The Bright Black Sea (79 page)

'Looks like they're going to do it from the ground.
Let's get as close we can get to this first line. If we keep moving
forward we'll not have to worry about those behind us. Keep low and
in the shadows.'

We cautiously made our way to the next piling, but it
was getting iffy now. The shadows were deep, but we could see along
the roadway to the next set of pillars, and anyone hiding in them
would likely see our approach as well, if we chose to continue.

'Keep watch, Wil,' Cin ordered, and began to search
the structure for some sort of ambush position.

There didn't seem to be any, the rail bed above was
supported by heavy concrete beams and the service road suspended
from them. We'd be hard to take from the front since we could
shelter behind the pilings, but there was no cover from behind.
We'd also have to watch the access stairs leading up to the tracks
at every piling. We had cover to hold off any attack from ahead,
but with fliers, the access points and an unprotected rear to
attack us from, the Legion would likely take us sooner or later. We
had no way to escape them.

'I hope you can swim, Litang,' she said quietly,
stepping over to the edge of the roadway and peering down into the
now inky water that swashed about the rocks and sand dunes of a
small island that huddled around the pilings.

I glanced at the dark silhouette of Port Sanjoor in
the distance. 'Not that far, not in my condition, Drowning might
seem my best option, though.'

'That's my brave captain,' she exclaimed. 'Strip down
here in the shadows of the pilings and slip over the side. Be quick
about it. We might not have to make the islands. If we can slip
around the blockade ahead, we might still be able to get back on
the viaduct. The island below seems close enough for us to reach it
without breaking our necks.'

It seemed the only plan, so I stripped to my
underwear and quickly bundled up my clothes in my jacket, using my
belt to sling the bundle over my back.

'I'm glad to see you're not shy, Wil, it will make it
easier to swim,' she said as she stripped to a thin top and bottom,
a slim form in the shadows, as she tied her clothes in a bundle as
well.

'Why, Naylea, after our night together on Lontria,
there can be no cause for shyness between us,' I replied. I hadn't
spent all those free days on the beaches of dear old Belbania
without shedding that taboo.

She laughed quietly and slipping her darter into an
accessible pocket at the top of her bundle, she said, 'Over the
top, Quickly, we can be seen. I'll follow.'

Looking down, I found a spot where a grassy dune
seemed a short fall from the roadway, and, carefully, climbing over
the railing, I quickly dropped two meters into the sand and sharply
bladed grass.

'Should I catch you?' I asked, looking up.

'Just move aside,' she hissed, 'I'm ticklish and I
might kick something...'

I moved aside. She was almost certainly kidding, but
decided not to take any chances. My pain, her pleasure.

She landed lightly and surveyed our position. She
noticed the white band above my right ankle. 'Is that my phantom
glass knife?' she hissed.

''Ah, yes. I found a nice sheath for it, and in your
memory, I wear it next to, well, my ankle, every time I go down to
a drift world.'

She grinned and whispered sarcastically, 'That's
sweet. I'm touched. Let's be going.'

Crouching low, we started carefully down the dune, to
the wet sandy beach keeping in the shadows directly under the
roadway. The sand was littered with sharp shells, so we had to walk
carefully, and slowly wade into the oily bay, swishing idly
about.

A minor moon/sun was rising over the glowing towers
of Sanjoor, giving the bay a silver sheen. The specks of seabirds
could be vaguely seen bobbing in the bay glistening with the lights
of Sanjoor's towers. It would be hard to swim unobserved though
them without calling attention to ourselves.

'We won't risk open water. We'll stay under the
viaduct. We can cross the pilings by the islands. They'll soon be
above us, so no talking or splashing, remember, they'll not have to
hit us to kill us in the water,' she whispered after surveying the
bay, adding, 'The water will carry every near charge to us.'

'Lead on, I said, treading water, and struck out in
slow, low effort strokes. With Despar's .5 gee gravity, I'd plenty
of buoyancy, and was unlikely to drown anytime soon.

