dar'ax think is honorable?”
He doesn't reply, and he doesn't look at me. That's fine. His rage problem just chased away the best friend he ever had. And I can't help thinking: when will he turn that fury on me?
25
- Dar'ax -
The irox are gone, probably because they saw Gerk nearby.
We return to the clearing and I get my special bag. It looks like I might need it before I'd planned.
Heidi has stopped talking to me, and she walks with a stiffness that hurts me. The Red Fog took control over me back there, and I used my sword on Gerk when he came to help us fend off the irox.
&nbs
p; It's shameful. The Nusin started the Red Fog in me when they murdered my tribe, and since then the rage overwhelms me sometimes.
But never has the Red Fog had such a consequence as this. Gerk is gone. It was hard to make him accept me riding him. It took many months of dangerous effort and patience. If I hadn't been indifferent to whether I lived or died, I would never have tried to tame a kronk. Or any Big, come to think of it. Over the months since, I've come to think of him as a kindred spirit. Shackled by circumstance, but still wild and dangerous when allowed. It made me proud to feel kinship with such a majestic being.
And now I will feel his immense power underneath me no more.
This event is the Ancestors trying to tell me something. And it's obvious what it is. To get rid of the Red Fog forever, I must rid the world of those who placed it in me. I must rid the world of the Nusin.
They're close. That was their main band that ran so close to our hut last night and brought the irox on us.
I kneel down to examine the tracks they left. Fifty men, at most. Probably that's all of them. They can't be far away now. The Ancestors led them to me. This is all clearly a sign that the time has come to attack them, once and for all.
They're fifty and I'm one. One man without Gerk. But it's right. I will attack the Nusin in the most honest way, using only my sword. Then the Ancestors will determine my fate, and if they decree my death, then I will be able to meet them standing straight. I will no longer be last and only.
Heidi can't participate, of course. I want her to live, not to share my fate. The Ancestors rewarded me with her presence for several days, even allowing me to feel genuine passion for her.
She must be safe.
I can't live with the risk of her getting hurt in my mission. She's as alive and bright as the sun itself. That must continue. I will not infect her with the darkness that is my life.
26
- Heidi -
Dar'ax is checking the tracks that the Nusin left in the dirt, and I leave him to his caveman doings.
There's a rustle from the edge of the jungle, and Fluffy the alien velociraptor comes sauntering towards me. For once I don't recoil at the sight of the lethal dinosaur. I ready the rock in my sling, just in case she's forgotten who I am, but there was no need for worry. She stops a respectful distance away and looks idly around. If it's possible for a chillingly deadly dinosaur to look harmless, then that's what she's doing right now.
I'm still angry with Dar'ax, and it makes me brave. I walk over to Fluffy, put one foot in a convenient crease at her knee and swing myself up onto her back. She sways a little while she redistributes our combined weights, and then I gently push the control stick forward so she starts to walk.
The experience immediately kills my bad mood. I feel pretty invincible up here.
“Good girl,” I say and stroke her neck, although I know that she can't feel it through probably inches of tough, armored dinosaur tissue.
Okay. So I have a conveyance now. She can probably take me far, fast. And now that Gerk is gone, I'm guessing this is Dar'ax's and my main transportation.
Dar'ax has prepared a fire and is cooking turkeypig and harvesting leaves for the primitive salad I like.
I know he's ashamed after the rage overwhelms him, and I can't be angry with him for too long at a time. Whatever his failings, he's made my life better than I thought it could ever be on this planet.
Fluffy walks me over there and I leap down from her.
“Dar'ax cook good food,” I state and sit down beside him.
He wordlessly takes a slice of turkeypig bacon off a skewer with his bare hands and gives it to me.
I bite into it, feeling the flavor filling my mouth. I'm more hungry than I realized. “You are good man. Just sometimes very angry.”
“Soon I won't be angry at all.” His voice is flat and he's not looking at me.
“Some anger is fine,” I say with my mouth full. “Warrior should be angry sometimes. I'm sometimes angry, too.”
He doesn't respond, just stares into the fire. There's a gloominess about him now that I haven't seen before.
I lean forward to get my face between his and whatever he's looking, giving him a little smile. “Hey. You no like to look at Heidi face? Heidi look not so pretty in the morning?”
He meets my gaze for a split second, then looks away.
“Not worry,” I continue. “You get used to Heidi face. Heidi take many hours to wake up. No coffee on planet. Terrible scandal planet! Only lukewarm water and no coffee.” I take a sip of water to illustrate. “Dar'ax, no need be ashamed. You saved me from irox. Many times. You smile now.”
