Bandits (9 page)

Faulk continued to struggle. “Ugh! It’s got my arms.”  

“No kidding.” Daniel stabbed up into a wiggling branch above him. It twitched and then fell limp.

The pink tongue of the willow snaked around Faulk’s neck. It yanked him back and forth. He struggled against cho
k
ing by turning his head from side to side. Jade aimed at the tongue surrounding Faulk’s neck and struck it within an inch of Faulk’s skin. “Watch it… to close… to my head.” He was jerked back, and took a gulping breath at his slight freedom. The tree’s tongue tightened its grip, refusing to let its meal go.

Daniel took out his gun and squinted as he aimed at the moving branch. He raised his gun and growled with frustration. “Stop moving!” Daniel howled.

Faulk held still, and the rubbery tongue slinked out fu
r
ther to tighten around his neck. As the vicious plant-monster choked him, his face started to turn purple and his eyes watered from its attack. Daniel’s gunshot cut smoothly through the branch. The branch wiggled wildly and then snapped, releasing Faulk. He fell several feet to the ground and shook his head in bewilderment. Bracing himself against the sand, he laid his head back down, feigning a faint before he stood up.

A thunder of crackling branches sounded around them. “Stop playing around. Grab and go! Now!” Daniel demanded.

The surrounding Deadly Wills attacked them all at once, their success hindered by the dead, unmoving willow trees littered within. Daniel cut a tongue that lashed out at him and then he jumped down. Landing on one foot and bended knee, he took off running behind the others. The branches of the weeping willows were left whipping behind him in the wind.

Daniel laughed and slapped Faulk on the back. “Let’s take the shortcut. The long way is too dangerous for Faulk here.”   

With the willow forest behind them, they headed across the sand. Faulk’s curiosity pulled his head in various directions. Taking in the green sands, golden red undergrowth, and mongo trees with their blue trunks and hanging deep red leaves, his eyes lit up in wonder. Large gray and green veined rocks li
t
tered the path to the sandy expanse before them. Daniel eyed him, smiling at his awe.

Daniel slapped away a wide red hanging leaf and caught a red mongo as it fell. He took a bite and threw it at Faulk who caught it and ate the rest. “That was good, like nothing I’d ever tasted.”

“It’s called a mongo fruit. Nothing like it, red and sweet.”

“Hah, this place could be
Paradise
if it weren’t deadly.” Faulk threw down the round seed from the fruit.

“It’s not bad. Once you get used to it.”

“No, I guess not.” Faulk replied with a shrug.

Daniel smacked another hanging leaf. Two more mongos fell and he tossed one to Jade and Nickel. Of the various planets he’d traveled with his father and the EBRA, none had compared to Merwin.
I can’t believe my father wanted to leave Merwin to find a new world
.
Looks like the place is growing on Faulk too.
“Hah,” Daniel laughed out at his thoughts.

Jade asked with a smirk, “What’s so funny?  You starting to lose your mind?”

Faulk circled a finger near his temple. “Oh, yeah, he lost his mind when his dad…Ugh,” Faulk said, before Daniel punched him in he chest. Coughing when the second hit came, he returned the blow and hit Daniel on the arm.

Daniel narrowed his eyes at Faulk, and quickly changed his face back to a smile when Jade turned to him. “My mind is fine. It’s Faulk here who’s lost his mind. Dropped out of flight school, and showed up at my door. The dufus told me he wanted us to run off and go on a ‘real’ adventure? Like he’d know one if it hit him.” Daniel laughed then winked at Faulk, who scowled back at him.

Jade rolled her eyes and grinned. “Ah-ha Faulk, that was brave. It sounds like you’re on your way to becoming a Zukar.” Jade tilted her dimpled smile on Daniel. “Wouldn’t you say so, Daniel?” 

Faulk popped Daniel on the back of the head before Jade glanced back to him. “Yeah, definitely ready to be one. How do I sign up?” Faulk stuck his tongue out at Daniel and then turned a grin on Jade.

