by Ronan Frost
Shaun turned.
"Thank you, Ashian."
The currach smiled weakly, shrugged, and lowered his eyes. The wound on his cheek had opened up and now seeped fresh blood that mingled with the mud covering much of the native's face, and his clothing was no more than a collection of rags. Apart from the physical fatigue Shaun thought he saw something more in those eyes - as if something had touched Ashian deeply, making him pull back into his own personal shell.
They were heading for a nearby embankment, not unlike an island in the grey weedy swamp. Through the thick swirling mists Shaun saw two figures were already on the bank, and it was only when he got closer that he saw it was Capac and Myshia. Exhausted and covered in mud they leant with their backs against a swamp tree.
"Impressed by my landing?" inquired Shaun as he waded closer, limping and cradling a thousand minor abrasions, his head tilted to one side and his breathing ragged. When a reply was no forthcoming Shaun looked up, and froze as he saw the look of surprise that blasted across Capac's face.
"Get out of there!" Capac's scream was hoarse and loud as he scrambled to his feet, motioning vigorously. "Get out get out!"
Ashian was as surprised as Shaun. Both looked at each other dumbly, too exhausted and confused to do anything.
"Behind you!" bawled Capac, diving into the shallow swamp.
There was a sudden movement and splash. Shaun instinctively threw himself to the side. Something hard and heavy caught him across the torso, spinning and driving him under the water. The swamp suddenly boiled with motion as Shaun found his legs were pushed over the top, forcing him to curl into a somersault and involuntarily gasp a mouthful of brackish water. Muddy sediment smashed into his face and for long panicky moments he did not know which way was up. Then he was above the surface, retching a lung full of swamp water and stumbling awkwardly.
"Ashian!" Capac was close now, a heavy branch above his head. Shaun fell back before the foaming water as something huge thrashed with powerful motions. With a wild hoarse cry Capac leapt into the fray, plunging the length of wood like a spear. Things moved too fast for Shaun's eye to follow; there was a flash of a green as a crocodile-like creature rolled, tumbled and fought for it's prey. Then Capac threw himself free, Ashian across one shoulder. It took Shaun valuable moments before he finally pulled the minigun free of his belt and cocked the heavy mechanism. He did not see the creature he was shooting - he simply aimed at the mass of boiling water and fired. Round after round shot from the compact machine gun, empty shells spewing from the side. Shaun held the minigun at arm's length, a grimace across his face, raking the foam until the thrashing finally subsided.
The minigun held skywards Shaun waded forward and helped Capac.
"What...the hell..." Shaun paused and drew in a shaking breath. "...was that?"
Myshia waded closer, tightening the group. "Pyron," she muttered, her eloprin features suddenly very distinctive as her thin brows furrowed over her compulsive green gem-like eyes. "They are a deadly swamp creature."
"They feed in packs," added Capac, drawing together his senses and pooling the last of his strength. "We've got to move before blood attracts more of them."
"Looked like a crocodile to me," cursed Shaun. "Biggest and ugliest mother I've ever seen."
Ashian's head moved in a full circle, searching for any sign of another pyron. "We've got to get away from those things," he said nervously.
"Then where?" Shaun too had his eyes on the rippling, muddy water. It was impossible to see more than five metres ahead through the dense mist.
"We climb a tree," said Capac. "That's the only place pyron's can't go."
"Then by the Fifty Star Systems find one!" splurted Shaun. "I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen about wading through this soup for much longer."
He still had the minigun at the ready when they finally stumbled to the base of a large, smooth barked tree, its roots snaking in and out of the water like great tendrils of rope. There were closely spaced branches overhead enabling Ashian and Myshia to pull themselves up.
"Over there!"
Capac spun with Shaun's cry. Sure enough, the telltale arrowhead ripple showed a submerged pyron approached. Capac knew the creatures could swim faster than a man could run, and he also knew that the pyrons attack was swift and deadly.
Shaun's bullets pockmarked the water, striking where the arrowhead ripples emanated. Then sudden the massive creature drove out of the water, thrashing in rage.
