by Matt Forbeck
They sprinted away from the Sangheili, clutching their rifles tight but not bothering to look back. Molly wondered what would bring them down first: a vicious claw in the side or a plasma blast in the back. But neither came.
The creatures that had been stalking Molly and Kareem roared so loud they sounded like cannons. Gudam’s scream had done the trick, just as it had with the rafakrit. The beasts barreled toward the sound, which put them right on a path with the Sangheili.
Molly and Kareem reached the top of a knoll and glanced back to see the Sangheili warriors spin toward the creatures, bringing their weapons to bear. Then Kareem grabbed Molly’s hand again, turned, and bolted down the ridgeline of the knoll. As they went, he started to lead them back around toward their enemies in a wide circle.
Molly understood. They still had to reach Bakar and Prone. She glanced back to watch the Servants firing on the creatures head-on.
One of the beasts simply ignored the pain and barreled right into the Servants. It exposed its massive maw as it lunged at a warrior, opening it wide like some vicious steel trap. The creature fit more than half of the hapless Sangheili into its mouth with a single bite, then clamped down its teeth, separating its prey in two.
Molly’s stomach climbed into her throat at the sight.
This was going to get ugly.
CHAPTER 33
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Ruk’s warm blood was still spilling from his throat when the Servants spotted the two human fledglings creeping up on them. Still stunned by Dural savagely putting down Ruk’s challenge to his leadership, the other warriors hesitated to act.
Dural was not nearly so sanguine. “Get them, fools!” he roared until the others finally snapped into action.
Asum shouted at the human fledglings that they should not have followed the Servants there, and Dural agreed. The idea that the two of them—mere children—could sneak up on the Servants in the middle of the wilderness and take them down with only a pair of rifles was beyond ludicrous. What were they thinking?
Dural did wonder, however, how they had managed to keep after them this entire time. They must have watched as he slew the demon—when the Spartan foolishly tried to keep them from going through the portal—and then, perhaps, they had continued to hound their trail. Dural had to respect the fledglings’ bravery despite their foolishness.
“Allies of yours?” Dural questioned Asum.
“I do not know them.”
Dural knew his own blood much better than that. “You always were a terrible liar, brother.”
Then a strange scream blared from behind them. Dural realized he had heard such a sound before, when the field master had tortured an Unggoy who had attempted to betray the Servants to the Arbiter.
But why an Unggoy would be out here howling in the middle of nowhere, Dural could not say. It must have come with the humans—who now were running away.
“Shoot them!” Dural barked at his warriors. “Shoot—”
Then Asum punched him in the throat. Had Dural been watching him, Asum would never have managed it, but his friends had distracted Dural. Asum then tried to snatch the storm rifle from Dural’s back, but the Pale Blade managed to knock it away from both of them instead.
Dural staggered back, clutching at his neck as he gasped for breath and brandished his energy sword in front of him. He tried to call his warriors, but he could not get the words out.
He could not signal them either. They were not looking in his direction—or even that of the humans. They were completely transfixed by something they saw in the brush instead.
That was when Dural saw them too: a pair of new creatures that emerged from the encroaching dusk and stampeded toward his warriors. The beasts unleashed ferocious howls that curdled Dural’s blood. He realized they had been sorely tricked.
The Unggoy had not been screaming in fear. It had been calling the beasts.
One of them grabbed a warrior in its teeth as it trampled over another. The second tore into yet another warrior as the rest of Dural’s vanguard began firing at both beasts.
Dural finally managed to clear his throat, and he gave his warriors their orders. “Run!” he shouted in a hoarse voice. “Make for the Cathedral! Run!”
Then he grabbed Asum by his arm and attempted to drag him away, but his brother dug in his heels and refused to move. Dural looked at him cockeyed.
Is it really possible? Asum would rather be devoured by these creatures than come with me?