Daniel raised an eyebrow at Faulk’s flirtation, and then shook his head with a grin. “Becoming a Zukar isn’t easy. You’ve got to go through many tests, and the last is pulling off a big snatch job on your own. I pulled off my first one at thirteen. My father was one of the best, but I’m even better.”

“Uncle Rayne was the best? At what?”

“Well he was the best thief and assassin for hire the EBRA had to offer, just before the old man’s skills went south,” Daniel answered.

“How’d you pull a snatch job off at that age – just thi
r
teen?”

“My father trained me for it, and I pulled it off on the Planet Jikkean. I ended up having to be stitched up, but it was the best high of my life. I’m still not a full EBRA, but that day will come soon enough,” Daniel said with full confidence.

“Was Uncle Rayne, um… uh-ha… training Nickel?” Faulk asked, catching himself from revealing too much about Daniel’s father.

Jade’s narrowed her eyes, “You know I’m not stupid. It’s something you’re keeping from me, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it. You’ll break, one of you - and when you do...”

Daniel’s smile turned into a frown. “Back off Jade. Don’t push it… and never push me.” He glared at her, irritated at her breaking the small moment of peace he was able to capture since his father died. Although he’d never needed much sleep, his body was fatigued, and his head hurt from the lack of it.

Jade frowned at Daniel’s brooding, and then she turned away from him to look for Nickel. “Nickel? Nickel!”  

Nickel ran to the edge of a body of water
ahead
. Green, wet
,
sand
-
filled
,
muddy water
with t
all sprouts of long grass
that
swayed in the water with the gentle waves
, gave the ill
u
sion of serenity
. A line of mongo trees bordered the other side of the w
a
ter’s edge, their leaves hanging within the depths of the water as if quenching an unen
d
ing thirst. Daniel ran up to Nickel, with Jade and Faulk in tow. He looked at the sandy water and watched the waves lap more sand up onto the bank. The ground around them softened and mixed with the murky green water ahead of them.

“Is that quick-sand?” Faulk asked and pointed.

Jade turned to him and answered, “No, you won’t sink. It’s got more water in it than quicksand.”

“You said this was a shortcut. I hope you know what you’re doing,” Daniel said, eying the water skeptically.

Jade bit her fingernail in thought. “My dad brought me this way once when we were in a hurry. He told me this was a shor
t
cut. I remember there was a combination of sorts, but… uh, it’s under sand, through the water.”

Faulk cleared his throat. ”Um, call me cautious, but why do I have the feeling there’s something down there besides just water?” His gaze followed the slithering indentations in the sand thickened water.

Daniel eyed the massive mix of sand and water. “Seems to me you’re learning your way around Merwin. Flight school didn’t teach you how to survive in real danger, did it?”

“Oh, it did - in some ways at least. A computerized sim
u
lation can only go so far though,” Faulk said.

“Merwin’s definitely a place to put all that high-tech learning to use, cuz.”  Daniel said and turned to
Jade
. “So, what now?”

Jade put a staying hand on Nickel’s shoulder. “We have to go through the water. There are rocks underneath, a path. You can’t go off the path, because it’s too deep. Also, there’s other stuff in there. My father demanded I not let so much as a toe slip off the rock, and with good reason. I’ve never seen the trap, but knowing my dad – it’s a good one. I have to hit the right pressure points so we don’t get sucked under.”

Daniel’s eyes followed a slithering movement in the thick mixture of sand and water. “Tell me you know what you’re doing. I’m too tired to work this hard.” He wiped a hand down his face.

Jade jabbed him in the arm with her finger. “Look, just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I’m not Zukar. Don’t get me started. I know how to get us there. I don’t forget a thing.”

“Good. In that case, let’s get moving,” Daniel said. He glanced at Faulk, who looked at Jade with the look of a hungry animal. “Focus, Faulk!”
The poor sap.

Jade walked to the edge of the watery marsh. “Okay. We have to take it slow. We don’t want to upset the water...
at all
.”

