The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (24 page)

"Soft beds,
hot baths, servants and princes?"

She ignored
his teasing. "Just the comforts I'm accustomed to."

"Naturally."

"So we will
leave tomorrow."

He performed a
mocking bow without bothering to stand up. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Tassin scowled
at him. "I thought you wanted to go?"

"I do."

Tassin looked
mystified by his mockery of her high-handed manner, and Sabre
returned to his polishing, shaking his head in amazement at her
lack of understanding. She ordered people around without even
realising it; it came so naturally to her. It still amused him, and
he hoped his teasing would eventually mellow her into a more normal
person. He glanced at the scanner information, as he did from time
to time, noting the continued presence of the two human life signs
in the forest, which had hardly moved since he had first noticed
them.

The following
morning, Tassin went to the mansion to bid farewell to the Andaron
Queen, and returned with an assortment of gifts. Two women carried
bags of dried food, water skins, and two leather tents that the
grateful mothers of the kidnapped girls had made for her. Sabre's
worn belongings, which had survived the Orokan raid, were amongst
the baggage. He had demolished his crude structure, and eyed the
bags with a jaundiced eye, knowing he would have to carry it all.
Shizana accompanied Tassin, and approached him, holding out an
intricately carved, ivory handled knife.

"A gift from
Mishra. You lost yours."

He took it
with a nod. "Thank her for me."

Sabre studied
the weapon while the women dumped their burdens and left. Shizana
ignored the fact that he had addressed her directly and drew Tassin
aside.

"Mishra spent
weeks working on that," Shizana confided to the Queen in a murmur
Sabre was clearly not supposed to hear. "She can't thank him, but
this is her way. Ever since her ordeal, she's been consumed with
bitterness and hatred, frustration and shame. She was plagued by
terrible nightmares, and many feared she would lose her reason. Now
that the men who did it are dead, she's at peace once more. For
this, we're all grateful."

Tassin smiled.
"I'm glad, and Sabre will be pleased too."

Sabre
shouldered the heavy packs, pulling a wry face when Tassin made no
effort to help. Shizana escorted them to forest's edge and watched
until the vegetation swallowed them up. He glanced back as the
leaves closed behind them. Mishra stood beside a hut, gazing after
them, looking confused and forlorn.

Chapter Fourteen

Sabre set a
leisurely pace in the pleasant coolness of the green gloom under a
canopy of huge, spreading trees that shaded tracts of ground
carpeted with golden-brown leaves. Streams meandered through it,
edged with lichen-covered rocks and frilly ferns. His wounded leg
still ached, although almost a month had passed since his battle
with the Oraka. He glanced at the cyber's scanner information and
noticed three points of light following, two kilometres behind. One
of them was a wolf-man like the ones who had attacked him on the
mountain, and he stopped, turning to Tassin, who looked up at
him.

"What is
it?"

"Your King
Torrian hasn't given up after all." She looked alarmed, and he
added, "It's only two men and one of those wolf things. They
shouldn't be a problem."

"They crossed
the Death Zone after us."

He nodded.
"Must have followed our trail, or they'd be suffering from
radiation sickness by now. How they got through the Death Zone is a
mystery, though."

"What should
we do?"

"I'll have to
get rid of them, I guess."

"But you're
not well yet."

Sabre raised
his brows. "I'm touched by your concern, but I assure you, I'm well
enough to deal with two men and a pseudo-wolf."

He went over
to two trees growing close together and dumped the packs behind
them.

"Take the
sword; you might need it,” Tassin said.

"I don't want
to kill anyone if I can help it, and with a sword I will. I'd
rather discourage them; send them packing with a few cracked ribs
and bruises."

"They'll have
weapons; you could be hurt."

"I know what
I'm doing, okay?" He fixed her with a steely gaze. "Wait here. And
if you interfere this time, I'll definitely put you over my knee,
understand?"

She nodded,
but her eyes were defiant.

The scanners
showed that the men were approaching quite fast, one lagging
behind. Leaving Tassin to guard the packs, he walked into the
centre of a nearby glade and waited, folding his arms.

