Without Rhythm (The Lament) (28 page)

One that had to stop these people from hurting her friends. Somehow. She let the story start to bloom inside her, seeking to get out.

She stood in the road, rifle in hand, the lute still held in the other, waiting for them to come. She smiled as they came at her, voices yelling as they stopped, people pouring out around her. Well in front of her. It was almost perfect.

Plus it had killed almost ten whole seconds already. They were fast and efficient, but they didn't tackle her. That was probably because she was laughing manically.

Pran did something she didn't think was possible and tossed the lute in the mud in front of her.

"That, is closer than you want to be. You know how you made that house burn the other day? Well, the Guardians have that trick too. One similar enough to it at any rate. I was told that it's a little better than what you used? Anyway, that, is my lute. Inside it is a thing that none of you will survive if you touch it. Just thought I'd mention that. Anyway. You're all my prisoners. Throw down your weapons and lay on the ground or I'll be forced to harm you." It sounded like a load of manure to her, but no one rushed her.

"Bomb? This boy says he has a bomb? The Guardians?"

They discussed the idea for a few minutes, one of them finally walking forward, pulling back a riding hood, letting his handsome face show.

"
Apprentice Pran
? I like the new hair." Dovish spoke clearly, not sounding like he was all that slow anymore at all.

It was supposed to take her off guard and did. The idea of the man being smart took some getting used to, but she wasn't the only person that could pull tricks like that either, was she?

She used her free hand to rub at her scalp, drawing everyone's attention to it, several rifles being held on her.

"Oh? Thank you. Now, explain to your friends why the Guardians would send me out here to die, will you? I'd rather avoid that part, ceasing to exist, but... well, it will mean more coming from you." She smiled then, no doubt looking wild and insane. She glanced at the lute and shook her head. It was wrapped but no doubt getting all wet as they stood there talking.

"We need to move back I think. I probably shouldn't have thrown that down like I did. Not the world's most brilliant move I don't think." She chewed her lip, feeling honestly anxious about it.

Several people, ones that she couldn't make out at all moved to talk to Dovish, who actually seemed a little out of breath.

"She's from the ship, a disgraced Bard that some Guardians were using for sex or something. Nice girl, not a boy. The hair is different. I don't know why she did it, but when she played in town it was gone. Other than that, I..." He waited then, looking at her as if wanting the rest of the story.

Perfect. No one even shot her, which they probably should have.

"Mara and Clark weren't using me for sex... Ridiculous, they're Guardians after all. As
I
am. I was brought in like I was to find the infiltrators in the fleet. Hence the story about me being kicked out of art school. That was a bit of a stretch, because no one would do that on the last day like that. I was too old to sell the plan otherwise however, so we ran with it. I have to admit, it took me a bit to figure out that you were one of them Dovish. Tammy never mentioned that part. I suppose she'll have to be tortured later, to see what else she knows. Don't I feel silly for recommending leniency now." That part was true. As far as Pran knew Tammy hadn't mentioned that at all. It meant the woman was probably hiding more.

The other people on the ship? Pran shrugged, trying to play it off.

"I earmarked the others of course. The Judges will have the truth out of them quickly enough. Now, if you'd all be so kind as to put those weapons down, so that I don't have to hurt anyone? That would be preferable." She gestured a little, smiling, as if it were a joke. They did laugh. A few of them near the back at least.

A large man in dark clothing stepped to the front, and handed his weapon to Dovish. It got everyone's attention.

"So, if I have this right miss, you're claiming to be a Guardian? I thought they used a different sort of weapon?" He sounded sly and smarmy, like a person that thought they'd figured something out. As if their lack of understanding meant they were clever.

"That's right. But if I bring that out you're all likely to die, so I'm trying to keep the whole thing calm. You might want to step back a bit..." She pointed at his feet then, using the rifle barrel. He was standing right by her lute after all. "I don't actually know how those things work. I was just given it to deliver."

The man looked down, edging toward the thing slowly, the package awkward in shape and near colorless in the rain, except from the bit of light from the vehicles eyes.

He bent down then and started to fumble with the edges a bit, pulling them to the side carefully, taking a long time to do it, while everyone else stood watching. Pran didn't say anything else, holding her breath anxiously. If he found the lute...

He did and then, just as carefully pulled back, his face a lot more scared suddenly.

"We need to back off. No Bard would throw a musical instrument in the mud like this, so this girl must be what she said. Some kind of special Guardian."

Pran smiled then waved at the thing on the ground lightly.

"I never said I was
special
. Um, does anyone know what time it is?" She looked around, trying hard to fight for alertness in the near total dark. The lights from the things had stolen her ability to see, a little bit at any rate. She waited, as if actually expecting someone to answer.

Oddly enough a person in the back did. A man.

"Three-twelve in the morning."

"Oh..." Pran backed away and to the right, leaving the package, her new lute, sitting in the mud, half uncovered. She wanted to cringe, but pointed at it instead.

"I... don't know what's supposed to happen, but I was told to be at least half a mile away from that thing by three-twenty two. I..." She turned and ran, calling out in a panicked voice.

"Now! Now!" It didn't mean anything and she stopped after a few seconds, fighting to move like a real Guardian would, without pattern, almost vanishing into silence. It didn't work very well at all, but she did hear the vehicles trying to turn around after a bit.

She also heard voices in the woods.

"Don't let her escape!" It was Dovish, his words crisp and angry sounding. "If she tortured Tammy she needs to die."