"Get up the tree!" Capac yelled.
Shaun did not hear. His eyes narrowed as his finger squeezed harder still on the trigger, catching the reptilian pyron with countless bullets, staining the murky water red with blood. It was almost too late when Shaun realised that two more pyrons had circled around. He cursed as he saw that the first pyron had provided a distraction while the others closed in. Shaun spun about, minigun spewing a wide and ineffective arc. There was nowhere to run!
"Shaun!"
He looked up at the shout and saw Capac had scrambled onto the branch overhead. Shaun grabbed Capac's extended arm, his hand clenching with the native's. Shaun pulled in his legs and swung them up onto the branch just as a pair of powerful jaws snicked below.
They wasted no time in climbing further up. Ashian had waited for them and Myshia still visible as she climbed on upwards.
"That's one hell of a welcoming committee," grumbled Shaun, grimly determined not to let his grasp slip upon the wet smooth branches.
"I can face the dangers of my own planet," said Capac. "I'd sooner face the pyrons than the Sunlords."
Shaun cast a look downwards; they were high in the tree and the ground could not be seen through the lattice of laterals. "I don't know," he said. "I think I'd rather the Sunlords. Besides, you haven't thought about how we're going to get out of here."
Capac shrugged, as if not concerned, but within he knew it was a problem they would have to solve.
"What did happen back there?" Ashian asked suddenly. "Before the pyrons, I mean. The crash. I have no recollection of what happened in those last few seconds before we the ground."
Shaun paused, suddenly finding that his memories of the event were faded. "I think we lost air speed," he said tentatively. "The engines had totally died, and the navigational computer was a total blank. I remember bringing it over the forest, looking for a clearing, but that's all. All I recall after that is a thump and splash and then suddenly the world spun around as if we're inside a tin can."
"The movement must have attracted the pyrons," put in Capac. "I have travelled this area once before in my youth - I think I know where we are. If I am correct," Capac motioned with a slight nod of his head towards Ashian, "this place is more than two seasons trek from your city."
"Two seasons...that's more than a standard year's journey," muttered Shaun. "Where is the closest settlement?"
The hunter shook his head. "Apart from small bands that have probably been exterminated by the Sunlords, our only hope is to make for the coast. As for food, this swamp is the worst country on the planet."
A movement overhead suddenly made the nervous band look up. It was with relieve they saw it was Myshia descending through the branches.
"I've had a look from the top," she said, dropping onto a nearby branch. "This swamp extends in all directions as far as I could see."
"As I feared," mused Capac. "Food is going to be difficult."
"I've got some tablets here," Shaun said, fumbling into the inside of his mud soaked helicasuit. "It's a gamble to use it on an alien species, but it's a risk we'll have to take - this swamp looks like it is crawling with diseases."
Ashian examined the pills suspiciously. "What do they do?"
"Vitamins, protein, energy, you name it. An emergency drug to keep an exhausted heart pumping."
Capac picked the two pills from Shaun's dirty hand and turned them over in his fingers. After a moment he threw one of the pills into the back of his throat and swallowed it in an easy motion. The
y all waited for a moment, but when no ill-effects were forthcoming, Ashian took a tablet; finding it difficult since his throat was dry and parched. When Shaun offered Myshia the two remaining tablets she refused, and it was with reluctance that Shaun put the life sustaining medicine back into his helicasuit. Shaun made a mental note to himself to watch out for Myshia, for although she did not show any outward signs of exhaustion she had not eaten or rested for days, and the stress involving the telepathy ordeal must have taken something from within.
Capac broke the silence. "I'll climb down and see what I can snare," he said without much enthusiasm. "Myshia, Ashian - see if you can fix some sort of sleeping arrangement."
"I'll come with you," said Shaun, checking the remaining rounds on the minigun.
Capac looked up, a sparkle in his eye. "I can look after myself."
"Let me come."
"No. I can move faster alone."
"Well, okay then," conceded Shaun. "Just don't get eaten. I'd hate to lose you now."