We advanced slowly in the darkness under the viaduct,
hardly swimming at all, so as not to splash and to reduce the
little “v” wave that might give us away as much as possible.

We advanced to the next pilings, there was no island
around this set so we swam slowly around it. As we reached the next
little island, I felt a tingle as the blue flash of light briefly
outlined the shape of the island ahead of us. And a second one. We
scrambled out of the water on to the oily beach and scurried for
the shelter of the pilings.

Two pilings ahead they were firing darts into the
water apparently as a precaution against just what we were
attempting. Cin watched until they repeated the performance. She
gazed out over the bay – we could see the sea birds floating in the
swell even clearer as the minor sun rose higher in the sky. We'd
not escape that way if they were paying any attention at all. And
with the downed flier and dead comrades, they weren't about to let
us just swim under them. They had us trapped and were intent on
finishing the job.

'We'll have to do it the hard way. Get dressed,' she
sighed in my ear. 'Trousers and coat only, not the white shirt.
Barefoot. Don't make a sound – they may be overhead any moment now.
And they may have enhanced vision glasses, so make believe you're a
shadow in between these pilings.'

Flush against the pilings, I pulled on my pants, tied
my shirt around my waist, fastened my coat up to my chin, and
pulled my cap low over my forehead. I tucked my light boots into my
coat pockets.

When I was done, she handed me my darter and leaned
close. 'Now we wait until they do something, either an advance from
the party ahead, or a sweep in from the party behind. When they
pass by, we'll climb up to the roadway and follow the guard rails
forward like a shadow until we run into someone. If you can put the
darter to their body, do so. The less flash, the better. Then we
run. In the dark, we may have a chance. Follow my lead and don't
say anything.'

'Right. Good luck.'

'I want you alive. Don't screw up.' she said, and
slipped over to her side of the roadway and disappeared into the
narrow space between the pilings. I pocketed my trusty sissy and
squeezed into the space on my side of the piling.

The strange thing, I thought as I shivered in the
hollow of the pilings, is that it seemed I always could tell what
she was feeling, if not thinking. Oh, it changed fast enough,
second to second sometimes, but she never bothered hiding her
feelings, unlike Min, who always did. I could see the cold,
ruthless cruelty in her eyes, her delight in inflicting pain and
teasing pain to come, and her relish in contemplated her revenge on
me. And there were moments when we were almost like old friends.
And tonight we were comrades in arms. Oh, I knew she'd kill me just
as slowly as she promised, and if she regretted it even a little,
it would likely add to her cold pleasure.

In the damp darkness below the viaduct, I saw – and
shared – her wild delight in the challenge our situation presented.
Even though I could only see the faint outline of her face in the
glow of the distant towers, I'd catch her confidence and indeed,
her barely contained glee. She was in her element. This was what
she was best at, a grown up version of her school days' escapades
and she was absolutely certain she'd win again. And if I did
exactly as I was told, I'd win with her. Though the fate of those
classmates who got caught served as a stark warning to do exactly
as she directed. And I believe it was that same rush of joy which
prompted her to hand my darter back to me with no conditions
attached. It was simply another of her almost, but not quite,
careless gambles.

It's never cold in Sanjoor, but it's always damp, and
with the nearness of the water, it grew chilly. And as I waited,
and waited alone, that wild abandon of Naylea evaporated away and
left only the prospect of following a mercenary of Saint Bleyth
into battle, and I'd seen where that leads. I must confess I grew
very chilled. Chilled to the bone.

They continued to regularly electrocute fish, two
spans down, for the next hour or so, it seemed, anyway. I'd not my
com link so I don't know how long we waited...

The subtle click of space boots on the roadway above
me brought me out of my dark revery. I stopped breathing, but the
clicks hurried on, and stopped overhead. From the sound,
Legionnaires from the force ahead of us. I held my breath until
they moved on, two dark shapes scurrying along each side of the
roadway away from us. We waited. When they reached the far pilings,
they must have signaled back, for four more dark shapes hurried
overhead, not bothering to stay under cover, and out of sight
beyond the pilings behind us. We waited.