But he doesn't. He has no expression on his face, and now it's starting to worry me. He has something in mind. Something I probably won't like.
We sit there in silence for a while, and I feel my bad mood slowly returning.
Zhing! Dar'ax suddenly bounces up like a coiled spring, and I yelp and duck as he draws his sword with a metallic sound.
I look around fast. No dactyls that I can see, no Bigs. I lean cautiously over to look beyond Dar'ax's huge body.
“Not hurt!” I yell and scramble to get to my feet, dropping the food from my hands. “Is friend!”
Dar'ax isn't convinced, and his sword is still drawn back. Yes, I know cavemen fear these things, but I have no idea why.
I grab Dar'ax's thick arm. “Put sword away!” I implore him. “Is not dangerous, will not hurt.”
He relaxes a small fraction.
Then I squat down and hold my hand out to the little creature that's suddenly and soundlessly appeared right beside us. “Hi, Alice! Are you here all alone?”
It's Emilia's pet slash buddy slash fruit picker, the gray ghost she's named Alice. The white fabric collar around her neck is dirtier than I remember it, but it's definitely her, all eight arms and four legs of her.
She comes slowly towards me, peering skeptically up at Dar'ax with the red eyes in her mousy face.
I take a step closer and kneel down on the grass, still holding my hand out. “Are the others here, too?”
But I doubt they can be. I've been traveling by dinosaur for days, going fast, and only Alice could possibly keep up with that. She has a way of covering ground super fast in huge leaps and bounds, but she's far too small to carry anyone.
She takes my hand lightly with one of hers. It's cold and moist to the touch, and now I'm looking closer at her, she seems thin and she's breathing pretty hard. There's a slight tremble to her, as well.
Suddenly seeing her here fills me with dread. I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling it can't be a good thing.
I reach out and stroke her head gently. Her fur is usually dry and soft, but now it feels knotted and somewhat straggly, like she's been on the move for days with no breaks. “What's up, Alice?”
She mewls softly, as if she's telling me something urgent, but I can't interpret it. Then she tugs weakly at my hand, lets go of it and then takes a step back the way she came, looking back at me.
“You want me to come with you?”
She comes closer again, takes my hand again and pulls as if she's trying to drag me.
My worry increases. “Is something going on with the girls? Something bad?”
Alice takes a hand out from behind her back.
I gasp when I see what she's holding. That's the strongest sign of trouble she could have given me.
It gently take it from her hand.
GLOCK 26 Gen 4 AUSTRIA 9x19
It's the little black gun. The one that reminds us that Earth exists, and which gives us girls a strangely reassuring feeling whenever we hold it, despite it being empty of bullets.
“Scheisse.” Yeah, the girls would never let this out of their sight unless something really bad was going down.
I hold it for a moment, feeling the warm plastic and the cool metal and the compact weight of the thing. The girls have no idea that I'm still alive, and certainly they can't know that I'm doing as well as I
am. They wouldn't send Alice to get me to help them. They'd have no reason to.
“This was your idea, I think,” I say mildly and squeeze Alice's hand a little. “You came to find me because something bad is happening back on Bune.”
Or maybe she just wanted to find me for my own sake, to rescue me from this furious caveman?
No, that doesn't feel right. If she did, she wouldn't have come over while Dar'ax was sitting right next to me. This has to be an emergency. And with Fluffy on my side, I can actually help if there's a crisis back home.
Dar'ax has lowered his sword, but he's still tense.
I show him the gun. “This was made on Heidi home planet. My tribe is sending me message. They need me back on Bune.”
He looks intently at the gun, but doesn't move to take it. “That's a strange alien thing,” he grunts.
“Yes,” I agree. “And it's clear signal. We go there now. Dar'ax come. You're honorable warrior, know how to ride Bigs. You're most important warrior on Xren. Come Heidi tribe, help rescue.”
Shit, I'm so worked up my grammar fails me. But I think I got the meaning across.
And I really, really hope he agrees to come. Even if we only have Fluffy now, another warrior like him would have a value for us that's totally priceless.
For me, his value is even higher. He's changed my life for the better, to the point where right now, I'm not completely sure I'd go home to Earth if it meant he had to stay here. The breath catches in my throat at the mere idea of a life without him. It would be a life without light in it, without joy, with just a feeling of deep loss in the background of every living moment. He has to come.
“Heidi go to her tribe,” he states. “Dishonorable not to help them when they signal you.”
“And Dar'ax come.”
He fixes me with his smouldering, yellow eyes. “Dar'ax will kill the Nusin. All the Nusin. Or Dar'ax will die in the attempt. It will happen very soon.”