Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (47 page)

The leader of the Volen smugglers grinned as his
instruments indicated a successful cloaking of the satellite. He disregarded
the instant death intervention for using the illegal device. “Proceed to Zion’s
atmosphere and give me a fix on the land base. Prepare to deploy the magnetic
navigational beacon and as soon as you get a lock on the land base.”

“Affirmative.
Just how long do we have to strip the base of its
valuables?” the second Captain asked.

“Not long. No more than one third a time
frame
before Space Command realises their satellite is not
functioning correctly. There is the time it takes for them to get here but we
cannot afford to be scanned in this sector. Just get everything of value and be
gone before the time is up, and make sure you get all the eyes of the creatures
they harvest from this planet. They are worth many, many credits,” he said
greedily, then remembered the nature of the planet below. “I will remain in
orbit above the base and magnetically guide you on your ascent out of the
planet’s atmosphere. Remember; trust only the magnetic beacon and my ships
impulses, not your instruments. That planet does crazy things to electronics.”

“Yes, I know. I have a lock on the base now. Beacon
away… Starting my descent…
Now!”

Url
looked down on the Beclin village from a high position
some distance away. One thing immediately stuck him as odd. There was only
smoke from one lodge and the smoke showed it was only a small fire or at least
well concealed if it was a heating fire.

Teni had noticed this too. “It must be cold in those
lodges,” he said.

“Maybe they have all gone to exchange. They know we
would send many men.” Sasra mentioned peering at the village from between his
two friends.

“Whatever Beclin do, we just look. One sleep to go,”
Url
said studying the village. He saw the Beclin had chosen
the site well. Very hard to get close to without being seen and the wood lodges
were set out in such a way you didn’t quite know how many there were, he
counted eleven.

They formulated a plan between them where one of them would
sneak down to the village along a thin rocky ridge so they didn’t leave tracks
in the snow. They would take turns observing and counting the Beclin numbers
and try to work out what lodge held what.

“I take first,”
Url
said
putting his gun in a comfortable position in the crook of his arm. “You make
good camp, no fire,” he added grinning and slapped Sasra on the arm where the
wolf had bitten him, he let out a small grunt in pain. “No forget relieve
Url
, you no sleep,” he said with a broad smile breaking the
crusty snow on his beard and disappeared down the steep slope. Sasra rubbed his
arm and looked at Teni who grinned at him.

Url
took a position as close as he dared in an outcrop of
rocks that had thick clumps of weedy, short leaved shrubs as tall as a man
growing in it. He sat between two rocks and chewed on a piece of dried meat
seasoned with rock mineral and red berry juice. He shivered with the cold as he
surveyed the village a short distance away. He made out eight lodges from where
he sat and the only tracks in the snow were to the one on his extreme left
which had the small wisp of smoke he had seen earlier. He saw no life except a
small rodent animal scurrying out of the undergrowth and quickly climbing the
wall of a lodge and disappearing into the roof. He settled back, watched and
waited.

Some time had now passed and all that had happened was
a brief snow flurry wisping through the village. Normally
Url
would have detested the covering of snow on him but now it aided his camouflage
and for that he was grateful.   

 
Url was just about to move and go back to camp and
send one of the others down when the door on the lodge with the fire inside
opened briefly and a Warrior stepped outside and relieved himself. The Warrior
then walked slowly away from the lodge and was looking intently to the west. He
shouted out something
Url
didn’t hear properly but the
lodge door swung open and another figure stepped outside and smartly walked
over to the first Warrior who was pointing to the west. The two Warriors stood
there looking intently at something
Url
couldn’t see,
but Url looked at the Warriors and noticed something familiar about the second
one. It was the Old Warrior he has saved from the bear. An interested feeling
swept over him, he watched keenly.

Soon
Url
saw what the two
Warriors were looking at. Three figures were making their way to the village
from the west. The image of them told
Url
they had
done a lot of travelling but the figure in the middle was of a smaller person
and had great difficulty keeping up with the two on the outside. The one in the
middle was struggling because his hands were bound and was tethered to the
Warrior on the right, who regularly pulled on the leather rope to the smaller
man.
Url
saw the smaller figure fall face first to the
ground and then be viciously hauled to their feet and thrust forward. A
prisoner,
Url
thought.

The three fur clad figures made their way to the two
Warriors and almost immediately an argument broke out between the Old Warrior
and the one holding the prisoner.
Url
couldn’t make
out the words but he saw lots of hand motions and could easily see they were
shouting.

The Old Warrior stepped forward and grabbed the
leather rope and cut it off the prisoner. The Warrior who had the rope cut from
him shouted something just loud enough for
Url
to make
out, “I am Chief and you …” but Url could not make out more. The Chief was
furious and made a lunge to get his prisoner back but the Old Warrior stood his
ground easily and in doing so flung the prisoner behind him; in doing that the
prisoner’s head dress flew off.
Url
sat bolt upright
as he saw the most beautiful long flowing golden hair and the face of the
prettiest girl he had ever seen.

Cassy quickly recovered her hat and then jumped behind
to the Old Warrior grabbing the back of his jacket pulling close to him. His
smelt of animal fat, sweat and stale wood smoke but was a great comfort; he was
the only one who offered her any form of protection since her abduction.

