Martyr (The Martyr Trilogy) (22 page)

By
this time I was mounting my deer as Knox sat on his own nearby, having recently
cut me free of the net that held me.  I was still humming.  A large,
confused-looking cat was turning about in place, bellowing occasionally to no
one in particular.  Making sure we started off in the direction opposite the
way the cat was currently facing, we goaded our deer quickly to their top
speed.  I suppose at some point the great animal would have ceased to be under
the control of my vision-trance, but it had excellent hearing, and I continued
humming for quite some time.  It was never going to hear the deer escaping,
much less catch us.

20

“Sharing
a vision with a non-human subject…,” Kuro mused, “…Creating a vision out of
pure imagination, not from any previously experienced memory…”  He chuckled
under his breath.  “It’s never been done.  And not because nobody has tried –
it can’t be done!  That’s just not how the visions work.”  He shook his head,
then looked skyward, raised his palms to the heavens.  “What are you up to now?”
he asked the sky, amused and just a bit exasperated.  Then, turning back to me,
“Knox has been telling me how you bested…,” (Knox started coughing
uncontrollably) “…uh, proved to be quite an excellent student for your first
day of training!  You’ll continue training with him over the next few days. 
When you have demonstrated proficiency with all manner of swords and knives,
singly and dually wielded, you will begin to work with Charr.”  I looked
around, but didn’t see Charr.  “She will train you in hand-to-hand combat,
though it seems you may have a head-start there as well.”  Knox was taken with
another bout of coughing – perhaps he was having an allergic reaction to
something we had encountered in the forest. 

“Charr
will also teach you ranged weapons; it may not be your primary mode of combat,
but it’s important to be able to land a well-placed shot should the need
arise.  Corvus will train you in stealth, and…well…lethal moves.”  The words
were bitter in Kuro’s mouth, as was evident from his expression.  Apparently
even he wasn’t completely comfortable with the way Corvus operated, but found
it to be an unfortunate necessity.  Detachment, cruelty…these were not human
virtues, but certainly enabled one to do on the battlefield that which “nobler”
qualities such as empathy and compassion prevented others from doing.  Whether
that was ultimately a good thing or not remained to be seen.  Corvus stood to
Kuro’s rear with head down, his dark hair falling over his good eye.  He didn’t
look up when Kuro spoke of him, but his twisted lips displayed a grim smile.

“After
Corvus,” Kuro continued, “Kaire and Jager will have their time with you.”  I
acknowledged the two members of Reya’s camp standing to Kuro’s side.  “I
suspect Jager’s focus will be on strategy.”  Jager nodded silently.  “That was
always his favorite subject, and he’s extremely good at it.” 

“Thank
you, Master,” Jager said modestly.

“Pah! 
The days when you must call me ‘Master’ are long past.  I imagine you could
teach me a few things now.”

“I
could have taught you a few things back then too, but you were too stubborn!”
said Jager.

Kuro
laughed heartily.  “Well taken, old friend.  But please dispense with the
formalities henceforth.”  Jager nodded again, and Kuro went on.  “Kaire, I must
say that I don’t know your strengths.”

Kaire
responded with a smile, “Neither does the enemy.  That’s what makes them
strengths.”

“Very
good,” he said.  “Then I’ll trust you to teach the boy in whatever manner you
deem most appropriate.”  Kaire assured him she would do her best.  “Good,” he
said.  “That’s all for now.  Fire up the grills!”  And he turned as if to head
back into the dam.

“Wait,”
I said.  “That animal…was it…sent?”

Kuro
turned.  “By Magus you mean?  No, not unless it was disfigured in some way, had
some kind of machinery attached to it.  Did you see anything like that?”

“No,”
I said.  I remembered the pitiable state of the puurr-deer in Reya’s vision.

“Animals
are not as easily swayed by magic as humans,” Kuro said.  “It is a weakness of
our species.”

