by CW Tickner
The lift levelled with the hole and, as it did, the line of burning torches stretched far into the tank. Even the golden glow in Oscar’s tank shone through the distant hole. Harl sighed as the lift shuddered and came to a stop.
Rufus, knowing his plan had been discovered, snarled like a cornered animal and yanked a dagger from his robe pocket. He thrust it straight at Harl’s stomach, attempting to disembowel him.
Harl, half-expecting the weapon, stepped to one side and almost fell over the low railing. He gripped hard to keep his balance, and then turned as the blade came at him again. He ducked as Rufus lunged out and the dagger whipped through the empty air where he had been standing. He grabbed Rufus’ hand with both of his own and tugged down, pulling Rufus off balance to smash his hand into the railing. Rufus cried out in pain and the knife tumbled from his hand, lancing down through the air to stick upright in the wooden plank with a resounding thunk.
‘No, please!’ Rufus said, throwing his hands up as he stepped back to where the platform met the hole.
‘Why?’ Harl asked.
Rufus shrugged as if it was obvious.
‘Respect,’ he said simply.
Harl shook his head.
‘Not from you,’ Rufus spat, ‘or those sheep below, but from the gods. If they realized I was worthy enough to lead the council and those beneath them, then they would’ve let me leave that bloody prison. I was so close...’ He trailed off before laughing, his voice growing in intensity. ‘Then you come along just before I took full control of the council, promising a new life and all of your usual rubbish. A life where everything I’ve worked so hard for would be cast away. And for what? For a sense of stupid adventure!’ He spat on the floor. ‘Now the gods will see what you’ve done and they’ll know I stopped you. There’s not enough time for you and your flock to get away now. In ten strides, the One True God will be above you and stamp you into the ground for your heresy against him.’ His eyes flicked down and Harl followed his gaze to where the knife was stuck in the platform.
Rufus lunged forward but Harl slid a foot across the floor, sweeping the knife over the side, and grabbed the man’s shoulders, hauling him back up.
Harl stepped forward, shifting Rufus closer to the hole. The strength in Harl’s grip came from a sickening anger at the man. Harl sighed, but said nothing. There was nothing to be said now. He raised a foot and kicked hard, releasing his grip.
Rufus screamed as he fell through the hole down into the tank.
‘Now you can be your god’s only pet,’ Harl called down. He tugged the rope ladder up and tossed the last clump of straw over the side. ‘Just as you wanted.’
Harl’s sense of satisfaction drained as he descended. Time would be against all of them now. As soon as the Aylen saw the line of torches across the tanks, it would be a race, one he was sure the Aylen would win.
Chapter 73
I guess the fighting can be the same as Gruble wrestling but the difference is in the intelligence of the species. I assume that’s the draw for someone wishing to fight them.
‘The Aylen will know we left as soon as full light comes,’ Harl said, as the platform touched the ground. He leapt off and hurried to where Oscar, Damen and Kane were shouldering their packs.
‘What?’ Oscar asked. He glanced at the bright gap under the door, where the row of people started. All of them were packed and ready to leave.
‘It’s here?’ Kane asked looking around as if the giant had snuck up on them.
‘No, not yet,’ Harl said. ‘Rufus betrayed us. There’s a line of torches stretching through nearly every tank. As soon as an Aylen sees the tanks, the torches will lead it directly to the hole and it’ll track us down.’
‘That man?’ Kane asked looking up at the side of the tank stack.
‘A traitor,’ Harl said. ‘He left them lit. Without a way down, he’ll stay to enjoy his loneliness until the Aylen arrive.’
‘Bastard got what he deserved,’ Damen said.
‘As for us,’ Harl continued, ‘we have to go now or we’ll all be captured and thrown back in the tanks before nightfall with no way out.’
Troy, laden with a pair of bulky bags that clearly belonged to a couple of chatting women trailing behind him, fell in beside Harl. ‘Rufus?’
Harl nodded. ‘Betrayed all of us. So I let him stay behind.’
‘He’ll have everything he wants now,’ Troy said. ‘Except people.’
