Chapter Nine
Another explosion rocked the floor and walls, Maluk ignored the sounds leading them through the maze of stairs and rooms flawlessly. Wherever 'Daddy's boys' were, Maluk was using their distractions to his advantage. They had so far passed nothing but unconscious guards.
When Maluk suddenly pressed himself up against the corridor wall, Ashe and O'Connell were quick to follow suit.
"What's up, kid?" O'Connell whispered.
"I hear voices up ahead. It's the servants dinin' hall. Betcha it's the cook, the steward, and maybe a guard." Maluk grinned at O'Connell. "Ya' know, the guys that don't get paid 'nough to get shot 'at."
"Love those kind." O'Connell returned his grin.
"Shall we say hello?" Ashe offered.
"Hell yeah. Don't want to be rude."
"Since when?" Ashe murmured with a chuckle.
"What?"
"Nothing," she grinned. Working her way toward the room she risked a quick glance into the chamber. The room was round once again; a long table filled the middle of the room, bracketed by chairs on each side. To the west was a large fireplace, dark meat turned on a spit over the open flame. To the east, cupboards lined the round wall filled with dishware, glassware and the occasional large bowl. Near the fireplace sat four men. One wore a dirty apron and a rather large white hat, a dusting of flour covered his arms. Another rather distinguished looking man swirled dark red wine in a glass, then sipped its contents his expression thoughtful. The other two were dressed in what Ashe now recognized as Marcus' standard guard apparel. Though their suits were the same, their attitudes were far less intimidating than the pair she had encountered outside of Marcus' room.
She turned back toward the boys and whispered, "I think we can…"
O'Connell stepped in front of her and into the room, his M-9 pointed directly at the group. "Hello, ladies. Shall we dance?"
Ashe rolled her eyes. "Or we can just do that," she grumbled, following him into the room, her lasers ready.
The two guards screeched like little girls. Then they jumped to their feet, reaching for their guns. When it dawned on them that they had no guns, they slowly raised their hands over their heads in surrender, their expressions sheepish.
O'Connell sighed, shaking his head. Neither guard appeared to be much older than Maluk. No wonder they were hiding in the kitchen.
The cook watched the guards' quick surrender and groaned. "Where the hell are your guns, you fools?" They switched their attention from O'Connell, to the cook and then to each other. They both shrugged.
"I'm not…"
"I don't remember what…"
"Good lord, how the hell did you get this job?" the cook bellowed and then grabbed the bottle of wine from in front of the steward and took a long haul straight from the bottle.
"Oh that's just wrong," the steward snarled.
Another explosion rocked the building and Ashe gestured toward Maluk. "Which way now?"
Maluk headed toward the eastern wall. When he reached the cupboard door closest to the north exit, he yanked open the door and began pulling the dishes off of the shelves, tossing the crockery onto the floor.
"Hey! Cut that out, kid!" The cook jumped to his feet, only to find O'Connell's M-9 in his face. He slowly sank back into his chair.
The steward snickered.
The cook turned on him, his eyes angry slits in his face. "Disdain? Seriously? How will you like if it they have to smash their way through your cellar? Maybe tear down your display of Bluegrape, eh? How'd that feel?"
"They wouldn't…" the steward gasped and went pale, the concept to horrible to contemplate.
"Found it!" Maluk's cry was triumphant. Ashe moved to his side, her lasers still aimed at the guards.
She glanced inside the cupboard to find a gaping whole. The back casing had swung forward at Maluk's touch to reveal a long dark tunnel.
"Well done!" She praised the boy. He stuck out his chest, his pride evident.
"What the hell?" O'Connell had joined them. He glanced into the dark tunnel. "I'm not going in there! Why can't we just go out the way we came in?"
Maluk sneered. "Because it's a bat'le zone by now! In case you 'adnt noticed the Altro is bombin' the crap outta this place."
The floor shook beneath their feet and O'Connell found he could not fault the kid's logic. "What about them?" He jerked his head in the guards' direction.
Ashe shrugged. "We might as well leave them. They're hardly a threat."
