Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (49 page)

Peter looked down from his vantage point and quickly
saw there was some type of habitation in the distance. He made out a series of
square like objects he reasoned to be buildings. The perfect camouflage of snow
made them difficult to make out but the whisk of smoke from one of them
betrayed their presence. He suddenly noticed movement in the clear white area
of snow covered ground in front of one of the buildings and realised it was a
man walking a zigzag course. This fascinated him and he concentrated completely
on this man… Peter left his body and saw the tree tops just below as they sped
by. The building with the smoke loomed up quickly to his front. He felt himself
glide across its roof through its smoke and smelt semi green conifer burning.
The figure of this man increased in size and Peter suddenly found himself
looking though this man’s eyes. The eyes were intently looking at the snow and
a series of marks. Peter saw a woman’s body and blood stains under the torso.
He saw the tracks and ‘knew’ as the man looking at them ‘knew’ as this Warrior
understood by the evidence; three men, one woman and a child!

Peter remembered he saw a series of tracks not far
from the man and suddenly he was observing them from just off the ground - two
men and a woman!
Tracks coming from the north east, the
direction of the Irrimus base.
A piece of severed rope, a fight, a dead
woman - Cassy has been here! He noticed the man was studying the tracks into
the undergrowth and Peter decided he needed to beat him to where those tracks
led. Snap! And Peter was back on the ridge looking down the valley. He stood
and ran down to Toormis and the Administrator. “Let’s go,” Cassy has been down
there.”

Peter already had a good lead before Toormis and the
Administrator started to match his rhythm and went crashing through small trees
and bushes to make up the distance. A sense of urgency infected the three men
and the distance closed rapidly to the
village .
The
wind and clouds raced above the tree tops but below on ground level the air was
still. The Administrator saw Toormis’s back in front of him and focused his
attention on keeping the distance from him the same. He heard his own breathing
coming in fast pants as the ice cold air cut harshly into his lungs. Branches
whipped at his face and body but he found he was steering his gun to fend off
the branches with a precision he marvelled at, his momentum across the rocky
snow covered ground left no room for error and his mind computed every step and
obstacle looming up to meet him. Slowly he noticed both Toormis and himself
were gaining ground on Peter.

Peter suddenly slowed and raised his gun above his
head. He stopped before a large group of trees growing out of a rocky outcrop. He
crept forward and cautiously looked through a gap in the rocks. The Beclin
village was a short distance away and he surveyed the lay of the land and the
placement of the lodges. He signalled to Toormis and the Administrator to join
him as he backed away from the gap in the rocks.

“We need to get to the other side of the village but
there is no cover,” he said quickly. “It would take too long to climb those,”
he said pointing to the cliffs covered by thickly matted undergrowth on both
sides of the village. The set up here was designed to be defended by these,” he
added holding his gun up, “The cover is just out of range of these weapons and
any aggressor would have to rush across open ground to get near the defences.
Primitive but effective, our objective is to get through the village. Cassy is
with three of them and they are possibly being followed by another, a single
man was reading their tracks. My guess he is aggressive and to capture him
would give us a great deal of information. I think maybe he has had Cassy
stolen from him and is tracking her. Their trail leaves the village from the
other side.”

“Well,” Toormis said on one knee leaning on his gun
with two hands, no longer inclined to question Peter’s source of information.
“Only two tactics I know of with this sort of situation. The first is always,
do nothing and the second is surprise - rush ‘
em
!”

“My plan exactly,” Peter agreed. “They are unaware
that we are here and I only saw one man of fighting ability when I observed the
village. There was a dead woman, but one would assume the main bulk of the
combatants are elsewhere.”

“When do we move,” asked the Administrator.

“Now!” said Peter, “time is our main problem. Cassy is
not far and our enemy number four. If they link up with others our task becomes
much more difficult. Remember, there is a single combatant somewhere between us
and the men with Cassy; we want him alive if we can. Ready?”

Both the Administrator and Toormis nodded their heads
in agreement and even though breathing hard they both had their second wind.
“Good,” Peter said checking his gun and refilling the powder pan which the
other two immediately also did. Peter stood up and without further hesitation
jumped over the rocks in front of him and raced towards the centre of the
village, closely followed by Toormis and the Administrator.

The three men ran hard and nothing moved in front of
them. The lodges came closer and closer. The snow was light and compact on the
ground between the lodges from much foot traffic and gave better purchase for
their boots. Peter was leading and turned around one lodge at full run when a
young woman with arms full of firewood came around the corner and stopped with
stunned amazement at three men running at her. She opened her mouth to scream
but Peter’s elbow slammed into the side of her head knocking her off her feet.
A spray of firewood leapt into the air as the woman sailed backwards to land
heavily on the ground. Toormis almost lost his footing on the firewood landing
at his feet. The Administrator grabbed the skin of his jacket and steadied him.
Toormis gave the Administrator a fleeting look of thank you and pressed on
after Peter.

A high pitched scream came from behind them and
moments later a shot rang out followed by another. The bullets went wildly off
into the undergrowth many yards from the running men. Many more female voices
screamed at them from behind and then another shot rang out followed by a large
geyser of sprouting dirt and snow close to the Administrator’s right foot.

They made it to the cover of the undergrowth just as
another shot sounded and the bullet whistled past their heads. Peter stopped
and turned. “Someone knows how to shoot back there. I don’t want to be followed
by someone who can do that. You two wait here,” he said walking back to the
village cocking his gun.

