Jeanne G'Fellers - Sisters Flight (25 page)

"He's
going back." I bent close to Archie's face. "My turn to save you,
Archie. This isn't your fight. You go back now. Go be safe, you
understand?"

"Yes,
Rankil dankle. Archell hears." He nodded, stood and began numbly moving
away, first walking, then trotting, then running as fast as he could, which was
what I wanted.

"Where
is he going?" Harlis turned a venomous eye on me. "You disobey an
order here and now?"

"For
him, yes. He's winnolla, Harlis. Let him be who he is. Besides, they're going
to be downing anything Aut in there."

"You
are nothing if loyal to those you love." Harlis ran her fingers through
her hair as her face softened at bit. "You confound me, girl. Always have.
Guess you'll have to search the caves alone. We'll finish this later."
With this she turned back to bark directions to those awaiting her command.
"I take that back." She motioned me to her side. "Here comes the
winnolla's replacement." And a small part of me wished I had let Archell
remain.

After
a few words with my caving partner, Harlis nodded to me and walked off,
satisfied. I tried to appear accepting, but Recca's bow, which I knew from
Myrla to be a point of high respect in the former Serpent clan, did little to
soothe me. "Seems we are a pair, Trooper Rankil."

"Are
we?" I looked over Recca's head in search of someone else. Harlis caught
my attention, and when she thinned her eyes I knew this was my only opportunity
to avoid punishment. I frowned, but when Harlis glowered, I turned back to
Recca, accepting the offer before I found another insubordination added to my
Trooper records. "Follow me."

We
said little, and Recca let me take the lead until we reached the outside of the
caverns. "How are you armed?" I asked over my shoulder.

Recca
pushed back her cloak to hold up a small crossbow. "I've a handful of
blades as well. Yourself?"

"Knives
and my hands. Let's go caving." I lit one of the lanterns stacked in the
entryway and led the way into Bowriver colony's littered passageways.

We
reached the Bowriver common stores first. I took the lead as we searched every
corner, box, bedroll and crevice we came across. We overturned tables and
jerked tapestries from the walls in our rush but found no signs of Longpass's
stragglers. No sign, that is, until we reached the Bowriver's main stores.

"Look
at this." Recca jiggled the top to a dried fruit barrel.

"Just
another opened barrel." I placed a finger to my mouth, hung the lantern
from a hook and held up a sack containing the fruit the barrel should be
housing.

Recca
nodded and stepped back, giving me room to kick the barrel on its side, sending
the contents—one of Longpass's grizzled warriors—rolling across the floor.
Recca was upon him before he could find his footing, wrestling him back to the
ground before she sliced his throat with a single experienced stroke. I helped
her drag the body into the main passage. Then after we'd finished searching the
area, I marked the doorway with two bold strokes of the white chalk.

"That's
one." I shoved the dead man's knife into my belt. "Let's find the
rest and get this over with."

Recca
nodded but hung back to toy with her crossbow. "Time to end this," I
heard her say, which I thought little of until I heard Recca cock her bow
behind me. "I came into this not intending to come out."

I
turned to face her and the bow pointing toward my chest.

"You've
come to avenge Leonor's death? Here? Now?" Too much time had passed since
our last encounter for the outrage to linger. No, I didn't care for Recca, for
the lengths she had gone to keep Myrla and me apart, but surely she hadn't been
harboring this depth of anger for over three passes! "This isn't Serpent
territory. This isn't Serpent law. This is a different time and a different
circumstance." I should have called out, made some sort of noise to bring
others, but I remained silent. I was certainly frightened, but still calm—inner
child layer and all. If Recca wanted revenge for my killing her star warrior in
order to save Myrla, she would have it. "For the Mother's sake, we're on
the same side!"

"The
opportunity finally presented itself." Recca stepped closer to aim the bow
between my eyes. "Serpents never forget those who slight us, especially an
abomination such as you." I heard the click of the arrow's release and
clenched my eyes shut, thinking how strange it was to feel peace at a moment
like this. If this is how the Mother intended my life to come to an end, so be
it. She would handle Recca in her own time and manner. No pain came, no flash
of light between my eyes, only the soft thud of an Aut falling behind me.

I
jumped forward. "Shit!"

"I've
called them worse." Recca kicked the man and planted a second shot in his
chest. "The Mother says we shouldn't kill in revenge, but sometimes it's
all that heals." She patted the two half-heart pendants on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Klara, but he could have been the one who downed your nassie
during the crossing. That one was for you." She pushed past me. "Come
on."

"Okay."
I followed and breathed deep, relaxing into the calm my mind was now
accomplished at. "I thought that arrow was meant for me."

"So
did I." Recca paused to lean against the passageway wall and managed a
fleeting smile. "But when I saw that Aut coming up behind you in the dark,
I remembered our purpose here was a common one."

"Well,
thank the Mother for that epiphany."

"I
agree. My rage was misplaced. Our past differences are just that—in the past.
We are now embroiled in the same cause," said Recca. "Besides, you
take the idea of your death too well. Hard to feel vengeful when you are met
with such calm."

"I've
faced it enough times to be too shaken by it." I tentatively extended my
hand to her, and she clasped it above the bandages.

"Don't
take this as friendship, Trooper." She squeezed my forearm hard.
"Because it's not."

"I
never said friendship," I said. "I offer an alliance against a common
enemy."

"That,
I can accept." Recca squeezed my forearm again. "Shall we continue on
our search?"

"Just
keep that bow aimed elsewhere."

"It
will never point your way again."

We
searched another fifteen or so areas, including a few of the Bowriver's small
singles' grottos before we came across any more signs of infestation. At the
merge of three back passages, Recca bent to retrieve a gray-green thread from
the floor. "The color cloth Longpass's men wear on their belts," she
said, and we turned down the only unmarked passageway. At this point we were
deep within the volcano's bowels, in the narrow crisscrossing tunnels that
interlinked the colonies.