O'Connell looked as if to disagree when one of the guards spoke.
"Can I come with you?"
The question took them by surprise.
"Yeah, me too!" The other guard chimed in.
"What?" O'Connell asked, confused.
"Well…" the guard's looks were beseeching, "if we stay here, and Master K'rier finds out about…" he gestured toward the table where they sat and motioned to their lack of guns. "Well… he'll kill us for sure."
The other guard nodded ferociously. "Yeah and not in a good way either!"
O'Connell paused, trying to make sense of that last remark.
Ashe sighed. This seemed like a ridiculous idea, even to her. But she couldn't shoot two unarmed men. Of course, O'Connell could. She glanced at him, but thought better of it. Besides, maybe two extra bodies might come in handy. 'Say we meet something nasty we need to feed along the way,' the voice in her head said cheekily. 'Eww,' she thought and then added, 'Good point though!'
"We need to move. You can follow, but you will have to defend yourself if there is trouble." O'Connell started to growl and she shushed him. "If you are any trouble, boys, I will shoot you both. And I won't be a nice as Master K'rier," her voice was soft but steely as she lowered the aim of her lasers to their crotches.
They both nodded vigorously. "Yes, ma'am," they mumbled, suddenly uncertain of their choice.
Maluk moved forward into the tunnel, Ashe followed, then O'Connell and the two guards. The cook and steward waved to them as they left. Ashe could hear them arguing over the next bottle of wine to open as they worked their way down the tunnel.
"It's you. It's like a new hobby of yours," O'Connell was mumbling under his breath.
"What are you talking about?" Ashe asked, moving swiftly in the tunnel's darkness, Maluk even quicker in the lead. The tunnel floor was stone and dirt, level only for a few feet before it began to climb.
"You!" O'Connell growled as he tripped on an unseen obstacle. "You and your damn need to pick up strays! First the kid, now these guys. Seriously, Ashe, we gotta talk about this need you have to save people!"
Ashe snorted in response. "I don't have a need to save people. People just keep… showing up!"
"Ha!" O'Connell grumbled "You're like a magnet for people who are disasters. You can't help yourself."
"Besides, you're wrong," Ashe said, grinning in the darkness.
O'Connell snorted, he wasn't wrong, she was in denial.
"Maluk wasn't the first."
"What do you mean?"
"You were," she said, not bothering to contain her laughter.
"Ha. Ha. Ha." O'Connell said sarcastically, and then fell into a sullen silence.
"We're 'ere." Maluk raised a hand and they came to an abrupt stop. "'Old on. Let me find the…" there was a soft click as the door's latch gave way. Ashe stepped forward, pushing the door open an inch or so, getting an idea of what lay outside.
Trees, rocks and a thick growth of ferns surround them. She could hear the sounds of battle in the distance, but nothing moved in her line of site.
She gestured to O'Connell. He stepped forward and together they pushed open the door, blasters at the ready. Nothing moved.
They stepped cautiously out of the tunnel and into the mottled daylight. Enormous trees surrounded them. She could hear the cries of birds and the sound of the wind. Ashe was startled to find that the 'door' they had exited was actually the side of what look like a boulder, jutting from the forest floor. Once they were out and the door closed, she would never have guessed the tunnel was there. It looked like any ordinary boulder.
The sound of battle cut threw her continued admiration of Marcus' technology. She glanced at O'Connell watching him orient on the sound. His eyes met hers and he shrugged, grinned and then motioned for her to go first. Maluk however had already raced ahead.
"Damn kid," O'Connell mumbled.
Ashe moved silently after the boy, concentrating on finding and following the trail he left.
"Oy," one of the guards hissed behind them, "I take it that after 'avin' just escaped from Master K'rier, we're now, uhm… headin' right back?" He gestured in the direction of the increasingly louder explosions, his tone begging her to deny it.
"Yup," O'Connell replied, the forest growth crunching under his step.
"Uh… why?" The other guard chimed in. They lumbered noisily after Ashe, moving silently obviously not an option for them.
