Ranh

by Ian J Miller

  He gasped. Baht had been examining all information on the death of Tenzat Tallyn. There would be only one reason she would do that, and that was because Kazyn had asked her to.

  What could he make of that? He thought for a moment, then a crafty thought entered his mind. This could get him off the hook with the Conclave Guard. He would inform one of Cardinal Sender's offspring, and get them to relay it back to the Cardinal. That would get him gratitude.

  * * *

  It took very little time for Marcellus to discover who had searched for this information. Baht had been arrested for espionage and was accused of searching for information for the Terrans. Fortunately, it appeared that she had not had the opportunity to pass this information on. The evidence against her was that she was apprehended with information about the workings of the only Curia of interest to the Terrans. When arrested, she had no explanation for why she had that information, and it followed that an unacknowledged one should have no valid reason for acquiring such information, and the only ones who did were the Terrans.

  "We have to do something," Natasha said. "We did nothing of the sort."

  "We shall, of course, deny it," Gaius agreed, "and most forcefully, but I doubt it will do any good. The problem is, I went around there and made the same enquiries. They will conclude that I did that because we had tried to use Baht, and they arrested her before she could tell us."

  "But then, Baht had a right to know, surely?"

  "Yes, she did, but she had a very long time in which to exercise that right and she only did so now. Obviously, someone asked her to."

  "Who would do that, and why didn't Baht simply explain?"

  "Because it was Kazyn," Gaius replied. "The trouble is, she could hardly say she was helping someone on the run, because that is just as bad."

  "Can't we do something to help her," Natasha pleaded.

  "We shall have to wait and see," Gaius said, "but my feeling is, not much."

  He was right. With no obvious defence, Baht was promptly found guilty, and as a sentence she was given the option of death or sport. Baht chose sport.

  Meanwhile, Zander Thuygen was elated. That unacknowledged one was going to get roasted, and better still, the Conclave Guard would be pleasantly appreciative of his efforts. He could well get something out of this after all,

  Chapter 22

  The sport was very simple in concept. Baht was to be taken to a start position, and had to make her way to the top of a hill that lay on the far side of a forested area and a more open area. If she made it before sunset, she was free. If she had not reached it, she would be declared dead, and even if she were alive, she would then be hunted by squads formed to execute her. In between the start and the hill, two highly skilled hunters would try and intercept her, and kill her. She could also kill the hunters, for, after all, this was sport that would be watched from telecasts all over the planet. All parties would be unarmed, although participants could make weapons from whatever they could find from their environment. The terrain included a small area of open shrubbery, then a mixed forest that included some rocky gullies from a stream that ran down from the hill, then the last part was a kilometer of open country leading to the hill, although again there was the streambed. Most confrontations were of the classic tooth and claw type, and fights would be to the death, but occasionally there was stone throwing, and sometimes there was the use of clubs, if suitable pieces of wood could be found. However these were rare because unless there had been special training the Ranhynn arms were relatively weak, and most killing power could be brought to bear through the feet, and the associated claws.

  The hunters would be professional sportsmen, and while their lives were also on the line, because they did this for a living, to have survived they were usually rather good at it. Many bets would be placed on this event, but the yields were somewhat marginal because hardly anyone was betting on Baht.

  It was still dark when the telecast started, although signs of the rising sun were starting to appear on the eastern horizon. The telecast started with various opinions from "experts" as to the conditions for the run, the optimal tactics for each party, and there were general fillers to get the audience "warmed up". The large yellow ball was clearly up, and a gentle breeze began blowing when these fillers finally stopped.

  At the designated time, a clearly frightened Baht was brought to the starting position. At this point, the names and histories of the hunters would be brought onto a large screen. The names came up: six thuggish individuals. The betting on Baht virtually disappeared.

  "It's supposed to be two to one," Baht protested to the official.

  "Tough! Of course," the official sneered, "you can ask for two to run with you." He looked around, and addressed the watchers, "Is anyone stupid enough to volunteer?"