The wolf
entered the clearing first, nose to the ground. Spotting Sabre, it
veered off and moved around the edge of the glade, its yellow eyes
seeking Tassin. Sabre watched it for a moment, then his attention
was jerked away as a giant strode into the clearing. The brawny
goliath towered over two metres tall, clad in a chain mail
breechclout and gladiator’s sandals, and the hairs on Sabre's nape
rose. The giant stopped a couple of metres away, his scarred face
splitting into a gap-toothed grin. He drew a battered broadsword,
and Sabre unfolded his arms, letting them fall to his sides.

Sabre noted
the black-robed man who followed the behemoth, and veered off, as
the wolf had done, to circle around the glade. The cyber's
attention remained on the giant, who swung his sword in a whistling
arc, his brown eyes gleeful. He approached Sabre, who waited until
the warrior raised his weapon, then leapt forward and drove his
foot into his opponent's belly.

The blow would
have lifted a normal man off his feet, and the giant staggered back
with a grunt of surprise. Sabre launched himself into a high
spinning leap and kicked his foe on the chin, staggering him again.
The man's sword sagged, and he shook his head, looking amazed.
Sabre followed through with a double-fisted punch to the giant's
solar-plexus, holding back only a little this time. The faint
crunch of a breaking rib mixed with his foe's grunt. The giant
growled and retreated, his sword held before him. Sabre spun again
and leapt high, his right leg lashing out for the man's sword
arm.

The
black-robed man who stood at the edge of the glade raised his
hands, and swirling light filled the cyber's vision. His foot
struck his foe's arm a glancing blow, not breaking it as he had
intended, and he fell, rolling away. The giant roared, and his
sword clunked into the soil where Sabre had been a moment before.
Sabre scrambled to his feet and backed away, shaking his head in a
futile, instinctive bid to get rid of the strange lights that
blinded him. Something hit him on the temple hard enough to make
more lights flash in his eyes, and he sprawled on the leaves.

Sabre regained
his feet in a lithe motion, only to be sent crashing to the ground
again, his ribs aching from a powerful blow. A boot thudded into
his back as he rolled away, and another kick punched the air from
his lungs. He glanced at the scanner information, but, while it was
unaffected by the lights, it was useless. It only showed a human
life form right on top of his position, and he already knew that. A
metallic clang on his skull, together with a terrific impact that
made him taste blood, told him that the giant had hit him on the
head with the sword. Waves of blackness nibbled at his mind, and he
screwed his eyes shut, struggling to stay conscious.

Sabre grunted
and flinched as the control unit's active infrared night vision
actuated, far too bright in the daylight. It came from the tiny
camera in the brow band, a set of blue outlines from the ground
scanners mixed with it. He wondered what had happened to the
standard video feed, which would have been far more useful. The
supercomputer dialled down the spectrum to pick up heat sources,
and the glowing gargoyle that was his foe appeared close to his
right. Sabre leapt away, then spun to lash out at it. A meaty thud
rewarded his action, but a huge hand gripped his arm, almost
dislocating his shoulder when it lifted him and flung him down. The
air left his lungs in a coughing grunt, and pain flashed through
him. He writhed, gritted his teeth and rolled away as waves of
blackness threatened to engulf him, fighting to breathe.

Tassin clamped
a hand over her mouth in horror when the monstrous man smashed
Sabre to the ground. He seemed to be blind, and she gave a choked
cry as the giant stamped on Sabre's head. The cyber punched his
opponent's shin, making the giant hop away with a curse. Sabre
pushed himself up on his arms, shaking his head. What was the
matter with him?

Tassin glanced
around. The black-robed man stood amongst the trees, his arms
raised, his lips moving in a silent chant. A magician. She
recognised him as Torrian's sallow mage, and tried to remember his
name. Gearn. She snatched up a fallen branch and strode towards the
magician. The wolf stepped into her path, teeth bared, and she
clouted him on the head as hard as she could. The animal collapsed
with a yelp, and she paused, wondering if she should kill him. A
grunt of pain from the glade drove her towards the mage once more.
Gearn was so immersed in his spell-casting that she was able to
walk up to him and smash the branch down on his head with all her
strength.