Well, it wasn't the best thing to ever hear, but Pran would take it. They were running, except for the ones after her. Act one of the story was set then. Now it was time for act two. The problem that would surprise them all.

Only she didn't have any idea what that was going to be at all, so she just ran instead. It was dark enough that the people following fell behind too easily, even as she huffed and puffed noisily in the night. The wind covered the sound too well. Sighing she stood for a bit, waiting for them to catch up, resting, her rifle pointed with the safety off.

She was nearly bored by the time they got to her, some ten minutes later.

"This way!" Pran made her voice as deep as she could manage and started to clatter forward, crashing through the brush clumsily, as if she couldn't see it.

"I heard her, follow me!"

Then she ran again, calling out every few minutes. It worked a little too well, since it meant that one of the women was able to close with her, ending up in front of Pran suddenly, a beam light out, showing her clearly. The shot came without hesitation, but Pran knew that it was all she could do. She didn't feel sick or anything, the drugs keeping her from feeling anything except excitement. Or if not the drugs, the situation was doing it. She shot three more times, the woman going still. Each one sounded like a loud cough in the night.

Pran took the wind-up beam light and set it on a branch that waved in the wind. It wanted to fall off, but she was able to tie it on after a second, taking a lace from the jacket that the dead woman wore. Then she started screaming. It wasn't calling out, but pure, cold and bloody bellowing. The kind of thing that spoke of pain and impending death. At least in a play it would have.

The light waved in the breeze as she got away from it, setting up so that she could see who came. Hopefully at least. No one did and the light went out on its own after a while. She heard voices, but they were farther away, not closer. They were leaving.

She followed. Her job was to buy The Lament time. It was way too windy to take off still, so it was up to her to do something about it. She had to back track to the road, finding the lute still in place. As much as it hurt she left it, knowing that it was the only thing that had really kept the big devices from the past at bay. As long as it was there, it could protect the road. It wasn't the only road though. There were three. The simplest thing now would be for the attackers to just back track and go around. That would take time, but not all night. The split was only a few kilometers back after all. Worse, she didn't know which one they'd take. She wouldn't get two chances either. If they took one and she went to the other it was all over.

Crud.

That meant that she needed to get to the split and stop them there. Clark had said that she had enough weapons to take out thirty fighters, hadn't he? She tried to forget the part about how he'd also mentioned that the best she might do was lie about it later. He wasn't wrong. It was stupid for her to be doing anything except running away at that moment.

Still, maybe she could figure something less violent out? The thing with the lute had worked. Not that she had another one just lying around. Pran ran then, forgetting to try and be quiet or even move like a Guardian. She slopped and splashed for what seemed like an hour before catching up with the lights.

People were yelling at each other, trying to be heard over the growl of the horseless carts.

"We need to press on now! The woods can't be filled with them, we've only seen the one Guardian and she was just a girl."

Another voice, this one deeper called out then.

"We're missing three people already. We started with eighteen. At this rate we'll be down to half strength in a few hours. You think one girl did that?" He sounded scared, nearly ready to soil himself.

Pran wondered what to do. Then she wondered what happened to the other two people. They must have gotten lost or hurt. The idea that there were a whole bunch of Guardians around would be a good thing, but she couldn't survive a battle with these people. Not alone.

The man that had doubted her earlier was the key there. He was the one in charge, the one making the others stay, even though they sounded scared.

If she could kill him, they might just run. Even if they killed her first, if she could make them think she wasn't alone... It wasn't all that likely, since she didn't really have any weapons skills to speak of. Even the people that she'd managed to shoot so far had been really close to her... Which just meant that she had to close with the man first, somehow.

Sighing she walked along the side of the road, making her movements as scattered as she could manage and still travel in the right direction. It took a long time, but there was a rewarding scream from a woman when she stopped, not too far from the man she needed.

"What the..." He started to bring his own rifle around, but stopped when she threw hers down in front of him. Pausing for a crucial second while she reached into her side bag and pulled the Kinetic pistol out. She didn't hesitate, knowing that would get her killed. She just fired, the thing not making a sound, but the man moving backward suddenly, a red plume visible in the light from the device's giant glowing eyes.

Everyone froze, so she turned on them and fired wildly, hitting the vehicles more than anything else, until her ten shots were done, then, as people started to fire back, thunder and lightning filling the air, she ran again. She hid then, not too far away, scrambling to dig the spare rounds out. It took a while to do, being almost totally black out and then she had to figure out which direction they got loaded in. Helpfully there was a little clasp that just wouldn't go down at all if the thing was the wrong way. She hoped that was the case at least. She had ten shots left, if she'd gotten it right.

How many the attackers had she didn't know, but they sounded like they were planning on using them all. They didn't follow her this time, seeming happy enough to make the night sing with loud sounds and roaring. It went on for nearly ten minutes, before it stopped and someone called out, screaming the words, like a person gone deaf.

"Did we get them?"

No one answered for a long time, but they didn't shoot either. She just hid behind her tree, waiting, not knowing what to do next. The people seemed to be frightened, which was a little funny, since it was only her out there, not some demon come hunting. Then again, they didn't know that, did they?

"We need to retreat..." Someone called that out loudly enough to be heard, but the answer was low and deep sounding, not nearly enough for her to get from as far away as she was.

The next bit of time, almost surreally, turned into a discussion about what to do next, with some of the people wanting to run and the rest arguing that they had a part to play and taking The Conscript out was the next step.