Lords of the Seventh Swarm (38 page)

Chapter 46

Orick raced desperately down the tunnel beside Tallea, fleeing the dronon Vanquishers. He needed to find the Waters of Strength, and soon, yet found himself running away from Teeawah, dashing through the smoky corridors, leaping over the bodies of dead dronon and sfuz.

They had run perhaps six hundred meters, when Orick realized he had missed his turnoff. With the smoke so thick, his sense of smell was going, and he hadn’t smelled his own scent.

Here, in these dark corridors, where the shadows lay so thick on the irregular walls, he hadn’t noticed the narrow hole in the tunnel wall.

He only knew that he’d reached unfamiliar territory, that they’d run for a moment without his recognizing any landmarks.

Tallea came to a halt, dropped her glow globe on the ground. “Where to now?” she asked.

“I don’t know!” Orick said. He glanced back. The dronon were not far behind. Their light reflected direly from around the bend. They were marching fast, and Orick dared not keep running ahead blindly. What if they met another dronon patrol? Who knew, how far it might be till this tunnel intersected another.

“Orick, over here!” Tallea hissed. She lifted her glow globe in her teeth, bounded toward several dead sfuz, over near one wall.

When she reached them, she dived behind the nearest corpse, and Orick stared in surprise. The sfuz had fur of dark, dark, purplish hue, but Tallea, with her black fur, looked like Just another dead sfuz. If the dronon didn’t study the corpses closely, they might just pass her by.

Orick rushed to a pair of dead sfuz near her, then nosed under one of the hairy bodies. Orick didn’t have the six long legs to make the disguise complete, but he stuck his rear paws in the air, hoping it might fool the dronon.

He did not have to wait long. In only a couple of minutes, the dronon Vanquishers came surging through the tunnels.

The point guards consisted of six Vanquishers, side by side, each carrying a pulp gun and a light, so that as they came marching down the hall, the Vanquishers filled the tunnel with light. Behind them, the others marched in files of three.

Orick watched them from squinted eyes. The dronon moved swiftly, in an eerie silence. Unlike humans or bears, who would swing their heads from side to side as they listened for enemies or sniffed the air, the dronon marched with heads fully erect, facing perfectly forward. With their numerous eye clusters, the dronon could see everywhere ahead and behind.

The dronon marched over him, and one of the guards near the far wall actually stepped on Orick’s belly, never paying attention to the bear.

Then he was gone, and the others marched past.

Hundreds of them marched together, but most scurried in darkness, and would not have been able to discern Orick’s form.

Somehow, Orick felt terrified that they would recognize him as a bear, but after the first hundred dronon had passed, he began to wonder. Did the dronon even know what a bear was?

Only the Lords of the Sixth Swarm had ever been to the human-occupied worlds. These other dronon might never have even laid eyes on a human, much less a bear. If they noticed that Orick wasn’t a sfuz, perhaps they imagined he was just some other local varmint.

So it came as no surprise when the last dronon scrambled past.

The dronon had not checked the corpses. They’ve probably all heard that Maggie has been caught, Orick realized.

They’re just retreating to their ship, glad to be quit of this place.

When the last dronon footsteps had echoed away, Tallea got up. “Let’s go “ she said.

She picked up her light. Once she put it in her mouth, it began glowing softly. Orick rose, and together they ran, galloping at full speed, fearing time was of the essence.

In five minutes they reached golden cliffs of carved sandstone, and the tunnel that ran along beside the cliffs, climbing uphill. Here, a tremendous battle had raged. Sfuz and dronon lay dead by the thousands and tens of thousands; ifres still burned dimly among the humus.

Oval holes along the cliff face showed where Qualeewoohs had nested once, ages ago. Orick’s heart leapt.

This is it
, he thought.
This is Teeawah
.

Tallea climbed into one of the first holes, bounding through, and Orick followed her into a room full of bones and a few dead sfuz, looking for all the world like dried spiders. This room led them into a wider corridor, and the air here felt clogged and unhealthy, almost unbreathable, as if someone had just cleaned a chimney.

Yet, here Orick made a remarkable discovery. Rushing down a wide corridor he caught familiar scents: the florid essence of Lord Felph’s bath perfumes, along with Zeus’s distinctive lotions, accompanied by … someone Orick recalled—the aroma of pipe tobacco, and a wool coat. And … that old blackguard Thomas Flynn!

