by Henry Vogel
“Go back the way we came?”
“What about the workmen and the guards?” Martin sidled closer to the door we’d come through.
“Let’s put a door between us and the tammars before we waste time worrying about a bunch of tunnel rats.”
Never taking my eyes from the tammars, my hand found the door handle. Slowly, ever so slowly, I turned the handle.
One tammar rose to its feet, extended its forelegs and stretched. A casual observer might have believed the tammar hadn’t a care in the world. As an active participant in this drama, I saw it never took its eyes off of us.
“Now!” We shoved the door open and ran through it.
The two alert tammars sprang at us, closing the gap with terrifying speed!
“Boost!” I cried to Martin while triggering my own Boost.
Time slowed as adrenaline flooded my body. The charging tammars seemed to slow, as well, but the huge predators still moved much faster than even a Boosted human could run. Martin and I threw our whole bodies into shutting the door, trying desperately to close it before the tammars reached it.
We were still a foot short of closing the door when the two beasts crashed into it. Our Boosted strength was nothing against the combined might of two tammars. Martin and I were thrown backward twenty feet as the door slammed open. The two tammars bounded into the pit, with the other two tammars close on their tails!
Chapter 34
David
Flung from the door, Martin and I tucked and spun and landed on our feet. Had we landed on our backs—a certainty if we had not Boosted—the tammars would never have allowed us to regain our feet. As it was, we still had fifty feet of cage–tunnel to cover just to reach the full–sized cage. But if we could get to the cage, we had a fighting chance. The cage–tunnel was so narrow the tammars would be forced to come at us one at a time. With Boost, plus the freedom of movement afforded by the larger cage, maybe Martin and I could block the tammars from leaving the cage–tunnel. I had no idea what we would do after that, but decided to solve my problems one at a time.
The two lead tammars took a second to check their environment. I assume instinct drove them to look for threats, but anything that slowed them down was fine by me!
“Run!” Martin cried.
“No, swing!” I grabbed the bars above our heads, pulled my feet up, and began swinging along the bars of the cage–tunnel like some jungle lord from the adventure vids my father and I loved to watch.
Martin followed my lead just as the tammars decided it was safe to chase us. For most people, running was faster. With our Boost–enhanced strength and reflexes, Martin and I were much faster swinging.
The charging tammars snarled and snapped, getting in each other’s way, each eager to be the first to make a kill. Despite their fighting, the closest tammar was only fifteen feet behind us as Martin and I swung into the full–sized cage. The first gate out of the cage hung open on the far side of the pit. It was no more than thirty feet away, but it might as well have been in Mordan for all the good it did. Martin and I knew the chase would be over for us if the tammars reached open space and could leap properly.
Beyond the cage, the pit echoed with the shouts of the workmen and the guards just entering the room. In seconds, the normal beginning–of–shift chatter gave way to cries of alarm.
“The tammars are free!”
“The gate is open!”
“It’s Rice and Bane!”
“Let’s get out of here!”
“Bar the doors!”
“Alert the king!”
“Ask for more reinforcements!”
The workmen were as scared of Martin and me as they were of the tammars! In other circumstances, I’d have enjoyed the notoriety we had earned among the tunnel rats. At the moment, I was happy they were running from us rather than firing crossbows at us.
At the end of the cage–tunnel, we drew our swords and prepared to fight the tammars!
Chapter 35
David
The first tammar leapt while it was still in the cage–tunnel. The bars rang from the impact of skull on steel and the tammar’s charge slowed. I took advantage of its disorientation and slashed it across the cheek. Skin parted, blood flowed, and the tammar roared in pain. It swatted at my blade and, despite my Boost–enhanced speed, was quick enough to smack the blade tip. The tammar yowled as the tip of my sword plunged into its paw. The creature yanked its paw back, but the power of its blow almost knocked the sword from my hand!
I stepped back from my thrust, leaving the way clear for Martin. With a shout, he lunged at the angry predator. The tammar reared up on its hind legs, whacking its head on the low bars a second time. A line of blood welled behind Martin’s blade as he scored a cut on the tammar’s leg. He leapt back just ahead of a slashing claw from the second tammar, which we had thought blocked from the fight. When the first tammar reared, the second one saw an opening between the first tammar’s legs and swiped through the legs. Its trickery almost caught Martin.
The first tammar dropped back to all fours and discovered the second tammar between its legs. With a yowl of protest, it raked its back claws in the other one’s face, driving the second predator back behind it again.
“Martin, these things are too big and too fast for us. There’s no way we can keep them bottled up long enough to kill one of the tammars, much less all four!” I lunged for the tammar’s right eye but ended up slicing through an ear.
“What do you suggest we do?” Martin tried for the other eye but his blade just scraped along the jawbone.
“One of us must attack from a safer direction. You run out of the cage and attack this beast through the bars of the cage–tunnel.” I stabbed at a slashing paw and missed. The paw missed me, as well, but came within an inch of gutting me.
“Why me?” Martin asked.
“Because I’ve done a lot more Boosting than you have. I’m acclimated to it and can keep it going longer than you,” I replied, slashing a leg. “Now go!”
