by Dante King
I held my breath and used my nails to feel around the edge of the bezel that appeared to hold the crystal in place. There was plenty of room to get beneath the device, and when my fingers explored its underside, I discovered where the wires came in.
I tried to think back to just before the fight started. How long did it take for the plasma field to come online after the crystal was pressed? Was it a half-second? A full second? Either way, I was fairly certain that if I snatched the crystal out of its housing, I’d have enough time to get clear before ending up looking like a burned matchstick. I had to know, so I shoved my fingers under the device as far as I dared and met eyes with Skrew.
“You might want to back up a little more,” I warned him. He did so without a word.
I yanked and threw myself backward, landing 10 yards away two seconds later. I was still getting used to my newfound strength. The Enforcer’s body was still there, and in my hand, I held the crystal, its bezel, and about two inches of a dozen bloodsoaked wires.
There was no explosion, and I wasn’t dead.
I inspected the crystal closely, poked it a few times, and watched as the hole I had made spread across the surface in spider web-like cracks. A few more taps, and the crystal turned to dust, which I gently blew away.
Behind the crystal was a nest of metal circuirty, and a black orb about the size of a marble. It was so black, it looked as though I were peering into a bottomless pit at the edge of the universe, its shape only defined by the circuitry surrounding it.
I pulled some of the wires free and broke the frame holding the orb in place. Nothing happened, so I prodded it with my finger.
You are our avatar. Make your way to our artifacts. Retrieve them. Assemble them. Open the way for our arrival.
The words of the Lakunae bounced around in my head for several seconds. I felt a bit dizzy and numb. Whatever it was that I’d found, I knew it was important. If nothing else, it was different than any of the tech I’d seen so far. Different than anything except…
I drew the sword I’d found in the belly of the dragon and held it near the orb. The material was identical, so far as I could tell. I didn’t know what either was made of, but it seemed to be the same substance.
I experimented by touching the two together, but nothing happened. Then I realized the significance of that. I touched the two together a little harder. Nothing happened. I set the device on a small, exposed rock, warned Skrew to take another step back, and struck the orb hard enough to cut it in two. The blow cracked the rock, but the orb wasn’t damaged. There wasn’t the slightest hint of a scratch or blemish on its obsidian-colored surface.
Well, that was weird. I figured the orb was some kind of power source, and it was probably incredibly valuable. I’d need currency at some point, especially since I was traveling to a city, so I decided to search the rest of the corpses.
I had to move the trees off the two other bodies, but a quick inspection of both smashed Enforcers revealed only one other of the orbs. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected when the Lakunae told me to retrieve their artifacts, but these little orbs definitely weren’t what I had in mind. Hell, I didn’t even know whether these two little black spheres were actual artifacts. Regardless, they were likely useful to someone on this planet, someone whom I could barter with.
The sword at my side was priceless, however. I’d never found a blade that could hold up to something as destructive as plasma or slide through crystal like it was glass. I examined the weapon for a moment and traced the smooth edge of the pitch-black blade.
“I think I’ll call you Ebon,” I said.
“Who’s Ebon?” Skrew chirped, but I ignored him and sheathed my newly named sword at my side.
“Let’s go,” I said as I pocketed the two orbs. “Lead the way to Brazud.”
Skrew nodded, kicked the second Enforcer’s leg as he walked past it, and continued down the trail.
Chapter Sixteen
We’d only been traveling a day, but Skrew acted like it had been a week. The status of our rations also made it look like it had been longer as well. I was down to a day—maybe two—of water, but I still had at least three days of food left. Skrew had gorged himself with the “yummy tasties,” as he’d called them, and was completely out. The last time he complained, about a half-hour ago, I’d told him that if he was hungry, he could eat his boogers. He hadn’t talked to me since. It was heavenly.
Brazud was only two days away, according to Skrew’s knowledge. My vrak guide wouldn’t starve to death. Something else might kill him, but dehydration and starvation wouldn’t do it. I was almost starting to like the little guy, even if he made my skin itch. Even at his most annoying, it was better to have him there than be alone.
I kept my head on a swivel, inspecting each and every thing we passed. The local wildlife excelled at camouflage, so I didn’t allow myself to grow complacent. Every rock, tree, or shrub could be a predator lying in wait. I could handle anything that decided to jump at me, but Skrew would be nothing more than a limp slice of bacon to even the tamest predator.
As we continued down the well-worn path, I kept an eye on my surroundings but turned my thoughts to Skrew. His people were slavers. They even enslaved each other. For that reason alone, I found myself unable to fully trust him. Although he’d given me no indication that he meant to betray me once we reached Brazud, he also wasn’t right in the head. Anything was possible. He could even be planning on selling me once we got to a major city where I’d be vastly outnumbered. If he tried it, I decided, he’d be the first to die.
I’d feel bad, but I hated traitors.
Still, I felt a little bad for being short with my weird traveling companion. He was loony, but he’d given me no real indication of being any kind of threat. It was a bit hard to when the little guy made a game out of hopping over every stone in the road and snapping his fingers in mid-air.
The vrak turned around and offered a little smile. It was a peace offering, I knew. I had an idea.
