The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (26 page)

Murdor swung
his sword, forcing Sabre to jump back as the giant charged, trying
to impale his elusive opponent. Sabre moved in a blur, avoiding the
blade. As the sword skimmed past him, he gripped Murdor's wrist and
twisted, throwing his weight behind it. The gladiator yelled and
dropped his sword, his arm bent at an ugly angle. The magician
raised his arms and began to chant, his eyes closed in
concentration.

Tassin crawled
from her hiding place as Sabre staggered back, clearly blinded.
Murdor gave a triumphant bellow and charged again, but Sabre dived
aside and rolled away as the giant thundered past. Murdor swung
around, skidding on the gravel, and flung himself on top of the
cyber before he could scramble out of reach. Tassin gave a cry of
anguish as Sabre was crushed beneath the gladiator. She struggled
to extricate herself from the tangled branches, the sharp twigs
scratching her arms. She ran towards Gearn, drawing her dagger.

Something grey
and hairy hit her from the side. She fell, grazing her palms when
she flung out her hands, and the dagger skittered away across the
stones with a tinkle. Teeth sank into her arm, and she yelped,
beating at the wolf. He growled, tugging at her arm, his teeth
tearing her flesh. Her puny blows made no impression, and she
glanced around at Sabre, who had dropped his sword and was locked
in a gargantuan struggle with the giant gladiator, matching the
huge man's strength.

Pinned beneath
him, Sabre gripped Murdor's wrists to prevent him from gouging his
eyes. Cords stood out on the fighters' necks and blood vessels
bulged on their temples. The magician chanted, undisturbed. Sabre
slowly pushed Murdor away, lifting the giant despite his enormous
weight. Murdor threw himself against Sabre's arms, causing them to
give under the strain. Rearing back, the gladiator drove his knee
into Sabre's belly, but the cyber's abdominal muscles were iron
hard ridges. Murdor ground his knee into the cyber's solar plexus
and heaved on his arms, striving to overpower him. Sabre was
tiring, and Murdor forced the cyber's arms down to the ground,
holding him spread-eagled.

To Tassin, he
appeared to be helpless, overpowered by the behemoth of muscle that
crouched over him, and perhaps he was. Murdor seemed to think so,
for he grinned, staring into Sabre's blind eyes, then raised his
head and jerked it down in a savage head butt intended to crush the
cyber's face. Tassin shrieked, but Sabre tucked in his chin, and
Murdor's forehead hit the brow band. He rebounded, stunned, and
Sabre freed his arms with a quick twist, then punched Murdor on the
jaw, making him reel further.

Murdor swung a
fist, almost in reflex, which hit Sabre on the side of the head and
smashed him back onto the gravel. Tassin tore her eyes from them
and looked at the wolf, her other hand groping for a stone. The
gravel around the stream was useless pebbles, and she glanced
about, spotting a larger rock just out of reach. Gritting her
teeth, she crawled towards it, dragging the wolf. The animal
deduced her intention and pulled back with a jerk that sent fire
lancing up her arm, making her cry out. Darkness threatened to
engulf her, and she stopped, glaring at the wolf. Her eyes flew
back to the struggle.

Sabre knelt,
his wrists gripped in the gladiator's hands again. His eyes were
closed, and the mage chanted on. Murdor rose to his feet and
dragged his opponent towards the stream. Tassin realised his
intention, and her heart contracted with a spasm of pain. Sabre
clearly could not free himself from the gladiator's powerful grip.
Not only was Murdor twice his size, Tassin suspected that his
strength had been magically enhanced as well. Perhaps Sabre had
underestimated his opponent when he had stated so confidently that
he could kill him easily, not knowing the extent of Murdor's
strength.

Surely he was
not still trying to cripple Murdor? By now, he must be aware of his
danger, or was he unable to see the stream with only the cyber's
sensor data? Sabre kicked Murdor in the gut, making him grunt and
stagger, but the cyber's proximity to the giant did not allow him
to use his full strength. Sabre twisted his arms, trying to break
Murdor's hold, and kicked his legs in an attempt to break one, but
his lack of depth perception obviously hampered him.

The giant
bellowed and lurched, even though Sabre had only landed a glancing
blow, then lifted the cyber and hurled him into the stream.
Flinging himself on top of Sabre, Murdor forced the cyber
underwater. Cold terror chilled her blood. The water roiled as
Sabre struggled, but the stream was more than knee deep here, and
clearly he could not push himself to the surface while Murdor held
him down. The gladiator pushed down harder, intent on drowning his
opponent.

