Why Kelbrid kids can go to battle
Estrid had almost accepted her fate when
help arrived. She was staring up at the towering shape of the One, seeing no
escape, but maybe chance, fate or some twist by the being from children's
stories called the Ellimist – whom the One had
mentioned as if he was real – she got away.
The One was just a stalk's length away when a
small tail-blade flashed through him – through, because in his two dimensions
he was untouchable; not based on the same kind of matter as the blade.
In that way he shouldn't have been able to do,
he swivelled from Estrid with a cry of fury and
surprise. Fury and surprise that someone had been brave – foolish – enough to
attack him.
Larynia, the owner of that blade, leaped
nimbly out of his reach. She stopped by Estrid's side
and not-so-gently shoved the stunned scientist to her hooves.
Get up, get up, get up, time to leave!
she muttered, not taking her main eyes off the One.
Just when Estrid
had stumbled back up, the TO, Kindelil, attacked. His furious swipe was aimed at Larynia's head, and it took all her strength to block it
and she moved away, only to dart forwards and with three quick snaps slash both
his eyes bloody and cleanly cut off his stalks. The TO staggered back with a
yell of pain, but then attacked blindly again.
His strike almost cost Larynia
her throat. She tried to block it, but the momentum and strength easily
overpowered her tail. She sprung aside at the last moment, and Estrid sent the flat of her own blade to the blinded TO's head.
The TO slumped together, but a far more
dangerous enemy was still aware.
The One – by then twice the height of any
normal Andalite – had somehow changed so that he appeared in three dimensions.
His blade – roughly the length of Estrid's tail, a
fact that that was mildly discouraging – came sweeping down towards both
females, as if to cut them both in half. But they jumped out of its way, and
backed away even further when the One came forwards.
Fleeing will do you no good, cowards!
he roared. Stand and face me!
Cowards we're not and we don't take orders
from you! Larynia yelled back, rearing up in defiance.
The One's eyes gleamed dangerously green, and
he struck again, this time at only Larynia. She threw
herself backwards, fell and rolled, and as soon as she was back on her hooves
the One's tail flashed again, wildly, aimed to cut cleanly through both their
throats. Estrid avoided it with ease, but Larynia received a deep gash across her cheek.
She was not pleased.
Okay, that's it, now I'm angry,
she announced. Aximili! If you're still in there, you better be
fighting this thing!
With that she launched forwards, tail swept up
into attack and eyes alight with anger.
The One struck. Larynia
danced away, let her tail sweep forwards and –
Hit nothing but air. The One was back in his
two dimensions, out of her reach. He was still glowing
a mad green, almost making it hard to look at him, and his gleeful laugh was
just as mad.
Larynia's tail swept forwards in a perfect
arch, but continued harmlessly into the One – but well there he twisted, caught
the tail in one hand and held it in place with impossible strength.
At first Larynia only
stared in confusion. Then a spark of green shot between her tail and the One,
and she howled in sudden pain.
Scientist, laughed the One, blinking at
Estrid as another spark travelled between him and Larynia's trapped tail, If there is anything important
you wish to tell your friend, I suggest you do it now. She is about to take the
place I had reserved for you, and there you will be unable to reach her. As you are unable to reach Aximili.
Another spark. Larynia
yanked desperately at her tail, but was effectively trapped. She seemed to be
pulled closer and closer into the One, somehow growing
flat, to fit his own form. And for every spark her resistance grew weaker.
Estrid had already learned that the One
was practically untouchable in his two-dimensional form. She had nothing – no
weapon – that could do as much as annoy him. But there was another way to go
about things.
She pranced forwards and struck. Once – twice –
with all the force she could muster.
Larynia almost fell away with a
thought-speech cry. The One still held her blade and the last two decimetres of
her tail, but now dropped them in disgust. Larynia
stared with both stalks at the part that remained intact, still attached to her
spine. Then turned her horrified gaze to the part that was
lying, still twitching, on the ground. She tried to say something, but Estrid was faster.
No time to debate it, she snapped,
grabbing the aristh's arm and pulling her
along as she turned from the One. Time to go. You
can morph it back later. Now move!
