The Cyber Chronicles - Book I: Queen of Arlin (14 page)

Mother Amy made
a rude noise, her brows meeting in a mass of wrinkles. "'Andsome!
You don't 'ave to look any further than yer nose for 'andsome! That
Sabre, 'e's got looks."

Tassin glanced
at Sabre again. The old woman was right, but the idea did not
appeal to her. "I must marry someone of my station, do you not see?
I cannot put some yokel on the throne. By marrying him, I will make
him a prince consort. He must have manners and etiquette; he must
be able to act like a prince."

"Ah, lass."
Mother Amy sighed, shaking her head. "It's what's in a man's 'eart
that matters, not 'ow ‘e acts. But if ye want to find a prince,
well, that's up to ye, an' I wish ye luck. But if Torrian catches
ye 'afore ye manage to find 'im, yer in trouble."

Tassin pondered
this. "Torrian will not catch me; Sabre will make sure of that. He
has powerful magic, very powerful."

Mother Amy
stood up to stir the stew. "No man's invincible, lass."

Chapter Seven

The next day,
Tassin took her leave of Mother Amy and Bern. The witch packed a
parcel of dried food, and filled the water skins with fresh spring
water. Tassin thanked her, and pressed two silver coins into her
withered hand. The old woman nodded and smiled, her black eyes
glinting with some unidentifiable emotion. Tassin was glad to ride
Falcon again, the warhorse now recovered from his injuries. Sabre
rode the mare as before, and they left the stolen horses
behind.

Back on the
trail, Tassin found herself glancing around often, wary of pursuit.
She had been safe at the witch's hut, but now she was exposed
again, and almost regretted the need to leave. Torrian's soldiers
must have lost her trail when she had doubled back through the
gorge, since she and Sabre had been riding different mounts. That
fact had ensured her safety while Sabre had recovered, but now that
they were mounted once more on the same warhorses, they would leave
a recognisable trail. Even so, the time they had spent in seclusion
made it unlikely that the soldiers would be searching in the right
area. Evidently they had not found Falcon's trail when he had
followed her either, or perhaps Torrian had given up at last.

Sabre rode
behind her, and Tassin's eyes were drawn to him often. Eventually
she grew tired of twisting her neck and ordered him to ride beside
her. They followed a wide road, so there was no need for him to
ride behind. When he obeyed, Tassin studied him.

"Sabre, when
did those... technicians put that thing on your head?"

Sabre turned
his head towards her. "The control unit was attached when the host
body was one year old."

"One year! You
were just a baby. Why so young?"

"It was
necessary for the host body to adjust."

Tassin digested
this, frowning. "What would happen if it was removed?"

"This unit
would become non-functional."

"Does that mean
you would die?"

"No, control
would return to host brain."

Tassin watched
Falcon's ears twitching in response to her voice. "Can that thing
be removed?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Removal would
cause brain damage."

Tassin wished
that he would simply explain it to her instead of making her dig it
out of him bit by bit. His answers almost seemed to contradict each
other, and she was forced to sift through them. So if the brow band
was removed, the man it controlled would wake up, but the removal
of the band would cause damage, so he would be an idiot, like Bern.
Therefore the brow band could not be removed. Tassin spurred Falcon
into a canter. The sooner this journey was over, the sooner she
could get rid of this annoying man who could not even hold a
conversation.

For two days,
they moved unimpeded through the countryside, stopping at villages
to eat and sleep in inns, using the money Sabre had won. Tassin did
not enter a village until she had ascertained that no soldiers
lurked in it, which was easy enough to find out from peasants they
encountered on the outskirts. Once darkness fell, there was no
chance of soldiers arriving, since they too had to stop to rest and
feed their mounts. Even if they had picked up her trail, they could
not follow it at night. They might continue to follow the road, if
they assumed that their quarry had stayed on it, but they risked
exhausting their horses and losing the trail.

Tassin relaxed,
hoping that Torrian had given up the chase. The woodlands turned
red and gold as autumn took hold, and floxwood trees filled the air
with humming seeds that gyrated like maddened insects, tempting
birds to eat them. The seeds were poison, and the rotting corpses
of their victims provided compost for the seedlings. If a scavenger
ate the dead bird, it merely provided more compost for the young
tree.

