Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty (40 page)

Kazim did something to his camera and rose to his feet. “Do you think the others are far enough away?”

“I hope so. I will look ahead when the time comes and steer us away from anyone I find.”

“You are strong in the Harmonies, Shima. I noticed before but didn’t want to ask.”

Shima knew what he wanted. “No, they did not invite me. My uncle is Tei, but my eyes...” Shima gestured ‘what can you do’ with her tail. “The clan-that-is-not has certain expectations and standards I do not meet.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s an old hurt, but seriously, I’m not sure what I would say now if they did invite me.” Kazim regarded her sceptically. “I mean it. I love my work; I would not want to give it up.”

“You wouldn’t have to. As Tei your choice of profession is yours to make and no other can gainsay you, not even the elders have that right.”

“Oh I don’t mean that, of course I would follow my heart and stay in my caste. No, it’s the expectation that as Tei I must lead the others. I would have no time for my own research projects.”

“Hmmm,” Kazim said sounding unconvinced.

Shima wasn’t surprised. Tei were honoured and held up before all as the epitome of ambition. But she had secretly held the view for quite some time now that it must be a very tiring way to live. People’s expectations could be draining. It would take a very strong person to live that way, which was yet another reason to admire them and venerate them. The word Tei meant ‘one who leads’ but the true meaning was farther reaching than that. Being Tei meant leading others by example, motivating others by one’s own actions to strive, to be better than they think they can be. The clan-that-is-not held a special place in Shan society, one that even the council of elders did not equal.

“It’s time we were gone,” Shima said leading the way out the back and into the night.

Shima didn’t hurry into the park. Stealth was preferable to speed now. She used all her skill to move silently amongst the trees, and tried not to sigh audibly when Kazim made a noise. He wasn’t loud but compared to her silence he seemed it. Her skill was her father’s, taught to her from almost the moment she could balance on two legs. Kazim could not be blamed for being lesser in this. He was competent, no worse than average, and all Shan were hunters by instinct. It was just that her instincts and skills had been honed to a fine edge.

She said nothing.

“Sorry,” Kazim hissed under his breath, sensing her tension. “It’s been a while for me.”

“Nothing to be sorry over,” Shima whispered back. “I hunted often with my father.”

“You are very good at this, all of it I mean, not just the silent stalk.”

Shima did not answer. She supposed she was good at it in a way. She did not doubt her ability as a hunter, for her father would be remembered by his clan as one of their greats despite his demurrals, and she took for granted her harmony given gifts would not let her down. They never had before so why would they now? No, Kazim was right, but being good at it did not mean she liked the necessity right now.

They travelled through the park and beyond into the last district of the city. Fires illuminated the streets, and revealed only the dead. The Merkiaari warriors had swept into the city via this district using the road from the port to speed their way. They had destroyed many of the buildings, though not all, and their targeting puzzled Shima. The buildings had no strategic value that she could see, they were just simple homes.

Kazim was grim as he used his camera to record everything they saw. He almost seemed to will Shima to comment on the massacre of their people. She walked amongst their dead and said nothing. What was there to say? Should she say it was horrible? It was, but saying it did not change anything. Should she point to this or that person, this or that dead youngling... and say what? Vow vengeance maybe. Perhaps Kazim was silently vowing it now, calling upon his ancestors to witness the oath. Swearing by his clan name even. Shima said nothing and vowed nothing, but she knew deep in her heart there would come a reckoning. Once Chailen was safe, surely it would not offend her father’s kah to come back and claim a little justice for his death. He would not approve of anything that put her in danger of course, but surely he would understand her need to fight. Any Shan would.

“We need to move, Kazim.”

Kazim nodded. “There is nothing we can do for them and there are too many to send to their ancestors properly.”

“They will find their way to them, the Harmonies know their own.”

Kazim followed as Shima chose a path. “You truly believe that?”