Just as Orick began to recuperate from the surprise, up ahead, along a stone corridor, he heard the pop, pop, pop, of a dronon pulp pistol.

Orick halted, wondering what strange news this portended. Zeus he had anticipated might be here—but Felph and Thomas Flynn? He’d left Thomas months ago, back in the Milky Way. Thomas could only have gotten here by a world gate in company with the dronon.

Tallea dropped her glow globe, whispered, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” Orick said. “Plenty, I think.”

Orick stood, wondering. He’d never been a hero. That was Gallen’s job, standing in the midst of the battle. But though Orick had the heart for battle, he lacked Gallen’s appendages.

Normally, such minor things wouldn’t bother him, but he was on the path of three men, all of them probably armed, none of whom he trusted. One of them was blasting away, at something.

“Let’s take care,” Orick said.

He and Tallea stalked slowly, sniffing, eyes forward. Orick could smell Zeus most strongly. The young man had come in just moments ago, not far behind the others.

The path led down, past the bodies of several sfuz who lay, still bleeding, in their death throes. The smell of explosives was heavy in the air.

Tallea dimmed her light, and Orick hurried forward.

Somehow, he felt odd—as if every side passage contained sfuz, as if something watched him.

The corridor turned twice, Leaded down, past a pile of corpses—both sfuz and dronon, until at last a pile of sfuz corpses nearly blocked the passage, hundreds upon hundreds of them, all lying in a great heap, their legs twisted horribly, bright black eyes shining in the darkness, white fangs gleaming in Tallea’s dull light.

Felph and the others had merely crawled over the corpses, crawled up and over through a narrow passage, where a faint green light shimmered dimly.

Tallea stopped and studied the dead sfuz, somehow as unnerved by them as Orick was. Orick couldn’t help but remember that Felph had said that these things would reanimate a few hours after death. All of them looked so alive.

How long had it been, anyway, since the dronon had fought here? Orick estimated that it had been six or seven hours since the dronon first made it into the tangle, and a dark line of thought occurred to him.

These sfuz might waken soon. Not just some of them, all of them. This whole place would be crawling with them, and if Orick didn’t hurry and get to the Waters now, he’d never make it out alive.

“Come on,” he told Tallea, as he charged toward the pile of sfuz, bounded up, climbing over the bodies. He had to be careful. Even in death the sfuz were dangerous—fangs gleamed everywhere, and each leg had sharp climbing spurs on it, dangerous things as sharp as any knife. And Lord Felph had warned that these creatures used poisonous weapons. Orick feared that those climbing spurs might be deadly.

Just as he reached the narrow opening at the top of the pile, and glimpsed the green curtain of light farther down the tunnel, something came alive beneath his feet. A warm black body twisted, long spidery legs slashing out with their spurs, trying to disembowel him.

Instinctively Orick tore with his paws, bit down. A sfuz that had lain in the pile squealed in pain, stabbed as it tried to free itself. The monster was impossibly quick, striking three blows to Orick’s chest for each one of his to the monster.

Orick grunted in pain at the blows, trying too frantically to counterattack to make any display of anger.

Just as he began to realize he was in more trouble than he could handle, Tallea darted in, grabbed one of the sfuz’s long legs in her teeth, and pulled. The distraction gave Orick enough time to bat the thing in the head, and the sfuz fell still.

Orick stood panting, his chest heaving. He felt blood oozing out his chest, winced in pain. The wounds were deeper than he would have liked, closer to vital areas. He only hoped that his nanodocs would keep him together.

Yet more frightening than this attack was the fact that one of the sfuz had apparently come alive.

If this one revived, why not others? It might be only a matter of minutes before they all arose.

Orick squirmed over the dead sfuz, down the far side of the pile, and did not slow as he rushed through an icy veil of green light, sniffed something strange: a great dew tree filled this room, its twisted roots splaying in all directions.

The lights all about them, the green curtains of light that felt so cold to the touch, let him see well enough for a bear.

Up near the base of the great tree, a white light shone among the roots. Someone was climbing down from the tree, and the light dipped behind aroot like a star falling beyond the horizon.

Tallea had dropped her own light on the ground, let it dwindle completely. Orick could smell Zeus now, his scent strong. He’d been here only moments before.