‘He never got on with them anyway,’ Harl said. He turned to Kane. ‘Break the scaffold and pulley. No more stealth. It’s now a race.’
‘Move out!’ Damen shouted, waving his hands at the soldiers beside the gap.
Harl slung his satchel over a shoulder and made for the head of the column. Troy lugged his self-imposed burden along, puffing to keep pace with Harl.
‘Uman,’ Harl said, after he’d ducked under the hole beneath the door and seen the man on the other side. Uman was watching the light rising on the horizon.
‘Sir?’
‘Send word to the outpost that we’re coming straight for Delta,’ Harl said. ‘Have them relay to the city that the ship must be ready to go immediately. Time’s against us now.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Uman said, nodding to Harl before running into the nearest patch of grass stalks.
‘Bloody hell,’ Troy said, shielding his eyes. ‘Is it always this bright?’
‘It gets brighter,’ Harl said, waving the first group out from under the door. ‘You’ll get used to it.’
Like a tide smashing against the rocks, each wave of people coming under the door staggered to a stop and collided with the one before it. They were stunned by the brightening sky, shading their eyes in wonder as the sun climbed up above the giant foliage ahead of them.
Harl remembered when he had first seen it himself. The world so big, so overwhelming, and the colours of dawn spreading across the horizon and sweeping up to paint the sky with light was truly awe-inspiring. It made the heart leap. All of these people were seeing it for the first time, they were feeling that same strange mix of wonder, fear, and hope that he and Sonora had felt all that time ago. The memory of Sonora holding his hand made Harl smile. She was his hope. She and the baby.
‘It’s unbelievable,’ Troy said, taking in the vista of giant grass stalks and the back drop of the great tree spreading out above the world in the distance. He held his hand out in front of him, sighting between his pinched fingers as if testing far off objects for scale.
More groups followed, ushered out by pairs of men tasked with keeping the train moving. When they numbered into the hundreds it was hard to keep them all in the vicinity. Some wandered off to inspect the plants as others stood on the flat plain, staring up in awe at the sky and the horizon. Guards kept rounding them up and bringing them back together.
‘Bit like sheep,’ Troy muttered as yet another group was brought back into the fold
When everyone had come through the door, Damen stepped out from the shop and Harl moved through the press to meet him.
‘We won’t be stopping to rest at the outpost,’ Harl said. ‘We can’t afford to lose any time en route. Can your men stay to the sides of the train and keep people from straying?’ Harl asked.
‘We’ll be stretched thin, but we can do it,’ Damen said.
The day was going to be hot and, with the exception of Oscar’s people, the tank-dwellers were unused to any strong fluctuation in temperature.
The exodus was a catastrophe. People were terrified, but if that had been the only problem it would have been easier to manage. Curiosity was the danger. People kept stepping away from the path to investigate the strange sights and sounds despite their fear. It was a maddening confusion. Damen’s men had to race up and down the column to fend off curious creatures or to find lost children and straying parents.
But as the novelty wore off, the fear of what lay around them began to build. Those who had felt the pull of curiosity now huddled closer and closer to the main train. The f
orest stifled the breeze and became more menacing as the sunlight fell into shadow and the train of people plunged deeper into the swaying grasses.
When they finally reached the outpost, the sun was just above the horizon and Harl sent another message to Delta informing them that the train of refugees had arrived.
To Harl’s surprise, Arlet, the old Elderman approached him as the line started off from the outpost. He gestured for Harl to step into the shelter of the archway that led through the sandy boulders into the outpost.
‘Harl,’ Arlet said, looking around at the small outpost carved into the rock as he led Harl inside.
It was more chaotic than when Harl had last seen it. Supplies were scattered across the floor and piles of timber were stacked against one wall. Probably remnants of the wood used to create the lift platform.
‘This is unreal,’ Arlet continued. He looked weary but invigorated, as though he couldn’t walk any further physically, but could wander for years in his mind. ‘So beautiful.’
Harl felt pity for the man. Arlet had believed in the gods for all of his life and only now, near the end of his days, did he see the truth. He wouldn’t even have the time to fully understand it all.
