Ohre (Heaven's Edge) (10 page)

I listened to the sweet, high-pitched hum of my gauntlet as the gears wound and whirred faster. My sharp teeth clicked together and the world around me slowed. Thrusting my arm back so it was pointed behind me, I clenched my fist and a burst of plasma energy left the gauntlet to blast through the chest of the one behind me. As that spear fell away three more replaced it, but I had already ducked, brought up the gauntlet again to blast the one screaming in front of me. I twisted around and braced my hands on the earth, while lifting up the gauntlet again to fire at the others in rapid succession. I used my feet to lift off the earth and kick the wooden sticks aside, and then jumped up after.

Children and women were screaming, rushing into their huts while others ran for the forest. I didn’t want to take any chances that they were going to get reinforcements. This was one village, I reminded myself. Not even Remin knew whether there were other settlements farther in.

Flicking my wrist slightly I changed gears and fisted my fingers again in their direction. A wave of scarlet energy rushed through the village, catching the tops of huts and stunning anyone it came in contact with. I caught a passing glance of Remin and Adi ducking to avoid the freezer.

They aren’t total wastes of space, then.

More guards had arrived, and I ran for the edge of the village, for the forest where I knew the traps were waiting. A spear whizzed past my head and I took in the angle of its thrust quickly before twisting around and sending a glob of red energy back. The Var screamed and then more came to replace him. Others called to one another from positions deeper in the surrounding forest.

I jumped over the tripwires, and then twisted my torso to fire back at it in time to send a shot that snapped the line. Several screams echoed behind me as the massive tree trunks swung from the forest ahead of us. I threw myself to the ground until I was covered in mud and felt a gust of wind brush over the skin at the back of my head.

I didn’t waste time getting up even though I knew the log would come back my way soon. But I was confident I could outrun it. I should have paid attention to the loops. The net wrapped me up in its tight embrace and I switched gears with another flick of my wrist, before sending out a burst of white energy. I was free, but I tore up the earth around me with the effort. And I had wasted valuable seconds. The log was coming my way.

I ran faster than I had ever attempted on land. That was how I discovered just how quick I could be. I heard more shouts behind me and cries from the village, followed by an explosion I should have seen coming. From the corner of my vision, I saw the forest light up with an unnatural pale light, and then the earth trembled and shook. I wasn’t sure what was left of the village, or where exactly Adi had placed her boomers, but something had tripped them off.

Remembering the innocents made me feel a twinge of guilt and I didn’t want to think about the chance my kin had been caught up in the aftermath. I ran until I felt I had made enough distance between me and the Var. Surely they had run back to the village when they realized the real threat had been waiting for them all along.

I watched the ashes rain down from the sky and a black cloud snake up toward the heavens and sneered as it reached through the trees and toward me. Emerging from the smoke I saw shadows and slips of tall figures. I knew instinctively they weren’t my shipmates and cursed before turning to run once again. I ducked just before the spear skewered my head.

I kept running while turning to fire a few warning shots behind me. The thought came to me that the stunner would probably work better in this case, but it would need to recharge before I wasted more
chole
dust.

“Do you wirms ever give up?” I grunted and jumped to avoid another attack.

So I caught the next spear and twisted it around to face the furious, hairy warriors. They weren’t thinking like a pack, making my job a lot easier. I blocked the next blow with a slap of the spear in my hands, and then lifted my other arm to blast two more in the chest. It was just like target practice, I thought with a grimace. The last one, I waited until he had rushed to meet me, blocked his first thrust and moved aside for his next slash, before thrusting the spear up into his chest, where his vital organs should be. My eyes widened when I saw red blood seep from the wound and his mouth and tossed the Var aside with disgust.

What kind of demons were these creatures that they puked red blood?

A group of collective, strangled cries sounded off ahead of me and I cursed under my breath. The pack of hunters was returning, and I was nowhere near the cliffs. Checking my scanner one more time for direction, I closed the cover to my gauntlet and ran. A sharp pain stabbed at my side every time I took in a new breath, and I lifted my fingers to find grayish blue blood was oozing from the source.

