by Gini Koch
“Oh, you haven’t captured all of the Gods, not by a long shot.”
Kares sniffed, which I wouldn’t have thought possible with a beak for a nose and mouth, but she proved me wrong. “Your Gods are weak.”
“What did you do to those you captured?” Abigail asked softly. Was pretty damn sure she was getting seriously pissed, too.
“Subdued them. Easily.” Otari was big into giving us the impression that the rest of our team had just rolled over and played Throwing the Fight. I didn’t buy it. But I knew he had them, because Chuckie had told Abigail and 2.0 to run.
But we hadn’t run. And Chuckie knew Abigail was with me, and he’d point-blank told her to pass along information to me. Chuckie also knew exactly what I would do when he suggested I run away while he and Jeff and the others were in danger. And he’d shoved the two of them out of his mind fast, faster than you’d think he would if he wanted to pass along warnings and information. If all we had to do was run, then why lose the mind link?
The only reason to lose said link was because someone else had been in Chuckie’s mind and the only reason to shove our people out of his mind was to protect all of us—or to ensure that neither Abigail nor 2.0 gave away the fact that we weren’t going to play dead. He’d also passed along a clue for me.
So the Rapacians had some form of mind reading going on. Meaning also that the Matriarchs were probably up here to block our thoughts from the Rapacians. At least I sincerely hoped so. Especially because Otari and Kares were really ugly and their mothers dressed them funny.
No reactions from the Rapacians, though I saw a couple of the Matriarchs wave their antennae in a way I knew meant they were laughing. Good, our side was working together. Time to take it to the next level.
Pity I didn’t have any idea what that was going to be.
Heard gasps from the princesses. They sounded overly loud and kind of fake. But everyone turned to see where they were looking. So that worked. Rahmi and Rhee had really learned a lot while they were on Earth.
“Oh, wow. Ronnie, well done, dude. Yo, Otari and Kares? Some of our cavalry has arrived.”
A giant swarm of snakipedes were heading our way.
CHAPTER 77
I’D NEVER THOUGHT I’d be happy to see a snakipede again, let alone a host of them, but I was wrong.
“What are those?” Otari asked, voice shaking just a tiny bit.
“Those are what we Gods call our Special Pets who love to eat chicken. Everyone else calls them the Horrors. We’ve found that to be a really fitting name for them.”
“What is chicken?” Kares asked. Her voice wasn’t shaking, but she didn’t sound all that confident, either.
“A tasty bird we eat on our planet.” They turned and looked at me. “Yeah, where I come from you’re dinner. Let that settle in your minds for a second or two.”
“Our ships will blast those creatures before they can reach us,” Otari said, managing to sound in charge again.
“Yeah? Maybe. They’re pretty tough. And they’re also coming right for you. Meaning that your ships are going to have to shoot right at you. Oh, and they’re not going to attack any of us.” I sincerely hoped. “They’re here because we asked them to come.” Well, 2.0 had done so, and right now he was part of the Royal God We.
The snakipedes were above the Rapacian ship that was still firing at the castle. Right above it, as in they were flying up while still remaining above the ship, which meant that the two other Rapacian ships were at great risk of hitting their own ship if they fired on the snakipedes. Clearly they’d realized this, because they were not firing. The only ship shooting was shooting at an empty castle.
There was something really stupid about them doing that, because they’d already turned the place to rubble, I was sure. Wondered if one of the katyhoppers onboard was affecting the Rapacian minds. Sincerely hoped so.
“So, I guess you all had better get going and engage the enemy. And all that. We’ll wait here and see how you do with it.”
“We are not done with you,” Otari snapped. Very literally, with his beak. Got the distinct impression he didn’t like me. Found the will to go on somehow. Then he cawed an order, and this time it was a real caw. Couldn’t really understand it, but it was clear the Rapacians were going to engage.
Which they did. It might have been impressive, but their maces and flails weren’t charged like Hawkgirl’s was. They were just nasty weapons, but not magical nasty weapons. And from personal experience, the snakipedes were damned tough to kill.