  "Those who have bet on Baht had better prepare to collect," came a response from inside the crowd. "If you wish to call me stupid to my face, do so now. I would really like a little warm-up exercise." Seppet Methrell and a special forces Master Sergeant stepped forward and stood challengingly in front of the announcer. Both were wearing camouflage gear, and they carried a spare set. The announcer shrunk back in fear.

  "Of course," Methrell said to Baht, "you have to select us."

  "I would be honoured," Baht said, and it was clear to all her fear had gone.

  "Then wear this," Methrell said. "It makes it easier to hide."

  At this moment, betting suddenly changed, and it was also reported that a number of bookmakers suddenly closed up and disappeared, happy that they had a very large number of bets that might go sour. Meanwhile, Zander Thuygen, who had come to watch, nearly dropped the joint he was partaking of for breakfast. He fumbled it, caught it, but had cooking juice all the way down his coat, and worse, everyone was looking at him. Not only could he not simply eat a joint, but he had had it cooked, the wuss. But Thuygen did not care about them; he was concerned because it appeared that he had totally misread the situation. Baht had not been working for Kazyn; she had been working for the Military Curia, and that curia was not one to get offside with. Worse, Baht was being aided not by just any two soldiers who were perhaps given a training run, but by Methrell herself, who was known to take merely seconds to kill if she were in a fight. Worse, he had been warned, because he had seen Baht enter the grounds of the Seppets. It looked very much as if he had just made himself an enemy of the worst possible adversary on the planet. How could this play out?

  There appeared to be a freeze on the situation, during which time Baht removed her boots and changed into the camouflage gear. The other two had no boots. There was then the mandatory scan for concealed weapons, and none were found. The rules were clear at this point: the runners were brought to a line and on the sound of a very loud whistle the game would start. The hunters were in the open terrain on the other side of the forested strip, and each could then enter the forest, although since the runners had to cross the far side there was no requirement for the hunters to do that. They could simply wait.

  "We get to the trees as quickly as we can without getting exhausted," Methrell whispered to Baht, "then we change direction. You stay as close to me as you can, and try to do what I do. If I lay low, do the same and all the time, make as little noise as possible."

  "I'll try," Baht said.

  "I know you will," Methrell patted her shoulder. "Remember, once we are in the forest, we go as slow as we like, but as quietly as we can. They might think they are hunting you, but we shall be hunting them."

  The whistle sounded, and the three runners ran rapidly to the forested zone. Once into the forested zone, the Master Sergeant indicated a turn to the right, and they began heading in the direction of the stream. At first they moved rapidly, but after about five minutes the Master Sergeant signalled they should slow down.

  "If the others are playing by the rules, they should be a long way away still," he whispered, "but I doubt they will."

  They kept moving until they came across some quit
e thin saplings. Methrell suggested that Baht step back, and she grasped one and pulled. It snapped at the base, leaving a very jagged end. She handed that to the Master Sergeant, who had found a stone with a surprisingly sharp edge, and he cut a reasonably flat face at the other end. Meanwhile, Methrell had broken of two further saplings. Soon they had three rather primitive spears.

  "What you do," she whispered to Baht, "is if they try to jump on you to rake you, simply crouch and anchor the flat end to the ground. Let them shaft themselves."

  "What if they don't jump?"

  "Then what are they going to do? While they are making up their minds, get on their backs and rake!"

  Baht was a little uncertain about all this, but she took the spear, then the Master Sergeant led the way to the streambed, where he picked up more sharp stones. He then kept low and moved upstream, until he found a plant with very long and fibrous leaves. Cutting these was a very slow task, but eventually he had one cut, from which he soon made something resembling a sling.

