The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (12 page)

Between
mouthfuls, he said, "I'll stay here tonight, and tomorrow I'll find
a comfortable spot in the jungle. I'll show you where I am, then
I'll stay there. If you don't appear within the next week, I'll
leave. I'm not hanging around here like an unwanted dog."

Tassin nodded.
"I don't blame you. They're not being very nice to you."

"That's the
understatement of the century."

"Will the
cyber let you leave?"

He looked away
with a frown. "I don't know."

Tassin pitied
him, but hoped it would not. She did not want him to leave.

Chapter Seven

The cyber's
flashing warning light woke Sabre from a deep sleep, and he opened
his eyes to find a spear point centimetres from his face, aimed at
one eye. He squinted, trying to focus on the sharp bone tip in the
bright morning sunlight. Realisation hit him like a bucket of cold
water, and he jerked back, banging his head on the wall.

A slender girl
stood over him, her brows knotted in a thunderous scowl, the spear
gripped in white-knuckled hands. Her expression was half resolved,
half scared, but her weapon did not waver from his eye. A spear
through the eye was as fatal to a cyber as anyone else, and Sabre
tensed, ready to defend himself. The girl was about Tassin's age,
her face innocent of paint, and Sabre hoped he would not have to
hurt her. He turned his head slowly, forcing the girl to shift her
target to his ear.

"Tassin," he
called.

The young
Andaron tensed further. Her nostrils flared and her eyes glittered.
Sabre was surprised she had not tried to kill him in his sleep,
only inexperience kept her from it now, he surmised. There was no
reaction from within the hut, and Sabre cursed Tassin's heavy
sleep.

"Tassin!"

The girl's face twisted as if his shout had pushed her over
the edge, and she drew back the spear, preparing to ram it into his
ear. Sabre's hand flashed up to grip it as it stabbed at him,
stopping her thrust with an iron hold. She pushed against him with
all her might, determined to kill him now, it seemed. Sabre held
the point away and bellowed, "
Tassin
!"

The girl
screamed in a strangled, agonised howl, either with rage or
frustration. A thud and a muttered curse from within the hut told
him Tassin was awake, and moments later she appeared, her hair
tousled, clutching a blanket around her. Her eyes widened at the
sight of the wild-eyed girl trying to shove a spear into Sabre's
head.

She flapped
her hands. "Stop it! Leave him alone!"

Sabre shot her
a scathing look, unimpressed by her tactics. Tassin grabbed the
girl's arm and tried to pull her away. The girl lashed out with her
elbow, knocking the Queen aside with a grunt.

By this time
the ruckus had woken other Andarons, and bleary-eyed warrior women
rushed over, clutching spears. Sabre was glad he still lay in his
bedding, so there was no way they could accuse him of any wrong
doing. The girl continued to scream and lean on the spear.

Shizana was
amongst the first to arrive, her blonde tresses in disarray. To his
surprise, she did not grab the maddened female and drag her away,
but laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. Tassin rose to her feet,
clutching her stomach, and the girl stopped screaming.

"Mishra,"
Shizana murmured in a soothing tone. "Mishra, it's all right, he's
not going to hurt anyone. Leave him, my dear, he won't hurt
you."

Mishra rolled
her eyes at Shizana. "I'll kill him!"

"Yes," Shizana
agreed. "If he comes near you, kill him. Leave him now."

The girl eased
up on the spear, then yanked it away. Sabre sat up, watching her
warily, in case she misinterpreted his action for an attack.
Shizana stroked the girl's hair, but Mishra still breathed hard,
her face twisted with loathing. She glared at Sabre as if he was a
poisonous toad that had just crawled into her breechclout.

Tassin pointed
at the girl. "She hit me!"

To Sabre it
sounded petty, but Shizana's brow furrowed. She gripped the girl's
shoulders and turned her, breaking her eye contact with Sabre.
"Mishra, did you strike Queen Tassin?"

"Queen?"
Mishra shot Tassin an incredulous glance. "I didn't know she was a
queen. She tried to stop me!"

"He belongs to
her. She's a queen from across the desert."

Mishra looked
stricken, and Sabre watched the unfolding drama with interest as
the girl turned to Tassin. "I didn't mean to, Queen Tassin." She
bowed low and laid her spear at the Queen's feet. "Break my spear,
for my offence. I'm sorry."

