Sunset in Silvana (Da'ark Nocturne Book 1) (26 page)

“What do you mean?” he asked.  “I thought that we
were
.”

“Oh, Slimmest and I managed to persuade the crew that what they saw on their first pass was really just a small group of deer.”

They continued their weary trek through the foothills.

As the sun set behind them, RD pointed at a narrow valley just ahead of them.  “That looks a good place to spend the night,” he said.  “The bushes will shelter us, and the creek will provide water.”

“Do you think we can risk a fire?” Iain asked.

“I don’t think so – in case we’re spotted from the air.”

The water in the stream was straight off the mountains, cold and clear.  They drank all they wanted, refilled their water bottles, and settled down in the thicket to rest.

“I think we ought to keep watch,” Bartes said.

“You’re right.”  RD looked at the others.  “Though I reckon it’s up to you, me, Iain and Doctor Miller.”

Indeed, Peter had already drifted into a doze, but Anoushka roused herself.  “I can take my turn,” she said.  “All this exercise is toughening me up.”

RD shook his head and smiled at her.  “No, dear – you get some sleep.  We’ll be moving quickly tomorrow and I’d rather you were fully rested.  We’ll take single person two-hour watches so we can maximise our rest as well.  I’ll go first, then Bartes, Iain and the Doctor”

RD’s watch passed without incident, but shortly after Bartes took over from him, he began to feel uneasy. 
There’s something out there,
he thought.  He reached out with his mind and immediately began to feel foolish. 
What an idiot!  How could I have failed to recognise my own mother?

A voice in his head said, :
Is that you, Bartes?
:

“Mother?” he called out as he got to his feet and started walking out to meet her.  “What are you doing here?”

:
Yes, dear – it’s your Gran and me.  Can you help us?  We’re lost.
:

“Of course.”  He’d gone a few involuntary paces towards the two helpless old dears when a furry cannonball hit him between the shoulder-blades.  He fell on his face just as twin streams of acid passed over him, through the space where his head had just been.

:
Run!
:  Slimmest’s thought was urgent.  :
Wake the others and run!
:

The spell shattered.  Looking up, Bartes saw the two old ladies as they really were: grey and cylindrical, about eight feet long and two feet across, with a large circular mouth lined with multiple rows of sharp, hooked teeth and surrounded by tentacles.  Above each mouth was the travesty of a human face.  “What
are
those things?” he asked, as he sprinted back to the others.

:
Nightcrawlers.  Mutated slugs that pretend to be harmless and in need of help.  They can make you see them as your friends, or even your family.
:

“How fast can they move?”

:
Not very,
: she replied, :
but they’re implacable.  Once they have your psionic scent, they’ll follow you all night, or until either you or they are dead.
:

“I’ve never met anything like these things before.  They’re not natural.”

:
No – they were created by the Da’ark.  Our enemy is getting desperate, and bringing in help from their home dimension.
:

Bartes roused the others.  “Those monsters Tanya and I encountered back at the tower – the ones that killed those soldiers – are coming after us.  Don’t look at them or listen to them.  They can bewitch you into thinking they’re people you know, or that they’re harmless and need help.  Grab your stuff and get moving – they’ll be here soon.”

“But that’s my mother out there – with Karla!” Peter cried, and started running toward the creatures.

Tanya grabbed him by the arm as he sprinted past her, swung him round and slapped his face.  “Pull yourself together,” she said harshly.  “Your mother’s dead, and Karla’s still in the Blockhouse.  Those things can make you see and hear what they want you to.  Now come on.”

The boy shook himself, gave her a look of terrible loss, but nodded.  “What’s Iain doing?” he said, looking over her shoulder.

Tanya glanced behind her.  Iain was walking directly towards the oncoming beasts.  She was filling her lungs to scream his name when, to her relief, he stopped, knelt, levelled his rifle and fired at the monstrosities.

The bullets hit one of the creatures dead centre, but seemed to have no discernible effect on it.  In response, it spat back at him.  He dodged the stream of acid, but a few drops splashed his hand.  He cried in pain and retreated quickly.

“Don’t run,” Bartes called as they prepared to flee.  “We can keep ahead of them, for now at least, but not if one of us breaks a leg, or twists an ankle.  Watch where you’re going.”

They started moving as quickly as possible away from the oncoming horrors.  Slimmest trotted ahead and acted as a scout, guiding them away from the worst terrain.

Tanya noticed that Iain was shaking his hand and wincing, so she drew over beside him.  “How is it?” she asked.