On the third
night, they camped in the woods beside a stream, unable to find a
village. It was not such a hardship, however, since Tassin had
purchased bedrolls. Sabre was cooking a rabbit when his head jerked
up, the lights on his brow band sparkling. Tassin watched his head
turn slowly, his torso twisting when it became necessary.

"What is it,
Sabre?"

"Something is
following."

A chill went
through her. "What? Men? Torrian's soldiers?"

"A mixture of
man and animal."

"Men on
horses?"

"No, wolves and
men."

Tassin relaxed
with a sigh. "It is some villagers hunting wolves. They do that
sometimes when the wolves worry their stock."

"No. It is best
to leave." Sabre rose, dropping the rabbit into the fire.

She rescued her
supper, annoyed. "In the dark? I do not think so. It is just some
hunters."

Sabre strode
into the darkness and returned a few minutes later leading the
horses, saddled. He gathered up the bedrolls and food, packing them
into the saddlebags. Tassin continued to roast her rabbit, ignoring
him until he stamped out the fire, w\then she looked up with a cry
of anger.

"What are you
doing? There is no need to leave. Unsaddle the horses at once!"

"It is
imperative to leave now."

"Hey! You - let
me go!" Tassin yelped as he gripped her arm and yanked her to her
feet. "I order you to release me!"

Sabre dragged
her to the horses. "Orders are to protect and save you."

Tassin tried to
free her arm from his iron grip, and failing that, she punched him,
hurting her hand. "You moron! Torrian's soldiers do not use wolves!
It is just some hunters, nothing more. Let go of me!"

Sabre stared
through her with blank eyes. "You are in danger."

"No I am not!
Damn you! Let go this instant!"

Sabre swept her
up and almost flung her onto Falcon's back, then vaulted aboard the
mare and kicked her into a trot. Tassin could not prevent Falcon
from following, besides which, she did not wish to be left behind
in the dark. Then again, she thought bitterly, Sabre would not
leave her behind. She glared at his back, ducked branches and
avoided trees as he led the way through the undergrowth. The larger
moon was full, turning the forest into a wonderland of deep shadows
and bright dapples. The silver light leeched away the colour,
leaving the landscape stark with shades of grey.

They left the
stream bank and headed uphill, deeper into the forest, and Tassin
wondered if Sabre knew where he was going. Surely he would realise
his mistake when they left the wolves behind? He glanced back, the
lights on his brow band a splash of alien colour in the darkness.
Instead of slowing, as she expected, he urged the mare into a
canter. Tassin wanted to shout at him to slow down; it was too
dangerous to travel at this speed in a forest at night. As she
opened her mouth, a bunch of leaves slapped her in the face, making
her splutter and spit out dust. She wiped away the cobwebs that
stuck to her face, hoping that no spiders were busy making their
way into her clothing as she vowed to punish Sabre for this
indignity.

Tassin glanced
back, and her heart seemed to leap into her throat. A sleek grey
shape slipped through the shadows behind her, a low, running form
that moved with silent ease. Tassin yelled in alarm and kicked
Falcon into a gallop. The warhorse surged ahead, his ears
flattened, and Sabre slowed his mare, allowing her to pass. He
raised his arm, aiming back down the trail, and a bolt of blue
brilliance lighted the forest behind them, just missing a lupine
shape that flitted between the trees.

Sabre stayed
close to her, his mare's shoulder almost pressed to Falcon's rump
as the stallion chose a path through the looming trunks. Another
flash illuminated the forest like lightning, a brief flare of
incinerated foliage adding a garish orange glow. Tassin clung to
her saddle as branches whipped past, tearing at her hair. Falcon
thundered up the slope, his ears flicking. A soft pop preceded a
terrific explosion behind them, and a lupine yelp of pain rent the
air. Tassin risked a glance back, and a branch almost swept her
from her saddle as she glimpsed receding flames. Her grip on her
pommel saved her, but her shoulder burnt from the scrape.