"So would I." The forester smiled and dropped down out of sight. Shaun turned his attention to helping Ashian sit a little more comfortably upon the slippery surface of a branch.
"Is it good to be back?" he asked.
Ashian was strangely subdued and withdrawn. "All I want is to get back to my life," he replied. "Now that we have tramped the length of the Sunlord's ship and destroyed it's heart my city should be left in peace. The battle is over for me." He bowed his head and exhaled heavily with frustration and bottled self-disgust.
Drawing back, Shaun looked upon the currach and saw a bedraggled and tired man, the quick eyes of the innocent given way to the hardened gaze of the experienced. He knew that Ashian's once stainless steel beliefs and religion had been sorely tested.
"What troubles you, my friend?"
Ashian smiled without mirth and seemed determined to remain silent, but then his resolve weakened. "I killed a Sunlord. I am an outcast in the eyes of Abas - I am a murderer."
Shaun could only shake his head. "The battle is just beginning, my friend." His voice took on a quiet, reflective note. "Yes, the battle has just begun..."
It was an uncomfortably long time before Capac returned. Shaun found himself wishing for his watch, which he had been without ever since he had been recaptured. He guessed ten minutes had passed, but in the uneasy stillness of the swamps his perception of time was distorted. Birdlike creatures whirled and dived past erratically, their strangely mournful cries acting as a radar to guide them through the dense foul mists.
Shaun moved his weight constantly to allow blood to flow through sore limbs. He turned the minigun over in his hands in restless agitation, examining the compact weapon and counting cartridges remaining in the twenty-centimetre long magazine.
There was a flicker of moment from below and finally Capac's mud encrusted visage poked through the crisscross of branches. The eloprin moved with supple strength and agility as if his natural environment filled a pool of limitless inner energy, enabling the insectile native to pull himself hand over hand without a pause for breath. It was only when Capac got closer did Shaun see the haste in his motions. Shaun knew immediately something was wrong.
"Capac - what is it?"
Panting with exertion, the forester paused for a moment before plunging into his tale. "This tree is crawling with K'lockri."
"K'lockri?" Instinctively Myshia's hand moved to her belt, grasping thin air where her knife had been.
"What are you talking about?" Shaun half-raised himself upon the branch, his imagination suddenly finding a new enemy hidden in the mists.
"The k'lockri are tree dwellers." Myshia drew in a breath, her voice deep and smooth. "They are fur covered beasts with single claws on each hand capable of disembowelling a swamp drusk with a single sweep."
Capac drew a hand across his brow to clear it of mud but only succeeded in evenly spreading what was already there. "I underestimated this swamp. The pyrons and the k'lockri sometimes co-operate to pull in their prey."
Incredulity spread over Shaun's features. "You mean two different species work together?"
"That's what I said," muttered Capac impatiently. His head perked upright, scanning their surrounds and listening for any approaching sounds. Detecting nothing he exhaled heavily. "On close inspection I saw the base of this tree is littered with the bones of animals. The pyrons chase the prey up a tree, and keep it there, while the k'lockri take advantage in an environment to which they are best suited."
"And the pyrons?"
"There is always a portion of the carcass that falls."
"I've never heard of such an ecosystem." Shaun's brows raised. "A formidable deathtrap."
"That's right. I suggest we get moving." Without any further words Capac dismissed the matter. Brushing filthy hands free of excess grit he took a leap from the branch and caught another higher up. Myshia followed in a similar manner, leaving Ashian and Shaun looking at each in confusion.
Ashian bowed his head submissively. "You go. I shall wait here and delay the creatures while you make your escape."
The sincerity of Ashian's tone shocked Shaun. It took the human a moment to bring his mind back into motion. "What are you talking about? Look, the others are already halfway up, and if we keep yabbing away-"
"Only death awaits me now." Ashian kept his eyes lowered.
Shaun opened his mouth to protest but clamped his jaw shut suddenly. He paused, and the noise came again, a distant howling noise deeper than that of the birds. His heart leaping, Shaun grasped Ashian forearm in the grasp of his right hand and pushed the small currach forward.