‘You’ll adjust,’ Harl said. ‘Just as we did.’
‘I’m afraid not,’ Arlet said, slumping into a wooden chair by the radio. ‘I can’t go any further.’
‘I’ll have the men carry you,’ Harl said, looking around for some of Damen’s troops. ‘All we need is-’
‘No, my boy,’ Arlet cut him off. ‘My legs are weak and you need speed. You will be lucky to make it as it is.’
‘You want me to just leave you here?’ Harl asked.
‘You said you can contact this Delta from here?’
‘Through the radio, yes,’ Harl said, pointing to the speaker box that had scared him half to death when he’d first heard it. It had been talking non-stop since they arrived, informing Kane about the status of the city and the ship.
‘Show me how to use it and when the god-’ The old man sighed. ‘-when the creature comes, I can at least send you a warning and be useful.’
Harl didn’t know what to say. He was touched at the sacrifice this fragile old man would make to save hundreds of people he’d never known.
‘I’ll have Kane come and show you how to use it before we leave,’ he said.
‘I’m sorry about Rufus,’ Arlet said, standing and putting a bony hand on Harl’s shoulder.
‘It’s no one’s fault, Arlet. Rufus was bad from the beginning. He was planning to take down the Eldermen. Told me as much before he tried to kill me.’
‘If we’d had any sense, we’d have made you a councilman,’ Arlet said. ‘When you saved those boys from Rufus, it showed your true self, but I was blind to it.’ He glanced out through a hole in the rock to the forest beyond. ‘Like so much else.’
‘You knew about that?’ Harl asked.
Arlet nodded. ‘There are a great many things that we Eldermen knew of that were kept from the people. Many were just tales from long ago, things we believed to be superstition. But now I can see that our own minds were too weak to grasp the truth, and for that, I am truly sorry, Harl. You have carried many burdens through your life, but I thank you for it. You have given us hope, Harl. Your parents would be proud of you, as am I. Now, send this Kane to me and be off. I will do this last task for our people and be glad of it. We’re wasting time.’
‘Thank you,’ Harl said.
He turned and walked from the outpost, a single tear running down one cheek. He didn’t look back.
They pushed on through the growing light. The grass forest and the tree above it cut out most of the light and only the flickering torches kept the line together. They had to reach Delta. If they were found out in the open, the Aylen would catch them. Delta and the ship were their only chance.
Harl glanced over his shoulder at the building as a loud bang sounded like distant thunder. He broke into a run, making for the front of the line where Damen had taken the lead.
‘Urge them on faster, Damen’ Harl said. ‘Something is happening. I sense the threat, and if we don’t get them home soon, it’ll be too late.’
Damen grimaced before racing down the line of people.
‘Move! Move!’ he shouted. ‘Pick up the pace!’
A man’s scream cut through the air. Harl spun on his heel. He could glimpse a tiny bit of sky through the tangle of grass stalks above, but there was no sign of the Aylen. He couldn’t make out anything further back. Everything was far too tangled and dense. He ran back along the line, but stumbled to a halt.
The man who’d screamed was writhing in pain on the ground, blood gushing from a wound on his leg. A woman was kneeling next to him, horror written all over her face as she clamped her jacket down over his wound. Blood soaked through it immediately.
Harl waved everyone on and then knelt down next to her. ‘What happened?’
Her eyes were locked on the spreading bloodstain.
‘He was just running along and then he fell down clutching his leg,’ her voice trailed off.
Damen arrived and lifted the jacket away. Blood sprayed out as he tore the man’s cotton trousers open to reveal the wound. His face was grim.
‘Ripshrub,’ he said. He looked around and then pointed at a large plant nearby. It had a faint metallic look and gleamed in the shadows. When he turned back to Harl, he shook his head.
‘No!’ the woman wailed. She grabbed Harl’s shirt. ‘You’ve got to do something. Please, I can’t lose him.’
Harl pried her hands loose and then ripped his belt free.
‘We aren’t losing anyone,’ he said. He wrapped the belt around the man’s leg, pulled it tight, and then snatched a sheathed dagger from Damen and used it to wind the belt tight, cutting off the blood flow and clamped the man’s hand over it.
