21 Hunting For Clues #4
The tropical forest had been smashed through by unskilled, shielded riders. I could see their paths as clear as day, where they had sheared off branches and opened trails between the trees. It was the sloppy flying I’d expect from novice cadets. It was a wonder none had slammed into a tree already.
Then again, I was not looking for other hunters. I was seeking a swiftling, and unlike the riders, swiftlings were flightless. I scanned the mat of ferns which covered the moist forest floor for imperfections.
Something beeped mechanically behind me. “There’s a swiftling fifty meters ahead and to the left, lying beneath a fallen log,” Ankhelina reported.
I sat up straight on Tilly’s saddle. “How do you know this?”
“All the swiftlings have embedded trackers. The Empire is not a government to piss away such expensive delicacies,” Ankhelina explained, waving a datascroll before me.
I sighed. “Champion, do you expect the Emperor will be pleased with a prize I cheated to obtain?”
Ankhelina snorted. “She will never know. I am more concerned with bringing you safely from this accursed jungle.”
“Champion, may I remind you I am shielded? What in these woods could harm…?”
I had not finished my sentence before a puff of compressed air coughed behind me. High-tensile lines wrapped themselves around my arms, not strong enough to penetrate my shield, but tough enough to pin my arms to my torso. With a quick jerk, I was yanked sideways.
Tilly slid with me, her stirrups clamped to my boots, screeching in alarm as we were dragged along the ground through the ferns.
A demonic face, covered by a mask, hove into my view as I reached vainly for my dirk.
He towered above me, half-obscured by the jungle underbrush, his hands grasping the line to the net which bound me.
“He didn’t come off,” the voice said in the Imperial tongue.
“It doesn’t matter. Kill the beast,” another voice shouted.
The demon holding my net placed a controlling boot on my chest and pulled one of their massive, cleaver-shaped zeroblades from over his shoulder.
He lined it up for the blow, arrayed not against me, but against Tilly’s forward chassis. He raised the blade.
“Tilly, run!” I ordered. Tilly’s engine roared.
My legs were still firmly gripped in her magnetic stirrups, and Tilly dragged me along, plants disintegrating in showers of blue sparks against our shields as we blasted from underneath the demon executioner’s blade.
The net about me tightened, pulled me back, but Tilly was stronger than any demon.
My assailant sprawled as Tilly dragged him bodily through the ferns.
Tilly burst into a canopy-shaded clearing, righted herself, and flipped around into attack position.
As the net’s cords loosened, I wormed my right hand to reach my dirk and slashed through the lines binding me.
Tilly pushed my greatsword into my hand, and I drew it from the sheath.
I glared into the dense foliage, searching for shadowy attackers as my eyes recovered from the sudden strobe of shield flares.
As shade resolved into broad, concealing leaves, I heard the two demon assassins speaking somewhere in the greenery.
“Get up!”
“Where’d it go?”
“The beast must be nearby.”
“Be certain not to damage the Consort.”
Then, Ankhelina’s voice joined in, filled with a level of venom orders beyond what she had reserved for me.
“Fools.”
Ankhelina blasted into the clearing atop her massive gunmetal hoversteed, swordstaff raised. A dark line slashed twice with phenomenal speed, neatly slicing the other two silhouettes from shoulder to hip, then hip to shoulder. Their bodies fell in twain, and spoke no more.
It was an impressive display of martial prowess, one I knew I could never match. Should this demon decide to kill me, I would surely die.
I sat on Tilly, slowly bringing my panting back under control as my eyesight cleared. Ankhelina hovered between the two bisected bodies, cleaning the blood from her blade with an ultrasonic scrubber before returning it to the sheath at her hip. Then she turned her steed to me.
“They weren’t after me. They wanted Tilly,” I said.
Ankhelina nodded. “You are beyond their reach, but doubtless the sight of their Emperor seated next to that monster caused patriotic fervor to override their common sense.”
Tilly chirped. Looking down at her display, I saw the same question I very much wanted answered.
“Tilly wants to know why you saved her.” Ankhelina did not respond.
“I’m rather curious myself. It’s not like you don’t agree with them.
You could have sat aside and let them remove Tilly from your life. ”
Ankhelina’s face was as stoic as I’d ever seen, on demon or human. “That steed, horrific mockery of life or not, is loyal to you. I am sworn to protect you. You have few enough allies as it is. Saving the few you do have can only help keep you alive.”
I rubbed Tilly’s upper cowling in a reassuring manner. “Well, regardless of the reason, I thank you.”
Ankhelina sneered. “Do not bother. They were so weak, even you could have taken them.” Then Ankhelina pulled out the datascroll. “Now, shall we kill a swiftling for the Emperor?”
I nodded, sheathing my greatsword. “For the Emperor.”