Ashe paused a moment, turning to them, her lasers pointed in their direction. "Listen you two. Stay with us. Head out on your own. Your choice. Don't care. Stop whining or I'll shoot you."
"Yes, m'am." They snapped to attention. "We'll... stay with you, m'am." The taller guard appeared to decide for them both. "See, I'm city-born, m'am. Lived in Gerra all ma' life. I ain't neva' been in the forest 'er. And… well… they say the forest round 'er can kill ya!" The other guard nodded profusely.
"It's true," O'Connell chimed in. When she gave him a withering look, he added awkwardly, "Well Maluk said it!"
Ashe shook her head in disbelief. "Fine. Follow. But stay down. Remember, you don't have any weapons!" She glanced ahead, orienting on Maluk's path. Without another word she raced after the boy, O'Connell close on her heals.
As they moved, the forest floor surrounding them began to change. Where once there were leaves, branches, ankle high new growth, suddenly they were surrounded by dark green grass, taller than their shoulders. Trees still surrounded them; however they towered well past visual range now. What seemed odd were the trees no longer had branches and instead of coarse bark they had a dark green fibrous skin.
Ashe frowned as tracing Maluk's path became increasingly more difficult. The path itself was troubling. The boy moved in a zig zag pattern that concerned her. He was avoiding something. Something he couldn't quite place.
She paused for a moment, trying to block out the sounds of battle so she could hear what Maluk was hearing. All she could sense was a soft breeze and the creak of the tree trunks as they swayed in the wind. Somehow, something wasn't right. Something was missing… but what? With a shrug she gave up. Whatever was spooking the boy, he was aware of it on a level that she could not sense.
O'Connell stood beside her, watching her. He knew that look. Something was going on. Something he was not going to like and would probably have to shoot. The Altro's word came back to him…"If you separate from him while in the forest, you will die." He glanced at the forest around them, and thought 'Where the hell is the kid?'
She picked up his trail again, moving cautiously. O'Connell followed. He hated not knowing what the hell might be stalking them, it made his skin itch. They broke through the heavier underbrush and were relieved at the site of Maluk, perched on the top of a large boulder. His frenzied gestures stopped them in their tracks.
"Run!" he cried, his tone frantic.
Without hesitation they took off as one, crossing the distance to him in a flash.
"What the hell is going on?" O'Connell crouched next to him. Ashe had her blasters trained on the forest behind them.
Maluk glanced nervously at the dense forest growth they had just left, then upward to the tree tops. "They're hungry," he whimpered.
On cue the terrified scream reached them and they froze. Ashe glanced around her as if she had misplaced something. "Oh crap! The guards!" She turned pale, the memory of her joke about using them as dinner making her cringe. Without thinking it through she jumped from the boulder and raced back the way they had come.
"No!" O'Connell screamed. "You are not going… Ashe…come back here damn it!" He hesitated only a moment, she had already crossed the distance to the tall grass. If he hesitated any longer he would lose her. He leaped from the boulder, racing after her, growling to himself that his partner was insane.
He caught up with her just a few paces back into the damn grass, he was about to grab her and carry her forcibly back to the boulder when something in her stance made him stop. Gripping his M-9, he held his breath, watching her. It was like watching a cat stalk its prey. She moved slowly, carefully. Each step delicate and thoughtful. Her gaze swung left, then right, her eyes barely rising above the top of the thick grass. He knew she sensed something now and she couldn't place it. That knowledge made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
What he lost in the sounds of battle and wind around him, she did not. Her head jerked toward the sky and she yelled, "Move!"
He rolled to the right, just as a large green rope hit the forest floor next to him and bounced back up into the tree tops. 'Green rope?' he thought. 'What the hell?' Then he saw her dash right and he watched as the rope once again slashed the ground where she had just stood, missing its mark. 'Not rope,' he thought amazed, 'vine.' He was about to shout his discovery to her when the ground behind him shook.
"Oh crap," he groaned, then his feet were jerked out from under him as he was yanked into the air. He could see Ashe's shocked expression as he flew upward. He could just make out her scream before she was only a dot on the forest floor.