Dural struck him with the back of his hand, and his brother fell to the ground. He cursed, thinking that he would now have to carry Asum back to the base—and for what? So he could execute him in front of the others? Or had he subconsciously nursed the possibility Asum might recant his heresy and join the Servants of the Abiding Truth?
Either way, Dural needed to recognize that his brother wasn’t worth it.
He had just decided to leave Asum for the monsters and personally escort the Huragok to the Cathedral instead when his knee gave out beneath him with a sickening crack. He bellowed in agony and tumbled onto his back to find Kurnik standing over him, a cruel cackle rolling from his jaws.
“You’re not a bad leader, fledgling,” the old warrior said. “But you’re too dangerous to lead the Servants of the Abiding Truth.”
Dural turned over onto his hands and tried to climb to his feet, but his broken knee would not support his weight. “Traitor!”
“Coming from you?” Kurnik balled his fist and slammed it against his own chest in a mock salute. “I could no longer tolerate your volatile arrogance, besmearing the shadow of the field master you claim to esteem. His legacy is maligned by your lack of prudence. Who do you think the real traitor is?”
Dural roared after him in utter frustration as Kurnik turned and left. “You cannot outrun those beasts, fool!”
“I do not have to outrun them, Pale Blade,” Kurnik said as he sprinted away. “I only have to outrun you!”
Dural hurled curses after him and prayed to the gods to bring the traitor the fate he ripely deserved. They might not do Kurnik any harm, but they were all Dural had left.
Then Dural felt hands upon him, as Asum grabbed him and hoisted him to his feet. Dural grunted at him in pain, as Asum draped his arm over his shoulders. “What are you doing?”
“Saving your life, I hope.” Asum cast a wary eye toward the creatures still engaged with the Sangheili.
Despite all the years and light-years that had passed between them, this was still Dural’s brother: Little Asum, almost full grown now. Although Dural had been prepared to kill him only seconds earlier, somehow Asum refused to leave him to his own death.
“All right,” Dural said, as he hopped along on his one good leg. “Let us see.”
While Asum helped him, Dural watched the rest of his warriors scatter. He did not know if they had seen what Kurnik had done, but that did not matter. He had ordered them to flee, to save themselves, and only time would tell if they would succeed.
The Servants had all fled in different directions. Kurnik had been right, Dural saw. They did not need to outrun the monsters, only each other. With luck, they would only lose a few warriors, and the rest would escape—including the ones dragging the Huragok along with them.
And if the gods provided, both Dural and Asum would be among the survivors. Dural limped along, using his brother for support, the two of them striking out for the Cathedral as quickly as they could.
As they went, Dural could hear the screams of one of his warriors as he fell prey to the creatures and was devoured alive. The sounds went on for far too long, but when they were finally cut short, Dural worried even more about what might follow. Would that beast’s hunger be sated, or would it come next for those who remained?
Even as he and Asum fled, Dural began to think about what he would do to Kurnik if they both made it back to the base. The pain that stabbed through his leg with every halfhearted step he could take reminded him of Kurnik’s treache
ry. He had no hope that any of his warriors would kill Kurnik for him. If he was to maintain his leadership, Dural would have to put an end to the malcontent himself—and in the most brutal fashion.
But he realized that things could never be the same. If he returned to the base with his leg broken like this, he would be expected to kill himself in shame. If he refused, he would fall prey to another ambitious Sangheili for sure.
Dural was finished either way. No Sangheili warrior would follow the lead of one so damaged. The code of their people was crystal clear. He would be lucky if they didn’t slaughter him out of mercy.
Even if he survived, he would face an endless stream of interlopers who envied his position. Would he wind up battling against his own warriors until either he perished or was alone? Would that be his lot for the rest of his life?
Dural realized he only had one way out of this.
He put his fingers to his mouth and blew out a piercing whistle.
Asum loosened his grip on his brother in sheer horror. “What are you doing? Are you insane?”
