Alien Chronicles 2 - The Crimson Claw (15 page)

She scrambled to her feet, offering him a hand up, while she thought about Halehl’s cruelty in making Teinth show her the move that had probably nearly cost him his life. But at the same time, she knew there could be no fear in the arena, no hesitation.

Teinth met her sympathetic gaze with eyes clear and reflective. He didn’t want her pity, and she knew better than to offer it.

“Better,” he said and cast a defiant look in Halehl’s direction.

They tried the move a few more times, with Ampris improving steadily, then they tried both moves with weapons.

“Before leap, don’t tuck arms so far ahead,” he told her. “Too much warning to opponent. Last minute.”

She had to practice it again and again and again before he was satisfied. Not until her fur was soaked beneath the sensor suit and her lungs burned for air did Halehl finally call a halt.

Sanvath and Omtat were put through drills after that. Ampris rested on a bench and watched, learning and refining her skills. Then Teinth and Nink were harnessed together at the waist before working out against machines rolled into the arena.

Ampris enjoyed watching them. They worked well together as team fighters, their footwork always in unison, their bladework complementing each other.

Then Sanvath and Omtat were harnessed together and faced the machines. And finally it was Ylea and Ampris’s turn. Ylea’s huge size made her an awkward teammate, especially when she and Ampris were yoked together. She tended to sling them around without warning, pulling Ampris off her feet. If Ampris lost her balance, Ylea would turn on her with a snarl of blame, forcing the subtrainers to intervene.

“Ylea, you’re on the same side,” Halehl said, his voice less patient than usual. “It’s not Ampris you’re trying to kill. Remember that.”

Ylea flicked her ears back hard enough to set her fancy cartouche jingling. “As the master says,” she replied reluctantly.

The practice went on, with Ampris jerked and yanked about mercilessly. She stumbled, missed sword strokes that she shouldn’t have, and felt like a fool. This was the one way that Ylea could make her look stupid, and by the time they halted for midday break, Ampris was boiling.

In the messroom, located to one side of the indoor arena, Ampris grabbed her filled tray from the Kelth worker who served her and marched over to smack it down on the table beside Teinth’s. She sat heavily next to him and bit into her meatroll with a snap of her teeth.

As team leader, Ylea took her reserved place at the head of the table. She wore only two necklaces today and a number of bracelets that bulged beneath the tight webbing of her sensor suit. Her claws were painted green instead of carmine.

“Two days from now we ship out,” she announced, her beady eyes glowering at each of them. “It’s a fast jump gate to round one this year.”

Teinth was eating steadily, ignoring her, but Sanvath looked up from his food. “Rentaur?” he asked.

Ylea flicked her ears. She was still rearranging her food on her tray. It was a ritual with her. Fruit had to be on the top left corner. Meat had to be in the right bottom corner. Grains had to be in the middle. The cup had to be in the top right corner, turned so that her name, which was inscribed on it, faced her. Vitamin and mineral supplement pellets had to be off her tray and rowed up on the table along the top center of her tray. She wouldn’t eat a bite until everything was in its place.

Ampris tried not to watch her. She knew Ylea was crazy. So did everyone else.

“Ylea?” Sanvath asked around another mouthful of food. “I asked if we’re starting at Rentaur.”

Ylea finished her arrangement and took a dainty bite of her meatroll. She would finish it and then begin on the next item, moving in a clockwise direction. Her eyes flashed at Sanvath. “Yes, Rentaur.”

Sanvath tipped back his head with a mock roar and chuckled. Omtat leaned forward. “Sure?” he asked.

Ampris knew then that they had a bet laid on the answer.

Ylea finished her fruit and started on her grain. “I be sure,” she said, almost growling. “Got it from the master, when he give me strategy. We’ll go through that tonight, plus we got training vids on our opponents.”

“But—”

Ylea’s eyes shifted to Ampris. “You speaking to me?”

They all stopped eating and stared at Ampris. Disconcerted, she wished she’d kept quiet. But now she had to answer. “I thought our opponents would be chosen by lot, from the entrants.”

The males laughed, and Ylea snarled in scorn before resuming her meal.

It was Teinth, finishing the last morsel on his tray ahead of everyone else, who explained. “Chosen, sure. By bribe, not lot.”

