The Far Side (32 page)

“I’ve followed this another hundred yards up the mountain,” Andie told Kris.  “The slit stays about thirty feet wide, but the walls get higher on the left.  If I remember correctly, this looks like an over-hanging cliff from the other side.”

Kris thought about that and nodded.  Yeah, that was so, and as a result, no one had bothered to go that way, not wanting to “waste” their time finding the cliff edge.  “Still, at some point this has to end,” Kris commented.

“I imagine so, but the bandits wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if there wasn’t a good exit.  It’ll be a couple of hundred feet higher, at least, and a half mile or more away from the cave.”

Kris nodded and they retraced their steps and went back inside.  Everyone else was still asleep, and Andie got out some of the teabags she’d packed with their emergency supplies and some of the heaters.  In a few minutes she had tea brewing.

The two young women drank the tea and ate breakfast, then visited the latrine cave again.  “We’re getting to the point,” Andie told Kris, “where we need that TP substitute.”

Kris laughed.  “Let’s see, we have flying critters that eat people, giant storms, ancient enemies, an unknown fate ahead of us -- and you worry about the TP supply?”

“You left out the walk in the park,” Andie corrected her.  “I was talking to Ezra last night when he was working on the verbal description of the map.  If they aren’t shining us on, it’s nearly four hundred miles.  A substantial fraction of the distance that Lewis and Clark covered.”

“Sacajawea, where are you when we need you!” Kris quipped.  She turned serious.  “Jeez, Lewis and Clark took two years.  I hope it’s not a great big fraction of that.”

Andie smiled.  “Those guys could do a hundred miles in a day when motivated -- just not for long.  Think twenty-five or thirty miles a day... roughly two and a half of their weeks.”

“It’s going to be tight,” Kris said helplessly.

“Very tight, unless we meet a relief expedition,” Andie agreed.

Others were finally stirring, including Ezra.  Andie told him about the exit and moments later Ezra, Melek and another of Melek’s men were examining the trail.

They left Kris and Andie back near the cave and Andie scuffed the stream bed with some anger.  “Do you suppose it was fucking like this before women got the vote?  ‘You girlies stay back, so you don’t hurt yourselves!’”

“Sacajawea,” Kris invoked the name again.  “Pocahontas, Florence Nightingale -- they got out there and led.  Mostly, though, women stayed safe.  Don’t forget what Joan of Arc earned for being a leader.”

They were near the entrance to the cave, just a few feet beyond the darkness.  The block to the west had broken off and tipped and twisted a bit when it had fallen.  Where they were, the break was about twenty feet wide at the base, and much wider towards the top.

To the left, the angle of the slope was about thirty degrees on their side, and while it would be an easy descent to make, getting there to make the descent was nearly impossible.

To their east, their right, the slope was steeper, perhaps sixty degrees, which made it passable, but difficult.  Ahead of them the passage slowly widened out, while behind them, going south, it narrowed.  In less than a hundred yards it was a very narrow crack, with the two butts of rock nearly in contact.   Kris couldn’t see any further south, but it was obvious that the crack pinched off.

Already the day was warm and Kris sighed and stretched, glad to feel the warmth after the continual chill of the cave.  “I’m going a bit after Ezra and the others,” she told Andie.  “To where that patch of sun is.”

Andie grunted in acknowledgement, busy studying the fossils exposed when the rocks had broken.  Kris walked about a hundred yards and sat down on a convenient rock.  The three men were much further along, and she could no longer hear the sounds of their progress.

She eyed the gap above her.  Could a dralka fly into this crevice?  She laughed to herself.  Well, Luke Skywalker could have flown an X-Wing fighter in here, so probably yes.  And, like Luke and his wingmen, turning would be an issue.  You could go up -- or crash.

She was seated near the steep part of the ravine, and she doubted if a dralka could fly close enough to bother her.

She was still thinking that when she heard the scritch of gravel above her, coming from the east.  What had Ezra said?  That if you met a dralka on foot a bow was useless?  You needed a sword -- or she thought, maybe a pistol.  She pulled the pistol from the holster and got set, looking upwards.

“Andie! Something’s coming!” she called back to her friend.  Andie spun and dropped to one knee, her pistol coming out as she did.

It was almost comic.  Evidently the sound of Kris’ voice had provided a tiny bit of warning.  Someone appeared at the top of the slope, her arms wind-milling to keep from falling off the edge.  The woman jerked backwards abruptly, and lost her balance, sitting down on her rump as she slid down the steep slope on her butt.

Kris stared at the sudden apparition.  She appeared to be about Kris’ age, and was dressed in thin cotton pants and a thin cotton blouse and was wearing what looked like sandals.

