Chapter eleven (yipee!); Intensity!
Present…
Ithiell
I swung my arm in an arch, catching a short Terinan in the throat, then turning and head-butting the one that was trying to sneak up on me. My head blades stuck in its skull, then the Terinan went down for good.
I was amazed at how well my Hork-Bajir body moved, and I was surprised I didn't think of this sooner. I was taking them down like flies!
I kicked another one with my taloned feet, then shoved my wrist blade into his arm, relieving him of it. He screamed, showing me his fanged teeth, before taking a swipe at me with his own claws. Missed!
(Another one bites the dust!) I yelled to no-one. For once since Rtaia and I had found the rogue Terinans we coming back to this planet, I was actually feeling pretty good. And feeling like we might win this thing.
All around me, my team, and the Animorphs, were doing there own damage. I saw Jade biting and ripping apart two Terinans at once, and Robert pounce with all the stealth and grace of the panther. Amanda simply barrelled into them, biting and snapping and clawing. Jake was riding the back of a very tall, very mean looking Terinan, and Cassie's speed and agility was doing her wonders. She bit and slashed and then was off again. Rachel wasn't doing much different from what Amanda was doing, only as a grizzly. Tobias was swooping and screaming and catching them in the eyes and raking their heads. Marco… well… he was kind of using two Terinans like a little boy who plays with toy figurines. He was slamming two heads together, then letting them drop and going to the next two. I guessed he was angry. And hungry.
Then again, who wasn't?
All around me I heard deafening roars and screams and thought-speak cries and screeches. But we managed to finish of the last of the ones before there was a small gap.
(Back behind the cruiser hull!) I yelled, and we all ran. I knew what was coming, and what was coming wasn't good. Seconds later…
TSSSEWWW!
TSSSSEWWWWW!
(Ahh! Good thing we got back in time) Cassie said, looking up at me. I nodded.
(A little hint when dealing with these guys; they all have simular tactics. All you have to do is learn them. They did this about… the third time?)
(Fifth) Amanda corrected.
(Oh yeah. It was that creepy viral thing they did the third time) Robert said.
(Oh, I remember)
(Which one? I though it was twice?) Jade asked.
(No, not that. The one where they drank that regenerating thing that let them grow their limbs back) I reminded her.
(Oh. Thaat) Jade nodded her big cat head.
(Uh, guys? I hate to interrupt, but we're in serious trouble here!) Marco snapped.
(Don't get your nickers in a knot. We're safe here until they come. But we'll get them before they get her. We just have to wait until they're close enough, and when there's a small break in the fire, and we hit 'em hard and fast)
(Did you really just say 'don't get your nickers in a knot?' To me?)
(Ignore him) Rachel sighed.
(We will) Robert said.
(Okay guys…) I looked out, nearly getting my head incinerated, (In five… four… three… two… ONE!)
They hesitated, just as I predicted, and we burst from the safety of the hull, going at them like an out of control bunch of wild animals. Oh, wait, that's what we were.
I dove into the fray, just as they tried to fire again. But we were too close, and I knocked a Jahara beam out of the hands of one, then butted another in the head with it. I slammed my head into the unarmed one, and he went down.
Tssssewwww!
Tsssssewwww!
(Arrrrghhh!) Robert! He staggered, an entire ear, and a small part of his head, gone. I could see the skull was exposed.
(Shift!) I yelled, then aimed the weapon I stole at another Terinan that was coming at him form behind, and…
Tsssewww! My shot went wild! Thankfully, it sliced an arm clean off, making it stumble back just long enough for Robert to complete his shift to polar bear.
(Now we're talking!) he yelled, turning and finishing him off with one clean swipe.
(Damn! My hands are too big to…) I took a moment to slam the weapon into another Terinan, then knock another away with my tail (… to fire this thing properly. That's it, I'm shifting back)
(No Ithiell!) But it was too late, I was already shrinking. And as I shrunk, I felt the Jahara beam fit smoothly into my smaller Chanaiben hands. I grabbed it in my teeth, then bolted on all fours towards a tree to get a better vantage point to shoot from. Then, I began to take them out, holding to the tree with my tail and back legs.
(Ithiell look out!) Jake screamed, and I turned to see a Terinan levelling his own gun at me. Behind the barrel, I saw him smile. I aimed it at him. So, this was going to be a game of chicken. Well, I'd show him how well I played. I aimed, he aimed. I smiled, and his own grin widened…
TTTTSSSSSHHEEWWWW!
A blinding flash of blue light, and then he was gone! I looked up…
"Well it's about time you got here" I muttered, watching as it took careful aim, and when my friends saw it they moved away just enough for them to take out the Terinans. I did what I could with my own weapon, having much more dexterity and a better aiming point to shoot from.
I saw a few of them peel off, running at top speed. I climbed down from the tree, as the others either shifted or morphed back. A ladder… yes, a ladder… dropped down from the hatch underneath on the fighter, and we all climbed up, with me being the last to do so. Tobias flew in just as the hatch shut, going and perching on Rachel's shoulder. I set the bags we'd stashed away down, knowing we might just need them in the future.
"That so felt like Indiana Jones or something" Marco muttered as I went over to the controls, standing next to Rtaia. The fighter still looked in pretty good shape. Robert snorted.
"Yeah, well, you can thank all those movies Ithiell watched at my house… over, and over, and over, and over…" Robert trailed off, rolling his eyes at me. I shrugged.