They were also hungry, a fact proven as a couple of them grabbed Rapacians out of the air and ate them. There were a lot of bird screams, and more Rapacians poured out of the two ships above us. In less than a minute the air was thick with wings and battle. Couldn’t tell who was going to win, but now was definitely the time for my team to take some action.
Decided I’d been working cluelessly for a while. Not as in having no idea what was going on—that was kind of standard operating procedure these days. But as in not having any audio hints from Algar. Plus I was about to go into battle, and I always preferred to do so with my own soundtrack. Dug my iPod out of my purse and put my earbuds in. It was time to rock and roll.
“Is now really the time for tunes, girlfriend?”
“James, you wound me. Is there ever not a time for tunes?”
“As I think of it, particularly in respect to you, no. Go for it. What’s our plan, aside from congratulating Ronaldo here on some really quick thinking?”
“It seemed like the obvious move,” 2.0 said. “I think the Rapacians have mind-reading abilities, by the way, though they don’t appear to be reading us.”
“I agree. And they’re not reading us because of our good friends here.” Indicated the Matriarchs as I hit play to hear “Fly” by Sugar Ray. Nice to know that I was on the same wavelength as Algar. “Ladies, I have a request. May we ride on your backs in order to get into one or both of those Rapacian spaceships?”
The Matriarchs waved antennae to indicate they were wondering if we’d ever ask.
“Mount up, gang. Please be aware that these are some of the most important beings on this planet, so let’s not kick or grab and such if at all possible. Rahmi, you’re probably the strongest—can you carry Wilbur?”
She nodded. “I should be able to wield my staff even with the pig-dog along.”
“He’s a chocho on this world, but I can’t argue with your description. Rhee, you able to take Ginger?”
She nodded. “But the cat does not want to leave you, Kitty. And the chocho does not, either.”
“Ginger’s an ocellar here, and I don’t want the animals to leave me, either. I really don’t want to drop either one of them, though. Besides, I plan on having you two lead the charge, meaning that Ginger and Wilbur will be on the front lines.”
Both animals perked up and trotted to their assigned princess. The princesses got onto their Matriarchs and Reader handed Wilbur up to Rahmi while Ginger leaped gracefully onto Rhee’s Matriarch’s back. The rest of us mounted up as well.
The Clarence Clone was really excited, but 2.0 looked apprehensive. “Are you sure it’s going to be safe?”
“Safer than standing around waiting for our enemies to attack us,” Abigail pointed out.
“Ronnie, you’re not saying you’re scared, are you?”
“I’m scared as hell, actually, Kitty. But I think I’m better off sticking with all of you than going it alone, so, fine, fine, I’m set. Please don’t drop me,” he said to his Matriarch. Who waved her antennae.
“She’s laughing at you, Ronnie. You’re safe on the Katyhopper Express, okay?”
“Enough stalling,” Reader called. “The rest of us are ready. I’d mention that I’m the Head of Field, babe, but I think I learned first that you never follow orders or the chain of command.”
“Ju
st proves you’re always on top of things, James. Now, everyone, let’s go get our people and teach these nasty neighbors how we handle a property dispute in this part the ’hood.”
CHAPTER 78
HAVING TAKEN THE Katyhopper Express already, I was prepared for the flight. The others adapted quickly, which was good, since it was a long way down if anyone fell off. Oh, sure, Rahmi and Rhee both had to hold onto Ginger and Wilbur a little tighter than expected when both animals almost fell off, but otherwise, we were pros by the time we were halfway to the nearest spaceship.
Not counting Ginger and Wilbur, there were eight of us riding, but there were more Matriarchs than that here. They all came with, which I was relieved about. We needed the protection from the Rapacians’ mind reading.
“Her Diamonds” by Rob Thomas came on my iPod now. Which made no sense, really, because it was a song about his wife’s illness, which didn’t seem really relevant to our current situation.