‘You two,’ Harl said to a couple of council guards nearby.
Both had been holding bows up to the shadows, in case it had been a creature, and they looked around at him.
‘Get him up and help him to the city. It’s not far,’ he said and watched as they scrambled to pick the paling man up.
Damen furrowed his brow as the man was helped away.
‘I know,’ Harl said, ‘but if I tell everyone we’re only halfway then some will give up.’
‘Leave them then,’ Damen said.
‘You can’t leave them to wander out here,’ Harl said, trying to keep his voice low. ‘You’ve no idea what it’s like. It’d be cowardly.’
‘I do,’ Damen growled, glaring at him, but he turned as a series of shouts came from ahead, followed by the buzzing of wings and gunfire.
‘Hivers!’ Damen shouted, raising his rifle and storming towards the commotion.
Harl sprinted up the train of scared faces and headed for the neon blue flashes off to one side of the line.
‘Move,’ he yelled at a family who had stopped to watch, holding up those behind them.
He broke from the line, dodging between stalks as he followed the flares of gunfire. He stumbled into a small clearing where a line of soldiers were attempting to form up as a row of hivers sprung at them. The men were firing wildly. Some hit their targets, but most were getting picked off from above as more hivers dived down from the stalk tips to land on top of them.
Oscar was stabbing at anything coming from above with a long sharpened stick, while Damen calmly knelt and fired, yelling commands at anyone who would listen.
Harl fumbled for his pistol and watched for Oscar to lunge upwards. The shadows made it hard to see anything solid but, as Oscar’s spear jabbed up, he aimed for the tip and fired.
The shot hit its target and Oscar looked around at him, grinning, but then his eyes grew wide and, in a moment of utter madness, he drew back the makeshift spear and launched it straight at Harl. A heavy weight fell on Harl, knocking him to the ground. He rolled aside and lay there staring at a dead hiver. Oscar’s spear had gone straight thro
ugh its head and, as the creature twitched, he had a moment to take in the carnage.
Several men were dead and the others were grouped up, holding their own against the remaining winged monsters. At Damen’s command, they stepped back and fired in a neat line until the last hiver retreated back into the forest.
The buzzing stopped and sporadic shouting filled the air as people who had broken away from the line tried to regroup with loved ones. Harl climbed to his feet, still shaken by the hiver that had almost got him.
Another loud bang echoed in the distance.
‘Keep moving,’ Damen called out, running back to the column. He turned to Harl, ‘If we keep making this much noise, every living thing in the forest will be on our heels, if it’s not already. We must go faster.’
He grabbed a worried-looking soldier who had been casting furtive looks into the dense stalks.
‘Get to the front of the line and tell Kane and Uman to start running. Let those you pass know we’re going faster and if they lag they’ll be left behind.’
The man nodded and Harl looked at Damen.
‘How many can you spare to speed up the old and young?’ Harl asked.
‘We’ll all be dead if we don’t leave some behind,’ Damen said.
Harl tucked his pistol away and pointed at a family huddling together. Their young daughter was clutching her mother’s hand and looking around in fear while the mother attempted to soothe her.
‘Think of it as an adventure,’ the mother said, kneeling to get level with her child. ‘We won’t let anything bad happen to you.’
‘Tell them that,’ Harl said, sickened by Damen’s selfish attitude. ‘Tell them that we’re abandoning them.’
Damen just grunted and pushed past him, heading to the back of the line.
People began to collapse from exhaustion. Some stumbled away from the ever-widening column, while others just dropped to the ground, unable to continue. They were hoisted up by a group of soldiers, and half-stumbling, half-dragged, were forced forward.
Harl jogged along behind one ragged group. One of the men being supported slipped, knocking his helper into a huge, rotten branch. It crumpled as the man tried to push himself off, fighting tiredness. As he stood, the branch wobbled, then a section of the log tore open, splitting apart as a fanged mouth whipped out and wrapped around the man’s entire arm. It yanked him off his feet and into the rotting mass. His scream cut off as his comrades scattered.