The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (4 page)

Sabre looked
at Purr. "It's getting very real."

The mosscat
nodded. "It will get more so."

Deciding to
leave the safety of the stream and press on despite the daunting
terrain, they picked their way through the tortured stone, tripping
on the uneven ground. Sabre was forced to help Tassin through deep
rifts and over steep ridges, in places as slippery as glass. The
going was hard, and when they came across a normal-looking grey
boulder in the sea of twisted, solidified lava, they sat on it and
waited for Change.

It seemed like
hours later that the flickers of brown and green heralded the
Change. Flux-reality warped, and an alien landscape appeared around
them. Leafless blue trees held cup-shaped branches up to the sun,
and what looked like giant red asparaguses thrust from the stony
ground. Vines of all colours festooned trees of amazing variety and
obscure function. Smells of singular sweetness and putridity wafted
by, and an astonishing cacophony of hoots, whistles, hisses,
croaks, roars, booms, rattles and screams echoed forth. Tassin
quailed from the strange sights and sudden uproar, which, although
still muted, seemed loud after the eerie silence that had plagued
them for so long. The previous world had only vented a few soft
rumbles, but this one was noisy, and the din was a shock. Tassin
drew her dagger and glared into the undergrowth.

"Oh dear,"
Purr murmured. "This is a nasty one."

"No worse than
the one before." Sabre stood up and looked around. "Should we move
or stay?"

Purr shrugged.
"The next one could be worse. Not many are nice."

"But we have
to get nasty ones just when things are getting really real," Tassin
grumbled.

Sabre pulled
the sword from his pack. "This might come in handy to hack through
the vines."

Tassin
scowled. "That is a good sword, not a bush knife."

Purr ambled
away, and Sabre followed. "As long as it's sharp."

Small, unseen
creatures rustled in the fleshy undergrowth, making the Queen hurry
after them with her dagger at the ready. They had not gone far when
a yellow vine snaked out and coiled around Tassin's ankles,
bringing her down with an astonished grunt. Sabre whirled and
slashed through it with the sword, and it spurted orange fluid as
it coiled away into the undergrowth like an injured snake. When he
tried to help her to her feet, she jerked away and glared at
him.

"This is
something I can deal with."

He bowed. "As
you wish, Your Highness."

The next vine
snagged Purr, but the mosscat changed his aspect with astounding
speed, sprouting razor-sharp claws with which he shredded the
vegetable predator. They skirted pot-shaped plants that emitted a
putrid stench, and massive silken webs strung between the trees,
whose owners doubtless hid close by. Purr avoided tangles of thorny
vines that lay in wait for the unwary and barriers of thick roots
that oozed sticky sap. After several hours, they emerged from the
alien jungle onto the shore of a black lake.

Tassin gave a
glad cry and trotted down the grey beach towards it, not heeding
Purr's warning yell. Sabre sprang after the Queen and grabbed the
back of her dress, yanking her away from the lake. A ripping sound
rewarded his efforts as Tassin fell backwards with a yelp. He
caught her before she hit the ground and helped her back to her
feet. She glared up at him and wrenched free, her dagger pointed at
him. He backed away, raising his hands, one of which, he found,
held a hank of pink material.

"Just what the
hell do you think you are doing?" she demanded.

"Purr doesn't
like the lake."

"Well I want
to wash! First the water was unreal, now Purr doesn't like it. Purr
probably never takes a bath!"

"Yes I do."
Purr emerged from the shrubbery. "But I wouldn't bathe in that if I
was you. It's not water, it's acid."

She paled,
turning to look at the lake. "How do you know?"

"Look at the
shore."

Tassin studied
the grey shore, obviously noting, as Sabre did, the wilted plants
and pale gleam of bones. Sabre held out the scrap of pink material,
and she snatched it from him, but her ire faded when he threw a
stick into the lake and it dissolved with a vicious hiss. She
looked ill, and they gave the black lake a wide berth.

Gearn stared
at the huge corpse, holding his handkerchief over his nose to mask
the nauseating stench of the rotting sand dragon. Murdor kicked it,
then turned away in disgust when his boot sank into the putrid
flesh, releasing a fresh wave of foetor. Gearn guided his horse up
wind, circling the carcass. The wolf waited there, its sensitive
nose clearly unable to stand the terrible stink.

