Beyond the Sky: Chapter 28
Revenge
Elacmagolintec was a Stilt-Strider, his fleshy body wrapped in silk from which eight tendril-limbs protruded. Six gripped walking sticks, the eponymous stilts, and two served as hands, branching fractally into fingers down their length. He had stood from a silver-plated soaking bath, probably in preparation to leave, and now paused like an animal in headlights. He hadn’t expected them to get this far.
What made him so cruel she did not know, only the stories of Striders hatching in large broods from which only the strongest survived.
“I see you made it past my men,” Elacmagolintec’s voice hissed from a tube-like siphon to the left of his large bulging eyes. A third lump behind those was his brain, protected by the only bone in his body.
“What can I say?” Velli moved close enough to peer through a window, where some of Udan’s fighters gathered a circle of disarmed guards. “A paycheck’s not worth dying for.”
“When I am freed and kill you all, I will take care of them.”
“Wait outside,” Velli said to Nacca, and closed the door. She usually preferred to be elsewhere when torture was needed, but, in this case, made an exception. Facing the slavelord, she spoke one word:
“Mekim.” She didn’t wait for a response. “Not that you’ll remember, but you sold him through here about two years ago. He was my brother. Tell me where he went and maybe I’ll get my friends to go easy on you.”
“We don’t keep those sorts of records,” his servant replied. “At least, not by name. If you know his transport number, from his branding—”
Something inside Velli snapped. Here she stood, across the room from the man—the creature—who sold her own little Mekim into slavery, scarred him with a mark that, even if by some miracle she found and freed him, he would bear for the rest of his life. All for money.
She drew her pistol, and fired from the hip.
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-click-click-click-click! Cyan blood sprayed the walls and desk. Elacmagolintec stumbled, splashed partway into his soaking bath, and crumpled to the floor in a mass of tendrils and walking-stilts.
Stepping closer, Velli dropped the magazine, reloaded, and said, “Consider this justice.” She fired one last shot. The Strider wheezed, sputtered, and died.
The servant caught her off-guard, opening its mouth to let out a wild wail not of anger, but mourning. Pathetic little creature, she thought it would rejoice in freedom.
Nacca burst back in. “What did you do?”
“Don’t tell me he didn’t deserve it! He put that mark on your forehead!”
“We needed him alive!” She stepped around the corpse and rifled through his desk. Velli did likewise, looking for any important papers. Nothing mentioned Burrowers, gas, or bombs. “We need to go, before the Army gets here!” A dull thrumming sound rose outside. Shit.
Velli burst out the front door, turning to look towards the city. Above, and heading straight for them, came a duo of Mespreth gun-copters—Death’s Chariots, the JNF called them. When you saw them, it was already too late.
“There’s nothing in the basement, just a crate and empty casing.” Udan and his fighters emerged from another door. “What about you?”
“We found Elacmagolintec,” Naaca answered.
His ears perked up. “Where is he?”
Nacca thumbed at Velli. “She, uh—”
“I shot him.” Velli cut her off.
Udan exploded with rage. “We could’ve used him! We had an operation! We found nothing, now we’ll have no interrogation, and when those copters get here we all just might die! I have half the mind to expel you right now!” He glanced to the sky. “But that’s for later. Move!”
The last few trucks of freed slaves were rolling out, driven by Burrowers and JNF fighters. A few guards remained in the fight, occasionally popping out to exchange volleys.
Velli helped up a Cepic slave-woman, urging her to a truck. “Go, go!”
“Cover them!” Udan ordered. Teliv shouldered a rocket launcher and fired. The unguided projectile stood little chance of hitting, but forced the lead copter to sidestep. Velli reloaded her pistol and climbed over the ruined wall. Fighters were dispersing into the forest, according to plan, as were the last slaves. A truck sped out the gate, bed loaded with escaping captives. The lead copter drew up, fading left to draw a bead on it. In the glass-bubble cockpit, a Yune pilot held his wing-arms on the controls.
He fired.
Amid a whoosh of rocket blast, a missile streaked for the truck. Velli turned away, readying for the blast.
Then, without warning, a cyan flash and thunderclap shook the earth. The missile exploded in midair, blasted halfway by the end of a ramrod-straight bolt of light. She looked for the source and spotted it: A dark craft, diving from the sky!
Not a Black Triangle, this one was smaller, diamond-shaped, with two engines in the back. Too small to carry a pilot, even. Automated?
The Mespreth copters seemed just as surprised, turbines and rotors screeching as their pilots poured on power and wheeled about to confront this new intruder. One released flares, like burning coals shooting from its underside.
“It’s helping us!” Teliv exclaimed. “Why?”
Velli grabbed his arm. “Who cares, run!”
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