WE LEFT Hendricks, Olsen, and Rene at the freighter, and ran from the clearing into the surrounding brush. Thick undergrowth enveloped us, as well as humidity that had me sweating within seconds.
Ylkurt led the way. That would’ve been my job as the commander, but none of the three Nadisc was inclined to argue with me about hierarchy. Since I didn’t see the point in arguing either, we formed up with Ylkurt in the lead, me second, and then Tom, Carson, and Niyara.
We followed a route toward our goal—or what we believed to be our goal—all of us highly alert, but no beast showed up. My shoulder muscles started to ache from the tension in them, so I rolled them slightly. In the distance, we heard the occasional croak or screech from a beast, but they seemed to be far away.
The bushes and fernlike plants around us swished and rustled as we fought our way through them. If we needed to run fast, we’d have a problem. The undergrowth was thick, and ground-hugging brambles plucked at our pants, trying to trap us. The dark roots sticking out of the earth didn’t help with walking either. At least the ground was soft, which rendered our footsteps almost inaudible.
After an hour, Ylkurt frowned and stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“The watchers’ building should be in view now, but I can’t see anything.”
I cast a glance at the scanner and frowned as well. We should have been standing in clear view of the building, but there was just nothing except lots of small bushes in various shades of green, and several ugly brownish hills leaning against the large, dark tree trunks. The hills looked like termite hills to me. When I pointed my finger at them, Carson held up his scanning device, shrugging. “Termites or ants or something of the like. I’m not interested in getting to know them.”
Grimacing, I turned my back to the termite hills and told Ylkurt, “Describe the watcher’s building to me again.”
“It looks like a small house, maybe a cottage, though it’s large in reality. They usually try to hide them between trees. It blends in with their surroundings, and can only be seen if you’re close to it,” Tom replied.
“Maybe we’re not close enough,” Carson reasoned.
I observed the green thicket around us. Something was odd about it. Ylkurt, Tom, and Niyara argued in soft, hushed voices about our next steps as I walked some feet away, still gazing around and hoping to find something that would explain my sense of unease.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Carson hissed behind me.
I barely refrained from jumping a mile. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“If you’re that unobservant, you should be happy it’s just me and not one of those lovely beasts.”
“They’d probably make more noise,” I countered.
“Some won’t. Ylkurt explained about some of the beasts’ hunting strategies.”
“All right, stop pestering me. I’ll be more vigilant, okay?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
For a second I drew a blank. “Something isn’t right about this place. I just don’t have a clue what it is.”
Carson tightened his grip on his gun. “You might be a nutcase, but your instincts are usually trustworthy.”
“Thanks. Want to accompany me?” Carson hesitated and glanced over his shoulder. I said, “Oh, come on! We’re not going separate ways. We’ll just look around while they argue, and we’ll keep close.”
The corner of Carson’s mouth twitched. “You promised Tom not to wander, huh?”
I turned my back to him when he snickered. “Asshole.”
“Aw, don’t be like that.”
“Do you want to go with me or do you want to make fun of me?” I asked in a sour tone.
“All right, all right. No reason to be testy.”
I didn’t dignify his comment with a retort. Instead we shoved leaves aside, grimacing at the whiff of rotten wood underneath them, and winced when thin twigs creaked or burst under our boots. I came to a halt all of a sudden. Carson bumped straight into me, cursing.
“This is different,” I whispered.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The earth has been softened. It swallowed our footsteps and… and the leaves were intertwined. We had to cut our way through in parts. Here we can just push them aside,” I said with growing unease.
A ray of sunlight broke through the treetops and illuminated something white a couple feet away. Cautiously, I walked over.
“Oh shit!” Carson said. “Are those eggs?”
“It seems like it.”
“Those are a lot of eggs,” Carson added, sounding breathless.
Thousands of tiny white eggs lay scattered on the packed ground, partially covered by twigs and old, moldy leaves. “I think we stepped right into the nest of one of those beasts.”
“Didn’t you do that on our last trip to Ligador already?”
I nodded. “It must be a smaller species. These eggs are tiny.”
“Doesn’t mean this particular species is less dangerous.”
I swallowed convulsively. “Let’s get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“That was a command,” I said.
Carson whirled around, took a step in the direction we came from, then stopped with a gasp. My own eyes widened in shock when several small animals circled around us. Ridiculously enough, they reminded me of those cute meerkats on Earth. Except these animals had no fur, and their longer snouts were lined with sharp little teeth.
More and more of these animals appeared and added to the circle around us.
“Mandrox,” Carson whispered. “They hunt in large groups, and they’re even capable of killing one of the bigger beasts if they’re so inclined.”
“Thanks so much for reminding me.”
“Berit!” Tom’s voice echoed through the brush. The mandrox’s heads whipped around. When Tom called again, they began twittering with each other. Some of them left the group, ducking into the undergrowth.
“Tom! We stepped into a mandrox nest. Some of them are coming your way!”
The remaining mandrox drew closer. Their almost friendly sounding twittering from earlier turned into snarled chirps that lost them all their appeal. Carson and I moved slowly, until we had our backs to each other, guns clutched in our hands.