“Keep your eyes open for anything that looks edible,” I said. “Even if the edible thing needs to be killed.”
“Yes,” Skrew said, clapping two of his hands together as he grinned widely. “Yes, kill and eat some delicious food. Yes.” His mood brightened considerably as we continued. He began turning his big head back and forth as he scanned the woods for something to kill.
Unfortunately, his search turned up empty.
“We are here,” Skrew said after a good hour. His voice was quiet, timid, and his expression showed he was feeling stressed.
I looked around, but all I saw was more forest and a fork in the path. One went to the left while the other meandered to the right. Both sides looked equally woody and lacked distinguishing features.. There were no buildings, no signposts, nothing indicating that we’d reached Brazud a full day ahead of schedule.
“We’re where?” I asked.
“At the shortcut.” Skrew pointed to the junction of the fork, straight ahead.
I stepped closer and inspected the ground. There was a path, but it was faint and seemed rarely used. I couldn’t see where it lead, but it did appear that someone had taken the narrow trail no more than a week before.
“I don’t like the idea of a shortcut,” I said. “We should go whatever way isn’t a shortcut.”
“No!” Skrew grabbed his stomach with all four of his hands. “It will mean more walks. More walks, and Skrew is hungry. More times of walks. A half-day of more walks! Skrew will die of not eating!”
I inhaled, ready to tell him to grow up and quit acting like a baby but decided against it. Doing so wouldn’t accomplish anything. He hadn’t mislead me so far, and I knew I had to start trusting someone, or life on this planet would likely become very difficult.
I was also worried that if I pissed him off, he’d leave. I could force him to stay, but then I wouldn’t be able to trust his advice. Plus, he wasn’t a slave. If he wanted to leave, I’d let him. I decided it was a better tactical
decision to allow him to lead me down the shortcut rather than risk trying to navigate alone.
After losing the trail and having to double-back to find it again a couple of times, it became easier to spot. Also, the air temperature began to rise again, as did the humidity. It made me think of the jungle, of Enra, and of our night in the cave. I wanted to see her again, but there were priorities, other things to take care of first, like finding my crew.
The sound of a tiny branch breaking drew my attention. I immediately crouched and raised a hand to warn Skrew. Rather than see my signal, the gray-skinned alien was happily stomping through the underbrush without a care in the world.
I drew Ebon halfway and waited, searching for the source of the noise. A second later, a sparkly skinned alien in dark green leather clothing stopped between Skrew and my hiding spot. It looked like the same species as the female I’d saved from the Enforcers the day before. It had the same iridescent scales on the back of its neck and wore the same kind of clothing. The alien turned its head and regarded the happy vrak for a moment. I held my breath and prepared to cut our visitor in half if it showed the first indication of wanting to harm my guide.
It didn’t. Instead, it turned back to its destination and soundlessly hurried into the woods.
I got goosebumps when I realized how close I’d come to being surprised. The alien was skilled at stealth, something I needed to impart on Skrew before too much more time had passed. Stealth wasn’t something I’d ever seen any of his kind display, and I was more worried about his life than I was my own. I could take care of myself.
Another sound stopped the vrak dead in his tracks. He crouched, which made me feel like there might be hope for him, after all. What I heard, however, washed all the good feelings away. It was the sound of battle.
Shouts—orders, commands, and acknowledgements—mixed with the grunts of strenuous activity echoed from deeper in the woods to our right. I wasn’t sure how many there were or who was fighting whom, but I was able to identify five distinct voices. They all had the same urgent tone, and I detected the same accent among them. It seemed they were fighting a common foe together, and I suspected one of them was the lizard-like individual who had passed across our trail earlier.
Skrew looked back at me and waited.
I realized he wanted to know what I would do. He knew I was tempted to go see what was happening. He also knew we were on a mission. And he was right. I found it difficult to walk away from a fight, even when I wasn’t involved. I found it difficult to avoid watching, collecting data, and understanding those who might be my foes someday. It was a real struggle to decide whether to continue down the path and leave the fight behind us or get closer so that I could see what was happening.
Skrew was staring at me. It was time to make a decision. I decided to investigate. I couldn’t help myself. It was data, and I knew that it might be useful in the future. I told myself I’d just watch, then slink away when the fight was over or I’d learned enough to satisfy my curiosity. But if something there threatened my progress, my mission, or my gut feeling, then I’d deal with it accordingly.
I motioned for Skrew to stay where he was as I approached him.
“You aren’t very good at staying quiet,” I whispered. “So, stay here and wait for me. I’m going to go see what’s happening. I’ll be back soon, and then we can continue toward Brazud.”
He frowned and patted his stomach.
“I’ll see if there’s anything to eat, too,” I reassured him. “If there is, you’ll get the bigger portion. Deal?”
Skrew smiled, mimed eating, and rubbed his stomach. Then he found a thick bush to hide in and made himself comfortable. When he was settled, I turned, stayed low, and stalked toward the sounds of battle.
There were five creatures with features that made me think they were male. Muscular limbs gripped dagger-like blades. Short horns grew from their chins and cheeks like a beard. Some of them appeared to have painted their spikes, but most were black.