Someone else—such as my wife, to select an example purely at random—would have argued with me. Martin and I both had Scout training and, more, both knew I was the logical man to guard the tunnel. Martin made a wild swing to force the tammar back then bolted for the cage door.
I moved to block the center of the tunnel exit and stood alone against the tammars!
Chapter 36
David
The second tammar got tired of waiting for a chance to get at me. It slashed the right flank of the tammar I had been fighting. A roar turned into a yowl as the wounded tammar’s rear leg collapsed under the force of the blow. The impatient tammar started climbing over the lead tammar, pulling itself over that tammar with its claws.
As its flanks were ripped up, the tammar before me screamed in pain and fury. By instinct, it reared up on its hind legs to throw the enemy off of its back. As before, it banged its head on the bars over the cage–tunnel. As an added bonus, it whacked the second tammar’s head against the bars, as well. Stunned, both tammars reeled as if drunk.
Seizing the opening their power struggle provided, I lunged at the wounded and distracted predator. My blade struck true, piercing the tammar’s left eye and plunging into its brain! In a move my hoped–for children would probably find morbidly fascinating, I rotated my sword left to right, up and down, then back again. The blade cut up the tammar’s eye but, more importantly, it also sliced the tammar’s brain into many parts.
The tammar pulled away from me in reflex, almost jerking my sword from my hand. I’d been expecting that reaction, though. Using a two–handed grip, I held onto my sword and pulled it free. The tammar spasmed and convulsed in violent death throes as the last impulses from its destroyed brain went awry. The impatient tammar found itself flung left and right, unable to get past the dying predator.
That’s when Martin dashed up to the side of the cage–tunnel. He thrust his sword into the throat of the impatient tammar and sawed through muscle and art
eries. Blood fountained from the tammar, soaking it and its dying companion.
“The tunnel is blocked, David!” Martin shouted over the screams of the dying and trapped tammars. “Get out of there before the other two start clawing their way over the two dead ones!”
I sprinted for the cage door. Behind me, the two healthy tammars were already clawing at the dying ones, trying to get past them so they could get their paws on me. I reached the door before either of them could pull their way past the two corpses and out into the full–sized cage. With great satisfaction, I slammed the inner cage door shut. With a clang, the door rebounded and swung open again.
The first tammar was poking its head out of the cage–tunnel when I saw that the inner door had no latch. It took but a glance to see the same was true of the outer door. I had no way to lock the tammars into the cage!
Chapter 37
David
“There’s no latch!” I yelled.
“Lovely. I guess it’s on backorder with the locksmith,” Martin replied.
We both looked about for something to use to block one of the gates or fasten a gate to the cage bars. There were no spools of wire, no stacks of steel bars, and no handy padlock large enough to fit around the bars. Nor were there any wooden crates, large or small, we could push in front of the outer cage gate to slow down the tammar and buy us a few seconds to scramble for the door out of the pit. We would have to deal with the guards and the workmen, but right then two dozen men were much less intimidating than two tammars.
A boom echoed through the pit. The workmen and guards had slammed shut the only door out of the pit. A crash followed the boom; the guards barring the door, I guessed. Our only hope for escape was blocked. We no longer had any other choices open to us. Martin and I either found a way to deal with the tammars or the tammars would deal with us with gnashing teeth and slashing claws!
I glanced back at the cage–tunnel. One of the two remaining tammars clawed and wriggled its way past the two tammars Martin and I had already slain. We had mere seconds before that tammar came bounding across the pit floor and out of the cage. Even Boosted, there was no way I could get back inside the cage and slay the creature before it was free. Martin could kill it through the bars, except the tammar was on the other side of the cage–tunnel, far beyond Martin’s reach.
Martin saw that, too. He crouched, then sprang up to the top of the cage–tunnel. Even Boosted, clearing the thing in a single bound was beyond his strength. Instead, Martin turned the leap into a vault. Grabbing a bar over the top, he swung his feet around toward the far side of the tunnel. It was a great move, just the kind of thing you’d see from the swashbuckling hero in an adventure vid. But, with his concentration on the nearly–free tammar, Martin’s hand planted too near the fourth tammar.
I saw a tawny blur as the tammar’s claw lashed at Martin’s hand. Blood spurted over the bars. His hand ripped open, Martin lost his grip on the bar. With a cry of agony, Martin collapsed onto the bars at the top of the cage–tunnel. He lay within easy reach of the tammar below.
Another claw slashed at Martin and there was nothing I could do to help him!
Chapter 38
David
I charged around the cage toward Martin, hoping for a miracle. Maybe the tammar would strike a bar instead of flesh. Or maybe something even less probable would happen and save my friend.
Then Martin rolled over on the bars, bringing his unwounded sword arm down against the bars. Was he crazy, trapping his sword at his side like that? Then Martin shoved his upper body up and away from the bars with his sword arm. At the last second, he also snatched his good hand away from the bars. Martin’s timing was perfect. The tammar’s claw slashed beneath him, tearing his shirt sleeve but missing the hand and arm!
