Encrypted

  A cry of agony echoed from the center, and she glimpsed a blur of black before it disappeared behind a row of twenty-foot-tall cabinets.

  “Sprites-licked idiot,” she cursed, whirling to look for a bow amongst the discarded gear. She was not sure whether she meant Rias or herself. If, after all he had lived through, he died to some random animal attack...

  Tikaya spotted the bow stave she eyed earlier. The marine had left it in favor of the rifle. She stuffed the journal into her rucksack, then untied the bow with fingers too irritated to fumble with fear. She yanked the quiver free as well. Stringing the weapon was a struggle, and she prayed the draw wouldn’t be too heavy for her.

  “Let my men do their job, Komitopis.” Rifle crooked in his arms, Bocrest leaned on the wall by the door, which had slid shut again. His voice was more sympathetic than she had ever heard it, and he did not try to take the weapon from her, but he did add, “You’re staying with me,” in an implacable tone.

  She succeeded in looping the string over the limb of the bow. “I’m not going to—”

  “I’m not going to lose you as well as Starcrest. We need someone to read this grimbal shit.”

  Noise in the corridor made them spin toward the door. Tikaya nocked an arrow while Bocrest raised his rifle. In the lab behind them, the men stalked in silence, and she had no trouble hearing the fast, heavy footfalls outside as they grew louder—closer.

  Bocrest cursed, probably regretting that he had sent all his men below. The footfalls thundered to a stop outside the door. Tikaya drew the arrow, ignoring the strain between the backs of her shoulders. At least her shoulder no longer vexed her.

  The door slid open. She held her breath.

  The tunnel was empty.

  The tip of her arrow wavered as her muscles quivered from the effort of holding the draw. She glanced at Bocrest, a question on her lips.

  Then a head popped around the jamb and disappeared again. It happened so quickly she doubted her sight. Then a familiar voice spoke with wry humor.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Rias!” she blurted, even as Bocrest shouted, “Curse you, Starcrest.”

  Rias slid out from behind the wall. “I hope that’s a yes.”

  They lowered their weapons as he joined them on the landing. First Tikaya noticed a garish black eye and fingermarks bruising his neck, then saw the sweat bathing his face, saturating his hair, and dripping from his chin. His chest, framed by the straps of his rucksack, rose and fell with rapid, deep breaths. He wore all his weapons too—in addition to the rifle he carried, pistol, cutlass, and knife challenged the ammo pouches and powder tins for room on his belt. He must have been back to camp since the fight.

  “I can’t believe you left without me,” Rias said, eyes darting as he took in the lab.

  “But I saw you with Ottotark,” Tikaya said. “He said—I thought you went in the tunnels looking for me.”

  Rias dragged a sleeve across his brow, not quite hiding a grimace of shame. “No, I didn’t believe him. I just had to... I almost lost it with him. I needed to get away, to think.”

  Tikaya sagged against the railing with relief.

  Disgust curled Bocrest’s lip throughout their exchange, and he finally jabbed his rifle toward the lab below. “If you were behind us, who in the empire are my men trying to rescue down there?”

  “I don’t know.” Rias glanced at Tikaya. “Maybe someone we can question if we recover him alive?”

  Bocrest raised his voice for the benefit of the men below. “Starcrest accounted for. Continue with retrieval operation.”

  “Treat them like grimbals,” Rias called. “It takes a cut to the neck or shot to the eye to kill. And, above all else, do not break anything in here.”

  The last command seemed strange when a man’s life was at stake, but the grimness in Rias’s mandate kept Tikaya from questioning it.

  A shot fired, and a roar came from the center of the lab. Something crashed against a cabinet, and Rias winced. “Not good. Wish I’d had time to do a briefing.”

  He glared at Bocrest who in turn glared at Tikaya.

  “This is your childish sergeant’s fault,” she said, “not mine.”

  “Why couldn’t the cryptomancer have been a man?” Bocrest glowered at Rias. “Though after all that time on Krychek, you probably wouldn’t have cared.”

  Rias raised an eyebrow. “I am armed, you realize.”