“Good, good woman,”
Url
whispered
to himself now with many questions in his mind; the first and foremost, who was
she? And how did she get hair that colour? He had never seen that before, his
wonder was soon replaced with confusion. If he is the Chief of Beclin, what is
he doing here? Also what is Old Warrior doing here? Both should be at the
exchange,
Url
thought and quickly he realised nothing
is as it seems, something is terribly wrong.

The party of warriors soon became quiet and the Old
Warrior took the golden haired girl to a separate lodge and the others went to
the lodge with the fire. Soon the Old Warrior came out alone and walked the
short distance and entered the lodge with the others.
Url
looked at the lodge with the golden haired girl in it and quickly decided he
must get that women and find out what is happening here. Impatience filled his
mind as he now felt it urgent that he get back to Brakin and warn him the
Beclin Chief is not at the exchange.

Url
looked at the scene in front of him but hesitated to
move. Too much open ground to the lodge with the girl. He was just about to
risk it when the lodge with the Warriors in it suddenly had its door flung
open. The Chief and one of his Warriors stepped out and closed the door; they
both had on travelling bags and guns. They started running to the east. They
must now go to exchange,
Url
thought. His time was
now; he stood up, broke cover and ran to the lodge with the golden haired girl.

He drew his knife and cut the rope used to lock the
door from the outside. He quickly entered and closed the door behind him. The
dim and poorly lit interior was difficult for him to negotiate at first but as
he made down a long narrow hallway his eyes became accustomed to the dark
interior. He entered the first of two rooms silently with his knife at the
ready. The room was large but empty. It had a stove and many sleeping skins on
the floor.

He entered the second door into a smaller room and
there sitting on a wooden stool was a small fur clad figure. Cassy jumped back
with fright trying to back away but she was tied to a heavy bench and it made a
lot of noise as empty pots and food jars fell off the end onto the floor.

“
Shhhh
!”
Url
hissed loudly and put a
finger to his lips. Cassy settled down immediately but was terrified and
tightly jammed herself into a ball.
Url
noticed a
small entranceway without a door to his left. He quickly entered the small
room, his long knife at the ready. He stopped with shock as he looked at a
small bundle of skins on the floor with feet sticking out with one tied to a
post driven into the ground. He quickly knelt down and removed the skins and
gasped as he recognised the small figure. Swiftly he cut the bonds to her feet.
He had tears welling in his eyes as he picked up Brakin’s half starved daughter
Deewa and held her to him. She didn’t recognise him at first and was frozen
with cold and fear but he soothingly patted her thick dirt matted hair.
Suddenly she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tight, starting to
cry, her sobs becoming louder and louder.

“Quiet little one, quiet, Url
get
safe. Quiet, oh, please, please quiet,” he said softly as he cradled her in his
arms. He made his way back into the room with Cassy and knelt down and with
swift movements of his knife severed her bonds.

Cassy went limp as she rubbed her wrists looking at
the biggest, most dangerous looking man she has ever seen cradling a little
girl in his arms with tears streaking down his face into his snow covered
beard. She stood up and remained where she stood, just looking.

Url
carried Deewa out of the room into the hallway. He
turned to look at Cassy, “come, not safe, come quick.”

Cassy felt a shudder run through her body. Her fear was
replaced with a sense of nervous urgency and found her hands trembling, “yes,”
she whispered and decided at that instant to go with and trust this man. She
moved towards
Url
and nervously smiled.
Url
nodded his head in recognition and in a mutual sign of
trust turned his back to Cassy and headed down the hallway and entered the
other room. He knelt down and tried to put Deewa down but she wouldn’t let go.
Url
tired to get her arms away from him but she held on
tight. Cassy realised what was happening and placed her hands on
Deewa’s
hands and spoke soothingly to her. “It’s all right.
We need to let go now…”

“Please Deewa,”
Url
said
urgently.

“Deewa, I want you to help me escape this terrible
place. Will you help me?” Cassy said quietly. Deewa slowly raised her head and
looked at Cassy, her face was caked with dirt and two trails were cut down her
cheeks by tears. She released her
vice
like grip on
Url
and Url opened her arms and lowered her gently on some
skins on the floor.

“Need clothes Deewa and…”

“Cassy.”

“Cassy,”
Url
said roughly.
“Much cold, get warm skins, dress quick.”
He said and
rummaged in the room and fitted many pieces to Deewa. Cassy was already dressed
in furs but found a large skin coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Go
now,”
Url
said and picked up Deewa.

The door to the lodge suddenly burst open, kicked in
by a Beclin Warrior. Two Warriors immediately rushed into the room.
Url
dropped Deewa and surged at the two men. The clash of
bodies resulted in noisy grunts of men fighting for their lives.
Url
still had his knife in his hand and in the clash buried
it to the hilt into the first man’s stomach. The momentum of the two warriors
pushed
Url
backwards into the room hitting Cassy and
sending her crashing into the far wall. The second Warrior kept pressing
forward unaware the Warrior in front of him was screaming because a long blade
was being twisted inside his stomach. The Warrior tried to stab
Url
over the shoulder of the now dead Warrior sandwiched
between them.
Url
grunted as their bodies spun around
and slammed into the wall and fell to the floor.
Url
saw the blade coming and reached upwards with his free hand and grabbed the man
by the wrist. He managed to let go of the handle of his knife which was buried
in the other warrior as the pressure against it made it impossible to remove.
In the desperate struggle he freed his arm and gripped the second Warrior
firmly around the throat as they struggled on the floor. Deewa was screaming
and Cassy was half conscious on the floor desperately trying to stand up.