Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (50 page)

“Another savage down,” Toormis grunted with
satisfaction. “There’s another back there with a bullet in him, must have been
shot by this guy,” he said pointing to Teni.

With Toormis dragging Teni they made it back to the
shot Beclin Warrior He was the Old Warrior Cassy had knocked unconscious in the
hut. He had gotten up from his bed after the disturbance of the three men
running through his village and began tracking them; his concussion was serious
and clouded his judgement.  His eyes were open in death and Peter knelt
beside him and closed them. A sense of sadness swept through him and he didn’t
know why. He removed the Warrior’s knife from his belt and slipped it into his
boot. Then did something Toormis hadn’t seen before, Peter stood back a step at
attention and saluted with his right hand to his temple and uttered, “
a
quick death to a good enemy.”

Toormis let his grip go on Teni’s jacket and stood
beside Peter looking at the dead Warrior. “He
mean
something to you?”

Peter looked directly in Toormis’s eyes and held the
look. Toormis felt a wave of uncertainty sweep through him. “He must have known
by giving his position away he would be exposed. The tactics of these people is
one of ambush,” Peter said and looked down at the Old Warrior. “Maybe, he was
avoiding us and tried go around along the river.” Peter then realised this
Warrior would have had to have heard the exchanged shouted words between
Toormis and the other Warrior, he knew we were traders, strange he thought.

Toormis shrugged his shoulders and didn’t want to know
what Peter was feeling. To him this dead Warrior was in the perfect condition.

As quickly as Peter had shown compassion for this man
the feeling left him. His attention went to the unconscious man. “Let’s get him
back to the safety of the rocks in case his friends come looking for him.” Both
Toormis and Peter took an arm each and dragged Teni back to where the
Administrator was covering them.

Toormis tied Teni’s hands together with a rope Teni
had coiled on his belt. He had his gun and also two knives and a small axe.
They propped him against a rock and rubbed snow into his face.

Teni coughed and spat blood. He looked with wide open eyes
at three men staring at him but something made him take a closer look at his
captors. He muttered, “
you
not Beclin.” When Teni had
seen the Old Beclin Warrior creeping up on him he realised the voice didn’t
sound like Beclin but Traders.

“Is Beclin the name of that village back there?” Peter
asked pointing back from where they came.

Teni sat up straighter. “It’s a Beclin village, they
have many. Who are you?”

Toormis was agitated with this man and moved closer to
Teni and was about to say something when Peter put a hand on his shoulder.
Toormis looked over his shoulder at Peter. “Let me ask the questions Toormis,”
Peter said with such authority Toormis moved back and sat down before he
realised he had been spoken to.

“You have a golden haired woman with you?” Peter
asked.

“Yes. She was Beclin captive in village…”

“Where is she now,” Toormis cut in and half stood up,
a knife materialised in his hand. Teni’s eyes opened wide in fear and he
pressed back against the rock.

“Toormis!”
Peter said forcefully and turned to face him. “This
man might just be the one who rescued Cassy from those that attacked the base.
Just stand back and we will have the answers shortly. Toormis slowly moved back
but maintained an intense look at Teni.

“You really are traders?” Teni asked nervously.

“Yes,” Peter answered, “and the woman is ours.
Taken when these ‘Beclin’ attacked the Trading Post.
They
killed two of us and also one of yours; stole many items. Where is the woman
now?”

“Short way up valley.
They wait for me. We think we followed, I came back
to stop who follow. Url hurt cannot travel fast.”

“Url?
How many of you?”

“Three men, one young girl and your
woman.
Url
rescue young girl taken from our village. Your woman help
Url
and Deewa, the young girl escape. We no harm your woman.” Teni explained
speaking quickly with nervousness.

“OK. I understand. Are you at war with the Beclin?”
Peter asked.

“Yes.”

“I see. Just relax,” Peter said and removed Teni’s
water bladder from inside his jacket and gave him a drink. Teni drank greedily.

“Toormis, I want you to tie yourself to our… What is
your name? Peter said turning to face the man.

“Teni.”

“Teni,” Peter said turning back to face Toormis. “He
will lead with you directly behind him. Both
myself
and
Drex
will be flanking you in a diamond formation.
We have to trust what he says. His story does match the evidence. Plus,” Peter
stood up and took Toormis out of hearing range of Teni. “We will need someone
to guide us around that village back there. We cannot go back that way again,
especially with Cassy. They probably have sent for reinforcements and we would
be too easy to track if our trail back leads from anywhere close to that
village.”

Toormis nodded his head in agreement. He couldn’t
fault Peter’s logic and tactics and simply accepted his orders. The
Administrator who had heard the conversation nodded his agreement and picked up
Teni’s gun Toormis had brought back and slung it over his shoulder, he also put
his knives and axe in his utility bag.

“Up you get,” Toormis said to Teni and uncoiled the
rest of the rope that part of it was used to tie Teni’s hands. “If what you say
is true you will soon be free. Once we get our woman back and if she says
you’ve been good to her, you will get your gun and knives back too. OK?”