“Run, brother.” Dural pushed Asum away with a single shove. “I am putting my fate in the hands of the gods. I am heading toward my salvation or my doom. Leave me!”
“No, Dural.” Asum backed away from him. “No!”
Dural could hear a monster coming at him now, huffing its horrible breath. Its feet thundered against the ground, boring through the tall grass that surrounded them, growing louder with each step. He could feel the beat hammered out in the turf beneath them.
Was the beat a prelude to his epitaph or his triumph?
Only the gods know.
“Run, Asum!” Dural closed his eyes and whistled one more time. “Run!”
CHAPTER 34
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Molly couldn’t believe what Bakar’s brother was doing. She had only hoped to use the chaos the creatures created to scatter the Sangheili long enough for Bakar and Prone to flee. She hadn’t expected Dural to take them on himself.
Prone still hadn’t gotten away from its Sangheili escorts, but Molly saw that they’d at least gotten it out of the path of the monsters. When Dural called one of the beasts straight to him, though, Bakar just froze there next to him, too shocked to run.
The monster charged at Dural, who stood before it, balancing on his one good leg. He closed his eyes and activated his energy sword, holding it out to his side. What is he thinking?
As the creature barreled toward him, Dural shifted quickly to the side, bringing his sword into place just in front of him. Before the monster reached him, Dural—with his eyes still closed—raked the blade through the air and sprang up on his single leg.
The beast snapped at the sword, and its scores of vicious teeth bit into the blade, causing it to cry out. The energy crackled along the length of the sword, scorching the monster’s mouth, but rather than frighten the beast, this only seemed to enrage it. The creature bit down even harder on the blade, shattering it between its jaws.
As the monster whipped past him, Dural finally opened his eyes and caught its shoulder with his hand. Using the beast’s momentum, he swung himself up and around so he could clamber atop the creature’s neck. From there, the Sangheili dug his hands tight into the beast’s thick fur and held on for his life.
Bakar stumbled backward, out of the animal’s way, and watched as the creature raced off into the darkness, his brother still astride it. “Dural!” he shouted after him. “Dural!”
“Get away from there!” Kareem shouted at Bakar. “Run!”
At first, Molly wasn’t quite sure why Kareem was yelling. The monster that had charged at Dural was far gone.
Then she remembered there wasn’t just one.
The other beast had also heard Dural’s whistle, and after it had finished tearing apart a hapless pair of Sangheili warriors, it was now heading toward Bakar to investigate.
To complicate things further, the rest of the Servants hadn’t all managed to escape. A pair of them were still struggling with Prone to Drift, trying to get him to cooperate. Some others had stayed nearby, trying to predict which way the creatures might run and how to best evade them. Molly soberly realized that, even if she and her friends survived the last creature, they might still have to deal with the rest of the Servants.
The remaining beast came slowly and methodically this time, snuffling over toward Bakar as if it had found something new to chew on. The Sangheili did his best to stay absolutely still, giving the animal the same penetrating stare he gave everyone else.
The beast didn’t seem impressed, and Bakar had nowhere left to run.
Molly took a deep breath and cringed as the creature edged to barely more than a meter in front of Bakar’s unwavering eyes.
At that moment, something came roaring through the sky, piercing the air all around. It startled the creature, causing it to back away from Bakar as it scoured the sky for the source of the noise. The sound had begun as a low rumble but rose in pitch and volume as it grew closer. Molly shaded her eyes to peer toward whatever was making the noise, and she finally spotted it: a UNSC Pelican dropship bearing straight for them and coming in fast.
Molly realized only one person could be in that craft: Lucy.
“Prone must have told her where we are!”
Molly couldn’t help grinning with relief. If Lucy could bring the Pelican down somewhere nearby, they might actually survive. Hope sprang anew in her heart.
