Desolate Tides (Earth Exiles Book 5)

by Mark Harritt

  Matki nodded, “Those are my men. They will pull security now. They run faster than you do.” He motioned around the clearing, “Find anything that’s been left behind. Take it up the ridge. Do it quickly.”

  Diane looked toward the Contai camp.

  Matki put his hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry about that Diane. Get your people, grab what you can, and go up.”

  Diane looked panicked, “I don’t know how to get there.”

  Matki smiled, “Look down at your feet.”

  Diane looked down. There were multiple trails through the grass heading toward the path. People were in a hurry to get to safety. She looked back up at Matki, and nodded. She turned and went to find the other four to get them up the ridge. Matki and Tunlin kept filling the blanket until they had most of the meat. They had to tie the blanket so that they wouldn’t lose anything. Then they stuffed everything left into their pockets. They slung it between them and started back up to the trail.

  It wasn’t long before they overtook Diane and the other four security guards. They were going generally in the right direction, but they would have missed the trail by twenty or thirty feet. The guards fell in behind Matki and Tunlin, following them to the trail.

  Matki called Diane to him, “When we get up to the top, I need you do do a head count of your people, so that I know everyone made it. If you come up short, let me know, and I’ll come back down and find them.”

  Diane acknowledged Matki’s request, and then started cajoling her ‘security’ people to get up the path. Keisha started falling back, but Diane encouraged her to keep the pace. Matki didn’t pay attention. His mind was whirling. Once he got to the top, they’d have to shift the boulders, and then send someone up so they could check out the notch in the cliff wall. They had to push the women and children back and bring the capable men forward for security. They had just over thirty security personnel to fight off any attack that Walleg might attempt.

  They made it to the top of the trail, and Matki was surprised and pleased that his soldiers were already shifting boulders to make firing positions just inside the crevasse. Diane and her crew moved past the Contai to take their supplies to the back. Matki and Tunlin walked up and handed their burden to Contai women who were watching the soldiers. The women took it into the crevasse.

  “Who told you to do this?” Matki asked.

  One of the warriors pointed at Jendi, who was helping to move one of the large rocks into the crevasse entrance. “Is this not what you wanted?”

  “No, it’s exactly what I wanted,” Matki answered. He turned to Tunlin, and pointed up at the notch, “Can you have your people check it out?” Tunlin nodded, and moved forward to tap three of the Contai on the shoulder and motioned for them to follow him.

  Matki waited until Jendi was finished, and another crew moved forward to shift another rock. Matki walked over to his son, “Good initiative.”

  Jendi shrugged, “I heard you and Tunlin talking about it. It needed to be done, so I told them what you wanted.” He motioned at the men around him, “They agreed and started moving rocks.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by a sentry that was looking back down the trail, “Our scouts are coming in.”

  Matki’s heart sank. This meant that Walleg and the others had finally caught onto their plan. When they arrived, Matki stepped over to question Oushui, the lead scout, “How far behind.”

  Oushui stopped to answer, “Not far, possibly thirty minutes. They’re taking their time, possibly worried about traps. Once they figure out that we aren’t down slope anymore, they’ll pick up the pace.”

  Matki clapped him on the shoulder and told him to get his scouts inside. Matki looked at the progress that the other men had made around the entrance. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. Matki helped them move the last stone into place, which took five minutes of alternately levering and rolling the rock. Once they were done, Matki moved everybody back into the crevasse.

  It wasn’t long until the first scout of the other tribe found the trail leading to the crevasse. He was going to come up further, but Matki sent him scrambling back out of rifle range to find cover with a shot that ricocheted off the cliff wall.

  Tunlin came up to stand beside Matki, “I couldn’t get one of my men up there in time.”

  Matki shrugged, “Well, it would have been nice, but we’ll have to make do with what we have.”

  Tunlin nodded, and pointed out the front of the crevasse, “If we were still out there, we’d all be dead now.”

