Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 3) (15 page)

Almost directly above them, a dark cloud gathered, bringing with it a noxious odor. The smoke solidified until three massive heads weaved and bobbed, the mouths snapping. The creature gave a howl as Kyber and the others dashed for the other side of the cavern, but it didn’t give chase.

A shot fired overhead, drawing the monster’s attention. The thing howled again as the pulse rifle punched three holes into its body. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the smoke monster dissipated.

“How the hell did it get down here?” Fullgrath asked irritably. “I thought it was confined to the garden!”

“Apparently it is not as restricted as we thought,” Gaveer grumbled.

Cooter hurried up to join them. The man was breathless from the adrenaline rush. “I got in three good shots. I think I convinced it we’re nothing to be trifled with.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when Jules yelled and pointed to another swirling, inky morass gathering less than twenty meters away. “It’s coming back! We gotta get out of here!”

“This way! That tunnel’s right over there!” Fullgrath cried out and took off for it with the rest following. Cooter stayed to the rear to make sure everyone was safely inside the narrow cleft.

They rushed inside the channel, not stopping until they were certain the monster couldn’t reach them this deep within the passageway. For several minutes, the smoke creature tried to insinuate itself into the crack, but it was too massive.

“What if that thing remembers it’s made of smoke and it can just float its way inside here?” Cooter remarked.

Jules quickly shushed him. “Don’t give it any ideas.”

“I doubt it could do that,” Kyber responded. “Even if it managed to drift in here, there is not enough room for it to solidify.”

He clutched his wounded side and tried to hide his distress from the others. He knew he wasn’t recovered enough to combat these creatures, but he had no choice. Their numbers were slowly being decimated. With Verin gone, they had lost another man, another guard, another warrior.

“Keep your voices down. We have to watch out for clickers in here.”

Fullgrath’s announcement reminded Kyber of the attack, and his thoughts immediately went to Kelen.

The creature roared in frustration as it repeatedly tried to reach them inside the tunnel. Gaveer pointed a tube light down the darkness behind them.

“You said you had no idea where this leads?”

Kyber shook his head. “I have no recollection of finding this place. I only remember waking here when Kelen and Fullgrath found me. If I went any further, I do not recall it.”

A scream of anger made them all jerk in shock. It hadn’t come from the smoke monster. It sounded like it was coming from behind the creature gnawing at the doorway.

The scream came again. This time the smoke monster turned around, letting out a roar at the creature challenging it. It moved away from the entrance, but it didn’t leave. The men inched closer to the entrance to get a better look at what was happening.

A group of the man-sized monsters were challenging the smoke creature in a pack formation. They alternated snapping at the behemoth, running toward it to take a bite or swipe one of their clawed arms at the scaly body, then darting back out of reach before one of the monster’s three heads could snag it.

“Guess that answers how those things eat,” Fullgrath murmured.

Kyber started to reply when the smoke monster managed to close its jaws on one of its antagonists. The middle-sized creature writhed and squealed, fighting to free itself, although everyone knew the smaller one had no chance. Inevitably, the smoke monster lifted its head until its long, serpentine neck was straight. And with a backward snap, it opened its jaws wide enough to swallow the smaller thing whole. The moment the creature slid down the smoke monster’s throat, the behemoth vanished. The smaller monsters screeched in anger and scattered, either searching for their missing, or for the smoke monster.

Everyone retreated back inside the dark tunnel. Tube lights were extinguished so as not to draw attention to themselves. Several meters deep, they stopped to listen at the distant howling.

“Well, we can’t go back that way,” Cooter remarked. He hefted his rifle to check its charge. The greenish glow from the small window gave his face an eerie appearance. “I have less than half strength. It’s not enough to get through those mama bears, even with your little popguns.”

Kyber gave him a curious stare. Jules noticed his confusion and softly chuckled. “It’s an old children’s story. You see, there’s these three bears. They’re large, furred animals on our world. Well, there’s a big papa bear, a middle-sized mama bear, and a little baby bear, and there’s this girl named Goldilocks…”

“Who?”