This was
obviously some form of ritual performed as an apology. The
skilfully made spear must be the girl's most prized possession.
Tassin looked amazed and confused, but soon collected her wits.

"I will not
break your spear if you tell me why."

Mishra's face
twisted as if Tassin had just condemned her to death. Shizana
stepped forward to stand beside the girl. "Please don't ask that,
Queen Tassin."

Tassin rolled
her eyes. "Then you tell me."

Shizana
glanced at the girl, her expression full of sorrow and pity.
"Mishra and her friend Nyatt were captured by men and tortured for
three weeks. She escaped, but Nyatt did not. Mishra was on patrol
when you arrived. She didn't know about you and your man."

"Oh. I
see."

"Tassin."

The women
stiffened at the sound of Sabre's voice, and Tassin turned in
surprise. "Yes?"

"Tell her I'll
rescue her friend if she tells me where she's being held."

Tassin nodded,
turning back to relay the message, but got no further than opening
her mouth.

Mishra
snarled, "Does he think we didn't go back for her? He would abandon
his friend because he's a man, but I would not!"

He addressed
the Queen. "So she's been rescued?"

Tassin opened
her mouth again, but Mishra shouted, "She's dead! They killed her!
Tell him that!"

Sabre bowed
his head, and a tense silence fell. "In that case, tell her that if
she can describe these men, and give me their names, I'll bring her
their heads to hang on her wall if she wants."

Mishra's eyes
widened in patent disbelief. "He lies! Why would he kill one of his
own? Ask him!"

The Queen
swung back to Sabre, who replied, "Because they committed a heinous
crime, and should be punished."

Tassin turned
to Mishra, who said, "All men do this! How can he think it a
crime?"

Tassin looked
at Sabre, who answered, "Not all men do, only bad ones."

Mishra
shouted, "You would do it!"

Tassin seemed
to have been left out of the discussion, and Sabre shook his head.
"Never."

Mishra looked
around for support, and Shizana explained, "That's because Queen
Tassin controls him."

"No." Tassin
finally got in on the action. "He's a good man."

"He's your
puppet," Shizana said.

Tassin shook
her head. "He helps me because he wants to."

Shizana looked
outraged. "You lied!"

"Because I
didn't want you to try to hurt him."

Shizana
glanced around, and Sabre spotted the Andaron Queen plodding
towards the commotion, her bevy of advisors surrounding her.

"Queen Molla
will decide what to do."

When Molla
arrived, puffing, the women clamoured for her attention, making the
old woman wince. Tassin did not join in, Sabre was pleased to note.
After a good deal of arm-waving, Molla got them to be quiet and
looked at Tassin.

"Is this true?
You don't really control him?"

Tassin
shrugged. "I do, because he does what I say, but he isn't
compelled."

"So the story
about the thing on his head is false?"

"No. It used
to control him, but he got free of it. Now he obeys because he
wants to."

Molla looked
thoughtful. "You did lie, but not completely. You did this because
you feared for his life?"

Tassin opened
her mouth as if to agree, then shut it, glancing at Sabre. "No. I
did it because if your warriors had attacked him he would have
defended himself, and he might have hurt them. Sabre doesn't like
hurting people."

Sabre nodded
in appreciation, and Molla sank her chin into the rolls of fat
around her neck. "You think he could have defeated seven warrior
women?"

"I've seen him
kill twenty-two men."

The women
muttered, and Sabre shook his head. That had been the cyber, not
him. He would not kill anyone unless he had to, although in that
situation, he would have been forced to do the same. It had been
self-defence, and his offer to Mishra was born from a deep anger at
the men who had abused her and killed her friend. It seemed that
these women had an excellent reason for disliking men, and his
resentment of their treatment abated somewhat.

Molla poked
one of her advisors, who whispered in her ear, and the Andoran
Queen nodded. "This offer he made to Mishra, it's genuine?"

"Yes."

"And you
guarantee his behaviour?"

"Yes." Tassin
raised her chin. "He'll live in the forest, where he'll be no
trouble to you."

The women
muttered again, and one of the advisors whispered in Molla's ear.
The old Queen shook her head. "No. He'll stay in the village."

"The women
spit at him."