“I cleaned it off but it still hurts,” he said.

“Show me.”

He held out his hand, striped with red weals.

“We can’t stop now, much as I’d like to.”  She rummaged in her medkit and retrieved some salve.  “Rub some of this on the wounds.”

They paused for a moment, and he extended his other hand so that she could squeeze some of the cream onto it.  He gently applied it to the damaged skin and sighed in relief.  “That’s better.”

“It’ll neutralise any remaining acid and ease the inflammation as well as the pain.  I wish I had my Mercy kit, though – our salves actually coat the area with synthiskin as protection.”

“I’m just grateful for this.  We ought to pick up the pace, though – the others are pulling ahead.”

As they drew level with Bartes, Tanya called out to Slimmest.  “Do you know of any way we can kill those things?”

:
They have no discernable vulnerable spots, and they’re not susceptible to psionics,
: Slimmest broadcast.  :
The best way is to use desiccants – such as large amounts of salt – or extreme heat.  Even blowing them apart doesn’t always finish them off.
:

“That’s not a lot of use, you know,” Bartes said, but Tanya stopped, took out one of her improvised flour and petrol cocktails and heaved it in the direction of the slugs.

“Try to hit the rag with your laser carbine,” she told him.

He paused, shouldered his weapon and fired.  There was a satisfying explosion and burning material was flung in all directions.  The creatures paused on the other side of the conflagration before starting round to the left.  Tanya threw another pot in that direction.  It shattered and the flames spread.  They moved the other way, and she blocked that path with the third.

She augmented her last throw psionically, and the final pot smashed just in front of one of the monsters, covering it liberally in fuel oil, petrol and molasses.  The flames spread over it and it writhed and screamed in their heads as it shrivelled and died.  The other was splattered, but the flames soon dwindled to nothing on its slimy skin.

Tanya cursed.  “I should have tried that first,” she said.  “Now I’m out of bombs and there’s one of those things still alive.

:
We’ll have to find somewhere that it can’t get at us,
: Slimmest sent.
:
It’s either that or we keep ahead of it till dawn – nightcrawlers don’t like daylight.  At least you bought us some time.
:

They stumbled on through the darkness.  Every time they paused for breath, their pursuer was closer behind.  Had they not already been tired, they would have stood a chance of outrunning it, but with dawn still a couple of hours away, they realised they wouldn’t survive the night.

“It’s no good,” Anoushka cried. “We’re not going to get away.”  She paused, her hands on her knees.

The others were too breathless to reply, but Tanya grabbed her arm and pulled her along. 
I wish I had four legs, like Slimmest
, she thought. 
Where’s she gone now?
  And as though she’d read Tanya’s mind, Slimmest came racing towards them.

:
There’s an old stone circle ahead.  I
think
it’s Forerunner, and – if so – it may protect us.
:

A ring of weathered monoliths reared up in front of them.  It was about 50 feet in diameter, and made of a couple of dozen equally-spaced vertical blocks.

“I don’t see this helping much,” RD said.

“There’s a smaller circle further in,” Bartes said.  “Perhaps we can build some sort of barricade.”

As they made their way inwards, they found a third structure: about ten feet across and ten feet high, and roofed by a massive slab, it formed a sort of stone hut.  They dived inside and waited, still panting.

There was a scream from the edge of the circle.  “Keep your weapons ready,” RD said, somewhat unnecessarily.  “Maybe we can’t kill that thing, but we can do our best to make it regret following us.”

They stood motionless, hardly daring to breathe, while there were further screams and hisses, and the sound of slithering.

“What’s keeping that monster?” Bartes whispered.  “It seems to be moving around to the side.”

“I’ll go have a look,” Iain said, and wriggled out of the hut on his belly.  A minute later he returned.  “It can’t cross into the ring,” he said.  “I saw it try to enter – there was a brilliant blue light and it screamed.”

“Did it see you,” Bartes asked.

“Yes – it spat at me, but I was too quick for it.”  There was a patter of liquid from above them.  “It must know where I went.”

They huddled together and spent a restless night listening to the creature slithering around their refuge and screaming periodically as it failed to cross the invisible barrier, punctuated by occasional showers of venom.

After what seemed an eternity, the sky lightened, and the creature’s attempts to get to them became more frantic.  Eventually, they heard it slink away, howling in frustration.

“Can we find some wood and start a fire?” Tanya asked.

