But then he paused. “This may not work.” He unwrapped the third pole, got up, and hoisted the first two attached poles until they were vertical. He leaned the entire thing against the rock face. It was still six feet shy of the two hanging weapons, but he spit on his hands, rubbed them together, and started climbing. Infinity stepped up and held the pole steady, to prevent it from falling to the left or right. When he had ascended past the joint between the two poles, the top pole started slipping through the knotted loops. The rope wasn’t tight enough. He dropped to the ground and stared at the poles. “Well, that didn’t work. This is going to take longer than I thought. Fortunately for us, I guess.”
A wave of chatter worked its way around the onlooking crowd. Suddenly, the exit wound on Infinity’s hip exploded with fiery pain, so intense that she cried out and fell to her knees. She knew she was in danger, but for several seconds she couldn’t even focus her eyes.
“Get away from her!” The tourist was standing over her but throbbing static in her ears made his voice sound distant.
She shook her head and bit her lip, trying to get through the worst of it.
“Infinity, are you okay?”
As the seconds passed, the pain began to recede. She reached back and touched the arrow’s exit wound. Her hand came away red with blood. One of the birds had snuck up on her and shoved its spear directly into the wound. At the very least, the mud plug had been dislodged. She looked up at the armed birds. They stood there, weapons ready. Blood covered the spear tip of the one nearest her. Even if she did nothing else, she would kill that bastard.
“Infinity?”
“I’m still here,” she said. “I don’t think we’re solving the puzzle fast enough for them. I’m going to stay down—make them believe I’m too hurt to get up. Get me those goddamn spears! Retie the ropes around the poles loosely, and then use a stick to cinch it so tight it won’t slip.”
“I’m on it.” He rushed to the poles and got to work.
Infinity’s pain was subsiding, but it was replaced by waves of nausea. She groaned and focused on getting it under control.
The bird with the bloody spearhead began moving toward her again. She tracked its movements from the corner of her eye without raising her head. When the creature was only a few feet away, it let out several soft murmurs, sounding almost like a lamb. It slowly raised its spear tip and moved it toward Infinity’s throbbing wound, like it was taunting her—threatening her with more pain.
As she watched the roughly-carved stone spearhead inch its way closer, she briefly considered the consequences of giving in to her anger. The tourist—Desmond—had to survive until bridge-back. It was becoming increasingly likely that she wouldn’t make it, but he had to. She’d never lost a tourist before, and she wasn’t going to now. Not this tourist.
The spear tip was inches from her wound, and she saw the bird’s arm muscles tense up to thrust it in.
She swung her arm, knocking the weapon’s tip upward, and dove for the bird’s feet. She then tucked herself into a somersault, her legs knocking the bird onto its back. She continued her roll until she was sitting on the creature’s abdomen. It flailed its hands, still holding the spear, but the weapon was too long for close-quarters fighting. Infinity ignored the spear and pinned the bird’s neck to the gravel with her left hand. She immediately started throwing jabs at the bird’s head with her right fist, aiming for the closest of its two eyes and twisting her chest to put as much power into each blow as she could.
She had always had a habit of silently counting off the blows whenever she used this attack. This time she reached sixteen before realizing the bird was no longer struggling. She grabbed the bird’s weapon and leapt to her feet, grunting from the pain.
The other two armed birds hadn’t attacked. Without any attempt to interfere, they had watched their companion get beaten to a pulp. Infinity was alive because of their indifference, but she didn’t understand it. Their behavior made no sense.
Desmond stood up. He had finished tying the poles together and cinching the ropes tight. He seemed to notice for the first time that Infinity was now holding a weapon. “Um, I was going to say this is ready, but I guess we don’t need the spears now?”
“I have no idea what we’re supposed to do.”
The two remaining armed birds moved toward Desmond.
Infinity stepped into their path, cutting them off. The birds stopped advancing and stood there holding their spears out menacingly. “Apparently they’re not going to quit until we get those weapons.” Keeping an eye on the two birds, she used her free hand to help him lift the three-section pole and lean it against the rock. The end of it was now several feet higher than the dangling spears.
Desmond tried swinging the pole back and forth to knock the spears loose, but the pole was heavy and unwieldy, and the spears were apparently tied securely.
“You’re going to have to climb,” Infinity said. She held the pole steady with her free hand, still watching the armed birds.
He shinnied up the pole surprisingly fast for a man with no clothing over his groin. When he got to the top, he wrapped his legs around the pole to hold himself in place and untied the spears, letting them fall. Infinity snatched them up, and he slid down most of the way and then dropped to the ground beside her.
Another flurry of conversation ran through the onlooking birds. A black bird came forward and held a hand out to Infinity for her to give up the weapons.
She shook her head and handed them over. “What, you’re not going to make us kill another of your buddies?”
The moment the bird took the spears, three unarmed brown birds rushed Infinity. Before she could react, they had grabbed her arms and ankles with their hands and beaks, knocking her to the ground. She tried to struggle, but the birds’ beaks were clamped down so hard they threatened to snap her bones. She looked over at Desmond. He had been forced back against the rock wall by the two armed brown birds.