Hanging upside down and racing skyward, he began to turn his attention toward the vine that was wrapped tightly about his feet. His instinct screamed at him to shoot the damn thing and he was about to do just that when he froze, startled by the sight of a large gaping maw looming toward him.
The mouth looked something like a giant pea pod, flapping frantically open and close and was large enough to hold three grown men. The interior of the thing undulated, rippling grotesquely and it held dark red globs of goo that glistened in the sun. O'Connell hoped fervently that the globs were not the remains of a guard.
The giant tentacle vines hanging from its sides undulated excitedly as O'Connell was pulled toward the glistening mouth. As the maw danced eagerly it dawned on O'Connell that the plant was excited it had caught its next meal. As the vine was aggressively carrying him by his feet toward the snapping pea jaws O'Connell decided to do what he did best. Without giving much thought to the consequences, he aimed his M-9 and shot. The bolt hit the mouth dead center. The pod let out what O'Connell could only describe as a scream, shook violently and then stopped moving, only a gush of steam oozing from its maw.
O'Connell gave himself a second to gloat before he realized he was falling quite rapidly toward the forest floor.
"Fraggin' crap!" he growled. He twisted in the air, hoping to wrap his arms around the tree trunk, maybe slow his decent when another vine smacked him in the face. He instinctively grabbed hold, letting it pull him skyward. This time when he reached the top, he grabbed hold of the base of the dark vine a foot from this tree's hungry mouth. He reached over his head and without looking shot into the dark red opening, listening to its scream with satisfaction. As steam gushed from the thing, hissing its last breath, he felt the vine he held go limp. He gripped the dead vine tightly, not wanting to repeat his previous plummet.
The rope around his feet pinched, so he aimed the M-9 to the side of his right foot and shot off the dead restraint. With his feet free he shimmed up the dead vine and climbed onto the now still pod. The exterior of the pod was thick and hard enough to support his weight without giving. He stood atop the pod, gazing around him. At this height he was higher than anything for miles around. The forest stretched before him for leagues in all directions, a never ending sea of green. He had to admit, even though he hated the damn place, the view was impressive. A cloud of smoke billowed to the west, reminding him that the battle still raged at K'rier's.
He moved to the pod's edge, to glance toward the ground and then thought better of it. There was no sign of Ashe in the trees, and he hoped that meant she was still avoiding their grasp. Meanwhile if he didn't find the guards she wouldn't leave, so he focused on the task at hand. Life was more manageable he found, if you simply focused on the task at hand.
He glanced at the pods surrounding him. He wasn't sure if their aggravated snapping was due to him, or the vibrations of the battle in the distance. Either way he had no idea how to locate the guards, or get down from his perch.
Movement to his right caught his attention and he was surprised to see the top of a guard's head. He wasn't sure which guard it was, as the man was wrapped from head to toe in vine. He wriggled against the restraints, reminding O'Connell of a bug. He gauge the distance between himself and the struggling guard. Five spans away at least. Too far to jump from where he stood.
O'Connell assessed the pods around him and the quickest route to the guard. He shot the pod nearest him and grinned as it screamed, hissed and died. Leaping to the now dead pod he continued forward, shooting the pods as he went, waiting for them to hiss and grow silent and then moving to the next.
"Hang on, kiddo! I'm coming as fast as I can!" O'Connell tried to sound encouraging, as he worked his way toward the guard. When he reached the pod nearest and directly in front of the guard he paused.
He took a moment to sum up the guard's predicament. The kid was still wrapped up tightly, the top of his head the only part of him not covered in vine. In addition it appeared that his feet were stuck, solidly planted in the throat of the damn thing. O'Connell hoped that would work in their favor.
"Ok. Here's what's going to happen, kid," O'Connell called out, realizing with a start that he didn't even know the guard's name. At the moment it probably didn't matter much to either of them. He waited for the bug-like man to stop squirming and listen. "I'm going to shoot the damn thing. However, this may cause it to drop you." The bug-man started squirming more rapidly in obvious protest. "But…" he shouted, waiting for the guard to stop and listen again. "I can get your hands free and kill the fraggin' thing if you will stop moving. Just be ready to grab something if you start to fall. It's a long way down."