The song skipped, which was an extremely rare occurrence, and the next song started. Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” So Algar wanted me to focus on diamonds? Treasure hunting right now seemed like bad timing.
The song skipped again. Didn’t think it was my iPod dying. Clearly Algar knew I wasn’t catching on. This time, “Free Your Mind” by En Vogue came on. And I got it.
But before I could share my revelation with the others, we reached the ship. Sadly, it was still manned, which was proven by the fact that several Rapacians flew out to engage us.
The princesses had taken the lead, and they were able to use their battle staffs while riding a katyhopper and holding a large animal. I was impressed. They were also the only ones with blunt weapons. The rest of us had nothing or guns, which weren’t necessarily the best choice when flying around very high up in the air with a lot of your friends involved in the fight.
Fancy, however, was hella impressive. She stood up on the back of her Matriarch and whipped out a knife from somewhere—had to figure out where everyone from this solar system stashed their weapons and how—and engaged the Rapacian nearest to her.
Reached into my purse. “Need weapons that will work against Rapacians.” And pulled out a Beta Twelve battle staff. “Abby!” Tossed it to her and she caught it just in time to block an attack.
Reached in again and this time came out with a baseball bat. “James!” Tossed it to him, reached in, and pulled out three more bats. Tossed them to 2.0 and The Clarence Clone, and kept the last for myself. “I can use a battle staff, too, you know,” I said to my purse.
But then a Rapacian was attacking me and I had to focus. Kept a good grip on the bat and swung for the head, not just to brain this bird, but to break the jewel on its forehead.
Missed, naturally. But because I did, my body slipped to the side, meaning that the Rapacian’s mace missed me.
Tried to send a message to the Matriarchs that we all wanted to get into the spaceship more than fight outside of it. Figured they already knew, but it couldn’t hurt to try to share that info again.
Meanwhile, had to deal with the Rapacian flying around me. Was pretty sure it was a male. It was also above me in just the right way, so I aimed for what my mother, father, Chuckie, and every martial arts instructor I’d ever had always said to—the groin.
Slammed the bat upward, ensuring that I hit all of whatever was between this birdman’s legs.
The scream was indicative of a good hit. He dropped his mace, which I just managed to grab before it hit me or my Matriarch. He’d dropped the mace to curl up into a fetal position. He also plummeted downward, since flapping his wings wasn’t the first thought on his mind.
“So far so good. Gang!” I shouted, hoping the Matriarchs would assist with broadcast. “The males are just like ours. Go for the family jewels!”
Had a moment to look around. Interestingly enough, none of the Rapacians were attacking the Matriarchs. Hoped that would continue. The Rapacians were also, for the most part, doing a one-on-one combat style. The few that weren’t were after Fancy and Abigail, who were now both standing on the backs of their Matriarchs. Those appeared to all be females, meaning my attack strategy was unlikely to work.
Wasn’t sure at all where Abigail had learned to fight, but experience reminded me that the battle staffs responded to women and definitely gave their user an assist. Even so, though, clearly someone had been making sure that Abigail could fight. Probably Chuckie, but maybe not—she wasn’t fighting in a style he used.
The others all listened, even the princesses, and shortly another five Rapacians were screaming and falling out of the sky.
The rest of us went to help Abigail and Fancy. But they were doing amazingly well all on their own—in fact, their Matriarchs were flying close together and the women were jumping back and forth on their backs, fighting as if they’d done so together for years, slicing and dicing on Fancy’s part, slamming and sticking on Abigail’s.
But Fancy’s knife wasn’t nearly as long as the battle staffs, or the maces and flails she was facing. Waited for her to have a break in her fight. “Fancy!” Tossed her the mace, which she caught. She shot me the same toothy smile King Benny had done, stashed her knife, then swung the mace two-handed into the nearest Rapacian. Said birdwoman went flying, and not from her own power.
“Thank you, Shealla!” she called as she slammed the mace into the back of a birdwoman attacking Abigail.