Jules waved a hand in dismissal, grinning. “I’ll tell you the story later. Right now we need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“I don’t think we have any choice but to keep on going. See where this thing leads us,” Fullgrath suggested.

“I believe you are right,” Kyber admitted. “But remember, we must keep as silent as possible, and keep our eyes and ears open.”

Gaveer took the lead, with Kyber following him. Cooter again watched their rear. As they progressed deeper into the strange tunnel, Kyber’s thoughts were with Kelen, and the fact that with every step they were growing further and further apart. But at least he knew she was in safe hands.

Chapter 23

Taken

            “Tell me about Seneecia.” She nuzzled his throat, then adjusted herself slightly to find a more comfortable position. For some reason, her legs pained her, especially her right leg. She figured she’d probably been lying on it wrong and pinched a nerve.

            Kyber kissed the top of her head. “I could tell you about it, but how much would you understand?”

            “I don’t care. Try anyway. I just want to hear your voice.”

            “You are about to fall asleep,” he gently chided her.

            Kelen giggled. “And what better way to fall asleep than to have the sound of your voice lull me there. Now, tell me about your world.”

            “Anything in particular?”

            “Yes. Your life there. Where do you live?”

            “I live in space.”

            She lifted her face to where she could see him looking down at her. “I meant when you’re not in space.”

            “Do you mean when I’m on shore leave?”

            This time she got up on one elbow and gave him a curious stare. “Kyber, are you telling me you don’t have a place to sleep when you’re on your home planet?”

            “We have a great hall where we can rest between missions.”

            “A great hall? Is that like barracks? Or a hotel? A building with many rooms?”

            “Yes.”

            “But don’t you have your own place? A home or apartment? A place that is exclusively your own?”

            Her leg was paining her something fierce. She shook it, hoping to ease the cramp or whatever was causing the pins and needles to zip through her muscles.

            “What is wrong?” Kyber asked.

            “Nothing. My leg fell asleep and now it’s waking up.”

            “Are you all right?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine. It’ll be okay in a minute.”

            She tried to massage the leg but she couldn’t reach it. Groaning, she struggled to sit up.

* * *

            “Whoa. Whoa, Kelen.”

            A pair of hands gripped her by the arm. Kelen opened her eyes, expecting to see Kyber. Instead, it was Sandow smiling down at her. He intently scrutinized her, then placed two fingers on her neck to check her pulse.

            “Your heartbeat’s strong. The fever’s broken. There’s even a spot of color in your cheeks. How do you feel?”

            She assessed herself as she glanced around. She could immediately tell she wasn’t in the apartment she shared with Kyber. She must have been dreaming.

            “I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m really, really thirsty. And my leg hurts.”

            “Your leg hurts?” Sandow chuckled. “That’s great!”

            She started to glare at him, when it all came back to her. Kelen gasped and tried to prop herself up to examine her limb for herself. “My leg?”       

            Sandow helped her into a sitting position, resting her back against the lip of the bed. “We took a chance and lanced the blisters that had formed on your legs. It proved to be the right thing to do. Can you move it?”

            They watched her bend the knee. The physician then unwrapped the bandages to examine the wounds. He bent over and sniffed them.

            “Good.”

            “Good?”

            He grinned. “I don’t smell any infection. I take it you don’t feel any sort of paralysis?”

            Kelen shook her head. “No. Just a lot of soreness, but I’m glad I feel that.” She glanced around. “Where’s Kyber?”

            “We were attacked by eye worms. Everyone gathered in here for safety, except Massapa. He was on duty. After the worms left, they went in search for him.”

            “Even Kyber?”

            “He felt he must. He entrusted me with your safety while he’s gone.”

            She teethed her lower lip. “Yeah, he would go after him. After all, Massapa’s one of his own, and a fellow crew member.”

