The Valley Beneath the World: The Fugitive Future - Book One by Brian Lowe

Author:Brian Lowe [Lowe, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-30T22:00:00+00:00

XXII

Like a lot of these situations, afterward I couldn't swear exactly who shot first, although I'm pretty sure it was the guy near the boat who raised his rifle in what one of us thought was a threatening manner, and then all hell broke loose. Kevim snapped off a shot that fused sand at the man's feet, meant as a warning I'm sure, because if Kevim had wanted to hit him, she wouldn't've missed. But somebody else must have thought his friend was under attack, because a bolt came sizzling back at us from an unseen marksman, and it hit Bradr.

He staggered away from the lake, toward the jungle, and in the blink of an eye some kind of vine or tentacle shot out of the trees, wrapped him up, and yanked him back. He was gone before I could shout a warning.

"No!" Avanya screamed. "Stop!" She tried to fight her way into the middle of the firefight, hoping to prevent more bloodshed, but Qriss and Kevim grabbed her and started to hustle her back under cover. When she saw that they were running for the very jungle that had just swallowed up Bradr, she fought harder, but they held on.

Tierse had dropped to the ground to provide covering fire, and even though I was standing out in the open, for some reason I was completely unscathed. None of the shots were even coming near--they must have mistaken me for a packbearer because I wasn't hauling a rifle, and figured I was no threat.

The hell with that. I was about to become the biggest damn threat they ever saw--and the last one.

I dropped to my knees. I knew I only had a few seconds. As soon as they saw me unlimber the cannon, I'd be a target. But that sleep-learning program and Avanya's holo-training had worked; the cannon slid smoothly over my shoulder, primed and loaded. Aiming was not required.

That narrow stretch of sand two hundred yards away suddenly ceased to exist.

In its place had erupted an immense cloud of sand and trees and other things I didn't want to think about. I heard the debris landing like a hard rain, leaving a haze that drifted slowly toward the jungle.

We all stood tensely silent for a few minutes, waiting for what might emerge from that carnage, but nothing did. When the air finally cleared for us to see, the land where my shot had apparently hit was now a shallow trench being filled in by the lake water. Nothing larger than a dust particle moved.

"Kevim, Qriss, you're with me. Let's make sure there's nobody waiting for us still. Timash…" Tierse tossed me her monocular. "Take Avanya back to the tree line. I need you to keep an eye out. Those guys could have friends." She and the other two were already moving down the beach.

I returned the cannon to its harness to recharge. "What about Bradr?" I asked, casting a hopeless look in the direction where he'd last been seen.

"The lake!" she ordered.

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