My booted foot crushed a pine cone and the snap made everyone around me
flinch. Dracon beams were leveled quickly, ready to fire; we were all on a
hair trigger, waiting, before we realized what the sound had been.
"Keep moving!" Xanos barked, moving my body like a snake through the woods. My eyes scanned the shadows for the slightest movement, the quickest flash of blond hair. I felt Xanos tighten my fingers on the Dracon beam we carried.
From behind me, a human voice demanded, "Why not just follow the Bug fighter tracking devices?"
I recognized Tom's voice answering it. "They're smart," he snapped. "They probably crashed it to throw us off. But either way, Yagen 654, its signal is coming from the water ten miles from here, and I don't think that's the place we want to be."
"Besides that," Xanos interrupted, "Yalen 654 should know better than to speak without permission."
There was an abrupt silence. Tom pushed forward in the ranks of our search party to stand shoulder to shoulder with Xanos. Tom had spent more time rising in rank and working for the empire, but Xanos had a morph capable host; they were almost equals. Both knew the other could be a powerful ally.
{What now?} I asked him.
{We'll find her,} he answered. {Chances are that she won't even try to get away. Rachel is a slave to her own destiny.}
{What do you mean?}
He sighed, not wanting to be distracted. {She took on the role of warrior when their little group started. She's taken it on so completely that even if she wanted to change, back away, save herself, she couldn't. It would be too humiliating for her.}
I understood that. I started to nod in reflex, but of course my neck didn't move. Xanos chuckled at me like a zookeeper chuckles at a monkey trying to slide between its cage bars.
{What happens if we don't find her?}
{Slow death,} he replied tersely. {So I suggest letting me concentrate.}
I saw a flash of gold hair and pink skin and registered it almost before my Yeerk did. {Don't bother. There she is!}
Someone else saw her at the same time I did. A Hork-Bajir screamed an alien phrase and the Taxxons spun to stare in anticipation of a meal. They knew they couldn't eat the Animorph, but a Taxxon's hunger overpowers all intelligence.
Twenty lasers set to stun pierced the woods at once. Four trees fell in various directions; one towards her; she dropped and rolled beneath it, leaping to her feet just in front of us. Her eyes were wide and her teeth were bared in a feral grin.
"Hold fire!" Xanos screamed. I could guess what was in store for him if she was killed by a falling tree or an overzealous warrior.
It was hard for me to call these hordes warriors. Some unnamed difference between "solider" and "warrior" separated the Animorphs from the Yeerks; I couldn't place it, but I could find it in the difference between Rachel's eyes and Tom's.
Tom leveled his Dracon beam. "Rachel Berenson," he acknowledged. "We meet again. I'm sure I told you it wasn't over yet."
"It will never be over," she hissed. "It's not over now."
"I think it is." Tom fired once, trying to stun her. He missed. She was too fast and too experienced, even as a human.
None of us moved. Even Xanos was paralyzed by the thought of victory this close. Tom turned his head to stare at us. "Get her!"
My body lurched forward with the Dracon beam flailing. Xanos fired wildly before regaining his balance; he fired again and struck her in the leg. She fell, conscious but unable to run.
"Stay back!" Tom and Xanos yelled at the same time. Taxxons and Hork-Bajir halted their frantic rush forward. I knew that no one trusted the Taxxons not to rip her apart or the Hork-Bajir not to make some clumsy error. We all took a deep breath as one.
Xanos and Tom strode forward. "Will she morph?" asked Tom in an undertone.
"No," my voice whispered. "That's the point. Even if she escapes us now, we'll get her later. It's over."
We reached her and stooped down without fear. This girl who could become a grizzly or an eagle was no longer a threat. I couldn't help thinking of her in my room, changing her skin, hissing and growling like the flames surrounding her - proud, unconquered. Now she was defeated and human, but she looked the same.
She glared up at us with hatred and twisted satisfaction. "Hello, Taylor. Guess I shouldn't have followed you home after all."
"My name is Xanos," he answered coldly. "And no, you probably shouldn't have. Where are the others?"
She smiled as Tom slid the beam of his Dracon to her heart. "Well, there's the best part. I don't know."
My heart thumped twice from Xanos's adrenaline or mine. I'd been thinking that if we found her, we'd find everyone, but I suddenly realized exactly who we were dealing with. Xanos, as well as Tom's Yeerk, had known all along.
"You don't know?" Tom asked in a silky voice. He jammed the beam down without firing it and saw her recoil in pain. "We'll see if you know. When one of us is inside you, we'll know everything."
"Everything I know, anyway," responded the composed blond girl with eyes like cool blue fire, "which isn't much."
"They won't come back for you," I snapped. It was my sentiment as well as Xanos's and I couldn't quite tell which of us was talking anymore. "When you've lost your usefulness to them they won't want you anymore and they won't need you and they won't come back."
"Like your friends left you in a hospital room?" she asked quietly. "No. Not mine. They'll be back."
"Then it's a matter of time until we get them too," I/Xanos snarled. With the blast of our Dracon, she was unconscious. Xanos hissed something through my teeth and a Hork-Bajir lifted her up delicately to carry her back to the pool.
For some reason even in the face of victory depression was settling over our little group. Maybe it was the example of loyalty we'd just seen. Maybe it was the idea of sacrifice. Or maybe it was just the idea of mortality. I found myself shuddering and didn't understand why.