The woman stared at Kris pretty much the same way Kris was sure she was returning the look.

Then there were more gravel sounds from up above and Kris looked up.

Chapter 12 ::
Precipitate Action

The newcomer at the top of the slope was tall and thin, black-skinned, black-eyed, and had long, flowing black hair.  He stopped short and even as Kris watched, he brought up to his shoulder what looked like a rifle and took aim, intent on the girl at the bottom of the ravine.

It was instinctive, without thought or reason.  Her pistol was in her hand, and she saw someone about to shoot a girl not twenty feet away from her.

Ezra had been right, she realized a moment later.  The explosion of the shot came as a surprise.  Worse, she hadn’t jerked the trigger.

She’d been aiming for his chest, but the bullet hit him in the neck.  She could see the explosion of flesh and bone behind him, and without a sound, without a twitch, he pitched forward and fell headfirst into the ravine.

There was no question in Kris’ mind that he was dead the moment he started to fall.  His head lolled forward at an angle that was impossible for someone to duplicate, except in a cartoon.  The landing didn’t help either.

Andie came forward, her pistol at the ready.  “Shit!  Dead-eye Kris!  You killed him!”

“He was going to shoot the girl!” Kris said, her voice was startled, but faint, her stomach starting to protest.

Andie’s eyes went up to the crest of the slope, and after a second, her eyes never leaving off scanning for anything untoward, she spoke softly, “You realize we are now well and truly fucked, right?”

The three men were coming; Kris was sure it was them, but she held the pistol half raised in case it wasn’t.  It took another minute for them to reach the three young women.  “Kris?” Ezra asked gently.

“He had a rifle.  The girl fell into the ravine and was trying to recover when he showed up.  He lifted the rifle and started to aim.  I had heard her and had my pistol out... when I saw him about to shoot her -- the pistol went off.”

Ezra shook his head.  “No, you pulled the trigger and killed him dead, Kris.  Don’t blame it on the weapon.  You pulled the trigger.”

“I’m... sorry,” she said, her voice soft, tears running down her face.

“Why?” Ezra asked roughly.  “You said he was going to kill someone.  That’s right, isn’t it?”

“I... I... I thought so.  God, Ezra!  I killed him!”

“Kris, you have to stop and think.  At times we have to make a judgment about the situations we find ourselves in.  Sure, later we can second guess ourselves, and you know that everyone else is going to do it as well.  You have to put that all aside.  You think back on how you made your decision.  You think about it as coldly and rationally as you can.  If you screwed up, you lift your chin and look around and say, ‘my pistol went off.’”  He grinned at her, “Er, that is you say, ‘I screwed up.  I’ll never do that again.’  And if you don’t think you screwed up, the hell with what everyone thinks.  It was there for you to decide.”

Kris took a deep breath.  Her stomach was still sick, and she was trembling.  “Andie says I’ve fucked up.”

“Well, the odds just two of them are up here running around by themselves aren’t good.  So, what we are going to do is you and Andie take our guest,” he waved at the girl, “inside.  Politely, but firmly.  You have to understand that if she runs away that we are all likely dead?”

Kris nodded, still numb.

He nodded grimly and went over to the dead man and picked up the man’s weapon.  Ezra examined it briefly and then carried it to Melek and showed it to him.  Ezra tried to explain quickly, but when he couldn’t, he arranged with Melek to have the body moved inside -- explanations would have to wait until later.

He came back to Kris and Andie, who were watching Melek’s men moving out to look around.

“You two have to go inside now.  Once you guys are inside, we’ll bring in this guy.  For what it’s worth, Melek wants to give you a medal.  He is really excited.  The first dead ancient enemy in a very long time.  Get moving now, you and Andie first.”

Kris was now standing next to Andie, and she went to the girl, who was still sitting down, staring at the dead man without expression.  When Kris gestured to move along the ravine, the woman nodded and said something to her.  Kris jerked her thumb more firmly, and the woman stood and gingerly moved in the direction indicated.

Andie led the way, then the woman and then Kris.  The woman balked at the dark hole, but Andie grabbed her wrist and tugged.  Reluctantly the woman went along with Andie.  Like Melek and his people, she was curious about the flashlight, but she didn’t seem to be burning with desire to learn about the cave.

Getting her down into the nursery was more of a chore, but Andie made a rope harness for her and essentially lowered her the sixty feet to the ground with Kris helping belay the rope.  Andie went down very quickly, far more rapidly than Kris could manage, and found that Andie was fending off Melek’s men, who were curious about the strange woman.

