The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (31 page)

Sabre checked
the cyber's human life-sign total daily, to ensure that it had not
increased by one. Any illusions the magician cast would be
investigated by dozens of people, however, and, clearly realising
this, he kept away. Sabre remained vigilant, even so, aware that
the wizard could ambush a hunter out in the grass and replace him,
if he chose.

Shan pursued
Tassin with a single-minded intensity that drove her to
distraction, but Sabre refused to interfere. Shan was undaunted
when she refused his gifts of meat, flowers, skins and pretty
stones, or by her slaps, glares and harsh words when he tried to
hold her hand or stroke her hair. Sabre found it amusing, which
enraged the Queen further. Her scolding tirades only made him avoid
her company, though, and left her more vulnerable to Shan's
attentions.

Tassin railed
at Sabre for this too, but he was determined to let her sort out
the problem. When she realised the error of her tactics, she
stopped castigating him and stayed close to him instead, in the
hope of finding protection there, he guessed. He spent a great deal
of time with Clon, who was a font of information about snails,
which Sabre found fascinating.

One balmy
afternoon, Sabre sought out Clon, as he often did, and joined him
on the sloping side of a low hill. Tassin followed and sat beside
him, although the subject of snails bored her. The chief greeted
them with a warm smile, and Sabre propped himself on his elbows and
gazed at the herd. Plucking a blade of coarse grass, he chewed
it.

"How old are
these snails?" he asked.

"They live for
many hundreds of years," Clon explained. "Only when they're about
four hundred years old are they big enough to live in. There are
males and females, and they mate at a certain time of the year,
then migrate to a river, where they lay their eggs. The eggs are
swept into the sea, and the baby snails spend the first fifty or so
years there, then crawl ashore, seek out a herd and join it. Herds
seldom grow larger than thirty, then they split up. If they moved
in greater numbers, there wouldn't be enough grass for all of
them."

Tassin groaned
as Shan approached with an armload of flowers, which, considering
how few grew amongst the grass, must have taken him all day to
collect. The tall man knelt before her and laid the blossoms at her
feet.

"For you,
Tassin."

She glowered
at him. "Go away, Shan, and take your flowers with you."

He looked
pained. "I merely wish to show you how much I admire you, Tassin.
You're the most beautiful woman in the tribe."

She snorted.
"I'm only visiting."

"You have a
snail with your mark on it, so you're one of the tribe."

She glanced at
Sabre, who suppressed a smile, then turned back to her unwanted
suitor. "Leave me alone."

He rose,
looking hurt, and walked away.

Clon frowned
at her. "He could cause trouble for you, young lady."

Sabre's
amusement evaporated. "What sort of trouble?"

"Well, he's
right. You're officially part of the tribe now, and women don't
stay single here. Shan is the only unwed man, and he can only find
a wife if he challenges one of the other men, or if we meet another
herd. Since you two aren't married, he has every right to pay court
to Tassin. He's been quite patient, but I fear that his patience
will run out soon, and then he may resort to more forceful
tactics."

"Then Sabre
will kill him, or I will," Tassin retorted.

Sabre's brows
rose, and he shot her a dubious glance.

Clon shook his
head. "You have no right, since you've declared that you're not
wed. Why should Sabre protect you from a suitor?"

"Because I
don't want him."

The chief
smiled. "Women never know what they want. They always say no, but
once they've been persuaded, they're happy. They just enjoy the
chase."

Sabre
chuckled, and Tassin shot him a killing glare. "We're leaving," she
said, jumping up.

He squinted up
at her. "What, now? It's getting late, you know."

"In the
morning." She marched off towards their snail.

Clon gazed
after her. "She has a lot of spirit."

Sabre snorted.
"You could call it that, I suppose."

"I'm surprised
you haven't claimed her." Clon turned to him, raising a brow.
"She's young and beautiful. If I wasn't already married..."

"She's a
queen, and I'm just a commoner. Besides, you don't know her like I
do. She's cute, but boy, is she a pain sometimes."

Clon laughed,
his eyes sparkling. "But all women are like that, Sabre. My wife
Rishal is a lovely girl, sweet and beautiful, and I love her
dearly, but sometimes I wish someone would challenge me for her. I
wouldn't fight very hard."