  Matki agreed, “Yes, you’re probably right.”

  Nobody else came up the trail, realizing that the first shot was the only warning that they were going to get. Anybody else that stepped onto that trail would pay for it with his life. Nothing happened as they waited for Walleg’s next move. Matki sat behind one of the boulders waving midges away from his face. It was quiet for about an hour before they heard anything else. Matki had no doubt that they were trying to figure out how to dig Matki and his people out of the crevasse. Walleg’s strategy was revealed when he yelled out.

  “Matki, are you up there?” Walleg asked.

  “Where else would I be, Walleg? Down there with you?” Matki yelled back.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this!”

  “Is that what you told Durzai? I’m pretty sure his little girl would disagree with you.”

  There was silence as Walleg chewed on Matki’s last observation. The silence didn’t last long, though.

  “You can’t stay up there forever, Matki. I’ll make you a promise. If you come down, I’ll let the rest of your people go.”

  “Are you going to give the Emurecuns the same deal?”

  Once again, there was silence, but the silence didn’t last as long, “No. The aliens have to take their chances with my people.”

  Jendi shifted his gaze to his father, worried that Matki might take such a deal.

  “It wasn’t too long ago that we were your people, Walleg. I guess the idea of being in power again was too seductive an idea for you to resist. I’m going to have to pass on your proposal,” Matki countered.

  “Those Contai up there, their lives are on your head, Matki. If they come down here, they’ll be welcomed back into our tribe.”

  “I doubt that very much, Walleg. They sided with me. How can you trust them? How long before you slit their throat just like you slit Durzai’s?” That last was said for the benefit of the people hiding in the crevasse with Matki, just in case they had second thoughts about the choice that they’d made.

  Walleg didn’t answer Matki’s question. Instead, he started asking his own, “You tell me this Matki. How long can you last up there? Barring rain, how long before your water runs out? How long before your food runs out? How long before your people starve and have to leave that split in the rock? I can promise you this, Matki. If you make me wait, I’m going to kill all of you. I don’t care if you give yourself up after that. At that point, you’re all my enemy. You only have the rest of today to think about it. Tomorrow morning, if you have people that want to come back to the tribe, they’ll be welcomed. One hour after sunrise, if anybody comes out of the fissure, I’m going to kill them.”

  Matki looked around at his men, “Anybody want to take him up on his offer?”

  One of the men yelled from the back, “I’d trust a pack of grasnigs before I trust Walleg. The first one that walks down there is the first one that gets their throat slit.”

  Matki looked around at the faces of his men and they all had the same look in their eyes, strong, resolute.

  Matki turned back around, and yelled out to Walleg, “We’ll be here when you decide to come up and see us.”

  “As you wish, Matki. Their deaths are on your head.”

  A single atlatl dart came flying out of the forest below. The dart head slammed into the ground forty feet away.

  Matki smiled, “At least we’re out of dart range.”

  That had been a worry for him.
The bullets flew in a flat trajectory, and the rocks they’d rolled in front of the crevasse would block the bullets. The only thing they had to worry about were ricochets. The darts could be thrown in a high, overhead arc, making them much more dangerous right now.

  They didn’t hear anything else from Walleg. Matki squatted over his heels. He turned to look at his soldiers, “We have night vision. We brought Everett’s helmet up here, and the Emurecun security guards have them as well. Pass it between guard shifts so that they don’t sneak up on us.

  “I wish we could wear his body armor,” Chaoloi said.

  Matki grinned, “You can try Chaoloi, but it would look like a dress on you.”

  The rest of the men chuckled. Matki looked at Tunlin. These men were more his people than they were Matki’s, “Tunlin, you set the watch. We have more than enough men, so two hours for each man.”

  Tunlin nodded, “As you wish.” He looked up at the notch, “You still want to put someone up there?”

  “Can you get someone up there without exposing them to Walleg’s men?” Matki asked.

  Tunlin shook his head, “No, not in the light.”

