The Defeated, Part Six Translator's Note--The original manuscript was written in Galard. There are uncertainties about the meanings of some words, and poetic license has been taken in translating the poems and songs, in order to keep the spirit meant rather than the exact wording.

The Defeated, Part Six
translated by DawningStar

Cassandra briefly went over the last few minutes' occurrences, curiosity rising as she looked at Midori through eyes Riae controlled. Why is it so important to be quiet?> she wondered, and Riae repeated the question.

The girl looked oddly at Riae, but replied, "We can't hear too much down here, but the Taxxons can. Something about the fungi; they absorb sound in the human range, but not above, where Taxxons can hear. Talk too loud, and you're attacked..." A twisted smile indicated memories of such attacks. "Blood, of course, attracts them even faster. Never enough food down here."

Whether it was Riae or Cassandra who shuddered, neither could be sure.

Midori observed it with amusement. "Tell me," she said suddenly, "are you a member of the resistance too? She is, I can tell, but you I'm not so sure about."

A surge of apprehension and uncertainty went through the shared mind unblocked. "I...wasn't," she admitted. "Ilie/Rena contacted me only a short time ago. My host...she and I agreed to help them."

It was Cassandra who caught and correctly interpreted the surge of interest in Midori's eyes. "You spoke of your host," the human said slowly, "and the other's. Do hosts have a part in the resistance?"

"I can't speak for the Yeerk Peace Movement or other branches of the resistance. But Ilie, the Yeerk, and Rena, the human, are more symbiotes than anything else. Their group managed to find a way to alter them both." Riae suddenly realized that she had no idea whether Cassandra's story was in fact what had happened, and shook her head. "I think," she added belatedly. "They haven't had time to tell me much yet."

"And your host?"

"Cassandra." From within, she could feel Riae's bewilderment, bordering almost on fear. "She is...an odd one. I don't know how much of the host culture you've heard, but Cassandra is what they call a Storyteller."

Midori nodded, to Riae's surprise. "We have a few of those. Faizah was a Storyteller, once, and sentenced to death for it. She'll be interested in meeting your Cassandra, if we survive."

It was said in an unemotional voice, just a statement of fact; every day, every hour was a gamble in which the odds were against survival. Perhaps that was what chilled Riae so.

Ilie/Rena had drawn a few steps ahead, eyes on the twisting tunnels. Now she fell back, beside Midori. "When we get there, Riae should head for the bomb as soon as it's safe. I'll cover her. Midori, can you help me?"

The thief gave a short nod. "I'm not a bad shot, though I've rarely gotten my hands on one of these." She hefted the Dracon. "We all practice with stones and the poisons."

That gave Riae a turn, but there was no time to ask questions now; artificial light was already becoming visible ahead. Midori shook her head. "Idiots," she muttered in a voice even softer than that she had been using. "The place'll glow for days."

With several small motions, Faizah directed the group into a split formation, the newcomers at the center and held slightly back. At a single nod, they rushed forward into an utterly silent attack.

Almost, Riae held back. Almost. Cassandra sensed the hesitation and with a pointed Are you part of this, or not?> jolted the Visser into action.

Already stones coated in some liquid substance were scattered over the floor, and several Controllers lay unconscious or dead near the large device in the center of the cavern. But many more beings from the small resistance group were sprawled around the edges, tokens of an earlier battle.

The Controllers reacted quickly, pulling out their Dracons and beginning to fire. The sickening scent of scorched flesh spread through the cave with the high-pitched screams of weapons and the moans of the injured. Two Hork-Bajir-Controllers and one Andalite-Controller began to move forward, using blades and tail to get rid of the interfering beings, but Midori and Ilie took careful aim and began to fire on the Controllers.

The Andalite-Controller, holding her own Dracon, advanced on them in an erratic pattern that made it hard to pick her off. A bright red bolt cut down Midori, and Riae felt a pang of regret she hadn't expected for the young thief.