"It was fascinating to me then. And I thought it would help if I put something like that in the fighter"
"Yeah, well…"
I turned away from him, and Ax soon stepped aside so I could work the controls. I cloaked the ship, then lifted it safely above the tree line.
"So, where to now?" Jake asked, squeezing in beside me and the wall. I looked at him, and smiled.
"How to you feel about McDonalds for breakfast?"
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Past…
Robert
We sat in the small cave, since it was probably the furthest away from the Terinans we could get, and the safest. Rtaia went to find a medical kit in the cruiser or whatever, and I watched as Ithiell tore up my favourite black t-shirt to wrap around Jade's middle. As far as I was concerned, Jade now owed me a new shirt.
Without the nits and stuff.
She was pale and shaking as Amanda and I helped hold her up so Ithiell could wrap the straps of cloth around her. Then again… maybe she didn't owe me anything.
"Is she gonna die?" Amanda asked, her voice shaking violently. Ithiell shook his head as he laid someone jacket under Jade's neck, setting her down gently on her side.
"No. But she is injured. If I am correct, and if Rtaia can find it, I believe there are healing herbs in the medical kit that can cure this"
"What, is she…"
Ithiell seemed to think about this, then sighed and closed his eyes.
"I am sorry to have to tell you this, but if a Terinan female scratches you, it is like a snake bite. The one who attacked her was a female. She will be very sick until we can heal her"
"No! Noooo" Amanda moaned, her bottom lip trembling. I could tell she was about to cry. To my surprise, Ithiell pulled her over to him and hugged her. I almost yelped, thinking he was going to hurt her with his claws, but I saw how he was when we first met him. He wouldn't scratch if he didn't want to.
Then, he looked at me. In his arms, Amanda cried into his shoulder.
"Is this… is this correct?"
"What?"
"How to… comfort?"
I shrugged "Dunno. Never done it before. But… it seems to be helping her" I added because the poor guy looked so confused, and he was only trying to help…
Between us, Jade shook and mumbled things that made no sense, then faded in and out of sleep a few times, before Rtaia came back, as a wolf, scaring the living heck out of us. She came in, and immediately went to work. It seemed like she knew exactly what she was doing as she crushed herbs in what looked like an orange marble bowl, then placed her mixture over the fire, using something that looked like a toy frying pan. Pink too.
Ithiell, who now just had an arm around the still snivelling Amanda, tilted his head and looked over at her.
"Is it… are you… it cannot be!"
"Who? Who is she?" I asked, wanting to know. And wanting something to help me completely wrench my eyes of the shaking figure on the floor. Ithiell turned to me, and I saw Rtaia look up at the two of us.
"I believe she is the natural herbalist I have heard so much about. She… she has also helped deliver my smallest cousin, Kin, not four years ago"
"Yes. It is… true. I am a herbalist, but also a trained warrior. Lowri… my mother… they did not want me to become this, but it is what I wanted from the beginning. Yet herbs have always been my first passion, as well as healing others who are unwell. How is Kin, by the way? Is she well?"
"The last I heard, she was flying across the earth like a natural born Jinnaw"
"Ah, very good news" She finished doing whatever she was doing, then put it in some other kind of bowl, mixing it again with her small marble stick thing, then Ithiell helped hold Jade up as she swallowed mouthful after agonising mouthful I saw her cringe and try and turn her head away, but Amanda and I helped hold her completely still. When we were done, we set her down again, where she fell into a fitful sleep.
"Will she… be alright from now on?" Amanda asked Rtaia. Rtaia nodded.
"In two more hours, she will be on her feet. Do not be afraid, a female Terinans scratch, or bite, is not to kill. Merely to stun. The rest… they prefer their prey to still be alive when…" Rtaia trailed off, her cat-like years suddenly folded back. I could see the smallest line of off-white just around the bottom of her eye. Not even a centimetre thick, I guessed.
"And you couldn't have told us this… I dunno, before we charged into battle!" I snapped, angry that they hadn't told us this before.
"Because it is rare for a female of that species to be fighting. And when it is, they are in the highest ranks"
"Uh… why? To me, it sounds like they'd be put in the lowest ranks"
"Sexism" Amanda muttered, glaring at me.
"Because there are many less females than males. They are highly valued, especially so far away from home. They… they breed quickly, to establish more warriors…" Rtaia looked embarrassed.
"So… how do we tell one from the other?" I asked.
"Females have a distinct white streak on one arm, and just under their left eye, going back to their… ear. Or… their hole for an ear. Like mine" Ithiell said, pointing to his.
"Okay, so now what?"
"I believe I know"
We all looked at Rtaia.
"What?" Amanda asked.
"As I was leaving the cruiser, I picked up a transmission from another Chanaiben cruiser. I believe it will be only a matter of… of your Earth hours before we are… saved"
"Okay, how many are we talkin' here? Seven, eight? Two?"
Ithiell said something to her in Chanaiben, and she thought for a minute.
"I believe… four"
"Four? Whoohoo!" Amanda jumped up, running over and practically tackling me as she hugged me. I was temped to head-butt her to get her away from me. But…
"Yes. Four. But… will four be too long?" Ithiell wondered, bringing me and Amanda back down to Earth. We all fell silent, thinking hard about what he said.
It was that moment when Jade decided to wake up.
Scaring the living pee out of all of us.
