Razor's Edge

by Lisanne Norman

  At last! they heard Nyaz send as he started up the engine. There’re people moving about outside, some of them Valtegans. I was afraid they’d find me first.

  The side of the van stood open, waiting for them. As they’d rehearsed, Rezac and Jaisa went first, bounding down from the loading level to the ground. Jaisa peeled off to face the back bay door, Rezac the front.

  Vartra and Zashou followed, running quickly down the short ramp, flanked by Shanka and Tiernay. Again, one covered the rear, the other the front. Grasping the handle on the van’s gaping side door, Vartra jumped in and headed for the back. Dumping her box in and off to one side, Zashou followed.

  Valtegans! sent Jaisa.

  And in front, added Rezac urgently. Move, everyone!

  Jaisa backed toward the van, her guns still trained on the rear doors as they began to rattle.

  Tiernay leaped in, colliding with Zashou and sending them both tumbling to the floor.

  “Clear that bloody door!” hissed Rezac, glancing back to see what the commotion was.

  They scrambled out of the way as Jaisa jumped in.

  “Activate the outer doors, Nyaz,” ordered Tiernay, leaning over the back of the front seat.

  A loud bang echoed round the bay and the rear door began to slide ponderously back.

  Rezac jumped in, holding his hand down to help Shanka. With a yowl of pain the other catapulted himself in, bringing with him the smell of singed fur.

  Slamming the door shut, Rezac pushed through the group to the rear of the van as Nyaz began to edge it forward, engine revving loudly. The doors in front of them began slowly to slide apart.

  “Get down!” yelled Rezac, throwing himself at the nearest body and pulling it to the floor with him.

  One of the rear windows exploded in a shower of glass splinters as an energy bolt hit it.

  “Go!” yelled Tiernay, crouching flat against the side wall. “Smash the doors, it doesn’t matter any more!”

  “I’m going, I’m going!” said Nyaz.

  Tires squealed as the vehicle lurched forward. There was a jolt as one wing hit the doors, and then they were out in the open, Valtegan soldiers scattering in front of them as they hurtled away from the science building.

  “Everyone stay flat,” ordered Rezac, lifting his head slightly to look around the van.

  “I’m as flat as I can be,” wheezed a voice from under him. He looked down into Zashou’s face. There was a distressed expression in her amber eyes, and her nose was wrinkled with pain.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, sliding sideways off her, noticing as he did how soft her pelt felt. Smells good, too, he thought irrelevantly, then hurriedly blanked the thought lest she should pick it up. Just his luck to land on her.

  “What held you up?” demanded Nyaz, glancing briefly round.

  “We used the serum,” said Tiernay, sticking his head over the top of the seat to look out the front.

  “You what?” The van hit a curb and swerved as Nyaz looked over his shoulder again.

  “Watch it! We used the serum,” repeated Tiernay. “It was safer than risking it all to Dr. Vartra’s case.”

  “Used the serum,” echoed Nyaz, ears twitching once.

  “Trouble ahead,” warned Tiernay.

  Rezac sat up, moving to look between the two.

  “Slow down,” he said. “Don’t act suspiciously. They can’t be after the van yet, and they won’t see the back window till we pass them. Just be ready for trouble.”

  He turned his head briefly to those in the back. “Get the doctor under those sacks. They have his description but not ours.”

  Two Valtegan soldiers stood by the automatic barrier, energy rifles held ready as they saw the van approaching.

  As Nyaz slowed down, one of them reached for a slim device at his side, holding it to his mouth. The other visibly tensed.

  “Keep going, Nyaz! Heads down, everyone,” growled Rezac, bobbing down and bracing himself between the two seats.

  As the soldiers brought their rifles up to fire, the van accelerated straight for the barrier. Sparks exploded off the wing, followed by the shattering of the windshield. A gaping hole splattered with blood opened up to one side of Nyaz and the rest went suddenly opaque.

  There was a jolt and a sharp crack as the barrier splintered. Then the van began to weave alarmingly down the narrow tree-lined avenue.