Sabre's sight
returned, and for a moment he experienced the dubious joy of seeing
the giant in three different types of vision. A huge man with a
twisted face, overlaid with a glowing infrared heat image and
blotched with the colours of the rainbow bore down on him, sword
raised. The extra images vanished as the supercomputer deactivated
them, and Sabre leapt aside, stabs of pain lancing from his ribs
and head.

Sabre kicked
the giant in the calf, making him reel. The man swung around, and
his sword flashed down, forcing Sabre to dive aside and roll to his
feet once more. As he leapt up, he drove his fist into his
opponent's solar plexus. The giant grunted and sagged, and Sabre
used the momentary advantage to kick the sword from the man's grip,
sending it spinning into the trees.

The warrior
roared and lunged, his arms outstretched, Sabre leapt aside, caught
his adversary's wrist and swung him into a tree trunk with a
crunch. The man rebounded, blood oozing from his nose. Tassin's
scream made Sabre spin around. She struggled with the black-robed
man, who gripped her wrists, trying to avoid the kicks she aimed at
his shins.

Crossing the
glade at a run, Sabre grabbed the scrawny man's robe and yanked him
away from the Queen. She landed a last clout as the man released
her and turned, his eyes widening. He shrieked and threw up his
hands to cushion the blow that would have crushed his skull. Sabre
dropped him and seized Tassin’s wrist, almost yanking her off her
feet. She stumbled after him, and he picked her up and quickened
his pace.

Within a few
minutes, he stopped and put her down, gazing back. The cyber band
flashed erratically, and blood ran from a deep gash in his scalp,
mingling with the sweat that sheened him. He breathed hard through
an open mouth, his features drawn with fatigue and pain. Taking her
arm again, he headed away, his eyes scanning the terrain. His grip
on her arm was painful, but she did not dare to complain; he looked
too keyed up.

About half an
hour later, he halted and turned to look back again. When he
relaxed and released her arm, she sank down on a log, rubbing it.
After a moment he squatted and bowed his head.

"They're not
following, but they will."

"Perhaps you
killed him."

"No, he's
alive, just not feeling too good."

"He's a
magician." She scraped back her hair, which had escaped its plait.
"His name is Gearn, and he works for Torrian."

He regarded
her with doubtful eyes. "You mean that was magic he used on
me?"

"Yes. I don't
know what he did, but I saw him casting the spell and hit him on
the head with a branch."

"No wonder
they got through the Death Zone. That's a dangerous combination.
The big man I could beat, no problem, but when the other guy blinds
me, they have the advantage. I underestimated them. When they come
after us again, I might have to kill them."

Tassin slid
off the log and knelt beside him. "You're hurt."

"Yeah." He
cast her a wry smile. "I guess I need to be stitched up again."

One side of
his head was reddened, and blood oozed from his nose and spiked his
hair. She lifted a hand, but he rose to his feet, evading her.

"Not now. We
have to find somewhere to spend the night. I think those two will
lick their wounds for a while, but then they'll come after us, and
the wolf will track us. Come on."

Sabre headed
downhill into a more thickly wooded area, where dense pines grew on
a rocky slope that a layer of pine needles made slippery, replacing
the spreading trees. They entered a steep-sided valley that
levelled out into a broad flat area. A stream rippled over mossy
rocks in the middle of it. Sabre waded into it and headed upstream,
but Tassin hesitated on the bank, confused. He beckoned to her.

"Come on. The
wolf won't be able to follow our trail, and they'll have to look
for it again."

Tassin nodded
and took a few steps downstream before wading in, gathering up her
skirts and tucking them into her belt as the icy water swirled
around her knees, making her shiver. Her feet slipped on the mossy
rocks, and she tottered after him, waving her arms. Sabre waited
for her to catch up, then took her arm to steady her.

After wading
upstream for two hours, Sabre spotted a cave amongst the rocks, and
they quit the frigid water to enter it. Tassin took off her shoes
and rubbed her cold feet; Sabre settled near the entrance and
stared into the gathering dusk. She gritted her teeth to still
their chattering.