Chapter 10
“YOU’RE SURE THIS thing’s going to work?”
“I’m sure. As long as I’m close enough.” Brander gave the Raider a sideways look. “I’m more worried about the diversion. If we get Eirlys’s pet ringtail hurt or worse, she’ll send us both to hades.”
“You have no faith in her training?”
Brander snorted. “She could train a blazer to toast bread. As soon as he hears the signal, that rascal will start such a racket even Sorkost would get off his ass to investigate. I’m more worried about him getting clear.”
“The sense of self-preservation is strong in most creatures.”
Except you. “I hope it’s strong and deep in this one, then. I don’t want to have to explain how we let him get trampled by a cluster of Coalition guards.”
“More likely he’ll bite one or two of them before departing. He is peevish with anyone except Eirlys.”
I know the feeling.
A sudden memory of the child who had tagged after him in those halcyon days before the Coalition had arrived on Ziem, always trying to badger him into helping her with one creature or another, flashed through his mind. He let it stay a moment, to remind himself how young she was.
“Let’s just hope he gets back to her unscathed,” he muttered, although he knew the creature followed Eirlys everywhere on her expansive ramblings—she sought out her animals, and they flocked to her, even the wild ones—and likely he could find his way home from anywhere.
“I’m afraid that,” the Raider said, “is up to his reflexes and your accuracy with that device.”
Brander grimaced. He was about to make some retort when he realized where they were. As he thought it, the Raider raised his arm and gave the signal for operational silence. Not that they had been making much noise anyway, but as of now, as they passed the marker the Raider had chosen—the rubble of what had once been a prosperous inn at the edge of the flats—there would be no word spoken.
Words were not necessary. As always, they had rehearsed this countless times. Each of the ten Sentinels specifically chosen by the Raider for this foray knew his part. Or hers, he amended, thinking of Mara, who had surprisingly turned out to be the most qualified of them all for this particular undertaking. She had handled an air rover extensively on a trip to Clarion the year before the Coalition had set its sights on Ziem.
They crept silently down the last slope in the utter darkness. Their black clothing and dull-finish armor made them practically invisible. Except for the Raider’s silver helm, which seemed to gather and reflect what light there was. It was, Brander knew, intentional; the man wanted it to stand out, be noticed. It was not out of ego, but an understanding of the power of the legend he’d built.
And the fact that it would draw Coalition attention to him, and away from his fighters. Brander didn’t like it, thought it too risky, but that was old ground, an old argument.
Each of them knew their path intimately; they could all see the glowmist caused by those moving ahead of them. There was no stumbling or hesitation. Brander doubted they were even thinking of what it would mean if they succeeded this night; they were thinking only of what was to be done next.
When everyone was in position, Brander looked at the man who led them. He saw the movement of the silver helmet as the Raider nodded, the silent motion an order. Brander grabbed the large bag he’d been carrying on his back. If he hadn’t been trekking up and down The Sentinel carrying weapons countless times in the last three years, he wouldn’t have been able to do it; this ringtail came up to his knee and was heavier than he looked. All that thick fur, maybe.
Brander felt the creature inside the bag stir at the movement. In the dark folds of heavy cloth the ringtail had been calm, quiet; it was their nature to go docile and still when confined in darkness. And this particular beast was familiar with him, and thus allowed his touch with only mild protest. But once let out of the bag he would be angry, and fiercely determined not to go back into it. And an angry ringtail made a sound like no other.
He crept down the slope, taking care not to disturb any rock or branch that might betray his passage. He made his way to the shelter of a large boulder surrounded by thick brush, where he could hide yet see the hulking shape of the transport annex building. He watched just long enough to see that the four guards were keeping to the schedule Pryl had observed and tracked. There were advantages to having such a regimented and closely controlled enemy.
He waited until the two sets of two guards were close to crossing paths at each front corner of the building. Then he unfastened the bag.
The ringtail poked its head out. It looked up at Brander warily. He shook the bag. The creature hissed at him, baring not unimpressive fangs. It scrambled free, fluffing up the long, striped tail that gave rise to its name. Brander held on to it, glad for his heavy gloves in case the animal decided to bury those fangs in him. It hissed again.
Here we go. Brander gave a low, distinctive, up-and-down whistle.
The ringtail let out a piercing screech. It set Brander’s teeth on edge even though he’d heard it countless times. And with the way it echoed off the walls of the building, it probably sounded even stranger out there. The guards froze, then whirled, peering into the darkness. He doubted any of them had ever encountered one of the shy animals before. Since the whole plan hinged on that, he had to hope he was right. Especially since he’d been the one to convince the Raider it would work.