“That way!” Tallea said, nodding toward the distant light of the glow globe.

Orick didn’t feel so confident. “Tread quietly,” he whispered.

For the next several moments they ran, surefooted over the twisting roots, moving faster than any human could in the same circumstances. Ahead, the light continued to dwindle and descend, so that now it lit the roots as if it were a campfire in a grotto.

When he neared this circle of light, Orick slowed. Up ahead, on the root they trod, Zeus stood in the darkness, sneaking toward the light, gun drawn.

He shouted some command into the darkness, gazing down toward the light. His face was a pale mask of anger. Orick and Tallea scampered into the shadows to watch.

Lord Felph squatted down near the water, a glow globe in one hand, a canteen in the other. Zeus waved his gun at his father. “I said, put it down. Now!”

Felph looked up, startled, and smiled nervously. “Zeus, so glad to see you made it,” he said, trying to sound casual. “Is the Lord Protector with you?”

He peered about, trying to find Gallen. “Throw me the canteen,” Zeus demanded.

“There is plenty for both of us,” Felph chided, waving expansively to the Waters before him. “Plenty for this whole world.”

“Throw me the canteen!” Zeus shouted, firing a quick burst that whipped past Felph’s brow and exploded into the roots, behind him, down at water level.

Orick breathed deeply, found his heart pounding. So that scoundrel Zeus was trying to steal the Waters.

Lord Felph tossed the canteen up. Zeus grabbed it, while his gun pointed steadily at Felph. Zeus shook the canteen.

Felph said, “See, I was bringing some back for you. Plenty for us all.”

Zeus smiled wickedly, waved his weapon at Felph. “Drop your gun, now, into the water. Slowly.”

Felph did as commanded. When he finished, Zeus nodded toward the shadows. “Tell the slave to drop his weapon.”

Lord Felph glanced back into the shadows. “Do as he says.”

In the shadows, Orick could discern only the smallest of movement. Thomas Flynn stood there, frozen, unable to move. Orick could see the gleam of silver on his graying hair—a Guide.

“Throw down your weapon, slave, or you might both die,” Zeus repeated.

Thomas tossed his gun. It clattered over the roots, dropped into a crevice.

Zeus said, “Thank you,” nodded at Thomas. Then addressed Felph. “Really now, Father, you don’t think I’d let you drink from this, too? You don’t think I’d let any of you have this.”

“Why not?” Felph asked.

“Because I don’t have to,” Zeus said. “You’re here in the tangle, so far from home, your Controller can’t transmit a signal back home. If I killed you now, you’d awaken in a few days, knowing you’d gone into the tangle and never returned. You’d never discover what had happened down here.”

“Come now, after six hundred years of searching, you wouldn’t deny me this?” Felph said. “There is plenty for both of us.”

Zeus chuckled, laughing easily. “You made me to be the ruler,” Zeus said. “You made me to hold the power. I … I don’t need any equals.”

“It is true, I made you to crave power,” Felph said.

“Perhaps I was mistaken in that.”

“So, my life is a mistake?” Zeus asked. “That’s what Arachne told me.”

“When?” Felph asked, his face suddenly clouding with doubt.

In answer, Zeus fired his gun. The blast caught Felph in the belly, and the charge from the pulp gun exploded, carving a ragged hole in his gut. Felph sat down backward, then let the glow globe in his left fist roll from his hand.

It bounced once on the root, dropped into the water, and dimmed as it began to slowly, oh so slowly, sink from sight.

Lord Felph fell backward, lifeless.

“Just before I killed her,” Zeus answered. He gazed over at Thomas, a frown on his face.

“You want to kill me, don’t you?” Zeus asked. Thomas did not answer.

Zeus glanced down at his father, waved his gun. “He’s not dead, you know. In a few hours, he’ll be strutting around the palace. I haven’t really hurt him, have I?”

Thomas said nothing.

Zeus chuckled. Apparently killing his father’s clone was not a major crime. He waved his pulp gun at Thomas, and Orick knew that the young man pondered whether he should murder Thomas.

“You could kill me,” Zeus said. “I see it in your eyes, You want to, but you’re a slave. I know what it is to wear a Guide. I know what it’s like to want to kill someone, and not be able.”