Larynia's shrill comment was drowned in an
angry roar from the One. Estrid's swivelling stalks
detected Andalites coming at a gallop, from all around them, and it would only
be a matter of time before they were completely surrounded.
Why had these Andalites switched sides? What
hold did this One have on them?
How – how how
how – was the creature in control of Aximili?
…and how could she save him? Or was it voluntary – was Aximili…
no, no not –
Andalites still coming, and for whatever reason
they'd switched, they were not on her side.
She followed her own advice; this was not the
time to debate it. Any of it. She made sure Larynia was following and began running, as fast as her
legs would carry her, towards the exit. They tumbled out through the
gravity-shift with a good distance between themselves and their pursuers, and Estrid led them down a side corridor, and continued in
meaningless directions, choosing paths randomly, hoping to lose the followers
completely.
Estrid, wait, I
need to morph, Larynia said suddenly, coming to a
skidding halt, and when Estrid turned she noticed how
pale the aristh had turned.
She glanced beyond her friend, wondering how
far away those Andalites the One had sent after them were. How quickly can
you morph? A few seconds and they'll have caught up with us.
A few seconds and my tail will be pure
agony, Larynia countered, trying to keep a
straight face but not totally succeeding. Then a flash of anger passed her
eyes. And when they get here, I want my blade so I can fight them! They
might win, but I'm not letting us go down easily.
Estrid arched her own tail up. Neither
will I, she said, suppressing a sudden stab of fear.
I didn't say you would. But running
randomly won't do us any good; I'm leaving a blood trail.
Estrid took one look at the floor, another
one at the badly bleeding stump of Larynia's tail,
realised that the aristh was right. Then morph.
Quickly!
After having moved
LuRi'il remained at camp, guarded by Sira'aki and JaLa'an. KEdi'ir, on the other hand, wanted to come with the group.
That had caused some discussion – Jake had no urge whatsoever to come back and
have to explain to Sira'aki that the child had been
killed. Rachel, though, argued that "the kid can come if he wants to" – and not
long after, Jake lost the discussion.
It could have had something to do with Tom
"misinterpreting" Jake's worried, irritated comments for anger – for threats –
and knocking the Animorph leader off his feet and about four meters back. (When
she had stopped scratching his ears, Rachel was very angry with her kii-raja.)
"Don't yell at me when Tom's near," she warned
her cousin as she helped him back up. "He tends to overreact."
Jake soon found that despite Rachel now
agreeing sweetly when he again stated that KEdi'ir
was still not coming with them, it ended with the young Kelbrid doing so
anyway. He had a feeling Rachel, KEdi'ir, and maybe
even Sira'aki, had made their minds up before even
letting Jake know about it.
They realised they were closing in on the Yeerk
camp when they ran across a human-Controller with a dracon. Tom took him down
before he thought about yelling, but the group gathered to discuss any further
tactics. It was decided that Tom and Jake would go ahead as scouts, Tobias with
his stalks – he was, again, in Andalite morph – would bring up the rear, and
the rest would more or less stay between, all eyes and ears alert.
Okay, that's simple enough, Marco said.
So what's the plan for when we arrive?
"That's obvious," Rachel replied, rolling her
eyes. "We go in, we grab our cruiser, and before we leave we thank the Yeerks
by seriously damaging the Blade ship."
They won't like that, Jeanne commented.
Her panther eyes glittered. Not that I'm complaining.
Jake sighed inwardly. Tempting
as it is, we probably can't sneak close enough to do that. There'll be too many
guards – and bug fighters, too, probably. Once we've stolen the ship, it'll be
better to quickly get scarce.
"Who said anything about sneaking?" Rachel
wondered.
That was debated for some time, until they
agreed that since they were leaving anyway after this mission they didn't
really have to worry about secrecy any longer. Cover
already blown, anyway, as Marco so delicately put it. So this time –
to Rachel's delight – they did not bother to sneak. The plan was to be made up
as they went along – and as more than one guard fell to either Tom's or Jake's
teeth.
They reached the clearing where they last had
seen the Rachel. That time, approaching bug fighters had driven them to
take cover under the nearby trees, and having had no time to steal their ship
before further Yeerks arrived to investigate the two dead technicians, they had
settled for kidnapping Melissa. This time, the clearing was deserted.