  Rezac lurched between the seats, grasping the wheel with one hand as the unconscious youth slid sideways. With the other, he made a grab for Nyaz.

  Tiernay scrambled over from the back. “No!” he cried, seizing the wounded youth’s arm and trying to haul him free of the controls.

  Rezac, tangled between the two of them, pushed Tiernay aside.

  “Then get him out of my way, now, before we all die!” he snarled, climbing over Nyaz, ready to take his seat.

  Grasping him round the chest, with a couple of tugs, Tiernay had him all but clear. Rezac swept Nyaz’s legs out of the way and flung himself into the driver’s seat.

  With the back of his hand he punched at the windshield, enlarging the hole so he could see properly. He stamped down on the accelerator, tires spinning briefly in the slush before they caught and the van took off again.

  From behind he heard the crack of the other rear window shattering. Jaisa gave a short yowl.

  “Anyone hit?” he demanded.

  “Missed me,” said Jaisa, helping Vartra out from under the sacks. “How’s Nyaz?”

  “Bad,” said Tiernay from where he squatted on the floor by the front passenger seat. He’d ripped off the youth’s tunic and was making a wad out of it to press on what remained of Nyaz’s shoulder.

  Rezac glanced over as he threw the van round a sharp bend. “We can’t risk a hospital, the Valtegans will pick him up. He knows too much.”

  “Take him to the monastery,” said Vartra. “We’ve got all the facilities he needs there.”

  “He won’t make it,” said Rezac.

  “He might,” snapped the geneticist. “We’ve got to try!”

  Rezac shrugged and concentrated on the road. Get him in the back with the others, Tiernay. He’s got more of a chance there. We need to change vehicles. The Valtegans will spot this one a mile away now, he sent.

  “Shanka, help me get Nyaz over the back.”

  Shanka scrambled forward and between them they managed to haul Nyaz through to the back of the van.

  “Zashou,” said Tiernay, getting her to take over keeping pressure on the wound, “see what you can do. You’ve had some success with your healing. Try and control the bleeding at least.” He looked up at the others. “Jaisa, use the sacks to cover Nyaz. Keep him warm and try to stop him going into shock.”

  Tiernay left him with the others and climbed back into the front. As he did, his hand closed over a hole burned neatly through the top of the seat. He followed its path, finding an equally neat hole in the midst of the remains of the opaqued window. He shuddered.

  Rezac glanced at him. “We were lucky. Nyaz wasn’t. He’s still alive.”

  Tiernay said nothing.

  “They’ll send a craft up looking for us,” said Rezac, turning into the main street. “Keep your eyes open for any likely looking vehicles. We need to lose this one as soon as possible.”

  “Hadn’t you better slow down? We don’t want to be stopped for speeding.”

  Rezac gave a snort of amusement. “One look at us and they won’t be pulling us up for speeding. I know what I’m doing,” he said, weaving in and out between the vehicles to the accompaniment of a chorus of angry beeps.

  Without warning, he turned sharply to the left, throwing the van round the corner and accelerating hard up the straight stretch.

  “Watch out!” came Jaisa’s voice from behind.

  Rezac braked hard, turning again, this time to the right, then he dog-legged the van across the next road, emerging in the back streets leading to the docks.

  “Do you have to drive like a maniac?” yelled Shank
a from the rear. “We’ll none of us make it if you carry on like this!’”

  “You want to walk, just let me know,” Rezac growled in reply, crossing the road and coming to an abrupt halt alongside a small general store. “I’m trying to keep us all alive.”

  He turned off the engine. “Wait here till I call you,” he said, pulling out his gun. Looking at Tiernay, he nodded his head toward the door. “Come.”

  Behind them was a medium-sized white delivery van, back doors standing open. The cab was empty.

  Rezac glanced up and down the street again, checking for traffic. Nothing for the moment. He gestured to the other to follow and cautiously they approached the store doorway.

  What’re you going to do? asked Tiernay.

  Take the van. You get everyone loaded, I’ll keep watch.

  Dubiously Tiernay backed off, heading for the rear of their vehicle.

