The Hunter (40 page)

Braldt opened his eyes and stared around him, wondering
if he was dead. He could see nothing, all was dark. But he was breathing and he hurt all over. That seemed to indicate that
he was still alive. What had happened? He struggled to bring his thoughts into focus, to remember what had happened. The explosion!
Braldt sat up, or tried to, a sharp pain at the base of his spine caught him up short and he doubled over, gasping with the
unexpected shock of it. What had happened after the explosion? Where were Keri and Batta Flor and Beast? Had they been killed?

As though in answer to his fears, he heard excited cries nearby and raised his own voice in a shout, although he was surprised
to hear that it was barely louder than a croak. Nonetheless, soon after he was rewarded by the wet snuffling of a questing
snout and then a chorus of yips as though Beast had learned to speak. He was stroking the excited pup, praising it for its
efforts when strobes of light swept across him and Batta Flor and Keri appeared at his side. Never had he been so glad to
see anyone ever in his life.

Keri fell to her knees beside him, sobbing, and Batta Flor seemed equally overwhelmed, coughing and clearing his throat and
patting him awkwardly on the shoulder. Beast butted him rudely with his head, so as not to be forgotten. It was a reason to
laugh and everyone joined in to the pup’s disgust, but the laughter after so much fear was cleansing and good.

Batta Flor ran his hands over Braldt’s body and found no broken bones although much of his body had been deeply bruised and
would feel the effects long after the
day’s work was done. The Madrelli picked Braldt up and gently placed him on his feet, supporting him until the wave of dizziness
and pain had passed.

They were standing in what little remained of a small room adjacent to the larger control chamber. The door had been unable
to stand up to the force of the water that had channeled through shortly after the initial sabotage and had been widened by
the needs of the river. The water had gone, all that remained were pools on the floor.

“Come,” said Batta Flor, “we have waited long for this moment, let us go together.” Supporting Braldt on one side, Keri on
the other, the three of them passed through the shattered doorway and into the control room itself.

“I must have struck the wall here and then been spun through into the next room,” Braldt said, staring at the wall in wonder,
noting the many rough protrusions where blocks of equipment had been ripped away by the force of the water, knowing that if
he had struck even one of them, he would not be alive at the moment.

The light beams revealed what remained of the room, and oddly enough, a goodly portion had survived the impact of the river.
The center of the room had borne the brunt of the force and everything that had stood in the river’s way had been swept away,
the flooring and even the subflooring and all of the metal fittings scoured clean.

Batta Flor directed his beam against the wall where Braldt had set the charge. The wall had collapsed completely, bringing
down the ceiling as well. Numerous threads of water still found its way through the mass of debris and the thunder of the
river could be heard on the other side. It seemed likely that it would break through again, but for the moment they were safe.

Braldt saw that the duct he had traveled was completely gone, ripped from the ceiling. The rest of the duct work, including
that portion that had held Batta Flor, Keri, and Beast, was attached only at its farthest point where they had entered, the
rest of it lay slanted against the ground.

“The water ripped it loose, or maybe it was the explosion, I’m not sure, it happened so fast,” Keri said,
following his gaze. “I was scared to death. I thought we were going to die. I thought you were already dead. But as the level
of the water dropped, so did we. We slid all the way down. It might have been fun if I hadn’t been so afraid.”

As the beam of light crossed her face, Braldt saw that she had not escaped entirely without harm. Streaks of blood stained
her ears and neck and her nose had obviously bled. There was a long cut on one side of her forehead. Braldt took the beam
from her fingers and shone it on the Madrelli. He too bore similar bloodstains and one of his wrists appeared to be dangling
at an odd angle.

“It is nothing,” said Batta Flor as he moved out of the light. “The force of the explosion concussed us slightly. We will
suffer no lasting damage. Come now, let us do that which we have endured so much to achieve. Let us see if the medicine box
has survived its immersion.”

Batta Flor directed his light beam over the walls. Directly before them were panels of a clear material that looked outward
onto another room, probably that of the water flumes where the rhodium had been extracted. Below the windows were banks of
panels with knobs and levers and a myriad of fixtures that Braldt could in no way identify. Everything was coated with a layer
of red silt that gritted underfoot as they made their way across the room. Here and there, crammed under bits of machinery
or wrapped around fallen girders, were the remains of the hard ones. These they avoided even though it was clear that they
were without life.

The lever that Braldt and Carn had seen in their vision was clearly visible. Braldt’s and Batta Flor’s eyes met and then,
as though by mutual silent decision, they turned aside, the Madrelli sighing in quiet relief. Braldt knew then that Batta
Flor had had his reservations about him, just as he too had doubted the Madrelli intentions to bring him to their goal.

The medicine box was exactly as it had been in the vision. It was white and in its center was a bright crimson cross. It was
fixed firmly to the wall and only the fact that it
was out of the direct line of the river’s course had prevented it from being washed away. They had indeed been fortunate.
Braldt reached up and, using the tool Batta Flor handed him, freed the box from the wall.

“We have done what we set out to accomplish,” Batta Flor said with audible relief. “Let us leave this place for I do not feel
that we were meant to escape so easily.”

Keri and Braldt were in complete agreement and they followed Batta Flor as he led the way across the slippery floor, anxious
now to be gone from this place that had cost them so dearly. They were halfway across the room when an odd, rasping voice
shocked them into immobility.

“I should have known you were traitors,” the voice said bitterly and Braldt’s heart contracted sharply at the words. For a
moment, he thought that one of the hard ones had somehow come back to life. But then something familiar in the tone caught
his ear and he raised his light beam and swept it across the room.