The guard went completely still, whether in fear or acknowledgement O'Connell couldn't tell. Either way it made his job easier. "On my three. One, two, three!" O'Connell's shot skimmed off the top of the vine that held the guard and before it had a chance to growl in protest the blast hit the pod dead center. Its scream echoed over the trees tops and the hiss of steam filled the air, obscuring his view of the guard.
"Kid? You ok?" O'Connell hoped the kid hadn't fallen. However he hadn't heard a human scream, so he hoped that was a good sign.
A gust of wind swept away the steam and O'Connell could see the guard, hanging upside down, his feet firmly stuck in the pod's throat, his arms hanging over his head, his expression stunned. O'Connell grinned. "Hey! You didn't fall. Good job."
The guard tried to swallow. "Tha…than… thanks."
Glancing around O'Connell found a dead tentacle still attached to the pod he balanced on. "Kid, I'm gonna toss you this vine, ok? You're going to grab it and then climb your ass down the vine to the ground. Got it?"
The guard gave the smallest of nods. "Sur… sure," he added bravely. O'Connell grabbed the vine and pulled a large part of it toward him. It wasn't thick, but it was strong and by sheer volume it was heavy. He grabbed enough length to be able to reach the guard and tossed it to him. His first throw hit the boy in the face. The kid howled in pain.
"Sorry!" O'Connell tried not to laugh. "Be ready!" His throw this time was slightly to the boy's left, but motivated by either pain or embarrassment the kid grabbed hold and held on tightly.
"Got it!" the guard shouted excitedly. He squirmed trying to wrench his feet free from the pod's grip. It took a moment and then his feet came free with a loud pop. The guard held on tightly as gravity kicked in and his feet dropped swiftly toward the ground. He stared at his naked feet now dangling under him as he swung on the vine. He glanced back at his boots sticking out of the pod.
"They probably saved your life, kid." O'Connell laughed. "Don't think the thing liked the taste of your size tens."
The kid blanched and then focused on the climb down. "Hey," he paused, his voice shaky but growing more confident. "Did you find Jerry?"
O'Connell sighed. He had forgotten for a moment there were two. "Not yet."
"He got taken first." The kid stopped for a moment, clearing his throat. O'Connell cut the kid some slack and put it down to the steam. "He… got grabbed closer to you. I thought we'd made it to you guys. But then he got grabbed, and I… I ran. But I'm an idiot and I ran deeper into the woods." The kid closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them his gaze held an edge to it that O'Connell understood. 'Good kid,' he thought. He'd seen that moment too many times on his men. The fight or flight. The kid chose fight. Good man.
"What can I do?"
O'Connell knew, no matter how determined the boy was, he'd work better alone. He decided to redirect the kid. "Get down. Find Ashe. Tell her that I'm okay and still looking for your friend. Tell her to head west. I will do my best to kill off the pods in that direction."
The boy nodded; brave as he was he was glad to have a mission that involved being on the ground. "Yes sir." He began to climb down and then called back, "Good luck, sir!"
O'Connell chuckled to himself. Been a long time since anyone had called him, sir. He redirected his attention toward the pods located to the west. Three of them he had already killed, but there were many more. He began to work his way across the canopy, killing the snapping pods as he went. The sound of his blaster echoing over the tree tops.
He had almost reached the edge of the wood before he saw the boy. Unfortunately for the kid, three different pods were fighting over him. One had tentacles wrapped around both arms, while the other two each had ahold of a leg. In addition the boy appeared to be unconscious.
"Great…" O'Connell sighed. Tactically he tried to imagine shooting the boy free. Even if he were able to find a spot where he could get three perfect shots off in quick succession, he didn't know if the pods were quick enough to tear the boy apart in between. Add to that the boy's lack of movement, well, there wasn't much chance the kid was going to be helpful.
