Chapter 26 Varok
VAROK
The sword blurred in my hand, and I thanked the Void for my parents’ training.
When will I ever need a sword? I’d demanded of them.
I have my strength and claws and wits. They didn’t listen, forcing the knowledge into my thick skull, and now it paid off.
Ducking under a swinging, clawed limb, I struck upward and sliced through tendons, leaving my attacker crippled behind me as I charged a lizard creature making for Penny.
After all this, I’d run out of clever ideas.
All I had left was killing until I died, or my human love pulled something wild out of her beautiful brain.
My shoulder struck the lizard below its center of mass, lifting it off the sand.
Hooked claws caught my side, tearing skin and flesh, but I stabbed under its limb and into the soft meat beneath.
“The datachip,” Penny shouted. “Give me your damned datachip!”
What in the Void is she thinking? There was no time to ask, so I tore off my comm bracelet and threw it to her.
That momentary distraction almost cost me my life, and worse, Penny’s.
A monster made of blades and teeth stabbed at me with four razor-sharp limbs.
One I dodged, two I beat away with my sword, and the last punched a neat hole through my right thigh before flicking to the side, carving through muscle and sending me to the ground.
With a terrible shriek of triumph, it reared over me, but I got my sword up in time to lodge it between two gleaming ribs. The creature struck down at me, its own weight impaling it on my blade before it could strike me.
I rolled to my feet, tearing my sword out of the collapsing monster as I went.
A glance back reassured me that Penny was safe.
I had the Collectors’ focus now, which suited me.
The circle of monsters closed around me, no two the same.
The only things they had in common were their crystal growths and their thirst for blood.
Wary of the threat I posed, they held back. I let them take their time—the longer they took, the longer Penny had for whatever insane plan she was working on. If these monsters mounted an organized attack, they’d overwhelm me in an instant, and there would be nothing left of me to defend her.
“I wonder if anyone will immortalize this moment?” I wondered aloud, hoping to add to the delay. “Some of the greatest artists in the galaxy are watching, seeing how the mighty Collectors cheat at their own games. Or will you settle this one-on-one, as a fair fight?”
Of course they wouldn’t. I knew that, but thought discussing my offer might slow them down. I hadn’t counted on their networked brains. They didn’t even exchange glances, just rushed forward in unison.
If they’d trained together as a unit, they’d have overwhelmed me. They weren’t used to fighting a warrior, though, nor did they have practice working together in such numbers.
I leaped to the side, and the horde tried to turn with me.
Instead, they collided with each other in a tangle of unfamiliar limbs.
That gave me the opening I needed to dive under the largest of them.
The vast void of darkness so black it seemed like a hole in space, an absence rather than a presence.
I passed between the monster’s forelimbs, a pair of legs like pillars of night, and relished the crashing sounds as the other monsters slammed into it.
It took the monster’s Collector a moment, but it made the smart move. It simply dropped at me, tons of weight falling straight down, and my only escape was to keep rolling. I got out just in time.
The impact sent a choking cloud of sand into the air, and when I bounced to my feet, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
I grinned, laying about me with my sword.
Chaos favored me in this battle. Fighting alone, everyone else was a target.
The Collectors were surrounded by allies and had only one enemy.
Cries and howls all around me proved they weren’t being careful enough.
An outraged shout on my left gave me a target, and I stabbed, feeling the blade connect with flesh and carve through a tough hide, silencing the screamer.
The sand-cloud wouldn’t last long, but while it lasted, the enemy couldn’t coordinate. Victory remained impossible, but I’d bought my beloved some time to work. Would it be enough?
Yes. It has to be.