  “In the dark?”

  Again, Tunlin shook his head, “Too dangerous at night.”

  Matki shook his head, “Don’t worry about it then. I’m going to go see the Emurecuns’ new babies, and spend a little bit of time with my wife and family. Wake me when it is my turn for guard duty.”

  “Early, middle, or late?” Tunlin asked.

  Matki moved back so that he didn’t expose himself to enemy fire, stood up, and joined Jendi, “I don’t care. Give me whatever shift nobody else wants.”

  With that, Matki and Jendi moved toward the back of the crevasse. Matki was suddenly very tired. He looked over at Jendi, “What do you think?”

  Jendi glanced at his father as they maneuvered around women and children trying to set up bedding and tents, “He’s right, you know. We can only stay here so long before we run out of water and starve.”

  Matki sighed, and put his hand on his son’s shoulder, “I’m aware of that. We’ll try to figure that out tomorrow. Today, we’re still alive.”

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  “He’s always been a lazy bastard.”

  “Aye, I’ve always known that.”

  “Well, he’s going to have to wake up sooner or later.”

  “Good luck with that. He came off watch about three hours ago. He’s probably in a deep sleep right now.”

  “Not for much longer.”

  Matki was sleeping at the front of the canyon with his men and Diane’s small squad of security personnel. With security and all the warriors up front, it was easier to wake someone up for watch, and they would all be in the right location if they were attacked.

  Matki felt someone pull slowly on his blanket. He knew, from the little conversation that he’d heard, that someone was messing with him. He didn’t hear any rifles firing, so he knew they weren’t under attack. The gentle tugging continued, so he kicked at whoever was playing a trick on him.

  “Leave me alone, let me get some sleep.”

  “Suns up, you should be too, lazy bones.”

  Something clicked in Matki’s head. That voice sounded very familiar. He opened his eyes to see two familiar silhouettes in front of him. He sat straight up, “Where did you two come from?”

  Tunlin chuckled and turned to walk back to the front of the crevasse, “I’ll let you catch up.”

  Geonti ignored Tunlin and hooked a thumb behind him, toward the opening of the crevasse, “She brought us.”

  Matki’s eyes narrowed, and he frowned, “She?”

  Reici nodded, “Yeah, her, Jennifer.”

  Matki scrambled out of his bag, “Jennifer? Jennifer’s alive?”

  “Yeah, she’s alive. Ai had to dig her out of that big rock slide, but she’s definitely alive,” Rieci told him.

  Matki remembered the size of the rock slide, “There is no way you dug her out of that rock slide.”

  Rieci looked confused for a moment, and then understanding flooded his features, “No, not I, Ai. Ai’s the A.I. in the mech.”

  Matki stared at Reici, “What the hell are you talking about?” Then Matki realized that Rieci said, ‘mech.’

  “You brought the mechs with you?” He asked, grabbing Rieci’s arm.

  Rieci looked concerned, “Yes, we brought the mechs. Actually, Jennifer and the mechs brought us.”

  Matki stared at the front of the crevasse, “Where’s Jennifer?”

  Geonti pointed toward the opening in the crevasse, “She’s back there, with the mechs.”

  Matki felt an intense relief. His people were going to survive after all. His joy at having the three of them back turned into concern. He looked up at Rieci and Geonti, “We’ve had some problems.”

  Rieci nodded, “Tunlin told us what happened. When we approached, Jennifer noticed that there was a cluster of Emurecun helmets up here, and there were some people at the bottom of the slope. We tried to hail the ones downslope, but as soon as they saw us, they ran like the demon queen herself was running after them. They cleared out pretty quick. Jennifer thought something might be wrong, so she sent us up here to make contact.”

  Matki was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to say. He stared at the mouth of the crevasse, watching the face of the mountain as day light painted the world around them.

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  Chapter Ten

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Mara’a asked.

  Jhani looked back over her shoulder, “You know Min is down here somewhere, right Varee?”