"Move!" he bawled. Ashian fell half a metre before catching a branch. A blur of motion came barely before Shaun had recovered. Warned by the flicker of movement from the corner of his eye Shaun ducked aside instinctively. A split second later a blur sped past from the side wailing a wild cry and slashing the air above Shaun's head. Almost losing his grip upon the branch Shaun managed to righten himself using one hand, while the other held the minigun in a iron grasp. The first trickles of blood began to seep from the shallow gash running from shoulder to hip, a line of torn fabric in the helicasuit stained red. It wasn't until long seconds later did Shaun begin to feel the ragged edges of pain creep into his mind. Still in a state of shock he couldn't even remember seeing the beast inflict the wound.
He shook his head savagely to clear away the pain and pushed away from the branch, aware the air had filled with the throaty screams of incoming k'lockri. As he fell there was no time to train the minigun on swift moving targets that flashed and disappeared before his eyes.
Then something hard hit him and he fell, suddenly immersed in a chaos of branches smashing his form as he passed, snapping smaller twigs with flailing limbs as he sought for a handhold.
Then his palm slapped firmly onto a beam and he grabbed it. Still one handed, it took Shaun every ounce of his remaining strength to arrest his fall. It felt as if his arm was being wrenched from his shoulder. His vision was blurred and indistinct, and barely saw the k'lockri swing down beside. The monkey-like beast's right hand swung wide, a single deadly claw blurred with motion, as it plummeted closer.
"Eat lead Tarzan!" bawled Shaun. The minigun was firing wildly, bucking uncontrolled in one hand. The k'lockri was a bare instant away from disembowelling Shaun when the curved line of bullets smacked into it's head. Green blood exploded as the beast's head snapped backwards, the shower momentarily cloaking the bright line of tracers lancing through the mist.
A crack like a bullwhip split the air and a savage lurch as the bough snapped beneath Shaun's weight. Individual fibres snapped in rapid succession as the water-soaked wood splintered.
Something sharp caught Shaun across the side as he tumbled, ploughing through foliage and gouging exposed flesh. His slide drew to a slow halt as his clenched fist clung to passing branches. A flash of brown matted fur dropped directly downwards, a single claw flashing as the shriek grew to a crescendo. Shaun spun and sn
apped the minigun up in a single motion.
His sudden movement propelled him from his precarious perch and he spun backwards, tumbling through free space now, leaving only disturbed mist in his wake.
Headfirst he hit the swamp - coming scant centimetres from cleaving his skull upon the writhing aboveground roots. Foul infested water shot up his nose and invaded his lungs. Caring little for these afflictions Shaun stumbled upright, expecting the pyron that was sure to come.
Ashian watched in mute awe as Shaun dropped from sight. He winced a second later as the harsh rattling of machine gun fire smote the air. From below the currach saw flashes of yellow muzzle fire before another series of diminishing crashes ended with a distant splash.
"Abas help me," preyed Ashian, panic welling desperation to his voice. Now due to his own stupidity he had delayed Shaun and caused him to fall. Ashian considered dropping after his human companion, despite the knowledge that the minute he became the object of the k'lockri's attention he would be dead. But something stopped him mid stride, pulling at him from the inside, urging him to refrain from jumping to what would almost certainly be an ugly death. Instead this inner voice took hold of his tormented mind and forced action into his limbs.
Shaun will be alright. Climb while the creatures are distracted.
The voice echoed through the bowl of his brain, words indistinct like dyes running into a blurred smudge of colour.
Nodding to himself Ashian scrambled to his feet and cast about, looking for a near handhold. Putting aside the turmoil of fears and thoughts he started up the smooth-barked tree. He knew Myshia was right.
Frustrated at the lack of strength in his thinly muscled currach arms Ashian strove on upwards, finding it increasingly difficult to endure through pain barriers. An abrupt rustle in the leaves to his left caused Ashian's pupil-less eyes to snap around. The furred creature dropped before he could distinguish clear features, leaving him only with a rising sensation of panic.