Probably makes better camouflage, I thought. The ones with painted spikes could be elders or leaders of some kind. Maybe they indicate rank or status?
One of them wore a strange necklace with a large crescent-shaped pendant as black as Ebon. I was curious, but turned my attention back to the battle
The creature they were fighting was a horror from a drunken sailor’s worst nightmare. It appeared that the aliens had surrounded a giant octopus that had been half-swallowed by an even larger brown bear. Five tentacles, each at least three yards long, grew along the circumference of a mouth that could open almost as wide as the monster’s whole body. The inside of its huge red maw was lined with rows of teeth as long and as thick as my thumb.
The aliens danced around the amorphous tentacle-bear, ducked, and jumped as it struck out at them with its tendrils. Almost every one of the monster’s strikes resulted in another small wound.
“Two!” one of the aliens shouted.
In response, a slightly smaller male dashed forward and climbed on the monster’s back. He grabbed a fistful of fur and held on as the beast worried itself with the three aliens standing in front of it. A moment later, the order of “one” was issued, and a second alien joined the first. Together, they began hacking away at the monster’s back and were almost immediately covered in blood.
It was a primal set of tactics but effective.
The huge predator thrashed, threw one of the aliens to the ground and turned, obviously intending to chew its tormentor to death. The three others on the ground sprang into action.
One shouted at the monster, attempting to distract it from his fallen comrade. The second charged at the beast, who was now facing broadside, and climbed onto its back, helping the third who was still carving at its body with its dagger. The fourth charged, inspected the monster’s rear-end for a moment, then stabbed hard with his blade.
If the pain on the hybrid-bear’s back had been bad, it was apparently nothing compared to the pain the stab to its nether-region had delivered. The monster’s trumpeting sound of anguish reverberated through my whole body and made my bones hum a warning.
The tentacle-bear spun quickly, causing the two clinging to its back to stop stabbing and hold on, which couldn’t have been easy, judging how much of the thing’s blood they were covered in.
The object of its rage had already bounded away and had joined the other two on its back. The monster roared its trumpeting sound again and tried to throw the aliens from its back but was too weak to do so. They continued hacking, and it continued slowing, until finally, there was no movement at all.
I knew a fighting team when I saw one, and the aliens I was watching had obviously fought together many times before. Besides a few commands to draw their attention to an immediate need, all their leader had to do was his own part. They’d fought and killed before. Probably many times before. I was impressed.
I turned to leave and sighed when I heard Skrew open up with a shouted, vile string of curse words. He’d been found.
I sprinted toward his hiding spot and discovered two more green-clad aliens pulling him from under the bush. Each had a pointy dagger leveled at him, and each wore a grim expression. Not on my watch, lizard-man.
“Dirty-booger, foot-foul, water-mouth, dung-muncher!” Skrew hissed. The aliens were not impressed.
They were impressed, however, when a human erupted from the undergrowth, carrying a black sword and bellowing a war cry. They were so impressed, they froze in place and obliged me by standing completely still so that I could crash into them properly.
I heard one of their bones snap when I ploughed into—and through—them. The alien cried out in pain. I slid to a halt, smashed over a large tree to slow my momentum, and rushed back to the two aliens sprawled on the ground. I had to make it quick,. Otherwise, one of them might get a lucky shot and take out my guide.
I glanced at both, attempting to quickly determine which one was the bigger threat but found it difficult to decide. One wa
s unconscious, and the other had a broken arm. Neither were trying to get up.
“Let’s go,” I said to Skrew, who shivered to himself at my words.
“The nasty green were going to kill Skrew,” he whispered.
“I know. Let’s—” I stopped when I noticed the first alien emerging from the woods. I only saw one, but I knew the others were nearby. I guessed I was surrounded. I respected them, though. I didn’t want to kill any unnecessarily, but I wouldn’t allow them to hurt Skrew either.
The one who’d emerged first was the one I had identified as the leader. He stopped and pointed at my sword.
“Look,” he said to the others, obviously concealed nearby. “Look at his sword. He has slain Pedaloth.” There was no response from the others.
“If you’re speaking of the dragon-creature I killed, then I did so in self-defense,” I said.
As a Federal Marine Officer, I’d also had training in negotiation. I didn’t want to kill such fine warriors. It wasn’t because I was afraid of them. I hoped that by sparing their lives, they might join me if I needed help freeing my crew later. Plus, they carried no tech, and from what I’d seen, only the bad guys had tech.
I quickly learned that the males of the species also had the neck-things. Their leader hissed, displayed his sparkly pink neck-flaps for me, and charged.
His first mistake was allowing himself to get angry. Anger alone never made a fighter a winner. As soon as a warrior allowed it to become personal, he got sloppy. I decided to teach him a lesson. I’d teach them all a lesson.
He lunged with his blade. He was fast, but his dagger was no match for Ebon. I countered, cutting his blade off at the hilt. He stumbled forward in an attempt to stop himself. I helped by striking his amulet hard, trusting it wouldn’t break, trusting it was made of the same stuff as Ebon. It was, but the impact knocked him to his back.