“Don’t do anything aggressive unless they actually try to kill you!” she shouted. “When that happens, scream at them like a maniac and then break through the crowd and run. Run like hell!”
He stared at the spear tips held inches from his chest. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You can and you will!”
The black bird walked to Desmond, handed him one of the spears, and moved back into the crowd of onlookers.
Desmond’s eyes were wide. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Infinity realized what was happening. “Let me up!” She kicked and spat and growled at the birds holding her down, but they only tightened their grip. “Desmond, they’re making you fight!”
“I have no idea how to fight.”
“You’ve got no choice! Listen to my voice but don’t look at me. I’ll tell you what to do and when to do it.”
The two armed birds crouched and held their weapons ready.
13
Plans
Until recently, Desmond hadn’t had many encounters with violence in his life. Before this excursion, he had only hit one person with real intent to do harm. That had been in 6th grade, and it hadn’t ended well for Desmond. He was currently in good physical shape, but he had never taken martial arts or boxing lessons, and he hadn’t served in the military. Now he was being forced to fight for his life.
Instinctively he stepped back from the two armed bird men, but his back hit solid rock.
“Tell me you hear my voice, tourist!”
“I hear you. But I don’t see how—”
“Listen! You have two things going for you. These bastards don’t know what we’re saying, and they don’t understand how we think. You have to surprise them.”
The two birds were close, but they were waiting for him to make the first move. What would happen if he simply refused to fight? He straightened up and lowered his weapon.
The birds thrust their spears simultaneously, puncturing his left shoulder and his chest.
“Goddammit!�
� he cried, raising his spear again. He felt warm blood flowing over his skin, but he didn’t dare look down at his wounds.
“They could have killed you just then, but they didn’t,” Infinity said. “They want to see what you can do.”
“I can’t do anything!”
“The bird man on your right was careless. He came at you with his weapon in front of him instead of to the side. Listen up. Get him to thrust again. Then do this in one motion: release your weapon, grab his with both hands, and run at him with everything you’ve got. Keep his weapon tip to your side, not in front of you. And scream when you do it.”
Desmond realized his hands were shaking. “Oh, God. I’ll try.” He lowered his spear again.
The birds responded the same way they had the first time—they jabbed and punctured his skin. This time, he dropped his spear, grabbed the weapon that had just gouged his chest, and rushed forward, screaming uncontrollably.
He shoved the bird back several steps until it fell onto its back. Desmond raised his end of the spear and drove the other end into the creature, actually lifting his own feet off the ground as he put all his weight on the shaft.
“Don’t stop moving! Throw the weapon at the other bird, grab your own weapon, and swing it instead of thrusting. Kill the son of a bitch!”
Desmond’s adrenaline had taken over. It seemed his body was beyond his control, blindly following Infinity’s commands. He yanked the spear from the fallen bird and heaved it at the one that was still standing. Without waiting to see the result of his throw, he rushed back and snapped up his dropped spear. He ran at the standing bird, swinging the spear wildly. The bird had just finished deflecting the thrown spear and was recovering its balance when the side of Desmond’s weapon struck it’s neck. The creature lost its balance again, and Desmond swung the spear straight down on the top of its head with a solid hit.
The next few seconds were a frantic blur. Desmond swung the weapon over and over, pummeling the creature. He heard himself grunting and cursing, but it felt like someone else was using his voice to make these sounds.
Suddenly he was on his back. Tiny hands and crushing beaks held him in place. He struggled furiously to escape.
“Desmond! Stop fighting!”
Infinity’s voice pierced his feral rage. He relaxed his arms and legs. He blinked at the shapes holding him down. Brown bird men, at least four of them. And two of the larger black birds were standing over them.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “You can let go.”
Of course they couldn’t understand him. But one at a time they released him and stepped back. He sat up.
“I’m impressed, tourist.” Infinity had been released and was also sitting up.
He looked over at the second bird he’d attacked. It was dead, beyond any doubt. The first bird was still sprawled on the gravel. It was holding its wound with both hands and staring at Desmond.
One of the black birds picked up the spear Desmond had used as a deadly club. It walked over to the injured brown bird, kicked it until it rolled onto its belly, and then drove the spear through its back.
“This isn’t going to end until we’re dead, is it?” Desmond said. Once again they were back in the chamber carved out of the cliff face, with the same four guards watching them. Desmond was still trembling from the recent fight. His entire body was covered in scratches and bruises. His nose was still tender to the touch from having slammed into his knee the previous day. And now he had four new puncture wounds to add to his collection. Fortunately they weren’t terribly deep, and the bleeding had nearly stopped.
“Or until bridge-back,” Infinity said. She was pressing her hand on her newly-opened hip wound. Blood was trickling through her fingers.
“Lean over. Let me look at that.”
She leaned onto her side, and Desmond shifted his body so he wasn’t blocking the light from the cave opening. The blood flowing from the wound was speckled with bits of mud. Apparently the bird’s spear tip had shredded the leaf casing that was supposed to keep the mud contained, mashing the mud into the wound. It looked horrific.