Which hopefully proves that she can fly
again, Marco said, as they continued further into Yeerk territory. If she's no longer here.
She's a Yeerk craft, and Yeerks have
patched her up, Jeanne reminded him. Of course she can fly again.
Good, because if we pack into our cruiser
and she can't fly, our surprised faces will be the only defence we've got
against the combined efforts of the Kelbrid and Yeerk armies. And for some
reason I think that'd do us little good.
"Shut up, Marco," Rachel muttered. While her kii-raja was scouting, she had a hand on Tobias's shoulder
to guide her, but the lack of sight seemed to make her grumpy. Despite the fact
that Tom returned – every second minute or so – to check on her, give her an
"update", and the further they got the closer he stayed to the group and to
Rachel.
One of those times, he had been on his way back
to scouting when suddenly he hesitated, head being raised. He stared intently
in amongst the trees, nose twitching, tail flicking from side to side behind
him like an annoyed cat's.
"Kelbrid," Rachel warned lowly, moving her hand
from Tobias's shoulder and down to Tom's neck. "Many of them.
And a few Hork-Bajir."
How many? Santorelli
asked.
"Don't know. Tom isn't a calculator. But he
knows they're sneaking up around us… setting a trap."
Can we outrun them? Jeanne wondered.
Rachel gave a laugh. "Well, we can try. But it
wouldn't be worth much."
Pull together, form a circle, Jake
ordered, and the group complied at once. It's no use hiding when they know
we're here. Rach? Any tips?
"A few," Rachel said in a low but clear voice.
"They're tree-dwellers, like Hork-Bajir, so they'll attack from the trees. When
they're on the ground, their horns are fast but arms and legs slower; get in
close and they won't even be able to use their horns properly, and then it's an
easy win. If that doesn't work, get them off their feet. Can't
use their horns well from the ground either. And most importantly, DO
NOT mess with their kids. That's the –"
She got no further before Tom broke out of the
circle with a snarl and dove in amongst the trees. Four Kelbrid Touched dropped
down from the branches to stop him as he attacked the fifth, who
had been unfortunate enough to spend a second too long on the ground. He shook
them all off, moving too fast for the eye to follow as he evaded every horn
that whipped at him. More Hork-Bajir and more Kelbrid leapt down on the circle.
They all had to turn inwards and attack. But as
soon as they did, a duo of Kelbrid – of which one was a child, like KEdi'ir – and a few Hork-Bajir appeared outside the circle,
attacking from what then was 'behind'. But there was neither time nor room to
turn to meet them; so about then, chaos erupted as everyone tried to attack in
all directions at once.
Santorelli with his rhino morph turned out to
be the best adapted for fighting the Kelbrid Touched. His skin was too thick
for their wrist blades and claws to leave any deeper slashes, and he was strong
enough to more or less ignore the horns that wrapped around his head and thick
legs. He would simply turn, rush forwards and ram straight into the Kelbrid –
or Hork-Bajir – and carry them with him as he continued into the next one.
Jake and Jeanne, both large cats, were fast,
but not nearly fast enough to avoid the horns. They were troubled by the
bone-hard horns that wrapped around their legs and tails, and slowed them, at
times even stopped them, yanking them off their feet, tripping them in the
middle of a leap. Gnawing would not get rid of the coils, and pulling didn't
seem to do much good since the Kelbrid knew how to move and still keep the
horns in place.
Menderash and Rachel were, obviously, the
most vulnerable. Although Rachel didn't seem to realise that.
She had – as soon as Tom had helped her find a target – charged into the
nearest Kelbrid, too close for the horns to be of much use, and grabbed the
alien's arm, using his own wrist blade against him. Her blindness didn't stop
her, and if it at some time put her at disadvantage – or a horn attacked before
she came closer – Tom was at once there to even out the score… which always
seemed to end with one less Kelbrid.
Menderash did his best to copy Rachel's wrist
blade-stealing manoeuvre, but had also armed himself with a large branch – that
somehow made him look silly.
