Chapter Four
Pyra held Lynx down on the floor, pushing his arms down against the wood with nearly all of his strength. Even though the younger warrior was smaller, the ferocity that was suddenly pouring out of him was making it more difficult than Pyra would have imagined for him to control his thrashing. As soon as he had mentioned the blood dripping from Lynx's back, the other warrior had seemed to snap, suddenly becoming aggressive and violent toward him and Bannack. He was hissing in a way that was almost like the Covra, and no matter how loudly Pyra shouted his name, he stared back at him through eyes that looked dark and unrecognizable, as if they were not registering the meaning of the word.
Behind him Bannack gripped a silver compact in his hand and stared into it. The compact looked like a larger, heavier version of the one that Loralia carried and Pyra wondered what Bannack could possibly be doing with it as he struggled to not only fight off Lynx's violent reaction, but to understand what was causing it.
"Loralia!" Bannack suddenly gasped.
"Bannack?" Loralia's voice came into the room and Pyra shot a shocked look at Bannack, "What's wrong?"
"Something's happening to Lynx," Bannack said into the compact, "We don't know what's going on."
"What happened?"
"I can't get into the whole story right now, but he's been injured and now he seems like he's completely out of his mind. He's fighting Pyra and we can't get him to calm down. He looks like he's trying to kill him."
"Show him to me."
Pyra forced his knee into Lynx's chest to give him more control over him and watched as Bannack came closer and held the compact at an angle as if reflecting Lynx in the mirror.
"What are you doing?" Pyra asked.
"If anyone would be able to figure out what's going on with him, it's going to be Loralia."
"How was he injured?" Loralia asked through the compact.
Her voice sounded slightly strained, as if she knew something but didn't want to actually say it until she knew for sure that she was right.
"We encountered another species…"
"The Covra," Loralia said before Bannack could even continue his sentence.
"Yes," Bannack said, "You've heard of them?"
"Yes. A long time ago. I didn't know that they still existed. You need to get Lynx to Ciyrs as fast as you possibly can."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He's been infected by the Covra. They are fairly weak creatures. They have their talons, but their greatest form of defense is infecting those they are fighting. If they can get their venom into another creature, that creature forgets what it is and tries to kill anything near it. The effect lasts until the venom is removed, or the infected creature is destroyed."
"I don't understand. If they can turn whatever they get near into killing machines, how are they weak? Why aren't they able to just destroy whatever comes their way?"
"They used to, and then other species realized that it takes many, many years for them to reproduce, and that they have a very specific vulnerability. They were once feared more than anything on this planet, but several generations ago they came in contact with an enemy that took that power from them. They found that vulnerability and were able to stave them off."
"The Light Ones," Bannack said.
"I don't know," Loralia admitted, "I only know what my grandfather told me. He said that their numbers were greatly diminished and that they had to wait for the next generation to be born before they would be able to fight again. They haven't been heard from since."
"You don't know what their vulnerability is?"
"No, but you need to get Lynx help now. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for Ciyrs to remove the venom. If you wait too long, Lynx will kill until he is killed."
"Thank you," Bannack said, "I love you."
Pyra watched him snap the compact closed and look down at him. His arm muscles were starting to burn from forcing Lynx to stay in place on the floor and he was pushing down into his chest with his knee so hard that he worried he was going to break his ribs.
"How are we going to get him to Ciyrs?" Pyra asked, "If I let up even a little, he's going to get off this floor and that dagger is far too close to him for my comfort if Loralia is right about him being infected."
"You're going to have to hold him while I go find Ciyrs. Where did you last see him?"
"He went into a building down the street. I don't know where he is now."
Bannack looped the braid of Loralia's hair that held the compact back over his neck and ran out of the room. Pyra listened to his footsteps pounding down the stairs and fade as they left the house. He could only hope that he was able to find the healer in time to save Lynx. He didn't want them to lose one of their men on the first day of a trip that he was supposed to be leading.
The blood was rushing through his veins so hard that Bannack could hear it in his ears as he ran out of the house and back out onto the dusty street. He could hear the voices of the other men coming from the buildings and down the street, and he struggled to decipher Ciyrs's among them. He had heard the guilt and worry in Pyra's voice, but he felt like he was the one that should feel guilty. It was him that had first pointed out that the Denynso knew almost nothing about the planet that their kind had always called home, and that by never leaving their compound they had made it so that none of them knew what types of creatures might exist beyond it. It had been him that had first suggested that they should go out and explore. Pyra might feel like as the leader of the Denynso warriors, it was his fault if anything went wrong, but Bannack knew that if he didn't find Ciyrs in time, he was responsible for whatever horrors followed with Lynx.
Bannack saw Ty coming down the street toward him and Bannack ran for him, reaching out and grabbing the other man's shoulders as soon as he was close enough.
"Have you seen Ciyrs?" he demanded.
"What?" Ty asked, "What's wrong?"
"Have you seen Ciyrs?" Bannack asked again, staring intensely into the baker's eyes. "Lynx is injured and needs him now."
Worry rolled over Ty's eyes and he shook his head.
"I haven't seen him."
Bannack let go of him and continued down the street. Around him he saw the other warriors streaming out of the buildings and coming onto the street from other areas of the settlement. Many of them had the vibrant green blood of the Covra streaked across their skin or soaked into their clothing. They all had confused, horrified expressions on their faces that told him that they were just as stunned by what had just happened as he was.
"What the hell were those things?" someone asked from one side.
"Did you see their legs grow back?" another voice asked.
"Where did they go?"
Bannack continued to run down the street, his heart pounding so hard that he could feel it in his throat and he felt like he was going to get sick. This isn't what he had in mind when he suggested that they go out onto Uoria and discover what was waiting outside their compound walls. When he first mentioned it, it was motivated by his painful emotional response to Jem's death and the fear that came from the fact that he died in a place that none of them even knew existed. When he went to Pyra and told him that he wanted to go with them, it wasn't truly out of a deep need to understand what was on the rest of the planet, but out of fear of his feelings for Loralia and his desire to escape from her. Through his haste and selfishness he had put the warriors in more danger than they had ever been in.
With their other enemies, they had known what they were facing. They knew what the creatures were and how they could defeat them. Right up until they were in the mirror realm coming up against the Klimnu for the final time, they were always on their home ground, comfortable and secure in knowing where they were and the resources that they could use to fight. Now they were somewhere they had never been, surrounded by unfamiliar landscape and facing enemies that they didn't know and didn't understand. The Covra were gone for then, but they could show back up at any moment, and without even knowing what their vulnerabilities were, the Denynso had little chance of defeating them.