Chapter 10

- Noker -

Unin'iz is sending me angry glances, but I'm not affected by that. Before the game started, I had planned that if it came to this, and he and I each won a part, then I would suggest that we stop the game here and simply agree to be equally good. But now that I'm here and it did happen, I want to win. Unin'iz and I will never be friends, that's for sure.

We stand next to each other, waiting for the boy to hit his drum and set off the race.

I know I run faster than the Borok man, and I'm nearly as accurate with throws. But I don't think there will be any throwing required here.

Sarker'ox says some last words, and then the boom echoes from the trees and the village wall.

I let Unin'iz take the lead. He must know this part of the jungle much better than I do. I can pass him later on, when I start to understand the course.

We run into the darkness of the jungle. The course is marked with white stones and leads up hills and down valleys. We keep passing Borok men who're making sure we don't take shortcuts.

I'm easily keeping up with Unin'iz, but I make sure to stay behind him. I notice that I run easier and with longer steps than him. I don't often run, because it's a noisy way of getting through the jungle and I don't want to attract danger. But now that I can run freely, I find that I really enjoy it, just like when I was a boy and kept jumping everywhere.

Unin'iz passes the roots of a huge tree. There are no tribesmen in view, which I take to mean that things are about to get tougher.

And they do — our way is blocked by a wide patch of thorn bushes. I know their kind — they have pointy thorns as long as my little finger. Running through them would mean flaying the skin off our legs. Unin'iz goes to the right without hesitating, and I should follow. But there's a tribesman here, watching. And I have an idea that might save me some time.

I run straight at the bushes, not slowing down.

"Watch out there," the tribesman yells. "Those bushes are nasty!"

I make a mental note to thank the man after the race — he didn't have to warn me. But I keep running, speeding up to a sprint. At the last moment, I place the tip of my spear in the middle of the nearest bush and jump. The spear hits the ground and stays there, allowing me to push off the end of it, so that the stiff shaft carries me safely over the whole patch.

Landing on the other side, I yank the spear with me. My ankles miss the thorns by a finger's width.

I run on, already spotting the next man in the distance. Unin'iz is far behind me now.

"Smart jump!" the tribesman calls after me as I continue. I send him a quick wave behind my back.

It's going downhill. It's the kind of place that no man would walk unless he was in a race like this. There's another tribesman, but the course is obvious and there's no alternative.

The hill goes steeply down, and I expect it to end in a stream. But there isn't one, just a sandy patch that could be a riverbed or the bottom of a dried-up pond. While it would feel good to run on a flat surface after all the jungle and the rocks, I'm suspicious of the sand. It looks too easy, and if it's soft, it can be harder to run in, slowing me down. I choose to run around it.

Then it's uphill to the crest of a ridge, where the way forward is obvious.

As I pass the top I hear a scream behind me. It's a scream of fear and distress, piercing and surprised. A man is in deadly danger.

I stop and look back, down the hill. It can only have been Unin'iz.

If he's in real danger, then the whole race loses all importance.

I jog back down the way I came.

Halfway down, I see him. I speed up to a sprint.

Unin'iz must have chosen to run across the sandy patch, and it turned out to be quicksand. Now he's sinking fast, and only his eyes are above the gray, bubbling surface. His eyes are wide with fear of death.

I stop at the edge of the dry land and reach the butt of the spear to him. "Grab hold of it!"

He barely manages to lift one hand from the sticky mud and tries to find the spear, at the cost of his head to sink completely under the surface.

"To the left!" I instruct him because his eyes have sunk beneath the surface.

Again he fumbles desperately around for the spear, finds it, and grabs onto it with one hand.

"Hang on!" I manage to slowly drag him to the bank, then thrust my hand into the quicksand to grab his other wrist and pull him out, still holding his sword.

"That was close," I tell him as he lies coughing on the ground. "I can't believe they led us past this spot! Do they want to kill us?"

Unin'iz gets up on hands and knees, then all the way up, steadying himself on his knees.

"Not us," he pants. "Just the pitiful Foundling!" He suddenly slashes out with the sword, aiming for me. The tip of the blade grazes my thigh, which immediately starts to bleed.

I lift my spear and prepare to run Unin'iz through with it. It flashes through my mind that I can easily kill him and then kick him into the quicksand. Nobody will know what happened.

Then there's another flash, showing me a certain round face with dark eyes in it, and I know I can't keep that secret from everyone. I'm sure Bronwen wouldn't like to hear about me murdering someone.

I spin around and run up the hill. Now I am going to win this silly game, whatever the cost.

The next tribesman I pass doesn't speak to me, and I speed up and keep going.

The course goes up a hill again. On the top it drops steeply off into an overgrown valley where I'd much prefer not to go. There's a lot of rustling from the dense bushes down there, and the leaves are moving as if there's a whole pack of rekh living among them.