Marco had been faced by a Kelbrid and a
Hork-Bajir-Controller. The Hork-Bajir, probably unused to fighting next to
Kelbrid, had at once set forwards, thereby coming in the Kelbrid's way so the
horns couldn't reach Marco. And battling Hork-Bajir was something Marco knew to
do. After a few minutes he had simply lifted the Controller and thrown him at
the Kelbrid, who disappeared back up into a tree, but not fast enough to avoid
the blades of the Hork-Bajir.
Ha ha! Marco
exclaimed. I knew this had to be easy!
The reply was that the Kelbrid youngster
dropped down on his gorilla shoulders from above, horns flying down and
wrapping tightly around Marco's wrists.
To his great amusement, Marco noted that the
Kelbrid's horns weren't strong enough to do much more than annoy him. He still
managed to swing his arm forwards and slam a sledgehammer-like fist in the face
of the Hork-Bajir, who by then had gotten back up. Then he raised his arms to
deal with the Kelbrid.
The youngster quickly let go of his wrists and
raised his own arms, wrist blades aimed straight at Marco's eyes.
Hey! Marco erupted,
catching the Kelbrid's arms just in time and tossing him down to the ground. He
raised a gorilla arm, fist clenched – the youngster's eyes grew wide. The
youngster's white-pupilled eyes – he was not a
Touched.
"Ki'ifa!" he cried,
staring up at Marco.
Rachel, who'd been more or less wrestling a
female Kelbrid not very far from there, raised her head to listen when she
heard that. The Kelbrid did the same, and with sudden strength fought off
Rachel and rushed towards Marco. She leapt up on the gorilla's back, the giant
claws on her feet digging deep into his shoulders, both horns wrapping tightly
around the arm he still held raised, trying with all her weight and momentum to
yank it back.
The youngster got away, disappearing up into a
tree. Tom had appeared next to Rachel, and he kept her back clear as she
stampeded towards Marco.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she
demanded.
Marco tore the enraged Kelbrid female off his
back and Tom chased her away, still staying close to Rachel as she aimed a
meaningless kick at Marco's side and then grimaced as she hurt her toes.
What? Marco wondered, slightly annoyed.
That kid? The one who tried to
split my eyes and brain into manageable pieces?
"Exactly!" Rachel roared. "I told you NOT TO
MESS WITH THE KIDS!"
At that point another Hork-Bajir had advanced
on Marco and he was distracted as a blade cut deep into his arm. A Kelbrid dove
down from the trees behind the Hork-Bajir, horns flying for Rachel's throat.
She didn't even move, arms crossed impatiently over
her chest, but Tom leapt towards the Touched and his formidable teeth sank deep
into the Touched's skull, keeping the horns from ever
reaching their destination.
After Marco had finished off the Hork-Bajir –
with some help from Santorelli – there was no-one
left to battle. KEdi'ir was still fighting one of the
adult Kelbrid Touched, their horns whipping and wrist blades flashing in what
almost seemed like a complicated dance, but aside from that there was no enemy
left in sight.
Jeanne started towards the two to help KEdi'ir, but before she had reached them the adult had whirled
his horns around KEdi'ir's legs and yanked him off
his feet. The Touched took a step closer, bent down and slashed a wrist blade
across the youngster's forehead… before helping him back up.
Jeanne stopped in shock.
"See that?" Rachel growled, glaring in Marco's
general direction with her blindly staring eyes.
Marco was just as surprised as Jeanne.
The Kelbrid turned towards the rest of them,
noted that he was the only one left. That did not seem to bother him the least,
as if he was merely someone noticing that his friends had left the party
earlier than himself. He set eyes on Jeanne and started forwards.
"Leave us," Rachel ordered in Kelbrid.
He looked up, surprised, turning towards her
and Tom, who curled his upper lip in warning.
"We will not dishonour you, if you honour us by
letting us live."
He thought that over, grinning at the hidden
compliment. A hand slapped the other shoulder in a Kelbrid bow. "I have no
orders to stay," he said, and then turned and disappeared up into the nearest
tree.
Why did you just let him get away? Jake
snapped, coming up next to Rachel. He'll alert the others and we'll have
them all over us!
