Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit (21 page)

Together they tore themselves free from their direct Cosmic link with the planet Janosha.

Like shredding themselves.

They both screamed.

All of the wild energies within them bled out and dissipated.

Naero collapsed. Spent, gasping and sweating on the ground.

That nearly destroyed us. But at least now our block is gone.

Naero groaned. She could barely lift her head.

Great, Om. Suddenly I feel…so much better.

Naero struggled to breathe and not black out again.

25

For the rest of that long week on her own, Naero gauged herself and did her best to heal Om, careful not to get overwhelmed by the Cosmic energy flows of Janosha. Vast energies that so nearly destroyed them.

Perhaps Master Vane could instruct her how to do so
more safely when he got around to it. How to control the process of tapping into them without exploding. That was his job after all.

And n
ot blowing up would be a huge help.

She
also practiced learning to sluna, but she was awful at it to begin with. To the Tua, it was nearly an innate ability, learned shortly after they could walk.

But when she told him where she was at that night, Khai seemed very impressed.

Through their link while they slept, they compared notes on channeling various types of Cosmic energy and what both of them knew about energy being transformation.

Naero still
had over two years to train on Janosha.

At least now
with her block gone, she could actually begin to access and use her abilities directly. Her real training could begin.

First it
had been rather nice having Master Vane and Hashiko out of the picture.

Naero sure didn
’t miss the morning beat-downs, and it was pleasant to also have a break from Master Vane’s brutal Chaos lessons.

But now that she had biomanced past her block, she coul
dn’t wait for them to get back so that they could teach her some basic control.

And much more.

Especially on ways to not kill herself.

She rattled on for several minutes before
Khai could even slip in a word.

He
sounded eager and excited.

“That
’s great, Naero! Now you can really begin to learn the Way. Not to be outdone–I spent an entire hour in the fusion chamber yesterday and again today without any need to regenerate, de-contaminate, or heal myself. I didn’t even lose any fingers. All thanks to the insights we have shared.”

“Great. But now I
’m stuck again. I don’t dare tap into the flows on my own any more. I just have to wait until Vane and Hashiko get back. And I’m still trying to find a way to measure my own basic progress here to increase my speed and strength to Mystic levels. If my speed or strength do gradually increase, how will I even know?”

Khai laughed. “If you want speed, talk to and work with the Tua. Over short distances, they
’re incredible runners on the open plains and savannahs. You can measure yourself against them.”

“Thanks. What about strength?”

“I had the same problem. Try this. There’s a mountain gorge a few klicks down stream along the great river. Look for piles of river stones and boulders of every shape, size, and weight.”

“Yeah. So what. Rocks along a river gorge. Who knew?”

“If you are observant, you will notice many sorted piles of these rocks and stones stretching out along the river on both sides. They get larger and heavier as you proceed.”

“You left them there?”

“Yes. As I progressed, I tossed larger and larger stones across the river, back and forth each day, twice a day when I could. As I grew in my ability to channel greater Cosmic energy and strength, I moved on to larger rocks.”

“Brilliant. I
’ll go there and try it.”

“I
’m still having trouble focusing the powers of all three Wisdoms within the fusion field. The energy distortion and fluctuations are intense and very difficult to control.”

“Sorry. All of that sounds like gobbledy-gook to me. I don
’t even have a handle on Chaos energy yet. So, I guess I’m not much help in that area.”

“That
’s all right. It’s nice just to be able to talk to someone and take my mind off of all of my complex impossibilities.”

“You
’re tenacious, Khai. I can tell you don’t give up. You’re smart, capable, and powerful. A true Mystic prodigy. A natural adept. Keep working like you are, and I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

“I could say the same for you, Naero.”

“Aww…you’re making me blush.”

She suddenly wondered again just what Khai looked like.

Hashiko never said anything about that.

As if an ice princess like her ever would. But Khai had to have something going for him if she went for him.

Naero shook herself. Neither of them could afford to be stupid or distracted. If either of them failed in their appointed tasks, a swift and she was guessing horrible, hot and sticky end awaited them both.

Some day would have to come some other day.

She made a note to herself.

Run with the Tua.

The very next day Naero ran with the Tua while Bahan and Iika also made quick recoveries. She grew slightly faster, but the Tua bursts of speed were still amazing to her. She never guessed how fast they truly were over short distances.

Practice throwing increasingly bigger rocks.

Naero went to the rocky river gorge that Khai spoke of and tossed the smaller piles of rocks and stones from one side to the other. Focusing her abilities.

Many more incrementally large
r piles stretched out into the distance and around the river bend.

Khai did all that? Pretty amazing.

It frustrated her that she could only progress from one smaller size of rock up to the next.

*

Her tormentors in the happy Land of Chaos could in fact return at any time.

N
ow that they were fully recovered, Naero insisted on going out with Bahan and Iika and the majority of the cave tribe on one of their challenge runs.

Challenge runs were made
once or twice each month. They were tests, contests of speed, agility, courage and skill.

The Tua pitted themselves against the
akakoth, the fierce, always-hungry giant caterpillar monsters that thought Tua and everything else to be a juicy, crunchy snack.

Naero understood very well how formidable the
se monsters were.

If the Tua won the contests, they lived to run another day.

If they lost, they gave the akakoth some hard-earned nutrition.