  They crossed the stream and began to move slowly and carefully towards the hill. Methrell showed Baht how to place her feet to avoid breaking twigs, and she was pleased to see Baht was a quick learner. They kept up this slow pace for about a quarter of an hour, then the Master Sergeant held up a hand and indicated they should keep low. Two signals, then he pointed. Methrell indicated that Baht should lie still, then she crept forward. She would take the right hunter, the Master Sergeant the left one. On the signal, the two Ranhynn leaped from cover, and two jaws found two necks, and at the same time, two sets of claws slashed open the abdomens of their prey. The kills were almost totally silent.

  One advantage that the hunters had was they were permitted radios. The Master Sergeant picked these up. If the other hunters asked for progress, he intended to say there were no sightings yet. "It may not work," he said, "but it doesn't hurt to try it out."

  The first priority of the hunters was to find their prey, and since they could not be sure which way the runners would go, they would have had to cover both flanks. The right flank was probably now open, so Methrell suggested they make as much speed as they could, without making any more noise than they had to make.

  The edge of the forest appeared without their running into any others, and they crouched and crept forwards. They carefully looked out, and all they saw was open terrain leading to the hill. A quick run, and they would be there! Methrell held Baht back. The Master Sergeant crept back into the forest and quickly began climbing a large tree. He was up there for a few minutes, then came back down again.

  "There're six of them in a slight depression, which is why we can't see them from down here," he said.

  "Six?" Baht's concern was clear. "They're cheating."

  "Yes, they are, but that doesn't help us," Methrell said calmly. "Our task is to try to get around them as quietly as possible."

  "What has happened," the Master Sergeant said, "is they've heard who they're up against. The usual tactic now would be for them to spread out and cover all the approaches loosely, but now they know there are three of us, they're too afraid, so they are concentrating in that depression in the centre of the field of approach."

  "Then what about those other two?" Baht asked.

  "They would have been there to locate us," Methrell said. "There's probably more in the forest, at different parts. Their problem is, if they concentrate in the middle they can't cover either extreme flank."

  "So, what do we do?" Baht asked.

  "We creep along the streambed for as long as we can," Methrell said, "then, if they find us, we climb up the far side from them and run following the stream. They have to climb up to get at us, and we use the advantage of height. Baht, you stay near the far side from them, I'll take the middle, and the Sergeant will take the near side and take occasional glances up to see if they are coming. So, let's go."

  They took their positions and walked as quickly as they could, while keeping their heads down, except for the Sergeant, who would occasionally look up. Everything went well until the streambed took a turn. Baht could see, just around the corner, another hunter who was concealed. She shrunk back, but dislodged a stone.

  Methrell quickly understood, and charged around the corner. The hunter was busy signalling on his radio. She leaped in the air, and as she passed over the hunter her claws grasped the head. The hunter's head was twisted back, and there was a sickening crack.

  "Up the far bank!" Methrell ordered. Baht climbed as quickly as she could, then saw the Sergeant tearing into the cloths of the dead hunter. He grabbed something, and was up beside Baht.

  "Run!" he ordered.

  Baht put her head down, tail up, and began running. Methrell was close behind. On the other side of the streambed, a number of hunters were chasing. Except that two did not. One knelt, and raised some sort of beam weapon, and fired. A cloud of dust sprang up just behind Methrell.

  "Streambed!" the Sergeant roared, but before anyone could do anything, there was a strange cracking noise, and the bearer of the beam weapon fell backwards. There was a second crack, and the other one near him also fell backwards and lay stationary. The running hunters saw this and stopped, then turned and ran as fast as they could for the forest.

  "What happened?" Baht asked.

  "I don't know," Methrell replied. "They cheated, then someone laid into the cheats and I don't know how. However, there has been no move against you, so I think you should get to the top of that hill as fast as you can because that clears your legal problems. Sergeant, escort her please."

  "Certainly. What are you going to do?"

  "I want to see who those two were, and what those weapons were that were fired at me."

  "Are you sure you were the designated target?" Baht asked. "They could have mistaken you for me. I mean, in this camouflage gear, at a distance we might look similar."