Gearn had not
been surprised to encounter the corpse of one of the two horses,
but this was a shock. The enormous sand dragon had been a fearsome
creature, yet the warrior mage had slain it. Murdor eyed the
corpse.

"'E must be a
great warrior, mage. I look forward even more to the
encounter."

The mage wiped
his mouth, queasy at the smell, then turned his horse away, eager
to leave the horrible cadaver behind. Murdor's heavy footsteps
followed him.

Chapter Three

After an hour
of slogging through the treacherous undergrowth, Purr found a
clearing with a pool in it. A spring fed it, and silver fish lurked
in its depths.

Purr licked
his lips. "Real-reality."

Sabre
collected Flux-reality wood and built a fire, over which they
roasted the fish Purr caught. When Sabre had refilled the water
skins, Tassin washed without removing her dress. Sabre bathed in
his underwear, and scrubbed the dirt from his clothes as well. They
rested for a while, then set off once more, keeping a wary eye on
the carnivorous vegetation.

Trouble struck
with unexpected ferocity. One of the annoying yellow vines snagged
Tassin's ankles again, and they stopped while she hacked at it with
the dagger. Two monstrous grey shapes erupted from the undergrowth
with deep-throated roars, and Purr sprouted claws, fangs and spines
with a huge sneeze. Sabre found himself eyeball-to-eyeball with a
tusked, green-eyed monster. A massive arm tipped with dagger-like
claws swung at him, and he ducked, slashing with the sword. The
blade shaved off a clump of coarse hair, and the monster howled. It
sprang at him, its tusks goring his chest as he flung himself
backwards to avoid it.

Tassin yelled
in alarm, hacking at the tough vine as Sabre vanished into the
undergrowth with the monster on top of him. The second beast tried
to pry Purr off its face, which he clung to with razor-sharp,
five-centimetre claws. The beast encountered needle-sharp spines
wherever it tried to grab him, and howled with pain as he slashed
its face with long fangs. Bright red stripes streaked the mosscat's
fur, and his yellow eyes blazed with fury. Tassin sawed at the
vine, glancing at the bush where Sabre battled the other monster,
the roaring and thrashing that came from it chilling her blood.

Severing the
vine, Tassin jumped up and ran to the thrashing bushes, her dagger
aimed at the beast's hairy back. The monster flew backwards out of
the undergrowth, propelled by Sabre's powerful kick. It struck her
a glancing blow that sent her spinning into the brush, then it
turned and attacked her as she jumped up. Tassin raised the dagger
and slammed it into the creature's chest. The monster roared and
smashed her aside with a brawny arm.

Tassin flew
backwards, the air leaving her lungs in a rush. The world darkened,
then she drew in a whooping breath and everything sprang back into
focus. The monster leapt after her, its foam-flecked jaws reaching
for her throat. Gripping the dagger in both hands, she stabbed it
into its belly. An arm snaked around the creature's throat, and it
was lifted off her with a savage jerk that should have broken its
neck. Blood splattered her as a blade emerged from its belly,
driven through it from behind. Sabre flung the corpse aside and
grasped Tassin's arm, hauling her upright.

"Are you all
right?"

She nodded,
staring at the blood that ran down his chest. He shifted his grip
to her shoulders and shook her until her teeth rattled.

"Don't ever do
that again!" he said. "Do you hear me? Never! You stay out of the
way! Climb a tree, hide in a bush, anything. The next time you try
to join in, I'll put you over my knee! Do you understand?"

Again she
nodded, but frowned. "I stabbed it! Twice!"

"You bloody
little idiot, it was a millimetre from killing you!"

"I am not some
helpless cringing woman, I'm a -"

"Warrior
queen!" he finished for her in an angry bellow. "I know! A
pint-sized, pea-brained warrior bloody queen, and nearly a dead
one!"

