free as well. Stringing the weapon was a struggle, and she prayed the draw wouldn’t be too heavy for her.
“ Let my men do their job, Komitopis.” Rifle crooked in his arms, Bocrest leaned on the wall by the door, which had slid shut again. His voice was more sympathetic than she had ever heard it, and he did not try to take the weapon from her, but he did add, “You’re staying with me,” in an implacable tone.
She succeeded in looping the string over the limb of the bow. “I’m not going to-”
“ I’m not going to lose you as well as Starcrest. We need someone to read this grimbal shit.”
Noise in the corridor made them spin toward the door. Tikaya nocked an arrow while Bocrest raised his rifle. In the lab behind them, the men stalked in silence, and she had no trouble hearing the fast, heavy footfalls outside as they grew louder-closer.
Bocrest cursed, probably regretting that he had sent all his men below. The footfalls thundered to a stop outside the door. Tikaya drew the arrow, ignoring the strain between the backs of her shoulders. At least her shoulder no longer vexed her.
The door slid open. She held her breath.
The tunnel was empty.
The tip of her arrow wavered as her muscles quivered from the effort of holding the draw. She glanced at Bocrest, a question on her lips.
Then a head popped around the jamb and disappeared again. It happened so quickly she doubted her sight. Then a familiar voice spoke with wry humor.
“ Can I come in?”
“ Rias!” she blurted, even as Bocrest shouted, “Curse you, Starcrest.”
Rias slid out from behind the wall. “I hope that’s a yes.”
They lowered their weapons as he joined them on the landing. First Tikaya noticed a garish black eye and fingermarks bruising his neck, then saw the sweat bathing his face, saturating his hair, and dripping from his chin. His chest, framed by the straps of his rucksack, rose and fell with rapid, deep breaths. He wore all his weapons too-in addition to the rifle he carried, pistol, cutlass, and knife challenged the ammo pouches and powder tins for room on his belt. He must have been back to camp since the fight.
“ I can’t believe you left without me,” Rias said, eyes darting as he took in the lab.
“ But I saw you with Ottotark,” Tikaya said. “He said-I thought you went in the tunnels looking for me.”
Rias dragged a sleeve across his brow, not quite hiding a grimace of shame. “No, I didn’t believe him. I just had to… I almost lost it with him. I needed to get away, to think.”
Tikaya sagged against the railing with relief.
Disgust curled Bocrest’s lip throughout their exchange, and he finally jabbed his rifle toward the lab below. “If you were behind us, who in the empire are my men trying to rescue down there?”
“ I don’t know.” Rias glanced at Tikaya. “Maybe someone we can question if we recover him alive?”
Bocrest raised his voice for the benefit of the men below. “Starcrest accounted for. Continue with retrieval operation.”
“ Treat them like grimbals,” Rias called. “It takes a cut to the neck or shot to the eye to kill. And, above all else, do not break anything in here.”
The last command seemed strange when a man’s life was at stake, but the grimness in Rias’s mandate kept Tikaya from questioning it.
A shot fired, and a roar came from the center of the lab. Something crashed against a cabinet, and Rias winced. “Not good. Wish I’d had time to do a briefing.”
He glared at Bocrest who in turn glared at Tikaya.
“ This is your childish sergeant’s fault,” she said, “not mine.”
“ Why couldn’t the cryptomancer have been a man?” Bocrest glowered at Rias. “Though after all that time on Krychek, you probably wouldn’t have cared.”
Rias raised an eyebrow. “I am armed, you realize.”
Another roar answered the first, and Bocrest’s head snapped back toward the lab. “There’s a second?”
“ Back corner.” Rias headed for the stairs. “Who’s coming with me?”
“ You’re not going anywhere,” Bocrest said.
“ I’ve fought these before. Better me than them. But I could use backup.” He offered Tikaya a tentative smile.
More gunfire and a spatter of curses sounded in the lab, but she stared at him for a long moment. “You want me? After last night?”
“ Nothing’s changed for me,” he said with a sad smile. “Besides, you’re a better shot with that bow than my other option.”
Bocrest sniffed. “I am armed, you realize.”
But Rias was already heading down the stairs. “Third team advancing along the south wall,” he called.
A strangled groan of pain whispered through the aisles. Before she could think better of it, Tikaya slung the quiver across her back and followed Rias. She could figure out her feelings later.
They descended floating steps too deeply spaced for human comfort. Bow at half-draw, she trailed him across the open area toward a narrow gap along the south wall. As they approached, claustrophobia tightened her chest. The backs of cabinets and lab stations loomed in the same black as the wall, with the counters well above Tikaya’s head. She and Rias would have to walk single file.
Sweat dampened her grip and slithered down her spine. She had been ready to throw herself into the fray for Rias’s sake. Going on a monster hunt for uncertain stakes was another matter. Why had she followed him down the stairs? Surely he would have been better off with Bocrest. Despite her trepidation, she kept following. It should not matter, especially now, what Rias thought, but she could not bring herself to complain or back out.
He pressed himself against the wall and gestured for her to go ahead. “Since I can fire over your shoulder, you can lead.”
Just when she thought it couldn’t get bleaker.
“ You know,” Tikaya said, struggling for nonchalance as she slid past, “some men protect the women they care about by keeping them away from danger.”
Rias raised an eyebrow. “Sounds stifling.”
“ Perhaps so.”
“ Military officers like to challenge people to encourage growth.”
“ I’ve been six feet tall since I was thirteen; growth hasn’t been my goal for a while.”
“ You could grow a bit more before you got too big for Turgonian tastes.”
She smiled a bit at the double meanings, her mind distracted from her fear. As on the ship, his steadiness calmed her. She could worry about whether it should or not later. In the meantime, she wiped her palms dry, and padded forward, bow ready.
As they traveled deeper into the lab, new higher pitched growls grew audible. They came from somewhere near the back wall. The second creature. Tikaya hoped some of the marines were moving that way too.
They eased closer. Twenty meters, fifteen, ten. Around the corner, claws clacked, teeth snapped, lips smacked, and a tearing sound ripped the air. Tikaya hesitated, certain she did not want to see the source of those noises-or what it was eating. Rias’s hand rested on her shoulder briefly. She nodded to herself and peered around the corner.
Fifteen meters away, in a wide aisle, a huge bipedal creature crouched over a ravaged human corpse. The beast lacked fur, and powerful muscles rippled beneath oily black skin that gleamed under the light. The only thing soft were full breasts that swayed as it tore at flesh.
Tikaya slipped out and raised her bow.
The creature snorted. The head that came up appeared simian except for the long fangs flecked with blood and tissue. The arms and hands, too, were disturbingly human, though claws flashed at the ends of those fingers. The creature reared on its hind legs, powerful thigh muscles bunching. It sprang and sprinted toward them.
A rifle fired over her head, the report deafening. Tikaya expected it and did not flinch. Rias’s shot grazed the creature’s jaw. She loosed her arrow at the neck. It sunk in, and the beast cried out, its scream eerily human. But neither shot slowed its advance.
Rias’s pistol fired, hammering the creature between its breasts. Tikaya had time for one more shot and aimed for an eye, but the beast was closing fast. Her arrow skimmed its temple instead.