He was pondering his next move when the pod next to him began to shake, its jaws snapping. He and the boy were out of reach of its tentacles, but still he readied his M-9, not quite sure what to expect. The site of Ashe breaking through the tree tops, riding the vine like a lift was not what he expected. As she drew abreast of the pod she shot into the thing's mouth, its death screech now familiar to O'Connell. Ashe's momentum carried her over the top of the pod, and she adjusted the angle of her descent and landed squarely on its now dead shell. She turned to O'Connell and grinned.
"Hey!"
O'Connell shook his head, keeping his admiration for her off his face, showing only resignation. "Cute," was his only comment.
"What? I thought you could use my help." She turned and assessed the situation. "And I guess I was right."
O'Connell shrugged. "Want the feet or the arms?"
"Arms." She counted out the pods surrounding them. "Four to silence first. I'll work my way over from the right."
"I'll go left." They worked their way around the pods that held the boy, silencing them. It occurred to him that their destruction of the other pods might anger the ones that held the kid; however they appeared unaware of their destruction. He waited near the pod that held the boy's arms, for Ashe to finish off the pods near the ones that held his feet.
She positioned herself so she had a clear shot at the gapping mouth that held the boy's arms. "They may drop him."
O'Connell nodded. "Yup." He glanced around, hoping for inspiration. The sight of a dead vine dangling over the edge of the pod where he stood gave him an idea. He pulled the vine towards him, counting out the lengths and then tied it around his waist, the additional length curled at his feet on the pod.
Ashe watched him for a minute, curious and then understanding dawned. "That's going to be tricky, you know."
O'Connell shrugged. "Yup."
She sighed. He liked tricky. In fact, he liked tricky far too much for her sanity.
"Ready?" O'Connell winked at her, his pulse quickening at the risk, but the rest of his attention on the distance between him and the kid.
"Always," was her response. She focused on her shot, ignoring him.
"On my three, babe. One, two, three!" His two shots cut through the air, the acrid smell of fried plant filling the air. The two pods holding the boy's feet perished in a gust of steam. She almost couldn't hear their screams she was so focused on watching O'Connell leap off the pod toward the unconscious boy. She noticed abstractly that the vines holding the boy's feet gave way. Almost in slow motion she watched O'Connell sail across the distance toward the boy. Her shot rang out the moment he reached the kid, wrapping his arms and legs around the unconscious boy. She hit the maw dead center.
The pod shook violently, its screams wrenching the air. One of the vines gave way and the kid's arm dropped to his side, smacking O'Connell in the face in the process. He grunted and then sighed, "Pay back's a bitch I guess."
Ashe's heart caught in her throat for a moment, but the second arm held. O'Connell would have clung onto the boy, even if they had plummeted for a while. But when the vine wrapped around his chest ended, the sudden stop might have caused it to crush his rib cage. She didn't want to contemplate that. Instead she worked her way to the pod where they hung. She grabbed another dead vine and threw it over the side, in O'Connell's direction. Jumping to the pod adjacent, she called to him, "How's it going?"
O'Connell grunted. He had transferred his body mass to the vine that held him, but he still had to hold onto the boy and wrap Ashe's vine around the unconscious kid. Conversation would have to wait. The kid's color was pale, but good and he could just detect the rise and fall of his chest. 'Always a good sign,' O'Connell thought. "Just keep breathing, kid," he murmured, trying to be encouraging. He would hate going to all this trouble for a corpse.
Grabbing the vine Ashe had thrown him; he looped the extra rope around his shoulder and climbed to the pod. Crawling onto the pod he lay there a moment, winded. Ashe stood over him and sighed. "Kinda outta shape, old man," she said, grinning wickedly.
O'Connell nodded. "Too much of Guun's cooking." He rolled over onto his belly and pushed himself up. "K. I'll lower him down. Can you climb down a vine and keep an eye on him? I'll follow." He looked west. "I think we've killed them all up to the edge, but be careful."
"Yes sir." Ashe saluted him and then climbed down a vine. She stopped within reach of the vine wrapped around the boy's arm. "Going to shoot the last support. Ready?"
"Have at it!" O'Connell yelled.
