Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (17 page)

At
the
top
of
the
slope
behind
them,
a
long
line
of
their
pursuers had
appeared,
strung
out
along
the
crest.
Bleys
did
not
try
to
count them,
but
he
guessed
there
might
be
several
dozen
of
them.
He
saw arms
pointing
in
his
direction,
and
then
they
leaped
in
pursuit
down the
slope
.
..
but
now
they
had
walked
into
an
ambush
themselves, as
the
young
lieutenant
and
his
men,
using
whatever
cover
they could
find
in
the
uneven
terrain,
had
successfully
avoided
being
noticed
until
the
enemy
had
skylined
themselves,
within
easy
range.

"We've
got
to
go!"
Bleys
yelled
at
the
wounded
soldier.
It
escaped
his
notice
that
his
windedness
of
a
few
moments
ago
was gone.
She
turned
to
look
back
at
him,
and
nodded;
but
when
she tried
to
rise,
she
cried
out,
grimacing
in
pain.

Beyond
her,
Bleys
saw,
Toni
was
coming
back
toward
them.
He raised
one
arm
and
waved
it,
making
a
pushing
motion
as
if
trying
to physically
push
her
backward
into
the
ditch.
She
stopped,
and
he rose
up,
pulling
the
young
soldier
with
him
by
her
shoulder,
with
a grip
on
the
cloth
of
her
uniform.
The
soldier
cried
out
again,
but then
broke
off
the
cry
and
pushed
herself
up
from
the
ground;
and together
they
began
to
stumble
down
the
last
portion
of
the
slope toward
the
ramp.

Behind
them,
the
power
weapon
fire
had
broken
off;
but
he
had no
energy
to
spare
for
a
look
back.
He
was
having
to
hold
the
soldier up
as
they
moved,
and
she
seemed
near
to
passing
out.
Someone yelled
behind
him,
and
as
he
reflexively
turned
to
look
over
his shoulder
he
lost
his
grip
on
the
soldier;
she
slid
down
to
the
ground, giving
a
short
cry.

Toni
was
running
up
the
ramp
as
he
reached
down
for
the wounded
woman,
but
even
as
he
got
a
good
grip
on
her
weapons harness,
Dahno
appeared,
seeming
to
pull
the
young
woman
up from
the
ground
as
effortlessly
as
some
trained
weightlifter
might snatch
a
set
of
weights
in
a
match.

"You're
going
to
get
us
all
killed
yet!"
he
said;
and
turned,
cursing,
to
stride
down
the
ramp
with
the
young
woman
in
his
arms. Toni
reached
Bleys
and
grabbed
his
arm.

"I'm
fine!"
he
gasped.
"I'm
fine!
Go!"
He
pushed
at
her,
trying
to turn
her
around
and
propel
her
ahead
of
him;
but
they
ended
up
hurrying
down
the
ramp
and
into
the
shelter
of
the
ditch
side
by
side. Ahead
of
them,
Bleys
could
see
his
brother's
broad
back
nearly
filling
the
space
between
the
vertical
walls
of
what
was,
in
fact,
not
a ditch
at
all,
he
realized,
but
the
remains
of
a
military
entrenchment.

The
soil
that
made
up
the
walls
of
the
trench
was
light
in
color,
a sort
of
yellowish
brown
that
he
found
distasteful.
The
floor
of
the trench
was
muddy,
slippery
and
sticky.

Dahno
had
reached
some
sort
of
doorway
set
into
the
left
side
of the
trench,
in
the
middle
of
a
stretch
faced
with
crudely
mortared rocks
and
logs.
He
seemed
to
be
trying
to
turn
in
to
the
doorway,
but was
having
trouble
negotiating
the
turn,
encumbered
by
the
unwieldy
form
in
his
arms.
He
stopped,
and
started
to
shift
the
soldier's body
into
a
more
vertical
position—and
at
that
moment
cones
whistled
from
a
point
further
down
the
trench.
Dahno
half-turned
toward Toni
and
Bleys—and
then
fell
backward,
the
young
soldier
sliding from
his
arms,
down
into
the
opening
he
had
been
trying
to
enter.

As
he
tried
to
throw
himself
to
the
ground,
Bleys'
feet
slipped
in the
mud,
and
he
fell
sideways
into
the
wall
of
the
trench,
his
grip
on Toni's
arm
pulling
her
with
him,
so
that
she
fell
on
top
of
him.

