Chapter Eight: Captured!
The Eesan left the Doana with much to think about, much had been revealed to them with the discovery of the mask lined with the face of a Soua they knew. But at the same time just as many questions had been added to their list and none were easily answered.
Courtney's head swirled with the thought of a human soldier organizing, and (She didn't care what the others said) leading the Noa in this war between the two highest evolved species of this planet. The responsibility for his presence here, if Bahlana's words could be trusted, would fall squarely on her own shoulders.
She was keenly aware of Gui'Yata walking silently next to her as they moved further away from Doana. She did not look up at him though she could feel his eyes on her. If he wanted her attention he would make it known.
"Courtney?" she heard Gui'Yata rumble, as she had expected of him, "You are troubled." He said seeming to read her thoughts.
She looked up into his orange eyes trying to slow her breathing and her heart, "This is my fault, Gui'."
He looked at her sternly, "What brings you to that conclusion, my friend?"
"If this human…this soldier is from the group of prisoners that were brought back, and somehow he had survived the field, and is now responsible for the rise in Noa attacks, for the precise incursions that we have seen, then it is my fault."
"You think this because Quona allowed the ship to stay longer for you to heal?" He asked seeming to follow her train of thought perfectly. It had often made her wonder just how much he could pick up of human brain waves.
Courtney nodded then frowned when he guffawed in mirth, "You think that funny? Me responsible for the worst massacres in Soua history and you think that it is funny?"
He shook his head looking back at her, "To follow that path of logic, Courtney, it would then ultimately be my own fault," Courtney tilted her head still frowning, "After all I did bring you back to the ship in the first place."
She looked away her brow furrowing and unable to find a chink in that logic, "I'm sorry but that does nothing to make me feel better. It remains that there is a human here on the planet, and I'm fairly sure that his motivation behind these attacks is revenge."
Gui'Yata Nodded once, "No doubt, then it remains that we will have to take his influence away from the Noa so that they will cease this destruction."
"You make that sound easy."
"You think that it will not be?"
She looked through the small window in the canopy that showed the darkening sky, "I know it will not be…we would have to find him first, find where the Noa that are with him are currently residing. It is a mighty big planet. And even were we to succeed, what is to say that the Noa, now that they have this idea in their head, whatever it may be, will let it go?"
Gui'Yata was about to argue with her futile outlook when the warning siren went off in the city. Both their heads whipped to the origin of the sound moving swiftly toward the perimeter fence. They barely stopped themselves before plummeting over the edge looking down to the forest floor. Courtney drew in a sharp breath seeing the carpet of moving bodies at the base of the tree some beginning to trail up the side of their home. She shivered as the sight reminded her uncomfortably of a swarm of ants.
The sentries were firing nonstop into the mass of bodies and great numbers fell to be quickly replaced by others in the group. As valiant as the effort was the insurgents were gaining ground on the tree top city.
Without a word Courtney and Gui'Yata ran to their dwelling grabbing up their arsenal of weaponry. Soon they rejoined the effort firing precisely controlled bursts of plasma into the surging crowd below them. There was a sinking feeling in Courtney as she watched the seemingly endless numbers of Noa move up the tree, replacing the fallen nearly as quickly as the defenders could shoot them down. Grimly she noted that the forest floor around the base of their tree was piling quickly with bodies.
A shout came from across the city suddenly cut short as the Soua who had attempted to warn them was cut down. Courtney and Gui'Yata looked in unison over their shoulders seeing a surge of pale bodies moving over the tree boughs into their town. A second wave of attackers flooded over the railing on the northern side of Taysa overwhelming the thin guard of defenders there. The bondsmen quickly joined that group fending off a thick wave of Noa slashing and firing through the bodies all around them.
Courtney lobbed several plasma grenades toward the branch where the attackers were coming through in the hopes of blasting the bridge before more could make it across. At the same time Gui'Yata guarded her firing into the wave of bodies just ahead of their position watching as five went down. Those behind the first of the group fell heavily over the now still bodies of their brethren. Courtney and Gui'Yata both closed the distance and stilled those before they could recover their footing. Further back the Noa adjusted their attack plying around the small pile barricading their advance.
Gui'Yata nodded grimly as he heard the grenades go off somewhere behind the attackers and watched with satisfaction as thirty or more Noa vanished the branch they had been traversing gave way under their feet. The two hunters then moved in back to back working through the Noa still crowding around them.
They were quickly proving why they were such a formidable hunting partners. Courtney was firing into the crowd of Noa, at the same time she was slashing any who came close enough with her sword in one hand and her Sraha on the opposite wrist. She felt the play of Gui'Yata's muscles against her back as he defended his small patch of their city from the attackers. She smiled wickedly realizing that this was the first good battle she had participated in, in a long time, and she was relishing it.