“Yes. The ceremony is for those left behind, not the one journeying on. My father is with my mother and our ancestors now. I know it.”

And she believed it to the core of her being. Tahar’s body would never be ritually cleansed or placed in the clan’s grove for three cycles to free his kah. He would not receive the honours due him, nor would his ashes be mixed with the ashes of their ancestors. None of that mattered. Shima had seen death; she knew Tahar’s kah would not really have been released by the rituals. Her gift had shown her they moved on very quickly after the mind glow dimmed, not lingering for even a single cycle let alone the three cycles bodies were customarily laid in the grove. Tahar was with her ancestors now, watching over Chailen and her. She knew it beyond question.

Shima and Kazim studied the empty road from concealment of the trees, but there really was no option but to venture out and cross over into the country on the far side. It was a bit of a stretch to call the land there wilderness—the word seemed to conjure an image of a barren land, which this was not, but it was wild in the sense it had never been settled or cultivated. There were no cities or even large towns between Zuleika and the mountains, so it was in its natural native state; heavily forested with open plains far to the south. A good thing, because the native wildlife was extremely tasty to hungry Shan, and there should be plenty on the hoof for a hunter to track. The road led to the spaceport where she was sure the Murderers would be doing alien things that made sense to them, but no sense to anyone sane. She wanted nothing more than to be far from there and under a trillion cubic tonnes of rock in Kachina Twelve, but that would take a few cycles more and some careful work on her part. Kazim was a good sort, but obviously needed care. Shima would provide, who else was there?

The Harmonies revealed Kazim’s anxiety. He had been like that since discovering the massacred people. She thought until then Kazim had been treating the new war as some kind of adventure, exciting and possibly a way to advance in his clan, but now the reality had him by the tail. He had realised that labelling events as the end times didn’t make them a neat and tidy thing. There was blood, and there was pain, and there was death. A great deal of death.

There was no choice, Shima decided. The Harmonies assured her no one was close, but that didn’t mean they were safe. Her gift could reveal living things, but it could not show her devices or tell her if the area was being observed from a distance. With the Merkiaari in control of the orbitals, if any of them had been spared, they could have surveillance of anywhere on the surface they wished. Even if they had destroyed everything in orbit, a situation Shima deemed likely, the Murderers still had their ships watching. Still, how likely was it for two people to be detected from orbit way out here?

Shima would have been very surprised to learn it was in fact highly likely, because the Merkiaari were already tracking various groups leaving the cities and had set a continuous over watch of both inhabited planets. It was standard doctrine to track vermin migrations to aid in extermination missions.

Shima did not know anything about Merkiaari standard doctrine or procedures. She simply had the Harmonies and her instincts. She felt uneasy, but had felt that for most of the cycle and so dismissed the unsettling feeling as her imagination. Besides, even if the Murderers appeared before her on the road in plain sight, it didn’t change her need to head toward the mountains. She was sure to feel better once deep into the trees and hidden under their concealing canopy.

“I’ll go first,” Shima said. “Don’t follow me right away. Wait and watch half a seg before leaving cover. I will wait for you.”

“Half a seg! Really? Don’t you think that’s over the top?”

Shima hesitated and then reluctantly agreed. Her paranoia was getting the better of her. They really did need to vacate the area. “Let’s say... a tenth seg then?”

“A tenth it is,” Kazim said.

“If something happens, run Kazim. I will find you.”

Kazim’s ears went back briefly at the thought of running away, but then he agreed with the necessity. He was armed with a knife and nothing he could do would help Shima if she was seen.

Shima crept into the open on four feet, keeping her tail tucked and her belly low to the ground. It reminded her of past hunts with her father, and she could almost see him in her mind’s eye, his translucent kah just ahead leading the way. Right fore-foot left hind-foot and pause. Left fore-foot right hind-foot, and pause to listen. She kept her head held low between shoulders, ears swivelling listening for any sound, muscles taught with tension ready to launch her into a sprint in any direction. She lowered her face to the road and breathed in, rolling scent markers over her tongue and the glands at the back of her throat. A growl rumbled deep in her chest, but the stink of Merkiaari was old. She raised her head as tension eased a little, and with more confidence, she trotted across the road and into the trees. She allowed herself a sigh of relief, and lowered herself to the ground in some brush to watch Kazim’s crossing.

