Book 4

Siha: Rise of Rakhana

Part II

Outside the hole, into fresh air that saturates his lungs as he seeks a deep breath, Tetonbaum elbow-crawls free of the falling soil and pebbles. His head rings with explosions that continue to erupt somewhere deep behind him.

Still crawling free, he rolls onto his back, kicks and clears himself free of the rakha, "…Braith," he clears out dirt from his throat and nostrils with a forceful cough, "…Braith!" His voice can shout, "…Over here!"

They run over…Casnar, Braith—in skinsuits aglow with a pink barrier she's thrown over them. A hail of pebbles rains down from some explosion above their heads. "Charges are in the mines!" Casnar shouts, Braith's eyes aglow with energy.

More debris rains down onto them as Braith steps within range of Tetonbaum's form on the ground, "…They're sending rachni to bomb the rest of them! We need to clear the hell out!"

Tetonbaum rises to his full height, Braith's barrier enlarging to dome-in all three. Casnar pulls his half-brother's shoulder, turning him from Braith, "…Your knee!"

Braith glances at the dark stain in the fabric among his thigh and shin, over which has been tied a makeshift tourniquet, "…Nothing," Tetonbaum brushes it off and meets Casnar's eyes, "…but a nick…"

"Casnar," Braith orders over yet another rumble of detonations from within the quarry hidden partially by the forest, "…Use the med-kit on my hip…We might not have another chance—"

The barrier ripples prettily with catspaws, a collection of dirt raining overhead.

Braith keeps the barrier maintained while Casnar removes a black pod off her right hip. With a snap, he opens and sets it down at their boots. Untying the tourniquet about Tetonbaum's knee, he pulls the skinsuit out of the way to reveal the gash in Tetonbaum's red and blue skin over the thick knee capsule. Tetonbaum stands calmly and still, while Casnar picks through the med-kit for the right-sized bandage and treatment…while he does so, Tetonbaum's sapphires fix to the sweat under Braith's ear, above the collar of the suit, her black ponytail dancing with each of her vigilant head movements…

Casnar unwraps a med-gel tube and pops the cap open.

He squeezes the viscous gel inside the bleeding cut below the stained knee's patella, "…Tetonbaum," Casnar says loudly for them to hear over the battle noises in the forest and above their heads, "…this will hold—for a bit—Get treatment at base!"

Tetonbaum tests his leg after Casnar stands from applying a bandage that springs open and clasps like a webbed starfish over the joint. Reattaching the med-kit to Braith's hip, "…He's good as I can get him to be! Let's move now!"

Braith braces her barrier for another barrage—rocks larger than their skulls launch from an explosion through the canopy...She covers them as they run, a pink half-sphere encapsulating them as gunfire erupts from their left flank…Braith turns and whips out a boomerang of biotic energy, fiery and vicious in its scythe through trees and their limbs…

What follows is an explosion of blue-silver light, screams of an angry enemy…

"That was close!" Casnar shouts. Ships roar overhead. High-pitched, sizzling whistles burn through the air—"It's starting!—"

"Keep running—"

The ground begins to quake as if it is opening somewhere deep below the lifting soles of their durril boots…Tetonbaum runs slower than normal with the wound to his knee.

Casnar and Braith grab his arms—one either side his big bulk to help support his weight off the injury…

The flash comes from behind…The gunfire ends abruptly, though there is one more pop, and then silence…Then the rumbling…The long whistle, delayed…The percussion hits their ears and tenesses later…White light blinds Braith's peripheral vision with the halo of the flash. Her barrier pushes outward, thickening against the incoming heat rushing at their backs…She starts to sweat more with the exertion of managing the barrier to protect them all, and between that, her holding Tetonbaum's heavy arm over her shoulders and neck, her other far arm held palm-out and forward at ready—to thwart the attacks by the enemy should they attempt to detain them from their escape…Casnar's screaming something but the rumbling is so loud from the bombs, his words are rendered to simple noiseless motions by his face turned to Tetonbaum…