One Noa came broke through her perimeter of defense. Unable to use her Sraha or sword to advantage, she reacted with practiced ease, retracting the Sraha, stowing her sword and reaching up behind her to grab the rings on the shoulders of Gui'Yata's suit. The whole event took less than one step of the charging Noa.
At the feel of her weight on his back Gui'Yata immediately leaned forward pulling her weight up. He felt her shift as she kicked out into the attacker sending him back several feet and then pulled herself over into a flip. As soon as her feet landed he whirled around slicing the attacker in half at the waist, as he rushed in to attack again. He heard her grunt as she stabbed an approaching Noa up into the throat nearly decapitating him with the hooked blade.
They continued to pare the group of Noa down, working fluidly in unison and guarding each other's blind spots. Their identities were obvious now to Gui'Yata, as he watched the creatures swarm all around him. The differences were glaring now that they knew the source of the attacks. He was trying to think of a reason that the others had missed the obvious disparity between one race and the other. A thought was that no one had ever expected anything like this of the Noa, the "dumb cousins" of the Soua
Gui'Yata punched out catching one Noa in the chest feeling the bones compress and then crack with the blow, he followed through with his Sraha severing the Noa's head from his body. Another came at him approaching from a blind side and Gui'Yata shifted toward it slashing it across the face with his natural claws. It whirled away from him screeching loudly and Gui'Yata forcefully thumped it in the back of its head to put it out of its misery.
Gui'Yata was panting, his heart racing, his blood was burning with the fight around him. Pale blue milky blood covered his hands, chest, and face. He had not felt this alive in many rotations and he was grinning madly as he fought off the attackers.
They say "Pride comes before a fall," and Gui'Yata would later wish that he had paid some less costly price. He and Courtney were working together like a well-oiled machine when Gui'Yata caught movement from the corner of his eye. He turned as a Noa leapt at him and as he reached to intercept the Noa another grabbed his left arm dragging him down and away from his position. A sinking feeling possessed him as he became distinctly aware of absence of contact with his bondsman. He could almost feel the growing distance between him and Courtney. Gui'Yata tore his arm from the Noa holding him and reaching up he latched the other about the throat and raised his right fist Sraha extended into the Noa's waist. Using the momentum of the Noa's charge Gui'Yata levered the body up feeling the Sraha slide through its gut and threw it into the crowd of pale bodies around him grunting in satisfaction as it pinned several of its mates.
Gui'Yata began to move back through the crowd looking for Raha when a searing pain at the joint of his shoulder cut into his concentration. He looked down seeing the Noa latched onto his shoulder with the full set of its serrated teeth ridges. In pain and utter rage Gui'Yata stabbed down over his shoulder roaring loudly as he watched the Sraha blades penetrate the Noa's face just between his snout and the ridge ringing his head. The creature immediately let go of him, but Gui'Yata was not done with it, rotating his body toward the creature he drove the Sraha past the hilt growling in satisfaction as his fist met bone, splintering the Noa's face with a sickening crunch. He held his arm stiffly out holding the body as it slumped in death. He stared at the Noa for a split second before yanking his arm back dropping the dead creature at his feet.
Gui'Yata looked over at his shoulder seeing the profusely bleeding set of wounds there. For a moment it was afire, then a cooling numbness began to spread down the length of his arm and more slowly began to creep up into his neck. He tried to raise his arm but it was already leaden and the feeling was quickly becoming lost as the desiccating venom began to eat his flesh and the neurotoxin began to deaden the nerves. The realization that he had to stop the spread of the venom was foremost in his mind, before it reached his spine and rendered him unable to move even to defend himself.
He was forced to fend of several more Noa single-handed alternately trying to get into the small pouch that was at his waist. He nearly made a fatal error as another Noa came at him and he tried to raise the injured arm to put it down. The limb did not respond, the neurotoxin quickly making his arm useless and Gui'Yata leaned into the creature as he came up with the Sraha blades, catching the Noa in the groin and eviscerating him on the spot. The creature knocked him back several feet with the charge and his heart leapt when he nearly lost the small vial that he had pulled out just prior to the latest attack. Becoming fearful he backed away from the edge of the fight, pulling the stopper from the vial with his teeth and spreading the entire contents on the wound. The numbness stopped spreading and Gui'Yata sighed in relief, but still worried because his arm still did not function. He shook that thought from his head as he realized it was a triviality, he had greater concerns now.