Sabre grinned.
"Nags, does she?"

"When she gets
going, I run!"

"How is it
that men and women, who are so different, can get along?"

"You don't
understand love, my friend. They say it's blind, and they're right.
But that warm feeling you get in your chest when everything's going
well, like bubbles bursting, nothing can beat it. When I first saw
Rishal, the world moved. Her father didn't like me. He said I was
too small, and he beat me good, gave me two black eyes and almost
broke my arm, but I wouldn't give up. Eventually the judges gave
her to me. Then I had to win her heart, and that was an even
tougher battle." He leant closer. "But I think you've already won
little Tassin's heart, my friend. You should marry her."

Sabre stared
across the plains. "What makes you say that?"

"The way she
looks at you, of course. And when one of the other women looks at
you, she glares."

Sabre touched the brow band in an involuntary gesture of
despair. If Tassin had developed feelings for him, she would only
get hurt. The feelings he had, which so confused him, were
pointless and forbidden. The voice in his head taunted him from the
dark corner where his despair dwelt.
Cyborg
! He glanced at Clon, who
looked concerned, but as the chief opened his mouth, shouts came
from the direction in which Tassin had vanished into the
herd.

Clon looked
around. "Oh dear, Shan has lost patience."

Sabre leapt up
and sprinted towards the herd before Clon had finished the
sentence. Skidding around a snail, he found Shan dragging Tassin,
who punched and kicked him, shouting insults. A chuckling crowd
gathered, and Shan looked like he was already regretting his move,
hopping as the Queen landed a good kick on his shin. He persevered,
however, warding off her blows. Sabre grinned.

Tassin spotted
him, and her wrathful expression boded ill for him too. "Sabre! Get
this lout off me!"

He strolled
closer, and Shan paused as Sabre blocked the path and said, "Shan,
you really don't want to do this."

Tassin
shouted, "Just kill him!"

Shan gaped at
her.

"See what I
mean?" Sabre enquired. "She's a real cow."

Tassin
spluttered, glaring at him. "How dare you? I'm a queen, above all
you riffraff! Let me go!" She landed another kick on Shan's shin,
and he hopped, cursing.

"Is this why
she's not your wife?"

Sabre folded
his arms. "I wouldn't touch her with a bargepole. Imagine having to
put up with that for the rest of your life? She'd drive any man to
drink, take my word for it. The window dressing's nice, but the
language?" He shook his head. "You'd be a brave man to tackle her,
and you'd get no joy from it. She'll make your life a misery."

Shan eyed the
panting, dishevelled Queen, who glowered at each of them in turn.
"Perhaps you're right." He released her, and she rubbed her
wrist.

"The pair of
you can go to hell!" she shouted, and marched off.

Sabre put a
hand on Shan's shoulder. "My friend, you have no idea what a narrow
escape you just had."

The tall man
looked bemused but disappointed. Sabre grimaced and followed the
Queen. He found her in the snail, stuffing her bedding into a bag.
Leaning against the shell, he watched her until she turned on him,
then raised his hands at her thunderous expression.

"Hey! Whoa!
Peace!"

"You!" she
snarled. "How dare you insult me like that? You should be
flogged!"

He groaned.
She was back on her high horse again. "It worked, didn't it?"

She hurled a
wooden bowl, which he ducked. "Knocking him out would have too!
Without embarrassing me!"

"Oh, right, I
should have just put his lights out. At least you've mellowed from
killing." A rolled up blanket flew at his head, and he ducked
again.

"You have no
class! A prince, or even a knight, would have shown me more
respect!"

"Well I'm
sorry, Your Highness, I'm just one of the riffraff."

"That's
right!" Tassin yelled, and hurled a stream of missiles at him;
three pottery jugs, two wooden bowls, a half full water skin and a
metal pot with a dent in it that bounced off the shell with a
clatter. He caught the pottery jugs to save them from destruction
and dodged the rest, wondering what the snail thought of the ruckus
going on in its shell. He hoped Shan was listening.

Tassin ran out
of ammunition and stood panting, arms akimbo. "I suppose you
thought it was funny?"

He put the
jugs down. "Well... sort of." He grinned.