"I've
never been this deep inside Tekkroon land." Recca moved aside so I could
lead again.

"I've
spent time down here." I took the chalk, marked the passage to our left
and strode down it. "We're nearing the Pit."

"The
Pit?" Recca was uncomfortably close behind me considering her earlier
intent. "The home of the Tekkroon insane?"

"You've
heard of it."

"In
passing conversation, but you seem well acquainted with it." Recca
smirked. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Think
what you will," I said crisply. A faint sound echoed down the corridor
ahead of us, followed by a more substantial grinding and a clinking of metal.

"Someone's
at the gates." I turned the nearest corner and was looking for the Pit's
customary guard when a sound from behind brought both of us about face with our
blades drawn.

"Did
you see him?" Another team hurtled down the passage straight for us. They
were coated with sweat, and the civilian was nursing a minor shoulder wound.
"He came out of nowhere," huffed the bleeding sister.

"He'd
wedged himself against the corridor ceiling and dropped down on us." I
recognized the trooper. She was a seasoned officer and far too experienced to
be wearing the panicked expression she wore. "The man was everywhere at once.
He knocked me off my feet, stabbed my partner and was gone before either of us
could react."

"He
can't have gone far." Recca pulled a clean handkerchief from her cloak
pocket and passed it to the bleeding sister who tucked it under her tunic.
"He's just a man."

"Not
just a man." The Trooper officer leaned against the wall to catch her
breath. "We were chasing Longpass."

"Longpass?"
Recca cocked her bow. "Are you certain?"

"An
Aut with half a hand," blurted the wounded sister. "Reciting
Raskhallak verse as he sank his blade into me. Yeah, it was Longpass."

"Then
our eyes must be open to the possibilities of the impossible." Recca
clenched her free hand until it shook with fury. "How large is the
Pit?"

"More
than forty rooms." I gave the quick version of the Pit's general layout
then led the way to the gate. "The guard's gone."

"No,
she's not." The wounded sister pointed to a shadow standing just outside
our lantern light. She called to the guard but there was no answer.

"Open
this gate immediately," barked the Trooper officer, "Or find
yourself—"

I
cut her short. "Don't bother. She should be on this side of the
gate."

"You're
right." The officer looked at me. "She dead then?"

"Only
one way to tell at this distance." I threw a phase at the shadowy sister
that bounced back cold and black. "She's dead."

"Phasing
the dead?" Recca stepped back from me with an expression between disbelief
and disgust. The officer and civilian blanched. "There are other
ways."

"None
so quick." I shivered then collected my thoughts, thanking Evangeline for
discussing that little tactic with me during one of our talks. Within the Pit,
there was a flare of light and a scream. "Geez, the sisters in there
aren't armed. We've got to get this door open!" I rattled the bars.

"There
is supposed to be a key hidden somewhere along the left hand side." The
officer felt along the wall. "I served guard duty here once and was told
at the time that in case of emergency there was a master key hanging .. ."
She shoved her hand into a narrow crack and produced the key. "Got
it!" She undid the lock and the door swung free with a groan. The lights
within the cavern had been doused. Under Recca's cover, I dropped the lantern
wheel and turned up the globes while the other team freed the deceased guard
from the hook she'd been skewered to. A familiar room came into view. Same
painted walls. Same lavish furnishings. Same antiseptic smell. Then Beverlic,
one of the Pit's permanent occupants and a decorated Barrier trooper before
battle flashbacks ruined her career and stability, stumbled in from a side
chamber to fall across one of the loungers.

"You're
late." Blood seeped from beneath the hand she held to her midsection.
"I kept him going for a minute or two." Beverlic pushed away all
attempts at help. "Damn crazy Aut."

"Where'd
he go, Bev?" I pushed a hard pleasure phase to relieve her pain.

Beverlic
resisted. "Thanks for trying, but I'm past anything you can give me."
She pointed down the right hand corridor. "Dee was fighting him down
that-a-way."

"Someone
stay with her." I chose the right hand while Recca took the left, which
circled around, joining with the right through a common hall. Midway down the
corridor, I found Dee lying in the hall, her pants drenched in her own blood.

"Easton,"
she whispered when I drew near. "I was tending Easton ... when ... he
..." Quick as that she was gone. I patted her face then rose, unsure which
direction to pursue next. I could try each room. There was a good chance
Longpass would be hiding in one of them, but instinct told me to stop, that Dee
had already told me all I needed to know. A thud behind me brought me to the
closest door—Easton's room. When I peered through the view hole, what I saw was
enough to make even me, a battle-hardened Tekkroon trooper, want to vomit.

Easton
sat on the floor, lazily finger-painting in the blood that coated the room.
Longpass, the great Autlach warrior and holy man, lay at her feet, his eyes
wide, mouth open to emit the scream we'd heard earlier. Easton had torn off his
bulletproofing and ripped into him with her bare hands, slinging blood and
flesh across the room as she had unleashed all her fury on him. She finished
her drawing, a flower, then called over her shoulder to me.

"Come
on in, kid. The door's unlocked."

"I
think it's safer out here."

"Still
scared shitless of me, aren't you?" Easton cackled a little then sighed.
"You're safe, I promise. The bastard got me before I got him. I couldn't
play with you if I wanted." I remained silent while I wondered if Easton
was lying. "Dammit, kid." Easton called to me again. "Don't make
this imbecile the last face I see."

Now
I was almost certain of Easton's truthfulness. "No games." I swung
open the door. "I'll kill you if you—"

"I
really wish I could play." Easton scooted back until she leaned against
her bunk. "But I'm kind of preoccupied with dying at the moment."