Then the reason hit her and she screamed, “Bounty hunter!”
Without any place to offer genuine protection from an enemy whose position she still didn’t know, she scrambled between two Scyphozoans and crouched toward the ground, hoping the tree nearest to her would offer some cover.
A burst of laser fire came out of the trees, landing by her feet. At the same time, she felt a gentle breeze rush past her cheeks.
Immediately, she yelled, “Wind,” and had to ignore the bounty hunter in order to make sure she dodged the throng of poisonous creatures drifting all around her.
There was too much going on around her for her to figure out exactly where the bounty hunter might be hiding. Another laser shot came near her face. Another Scyphozoan dissolved into blue mist, illuminating the air as phosphorescent light misted onto the ground. She withdrew her blaster and began firing toward the spot from where the shot seemed to have come. Behind her, Morgan was doing the same.
Vere asked Pistol if there was anything out there.
“There is life all around us,” Pistol began to answer before seeing her expression and realizing that wasn’t what she meant.
“Anything dangerous? Anything out of place?”
His eyes began to glow, then he said, “One life form different from all of the others. A medium sized creature. Positioned at point two.”
“That wasn’t so difficult was it?”
Pistol began to reply, then realized he wasn’t supposed to.
Both Vere and Morgan adjusted their aim slightly to where the android had directed.
A shot streaked toward them. When she ducked behind a tree, Vere came within inches of touching a Scyphozoan and had to leave her left shoulder out in the open to avoid getting stung by lethal toxin.
A gust hit her face.
“Wind!” she yelled and the legion of gelatinous creatures drifted once more.
Behind her, she heard a rustling of leaves and feared a second bounty hunter was coming up from behind, but it was only Traskk climbing a tree to avoid the group of Scyphozoans.
In front of her, another laser blast zipped past her face. In response, she sent a burst of five shots into the trees. Morgan sprayed a wider range of blasts all around Vere’s shots in an attempt to catch the bounty hunter if he tried to move from his hiding spot. The tree they unleashed their blasters on lost its leaves first, then its branches, then its bark. By the time they were done firing, the tree didn’t look like a tree at all but a burnt stick figure statue.
“Wind!” Vere yelled again, half forgetting the Scyphozoans were still moving all around her.
With no more shots coming at them, Morgan dashed forward to look for the bounty hunter. Vere used the opportunity to look behind her to make sure everyone in her group was still together.
Pistol and Baldwin were fine. Both were taking their time, carefully avoiding each spirit of the forest. Traskk was up in the trees, safe from any danger. Fastolf sipped from a flask while he inched forward.
Four people.
But there should have been five.
That was when she saw A’la Dure, just behind Pistol and Baldwin, lying on the ground, shivering and convulsing as energetic blue light sparkled all over her skin. A Scyphozoan was drifting past her, one of its tentacles leaving phosphorescent light across her leg as it went.
47
“Hrrmmm,” the Green Knight murmured as he sharpened his axe. It was the only thing he did. Morning, noon, and night, he was either motionless or he was at work, tending to his weapon. Each time the carbide stone rubbed against the blade, a steady GRRRRKKKKKK of rock scratching against metal echoed throughout the Green Chapel. And still, the Green Knight continued, as though the blade couldn’t possibly become sharp enough.
As he worked, one of his thick, gloved hands gripped the axe so tightly that the green wood creaked. Trickles of water dripped all around him. From the rock ceiling. Down the rock walls. Out of the shadows. The Green Knight took no notice of his damp surroundings. As the sun set, the Green Chapel was thrown further and further into darkness. The knight kept his head down, focused on nothing but the sharpening of his weapon.
GRRRRKKKKKK.
The Green Knight made a deep growl from far down in his throat.
“She’s getting closer,” a voice soothed from the darkness. “I can feel it.”
The Green Knight grunted. It was a deep, rolling grunt like thunder in the distance or an earthquake rattling the world around them. But it was only the Green Knight’s impatience.
“She will be here soon enough, my friend. I can feel it.”
GRRRRKKKKKK.
48
Vere ran back to A’la Dure, who was shaking and twitching on the ground.
“It is not advisable to touch her,” Pistol said in his monotone.
Sparkles of the Scyphozoan’s energetic light shot over A’la Dure’s skin like a rash of blue lightning. Vere either didn’t hear or just didn’t care what the android had said, though. Right as she got to her friend and reached down to scoop her up in her arms, Traskk tore Vere off the ground with his tail and pulled her away to a safe distance.
“Let me go,” she said, pushing as hard as she could at the leathery tail wrapped around her waist but not succeeding in moving it at all. “Let me go,” she screamed again, but still, Traskk held her slightly off the ground with his tail until she calmed down and could think practically about what she was attempting to do.
Baldwin leaned over A’la Dure’s face but didn’t dare touch her. After a moment he stood back up and said there was nothing that could be done for her. “The toxin has already spread throughout her entire body.”
And still, A’la Dure shook violently on the ground as the blue bursts of light darted through her body.
Finally, when Vere stopped struggling, Traskk let her go, his tail unraveling and placing her feet on the ground. Before attending to her friend, she shoved Traskk as hard as she could. The giant reptile groaned with sympathy.