But this must be a part of the obstacle course. Two vines are hanging down from the treetops, thick and solid. They've been placed there on purpose, that much is clear. It should be possible to use them to swing over to the other side of the gorge. It's too far to jump, certainly.

Well, if that's the way they want it, I'll do my best.

I walk a couple of paces back down the hill, spotting Unin'iz on his way up. He's gray with wet quicksand, but there's fury in his eyes. I better keep my lead and not let him get into striking range again.

I run as fast as I can, leap towards the nearest vine, and grab it with both hands. I half expect it to snap and make me fall into the bushes, but it holds and carries me to the other side. Jumping off, I can't help but wonder how Unin'iz can make that leap. He doesn't have leg muscles like me.

But that's his problem, not mine.

My heart is beating hard in my ears, and I could swear it sounds like a deep hum every time I breathe. On the other hand, I'm not used to running for this long. Perhaps this is what it's like.

I run on, passing another Borok man.

"You're bleeding!" he yells to me as I pass. "This game is not worth dying for!"

"Tell that to your tribesman," I shout back. "It was his sword!"

But now I want to win, more than ever. Unin'iz has made this a matter of honor. I can't let someone with his dishonorable behavior win.

Running on, I don't see any new obstacles, and I think I must be nearing the end of the course.

No sooner have I thought it before the ground disappears under me with a sound of breaking branches. It's a pit trap!

But my reactions are quicker than my thoughts. Before I fully realize what's happening, I stab the spear into the ground behind me as hard as I can. As I drop into the void, I let my hands slide down the shaft until I'm hanging off the edge, clinging to the spearhead. It cuts into my hands, but I ignore the searing pain and pull myself up and out of the pit.

"Not much of an obstacle," I seethe, trying to not get blood on my new shorts. "This is just a trap! Are they trying to kill me?!"

If so, all the more important that I win this.

As I run on, I reflect that the pit trap was made specially for me. The Borok tribe must know how I trapped the women in a trap much like that one. Perhaps it amuses them to think I'd fall into one myself.

Still I sense the hum, but now I'm sure it's not my own heartbeat. Something else is making this sound, and it can only be a creature. But I've never heard a deep hum like that.

A bolt of coldness shoots through me. Surely the Agent of Darkness that Shaman Melr'ax talked about can't have come to fight us? The dragon?

I stop and listen. Yes, that's very definitely a hum, unpleasant and with a screechy note to it. It could be some kind of strange Big that's just passing by. It may not even be all that close.

I run on, seeing glimpses of the peak of the red Mount in the distance. The village must be nearby, and the race is nearly over. Throwing a glance over my shoulder, I spot Unin'iz far behind me.

Soon the jungle grows thinner, and I pass the first of the Borok men who have gathered around to see us run the final length of the course. The crowd quickly gets thicker, on both sides of the path. Bronwen is standing with her friends right by the village gates. The sight of her makes me speed up.

They spot me, and the cheer spreads further into the crowd. There's a path in the middle of the crowd, and at the end of it is Sarker'ox and the finish line.

I notice the men looking around and frowning. They must also hear the hum.

It's really getting loud now, drowning out the cheering. It seems to come from the jungle.

"Run!" the Borok men urge me on. "The race is still on!"

I don't have far to run. The finish line is in sight, and the boy is lifting his club to hit the drum and mark that I have won.

I look behind me. Unin'iz is still running hard.

But behind him…

I can't see it. But still I know it's there, not just from the sound but from the movement. I can see the movement without really seeing it with my eyes. There's a swarm coming, a swarm that's still in the jungle but coming closer fast.

I slow down. This could get serious.

I sense the first one, its outline coming into my mind, but not through my eyes. It's the size of a boy, but it flies on many wings. The body is hanging in the air like a hook, the lower end curved and ending in a long, thin spike that looks like a stinger nearly the size of my spear.

Then I see another. And another. There are hundreds of them, at least. And they're coming right for us.

"Come on!" the crowd yells. "Run! You will win!"

I know I can win. But only I know there's a swarm coming. The others can't see it yet.

"Go inside!" I yell. "Inside the gates!"

Nobody moves. They must think I'm crazy.

"Swarm!" I shout, pointing. "You can hear the swarm! It's coming!"

They all turn and stare the way I'm pointing, but while they can hear the swarm, nobody can see it and they don't move. The cheering ends, and a murmur spreads instead.

For a moment I stand still. Am I crazy? Are they right? Is there nothing coming?

Unin'iz comes running, thinking he can win.

I make my decision. Crazy or not, I must do what I think is right.

I sprint over to Bronwen, grab her, and throw her over my shoulder the way I did yesterday. "There's a swarm!" I yell to her friends. "Run! Into the village!"