Courtney was by herself to fend off the remaining Noa from the secondary attack. He trusted her skills and knew just how tenacious she could be in a fight, but the numbers were still against her. He pushed his way back through the thinning bodies, fighting off an occasional Noa who still felt they had the upper hand of the battle. When he reached the spot where they had been standing and fighting he was shocked to find that she was no longer there. Callously he stepped atop a pile of dead Noa peering through the jostling and fighting bodies looking fearfully for his bondsman. He stepped back down again unable to locate her and felt something cold and hard under his foot.
Gui'Yata stepped back and leaned down lifting the object from where it had come to rest. He growled fearfully, it was a hunting mask, but one that was too small to be the possession of any Soua or any Noa impersonating one. It was hers right enough, and he just noticed blood, human blood on the interior of it. He glanced around again the fear in him rising.
"Courtney!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, looking frantically around him hoping beyond hope that she was still with them.
He crouched in the shadows staring at her intently. He was totally fascinated by her, wondering just what her circumstances were, how had she come to be on this crazy world where nothing seemed to make sense? He had not seen another like him in so many years that he thought he would never see a human again.
He remembered standing back much as he was now, to the side out of the way, as the wave moved over the northeastern wall of the city and were immediately engaged by the Brethren guard. He had taken notice of the two of them immediately moving through his group like two fish swimming easily up stream. They had deftly taken out the means by which the Noa had come into their city with three well-placed plasma grenades. He had been impressed by their ability, the way that they tenaciously fought against the superior numbers of Clan that swarmed around them.
One was a typical Brethren, tall, though not nearly so tall as most of the others. He was thick with muscle and he could tell that he was not only good at his job he was enjoying the sport of the kill. She had been a mystery at first, he had thought her some kind of stunted version of a Brethren, or one of their young not even ready for their stiff trials. But she fought like a seasoned warrior, calculating every move that she made killing quickly and without the mistakes that he knew of the young Brethren he had seen in defense of other cities on this world. Its locks were longer than anything he had seen on a Brethren and he had wondered if that was indeed a mark of the aberration she was.
Even as the battle raged nearer his position he was unable to take his eyes off the duo as they fought. When the larger warrior was dragged from its partner he had been sure that the two of them were going to die, for their strength seemed lie in their dependence on each other. He alternately eyed one and then the other seeing how they fared, and wondered silently which would fall first. The tall warrior impaled and then eviscerated his attacker and then smashed the skull on the other, the one that had succeeded in dragging the warrior away from his position. The smaller of the two of them fought valiantly on despite the absence of the other, shifting tactics to account for her solo fight. She was doing very well for about ten minutes before the remaining Noa in the party ganged up on her overpowering even her formidable skills.
He had smiled in seeing her overpowered, knowing deep down that none of the Brethren stood a chance with the Clan on the hunt. During the fight however her mask was knocked free of her face and her true form was revealed to all. He remembered standing up as the Clan subdued her, sweeping in quickly before they killed and then ate her. He had rendered his orders quickly and one larger warrior picked the woman up. Three of the Clan followed him away from the fighting and out of the city. He looked back once noting that the larger one was heading back in the direction he had been separated from her, fighting off oncoming Clan with only half his attention. He ordered haste from his party, wanting to be away before the creature caught up with them.
He focused on her again, seeing the definite Mexican lineage in her face. There was a nasty cut on one side of her face where one of the Clan had struck her and clawed the mask free from her face. Her face was rounded and deeply tanned, several faded scars still shown on her cheek. Her lips were full, seemingly inviting in her unconsciousness. The tip of her upturned ear was missing. Her hair on top was very short and contrasted sharply with the extreme length of hair that now blanketed her prone body. The hair was adorned with beads and bones in neat symmetrical designs all around her head. She was thin and lithe and her legs and arms spoke of exceptional tone and strength.
She was dressed just as Brethren, with all the accouterments, and again he wondered why she was with them, why she fought for a race that hunted humans for sport? It was obvious that she had been with the Brethren for some time; many years had been spent learning what she showed such prowess in on the landing. That did not come in months or a year.
He sidled closer to her, moving several strands of her braided hair further away from the fascinating face, the features smoothed with her unconsciousness. Her body tensed and she drew a deeper breath, he backed away from her again, slinking back into the shadows as she slowly returned to consciousness.
He watched as the woman slowly push herself up shaking her head for a moment and then raised her hand to her forehead. He smiled grimly, surely the Clan had given her a hell of a headache. She raised her head and slowly looked around her blinking and squinting. He shifted a foot and the woman's attention whipped his direction and she drew a quick and surprised breath.