“But
what if it comes back?  What if it is able to track us after all?”

Knox
answered, “Not a concern, for a couple of reasons.  First, humans are not the
cats’ natural prey.  They have been known to attack deer, but they’re extremely
lucky if they can catch one, and they’re in for one heck of a fight if they
do.  We surprised that one.  We were on top of it before it saw us.  Then it
became a matter of pride.  It couldn’t flee without losing face.”  I thought he
was joking about the pride bit, but he looked dead serious.  “We also might
have wandered too close to its den, and if there were young ones, that would
make it act more defensively than usual.  Granted, it might get the idea to
hunt us down, you know, to settle the score, but we have defenses.”

I
scanned the dam, looking for something I might not have noticed before.  I
didn’t see anything that looked like it would keep one of those cats away.  And
hadn’t I just charged one straight across the top of the dam?  “Defenses?  Like
what, some kind of hidden traps?”

“No,
more subtle,” he said.  “Charr has designed an ingenious system of defense. 
There are motion sensors scattered in a broad perimeter around each end of the
dam.  Anything larger than a man will trigger the sensors, which then activate
a second set of devices closer to the dam.  These vibrate at a frequency that
is incredibly irritating to the cats, and have so far been completely effective
in keeping them at bay.  All of the devices are solar-powered.  The cats are
pretty rare, anyway.  On the few occasions that we’ve encountered one in the
field, they’ve been easy enough to avoid, and didn’t give chase.”

“So
what went wrong this time?” I asked.  “Why didn’t the defenses kick in?”

“I’m
sure they did,” Knox countered, “but your blade in the base of its skull must
have been more bothersome than the sound.”

Made
sense.  “Even that ceased to be irritating enough after a point,” I mused. 
“But you said anything larger than a man triggers the system.  What if the
aggressor is man?”

“Well,
usually they come in really loud, obvious contraptions, like helicopters,” Knox
teased.  “But in truth, we really aren’t all that well prepared for a human
assault of any size.  And it hasn’t really been necessary; you’re the first
visitors we’ve had for as long as we’ve been here.”

“Working
on it.”  Charr’s voice, from behind me.  She and Maya had just ridden up and
were dismounting.  Maya was smiling broadly.  I wasn’t sure if it was because
she was happy to see me or because of whatever Charr had shared with her during
their day together.  “I started thinking about additional defenses as soon as I
heard that we might have some more company soon.” 

My
pulse quickened as for a moment I thought she meant that Magus’ troops were on
the move.  But then I realized she was referring to the possibility of Reya’s
camp joining us.  I addressed Jager.  “So what is the plan with regard to
Reya’s people?”

“I’ve
discussed the matter at length with Kuro.  The dam can’t house all of Reya’s
people comfortably.  But they’re welcome to occupy the city below the dam, so
long as they don’t mind clearing the bodies.  The dam will serve as a command
center, and in an emergency, for a shorter period, they could retreat to the
dam for shelter.”

“Great,”
I said.  “So how are we supposed to let them know we’ve found a place?  We
don’t have the fuel for a return trip, and it may take time to find more. 
According to what Reya said, it’s at least a couple of days by deer.  And it
will take much longer for all of her people to move up here en masse; I hate to
imagine how difficult the mountain crossing will be.”

“Relax,”
Kaire said.  “Reya already knows.”

“What? 
How…?”

“The
deer,” she said.  “They communicate with each other telepathically, remember?”

“Yes,”
I said, “But it was my understanding that they could only pass thoughts to
other deer within close proximity.” 

“True,”
Jager replied, “But their range may be farther than you think.  And it’s not a
matter of one deer here transmitting the message all the way to a deer at
Reya’s end.  They pass it one to the next, and the puurr-deer are so abundant
that if there isn’t another close by, there will be soon enough, as they are
constantly on the move, foraging and whatnot.  It’s not instantaneous, but it’s
pretty fast.  We’ve already heard back from them.”