Then I follow my own advice and run in through the gates. Now they must understand there's something wrong — I wouldn't break off the race if I didn't have a good reason.

As I pass through the gate, I hear the first screams of alarm from outside.

If I ran fast during the race, now I strain to run even faster. The village huts pass in a blur. I climb the stairs, three or four steps at a time. When I get to the top, my thighs feel like slack strings.

I set Bronwen down and kiss her. "Stay in the cave. Use your knife if you have to."

"Wait!" she squeals when I turn my back. "Dongoh dawnder! Stai, mailuv!"

I run back down on knees that threaten to buckle at every step. Tribesmen are flooding back inside, some in a panic.

"Stand!" I yell, worried about the swarm coming in through the gates. "Stand, warriors! Stand and fight!"

I have to punch and kick my way through the fleeing tribesmen to get to the outside. Suddenly I'm face to face with Brak, who's carrying Piper in his arms.

"Alba!" he shouts. "She's still out there!"

"Get Astrid and Shaman Melr'ax!" I yell back to him. "I'll get the other one!"

The throng of panicking Borok men thins out. The swarm is a yellow and brown wall coming towards me fast, the hum unbearably loud.

I spot Alba and grab her around her waist, then turn on the spot and practically fling her inside the gates. "Run! Up the stairs!"

I turn around and grab the side of one gate, pushing it closed. Two Borok men close the other.

Sarker'ox and the drummer boy are the last to pass inside the gate before the gates slam shut.

I jump up on the guard tower to see outside the wall.

The sight is terrible. The swarm is larger than I thought, and it looks most of all like a thick, brown landslide oozing out of the jungle. There may be men out there, completely covered in the creatures.

"I wonder where Unin'iz is," I mutter.

"He won the race," the tower guard says beside me, voice shaking in fear. "But that was the last thing he did. He didn't come back inside the wall. Now he must be under that swarm, being eaten."

"They may be laying eggs inside him," I say flatly, because that's something flying Smalls often do. "All the dead bodies must be burned when this is over."

The first member of the swarm bumps softly against the palisade, then turns to the side and hits it again, the hum piercing to my ear. I'm not worried about them breaking through the thick wall, but they are flying things and may be able to pass over it and into the village.

"Stay here for three dozen heartbeats," I tell the tower guard. "Cut down any creature that comes over the wall. Then run to the Mount and get up to the top."

"Yes, Chief!" the Borok man says breathlessly, so happy to have a command to follow that he gives me the highest rank he knows.

I jump down and run as fast as I can back to the Mount. Everyone has the same idea. Brak and several Borok tribers stand at the foot of the stairs and urgently push the men and boys up the stairs.

"Melr'ax is safe!" Brak calls to me. "Get up here yourself, Noker!"

I stare back towards the gate. The guard is running towards us, unable to wait for as long as I told him. I can see why — dozens of the flying terrors are flooding over the wall like water running over a round rock.

The guard passes me without looking up and continues up the stairs, breathing hard.

"We must keep them from flying up along the side of the Mount," Sarker'ox frets. "There must be men placed all over the side of the Mount to cut them down if they try!"

Finally the Borok men get over their first shock and start to act properly. They climb higher and go out on ledges and narrow shelves in the rock, swords bare, ready to defend the Mount to the last.

"It's the best we can hope for right now," Brak says, knife in hand. "The women are safe on top of the Mount, as are the boys of the tribe. And our shaman."

"They're only safe if none of those things get up there," I counter, having trouble speaking because I'm breathing hard from all the running. "I must stand here and fight them off."

He slaps my back and grins. "As will I, brother!"

I grab his wrist and squeeze hard to get his attention. "No other clansbrother shall fight this low on the Mount! You are needed elsewhere. Go as high up as you can and defend your wife and the other women! They all must be kept safe, and I don't trust the Borok men to protect them right."

His mouth opens and closes as he thinks. Then he sees the sense in my order and grabs the back of my head, pulling me close until our foreheads touch. "I shall see you in the stars, clansbrother!" He turns and bounces up the stairs, his clawed irox feet scraping on the rock.

The brown wave of the swarm comes closer, leaving every dead object alone. But they must be able to sense living things, because they're coming straight at me. Their wings beat so fast they're invisible, and the deep hum is deafening.

I turn and send a glance up the Mount. I'm the first resistance the swarm will meet, but those that get past me will be met with swords all the way up. And at the top, the most capable fighter on Xren is protecting Bronwen. While I can't see a way for me to get through this alive, his victory is as good as certain.

I chuckle to myself as I ready my spear, wiping it clean. Soon I'll be in the stars. "You won the game, Unin'iz. But Brak will win the fight."

The first creature comes within striking range.