  Standing to one side, Rezac could see into the shop. The delivery driver was a youngling, barely into adolescence. He’d be no problem. The storekeeper was another matter, but for the moment, the two were deep in conversation over a pile of papers.

  Keeping his eyes on the store interior, he used his telepathy to check on how the others were doing.

  Load Nyaz last, he sent to Tiernay.

  It seemed to take forever. He risked a glance back at them, seeing Jaisa and Vartra lifting Nyaz out. They were the last.

  He looked back into the store. The youth was heading toward the door. Stepping to one side, he waited till the youngling had emerged and shut the door.

  Leaning forward, Rezac grabbed him by the arm and jerked him into the street.

  “Hey!”

  Pressing his gun into the hollow of the driver’s back, Rezac pushed him toward his delivery van.

  “Just keep your mouth shut, and nothing will happen to you,” he said quietly, his mouth inches from the youth’s ear. “We’re borrowing your van.”

  “You can’t do …”

  “Quiet!” commanded Rezac, digging the gun in sharply. The youth subsided, ears flicking in distress as he stumbled toward the rear of his vehicle.

  A car was approaching from the opposite direction, but Nyaz was inside now and Tiernay was closing the doors.

  “Take it nice and easy,” warned Rezac as the car drew level with them. “This gun has a very light trigger.”

  The youth glanced round, eyes wide with fear, then looked away as the car passed by. Rezac took the opportunity to hit him on the back of the head with the gun butt.

  As Tiernay turned round, the youth collapsed against him. “What the hell?” he exclaimed, making a grab for him before he fell.

  “Stick him in the back of our van,” said Rezac, slinging his gun back over his shoulder.

  What’ve you done to him? demanded Tiernay, his mental tone outraged.

  I haven’t shot him, sent Rezac dryly. Just dump him and let’s get out of here. He headed for the front of the vehicle.

  The engine was running by the time Tiernay joined him in the cab.

  “That wasn’t necessary,” he said angrily as Rezac pulled away from the store.

  “You want the law after us as well as the Valtegans? I thought not. Now we have a chance of getting out of Khalma alive. In a white van, we might even make it across country to the monastery. I reckon that’s worth a lump on his head. You got a problem about what I do, we’ll settle it later, not now,” said Rezac coldly.

  Once they’d left the city, Rezac pulled up in the first rest area they came to.

  “I’m going to check on Nyaz. If you see anything that looks like trouble, call me,” he said, opening the door.

  “Rezac,” said Tiernay, reaching out to stop him. “You were right back there. I just wanted you to know.”

  Rezac’s ears flicked in acknowledgment before he got out. Maybe these younglings were beginning to realize there was a real world after all.

  The snow underfoot was deeper here than in the city; it sent a chill through the pads of his feet. He stopped to sniff the air. More was on the way unless he was mistaken. Going round to the back, he pulled open one of the doors and climbed inside.

  “How is he?” he asked, closing it behind him.

  “I’ve done what I can,” Zashou said, “but that’s virtually nothing. How long till we reach the monastery?”

  “About three hours’ drive.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think he’ll make it.”

  “We’ll see. You and the others start rearranging the load so we can talk across the back seats, I’ll have a look at his shoulder.”

  Found a first aid kit under the seat, sent Tiernay from the front.

  Hang onto it. I’ve got this lot shifting the load. You should be able to hand it back to me in a few minutes, replied Rezac, flicking back Nyaz’s eyelids and checking his pulse. His color was bad and his pulse weak. It didn’t look hopeful.

  He waited till the first aid kit was handed back before undoing the bloody makeshift dressing. Zashou had returned and was crouched at his side ready to help.

  “I wouldn’t look,” he said. “Check through the kit and give me the largest dressing there is.”

  “I’m all right,” she said, her tone slightly irritated.

  Rezac raised an eye ridge at her, then turned back to Nyaz’s shoulder. He lifted the pad exposing the wound. The shoulder was a mess. The joint was shattered, pieces of bone gleaming through the ruin of torn flesh and muscle. Blood was still oozing sluggishly from it. He heard Zashou gasp.