Filsh wastes… Don’t have time to bleed.

Of course, it wasn’t long after that that I heard the panting breaths and snarls of a group of ridge-backs. They were following the stench of death, no doubt. With few options, I jumped up into the nearest climbable tree I could find. After scaling it easily, in spite of my wound, I found a sturdy thick branch where I could pause for breath and catch the chance to cauterize the cut.

I hissed as the flesh was melted together and nearly retched when the smell hit my nose. Hugging the tree to keep from losing balance, I blinked and wondered why I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.

I turned when I heard the Var pack cry out below as they were faced with the ridge-backs. Snarls and hisses of pain, followed by the sound of ripped flesh and crunched bones let me know that the enemy was finished for now. Terror gripped me when I thought of the weakened Royals and Adi and Remin heading this direction—if they hadn’t been delayed as I was.

The ridge-backs screeched when a fresh wave of reinforcements arrived. It was too late for their fallen Var brothers, but this new wave of warriors disposed of the beasts quickly. When I glanced down, I was surprised not to find a pack of males, but females, wielding spears and torches in their hands. Fire, it would seem, was enough to keep the ridge-backs away.

I hissed low when they began to scan the area. In the near distance, a horn blew over the treetops and winged creatures took flight. The females froze, rigid and tense as more warrior cries followed. It was a bleeding call to arms.

One female, her waist-length black hair braided and left hanging down her back in a thick
rope, studied the ground near my tree. I narrowed my eyes and shifted gears in my gauntlet, for kill this time. The females didn’t stay down as long as I had liked the last time. She lifted a finger and stuck it in her mouth before spitting and lifting her chin to the tree with a murderous glare. Before she could cry out, a scythe was thrust through the air and stuck into her chest. The others screamed as a fresh attack came from above.

I gaped and stared at the treetops, not used to being surprised more than once in the same day.

“Datura!” several young voices cried out as they swung in on ropes made from vines over the female’s heads and slashed with their curved silvery blades. The females screamed and some retreated, though others stayed to finish the fight.

I shouted when a figure swung in and collided on top of me, on
my
tree. My wound protested as I grabbed the slight frame and set it slightly away. If it wasn’t one of the Royals I had no trouble dropping to its death. But my eyes caught a glimpse of fire-red hair and fierce golden eyes.

“Qeya!”
I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut in pain, forced to let her go and grip the tree again. Qeya wrapped her legs around my torso again and frowned as she looked for the source of my pain. “No, don’t. Save your strength,” I grunted, and hissed when I felt her energy enter my skin and mend the flesh. When she was finished she lifted her chin to meet my eye.

I glanced down at the limited space between us and then at her. And suddenly I was laughing and she was smiling while shaking her head.

“You never do what I tell you, do you?” I asked.

“Have you finally stopped trying to force me to obey?” she asked teasingly.

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her waist, relieved and content for the moment, even though we were sitting so unnaturally high above the earth.

My laughter faded when a spear shot from below and pierced her thigh. Her eyes bulged in shock and I kept her against my chest so she wouldn’t fall below. I ripped the spear out quickly and using the lowest setting of my plasma laser in my gauntlet, burned the wound quickly. Her scream gutted me and brought my eyes to find the one who was the cause of her pain.

Below, my eyes met with the female Qeya had thrown her scythe into, the one who had scented my blood. She was glaring up at us with hatred burning in her pale eyes and I grabbed Qeya’s rope the moment our gazes connected. I didn’t know I was screaming as I clutched Qeya to me and swung down on the rope. After dropping her to the forest floor, I ignored her protests and stalked the Var.

All I could see was red, the blood of the beasts and the dying Var as we fought them. The Royals were so much faster than my kind, their shapes mere blurs as they cut with their scythes and slit the ankles and behind the knees of the enemy.