Daniel watched as Jade took the first step into the mu
d
dled sand. She held her upper body completely still. Her foot slowly moved around within the mud-spattered sandy banks. She frowned while trying to find the concealed rock that pr
o
vided a hidden path to the trove. She used her other foot to search for the next rock. Nickel allowed her to make the first step, and he waited patiently until she found her footing. Faulk followed cautiously behind Nickel.

Daniel watched the bumps and jerks of the creature in the muddy water beyond them.
Why do I have the feeling this is not going to be easy? 
He placed his foot on the first rock, and the heaviness of the water pushed up against his calf. Looking ahead, he realized Jade was already waist deep up to her chest
in the sandy mix
. He moved slowly behind Faulk, but his eyes never left the moving snakelike object that slithered toward them. “What the hell? Something’s coming at us!” Daniel yelled. The gray-green back of the creature slithered at a quickened pace toward Nickel.

Jade stiffened. “I don’t know. My father never told me what it is. He just told me to stay on the path, no matter what!” Jade reached behind her to grab Nickel’s shirt.

Daniel leaned forward. “Take out your knives!” Without faltering, he grabbed the hilt of his own.

“Uh, whoa!” Faulk slipped and pushed Nickel forward into Jade. His face dipped into the water as he fell forward.

The creature dived under the murky water. “Damn! It’s on the move. Jade, steady Nickel. Keep going! I’ll get Faulk,” Daniel yelled out.

“Can’t. If I go forward without you, the trap mechanism will go off. It checks our weight as we walk forward. We have to stay together,” she called back.

Faulk floated and wiped a hand down his muddy face.

Daniel jumped onto the rock ahead of him. “Get ready to a
t
tack. It’s coming at you… and fast.”

“Like I can find my fr
eakin’
knife in all this mud!” Faulk screamed as he struggled to stand.

Jade yelled out at Faulk, “Watch your step! There are sinkholes on the bottom. They have Laviatons in them that’ll pull you under and electrocute you.”  She held tightly onto Nickel, her arm held high with a poisoned dart as her gaze watched for a sign of the creature.

“Freakin’ great!” Faulk exclaimed. Struggling, he a
t
tempted to stand in the muddy waters, several feet from the rock path underneath. He steadied himself on the rock and reached out for Nickel.

Daniel watched the creature’s back as it broke through the sludge-filled water toward Faulk. It stopped short and its head burst through the water’s surface to reveal a grayish-green cre
a
ture with a pointed snout, and sharp yellow teeth. Its forked tongue lashed out at Faulk, and Jade’s dart hit it in the throat with precision. It roared in agony.

“Faulk! Knife it now,” Daniel said.

Faulk yanked his knife from his pants. “Found it!” Faulk threw his knife at the creature’s neck, and the creature jerked back while the knife whizzed past him. It surged forward to attack Faulk. Adrenaline filled Daniel’s gut, and he leaped for the neck of the beast
.
Faulk steadied himself, and his jaw dropped as he fumbled around in search of his gun.

Daniel landed on its slimy neck and slid off slightly. He laced his fingers together around its neck. Pulling himself tighter to its body, he held on as the creature jerked. Daniel lifted a leg over it and crossed his ankles tightly to secure his grip. He held on for the ride as it swung its head from side to side as if trying to shake him off. He gritted his teeth, as he fought for balance and raised his knife.

“Go! I’m coming!” Daniel shouted at Faulk and tightened his legs around the creature before lifting his knife higher. The creature reared up and its snake-like neck tightened as it charged upwards towards the sky. His knife slipped.
Damn!
Bending quickly, he grabbed it before it fell out of reach.

With a twist of his wrist, he cut it through at the neck. Daniel pulled back as blue blood spurted forward. The cre
a
ture’s body convulsed briefly before falling limp, and Daniel jumped with accuracy to land on the rock path. He slid slightly but was quick to balance himself. He wiped his hand down his face and tossed his head to fling off the mud and blood that splashed from the creature’s felled corpse. The creature hit the water with a muddy splash and sank. Daniel jabbed his knife into his belt, and continued to follow Jade and the others.