And when no more followed, she moved. I rose and
carefully stretched my sore body.

'Give me a boost,' she whispered.

I glanced up at the roadway and positioning myself,
just under the edge of it as she stepped close. And with the same
flash of instinct that had me countering Barlan's attack with an
attack of my own, I put my hands on her waist, pulled her close and
kissed her, let's say, for good luck. For a second or two longer
than, well, what I might have expected to get away with, if I'd
actually thought about it. And without a knee to the groin.

She pushed me away, the shadows too dark to read her
eyes. She simply said again, 'Lift me up, Litang.'

I whispered, 'Good luck.' And moving my hands lower,
braced myself and with her hands pushing on my shoulders, lifted
her just high enough for her to grasp the railing and carefully
pull herself up and over. I waited until she'd scouted the area,
and she dropped a hand down, and on the count of three, I jumped
grabbed it with my sore left one and, and with an
uff!
she
swung me high enough so that I could reach and grasp the edge of
the roadway. I hung for a moment to get my strength, and swung and
grasped the railing with my other hand and hauled myself up. We
caught our breaths for half a minute and she pointed to the other
side and the direction we were to going. I nodded, and slipped
across to the shadows along the railing, and started forward,
running low and bare footed on the cold grating, keeping pace with
her, my darter in hand.

As I approached the first set of pilings, I caught a
piece of darkness move just ahead of me, and lunged forward at the
shadow in the shadows. We collided, scrambling to react in the
darkness and I discharged two shots point blank as instructed. The
force of my lunge had carried us to the ground. I pushed myself up,
and found Cin standing beside me. She'd gotten the other one. She
grinned and nodded and off we went. One outpost down.

They must have been relying on their advanced party,
for we reached the next set of pilings undetected. On the far side
of the pilings they had their base camp – four, perhaps six,
depending on the substance of the shadows, lounging Legionnaires
were outlined in the faint light of a dim lantern on the deck of
the roadway.

She didn't give me a chance to think, she crouched
and streaked off, a St Bleyth stealth. I'd no choice but to do the
same. Well, I did have a choice, but, I wanted to be on the other
side in the end, so I'd best follow her. The schoolmates of hers
that held back paid for it, I'm certain.

They never saw her coming. She hit the first thug and
drove him –or his body – into the next fellow, and darted him as he
staggered. The fellow on my side started forward and I hit him in
the back, my darter on his neck. I pulled the trigger back for both
darts, and half stumbled into the next one. He was bringing his
darter to bear on me, I knocked aside with my darter arm, and
crashed into him. He was bigger than I and only staggered back.

Cin stepped over and dispatched him, and we sprinted
forward in the inky shadows. There were only four and they hadn't
fired a shot. We still had better part of three kilometers to go,
but they were likely all behind us again. I would've liked to have
stopped and put on my shoes, but she didn't, so we ran lightly
onwards

They had to have been in constant radio contact,
because we'd hardly gone half way to the islands before we could
hear the jets of a flier far behind us. It grew louder as it
approached. It landed briefly on the viaduct above the base we'd
overrun, and continued along the viaduct, roaring overhead as they
swept low over rails, a second flier firing up in the distance as
they discovered their outpost overrun. They settled ahead of us
again, at the far end of the viaduct, half a kilometer before it
entered the deep shadows of the godowns on the edge of the island.
It would be their last outpost – once in the maze of Port Sanjoor
and the Patrol marine patrols, their chances would be gone.

She grabbed my arm as we neared the last three sets
of piling.

'We'll stand a better chance on top,' she whispered
between breaths.'There are lines of wagons on the rails, more
cover.'

I nodded, saving my breath.

She led the way to the access stairs and cautiously
climbed them. When she disappeared, I followed her up and found her
crouching next to the large control box.

'Take the inside of this line and keep in the
shadows, I'll take the far side of the far line. Stay close to the
wagons, crawl under them, if you care to. And don't worry about
showing fire, fireworks might just attract the Patrol,' she
whispered, adding, 'I'll find you.'