Morgan arrived back with the others a moment later. “I got him,” she said, the barrel of her blaster still smoking, but no one said anything.
Vere stood over her dying friend, watching her twitch. Noticing everyone else around her, half of whom hadn’t even known A’la Dure, she furrowed her brows. Between clenched teeth, she said, “I’ll catch up with all of you. Go.”
When she saw Morgan still standing there as if she doubted her, Vere clenched both fists and punched the tree trunk next to her. That was enough for the group to give her space and continue forward through the Forest of Tears.
Beside her, the last of the Scyphozoans drifted away as peacefully as it had arrived. When Vere looked back down she saw the final remnants of the poisonous energy seeping into A’la Dure’s body. Even so, it would be an hour, maybe more, before anyone else could touch her without also becoming sick. Her friend’s teeth clattered against each other. Her legs and arms quivered with tiny tremors. Her fingers were curled and frozen.
Knowing her friend was dying, it devastated Vere not to be able to take A’la Dure’s hand in her own and offer some sort of comfort as she lay there. Even worse than not being able to at least squeeze her friend’s hands, to keep them from shaking uncontrollably, was not knowing what to say in these final moments. Was she supposed to remain silent? Offer a story of happier, simpler times? Reminisce about the past? Say everything was going to be all right even though it obviously wasn’t? None of it seemed like the correct thing.
A’la Dure’s teeth were still chattering.
“I’m sorry,” Vere said. “I…” She didn’t know what else to say.
It was A’la Dure who spoke next. “Be…”
Vere leaned closer. “Yes?” Was that the way her friend’s voice would have normally sounded or was it strained as she lay there dying of the Scyphozoan’s poison. “Yes, what? Be what?”
Vere was only inches from A’la Dure’s face now, willing her friend to finish her sentence.
&nbs
p; A’la Dure uttered only one other word. In all the years they had known each other, they were the only two words Vere had heard the other woman speak.
“…better.”
And then the violent shaking that racked her entire body slowed until it was completely gone and she lay motionless.
Vere stood and closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to believe A’la Dure hadn’t gotten the chance to say everything she had intended. Part of her wanted to look for something other than what she knew it meant. It was useless, though.
Be better.
One of the only people who had known her after she had run away, one of the only people who had accepted her for who she was and for the flaws she carried with her, wanted her to be a better person. Not a better daughter. Not a better sword fighter. Not even a better pilot or thief. A better person.
Her eyes still closed, Vere took a deep breath, then exhaled. After the air was gone from her lungs, she felt lightheaded and dizzy. She opened her eyes and looked down. Her friend had the appearance of someone who had simply lain down on the ground and fallen asleep. There were no wounds, no burns. The violent tremors had given way to a serene stillness.
She looked behind her at where the Scyphozoans had been, half expecting them to come back and claim her friend’s spirit as an additional tear in their forest. The soft blue lights were gone, however, leaving only a dim glow far off in the distance.
Be better.
The words echoed in her head.
“I will,” Vere said. “I will. I promise.”
Looking to where Fastolf, Morgan, and the others were making their way through the woods, she thought about starting off after them. Before she did, however, she crouched down to the ground and brushed a big pile of leaves into a hill which she then pushed on top of A’la Dure’s body. It was the second time in as many days that she was leaving a friend to rot in the forest. And for the second time she promised to come back and give a proper burial when this was all over.
When she caught up to Traskk, she patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’m sorry I pushed you. I know you were just protecting me,” and he let out a pleased reptilian purr and wrapped his tail around her waist in a hug as they walked.
49
Aboard the Commander Class Athens Destroyer, General Agravan stood in full space armor even though he was in his own quarters. In front of him, a holographic display appeared between him and the window that looked out at the galaxy. The image was that of a middle-aged man with an overly thick jaw, black hair, light purple skin, dark purple eyes, and fine robes. It was like looking at an adult version of what Minot would become.
“My lord,” Agravan said, offering a slight bow, “Two more days until the invasion of Edsall Dark begins.”
“Very good, General Agravan.”
“If Artan’s daughter does not turn him over to us in that time—which I am sure she will not—the invasion will commence. I will personally take the fleet through in a few hours just in case they turn the Tevis-84 portal off.”
“They won’t.”
“My lord—”
“Arrangements have been made.”
“Arrangements, my lord?”
“Yes. The portal will remain open. Even as you send the fleet through and they see the sky filling with Athens Destroyers, they will leave the portal open.”
“You are sure, my lord?”
“Yes. All you have to do is send the fleet through in two days’ time and the planet and the entire CasterLan Kingdom is ours for the taking.”
“They have strong defenses.”
“They are of no concern to us. I would not put Minot’s safety at risk. It has all been arranged.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And how is my boy doing?”
“He will honor the Vonnegan name.”
“Indeed. He will learn how to become an excellent ruler after you have defeated Artan and his daughter.”
“So it will be, Lord Mowbray.”
50
Vere didn’t speak the entire next day. When Fastolf put his arm around her as they walked, she gave him a sad smile but continued on in the direction of CamaLon.