"A few others already left, or didn't you
notice?" Rachel said. "Besides, he bowed – he won't tell on us, on his
honour – which is as serious as it'll get. Unless the One directly orders it,
but that's unlikely."
You're betting our lives on UNLIKELY?!
Jake shrilled.
Now that's the Rachel we all know and
love, Marco grinned. For a minute you had us worried, letting live enemies
escape.
Jake wasn't convinced. His tiger face was
twisted into a snarl.
"Oh, calm down, demorph and remorph," Rachel
said, waving a dismissing hand at her cousin.
As Jake (although he was still glowering)
agreed, the group did so, starting with Marco, Jake, and Santorelli
while Tobias and Jeanne kept watch. Menderash was
inspecting a cut on his leg, but quickly decided he could live with it and left
it alone.
Rachel's manner had suddenly changed, as if
reminded of something, and she swivelled towards Marco, stabbing an accusing
finger at him. "You.
You better start listening to me, or there'll be trouble. I told you not –"
"– to mess with the kids, I know,"
Marco muttered, his human self coming out of the gorilla's much broader frame.
"But what was I supposed to do? Let him dig those blades into my head?"
"If that's what it takes, yes."
"That kid was trying to kill me!"
And from the tone of Marco's voice, he was
succeeding, Jeanne snickered.
"Shut up, Jeanne," Jake said, already beginning
to remorph to tiger. Jeanne bared her teeth at him.
Rachel shook her head with a sigh, making a
gesture with her hand. Tom came up to her and sat down by her side, fixing his
intense golden eyes on Marco.
"I'll tell you a story," Rachel
said, fingers softly caressing the kii-raja's head. "About the Kelbrid. They used to live in feuding clans on
their home world, until the Jijfku arrived and
started blowing them to pieces. The clans piled their knowledge, joined forces
for the first time in history and built the arrowhead fighters to let them flee
their planet. Their first order of business was to wipe out the Jijfku – which they did."
What's this got to do with kids? Santorelli asked, finishing his remorph to rhino, as Jeanne
and Tobias began demorphing.
"I'm coming to that. The clans split up again
and settled on different planets, continuing their eternal civil war. Until one
clan got the lousy idea of killing kids as well as adults in battle. The others
did not appreciate that. For the second and last time in their history, the
clans joined forces and got rid of that clan. Thoroughly."
So point of story – don't harm the
kids? Tobias wondered.
Rachel nodded. "Exactly.
Unless you have a strange desire to have the entire Kelbrid species screaming
for your blood you do not kill the kids. Even the Touched know that. And
they'll follow it for as long as they can. The One doesn't seem to mind – he
probably thinks it isn't worth causing an open rebellion just because he wanted
a child cut apart."
I wasn't planning on actually killing the kid, Marco muttered.
I wouldn't do something like that. Just… knock him out.
"He didn't know that," Rachel pointed out. "He
said 'ki'ifa', which is a word for the laws
concerning kids in combat – no being killed, and then the law of three chances;
a child can be defeated and get back up three times before having to leave the
battle. If he cried out 'ki'ifa' he must have thought you were going to
kill him. Something his mother didn't appreciate – as you probably noticed."
Marco glanced at KEdi'ir,
who was listening to the debate with one ear, but understanding nothing. Jeanne
had knelt next to the young Kelbrid, examining the shallow wound on his
forehead.
"It does explain why Kelbrid let their children
fight to begin with," she said. "But I know I'd never send one of my
children – if I had any – to battle, law of three chances or not."
Jake pawed the ground with his tiger front paw.
I wouldn't have minded that law in our war against the Yeerks.
Yeah, Marco agreed. We can harm
them three times over, and they're not allowed payback?
"How boring," Rachel commented.
You kidding? Would've been a dream.
Tobias, again Andalite, gave a short nod.
Another dream is retaking the Rachel.
He's right, Jake said, sighing.
Let's go.
Tom loped away again to act scout, and Tobias –
again in the back of the group – gently took Rachel's hand and placed it on his
shoulder, so he could guide her. An impulse made him also put his arm around
her.
There was suddenly blood on his fingers. He
noticed she'd been cut across her collarbone – not deeply, luckily. But it
still shocked him. Rachel – you're… bleeding.