Her shot severed the vine and the boy dropped a few feet. The rope O'Connell had tied under the kid's arms caused him to stop suddenly. She heard O'Connell's grunt.
"Ok… gonna start lowering."
She shimmied down the vine, following the boy as O'Connell lowered him to the ground. Her thoughts as she went dwelled on O'Connell. His plans were always a mess, always risky. Yet somehow he always made them work. He was either the luckiest man she had ever known or… well, actually that had to be it. Nothing else really fit. He was just fraggin' lucky.
As O'Connell slowly lowered the boy toward the ground he thought, 'How do I get into these situations? Oh yeah. I know. She gets me into these situations! I swear that girl has the worst luck of anyone I have ever known!'
When the boy finally made it to the ground and the vine went slack, O'Connell worked his way across the dead pods to the edge of the forest. He found a vine there and climbed down to the forest floor.
It only took a moment for him to find the others. The two guards were on top of the large boulder they had left Maluk on. The younger one now stood guard over his unconscious friend. He could see Ashe and Maluk crouched further ahead by a large gnarled tree. The forest itself ended only a few feet in front of him, there was maybe 100 feet of open meadow and then the earth dropped away. The distinct sounds of battle came echoing over the open gap. By the earsplitting intensity of it O'Connell knew they were almost on top of the fray.
"The runner's willl be where we left 'em." Maluk had to practically yell as he gestured to their right. "The climb ain't that bad. But it might take us a bit." Another explosion made the ground at their feet shake. Maluk turned a pale white.
Ashe's heart melted at his obvious fear. She leaned in. "You're doing great, mister. Sorry I brought you into this." She reached out to brush back his hair when he lunged at her, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his face against her chest, clinging even harder as another explosion rocked the air around them.
She held on to him, surprised at his need for comfort. But then, she wondered, how many real battles had the boy possibly seen? She had grown up on the street, much like Maluk. She'd seen blaster fights, knife fights, absolutely. But war? She hadn't seen that until she left Orania.
She turned as O'Connell approached, trying to come up with a plan. Maluk should probably stay here with the guards, while she and O'Connell did some reconnaissance. She was about to suggest so when the look on his face stopped her.
O'Connell glared at the boy. His eyes dark, menacing slits in a face cut from stone.
Ashe glanced quickly at Maluk only to find him sticking out his tongue at O'Connell, his face burrowing even deeper into her chest. Her growl must have alerted him because he glanced up cautiously, his expression innocent.
She didn't need to articulate her thoughts, her expression was enough. Maluk pulled back, his head down, his hidden grin sheepish.
O'Connell crouched next to Ashe, staring at the open expanse of short grass ahead of them. Ashe took a moment to collect herself. She was surprised and a bit embarrassed that she had allowed herself to get sucked into Maluk's act so quickly. Maybe O'Connell was right. Maybe she had some sort of bizarre 'save the universe' complex. 'Of course,' the voice in her head reminded her, 'that is what you are trying to do.'
O'Connell gestured to the precipice in front of them. "I want to assess what's going on before I call Guun. Last thing I need is the MorBui flying into a war zone unprepared."
"Agreed," she shouted over the latest explosion. "What the hell is he trying to do down there?"
O'Connell shouted. "Beats me. Probably just smashing the shit out of the place. Pissing Marcus off, letting him know he means business."
"Was this part of the plan?"
"Uh… well… I don't know." His shrug was pure O'Connell. "Not part of mine. I just came for you. I don't care what kind of laws this ass broke. You're the only thing I care about." His gaze never left the sheer drop, but Ashe couldn't stop herself from grinning like a fool.
She leaned toward him and shouted into his ear. "Remind me to thank you later for my rescue." She growled softly and gently bit his earlobe.
O'Connell grinned. "Absofragginlutely!" He motioned toward the cliff face. "Shall we?"
She nodded and then moved swiftly to the edge. It was apparent that all of the action was down below, but she glanced around her as she moved, her blasters covering the open expanse. They reached the cliff edge together, and peered over the side.