The Tua seemed to accept the challenge runs as a fact of
life on Janosha. It was part of what they did. No one questioned it.

Any Tua in their prime from the ages of fifteen to twenty-eight could join in the challenges if they chose. Male or female. There was no pressure, but many did so, despite the risks. Yet pregnant females and mated pairs with newborns
, and the elderly were naturally excused.

Iika explained that most adult Tua in their prime ran the Challenges at least three times a year to prove their worth.

The tribe cheered and shouted encouragement to any runners.

Naero noticed large astral crystal pillars staged at intervals around the forest.

Master Vane erected a basic repulsion screen through the crystals to keep out the akakoth, who usually traveled underground and avoided the large snoka and galu trees any way because of their large deep roots, for obvious reasons. But hunger might still drive them even into the trees after a meal of Tua, and the young were especially vulnerable.

The youths guarding the young, who all watched from a distance, complained about not being allowed to go with the adults. Some of the older Tua, nearing their time, remained behind from the Challenges also. They watched after the oldest youths, so that the latter could not sneak off to try to chunga before their coming of age and being mated.

Bahan explained that it was actually very rare for one of the tribe to be eaten by the akakoth. It happened perhaps only once or twice within an entire year. But there was always that chance.

Thukia, another friend of Naero
’s was very bold and boasted of her prowess. She strode beyond the protective barrier without fear or hesitation. She actually stomped her feet on the short grass of the savannah.

“What is she doing?” Naero asked.

Iika smiled. “Thuki calls to the akakoth. In a moment she will make her run across the plain. See those patches of blue on the far side in the distance?”

Naero lifted her hand to shade her eyes from the sun.

“Just barely. It’s a couple of klicks away at least.”

“Those are shinga flowers. They are rare and only grow in that place for many, many leagues. They are good medicine; we use them on wounds in our balms. But the law of the challenge runs state that runners can only pluck one shinga flower and bring it back with them. And to do that, they must avoid the
akakoth who rule the plains and hide beneath the ground, defending their territory and waiting to strike.”

“Look!” Bahan called
out. “A herd of hunor.”

The earth rumbled. Out of a cloud of dust over the far rise, hundreds of hunor stampeded forward. Blue, gray, and white spotted large herd animals, somewhere between a water buffalo and a
wildebeest by its shape and twisted white horns.

They used their numbers to charge forward and defeat the
akakoth on their way to the fertile loop of the river and the rich tall grasslands beyond that the monsters avoided. The smell or taste of the high grass fended the giant caterpillars off.

Akakoth
erupted from a score of dens and snapped up unlucky bulls, cows, or calves. But as a whole, the entire herd survived. Paying the grim toll to reach food and fresh grazing lands beyond.

Thukia brazenly
zigzagged through the akakoth munching on their hunor meals.

She paused at the shinga flowers and sniffed them for a few moments.

An akakoth who did not get a hunor to munch on spotted her and shot in her direction.

The tribe shouted warnings, but Thukia was too far away to hear.

At the last moment, she plucked a large shinga blossom and fixed it in her shiny black hair.

By the time the
akakoth struck the spot she had been standing in, Thukia was already racing back across the plain.

Three other monsters shot out to cut her off.

Thukia leaped over one.

She caused the other two to crash into each other and begin fighting.

Barely breathing hard, Thukia raced back into the barrier, holding up her dark blue shinga blossom for all to see.

The tribe cheered her victory.

Bahan went out next, stretching casually as he strode beyond the barrier.

Iika smiled proudly. “My Bahan is the fastest male in all the tribes we know,” she boasted.

Naero laughed. “Faster than you?”

Iika smiled and tossed her head.

“I said he was the fastest
male
,” she emphasized. They laughed together.

Bahan had an interesting running style. He was incredibly fast, and could take off like a shot and change direction, apparently at will.

He taunted the akakoth and zipped in and out, confusing and driving them into a frenzy. Fights between dozens of the monsters broke out as he crisscrossed through their marked territories. Marked with the dung of each monster.

He would scoop some up as he ran, fling
ing it here and there, messing up their markings and causing fights.

The
akakoth grew so disrupted that Bahan stopped and sat down just shy of the shinga flowers and munched on a long, sweet length of tessel stem as he watch the akakoth crash and twist and wrestle with each other.

The tribe gasped as he even laid back and appeared to be taking a nap.

Despite several enraged akakoth going underground and heading his way.

More cries and warnings.

Bahan rose up, stretched, and casually went over to pluck a flower.

He suddenly sped away, barely dodging multiple
akakoth erupting from the ground just behind him.

He raced and dodged a gauntlet of monsters barring his return. A score of them rampaged upon his heels, snapping and biting, missing him by inches.

Then he sped away from them.

Iika looked worried suddenly and craned her head.

“What is he doing? He should be back by now. Why is he leading them east, away from the barrier? He can’t keep up his speed forever. They could trap him if he is not–”

Cries of warning and terror erupted from the rest of the tribe.

Ahti! Ahti! Ahti! Zah, Zah, Zah!

Somehow several kits burst out of the barrier and rushed out into the open. Other young ones chased them, trying to get them to come back.

Three enraged akakoth shrieked and hissed. Immediately going into attack mode.

The young ones and the kits would never get back to the barrier in time.