"I've lived through worse." Rachel shrugged,
demonstratively unconcerned. "I've been here a long time now, Tobias. Do you
really think it's the first time I've gone to battle? Just… leave it alone,
it'll heal. I've got a few herbs in my pack back at camp that'll ease the pain
and help kill any infections."
He gave her a worried look with his stalks. She
didn't see the motion, but knew him well enough to know it was there, and said;
"I'm fine, Tobias. Really."
You'd say the same thing lying on the
ground with blood pouring out of your mouth, he muttered. Then he sighed,
realising she would ignore the wound if she decided to, and there was nothing he
could do about it. It's just that… I worry. Of course I worry, I… I love
you, Rachel.
Rachel was first visibly surprised at his
choice of time and location to say those words. Then she pulled closer to him,
her face splitting into a content, soft smile, the pain of the wound forgotten.
Her arms went around his waist in a hug. "I know, Tobias," she said, so low
only he could hear her. "And I love you too."
A what? Carali demanded, and then twisted to look around the lid
and down into the cylinder for himself. He felt his own face grow pale enough to match
Minalea's.
It's definitely not what I thought it
was, she said weakly, looking like she might be ill.
A bitter stench had by then found its way up
into Carali's nostrils, confirming what his eyes told
him.
A Yeerk pool, filled with sludge and
Yeerks, crawling and swimming around, just below and on the surface. A sickening sight for anyone but a
voluntary Controller… and to find one on a Dome ship…
Carali? What do we do?
Carali stared at the pool, not registering
the question, mind tumbling.
Carali!
He snapped back to reality, to see Minalea watching him apprehensively, and to hear galloping
hooves quickly approach the door.
We need to… inform the others, he
decided. At once.
I've figured that part out myself, Minalea said, shifting her weight quickly from one hoof to
the next as if she couldn't decide on which to stand. Which means we need
to get out of here. How?
I don't know, Carali
admitted. Any ideas?
Minalea scanned the room, and suddenly
brightened. The door!
The door is not an option. They'll see us
and there's nowhere –
No, the other door! This is two quarters
made into one, remember? Therefore, two doors. They'll
come through the open one, letting us escape through
the other.
But it's locked!
Not for long, Minalea
grinned, already at the door and inspecting the lock pad. Keep them busy at
the other door while I open this one.
What – me? But there's five of –
Despite his protests, Carali
was already at the other door, passing the pool with as much distance between
as possible. Yes, there were five (experienced, angry, skilled, adult, and so
on) warriors coming, just reaching the door, but at the doorway only one could
attack at the time. A small advantage.
But still, an aristh against a warrior…
not a pleasant scenario. A thought Carali repeated
when the first strike came, which he clumsily blocked, tail straining.
Minalea! Hurry with that door!
A tail swept at his front legs and he had to
back away to avoid it. The first warrior, following forwards, was by then
straight in the doorway, passage back blocked by his companions, no route to
either side and Carali in front. That didn't stop him
from furiously attacking the aristh, who more and more desperately
blocked or evaded most of the strikes, himself trapped
between the wall and the pool, the warrior in front and Minalea
behind.
The mistake came when the warrior feinted a strike. Carali, with his
highly limited experience, fell for it and raised his tail to parry, leaving
his head unguarded – something he realised only when the flat of the warrior's
blade slammed into his temple.
It was a glance hit – badly aimed, the warrior
probably hadn't expected him to fall for the feint – and didn't knock him out,
but he lost his balance and fell against the pool, tail flying out behind him
in an attempt to regain balance.
The warrior took the opportunity at once,
seizing Carali by the neck and shoving his head down
towards the pool.
_ _ _ _ _ _
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Author's
Note;
No note this time. *dies of shock*
Okay, okay, so a short one. Note the
last-moment addition of R-T. I told you in a previous note that there would be
Rachel-Tobias interaction, and there will be. There will be (I hope) some
anguish, some anger, some broken hearts, a fairly idiotic Jake, and a very
upset kii-raja. You'll probably know it when you read
it. Otherwise, I'm a complete failure at writing, and should never be allowed
near a keyboard again.
That's all for now.