The creature also noticed the source of the sound but seemed unbothered by the approaching vehicle. No longer spooked, it returned its attention to Bakar, who had moved to join Molly and Kareem at the top of a hill. When the monster realized that Bakar had slipped away, it exploded toward them, refusing to lose its catch. Molly and the others turned and sprinted away as fast as they could, and the creature gave chase.
Without a word, they each split up in a different direction, fanning out across the grassland. For some reason, the creature now seemed to have set its heart on Molly. She heard Kareem, Bakar, and even Gudam—who had now rejoined them—shouting at it. They whistled and screamed, trying to draw its attention, but this monster was not distracted for an instant.
Perhaps the noise from the Pelican’s approach had drowned out everything else, or maybe the animal had simply fixated on her. Either way, she feared that only seconds separated her from death, and she was growing too tired to evade it any longer. She was about to close her eyes and give up. If the creature killed her, she hoped it would at least take long enough at it to give the others a fighting chance to escape.
Right then, the Pelican swung around from out of nowhere, slamming its tail into the creature and driving it into the turf behind Molly. The beast let loose a terrifying bellow of pain as the aircraft ground it into the dirt, breaking bones and tearing flesh. As the ship’s tail swung around to face Molly, the animal stopped moving altogether.
Molly stood there, shocked and dumbfounded, and tried to catch her breath. The Pelican’s rear hatch popped open.
A moment later, Lucy stepped out, clad in her Mjolnir armor, a battle rifle in her hands. “You all right, kid?”
Molly gasped enough air to answer. “I am now.”
Lucy leaped down from the hovering Pelican and hefted Molly up into it. As she did, she spotted Bakar, Kareem, and Gudam approaching from the distance. “Let’s make this quick, folks. Those Sangheili over there don’t look like they’re interested in just letting us go.”
“Prone to Drift!” Molly said, remembering the Huragok. “They’ve got Prone!”
“Not for long, they don’t.”
CHAPTER 35
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Lucy-B091 moved past Molly, charging headlong toward the Servants at the edge of the clearing as they hauled their kidnapped Huragok behind them. “Get to the dropship!” she shouted to Kareem and Bakar as she raced past them. “Lock yourselves in!”
Bakar reached the Pelican first, and Kareem rushed in only
a moment later, followed by Gudam, who waddled up from behind. After she entered, Molly slammed her fist against the bay door release and sealed them in. She quickly made her way up to the cockpit, where she found Kareem in the pilot’s seat and Gudam in the copilot’s spot. As Kareem gently spun the Pelican’s nose around, Molly stood next to Bakar and peered over their shoulders to watch Lucy at work.
Although Molly had always thought of Lucy as a superhero, the Servants who remained outnumbered her several times over. As Tom had back at the portal, she moved with such speed and fluidity that most of them could not get a bead on her, and she targeted those who did. In time, however, she struggled to keep up with the barrage of incoming fire and a lack of decent cover. On top of that, the fact that she couldn’t unload her weapons on them all for fear of killing Prone with a stray shot hampered her efforts.
“We need to help her!” Molly said to Kareem. “Can you operate this thing’s guns?”
“I think so.” He grabbed a second set of controls, and Molly felt the gimbal underneath the ship’s nose grind to life. A heads-up targeting circle appeared painted on the viewport in front of him.
“It’s working,” he said confidently. “Just like in the simulator.” He pulled a trigger, and the heavy autocannon right underneath the nose fired, tearing up a bit of the grass directly in front of them.
“Wow, that’ll do the trick!” Kareem said, now guiding the reticle toward the mass of Servants firing from the tree line.
“Careful!” Gudam said. “You’ll shoot Lucy!”
“She has armor,” Bakar said. “I am more concerned about Prone to Drift.”
Apparently Lucy was too. As they watched, she shot one of the Servants holding down Prone, and the Huragok somehow slipped free of the other, which had been distracted by the gunfire from the Pelican. Now loose, Prone hauled up its tentacles and began soaring high into the trees, putting it completely out of the reach of any Sangheili’s hand—but not their weapons.