My music switched to Queen’s “Fight from the Inside” and I figured it was time to divide the attack. Flew over to the princesses, grabbed Wilbur, and flung him over my mount in front of me. Ginger took the hint and leaped over, landing behind me. Both animals managed to stay on and not struggle. “Rahmi, Rhee, help Abby and Fancy! Try to hit the jewels on the birds’ heads. The rest of you, come with me!”
The princesses leapt into the melee—literally. Their Matriarchs flew behind the other two, creating a sort of living platform for the four fighters. Decided watching wasn’t going to do anything but make my stomach create a lot of acid due to worry about all eight of them.
2.0 took the lead into the spaceship. “Get away from my world, you feathered bastards!” he screamed as he slammed his baseball bat around like he was trying out for the Yankees. He hit heads, and The Clarence Clone followed up and hit groins. They worked well together as a team and more Rapacians fell. Either we weren’t facing the good fighters, or the Rapacians rarely engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Reader and I, meanwhile, were able to fly around them and into the ship. As soon as we were inside, Wilbur and Ginger jumped off and led their own kind of charge. Reader and I dismounted too. “We’re looking for the command center, where they fly this thing.”
“I’d guess it’s the area that looks like a head, though that could be wrong,” Reader said. “But that’s where your cat and dog are going, I think.” The animals were indeed racing off somewhere. Decided we should follow them.
“I think the jewels on their heads give them the mind reading or control or whatever power,” I said as we ran after the animals, Matriarchs right behind us. “We need to destroy those.”
Reader shook his head as we stopped to assist Wilbur and Ginger with three Rapacians. “We need to destroy whatever it is that powers them,” he said as he slammed his bat into a Rapacian head.
“Wouldn’t that be on their home planet? Or their minds, or something?” Did some cool kung fu moves on one Rapacian while Wilbur chomped on the birdman’s leg.
“Ronaldo carries his power with him, but he doesn’t power anyone else. Same with the katyhoppers, right?” Reader slammed his bat onto the head of the Rapacian Ginger was clawing up.
“Right.”
2.0 and The Clarence Clone rejoined us, ran past us, and attacked the third Rapacian. Apparently they were enjoying themselves. Grabbed the circlet off the third Rapacian right before 2.0 smashed his head in.
“None of them use something else to power their abilities,” Reader pointed out, as the animals took off again, with 2.0 and The Clarence Clone in gleeful pursuit. “I could be wrong, but I’m betting on a device that sends amplification through the jewels, or the circlets, or whatever. And I’m also betting that it’s on each ship, or the command ship, since I wouldn’t want to risk losing my mind-reading abilities merely because I left my power source back home.”
“Works for me.” Third Eye Blind’s “Faster” came on my personal airwaves. Chose to take the hint. Grabbed Reader’s hand and kicked it up to hyperspeed. I agreed with Algar—it was time to get where we needed to go. We passed several Rapacians who literally had no idea of what hit them. Caught up to 2.0 and The Clarence Clone. “Ronnie, grab Ginger. Clarence, grab Wilbur. Then follow us at hyperspeed.”
Reader and I zipped off. It was a lot easier to get through the ship this way and we were in the command center shortly, even though we made a ton of wrong turns.
“Never thought you’d find it,” Reader said as we slammed bird heads together.
“It gave us an opportunity to knock out every enemy in this portion of the ship.”
“Whatever answer lets you sleep at night, girlfriend. Now what?”
Found the chair that was obviously the one that the pilot used and shoved Reader into it. “Now you fly this thing.”
“What? I’ve never seen this ship before, let alone have any idea of how to fly it.”
“James, you’re the best pilot we have. Just channel Will Smith from Independence Day and do it.” My iPod chose now to share “Put a Lid on It” by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Grabbed an available circlet from a nearby unconscious Rapacian and put it onto his head. “Maybe this will help.”
He concentrated. “Actually . . . yeah, I think it does help.” He started flipping switches and such. “I need a copilot.”