There, not ten feet away, horribly disfigured, stood Carn! Keri screamed and then called his name and started to go to him.

“Stay,” Carn said coldly. “You are a traitor too. I have heard everything. I have followed you, listened to you, watched you.
I know everything. I know now that you have no intention of honoring Mother Moon, that our gods mean nothing to you, that
you have swallowed this animal’s dirty lies.” Braldt stepped forward, but Carn raised his hand and in it was a strange object,
unlike anything Braldt had ever seen before. Carn depressed a button and a stream of red light shot forth striking the floor
next to Braldt, which erupted in a spray of rock chips leaving an enormous hole.

“Stay away from him,” cried Batta Flor as he thrust himself in front of Keri and Braldt. “He has a stunner and it’s set on
high!” Braldt did not stop to ask what a stunner was, it scarcely mattered. What did matter was that Carn was alive and quite
obviously mad.

“I’ll take that,” said Carn, holding out his hand for the medicine box. “No,” he said, gesturing with the
stunner. “Not you. Braldt, give it to Keri. I don’t trust you.”

Keri took the box and approached Carn with sideling steps. Whatever she had hoped to accomplish failed, for as soon as she
was within reach, Carn’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm, twisting it cruelly. He took the medicine box from her and then
placed the stunner against her throat and walked her to the wall where the lever was.

“No, Carn, stop! Don’t do it!” cried Braldt and Batta Flor, and Keri added her voice to theirs as well. But Carn did not listen.
His hand was on the lever now and he turned toward them, savoring the moment, knowing that they would not attempt to rush
him as long as he held Keri.

“You might want to know what I learned, before you die,” he said smugly, a strange light glowing from what little could be
seen of his eyes. “The karks were wrong about the gods. I have seen them myself. I have found where Mother Moon goes at night.
I have found her earthly lair. I have looked on the face of the gods.

“I will return to the tribe. I will bring the box and save Auslic’s life. I will be made chief. You will die. You and the
kark and this one too for she is dirty. She has lain with you without the blessing of the priests. She is filth just like
you. And the priests will honor me for I have done their bidding.” And then, before they could stop him, Carn threw all of
his weight behind the lever and it moved from top to bottom. The thing was done.

A tremendous rumbling filled the room, louder, far louder than anything they had heard before. The floor and walls and ceiling
began to shake and the room was filled with hot droplets of steam. The earth quivered and tossed beneath them and Keri screamed
and fell to the ground. Carn began to laugh, clutching the white box to his chest. “I’ve done it, I’ve done it!” he cried
insanely and staggered across the room toward them, raising the stunner. Beast began to howl.

“But what has he done, that is the question,” yelled Batta Flor as he moved backward. Suddenly he switched his light beam
off, and realizing what it was that he was trying
to do, Braldt quickly did the same. Carn screamed with rage and fired the stunner where they had stood, but both of his targets
had moved and the stunner struck nothing but the ground.

The shaking had grown more violent and the noise was all but unbearable. Braldt found Batta Flor and they were crouched together
in a huddle with Beast between them when suddenly the room was flooded with a brilliant icy blue light. Blinking their eyes
against the glare, they looked up.

Braldt blinked again and his heart was nearly stilled with a tremendous shock for there before him was a man, no two, no three
men who were as much like his image as only a reflection could be. Their hair was white-blond like his, their eyes, the color
of a cold mountain lake, their build, tall and slender yet well developed. He could only look at them and wonder if he had
gone mad, there was no other explanation. They were dressed in clothing such as he had never seen before, fabric unlike any
the Duroni women knew how to weave, a deep rich blue with a gold and crimson design worked on the breast and tall black boots
rising nearly to their knees.

“Protect us from the folly of fools!” cursed one of the men as they looked around them at the disaster of the room. “Listen
to that, you know what they’ve done, don’t you!”

“The river, it’s pouring into the core. By all the stars, we’re done for, we’ve got to get out of here before the whole thing
goes up!”

Braldt was still frozen with the shock of what he was seeing. Some part of his mind registered the fact that Keri was on her
knees, now on her feet, her hand reaching for the lever. Carn was staggering toward the men, pointing at Keri, gibbering,
falling, and then rising again.

One of them noticed him and, turning, saw what Keri was about to do. He swore aloud and raised a weapon similar to the one
that Carn held and pointed it at Keri.

“No!” screamed Braldt as he hurled himself at the man who could have been his brother. He heard Beast attack
another of the men and Batta Flor, screaming out his hatred, tackled the third.

Braldt heard the metallic protest of the lever as it was raised and then just as the room vanished in a hideous rumbling of
rock and steam he was seized by an invisible whirling, swirling whirlpool that seemed to suck him away down a long, dark tunnel
that went on forever and ever and ever out of his world and time and away and gone.

He is Braldt the Hunter, warrior lord and protector of his Ice Age tribe, trained to stalk evil predators that threaten his
people. On this savage world, his legendary victories are unmatched. And his unparalleled prowess has made him destined to
become chieftain and bearer of the sacred arms— until a search for magical healing crystals begins a deadly odyssey.

Then, in a fateful moment of trickery and betrayal, Braldt is sold into slavery—and banished to the hi-tech deathtrap known
as Arena. Here Braldt’s skills as a hunter are pushed to their limit against creatures from other worlds. But as his next
opponent is ready to challenge him in this lethal tournament, Braldt’s thoughts are consumed with escape. First, though, he
must stay alive—and cling desperately to the one glimmer of hope he has left…