“Oh.” Ampris looked down at her food, while Omtat snickered. She didn’t know why her ignorance gave them so much amusement. After all, she couldn’t learn everything just by watching. Sometimes she had to ask questions.

But Omtat forgot her a moment later as Sanvath pounded him on the shoulder. “Owe me,” he said, holding out his hand.

They started a low-pitched argument, and Ampris glanced up to find Teinth staring at her.

She bottled up what she wanted to say until Ylea finished with her tray and left. Sanvath and Omtat followed her out, still arguing over the bet. That left Nink scratching his jaw and Teinth still staring.

“How am I going to fight with her in the paired events?” Ampris demanded. “You two are so good together. You make pair fighting an art. But we’re terrible. Any suggestions?”

Teinth smiled, slow and lazy, and gazed deep into her eyes.

Finally Nink answered, “She won’t work with you.”

Ampris wanted to choke both of them. Thoroughly exasperated, she rose to her feet. “We’re supposed to be a team. Don’t you think we’d be better if we all tried to get along, tried to be a success?”

“Blues already a success,” Nink said without concern. He studied his claw tip, then scratched his shoulder.

“Ylea and I aren’t going to be,” Ampris said. “If we don’t improve, we’ll be killed in the opening round.”

Nink grinned.
“You
will. Ylea will let you take the blow. She’s practicing already.”

Ampris’s mouth fell open. It made sense, the way Ylea kept her off balance, the way Ylea jerked her suddenly off her feet and whirled her around. “You’re right,” she said slowly, while fresh anger began to burn inside her. “So she is practicing to swing me around into a blow. That—”

She broke off with a growl and started to rush out.

“Hold,” Teinth said hoarsely, grabbing her arm.

Ampris tried to twist free of his grip. She was going to take Ylea down here and now. “Let go,” she said and kicked him.

He grunted, but didn’t release her. “Listen close,” he said, giving her a shake. “Take her on now, and the master will have you whipped. Got to outsmart her. Got to
think.
Ain’t no getting out of it.”

“But we can’t work together if she won’t cooperate,” Ampris cried in frustration.

Teinth looked at her. “You work with her. She won’t work with you.”

Letting go of her, he jerked his head at Nink. The two of them went out together, leaving Ampris standing by the table. A moment later Ruar came stumping inside, bowlegged and sour-faced as usual. He coiled his tail at the sight of her. “Come now!” he ordered. “Lazy one. Hurry!”

Ampris rushed back to the arena to join her teammates. Halehl had them sit around and rest until their meal was digested. He talked to them about the upcoming competition, explained who their opponents were, and showed them the illegally obtained vids of their foes in action. While he droned on about strategy, Ampris was thinking over a plan of her own.

Nink and Teinth were right; she was sure of it. That meant she had to find a way to keep Ylea from getting her killed. That Ylea was more clever than she appeared. She could fling Ampris onto an opponent’s blade, then attack in retaliation. At the end, Ampris would be dead and Ylea would look braver than ever. Extending her claws, Ampris stared at the back of Ylea’s head and snarled silently to herself.

When they resumed practice, Ampris let herself be harnessed to Ylea without hesitation. As soon as the subtrainer walked away out of earshot, Ampris met Ylea’s hostile eyes.

“I know what you’re doing,” she said clearly. “It won’t work.”

Ylea snarled, not even bothering to pretend she didn’t know what Ampris was talking about. “Works fine,” she said.

“Ampris! Ylea!” Halehl called to them as the machines were positioned in place. “Maneuvers five and six. Start with five until I give you the voice signal through your collars, then shift to six. I want the shift to be as smooth as possible.”

Chained together at the hip, they walked over to their starting place and got ready. Their practice was as jerky and as awkward as before. But this time, whenever Ylea jerked Ampris around, Ampris leaped with the motion, using the momentum of Ylea’s strength to hurl herself around. Her glaudoon whacked into the shield of the machine with a crash that shattered the blade.

Smoke curled up from the machine, and a grinding whir could be heard from inside it. From over to one side, the males cheered.

“Enough,” Halehl said, halting the practice.

The subtrainers shook their heads over the broken machine, and even Halehl came down from the stands to examine it. Ampris stood quietly next to Ylea, expecting to be reprimanded for breaking it. She still clutched her shattered glaudoon in her hand, which was tingling from the shock of impact. Well, she had tried her best. Now she would probably be whipped for it.