Sabre's hands
slipped on the streambed's stones, foiling his attempts to push
himself away from the giant's merciless hold. Murdor's strength
matched his, something he had discovered too late. The water
cushioned his blows, preventing him from hitting Murdor hard enough
to do any real damage. Panic surged through him, and he tried to
pry Murdor's hand off the back of his neck, but the awkwardness of
his position made that impossible. Murdor put a knee in the small
of Sabre's back and pinned him to the streambed. The shock of being
hurled into the icy water had forced much of the air from the
cyber's lungs, and his struggles were rapidly using up what little
remained. Even the ten minutes he was able to survive without air
while exerting himself did not seem like long now.

Tassin crawled
towards the rock again, and the wolf tugged, almost making her cry
out. Sabre's struggles weakened, and the gladiator grinned as
bubbles rose. Tassin dug in the pebbles, scraping her fingers and
tearing her nails. She uncovered larger stones, but continued until
she found a rock. The wolf jerked on her arm, and she groaned,
grimacing, then lifted the rock high. The wolf released her and
jumped back, and her stone smashed down on the gravel, bruising her
fingers.

Tassin stood
up, nursing her injured arm. As she stumbled towards the wizard, he
lowered his arms and opened his eyes, turning to face her. Murdor
lifted Sabre by the back of his harness and waded ashore. Hot tears
flooded Tassin's eyes, and the mage smiled at her. Murdor dumped
the cyber and limped over to Gearn. Tassin stared at Sabre's still
form, desolate. The mage bowed, his small green eyes glinting.

"Your Majesty.
You have an appointment with King Torrian, at the altar, I
believe."

Tassin threw
the rock at him, and it bounced off his bony chest with a hollow
thud, making him grunt and step back.

"If you take
me back to Arlin, you're condemning Torrian to an ugly death, for I
will find a way to kill him," she said.

Murdor stepped
closer, but she ignored him, refusing to twist her neck to look up
at him. Gearn scowled. "That's his problem. I was ordered to bring
you back, that's all."

"Do you really
imagine I'll go with you?"

"You don't
have a choice in the matter, Your Majesty. If you choose to be
difficult, Murdor will carry you."

"And when I
tell Torrian that your man mistreated me, he will have him
executed."

Murdor glanced
at the magician, who shook his head and smiled. "I doubt Torrian
will care, since you've caused him so much trouble."

"You
underestimate your king. He'll be only too pleased to have an
excuse to be rid of this monster and save himself the expense of
paying the reward you have undoubtedly promised him. Especially if
I agree to be a dutiful wife in return for his head. I may even ask
for yours as well."

The mage
looked uneasy. "Torrian is an honourable man; he'll not go back on
his word. Rather, he will reward us richly for bringing you back to
him."

"You, he might
spare, but do you really think he'll want to pay a huge reward to
this muscle-bound moron?" She shot Murdor a scathing glance. "He's
a dead man if he returns to Pradish."

Murdor
growled, and Gearn turned to him, making a soothing gesture. "He'll
pay the reward, never fear. She's only trying to confuse you,
Murdor."

"What she says
makes sense," the giant rumbled. "Once he's got her, why should he
pay me?"

"Because he's
an honourable man."

Tassin
snorted. "You know he's not."

"It's you who
don't know him, Queen Tassin. He's a man of his word."

She turned to
Murdor. "What did you ask for? Castles? Women? Gold?" He nodded,
and she snorted again. "I doubt Gearn even told Torrian of your
demands, and he certainly will not pay it."

Murdor scowled
at Gearn, who shook his head, looking flustered. "Of course I told
him, and he agreed."

"You're
lying," she said.

"No, I…"

A wheezing
cough made Tassin look around, and her mouth fell open in
astonishment. Sabre pushed himself up on his arms, bowed his head
and coughed again, foam oozing from his mouth as he struggled to
breathe. He raised his head, his skin ashen and his lips flecked
with foam, then rose to his feet. Murdor also gaped at the cyber,
and Gearn lifted his arms and chanted again. She hunted for a rock,
but the wolf padded closer and bared his teeth. Murdor walked
towards the cyber, who stood perilously close to the stream, facing
the approaching giant.