  Another roar answered the first, and Bocrest’s head snapped back toward the lab. “There’s a second?”

  “Back corner.” Rias headed for the stairs. “Who’s coming with me?”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Bocrest said.

  “I’ve fought these before. Better me than them. But I could use backup.” He offered Tikaya a tentative smile.

  More gunfire and a spatter of curses sounded in the lab, but she stared at him for a long moment. “You want me? After last night?”

  “Nothing’s changed for me,” he said with a sad smile. “Besides, you’re a better shot with that bow than my other option.”

  Bocrest sniffed. “I am armed, you realize.”

  But Rias was already heading down the stairs. “Third team advancing along the south wall,” he called.

  A strangled groan of pain whispered through the aisles. Before she could think better of it, Tikaya slung the quiver across her back and followed Rias. She could figure out her feelings later.

  They descended floating steps too deeply spaced for human comfort. Bow at half-draw, she trailed him across the open area toward a narrow gap along the south wall. As they approached, claustrophobia tightened her chest. The backs of cabinets and lab stations loomed in the same black as the wall, with the counters well above Tikaya’s head. She and Rias would have to walk single file.

  Sweat dampened her grip and slithered down her spine. She had been ready to throw herself into the fray for Rias’s sake. Going on a monster hunt for uncertain stakes was another matter. Why had she followed him down the stairs? Surely he would have been better off with Bocrest. Despite her trepidation, she kept following. It should not matter, especially now, what Rias thought, but she could not bring herself to complain or back out.

  He pressed himself against the wall and gestured for her to go ahead. “Since I can fire over your shoulder, you can lead.”

  Just when she thought it couldn’t get bleaker.

  “You know,” Tikaya said, struggling for nonchalance as she slid past, “some men protect the women they care about by keeping them away from danger.”

  Rias raised an eyebrow. “Sounds stifling.”

  “Perhaps so.”

  “Military officers like to challenge people to encourage growth.”

  “I’ve been six feet tall since I was thirteen; growth hasn’t been my goal for a while.”

  “You could grow a bit more before you got too big for Turgonian tastes.”

  She smiled a bit at the double meanings, her mind distracted from her fear. As on the ship, his steadiness calmed her. She could worry about whether it should or not later. In the meantime, she wiped her palms dry, and padded forward, bow ready.

  As they traveled deeper into the lab, new higher pitched growls grew audible. They came from somewhere near the back wall. The second creature. Tikaya hoped some of the marines were moving that way too.

  They eased closer. Twenty meters, fifteen, ten. Around the corner, claws clacked, teeth snapped, lips smacked, and a tearing sound ripped the air. Tikaya hesitated, certain she did not want to see the source of those noises—or what it was eating. Rias’s hand rested on her shoulder briefly. She nodded to herself and peered around the corner.

  Fifteen meters away, in a wide aisle, a huge bipedal creature crouched over a ravaged human corpse. The beast lacked fur, and powerful muscles rippled beneath oily black skin that gleamed under the light. The only thing soft were full breasts that swayed as it tore at flesh.

  Tikaya slipped out and raised her bow.

  The
creature snorted. The head that came up appeared simian except for the long fangs flecked with blood and tissue. The arms and hands, too, were disturbingly human, though claws flashed at the ends of those fingers. The creature reared on its hind legs, powerful thigh muscles bunching. It sprang and sprinted toward them.

  A rifle fired over her head, the report deafening. Tikaya expected it and did not flinch. Rias’s shot grazed the creature’s jaw. She loosed her arrow at the neck. It sunk in, and the beast cried out, its scream eerily human. But neither shot slowed its advance.

  Rias’s pistol fired, hammering the creature between its breasts. Tikaya had time for one more shot and aimed for an eye, but the beast was closing fast. Her arrow skimmed its temple instead.

  Tikaya flattened herself against the wall, hoping she could dodge if those claws flashed. She thought the beast’s momentum would carry it past her, but it halted with amazing athleticism.