Dropping back toward the bars, Martin swung his sword between the bars of the cage–tunnel and slashed the tammar’s eyes. With a yowl, the tammar rolled away, its paws batting at the sword, which Martin had already pulled back out of its reach.
Cradling his wounded hand, Martin jumped down next to the tammar attempting to pull itself past the two dead tammars. Martin stumbled on the landing, another cry of pain escaping his lips as he steadied himself with his wounded hand. Rising, he drove his sword again and again into the body of the tammar squirming to get past its dead companions. By the time I reached his side, the cage–tunnel was completely blocked by three dead tammars. The fourth, its eyes cut, slunk back toward the tammar lair at the end of the cage–tunnel.
“Sit down before you fall down,” I said, catching his left arm at the elbow and helping him down.
“Does my hand look as bad as it feels?” Martin put on a brave smile to mask the pain. “I do hope not, because it feels terrible.”
“There’s too much blood for me to say. I’ll let you know when I can stop the bleeding and get a good look. This is going to hurt, Martin.”
I tore my shirt off and pressed it hard against the shredded palm. Martin hissed but held his hand steady.
“What a pity Callan isn’t here to see you,” Martin said through gritted teeth. “Here’s her heroic husband, shirtless, stained with the blood of men and beasts, and glistening with sweat. I do believe we’d have a little heir in the making in no time!”
“I had no idea my love life was of such interest to you, Martin.”
“It’s not, but I’ll try anything to keep my mind off of my hand right now.”
I worked fast, following my Scout training and drawing on the information fed to me from my implant. In the wider galaxy, medical nanites would repair the worst of the damage to Martin’s hand in an hour or two. Here on Aashla…
The damage to the hand was extensive and blood kept oozing, making it difficult to get a clear look at the wound. Eventually, my implant built a clear image of the hand from the brief glimpses I got after wiping away blood. Three slashing cuts had opened the hand to the bones. None of those bones were broken, but I couldn’t tell if tendons or ligaments were damaged. On top of all that, dirt from the tammar’s claw and from the pit floor had worked into the wound. All in all, the hand was a medical mess.
“I’m no doctor, so take what I say with a grain or two of salt. But it’s possible you’re going to lose that hand, Martin.”
Chapter 39
David
With the bleeding slowed down to a slow ooze, there was little more I could do for Martin’s hand. Using strips torn from my shirt, I bound the wounded hand against his chest.
“This ought to help with the bleeding, Martin. According to my implant, immobilizing the hand should help with the pain, too.”
Martin watched me work without really focusing on what I was doing. “So, I might lose the hand, huh?”
“Yeah. Maybe. I’m not a doctor, Martin. I mean, who knows what Tristan can do when he gets a chance to work on it? He saved me when I took that crossbow bolt through the chest. He might be able to save your hand, too.”
Martin nodded absently. “Right… You know, if I do lose the hand, I’ll be unconscious by the time the doctor finishes cutting it off. So, you have to promise to do something for me, David.”
“You want me to give the hand a proper burial? Maybe have a carpenter construct a miniature coffin and hire a priest to say a few words over it?”
“Hm? Those are all good ideas, but they’re not what I had in mind. Promise me you’ll have the doctor give me a nice, shiny hook to replace the hand.”
“A hook? Why would you want that? Have you got some strange desire to frighten little children or something?”
“You disappoint me, David. I thought you watched lots of old adventure vids when you were a kid. Raider? Pirate? Hook? How much more traditional can you get?”
“A hook. Right. Tell you what, Martin, let’s worry about that after we get out of these tunnels with our lives.”
“That’s an excellent point, lad! And have you concocted any brilliant plans for doing that?”
“I’ve got an idea, though it
s brilliance is questionable. Last time I was down here, there was a big opening in the ceiling right above us. King Rat’s pit master dropped victims through it to the tammar waiting below.” I tied off the last of the bindings holding Martin’s arm against his chest. “It’s been sealed off, but I’ll bet they left it till the end of the rebuilding. It would have been too useful for dropping construction supplies to the pit floor. If I’m lucky, they’ve only completed the first layer of plaster, meaning it will be fairly thin. Sit back and try to relax for a few minutes. I’m going to try to knock an escape hole in King Rat’s new ceiling!”
I scrabbled through the tools left by the workmen, selecting a hefty hammer I could swing with one arm. Climbing one of the cage bars, I leaned out from the bar as far as possible and started whacking the new plaster. The angle was awkward and my shoulder and arm ached within minutes, but I made fast progress. Then, over the sounds of breaking plaster, we heard shouted orders outside the door.
Reinforcements for King Rat’s guard squad had arrived!
Chapter 40
Callan
I rubbed my arms, feeling the goosebumps. The night air was cold five thousand feet above the ground. Below us, the moonlight did little to illuminate Beloren. I couldn’t imagine how Nist saw well enough to spot the navel squadron, much less know when it was in position.
My heart hammered in my chest and my mind played over the events of the last few days. Convincing Captain Dorrin to follow my lead had been child’s play compared to what had come afterwards.