She flew at
him and smacked his face before he caught her wrists. "Take your
dirty hands off me!"

"I will if you
stop trying to hit me. I don't enjoy it, you know. I feel pain just
as much as anyone else."

Tassin growled
and wrenched away. He released her, and she retreated to the far
side of the snail and glowered at him.

"So, you still
think I'm a cow?"

He shrugged.
"Only when you act like one."

"Oh!" She
gestured wildly. "So I should have just let him drag me into his
snail?"

"No, you could
have simply called me, instead of cursing a blue streak and
pulverising his shins."

Tassin glared
at him, still fuming, but stumped. "Sometimes I wish you were still
a cyber, then I wouldn't have to listen to your pontificating
self-righteousness!"

He sighed.
"Well, technically I am still a cyber, but I'm not self-righteous,
just trying to keep the peace."

Tassin swung
away. "We're leaving! I need to live amongst people of my own
class, who have manners, not a bunch of savages with the morals of
cavemen."

"Oh? And
Torrian wasn't about to drag you, kicking and screaming, to the
altar before we left?"

Tassin spun
back. "You always have to be right, don't you? At least Torrian's a
king!"

"He's still a
man. Under all the pomp and a silly title is just another hairy
male."

"Silly
title?"

Sabre cursed
under his breath. He was only digging a bigger hole for himself, it
seemed. He waited for the next outburst, then tensed when shouts
and screams came from outside, and he wondered what was going on.
As he raised his hands to clap, the floor heaved. Tassin yelped as
she lost her balance and fell against the shell. The floor bulged,
rising at a remarkable speed, carrying them and all the
brick-a-brack up with it. The shell slid downwards, filled by the
rising body. The snail was withdrawing.

Sabre crossed
to Tassin's side, and as soon as he was in range she threw her arms
around his neck and clung to him. He held her while the snail
continued to withdraw, the shell sliding past his back. He was
forced to walk forward as the floor moved under his feet, yet
stayed against the wall. The snail's foot soon filled the lower
part of the shell, reaching the curved section, where the floor
tilted, forcing them to make their way down onto the top of the
curved spiral.

The only sound
was a soft slithering as the snail's silky skin rubbed against the
smooth inside of the shell. They were flung across the shell, and
Sabre thrust himself between Tassin and the wall to cushion her
from the impact. Deprived of its massive foot, the tall shell had
fallen over. Sabre tried to untangle himself from Tassin, but she
hung on, trembling, and he was unwilling to pry her away. The snail
had almost completely withdrawn now, but, as Clon had said, there
was still enough room to sit comfortably. A squeaking sound told
him that the snail was pulling its door into place, then silence
reigned.

For the next
few minutes, only their breathing broke the quiet. Sabre assumed
that everyone had reached their snails and were safely inside. He
had not asked Clon whether a snail would let a person in after it
had withdrawn, but he doubted it, for once the massive chitin door
was in place, the snail could not open the passage without opening
the door. Questions plagued him. What had caused the snails to
withdraw, and could it harm them? He did not relish the possibility
of being trapped inside a decomposing snail.

Straining his
sensitive ears, he detected the faint padding of paws moving
through the grass, and the sound of panting, like a dog's. A
flashing red light deep in his brain caught his attention, and,
remembering the cyber, he consulted the scanners. Thirty-two life
signs moved amongst the herd. The bright lights indicated large
creatures, and the colour identified them as terrestrial wolves.
Why would a pack of wolves attack the alien snails, he wondered,
and why were the snails afraid of them? Clon had mentioned wolves,
but not that they were dangerous to the snails. Surely wolves could
not kill one of the multi-tonne beasts, whose leathery hide was
immensely strong?

Teeth grated
on the shell close to his head, making Tassin gasp and clutch him
tighter. Claws scratched the shell, then the beast outside moved
away, going around to the bottom of the snail to test the door's
strength. There too, it seemed to have no luck, and silence fell
once more as the wolf moved off. Sabre was sure the pack would soon
lose interest and leave, but the snail remained closed. He became
aware of Tassin's face buried far too intimately in the side of his
neck, and her arms locked around him with the tenacity of a
lamprey. He patted her shoulder.