  It whirled on her, claws raised. Rank breath washed over her. She ducked even as Rias yanked her out of reach. She almost lost the bow as he charged past, cutlass raised. She recovered and stepped back to nock another arrow. Rias ducked a swipe and darted in, but the muscled torso deflected his blade like armor. He nicked a vein, drawing blood. Claws gashed his arm before he could leap out of reach. Its speed was mesmerizing, but she forced herself to focus.

  With the creature sparring with Rias, she could wait for a chance at a critical target. There. She fired, and the arrow plunged into its eye.

  The beast staggered into a counter, gashing its own face as it clawed at the arrow. It stumbled, then pitched backward. Still.

  Tikaya leaned a hand against the wall for support and let her bow droop. “Next time we attack a twelve-foot-tall monster, we probably don’t need to worry about me seeing over your head.”

  “Conceded.” Rias rotated his arm to check the slashes below his shoulder, but dismissed them. “One down. Let’s see if the other is still alive.”

  A rifle cracked in the center of the lab.

  “I’m guessing so,” Tikaya said.

  Rias jogged along the wall toward a cross-aisle where he could cut over. He paused when he reached the half-eaten man. It was wearing the black uniform of a Turgonian marine. Though the neck had been torn out, the chest smashed and ravaged, the face remained mostly intact.

  “That’s not one of ours, is it?” Tikaya asked.

  “No.”

  “Somebody from the fort?”

  Multiple rifles fired.

  “Later,” Rias said, already disappearing around a corner.

  A bestial screech reverberated through the lab, and men shouted orders. Tikaya raced after Rias, careening around the corner to face another melee. A second creature, larger and more muscled than the first, fought in the center. This one was male.

  Marines attacked from both ends of the aisle, cutlasses and daggers struggling to pierce the resilient skin. The creature whirled, slashing forward, then back, its wild actions enraged, and Tikaya wondered if it knew its mate had fallen. Blood streamed from its sleek flesh, but it batted men away without faltering. As tall as the Turgonians were, they had little chance of reaching the neck or head with their blades.

  Rias charged into the fray. Tikaya drew the bow, waiting to glimpse an eye, but the beast chose that moment to escape. It sloughed off its attackers and charged her direction. Her heart lurched. She loosed her arrow, but she lunged to the side too soon, and her shot only struck muscle.

  She glanced at the cabinets on either side of her. There was no time to climb out of reach. She smashed herself to the side again, hoping this creature would run past. Though, even if it did, all it would have to do was rake her on the way past and—

  Steel zipped through the air from the aisle behind her. A knife lodged in the creature’s eye.

  It tripped and tumbled, skidding past her. The prone form crashed into a cabinet, jolting it. The door flung open, and trays of bones spilled out. Human bones, tagged and marked with colored dots. Smaller ones, fragile with age, shattered.

  Tikaya found Rias’s eyes, thinking of his admonition not to break anything. Chest heaving, he stood amongst the other marines. He shook his head slowly.

  “Everyone back to the entrance,” he said.

  Before following the men, Tikaya tossed a glance toward the back wall. Someone had thrown that knife, yet no marines filed in from that direction.

  A clunk echoed through the lab.

  “Hurry,” Rias urged.

  He led a sprint to the stairs where Bocrest twitched an eyebrow at Tikaya and said, “Nice shot.”

  She did not answer. It had not been her attack that brought the second creature down.

  “Let’s go,” Rias said. “In the hall. We don’t want to be here when the cubes arrive.”

  “Cubes?” Bocrest asked.

  Tikaya thought of the square vials from the rocket, but surely he could not mean those.

  “No time to explain.” Rias pushed past and into the corridor. Leaving the lab without exploring it seemed an abandoned opportunity, but Tikaya did not question him, not when such grimness haunted his face.

  Before they took three steps down the tunnel, a door ahead of them slid open. A black one-foot-wide cube floated out at chest level. Tiny red and yellow lights flashed on its top, and a one-inch hole glowed red on its front. A few symbols ran along the sides, and she leaned forward, squinting.

  “Back,” Rias said. “Back into the lab.”

  “What does it—” Tikaya started, but the glowing hole brightened and a red beam lanced out. Rias yanked her to the side, and it caught the edge of her sleeve. The beam burned a hole through the material.