The wood ended,
and Tassin urged Falcon up a grassy slope dotted with grey boulders
and clumps of scrubby trees. The moonlight silvered rolling hills
of waving grass. They had reached the foothills of the great
mountain range, its distant snow-capped peaks serene. Tassin turned
to look back at the forest, catching a glimpse of a grey shape
flitting along the edge of it, but the wolves did not venture into
the open, to her relief.

After a few
more miles of cantering uphill, Tassin slowed Falcon, and Sabre
allowed her to stop and slide from the saddle. He unsaddled and
tethered the horses while she sat on a rock, willing her limbs to
stop shaking. Only when he had built a fresh fire and heated water
for tea did she stop watching the distant black smudge of the
forest and relax. She slid down the rock and leant against it,
holding her hands out to the blaze.

"That was
strange, for a small pack of wolves to attack people on horseback,"
she commented, accepting a steaming cup from him.

"Those were not
wolves."

She glanced up,
startled. "They looked like wolves to me. What were they then?"

"Men in wolf
shape."

Tassin frowned,
sipping her tea. "What makes you say that?"

"The scanners
differentiate between life forms. Humans have different brain
patterns to wolves; each animal has a unique pattern."

Tassin's brows
rose at this unusually long speech and strange revelation. "So
these scanners of yours can tell you the location and type of every
creature around us?"

"Yes, and the
numbers."

"What animals
are nearby now?"

The brow band
flashed. "Two horses, three metres away, twenty-seven rabbits at
varying distances and directions, eighteen ground nesting birds,
five deer, two kilometres away, seven unidentified indigenous
animals at varying distances and directions, fourteen sheep, one
and a half kilometres away, four - "

"Okay. I get
the picture. You can detect things up to two kilometres away?"

"Yes."

Tassin sipped
her tea. "Then why were those men in the gully able to ambush
us?"

"They were
hidden behind the rocks. The scanners cannot penetrate stone. One
was detected, then vanished. It was not considered a threat."

Tassin stared
into the fire. "How can those wolves be men?"

"Unknown. They
have the brain patterns of humans and wolves combined."

"Magic," she
mused. "Clever Torrian; he has finally realised that he must fight
magic with magic. How many are there?"

"Five of the
combined man-wolf creatures, and two humans in close proximity with
horses."

Tassin nodded.
"Two riders to take me back when you're dead. Can you deal with the
wolves?"

"They are small
targets and fast moving, but they can be killed."

"Just when I
thought that he had given up." She glared at the fire.

"Ammunition is
running low," Sabre stated. "Less than half the original armaments
remain."

"What
ammunition?"

"Laser power
packs and grenades."

She thought
about that, not wanting to appear ignorant. "The blue light and the
big bangs, you need ammunition for these magics?"

"Yes."

"Where can we
get some more?"

"Unknown. This
is a primitive planet. High-tech weapons are not available."

Tassin stared
at her steaming tea, mulling over Sabre's words. She was beginning
to think that he was not talking gibberish, but spoke of strange
things she did not understand, assuming that she did. There were
legends about old magics that were similar to the ones Sabre
wielded. That kind of magic had been forbidden, because it was too
dangerous. It was magic that had made the badlands on the other
side of the mountains, and the Death Zone. People who ventured too
far into the barren sandy area, spotted with tracts of glassy rock,
often died afterwards from a strange sickness. Some said that the
land was cursed, and any who ventured there without the protection
of the right gods would fall afoul of it.

Tassin sipped
her tea and wondered about Sabre anew. Certainly he used strange
and powerful magic, but he often spoke as if he did not belong in
this land. Where had Manutim found him? For that matter, where was
Manutim from? Did they perhaps come from the fabled land beyond the
Sun Sea? Or the mythical paradise that lay beyond the Death Zone?
Sabre had told her he was from Myontwo, wherever that was. She
turned to him, wondering if she could pry some more information
from him.

"Sabre, where
is Myontwo?"

"Star cluster
GZ482."

"Which
direction? East? West?"