Halehl ordered the machine taken out, then he came over to Ampris and Ylea. His rill stood at full extension behind his head, but it had not turned red. “Well done, Ampris,” he said. “I am pleased to see such enthusiasm. If you attack with that much force in your opening round, you will intimidate everyone exactly the way I like.” His tongue flickered out. “Ylea, you were wise to think up this new move. When you refine it, we will let you give it a name. Together, the two of you are becoming a formidable pair. Let’s see more work like this. Start again.”

As he walked away, calling for Sanvath and Omtat to be harnessed quickly to oppose the female team, Ampris and Ylea looked at each other.

“Can we make a truce now?” Ampris asked, looking up at the taller female. “It’s clearly to our advantage to work together. I’d like to be part of the most formidable fighting pair. Wouldn’t you?”

Ylea snarled at her. “Don’t push me,
ruvt
.”

But as the practice went on, she no longer crossed Ampris’s footwork, and instead of trying to impale her on an opponent’s blade, she positioned Ampris and herself where they could fight the most effectively.

By the end of the day, Ampris sank exhausted into her bath with every muscle aching and the feeling of having done well. At last she was beginning to fit in. At last she had found neutral ground with Ylea.

“I’m making progress,” she boasted to Elrabin as she seated herself in her evening robe at her tiny table.

He filled her platter with steaming, aromatic ragout, making her mouth water in anticipation. His tall ears swiveled with alert twitches while she told him of the day’s events.

“We will never be friends, but I think she’s beginning to respect me now. Halehl was very diplomatic with her, and that helped also.”

Ampris finished, only then growing aware of how silent Elrabin was. Swallowing a bite of hot food, she glanced up at him and saw his expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“You.”

Ampris backed her ears and reached for her cup of cold water. “Speak up, then. I’m too tired for mysteries tonight.”

“You’re too quick to trust her, see? She ain’t making friends with you.”

“Well, she stopped trying to get me killed.”

Elrabin yipped in exasperation. “For now, maybe. She’ll have to think up new tactics, that’s all. Don’t trust her. You ain’t made progress. All you’ve done is get her to back off some.”

“That’s progress,” Ampris said stubbornly, reaching for her fruit and wishing she could have some civa cakes. But sweets were a violation of training. Elrabin had already let her know he wouldn’t steal any from the Viis larder for her. The mandatory medical scan prior to competition would betray her if she’d eaten refined sweets, and Elrabin wouldn’t go to the whipping post just because she couldn’t control a craving for dessert. “If Ylea leaves me alone, then I’ve accomplished a lot,” Ampris said.

“She’ll try something in the arena,” Elrabin insisted. “You watch her close.”

Ampris sighed and tilted her head to look up at him. “You really are a pessimist.”

“Yeah, and I expect the worst too,” he said. “You watch yourself.”

“I will,” Ampris said, swallowing the last of her fruit. “Any luck on my vid?”

Elrabin shot her a stern look and shook his head. “Not yet. Maybe after season is over. I got a lot to do now, packing your gear.”

Ampris didn’t believe him. “That’s quite an excuse. What is there to pack? My glaudoon? The armory takes care of that. My harness? Oh, that will take a very long time to fit inside a duffel.”

“Don’t get so smart,” he shot back and beckoned. “You come here.”

She followed him into her bedchamber and watched while he pulled a shallow storage chest from beneath the bed. Opening it with a flourish, he pulled out a vibrant blue cape made of a lightweight synthetic fabric that billowed and flowed with the fluidity of silk. He held it up before her a moment, while her eyes widened and she reached out a hand to stroke the shimmering folds. Then he spread it across the bed.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, touching it again. “Much brighter than what I’ve seen on the vidcasts.”

“There’s more,” Elrabin said. He bent over the chest and pulled out a fighting harness fashioned of supple leather, very lightweight but incredibly strong. The oiled leather was adorned with tracings of worked gold, like stylized tongues of flames.

Ampris ran her fingers across it. “Real gold,” she said in amazement.

“Of course. You’re one of the Blues,” Elrabin said proudly. He pulled out a wide blue collar of stiffer leather.

Ampris grimaced at it, refusing to admire it.

“Required for all entrants,” Elrabin said, then he turned it over and showed her the delicate wiring beneath the leather lining. “The communications wire is hidden inside the restraint circuitry. Pretty slick, see? Ain’t been detected yet.”