“I think the bleeding is slowing down,” he said. “You’ll be okay.”
She rolled back to a sitting position and nodded like she was trying to convince herself he wasn’t lying. “My sense of time is starting to blur, but I think we’re well into the afternoon. If we’re lucky, bridge-back will be in three or four hours.”
Desmond stared at his fingers and tried to stop trembling. “Why did you tell me to swing the spear instead of stabbing?”
She glanced at him, frowning. “Because they wouldn’t expect it. It worked, didn’t it?”
He huffed out a nervous laugh and nodded. “I can’t believe I lived through that fight.”
“They weren’t trying to kill you.”
“Then what are they trying to do? This whole sick game is costing them lives.”
“It’s only costing the lives of the brown birds.”
He looked at her, considering this. “You think this is all for the black birds’ amusement?”
“Maybe. Or maybe for some other purpose, but the black birds are definitely running the show.”
A now-familiar screech came from the gravel bar below. As expected, the four guards prodded them to their feet.
The crowd was still gathered, including the children. Six black adults stood chattering to each other apart from the brown birds, but they joined the crowd when Desmond and Infinity arrived at the site of the recent fights. Desmond saw blood stains on the gravel, but the bodies of the dead brown birds had been removed.
A black bird approached and placed four items on the ground at the humans’ feet: a coiled length of rope, one of the short, double-tipped spears, a knife with a stone blade, and one of the weird crossbow-like weapons that had injured Infinity.
Desmond gazed at the objects. “Well, at least we don’t have to retrieve a spear this time.”
“Don’t celebrate just yet, tourist. They might make us fight each other. I had a feeling this was coming.”
His chest tightened, and he felt a wave of nausea. “I’m not going to do that.”
“No, you’re not.”
He frowned at her. What did she mean by that?
Before he could ask, the crowd abruptly parted. Two black birds stood there gazing at Desmond and Infinity, each with a double-tipped spear in one hand and three other items looped around its neck: a rope, a knife, and a crossbow. The same set of items given to the humans. And in front of each black bird a smaller tracking animal strained at its leash, shaking with excitement.
One of the black birds cackled and whistled. The crowd formed another opening on the side opposite the two armed black birds. The two bird men and their pets began moving toward the humans.
Suddenly the pieces fell together in Desmond’s mind. This was why the brown birds hadn’t killed them. It was why the black birds were so interested in what he and Infinity were capable of. The black birds wanted to pursue them—to hunt them. For entertainment, perhaps. Or for training. Or it could have even been some kind of twisted religious ritual.
Infinity gathered up the four items and handed Desmond the rope and crossbow. “This is a good thing.”
“In what way is this good?” he said as they began backing away from the approaching creatures.
“Now you don’t have to kill me.”
He shot a glance at her.
“And,” she continued, “they don’t know we’re disappearing in several hours. If they really let us run, we have a chance.”
It certainly looked like the bird people were letting them leave the village. The creatures made no attempt to interfere as they backed through the gap in the crowd. The downstream end of the vertical cliff was several hundred yards beyond the crowd, and no bird men blocked their way.
The two black birds and their pets began walking faster. They were no more than thirty yards from the humans.
Desmond looked at Infinity. Her rigid expre
ssion showed that walking was painful. “Can you run?” he asked.
“I can outrun you. But they expect us to run. So we’re swimming instead. You can swim, right?”
“What? Yes, I can—”
“Follow me and stay close.”
She took off abruptly, veering away from the cliff. Desmond followed. By the time they reached the river’s edge, the crowd had begun screeching and whistling. Desmond looped the coiled rope over his shoulder as they waded into the river. He forced himself to ignore the agony of walking on the large rocks of the river bed. When the water was waist deep, he followed Infinity’s lead and leaned forward to let the current carry him.
When they were about halfway across, perhaps twenty yards out, Desmond turned to look back. The black birds and their pets were standing at the riverbank watching them. The current was slow enough that the birds could have kept up by walking the shore, but they stayed where they were. It was probably useless to try guessing their intentions, but he was pretty sure they weren’t going to let their captives get away this easily. Still, perhaps if he and Infinity let the river carry them a mile or two, the tracking animals would fail to find where they exited the water.
“Dammit!” Infinity’s head jerked around, her arms thrashing.
Desmond noticed prickly pain on his chest and arm, and suddenly he understood. “Get out!” he cried.
Infinity was already swimming furiously for the shore opposite the bird men, but she was still holding the spear and knife, which slowed her down. Desmond was behind her and trying to keep up. The rope hanging from his shoulder and the crossbow in one hand made swimming impossible, so he resorted to walking in the chest-deep water. Every few seconds he swiped his free hand at carnivorous fish feeding on his wounds. Soon the fish were biting other parts of his body, including his groin. He gave up trying to swipe them away, and he put every ounce of effort into reaching the shore.
Bridgers 1_The Lure of Infinity Page 13