Molla grunted,
glaring around as if to spot the guilty parties. "They will stop.
He'll be tolerated if he does this deed for my daughter."

Tassin glanced
at Mishra. "I see." She inclined her head in a regal nod. "Princess
Mishra."

Sabre stood up
and stretched, indulging his urge to yawn now that the women had
relaxed.

Mishra eyed
him. "He's small."

Tassin
giggled. Sabre, who leant against the wall, shrugged and raised his
brows. Mishra was about the same height as him, a willowy girl who
showed the promise of becoming a strapping woman. A fitting queen
for an Andaron tribe. She stepped closer to him, gripping her spear
in a white-knuckled fist, and he tensed, unsure of her intentions.
Her eyes blazed with hate.

"There were
five of them. All much bigger than him, two with hairy faces, one
with a hairy lip. One had a scar on his cheek."

Sabre glanced
at Tassin. "I need more than that."

The Queen
shifted her gaze to Mishra and opened her mouth to repeat what he
had said, just in case she thought he was speaking to her.

Mishra did not
give her time. "I have their names." She spat in the dirt and
rattled off five names.

He nodded.
"Does she want their heads?"

"Yes!" Mishra
snarled.

Sabre
grimaced, regretting his offer to bring her the dead men's heads,
which made it rather macabre. He reminded himself of what they had
done, and would undoubtedly do again if not stopped. There was no
gratitude in Mishra's eyes, however, and he got the impression that
she would dearly like to add his head to the collection, as well as
every other man on the planet.

Sabre
addressed Tassin. "I need to know where to find them."

The Queen once
again opened her mouth to act as a go between, but Mishra thumped
her spear butt on the ground. "With the other filth, of course, in
the tribe of men. Two days walk east of here."

Sabre gathered
up his bedding, rolling it into a bundle.

Mishra's eyes
narrowed. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He
straightened, surprised at being directly addressed, but then, he
was forbidden to speak to them, not they to him. He gave his answer
to Tassin. "What?"

"A weapon,"
Mishra said.

"It's not
necessary."

"You go to
kill five men, all bigger than you, with no weapon? You're a
fool!"

Shrugging, he
picked up the roll of bedding. "Call me that if I don't return with
their heads. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go and catch or find
my breakfast in the forest, then I'll leave."

Molla turned
to Shizana. "Feed him."

The women
dispersed, but Mishra remained, staring at Sabre as if she was
trying to drill holes in him with her eyes. Tassin went into her
hut to wash and dress, leaving Sabre alone with Mishra, an
unwelcome situation. He placed his bedding on the ground and sat on
it, trying to ignore her. She did not wish to be ignored,
however.

"Stand
up."

Remembering
that one of the rules was that he had to obey these women, Sabre
rose to his feet and leant against the wall. Mishra looked him up
and down at her leisure.

"Why did you
say you would kill those men?"

He turned his
head and called, "Tassin, can you come out?"

She emerged,
looking annoyed. "What now?"

He nodded at
the Andaron girl. "Mishra asked a question. Tell her I think those
men did a terrible thing, and they'll do it again to other women.
They must be stopped."

The Queen
snorted and turned to Mishra. "I'm not acting as a so-called go
between, just to stand here and look from one to the other. If you
want to ask Sabre questions, you must tell him to speak to you or
leave him alone, Princess."

Mishra stepped
back from the Queen's ire. "I'm sorry, Queen Tassin."

Tassin tossed
her head and vanished back into the hut, and Mishra licked her
lips. "How will you kill them?" Sabre ignored her, and she snarled,
"Speak to me!"

"I'll probably
break their necks."

"I want them
to suffer!"

He met her
baleful eyes. "Perhaps you'd like me to bring them back alive, so
you can torture them?"

"No. Just make
them suffer!" Spinning on her heel, the princess stormed away.

Sabre sat on
his bedroll and waited for Shizana to bring his food. The warrior
woman returned with a steaming pot, which she handed to Tassin with
a toss of her head and a brief glare in his direction, to remind
him of her dislike for the chore. When Tassin passed it on to him,
he found that it was a creamy porridge, which he consumed with
relish, his palate tired of roast buck and raw vegetables. Tassin
sat nearby while he ate, fidgeted and looked worried.