  "It could be a mistake," Methrell agreed, "but, and don't take this wrongly, I can't see hunters even wanting to bring beam weapons to take you out. You're not trained to kill, so you shouldn't be a problem."

  "But they wouldn't have known that you were going to be here," Baht protested.

  "Not until I declared," Methrell replied. "But remember, until I did, there were six hunters. Again, no disrespect, but you shouldn't provide a problem for six hunters, who would want to stay within the rules because there would be a real outcry if six to one they still had to break the rules and bring in beam weapons. Now, you get to the top of the hill right away and get one task done."

  As Baht and the Sergeant made their way promptly but still walking towards the hill, Methrell ran towards the bodies. What she saw surprised her. First, the bodies seemed to have been hit by some projectile in the centre of their chests. Second, when she looked at their clothing and emptied their pockets, she saw the identification tags of the Conclave Guard. She gathered the tags and the weapons, and ran towards the hilltop.

  As she reached the top, she saw the officials who were to record the result of the run sitting on a small bench, and looking somewhat humiliated. Beside these was yet another member of the Conclave Guard, trussed as if ready for the pot, and before him the Sergeant, who seemed to be determined to extract information by any painful means that came to mind. Baht stood there, wondering what would happen next, while Kazyn was securing clasps to a long box.

  "You!" Methrell said, staring at Kazyn. "So, my fine feathered friend, what have you done?"

  "I suspected cheating," Kazyn replied, "and since Baht had got herself into this mess by trying to help me, I thought I should help her. When I got here, I saw that Conclave Guard threatening these here," he said as he pointed to those on the bench. "I simply knocked the Guard out and trussed him up. When I heard you had decided to run with Baht, I was quite happy, and decided to merely wait and see that these did their jobs."

  "And those with the beam weapon?"

  "Ha! I knew then you needed help, so I helped."

  "How did you do that?"

  "My
time on Earth was note entirely wasted," Kazyn said with a shrug. "This," he said as he pointed to the box, "contains a fifty calibre sniper's rifle. You may think it is primitive, but it is extremely effective and at a good distance."

  "So," Methrell said slowly, "I guess you think I owe you once again."

  "Do you think so?" Kazyn challenged.

  "My, you are getting aggressive," Methrell said, and nodded approvingly. "Yes, I guess I do, but don't get carried away."

  "Not from this you don't," Kazyn said graciously. "Running with Baht is more than enough."

  "So what did Baht do to warrant this problem?"

  "She accessed the health files of my father," Kazyn said. "He was in perfect health one day, and dead the next, and there was no real post mortem carried out."

  "So you think he was murdered?"

  "I suspect poisoned," Kazyn said, "but unfortunately I can't prove it."

  "So if you can't prove it, why this?"

  "My guess is, Thapet Tergyn can't be sure, but that isn't really the issue. Why is the Conclave Guard taking such an interest? There is nothing in what Baht found that brings the Guard into it."

  "It might if the Conclave ordered the poisoning, if there were poisons involved," Methrell said. "When did you get here?"

  "About half an hour after the run started," Kazyn said, "Why?"

  "The question is, did the Guard come after I announced I was running, or were they going to interfere anyway."

  "We should be able to find out," the Sergeant said. "We have a participant"

  "We have these on the bench," Kazyn said, and he turned on them. "Tell me, when did he arrive?" he said pointing at the Guard. There was no answer from the clearly scared officials.

  "You might as well tell me," Kazyn said. "You may recall I am wanted for stuffing a plucked carcass in my larder. This wasn't eaten, so I could very well do with a replacement."

  The information flowed. The Guard had turned up only a few minutes before Kazyn, which was in part why overpowering him was so easy. He was distracted with the problem of immobilizing the officials, which, as Kazyn said later, was a complete waste of effort because these officials seemed petrified with no further threats, even when technically rescued.