Power
rifles
roared
twice—three
times—from
behind
them,
and
he saw
a
figure,
beyond
Dahno's
body,
tumble
backward
as
if
kicked
in the
stomach
by
some
invisible
god.

"Up!"
he
heard
a
voice
yell;
but
he
and
Toni
had
already
untangled
themselves
and
begun
to
rise.
They
ran,
crouching
and
gasping,
to
where
Dahno
lay,
reaching
him
even
as
several
soldiers
came running
up
behind
them.

"Get
him
inside!"
Bleys
heard
the
lieutenant
order;
and
hands reached
from
behind
him
to
take
hold
of
Dahno's
body.
Toni
stood up,
and
backed
away.

"I
think
there's
someone
down
in
the
doorway,"
Bleys
yelled.

"Clear
the
doorway,
Stanton,"
the
lieutenant
ordered.
A
soldier looked
into
the
doorway,
while
the
others
lifted
Dahno
from
the mud.

"Hurry!"
the
lieutenant
yelled.
Whistling
noises
punctuated
his order,
and
two
power
rifle
blasts
could
be
heard
from
behind.
Someone
screamed
shrilly—and
then
Bleys
was
at
the
doorway,
Toni
disappearing
into
it
ahead
of
him.

He
ducked
his
head
to
get
under
the
wooden
beam
that
formed the
top
of
the
entrance—and
immediately
found
he
had
to
take
an unexpected
long
step
downward
just
inside
the
doorway,
only
to
be immediately
faced
with
a
wall
of
sandbags
shaped
by
a
timber frame.
He
turned
right,
to
take
two
more
deep
downward
steps
into what
appeared
to
be
some
sort
of
dugout
bunker.

The
bunker's
roof
was
made
of
crudely
cut
logs
of
varying
sizes, and
the
wall
nearest
the
trench
had
been
reinforced
with
stones
and sandbags.
The
ceiling
was
uncomfortably
close
over
his
head,
and his
hair
brushed
against
the
widely
spaced
perpetual
lightstrips
that were
providing
their
illumination—apparently
no
one
had
thought them
worth
scavenging
after
the
local
war
had
moved
on.

The
wounded
soldier
he
had
helped
earlier
was
already
lying
on the
floor
halfway
across
the
room,
now
with
blood
staining
her
uniform
in
several
new
places,
and
Toni
was
hurrying
to
kneel
beside her.
Two
unwounded
soldiers
were
coming
back
toward
him,
and he
found
himself
virtually
pushed
into
them
as
the
party
carrying Dahno
managed,
with
a
good
deal
of
cursing,
to
guide
his
large frame
through
the
doorway
and
the
turn.
Bleys
stepped
aside,
and the
soldiers,
four
of
them,
carried
Dahno
over
near
where
Toni
was checking
on
the
wounded
woman;
and
put
him
down
gently.
Bleys could
see
portions
of
several
needles
lodged
in
the
fabric
of
the blast
jacket
Dahno
was
still
wearing
over
his
suit
jacket,
as
well
as bloodstains
on
his
shirt,
underneath
both
jackets.

The
two
other
soldiers
had
gone
back
past
Bleys
and
out
the doorway,
from
which
he
could
now
hear
some
yelling
mixed
in
with the
whistles
and
roars
of
a
skirmish
apparently
beginning
to
draw closer
down
the
length
of
the
trench.
The
four
soldiers
who
had
carried
Dahno
quickly
passed
by
Bleys
and
went
back
through
the doorway,
but
within
seconds
more
soldiers
were
coming
back
into the
bunker.

The
first
two
were
half-dragging
a
body,
which
was
carried
across the
room
and,
as
before,
deposited
near
where
the
young
woman was
lying.
Toni
had
left
her
and
moved
over
to
check
on
Dahno.

"Does
anyone
have
any
medical
supplies?"
Toni
yelled.
One
of the
soldiers,
already
moving
back
toward
the
doorway,
checked
long enough
to
uncouple
a
portion
of
his
harness,
from
which
depended several
sealed
pouches.
He
handed
the
entire
harness
to
Toni,
and she
grabbed
it
and
began
to
open
the
pouches,
while
the
soldier headed
back
to
the
doorway.

Before
he
got
there,
more
figures
filled
the
entrance,
again
carrying
a
body.
They
carried
the
wounded
man,
this
time,
past
Toni, putting
him
down,
gently,
in
the
far
corner.
As
they
turned
away more
figures
entered,
also
carrying
a
body—and
this
time,
the
body was
that
of
the
young
lieutenant.

Bleys
felt
a
headache
coming
on.