Teni smiled a nervous smile and turned so as to assist
Toormis with the rope. “We want no harm to come to Traders, they friends of
Shihone.” Teni said.

“Yeah.
Well your Beclin friends look like they have set you
up. Ready,” Toormis said and steered Teni by the shoulder into the open. Peter
and the Administrator fanned out to the sides and slightly to the rear of
Toormis and they cautiously made their way down the centre of the open ground. Peter
swung over to the dead Warrior and took his gun and axe. He knew they would be
valuable gifts for the people he would soon meet.

They had gone around the bend and the open area
narrowed. Suddenly Peter noticed a figure step out into the open just out of
gun range. The man just stood there looking at them. As they continued toward
him Peter raised his gun over his head then stood still. The man now raised his
gun over his head.

“Stop Toormis,” Peter said walking over to them. “Teni
do you know that man?”

“Yes, he is Sasra, a friend.”

“Call out to him that we wish him no harm,” Peter
said. The Administrator dropped to one knee and cradled his gun at the ready.

“Sasra.
These people are Traders from the Trading Post. They
come for the golden haired woman. They mean us no harm,” Teni shouted.

Sasra remained where he stood. He was a couple of
steps from cover and raised his hand signalling them to come forward. “Come,”
he shouted back.

The group of men got closer when suddenly Cassy yelled
out, Toormis! And broke cover from behind a tree and ran across the open
ground. Peter saw a figure stand up to his left from the edge of the cover a
short distance away holding a gun. That must be
Url
,
he thought.

Toormis let the rope to Teni go and with two mighty
strides opened his arms and caught Cassy as she threw herself at him. Toormis
lost balance in the snow and the two went crashing to the ground rolling over
and over. They came to rest with Toormis on top of her and with excited urgency
they kissed holding each other tightly.

The Administrator lowered his gun, stood up and walked
over to Teni. He drew out his boot knife, cut the bonds to his hands and gave
him his gun, knives and axe.

“Thank you,” Teni said turning to face the
Administrator smiling. They both looked at Toormis and Cassy in the snow and
laughed. Peter walked over to them and stood with them looking.

“Too much free time that man,” Peter said jokingly but
motioned towards where
Url
stood in the cover of the
trees. “We need to get out of the open,” he said and walked over to Toormis and
Cassy. “Come on you two. Plenty of time for that later, get to cover it’s
dangerous to be in the open.”

URL staggered forward anxious to leave, his head hurting.
He pointed, “
go
now.”

Toormis broke his embrace and hauled himself and Cassy
to their feet. With renewed energy they both ran to the tree line and
disappeared. In a moment there was no sign of life in the open area of the
valley. Light snow began falling.

The Volen
smuggler ship followed the magnetic beam down to the android base on Zion. The
magnetic beacon transmitter had been manufactured some time ago by Volen
scientists when they learnt of Zion’s unique atmospheric interference and the
value of the animal eyes and other biological assets that planet supplied. The
Captain of the ship grimaced as his instruments gave wild readings while his
near vertical descent caused his crew of three to close their eyes and grip the
arms rests on their seats tightly.

“Five hundred
meters to planet surface,” the co pilot said shakily as the ship was buffeted
violently by the storm they were passing through.

“Activate
atmospheric stabilisers and slow our descent! The Captain ordered urgently as
he struggled to keep the ship in the beam.

The crew sighed
relief as the stabilisers fired and countered their descent. The automatic
sequence of landing could be plainly heard in the cockpit when the skids locked
into position. Extra vibration shook the ship as the landing skids broke the
smooth passage of atmospheric gases over the ship’s hull.

The ship came to
an almost complete stop and then thumped onto the ground beside the base. The
beacon had landed just outside the Trader’s Cabin. Quickly the smugglers
secured their ship and with blasters drawn entered the cabin. The sight of the
two androids and dead humanoid came as no real surprise to the smugglers.

“Are we too
late?” the co pilot asked.

“Looks
that way.
The body hasn’t been dead for long, maybe someone beat us to this place,” the
Captain answered.

“Eyes, lots of
them!” came from the crew member who had gone around the counter and entered
the small room. The Captain and co pilot rushed around and forced themselves
into the small room and marvelled at the amount of eyes in the little drawers.

“This is good,”
the Captain said looking around greedily. “Get everyone of them plus that skin
and take them back to the ship now. Hurry back and get everything in these
rooms.

“Yes Sir,” the
crew member said excitedly thinking about his cut.

“Let’s get into
the complex,” the Captain told his co pilot, “there must be stores of
electronics and androids there.

The two Volen
ran into the space dock and stopped momentarily to appreciate the Transport
ship - a great prize. Then they ran through the doors that led into the base.

They immediately
started stripping the communications equipment and electronics. In a short time
there was quite a pile of equipment in the space dock. The co pilot and crew
member were busy ferrying the stolen stores to their ship.