“I don’t think we can afford the time,” Bartes said.  “We need to get as far ahead of that horror as we can before evening.  Anyway, I can feel it lurking out there.  I don’t think it’s ;;x;ppxsssafe to forage in the trees.”

Tanya shared out some sandwiches, and they set out.  Fortunately, the vegetation was becoming sparse.  Bartes could sense the nightcrawler trying to follow them, travelling beneath the few trees in the deepest shade it could find, but they soon pulled ahead.  By late morning, he couldn’t feel its presence any longer.

They passed through a rock-strewn col and descended a couple of hundred feet onto what seemed to be the final plateau before the mountain peaks.  It stretched across their path, about a mile wide.

“Can you see that?” Iain asked, shading his eyes.

“What?” Tanya asked.

“On the other side of this plain, a little way south.”

Squinting, she just made out what looked like the entrance to a valley.  “Peter, is that the path that leads through to the other side of the mountains?”

“I think so,” the boy said.

Iain rubbed his hands together in anticipation.  “Next stop, Telphania.”

:
If we head that way,
: Slimmest said, :
the nightcrawler won’t follow us.  There’s nothing to shade it from the ultraviolet rays.
:

The fugitives looked at each other in relief.  “Time for a break – and some food,” Tanya said, and not even RD disagreed.  They sat down on a rocky outcropping, eating their first leisurely meal since they left the tower.

Bartes was about to stretch out for a postprandial siesta when his life sense flared.  He reached out mentally and detected three men approaching them stealthily from above and behind them.  “Incoming!” he yelled, and they threw themselves behind the rocks just as several shots pinged off the impromptu picnic bench.

”I can feel three of them,” Bartes called.  He seemed to concentrate for a couple of seconds, raised himself on his elbows, and fired.  “Two, now.  One’s trying to flank us on the left.”

“I see him,” Iain said as he fired.

“Good shot,” Bartes said.  “The other one’s trying to get away.”

“Well, he won’t manage it,” RD said.  He steadied himself on one knee and shot the fleeing security private between the shoulder-blades.  His target gave a cry, flung out his hands and fell on his face.  He twitched for a few seconds, and went still.

Tanya looked over at Bartes and frowned.  “You were extremely accurate,” she said.  “Were you using psionics?”

“I was using my life sense to aim with,” he said.

She shook her head.  “Don’t you know how dangerous it is, opening yourself up like that, particularly if your target turns out to be psionic himself?  Do you have a death wish or something?”

He shrugged.  “Maybe, but I just felt that the risk was worth it.  Let’s go and check out our attackers.”

The dead men turned out to be a security sergeant and two privates.  The former’s papers identified him as Sergeant Sergei Krislenko, and gave him authority to search and detain anyone within his demesne – and to act as he saw fit in service of his country.

“That’s strange,” Tanya said.  “They’re just dressed in fatigues, and they’re carrying no rations or supplies.”

“Did anyone hear any helicopters?” RD asked.

They all shook their heads.

Iain looked down at the bodies.  “Three men don’t make a platoon, anyway.”

“They can’t have come far.”  Bartes shaded his eyes and scanned the surrounding area.  “Perhaps there’s some sort of encampment nearby.”

“Let’s go see where they’re from,” Iain said.  “Tanya, would you look after the others while RD, Bartes & I investigate?”

”OK, but don’t take too long.  The hairs on the back of my neck tell me we’re not far ahead of our pursuers.”  She shivered.

The three men spread out and searched the rocky ground in the direction from which their ambushers had come.  It was Iain who first noticed the partial imprint of a boot in a patch of earth.  From there, they followed a trail of boot prints that led up to the hills behind them.

They reached a doorway set into a rocky outcrop.   “I can’t detect anyone in there,” Bartes said, “but let’s not take any chances – there could be some sort of booby-trap.”  They stood to each side of the door, drew their pistols and cautiously pulled it open.  No hail of bullets ensued, so they entered as quietly as possible, keeping an eye out for trip-wires.

The living room was deserted.  Four comfortable chairs were ranged around an oil-fired heater, with side tables containing books, magazines, and some electronic games.  Over the heater a vid screen was attached to a player and a game console: a multi-player first-person shooter was paused in mid-combat.

An alcove to the left contained a dining table and four chairs, with a small kitchen on the far side.  On the table were the discarded remains of several meals.

Ahead of them were some stairs.  Slowly and carefully, Bartes led them upwards.  He cautiously peeked into the room above, which was also empty of life.   They ascended into a communal bedroom with four bunks in it, plus a wash-basin.  They checked everything but found nothing of interest.