“We need to kill as many as we can right away. If they jump us, we have no chance,” Carson murmured.
“Blusters,” I whispered.
I opened a pocket at my right thigh and plucked out a small but deadly bomb. Carson did the same.
“Ready,” he said.
“Now!” I yelled. We threw the blusters into the groups of mandrox and, at the same time, opened fire on them.
The mandrox squealed in fear. A pang of guilt flooded through me at the sheer terror in their voices. Carson and I plunged through the fog the blusters had created, back in the direction we’d come from.
Small but sharp claws dug into my thighs. I swung the butt of my gun against a mandrox’s head. Its skull cracked with an audible sound. A hiss at my back alerted me of another attack, this time from three mandrox at once. Why they’d reminded me of meerkats would forever remain the secret of my stupid brain.
As I swerved my gun from one side to the other, its fire felled several mandrox. Some of them lay on the ground, screeching in pain. The noise rose in volume and intensity, until my eyes watered from their piercing wails.
Carson tugged at my arm and, through veiled eyes, I glanced over my shoulder. The mandrox scurried away into the undergrowth. It seemed as if they cleared a path for us.
“This looks a lot like a trap,” I panted.
“This looks a lot like the only way out of here,” Carson snapped.
He tramped ahead, and I followed. In the distance, gunshots echoed, and Tom, Niyara, and Ylkurt exchanged curt commands. My heart kept on thundering, whether out of fear for my own life, or that of Tom, or all of us, I wasn’t sure. Probably a combination of everything.
A blaring wail behind us caused me to jump and turn back. In the midst of at least twenty mandrox stood a bigger one, with shimmering silver scales on its breast. It held up a broken egg. Even from that distance, I saw the crushed head of a baby.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “So sorry.” Because I honestly was.
The silvery mandrox head whipped around, and it opened its snout. Another of those disturbing and ear-bleeding wails echoed through the trees. A series of clucking noises followed.
“Think that’s a good sign?” I asked. When Carson didn’t answer, I cast a look over my shoulder. The blood froze in my veins. No Carson. Oh crap.
My legs chose that moment to inform me they intended to give out any second, but I still forced myself to check on the mandrox. In the few seconds it took me to glance around, the group had grown—a lot. I couldn’t count them anymore.
Carson’s words floated into my mind, unbidden: “They hunt in large groups, and are even capable of killing one of the bigger beasts if they’re so inclined.”
Given that I was a lot smaller than any of the bigger creatures, my chances of surviving an attack were… nonexistent.
The mandrox’s eyes narrowed and it swiped its forked tongue over the broken egg’s shell. It sniffed at the head, emitting a strange, whimpering sound, and I knew I should use this moment to run—to run faster than I’d ever done before in my life—but my legs wouldn’t cooperate.
These beasts might be out to kill me, or anyone they met, but they had feelings as well.
A second later, the mandrox smashed the busted egg onto the ground and stepped on it. So much for their tender feelings.
The mandrox clucked deep in its throat, and all the others joined in. My legs obeyed my command again, so I whirled around and sprinted through the bushes. Behind me, little feet dashed after me, clucking and sometimes screaming.
Several mandrox appeared in my way, their snouts wide open. I veered off to the side and fled deeper into the trees. After a couple of minutes, I realized the mandrox had steered me a certain way, but I couldn’t see any other option.
My lungs burned, and every now and then I fired my gun at those mandrox that came too close. They didn’t try to attack me, they just herded me ahead. Maybe that was one of their tactics? To tire out their prey?
I stumbled over a root and landed belly-first on the ground. The impact shook the gun out of my hand. I scrambled up onto my hands and knees, immediately jumping to the right side, where I’d seen my gun sliding. Before I could wrap my fingers around it, a mandrox barged onto it. As I tried to knock it away, it lunged at my hand.
Tiny teeth ripped into my flesh, and I screamed in pain. The mandrox held on fast. From the corner of my eye, I caught glimpses of more mandrox gathering around me. Although tears sprang to my eyes, I grabbed the mandrox’s slim throat and pressed its windpipe together.
The struggle seemed to go on forever, but it probably lasted only half a minute. The mandrox’s jaw slackened when it lost the fight. I pulled it off my hand, then flung it through the air. The gathered mandrox scurried back into the undergrowth.
A ring of small holes covered my entire right hand. The bleeding was minimal, but it burned like all hell. Did the mandrox exude a poison? I couldn’t remember. There’d been so much information about the various beasts, how was I supposed to memorize every detail?
I reached out with my injured hand to retrieve my gun, but when I closed my fingers around it, searing pain shot from my fingers up to my shoulder. Cursing, I cradled my limb against my chest.
A mandrox shoved its head through a thicket of leaves and hissed. I picked up a large branch with my left hand, aimed at the mandrox’s head, and knocked it out cold. “Fucking bastard.”
With my uninjured hand, I retrieved my gun. This was going to be awkward. I didn’t even know if I could shoot with my left hand. I was dead meat. Well, at the moment I was still living, but in my helpless state, I wouldn’t stay alive for long.
“Tom!” I shouted.