  She half ran and was half dragged back into the lab. Marines crowded the landing, but Rias shoved his way to a panel on the wall. He waved his hand over a pale square. The door slid down from the top of the jamb.

  Tikaya stared at smoke wafting from the hole in her sleeve and swallowed.

  A beeping started, soft but audible throughout the lab. It came from the walls, the ceiling, everywhere.

  “Two more of those cubes coming from below,” Bocrest said.

  “If I can get close enough to read what’s on the sides, maybe I can figure out how to stop them,” Tikaya said.

  “If you get that close, you’ll be dead,” Rias said.

  “There’re two more in the back.” Agarik pointed. “Shooting, burning, er, incinerating the dead creatures.”

  “Yes.” Rias rummaged in his pack. “They do that to everything. And everyone. Also, I don’t know how to lock the doors. The one outside will be in soon.”

  Tikaya bent to examine runes lighting the wall by the door. She recognized one that had indicated “up” on the rocket. When she pressed the symbol it indented, but nothing happened. She found she could rotate it. A soft thunk came from within the wall. “I think that may have—”

  “We’ve got to split up, or we’ll be surrounded,” Bocrest said.

  “Actually, I want them all in one spot.” Rias had opened his rucksack and knelt, mixing a liquid and something else into a bottle. Caustic fumes stung Tikaya’s eyes.

  A red beam from below splashed against the wall on the landing. It adjusted, lowering, and marines ducked out of the way.

  “Forget that,” Bocrest said. “Karsus, get these men under cover, and shoot at anything that moves.”

  “Bocrest!” Rias barked.

  The squads were already running off, Bocrest included this time, leaving only Tikaya and Rias on the landing. Below, a pair of cubes, which had been floating languidly toward the stairs, split and increased speed. One chased after each group of men. Before one of the squads reached cover, a beam shot out, taking the last man in the back.

  He screamed. Tikaya gripped the railing, unable to take her eyes from the scene.

  The rear two men from the squad shot and rifle balls clanged off metal. At the least, the force should have propelled the cube backward, but it never moved. The beam continued, pier
cing the marine’s body and coming out the other side as it incinerating flesh, muscle, and organs. Even when he dropped to the ground and curled into a ball, it stayed with him. It cauterized as it burned an ever-widening hole in his torso. The marine stopped moving, eyes glazed in death. The cube’s beam kept breaking down the body, even burning blood away.

  Tikaya, thunderstruck by the ghastly scene, almost did not notice Rias racing down the stairs with nothing but a jar of orange liquid in his hands. At first, the automaton ignored him, busy finishing its incineration of the dead man. Rias kept sprinting, one hand gripping the jar, one on the lid. The cube abandoned its task and rotated toward him.

  “No!” Tikaya grabbed her bow, though she did not know what good she could do if rifles had not damaged the device.

  Rias flung some of the liquid on the cube, then ducked under it as the beam shot. It sizzled past, missing him. It struck the stair railing, but the beam did not affect the black metal. The viscous liquid on the cube smoked red. Pungent fumes gagged the air as it oozed down the sides.

  That did not stop the automaton from rotating toward Rias, its ominous red hole glowing. Before its deadly side disappeared from sight, Tikaya fired, aiming for the orifice shooting those beams. Her shot flew true, and the shaft lodged inside. But the red glow flared and a beam incinerated the arrow.

  Rias found cover behind a column.

  A hiss sounded behind Tikaya.

  “Look out!” Rias yelled.

  She whirled. The door she had tried to lock opened, revealing two cubes on the threshold. Their holes glowed.

  Tikaya leaped over the railing. The floor came quickly, and she landed with an ankle-jarring jolt. Two beams zipped over her head. Off-balance, she skittered into the shadows beneath the landing.

  Gunfire echoed elsewhere in the lab. She sensed rather than heard the cubes floating down the stairs.

  “Over here.” Rias beckoned with an arm. “Zigzag your path.”

  With a wary glance at the cubes coming down—they were only a few steps from the bottom—Tikaya raced across the open space toward Rias.

  “Zag!” he barked.