Below them lay the K'rier fortress. Even after the considerable bombing the fortress appeared mostly intact. Ashe shook her head. Damn this man had amazing technology. There appeared to be small skirmishes oozing out of the one opening in the fortress fortifications, but the central bombing seemed to be focused on a single tower.
Ashe gestured toward Maluk and he moved to her side. "What's that tower?" she yelled over another explosion.
Maluk thought for a moment. "I think that's… uhm…"
Before he could answer the top of the tower exploded in light. Instinctively they covered their eyes, turning away. O'Connell was the first to risk glancing back. "Holy shit!" he growled in admiration.
Glancing back towards the tower, she saw the light intensify and then slowly begin to drip down the sides of the tower, melting it away as it went. Stone and metal disappeared, disintegrating before their eyes. The brilliant light slowly dropped the length of the tower, eating away its facade as it went. Then a large gaseous cloud burst from near the top of the structure. Ashe recognized it as propulsion exhaust a moment after O'Connell.
"Holy shit!" O'Connell repeated himself.
The top of the tower peeled itself away from its supports and hovered for a moment. All movement on the ground stopped. The thing was enormous, easily twice as big as the MorBui and well out of range of their rockets. It was almost soundless as it hovered. They waited, wondering why the ship simply hovered out of range. Why not leave? It was a forgone conclusion that K'rier was aboard. What was he waiting for?
Once again O'Connell was ahead of her. "What the hell…" he mumbled.
Her eyes were trained on the ship, yet she still almost missed the opening of a bay door. She glanced below, hoping the men there had already started evasive maneuvers, when suddenly the ship roared with life and raced directly at them.
The ship covered the immense space between them in a second. They didn't have time to move, never mind race back into the forest. But they both had their blasters at the ready.
The ship halted a hundred meters from them, hovered in the air and then rotated so the bay door faced them. Two guards, laser rifles trained on them, flanked the opening. It took only a moment for Marcus K'rier to saunter into view. Even above the engine's droning his voice was still liquid honey.
"Hello, my dear." His expression was intimate and she could feel O'Connell grow still beside her. "I hate to make love and run, but you know how these things are." He smiled, that damn rod of his in his hand as he tapped it softly against his thigh, arrogantly reminding her of her response to it. "But take heart, my love. We shall be together again soon. We are meant to be, you and I. Then we will once again taste the full measure of passion that only two equals can share." He glanced at O'Connell, his disdain for the man evident.
O'Connell began to growl and she leaned toward him, trying to reassure him. The power that ship held and the barrels of the guard's blasters pointing at them suggested now was not the time for a cock fight.
Marcus' grin was arrogant and sensual. "Until then," he paused, his eyes raking over her then settling on her mouth, "I shall miss the taste of you."
O'Connell's growl grew louder. Marcus laughed, and then bowed to her, his expression smug. Without another word he turned and moved back into the ship. The guards held their positions, blasters pointed at O'Connell, while the bay door slowly closed. With a gust of air and barely a whisper, the ship shot into the atmosphere.
O'Connell didn't look at her while he spoke. "I'll contact Guun. Let's get the hell off this rock."
As he pulled the comlink from his sleeve and began to growl at Guun, she froze. It suddenly dawned on her that she still had a mission to accomplish. She still had to get the stone to Master Ling, had to explain everything to O'Connell and had to convince him that she never wanted to hurt him and she still needed to convince herself that she could do this without him, if it came to that.
Her sigh was ragged and she suddenly felt exhausted.
"And hurry!" O'Connell shoved the comlink back into the pocket on his sleeve. He turned to Ashe, his expression angry. "Guun's coming."
She nodded, the thought of being back on the MorBui exhilarating. 'Like going home,' she thought. The look she gave to O'Connell was both exhausted and grateful.
He reached for her, roughly dragging her into his embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, gently kissing the top of her head. She melted into his arms, thankful for their strength.
"We've got a lot to talk about," she murmured into his chest.
"Uh huh," he mumbled into her hair.
They stood in silence for a moment and then he asked, "Can I get a pint first? It's been a fraggin' long day."
"Oh gods yes!" was her grateful response.