“I can’t stand to see you this way,” he said.
The only recourse he knew was to offer her the comfort that his flask brought. Each time he offered it, she gave the same pitiful smile, sighed, and took a sip.
Finally, Morgan motioned for Fastolf to come look at the map she carried, even though Pistol was his own radar, map, and navigation system all in one. She watched as the rest of the group continued walking without them. After they were a safe distance away, she held the map out for Fastolf to see.
Confused, he said, “But it’s upside down.”
Before he could say anything else, she took hold of his ear the way she had in Eastcheap. She wrenched it so painfully hard that he gave an involuntary cry and dropped to one knee. The urge struck him to yell out so someone would turn and see what was happening and help him, but Morgan was either an expert on the weakness of men or else saw his pleading eyes dart toward Vere. She ripped her hand sideways, sending a wave of searing pain through the side of his head that kept him silent and dropped his other knee to the ground.
“What’s your problem?” Morgan hissed. When he tried to answer—she had no idea if he was going to offer a smart-aleck response or a candid analysis of why he acted the way he did—she squeezed his ear even harder, hearing cartilage break. “She needs to keep her head straight. I don’t care if you drink yourself to death, but she has the most important day of her life coming up.”
She relaxed her grip on his ear just enough that he could think straight and come back up to his feet. As soon as she did, he cocked his hand back to punch her and she reapplied the pressure. His ear gave a sickening crunch and he dropped to his knees again.
“I’ve had enough of you,” she said. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you right here.”
He offered a series of pitiful cries and incoherent sobs. The flask in his hands dropped to the ground. Seeing it there, Morgan wound back and kicked it across the forest floor as far as she could.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
This time, when she released the pressure on his ear, he didn’t fight, but only said through the tears, “I can’t just sit back and watch her life crumble apart. She lost two of her best friends. All she has left is me and Traskk.” He stared at her, his lip trembling, before he added, “I don’t know any other way to help her.”
It was probably the first sincere thing the fat drunk had said in ten years, but instead of being sympathetic, Morgan said, “She has an entire kingdom that needs her. All the people who call her father their king need her.”
“But she doesn’t care about them,” Fastolf said, again being completely frank. Then, thinking about what he’d said, he put his hands over his ears and curled into a ball.
“It’s okay,” Morgan said. “I’m not going to hurt you… and you’re right. She doesn’t care about them. I know that. But that doesn’t mean she won’t care about them when she sees the Vonnegan fleet coming through the portal to destroy everything she knows. That’s why we have to keep her head straight.”
“But Occulus,” Fastolf said, crying. “A’la Dure.”
“I know. I’ve lost people I loved too. Everyone has. But life goes on. Life always goes on. That’s why I’m here in this godforsaken forest with you. It’s why Baldwin left his home and had his nose broken twice in two hours. Do you think we want to be doing this? But it’s what we have to do and so we do it.”
In the distance, Vere called out, “Is everything okay back there?”—the first words she had spoken since A’la Dure’s death.
Morgan held up a hand and said they were fine. Then she pulled Fastolf up off the ground, brushed the dirt off him, and got him walking in the right direction again.
Right before they caught up with the others, she said, “I don’t want to see a flask again.” When Fastolf didn�
�t reply, she added, “I know you probably have more hidden on you somewhere,” and Fastolf’s shoulders came up toward his ears in fear.
“What was that about?” Vere asked her heavy friend, but Morgan answered for him: “Just strategizing for when we get to CamaLon.”
“Whatever,” Vere said, walking away without wanting to hear any more, not believing Fastolf would offer anything in the way of planning, and not caring what the truth was anyway.
Periodically, Baldwin withdrew a communications device, pressed some buttons, then put it back in his pocket.
“Still no signal.”
“Save your time,” Morgan said. “Obviously, someone is trying to make sure we can’t call for help. Whoever it is, they’re intent on making sure we have no contact with the rest of the CasterLan Kingdom.”
Traskk growled a series of noises through his long fangs, his forked tongue lashing out as he spoke.
Even without knowing Basilisk, Morgan could guess what he had said and replied, “I’d guess the same person or persons who put the hit out on Vere wants to make sure she doesn’t get back to the castle anytime soon, if at all. I’d also guess that someone is out there who wants the Vonnegan army to arrive and get the payback they’re looking for.”
Vere looked over at her but didn’t say anything. She noticed that the next time Fastolf took a drink from his flask—smaller and slightly different in shape than the one he had been carrying earlier—he slipped it back in his pocket without offering her some.
“How much longer?” Baldwin said.
Without slowing down or turning back, Pistol said, “Approximately eighteen hours, if we keep this pace.”
“How much further until we get out of the forest?”
“Approximately two hours and five minutes.”
Only a minute later, they came upon a pond in the forest with a large wooden house in the middle of it. A quarter mile back, the entire two-story cabin had blended in with the trees. Now, directly in front of them, it seemed much too large to have gone unnoticed. A bridge connected the tiny island that the cabin was built on with the rest of the forest, making the pond around it resemble a moat more than a place to relax and get a swim.
The Green Knight (Space Lore Book 1) Page 18