The female with the rope-like braid was already on her feet and holding Qeya’s scythe at an awkward angle as she hefted it over her head and threw it at me. I caught the blade with my bare hand and savored the sting of blood. The Var’s eyes widened as I continued to meet her. She couldn’t run fast enough before I placed the scythe back into her chest where it belonged. This time, she didn’t get back up.

VII

Relinquish

I watched from a safe distance, as the adults of the
Pioneer
, Xame and Kall, introduced their alien women, the chief’s daughters, to Arvex and Hanea. It hadn’t taken long for us to meet up with Remin and the others in the safer, Nuki territory. I did my part in the rescue too well. Adi later claimed that the village thought an army had attacked and retaliated in full force. While I dealt with the wrath of every male from the village, the rest of my crew and the Royals were fighting a different battle. Remin and Adi, after rescuing the Royal prisoners, had been chased down by the two females who loved them, apparently. The chief’s daughters were scared and outraged enough that what remained of their families had come after them as well. As I observed the Var females standing at Xame and Kall’s sides, and the frightened, wide-eyed children and old ones standing not too far behind, I thought they looked similar to the warriors who had killed the ridge-backs. But it was strange looking at the softer sides of my enemy. These females were far more appealing to the eye, I had to admit. It was understandable why the Royals would settle into the life of little better than a bondservant in that village. They were prized slaves, but neither of them had expected to grow attached to the females they shared their nights with.

But
I wondered how Xame and Kall could abandon the Royal children they had sacrificed so much to save. Only I suspected they were tired too, worn from trying so long and so hard to keep a dream of Datura alive in the hearts of the younglings. Now that the illusion was gone, their work was finished. And by staying with the Var, by grafting the two separate crews together in this way, the last of the Royal adults were completing their mission. By integrating with the chief’s family, they had found a sure way to keep the children safe from future raids.

Clearly Arvex disagreed and was taking his role as the “king” too seriously. Because he was bleeding out every argument he could think of to convince the adults to leave with them.

Arvex growled, “Uncle, you can’t seriously be marking on these…these
aliens
to keep their word! They’re savages with sticks. Or did you already forget they almost killed us?”

The scarred and broken captain took a threatening step forward.
“Careful,
boy
. You may be my king, but I am still your elder.” Xame shuddered under the touch of his shy female. She was dark skinned and black of hair, and her sparkling, small eyes were filled with something that made her look less foreign, more
hunan.
I wondered at the tender look that passed between them, believing once and for all in the insanity of Royals.

“I’m sorry, Uncle, but the
Nukis…”

Again, Xame interrupted his nephew. “The
Nukis don’t know everything. Now stop using a boy’s mind. Dredge up your father’s voice. I know it’s in there somewhere. And remember, we have our duties. We shall remain here and help as we can.”

I shook my head and turned to look at the rest of the crew. As I saw the way Gem and Kahne leaned against their weapons and spoke softly apart from the others, I realized that the children I had previously seen as so helpless weren’t too far from being adults themselves. They had aged from the things they had seen, true, but death wasn’t all that haunted them. Not even our struggle to survive in the jungle every day was responsible. It was all because of the memories in their heads, the ones that didn’t belong to them but to the parents who died before they were supposed to. Qeya taught me this.

Arvex and Hanea were still arguing with Xame and Kall over whether or not they should join the others in the Nuki village. I rolled my eyes and looked over to where Remin and Adi were sorting through their depleted supplies. They were itching to leave soon, to let the Royals manage their own affairs. I wanted to leave with them, wanted to act just as impatient and pretend none of this mattered. But the truth was, it did, all of it. And I was done pretending otherwise. Because when my eyes swept past the adults and found Tamn with his back to me, speaking with Qeya, I knew I was going to stay. Maybe I would help Adi and Remin reconfigure the
Pioneer
for deep-heaven sailing, but unless she came too, that would be the end of it.