            “Kelen, you know Kyber would go hunt for any one of us. It wouldn’t have to be because he was a Seneecian.”

            Kelen gave him a sheepish grin. “Yeah, you’re right.”

            Sandow stood. Placing his hands at the small of his back, he leaned backwards, letting go with a groan as his spine popped. “By the way, you missed out on some new developments.”

            “What new developments?”

            He handed her a water bag. “Jules found a third door to these apartments.”

            She nearly choked. “A third door?”

            Chuckling, the physician waved a hand at where the portal was located. “Right there. It opens up to the next apartment over.”

            “Really? Huh. More threes.”

            “Yep, more threes. What’s more, he found us three windows.”

            She shook her head. “I’m not surprised. After all, he’s a navigator. Where are they?”

            Sandow pointed them out. “There, there, and…”

            Kelen waited, but the doctor seemed to have frozen in place, his eyes wide, his mouth open. Suddenly, he turned and bolted toward her, when she heard a shot. She threw her arms up to protect herself as he jumped into the bed pit, then pushed her down onto the pad. Another shot went off, and this time she recognized the sound of a Seneecian pistol.

            Sandow stilled. His breathing was raspy, making her fear the worst.

            “Finn? Finn, are you okay?” She struggled to breathe with his weight pressing down on top of her, when something lifted him out of the depression. Kelen glanced up to see the D’har glaring down at her. Standing on the opposite side of the bed was another Seneecian she recognized as Isup. He had an arm around the doctor’s neck, extended claws pressed across Sandow’s throat. Quickly scanning the room, she failed to see any sign of Dayall, but the man had to be somewhere.

           
Unless they’ve killed him.

            The D’har crouched near the lip, resting the weapon on his thigh. “Where are the others?” he softly demanded.

            “I don’t know.”

            They had come through the back door. She had no idea how they’d managed to bypass the lock, but it was no longer relevant.

            The D’har turned his attention to the doctor. “Where are the others?”

            “Gone to find Massapa.”

            Plat grinned. “How long have they been gone?”

            “A while. An hour or so. They could be returning at any moment.”

            “Then we must hurry.” Standing, he motioned to the other Seneecian. “Bring the doctor.”

            “Why? We have Kyber’s woman,” the man argued.

            “Because he is a
doctor,
” Plat snarled. “He has value.” Looking at Kelen, a satisfied grin formed on the D’har’s face. “Come. Get up. You are coming with us.”

            “She can’t,” Sandow hurried to tell him. “She was bitten by the clickers. She nearly died from their venom. She’s too weak to walk.”

            Kelen saw the Seneecian’s eyes rake over her bandaged leg. He appeared to come to a decision and holstered the weapon onto his belt. Without warning, he dropped to one knee and reached down to grab her. Kelen struggled, but she had no strength. She tried to bite him, when a stinging slap struck the side of her face. The blow left her stunned and gasping for air, and she could feel her cheek and ear growing hot. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her underneath her arms and hauled her out of the depression. Getting to his feet, he lifted her higher and tossed her over his shoulder.

            “Come,” he grunted to the Seneecian and exited through the back door. The other man followed, pushing Sandow ahead of him while keeping his sharp talons at the doctor’s throat.

            Kelen placed her hands on the D’har’s back and reared up. The last thing she saw before the tunnel’s darkness swallowed them was the look of fear in the physician’s eyes.

Chapter 24

Hostage

            She had no memory of being taken down the tunnel toward the lakes. Hanging upside down, with the blood rushing to her head, had her fading in and out of consciousness. She did recall, at one point, she caught a glimpse of Sandow. Isup no longer held his talons at the doctor’s throat, but he kept close watch on the man, occasionally shoving Sandow to make him move faster. Kelen wondered if the physician would try to make a break for freedom at the first chance he got, or if he’d stay because of her. An odd sense of security filled her, knowing he was nearby. But another part of her wished he would take advantage of any chance he saw to go for help.