But now the way was clear to the device, and she dashed to it, kneeling to access the programming. Fifteen minutes, and counting, the little screen informed her.

"Override. Authorization Visser Thirty-Seven, code illitik-paril-nihlim-reven," she ordered quickly and quietly, "Riae Four-Two-Nine, of the Iriem Palr Pool."

The screen flickered, cleared to the default readout. "Countdown canceled," the computer voice said.

"Deactivate all circuitry. Do not reactivate without my order."

"Acknowledged."

Might as well make it as safe as she could. Riae opened the little hatch above the screen and carefully pulled the wire that would have carried the signal to detonate.

Riae sighed, and leaned back, relieved. Cassandra gave a mental smile of congratulation.

And then the business end of a Dracon beam made its presence known at her temple. I don't know how you managed that,> the Andalite-Controller said, but you won't live to do it again.>

Riae swallowed hard. In a split-second, Cassandra conveyed an entire range of emotions. She was frightened, naturally, a bit wistful that she would not see how things turned out, but over all she was proud of Riae.

Proud.

No regrets,> Riae said softly to the host who had become a friend, and waited for the blast.

It didn't come for a long second. Then the Controller said in a rather different tone, Cassandra?>

Together they almost started to turn, startled by the tone and the question, but the Dracon beam's cold metal quickly reminded them of the situation.

A quick review of Cassandra's memories revealed the most likely possibility. "Tariss Two-Three-Six of the Niam Tras pool, I am Visser Thirty-Seven, and you are in violation of regulations by attacking me."

You are a traitor to the Yeerk Empire,> Tariss countered, and I would be fully within regulations to shoot you.>

"There is no evidence of that. I came to disarm an unauthorized proton explosive. How does that make me a traitor?"

You allied yourself with the resistance group.>

"That was necessary. There was no other way to find you, down here."

And then a sizzling red bolt of energy struck Tariss in the back, and she collapsed. Similar bolts struck the few other Controllers still standing; almost all of the resistance group was downed already.

Midori struggled upright and walked unsteadily toward Riae, the weapon in her hand still warm. She scooped up Tariss's Dracon. "Huh," she said. "Set to stun. I noticed yours and Ilie's were the same way. What is this, has the Empire gone all sympathetic all of a sudden?"

"Not likely," Riae muttered. "Personal preference. Higher-ranked Yeerks can set their Dracons as they like. Ilie...well, she isn't really a part of the Empire." Still breathing a little fast, she stood. "What happened?"

"I took a shot from her Dracon, and I just recovered in time..." Midori looked around. "Not many left. If you disabled that bomb, we'd better get away before the Taxxons show up."

Riae turned, searching for Ilie/Rena. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the symbiote pair lying on the ground, blood seeping from their leg. "We have to help Ilie...and the others," she added, a glance showing the numbers of wounded and stunned.

"She's dead," Midori said. "Bleeding like that."

An anxious glance toward the adult. "No, she's still breathing, we can save her...I need a bandage or something--"

"She's dead," Midori repeated forcefully. "Most of these are. You bleed, you die. Some of the stunned may wake up in time, but we have to get out now. The Taxxons will be here within a few minutes, with all the sound--and the blood."

Riae looked disbelievingly at Midori. "You just want me to leave her here? She's not dead yet, and we can save her! And the others!"

Midori stared coldly back. "You're new here. You haven't seen...there's no way we can hold them off, and if we try to take her with us, they'll follow the blood. Bandages don't work. Taxxons follow the scent." There was a short pause, then she added, "Stay if you want, Visser. I'm alive, and I prefer to stay that way."

Already headed toward Ilie, Riae winced. "You heard that."

"Lifetime of whispers'll sharpen your ears. So was any of it true? Or were you just using us?"

There was only the slightest edge of anger to the thief's voice. "It's all true," Riae said, beginning to rip cloth from the hem of her long over-tunic. "Ilie is a member of a major resistance group. She contacted me, and I agreed to help. Then we found out about the explosive and came to disarm it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you my rank. I thought you would be less likely to trust us, if you knew."