He hunkered back in the shelter of the boulder, using the hand that wasn’t holding the ringtail to free his latest invention from the sling over his shoulder. He gave the low whistle again, and again the ringtail screeched, even louder this time. And longer; the sound seemed to rebound again and again, until it sounded like there had to be a pack of them surrounding the building.
He watched as the guards gathered near the front door. He could not hear them from this distance, but their body language told him there was an intense discussion going on. Guessing they were arguing over who and how many of them would go investigate, he gave another low whistle, this time three times in succession.
The ringtail howled this time, rising, falling, ending in that grating screech that sounded disturbingly unnatural. Even here, holding the creature in the shelter of the rock, it seemed eerie and uncanny. Eirlys’s pet was enjoying himself now, and the howls came again, and again, until the four men were staring into the brush in attitudes of utter trepidation.
Brander saw one of them lift something to his eyes, guessed it was a night spotter. He crouched down behind the boulder, taking care that no part of his—or the ringtail’s—body was perceptible to the night lenses. When he was set, he took out the small, highly polished reflector he carried and angled it to watch. The mist wasn’t heavy tonight, but there was enough glowmist to show him their positions.
And then three of the four began to move. Spread out but in a single line, they started toward his position. The ringtail began to get nervous, but Brander held on to him; if he let go and one of the guards spotted him, the animal’s chances of escape—and of getting back to Eirlys—were almost nil, and Brander did not want that on his already overloaded conscience. He’d already lied to her, saying he wanted the animal for a joke. He could just imagine the way Eirlys would look at him if the ringtail were injured, and the image haunted him even though it hadn’t happened. Yet.
He stroked the animal’s fur as he’d seen her do, and it settled a little. But the men were still coming. He glanced to the south but could see nothing. He had to trust that the Raider was there. He would take out the remaining guard—probably the leader, knowing the Coalition officer propensity for ordering others into danger—leaving him only these to deal with.
He whistled once more, even lower now that the targets were almost within range. The ringtail let out his howl again, making Brander’s ears ring with it. He watched the men approach, beginning the count in his head.
Closer, closer, closer . . . one more howl . . . that’s it, boy . . . almost there . . .
He released the ringtail.
“Home,” he whispered, nudging it in the opposite direction from the men who were two steps from where he needed them. He caught only a glimpse of the striped tail as the animal darted into the underbrush and headed for home and Eirlys. For a split second, he envied the creature that, but then it was time. He turned back, lifted the weapon at his side, waited one more breathless moment. The three men were a bare ten feet from the underbrush now. And, as he’d hoped, the nearer they’d come to where that eerie howl had come from, the closer they’d drawn together, instinctively seeking the protection of numbers.
They made the last step. Into his mental strike zone. He fired.
There was a loud pop that made the three men freeze. The projectile from the gun arced upward. The casing that held it compressed fell away, and there was a whoosh of air as the insert unfurled. The three men looked up. In the same instant, Brander heard the Raider fire, and with his peripheral vision saw the fourth guard go down. But he kept his gaze on his three, and before they could react, they were swamped in heavy coils of rope and net, tangled, helpless, unable to even raise the weapons they already had in hand.
“Now!” came the shouted order from the Raider, and the Sentinels stormed out of the shadows.
Brander, being closer, beat them all to the doors of the transportation annex building, and cut away the lock with shears made of their own planium. Then the others were there, moving with speed and precision as the Raider had planned. The best of them had taken seven minutes to get out from under the web of rope and mesh made sticky with crawler vine sap. They had the new rovers uncovered and fired up in three, giving Pryl the time he would need to cover their tracks and get to safety.
Mara moved the first rover smoothly out through the wide doors. Galeth drove the second, not quite as steadily, but without hitting anything. Then Maxon dinged one door slightly, not inflicting any serious damage, but making Pryl, who was already working to erase any trace, dodge back for a moment. And then Brander followed with the one he’d fired up. Once the first four were clear, the Raider roared out in the last, ordering them with a sweeping wave of his arm to head up the mountain. Then he lingered, dangerously too long, Brander thought when he turned back to look from the shelter of the trees. But the Raider had a message to leave, and he would also not leave Pryl alone on foot, not this close to the command post.
The seconds ticked down, and Brander caught himself holding his breath. Then, as he watched, Pryl ran for the Raider’s rover. As soon as he was aboard, the Raider spun the nimble craft on its axis and purposefully angled it slightly as he hit the throttle. The blast of its passage wiped even Pryl’s footprints from the loose dirt. And then they were clear. Without a single precious shot fired except the Raider’s to take out the last guard, they were clear.
With five brand-new, fully armed and charged Coalition air rovers.