“Wow.” 
I was genuinely surprised.  “So what did she say?  Are they already on their
way?”

“Not
just yet,” Jager continued.  “She said she has a bit of business to take care
of before they can come.  But it will be soon, and she said she desires an
audience with you immediately upon her arrival.”

“Me? 
Why?”

“Apparently
there has been a development that requires your attention.”  I knew Jager must
have been referring to the matter of the traitor, but couldn’t imagine what
Reya wanted me to do about it.  Did Jager know the details himself, speaking in
non-specific terms only to obscure his meaning to others now present?  In my
mind I had cleared Jager of suspicion of treachery, but could I have been too
hasty?  Yet, if he were the one, why would Reya risk sending the message
through him?  He might choose to change the nature of the message, or not relay
it at all.  Unless she didn’t want him to know she suspected him.  Ah, the more
I thought about it, the more convoluted it became.  I guess I’d just have to
wait on Reya’s communication.  But I had let my guard down, I now realized.  I
resolved to be more vigilant going forward.

I
looked at Maya, who had lost the smile.  Naturally, she would have mixed
feelings about her newly-discovered mother coming to town.  And I now
remembered, she had never had the chance to chat with Reya about it since the
fateful moment she had found out through my blunder.  I wondered how this might
affect the new degree of intimacy we now shared. 

Suddenly
it occurred to me that not everyone was here.  I asked Maya, “Where’s Doog?”

“Oh,
he’s tinkering around on the chopper, naturally,” she said.  “Hey, we still
have a little time before it gets dark.  Wanna catch a movie?”

I
tweaked one eyebrow, knew she must be kidding.  “Sure, what’s playing?”

“Does
it matter?” she asked.  “You can tell me about your day on the way there.”  Oh
yeah.  She and Charr would have no idea about the crazy events that had so
recently transpired. 

“How
about we grab a bite first,” I suggested.  “I worked up quite an appetite
today.”  We did so, and then I climbed onto a deer behind Maya, gripping her
slender waist tightly.  She leaned back into me just a little.  The smell of
her hair was like a soothing balm after the nightmare I had just experienced. 
This was easily the best ride of the day.  She took us along the road from the
dam, circling down through the woods toward the town below.  After passing
through a short span of forest, the edge of the road to our left fell off into
a deep ravine spotted with diminutive fir trees.  The road arced to the right,
away from the edge of the ravine, and leveled out as we came upon a section of
crumbling buildings.  This was not the city proper, but a small satellite
community still well above the town in elevation.  It consisted of a handful of
houses, the remains of a general store, and a little farther down, sitting all
by itself some distance back from the road, a movie theater.  A few cars and a
rusted-out minivan held vigil in the overgrown parking lot.  “You weren’t
kidding,” I said.

“Of
course not,” she said.  “You never take me out any more, so I had to take the
initiative.”  I poked her in the ribs, just enough to make her jump.  I
dismounted, then made a dramatic display of my willingness to catch her as she
descended.  I expected her to slide down the deer’s far side in a show of
independence, but instead she swung her legs around and sprang off into my
arms.  I caught her readily and planted a kiss on her lips before setting her
down.  We approached the theater, or what remained of one.  It had been a small
deal, a single screen and a lobby.  It had probably been the type of joint that
would show one of the recently-popular movies a few weeks after its premiere in
a bigger theater in the city.  Most of the roof had caved in, but the stained
and tattered screen still stood almost erect.  The frames of the seats were
there, their once-cushy upholstery weathered and shriveled.  We located two
seats side-by-side that didn’t have too much debris lying around them, and
sat.  I glanced to our left, where the owners of one of the cars out front
remained, their eyeless sockets staring at an eternally-looping reel of the
same low-rate flick.  No other skeletons were visible, probably now crushed to
dust under chunks of fallen ceiling.  Maya seemed unfazed by the grisly
company.