As planned, he waited a tenth and then crept out into the open. She watched with her eyes and the Harmonies, but as far as she could tell, Kazim was safe. He did all the right things, and it wasn’t long before they were moving together under the safety of the trees. Shima only looked back once to see the red glow in the sky as Zuleika burned.

They stayed on four feet that night, ready to flee at top speed on the instant; besides that, it was easier to negotiate the wilds that way. Shan had evolved to walk upright yes, but they were still at their physical best on all fours. It allowed them faster responses, allowed them to use sensitive noses and glands in the throat to snuff the ground seeking scent trails. Even their tails became what they were meant to be rather than just another appendage for gesturing. A Shan’s tail was quite muscular but hadn’t evolved to hold things, though it could do that in a clumsy way. It was for balance. When a Shan ran at high speed and needed to change course abruptly, something hungry Shan in the past often needed to do while chasing canny prey, the tail became a way to help balance and steer.

They didn’t stop that night, neither did they hunt. They had both eaten heartily back in the city and could go without food for cycles at a push. Shima would prefer not to fast for that long, she had used her reserve escaping the Merkiaari, but she could if she needed to. Without discussion, they kept moving until dawn approached. When Shima sensed it was nearly sun up, she began actively seeking water and a place to stop. It took no effort to find a stream, barely a trickle of water above the surface but good enough for their needs and after drinking their fill they burrowed into dense underbrush to rest.

Kazim took first watch, and Shima gratefully allowed her thoughts to slow enough that she could attempt sleep.

“Shima?” Kazim whispered. “Please Shima, wake up. Something is coming.”

Shima didn’t grown, though she wanted badly to do just that. The way she felt—weary to the bone and aching in muscle groups she had over used—she couldn’t have slept for very long. When she opened her eyes though, she could tell by the level of light and shadow that it was mid afternoon. Kazim was supposed to have woken her to trade watches much sooner than this. She felt anger stir but then fade, defeated by tiredness. What was the point in anger now the damage was done? No point at all, and besides, Kazim probably thought turn about was fair considering she had let him sleep in Zuleika yesterday

Stifling her groans she stretched each leg and opened her eyes. “Mmmmmffffph, whatsit?” she mumbled around a tongue that felt thick in her mouth. By the Harmonies she wanted a drink.

“Hush!” Kazim hissed under his breath. “Something’s out there... I
feel
it.”

Shima stiffened and her eyes opened wide in alarm as she remembered the situation. Tahar, Merkiaari, Chailen...

She rolled over to find what had Kazim so worried. He wasn’t strong in the Harmonies; if he had been he would have noticed the newcomer long before this. Shima sampled the mind glow and relaxed a little. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t a danger to them.

“It’s one of us, not Merkiaari,” Shima said. The mind glow felt light as a breath of wind and the colours pure pastels of orange and yellows, unsullied with the jewel colours of adult experiences. “Young I think... male? Yes male, and barely old enough to be out alone.”

Kazim nodded, taking her word as absolute fact. He was recording with his thrice cursed camera again, Shima noted and sighed. He was useless. The beamer she gave him to use while on watch lay beside him on the damp ground absorbing moisture. She retrieved and holstered the weapon sparing a brief glare for Kazim as she did so. She might as well not have bothered. Her disdain just bounced off. He would never understand why seeing the weapon not in his hand and aimed made her angry. He had no fear, none, but it was the bravery of absolute faith in another’s abilities, not in the belief of actual safety. He was too trusting, and that endangered her as much as him. It was patently obvious she could not trust him on watch alone from now on.