Sabre stared
through Murdor, the brow band ablaze with red and green sparkles.
Tassin frowned. The cyber band had not had that many green lights
in it since it had lost control of him. A sob closed her throat.
The diagonal line of lights on the right hand side of the control
unit was green, the top two flashing. It was not Sabre. The cyber
was in control again.

Sabre ignored
Gearn’s spell casting, took a few light steps towards Murdor and
leapt high to drive his foot into the big man's stomach. The cyber
was clearly not blinded by Gearn's magic. The giant grunted and
staggered back. Sabre leapt again in a high spinning kick that
smashed the gladiator sideways. The mage raised his arms higher,
and his chant increased in tempo, becoming louder and a little
frantic. The cyber smashed his fists into Murdor's gut, bringing
him to his knees.

Murdor tried
to retaliate, but Sabre blocked the blow with a savage
counter-punch, and the gladiator's forearm broke with a dull crack.
Murdor roared and swung his other fist, and Sabre swayed aside.
Gearn stopped his chant and waved his arms. A flash of green light
struck the cyber in the chest, but he ignored it. Tassin knew the
green light was an illusion, just like the one that had tricked
Sabre into dropping the wolf, but it did not fool the cyber. Murdor
regained his feet and backed towards his sword, holding his broken
arm. The cyber followed and leapt again, drove his foot into the
gladiator's solar plexus and hurled him backwards.

Gearn shouted
a string of arcane words, and a huge serpent appeared in front of
Sabre, poised to strike. He walked through it. Murdor's face
twisted with superstitious dread as he crawled away, and Gearn
yelled another chant, gesturing. Fire sprang from Murdor's skin, so
realistic that the gladiator bellowed and beat at the flames before
he realised that it did not burn.

Sabre reached
through the fire and gripped Murdor's neck in a stranglehold. The
gladiator groped for his sword, finding the hilt as his eyes
bulged. He brought the weapon whistling up towards Sabre's neck,
and the cyber raised an arm in an automatic defensive response. The
sword hit his forearm with a terrific clang, cleaving through the
flesh to glance off barrinium-plated bone. Sabre released Murdor
and seized the weapon, wrenching it from the giant's grip with a
vicious twist. Flipping it point down, Sabre thrust it into
Murdor's chest.

The gladiator
writhed as the blade pierced his heart, shuddered and went limp.
The cyber stepped away and turned his head in search of the
white-faced mage, who gave a cry of fear and made a peculiar
gesture while he jabbered a string of harsh words. His form
shimmered and twisted, swelling as scales appeared all over it. A
fierce head rose from it on a sinuous neck, its jaws armed with
gleaming white teeth. A true dragon crouched before Sabre; a
creature of legend, aglow with colour, its scales shimmering green,
blue and gold, banded with red. Huge leathery wings unfolded to
block the sun, and the dragon reared back and engulfed Sabre in a
blast of fire.

Tassin
flinched, retreating from the heat. No warrior could hope to defeat
a magician, and Gearn was obviously powerful. The cyber walked
through the fire, emerging unscathed. The dragon backed away and
exhaled another searing conflagration that enveloped Sabre, but
again, when the fire abated, the cyber was untouched. The dragon
turned and leapt into the air with a sweep of its wings, rising on
powerful strokes that lifted its vast form with deceptive ease.

It soared
above the pine trees, dwindling as it flew higher. Sabre stared
after it for a moment, then turned his head to seek his last
opponent. The wolf fled, but the cyber scooped up his fallen sword
and flung it. The bounding grey shape collapsed and rolled to a
stop with a rattle of pebbles, the sword protruding from its flank.
Sabre walked over to it, pulled the blade out and wiped it clean on
the animal's fur, then sheathed it. He turned to Tassin, his blank
eyes staring through her.

The brow band
still blazed red, sparkling with green. He walked up to her, and
she forced herself to stand still when she wanted to flee too. This
was the killing machine of which Sabre had spoken. A cold, inhuman
cyber-bio combat unit. Sabre might think he was as good a fighter
as the cyber, but his compassion prevented that.

The cyber knew
no mercy and gave no quarter, nor cared much about the injuries its
host sustained. It was without remorse or fear; it merely killed.
He was expressionless, without even a flicker of pain, although
blood dripped from the deep wound in his forearm. When he reached
her, he dug in his medical pouch, took out an ampoule and injected
himself in the arm, then awaited instructions. Tassin searched his
face for a sign that Sabre still held some sort of control, but
found none.