Chapter 28
Grape, His Favourite
Arn was sitting on the bus, wearing a new shirt. The collar was too tight, and it chafed uncomfortably. He hated it when new shirts did that.
He saw Becky get up from her seat. She turned briefly to wink at him, and then began walking down the crowded aisle between the other students and towards the doors. He tried to get up from his seat to follow her.
It hurt. Every time he tried to stand, he was dragged back down, and his collar chafed even more. Steve Barkin was pinning his hands behind his back. It occurred to him that he should tell someone, but Edward sat beside him, absorbed in his comic book. Typical — when he was engrossed in his fantasy world, nothing else mattered to him.
Edward stopped reading to sip from a can of soda — it was grape, his favourite.
Arn had never felt so thirsty in his life. ‘Can I have a sip?’
Edward ignored him.
‘Can I have a sip there, buddy?’
Nothing. Nothing but the chafing of his neck, Steve Barkin pinning his arms, and that relentless, diabolical thirst.
Chapter 29
Life, but Not As we Know it, Jim
‘Enlarge.’
Albert Harper sipped his twentieth cup of coffee for the day, and stared hard at the large screen. They had been following the boy’s footprints through the desolate wasteland for what seemed like hours, and they had seen nothing to give him hope that Arn could have survived for any period of time.
The observation area was crowded with scientists, technicians, and military specialists. Several additional screens had been set up, and for the last four hours nobody had moved.
The sun had risen a while back, and, at any moment, Harper expected to come across his body — dehydration, sunstroke or a dozen other elemental or bacterial afflictions could have brought him down. But as their hope had begun to wither, the flat, unbroken line of the horizon rose up into a series of jagged peaks. There was something out there after all.
‘It’s a forest.’ Harper punched the air in triumph. ‘Give me full scope.’
The lens rotated, and a panorama was revealed that looked a combination of the Amazon jungle and a redwood forest. There were grass-covered hills, trees climbing hundreds of feet into the sky, and, beyond that, mountain peaks.
Takada, smiling, handed Harper another cup of coffee. ‘Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.’
Harper grinned. ‘Life, but not as we know it, Jim. Increase speed,’ he said to the technician, then turned back to Takada. ‘If the kid made it this far, he’d have made it to the forest. We’re not that far behind him.’
After another twenty minutes, Harper called for the probe to slow as they came to the colossal tree line. The camera switched from its illuminated strobe to red-light vision as it swivelled under the dark and dense forest canopy, continually adjusting its focus to capture the detail.
Something burst from between the boughs and flew past the screen, startling everyone in the room.
‘What the…? Did you see that?’
Takada spoke evenly to the technicians. ‘Stay focused. Anything else on the motion sensors?’
‘Are you kidding? There’s too much on the sensors. This place is crawling with life.’
Harper clicked his tongue in frustration. ‘Okay, push it forward, but be careful now; we can’t afford to get the probe snagged on anything — can’t exactly send in a maintenance team.’
It was mid morning on SingerWorld, as some were now calling it in deference to the missing young man. Shadows darted past them — creatures, some revoltingly weird, only partly recognisable, which crept, scuttled or flew in the semi darkness. None were particularly large, but already they had come across the torn carcass of an animal the size of a goat on the forest floor. Something even bigger must have taken it down, judging by the bite marks.
The hovering camera floated about five feet from the ground. Its single lens glowed a deep red, indicating that it was only monitoring the environment in infrared for the time being. Harper had refused all requests to go back to strobe in the event it startled the wildlife.
Harper held up his hand. ‘Stop. Pan ninety degrees.’
The camera slowly swivelled.
‘Angle down right here… Let me see the forest floor.’ He squinted as the camera tightened its focus.
There, on the ground, lay something half buried in the leaves.
‘Is that a silver dagger?’
Chapter 30
Soon it Would Be the Panterran’s Time
The Wolfen dug fast. They encountered no roots or heavy stones, and after a few hours, by Eilif’s judging, were shy of the tent by only two lengths. At the rate they were digging, they’d be underneath Mogahr’s tent in only a few more minutes.
The plan was to complete the tunnel and wait until Arn was taken inside. Then everything was to happen quickly — they’d break through, praying they didn’t do so right at the feet of an alert guard, or under a brazier of glowing coals — a lot could go wrong. Strom was to subdue any resistance, then release Arn, while Sorenson would see to Grimson. They would then drop back into the hole and escape.
If everything went as they hoped, the brothers, Arn and Grimson would return to where Eilif was waiting for them at the other end of the tunnel, and then together they would make their way back to the castle. Stealth would be irrelevant, and there would be no time to stop for sleep or food. Their lives would depend on their speed — and a lot of luck.
Eilif lifted her head slightly and peered through the branches of the thick brush. The Panterran guards were still in the trees, but like most of the Slinkers during the day, they were sluggish, inclined to doze rather than keep a keen eye on their surroundings.
Eilif reached for her quiver of arrows, and laid it on the ground beside her. Then she dragged the leather pack from her back, and reached inside to pull free the small box she had brought with her. Instead of rattling it, this time she was careful removing the lid. She peered inside at the occupant — a small multi-armed creature that could have been an octopus, except its body was dry and spikily armoured. Its head pulsated, and many black eyes turned to look at her. It coiled itself as though about to spring, and she picked up one of the arrows and dipped its tip into the box. There was a hiss, and she pulled her head back slightly, only peering in after a second or two. The arrow’s tip came away covered in a greenish yellow liquid. She smiled; the vipod’s venom was one of the most deadly substances known to the Wolfen, and would stop a Panterran’s heart before he even knew he’d been struck — and certainly before he had time to raise an alarm.
Eilif repeated the process with six of her arrows, laying them side by side on the soil. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, mouthing a silent plea to Odin, for good fortune.
She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky — the day was rapidly drawing to a close. Soon it would be the Panterran’s time, and things would shift in their favour.
Deep in the tunnel, Strom slowed his digging, and then stopped. He placed his ear to the soil above his head. Sorenson had just returned from dumping the last load of dirt, and Strom reached out to take his arm.