Xanos looked at Tom. "She's right. Nothing's over."
"Keep moving!" Xanos barked, moving my body like a snake through the woods. My eyes scanned the shadows for the slightest movement, the quickest flash of blond hair. I felt Xanos tighten my fingers on the Dracon beam we carried.
From behind me, a human voice demanded, "Why not just follow the Bug fighter tracking devices?"
I recognized Tom's voice answering it. "They're smart," he snapped. "They probably crashed it to throw us off. But either way, Yagen 654, its signal is coming from the water ten miles from here, and I don't think that's the place we want to be."
"Besides that," Xanos interrupted, "Yalen 654 should know better than to speak without permission."
There was an abrupt silence. Tom pushed forward in the ranks of our search party to stand shoulder to shoulder with Xanos. Tom had spent more time rising in rank and working for the empire, but Xanos had a morph capable host; they were almost equals. Both knew the other could be a powerful ally.
{What now?} I asked him.
{We'll find her,} he answered. {Chances are that she won't even try to get away. Rachel is a slave to her own destiny.}
{What do you mean?}
He sighed, not wanting to be distracted. {She took on the role of warrior when their little group started. She's taken it on so completely that even if she wanted to change, back away, save herself, she couldn't. It would be too humiliating for her.}
I understood that. I started to nod in reflex, but of course my neck didn't move. Xanos chuckled at me like a zookeeper chuckles at a monkey trying to slide between its cage bars.
{What happens if we don't find her?}
{Slow death,} he replied tersely. {So I suggest letting me concentrate.}
I saw a flash of gold hair and pink skin and registered it almost before my Yeerk did. {Don't bother. There she is!}
Someone else saw her at the same time I did. A Hork-Bajir screamed an alien phrase and the Taxxons spun to stare in anticipation of a meal. They knew they couldn't eat the Animorph, but a Taxxon's hunger overpowers all intelligence.
Twenty lasers set to stun pierced the woods at once. Four trees fell in various directions; one towards her; she dropped and rolled beneath it, leaping to her feet just in front of us. Her eyes were wide and her teeth were bared in a feral grin.
"Hold fire!" Xanos screamed. I could guess what was in store for him if she was killed by a falling tree or an overzealous warrior.
It was hard for me to call these hordes warriors. Some unnamed difference between "solider" and "warrior" separated the Animorphs from the Yeerks; I couldn't place it, but I could find it in the difference between Rachel's eyes and Tom's.
Tom leveled his Dracon beam. "Rachel Berenson," he acknowledged. "We meet again. I'm sure I told you it wasn't over yet."
"It will never be over," she hissed. "It's not over now."
"I think it is." Tom fired once, trying to stun her. He missed. She was too fast and too experienced, even as a human.
None of us moved. Even Xanos was paralyzed by the thought of victory this close. Tom turned his head to stare at us. "Get her!"
My body lurched forward with the Dracon beam flailing. Xanos fired wildly before regaining his balance; he fired again and struck her in the leg. She fell, conscious but unable to run.
"Stay back!" Tom and Xanos yelled at the same time. Taxxons and Hork-Bajir halted their frantic rush forward. I knew that no one trusted the Taxxons not to rip her apart or the Hork-Bajir not to make some clumsy error. We all took a deep breath as one.
Xanos and Tom strode forward. "Will she morph?" asked Tom in an undertone.
"No," my voice whispered. "That's the point. Even if she escapes us now, we'll get her later. It's over."
We reached her and stooped down without fear. This girl who could become a grizzly or an eagle was no longer a threat. I couldn't help thinking of her in my room, changing her skin, hissing and growling like the flames surrounding her - proud, unconquered. Now she was defeated and human, but she looked the same.
She glared up at us with hatred and twisted satisfaction. "Hello, Taylor. Guess I shouldn't have followed you home after all."
"My name is Xanos," he answered coldly. "And no, you probably shouldn't have. Where are the others?"
She smiled as Tom slid the beam of his Dracon to her heart. "Well, there's the best part. I don't know."
My heart thumped twice from Xanos's adrenaline or mine. I'd been thinking that if we found her, we'd find everyone, but I suddenly realized exactly who we were dealing with. Xanos, as well as Tom's Yeerk, had known all along.
"You don't know?" Tom asked in a silky voice. He jammed the beam down without firing it and saw her recoil in pain. "We'll see if you know. When one of us is inside you, we'll know everything."
"Everything I know, anyway," responded the composed blond girl with eyes like cool blue fire, "which isn't much."
"They won't come back for you," I snapped. It was my sentiment as well as Xanos's and I couldn't quite tell which of us was talking anymore. "When you've lost your usefulness to them they won't want you anymore and they won't need you and they won't come back."
"Like your friends left you in a hospital room?" she asked quietly. "No. Not mine. They'll be back."
"Then it's a matter of time until we get them too," I/Xanos snarled. With the blast of our Dracon, she was unconscious. Xanos hissed something through my teeth and a Hork-Bajir lifted her up delicately to carry her back to the pool.
For some reason even in the face of victory depression was settling over our little group. Maybe it was the example of loyalty we'd just seen. Maybe it was the idea of sacrifice. Or maybe it was just the idea of mortality. I found myself shuddering and didn't understand why.
Xanos looked at Tom. "She's right. Nothing's over."