Peter using a tree as cover looked at the village. He
realised someone could shoot in there and he waited. Women were coming out of
the lodges and some carried guns. Then he saw a Warrior step out and look in
his direction. The Warrior was checking his gun and walked in the direction of
Peter. The Warrior had only just entered the village; he was part of the
raiding party at the Trader’s Cabin. He had been sent back to mislead the
Traders following them but lost them in a storm. He bent down to check the
tracks and made his way slowly towards where Peter was concealed.

Peter slowly raised his gun and rested it on a branch.
His eye looking along the sights and without a moment’s hesitation when his
target was sighted correctly squeezed the trigger. The billowing white smoke
and recoil made it impossible for Peter to immediately see if he hit his target
but the solid ‘thwack ‘of the bullet’s impact told him all he needed to know.
He turned and ran toward the Administrator and Toormis. The Warrior fell to his
knees and then slowly slumped forward into the snow, dead.

“One of them sure could shoot,” the Administrator
remarked to Peter upon his return.

“Not any more. Let’s get a move on before the weather
gets worse,” he said raising his head to look up.

“How far ahead do you think they are?’ Toormis asked.

“They probably heard the shots, so we may be
expected,” Peter said and took the lead while carefully studying the easily seen
tracks. He moved along slowly at first but quickly picked up the pace.

The wind picked up and snow flurries were swept along
spinning between the trees. Peter grew more cautious and slowed. He made his
way to the end of the ravine they were following and stopped behind a large
rock. He cautiously looked around it and saw a large area of open ground
leading to a line of thick forest at the base of a mountain. To his right a
river flowed with deep turbulent water, impossible to cross. Spray was driven high
into the air by the force of the water smashing against rocks. The spray formed
large icicles hanging from the branches of nearby trees and rocks.

They had lost the trail with the constant snow drifts
and the rocky terrain but Peter knew they were just ahead, they had to be. A
sense of fear swept through him and he paid close attention to his feelings.
Images of green leaves and tropical heat on his skin drifted into his mind and
with a great effort he concentrated on the terrain in front of him and forced
away those strange thoughts. He suddenly became aware that someone was watching
the ground in front of them. He sensed the utmost danger was just a matter of a
few steps around the rock. He sat down and sought a solution; the terrain was
at an advantage to whoever was on the other side.

Toormis sat beside Peter. “The open ground in front of
us is covered isn’t it?”

Peter turned to face Toormis, he appreciated that
another was able to read the situation as it was, “Yes,” he replied.

“Do you have a plan?” Toormis asked.

“Not immediately, the sacrifice of one of us to
venture forward past these rocks is the problem. All tactical advantage is to
whoever is expecting us to venture forward from here. Do you suggest anything?”

Toormis chewed on his lower lip and scratched under
his hat. “We can’t flank them, the cliffs can’t be climbed and time is running
out by the look of the clouds. We know Cassy is somewhere to the front of us.
How many do you think are out there?”

“Only one, I believe,” Peter replied.

Toormis called the Administrator over and he sat
beside them.

“Peter believes there is someone waiting in ambush on
the other side of these rocks. They are probably close enough to shoot at least
one of us if we break cover and move forward. Do you have any suggestions? We
can’t go around him,” Toormis asked the Administrator.

The Administrator gave an instant answer. “Why not
talk to him if he’s that close?”

Both Peter and Toormis laughed with the realisation of
the simplicity of the Administrator’s answer. Toormis stood up and walked over
to the rocky outcrop. Toormis chuckled to himself as he leaned on the rock and
shouted.  “Listen, whoever you are. We are only interested in the woman
you took. There is no need for further death. Just give us the woman and we can
all live. We have no wish to harm you.”

The sound of the wind whistling through the trees was
the only sound. Toormis shrugged his shoulders and slid down the rocks and to
sit down.

“I
no
take woman. You
Traders?” was shouted from somewhere in front of them.

“Yes we are Traders,” Toormis said standing back up.
“You turn over the woman and we trade.”

There was silence. Peter stood up and moved forward to
Toormis and whispered. “Maybe we need to rush him. His voice comes from the
right; his back must be against the river.”

“I have no fight with Traders. I sorry golden hair
woman taken…”

‘CRACK!’ the sound of a shot reverberated in the
valley and the sickening ‘thwack’ of a bullet impacting flesh sounded
immediately afterwards.

“Cover us,” Peter shouted to the Administrator as he
slapped Toormis on the shoulder and jumped forward breaking cover running
towards the river. Toormis followed instantly with his gun at the ready.

Peter saw a figure standing by the river a short
distance away reloading his gun. Peter pointed at him and shouted to Toormis,
“get him before he reloads, block his escape.”

Teni looked up and saw two men suddenly running
towards him. Panic set in as he knew he couldn’t reload his weapon fast enough
and started to run back along the river. Peter had predicted the escape route
and headed him off. Peter had the man in total focus and even slowed down
slightly to allow Toormis to gain ground and present a distraction. Peter then
hit Teni with the full force of his shoulder. Both men were flung off their
feet by the impact but Peter rolled expertly and landed on his feet. He hurried
over to Teni who was gasping for breath. Toormis arrived and with a practiced
movement swung his fist with dramatic effect upon Teni’s jaw.