Sabre looked
ready to deliver a scathing tirade that would blister her ears and
dissuade her from any acts he disapproved of in the future, but a
pig-like squealing distracted him. The second monster, still
burdened with Purr, crashed through the brush in a blind,
pain-crazed death dance. The mosscat had reduced its face to a
bloody, eyeless ruin, and still carried on slashing. His spines had
shredded the creature's paws, and it beat ineffectually at the
clinging mosscat in a futile bid to dislodge its tormentor. Sabre
stared at it in amazement, then released Tassin and picked up his
sword. With a swift stab, he ended the monster's squealing agony,
and it crashed into the brush as Purr leapt free. For a moment he
remained a clawed, fanged, spiny horror, then he gave a huge sneeze
and reverted to his chubby form.

Sabre gazed at
him. "Why do you always sneeze?"

Purr snorted
and washed his face with chubby paws, like a cat. "I'm allergic to
shifting, it always makes me sneeze. The more the shift, the bigger
the honk."

The tension
drained away, leaving Tassin light-headed and slightly hysterical.
Her knees turned to jelly, and she sank down in a giggling heap.
Sabre eyed her as he wiped the sword on the monster's coarse
hair.

"What's the
matter with you?"

She wiped her
eyes. "After all that, you... you ask him..." She relapsed into
another fit of giggles, and Sabre traded a puzzled glance with the
mosscat. Tassin struggled for control. "You ask him why... he
sneezes!" She shrieked with laughter, and Sabre smiled.

"I always
wondered."

Purr snorted
again and went back to washing his face. Sabre sat on a log and
mopped the blood off his chest with a torn petticoat while Tassin's
giggles subsided. Taking a tube from his pouch, he smeared cream
onto the shallow scratches, which had already stopped bleeding. By
the time he was finished, Purr's face was clean, and they resumed
their journey.

A short while
later, the flickers of brown and green shot through the landscape,
and Purr yelled, "Run!"

A grey boulder
lay ahead, and they sprinted for it. A yellow vine caught Tassin's
foot, and she smashed face first into the ground, momentarily
stunned by the impact. Flux-reality Changed, and stunted woodland
appeared around them as she struggled to rise. Something gripped
her foot, and she turned, dagger ready, to face a tree. The gnarled
trunk swallowed her foot to the ankle, toes down. Sabre leapt off
the rock and crouched beside her.

"Shit!" He
scowled at the tree. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Tassin groaned
and probed her throbbing face. Blood oozed from her nose, and her
lips had started to swell.

Sabre eased
her onto her side, wary of twisting her leg too much. "Don't try to
move."

"I'm not going
anywhere."

Purr examined
the tree trunk. "Solid. Flux-reality is as real as Real-reality
here. We'll have to wait for the next Change."

Sabre said,
"That could be hours."

"Perhaps you'd
like to cut down the tree and carry it with you?"

Sabre dug in
the pack and took out a petticoat, which he dampened and used to
wipe the blood off Tassin's face. She lay curled on her side, and
he wadded a dry petticoat and pushed it under her cheek.

"We'll just
have to use this time to rest, and hope nothing nasty comes
along."

Purr nodded,
glancing around. "It looks like quite a safe world."

The landscape
was rock-strewn and rough, dotted with stunted, twisted trees whose
roots snaked across the hard ground in search of sustenance. Clumps
of yellow, spiky grass sprouted between the stones. A creature
flapped across the pale sky on webbed wings, giving a harsh
croak.

Sabre examined
Tassin's swollen nose and pronounced it unbroken, then settled down
beside her to wait. Purr started another session of grooming, which
he indulged in at every opportunity.

Hours dragged
by, and the ground seemed to grow harder with every passing minute
as the stones abused the Queen's bruised flesh. She shifted and
squirmed to try to ease the discomfort, while Sabre was apparently
determined to remain aloof. Purr watched him with eyes that
twinkled whenever Sabre glanced at him. When the cyber lifted
Tassin onto his lap and pillowed her cheek on his forearm, Purr
chuckled and vanished into the scrubby trees.

Sabre's
presence was a great comfort and source of security, albeit that he
was clearly only trying to alleviate her discomfort, and had done
so somewhat reluctantly. Tiredness overtook her, and, despite her
painful face, she dozed off.

Sabre's
movement woke her as he took a bunch of pink, grape-like fruit from
Purr and examined it with a frown.

"They're quite
nice," Purr informed them. "Flux-reality, but safe to eat."

"How do you
know?" Sabre asked.

"I tried some.
My stomach will immediately reject anything poisonous. It comes
straight up again. These don't, so they're okay."