  “The dressing?”

  She handed him one.

  He unwrapped it and placed it over the wound, securing it in place with the short strips of bandage attached to it.

  “Pass me a couple of bandages,” he said, holding his hand out to her.

  He bound the dressing on more securely, using the remaining bandage to bind Nyaz’s arm firmly across his chest.

  “I thought the wound would have been cauterized by the energy bolt,” said Zashou, her voice subdued.

  “The glass probably did more damage,” said Rezac, getting up. “Keep him warm and as still as possible. He might make it.”

  Vartra caught hold of him. “He’ll lose his arm, won’t he?” he asked quietly.

  Rezac nodded then turned to look back at Zashou. I don’t suppose there’s any analgesics in that kit?

  She shook her head.

  Then pray he either doesn’t make it or stays unconscious till we get to the monastery. He was aware of Zashou’s gaze following him as he walked forward to the driver’s seat.

  You did well, he sent. As he climbed over the seat into the front, the last rays of daylight shone through the windscreen, dazzling him briefly.

  At the other side of the room, Zashou moaned in her sleep. Already their minds were beginning to harmonize as their Leska Link began to strengthen for their Link day. Like Rezac, she was reliving those first days as a fugitive from the Valtegans—the days when she’d first become aware of Rezac as more than a fellow student.

  You did well, he sent, his tone warmer than she had felt from him before.

  He’s a strange one, she thought. Too much the loner, refusing to allow anyone to get close to him. As he climbed over the seat into the front, the last of the daylight caught him, showing up the sleek brown fur that covered his muscular frame. He looked back at her briefly, almost as if he’d caught her thoughts.

  She pulled back mentally and busied herself making sure Nyaz was as comfortable as possible.

  The jolting of the van woke her. Her head felt thick and she ached all over. “Where are we?” she mumbled, pushing herself into a sitting position and peering around in the dark.

  “On the forestry track,” said Jaisa, who’d been watching Nyaz while she slept. “We’re nearly there.”

  “How’s Nyaz?”

  “Still with us.”

  “Shanka,” called Rezac from the front. “When we get there, I want you and Jaisa to go ahead and organize a work party of si
x to join us at the tunnel mouth. I’ll need a couple of people to help conceal the van and cover its tracks, a couple for the stretcher, and the rest can help carry the provisions in the van up to the monastery. Tiernay and I will unload while we wait. Dr. Vartra, you go with them.”

  “Will do,” called out Jaisa when Shanka didn’t reply.

  Zashou glanced at her mate. “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.

  “Him.”

  “Who? Rezac?”

  “Tiernay’s supposed to be in charge, not him. Who does he think he is, ordering us all around?” he said, his voice low but angry.

  “If Tiernay’s not bothered, why are you? Rezac got us here safely.”

  “I’d have expected some support from you,” he said.

  “Not when you’re wrong.”

  Shanka subsided into silence until the van drew to a stop.

  “Let’s move, people,” said Tiernay from the front. “Dr. Vartra, will you tell Dr. Nyaam that Nyaz is seriously wounded and has lost a lot of blood, please?”

  “Absolutely,” said the doctor, getting to his feet. “I’ll make sure the infirmary’s ready for him.”

  Slinging her gun over her shoulder, Jaisa scrambled to the rear doors, pushed them open, and disappeared into the night.

  Zashou made sure Nyaz was well covered by the sacks, then put on her jacket. The air gusting into the van was freezing. She made her way to the opening and jumped out to land in thick snow. She gasped at the shock of it, wrapped her arms around her chest, and plowed through the snow to the front of the van. Flakes were landing on her eyelashes, making her blink as they melted.

  Rezac was sprawled across the wheel, head resting on his forearms. He looked up as she tapped on the window, then reached over to open the door.

  His tiredness hit her like a physical wave.

  “I’m coming,” he said, climbing down.

  She followed him back to the rear where Tiernay joined them.

  “Zashou, you get inside and push the boxes to the door. Rezac and I’ll carry them,” said Tiernay.