"You may have been right."

Riae bent and hurriedly began to wrap the injury. It didn't look good; a glancing blow from a Hork-Bajir blade had cut nearly to the bone, and it might never heal correctly. Especially not without proper care, she thought.

A glance upward as she tried to get the bleeding stopped showed that Midori hadn't left; instead, she knelt beside Faizah, who had been stunned by Tariss's Dracon. "Thought you were going," Riae said.

"I was. I just...with the Dracons, if we get enough people, maybe we can beat them after all." Midori shook her head.

As the leader of the group began to wake up, Midori pushed a Dracon into her hand with a few short words of explanation and moved on to the next stunned victim. Still worried about the symbiote pair but realizing there was nothing more to do, Riae as well began tending to other people.

"What about your Controller friend?" Midori called, no longer bothering to be quiet. "She's starting to come to."

She isn't my friend,> Riae muttered silently to Cassandra, but what do you think?>

She's my friend,> the human said, or at least something like a friend. I won't say we can trust her, but...I don't think we should kill her, either.>

No. All right, then.> "Tie her up, if you would, especially her tail. If we manage to hold back the Taxxons, I want to talk with her. She was my host's former Yeerk," Riae added in explanation.

Midori bent to do so--then spun, her face fearful. "They're coming!" she hissed.

Cassandra could hear nothing, but Midori had already demonstrated her accurate hearing. "Anyone with Dracons, aim at the entrances, fire as soon as you see them. Everyone else keep back, keep taking care of the wounded if you can," Riae ordered quickly. Everyone conscious nodded nervously; even a few of the Controllers were bandaging and splinting, though their Dracons were in the hands of the ground-dwellers.

Before long even Cassandra and Riae could hear the scuttling of many legs, the hisses that were Taxxon language, and the occasional shriek as some Taxxon fell afoul of his fellows. Cassandra retreated behind Riae, there if she was needed but not wanting to be a distraction.

Then the Taxxons were upon them, an unthinking rush of centipedes grown to giant proportions. Faizah's group fired with cold accuracy, scorching bolts tearing through the massed beings, and those without Dracon beams hurled sharp rocks with nearly equal effect, as the wounded Taxxons were torn apart by the instinctive bloodthirst.

But no matter how many fell on one another or were cut down by the Dracons, more piled in. They were coming from both entrances now, and ground-dwellers and Controllers alike were driven back slowly.

Riae cast an anxious glance back between shots. The wounded were gathered in the center of the cave, though some few were lost in the carnage. Most were at least conscious now, but many wouldn't be able to make any sort of a run for escape. And the Taxxons just kept coming.

"Dracons concentrate on the back entrance!" a strong, confident voice yelled--Faizah. Easy to see how she'd become leader. "Those who can, carry the wounded! We're making for the surface!"

There was no protest from either side; anyone strong enough picked up one of those still unconscious. Riae fell back three measured steps to find Ilie/Rena groggily trying to struggle upright, and offered the hand not holding the Dracon. Midori appeared on the symbiote pair's other side, supporting and protecting. With a brief glance around, Riae caught sight of an Andalite-Controller being carried by a Hork-Bajir.

Agonizingly slowly, the group cut its way through the Taxxons, drawing closer together as they went through the tunnel. Were the numbers thinning? Riae barely dared to hope. Cassandra insisted that they were almost out.

And then the line before them broke and a welcome breath of fresh air blew over them, the Taxxons turning from the too-well-defended group and to the dead below. Cassandra wept silently in the back of the shared mind, sorrowing both for the dead rebels, hosts, and Yeerks, and for the Taxxons she had been obliged to kill.

Necessity,> Riae said firmly. I didn't like it either, but...you know what their instincts are like. We had no choice.>

I know,> Cassandra whispered. That doesn't make it easier.>

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