  “No, I’m not sure this is a good idea, but this has to be done. Yes, I know Min is down here somewhere. No, I’m not worried about Min. He and I have a working relationship. He likes me. I bring him food, lots of it,” Om Varee answered.

  “He likes you?” Mara’a asked, “How can you tell?”

  “He hasn’t killed me yet,” Om Varee answered.

  “Yet,” Jhani repeated.

  They were traveling in the underground sewers that crisscrossed under the palace and the city. Jhani was in front since her reaction time was so much better than Mara’a’s or even Om Varee’s. Their combat suits made them shadows in the dark, dank, underground sewers.

  The last few days had been frenetic. They’d left twenty-four corpses of the Dinshani assassins and thirty or more of the grey men dead in the sewers. Evidently the Dostori Rev was peeved about Om Varee blowing up part of her tower. She was putting out a considerable effort to find them and kill them.

  She’d tried poisonous gas in the sewers, but their combat helmets filtered out the corrosive chlorine. The only thing the chlorine gas had done was kill the destitute and the vermin, and turned the waters in the sewers acidic. The area under the Dostori Rev’s tower was higher than the surrounding city sewers, and they’d left the poisonous chlorine gas behind hours ago.

  “Why are we doing this?” Mara’ asked.

  “Because, I need to know who they are, where they came from,” Om Varee answered. “There’s another player in the game. Whoever financed them has deep pockets. They’re master strategists as well. They destroyed the Turinzoni battalion that was sent in, and, by all accounts, with very few people. While the Turinzoni aren’t exactly known to be the smartest soldiers in the world, the Sh'raithe are very shrewd. They managed to not only destroy a large part of the Sh’raithe contingent, but they also killed the Sh’raithe Shaedur and Shomcuer through a deceptive ploy. If I can create an alliance between the Ts’ii brotherhood and this unknown player, we may acquire the capability to tip the balance of power away from the Dostori.”

  They walked on in the darkness, the other two mulling Om Varee’s reasoning. Mara’a, being Mara’a, questioned Om Varee’s logic, “What if they don’t want to align with us? What if, by meeting with these people, they decide to turn their sights on us as well as the Dostor
i Rev?” She asked.

  “I’ll worry about that problem when it presents itself, if it presents itself. Besides, we may be sacrificed, but they have no way to trace us back to the rest of the brotherhood. Plus, it’s better to know one’s rivals, or potential enemies, than not. More information about the threat is always preferable,” Om Varee pointed out.

  They continued in silence. Om Varee followed the map waypoints imprinted on his head’s up display. All too soon, they approached the gate that blocked their access into the Dostori Rev’s tower.

  Jhani stopped and stood before the gate, “We should have just stayed inside.”

  Om Varee stepped forward and motioned her to the side, “Well, there was that little, pesky moment when the Dostori Rev sent her people to kill me.”

  Jhani shook her head, “You don’t know that. You thought they were going to kill you, but you didn’t really know that they were going to do it.”

  Om Varee thought back to the Lord Caon, “Experience indicates otherwise. That and the camera feed showing Dinshani assassins coming to collect us. Besides, we won’t have any trouble getting back in. I upgraded her security, remember?”

  Mara’a was facing in the direction that they’d came from, watching their six, “What if she upgraded the security after we left?”

  Om Varee grinned, “What, you mean that she possibly had her security come down here and replace all the locks?”

  Mara’a nodded, “Something like that.”

  Om Varee walked to the gate. It was a banded steel gate with a steel barred door inset in the middle. It was a secure gate, with the frame solidly secured in the stone work around it. Om Varee didn’t touch it, of course, since alarms would go off throughout the tower. He squatted down and looked at the shiny new lock that secured the inset door. He pointed at the lock and spoke like he was shocked, opening his eyes wider, although it was merely a show for Mara’a’s sake, “It looks like you’re right Mara’a. I think they replaced the lock.”