Kris watched from above, waiting for Ezra.  He appeared for only a few moments.  “Collum is seeing to policing the site, spreading sand on the blood and the like.  Then he’s going to very carefully take a look around.  So far, though, there’s no sign of anyone else.”

He gestured towards the light.  “I’m going to have to stay here for a while.  If they find us, they’ll try a rush the first thing.  If I pile up a half dozen bodies in the tunnel, they might not push really hard.”

He gripped Kris’ shoulders.  “I imagine you feel like shit -- most people do the first time they kill someone.  And it feels ten times worse when you haven’t been trained for it or you haven’t had a chance to psych yourself up for it.  Just be cool, think about it, and it wouldn’t hurt to talk to someone.  Talk to the newcomer, if nothing else.  She won’t understand a word you say, but trust me, the person who needs to understand the most about what happened just now is you.”

He nodded to Andie.  “We have been goofing off, you know.  I’m the one who has been learning the language, while you and Andie had a bye.  Kris, this points up the danger inherent in that.  We need to learn about that girl, and Melek is going to ask questions of her.  I hope she answers quickly and honestly, because that girl was in bad company.”

“I think she was running away,” Kris maintained.

“It could be, or it could be she was just exploring with a companion.  You said yourself you think she heard your voice.  I should be there when they ask her questions, but I’m going to have to stay here for an hour or so to make sure we can hold the entrance if we’re attacked.  Ideally, one of us should listen to the interrogation.”

“Why?” Kris asked.

“Well, allies from a different culture frequently have entirely different ideas about what is an acceptable way to ask questions.  They could start whittling on her to establish that they are serious before they ask even one question.  They could just decide she’s an enemy, regardless of her skin color, or that she’s too much of a risk and decide to kill her.  I might be able to understand some of what they are asking, and if nothing else, I’d be able to slow things down if they start getting rough.  Except I’m not going to be there, and you and Andie don’t know the language.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Kris promised.  “I feel so bad...”

“Why?  The odds are highly in favor of your having done exactly the right thing.  You never gave him a chance to line up on a target.  It is entirely possible he’d have seen you before he fired and shifted to you.  I am positive that Melek thinks you’re a hero, and he’s jealous as hell that you killed one of his enemies before he could.”

Kris went down and Andie came up to her and hugged her tight.  “Fuck, Kris!  I thought you were going to be dead!”

Andie laughed bitterly.  “I’ve read a dozen times in books about some guy in a tight situation and I quote -- ‘without even his dick in his hand.’  I thought that meant totally fucking useless, but I never imagined just how totally useless you can be, standing there with nothing in your hand, and no dick in sight!”

“I don’t understand,” Kris told her friend.

“I froze, pure and simple.  I saw the girl and assumed, ‘Ah, a friend!’  Then I saw the guy aim his gun.  I couldn’t move -- I was paralyzed.  Then, bamm!  The fucker’s dead!  I wanted to cheer, but my mouth was too dry to work.”

Kris turned to her.  “You’re not horrified I killed someone?”

“Don’t be silly, Kris.  That fucker was going to shoot someone.  You, me, that girl -- he was going to try to kill one of us.  No offense, but I’m a fucking Patton conservative -- I want the other dumb fuck to die, not me or my friends.”

“Is she a friend?” Kris asked.

“Well, she’s terrified, for one thing.  Most assholes want to prove that they’re big assholes.  They don’t tremble -- they bluster.  She has a leather collar around her neck with an iron ring on it.  I don’t think it was decorative.  I never thought I’d be freeing slaves, Kris, but fuck!  Freeing even one slave feels good!”

“Ezra is worried that Melek might get rough with her.”

Andie laughed and gestured where the girl was sitting on a rock, drinking some water one of the men of Melek’s patrol had offered her.  The men were vying, Kris thought, for the young woman’s attention, trying, she was sure to make some sort of point.

“She’s a freed slave,” Andie explained.  “You know, one of those who didn’t escape with Melek’s ancestors, who stayed behind and ended up in chains.”  Andie laughed.  “You have noticed that they love both chocolate and peanut butter -- even that shit in the MREs?”

Kris shook her head.  “Well, the guys love it.  Now, half of them have offered her some and she likes it too.  The other half, the ones who gobbled down all they had, are kicking themselves, not as able to make time with her as well as the rest.”

“Ezra was afraid that you and I don’t know the language well enough.  We’d be screwed if anything happened to him.”

“Maybe.  Melek isn’t a dummy.  Ezra really hasn’t been paying attention to how much English Melek has been learning, but it’s nearly as much as Ezra’s learned of Melek’s language.  Come on; let’s go see what’s up.”

Andie walked over to the circle of men around the girl and Melek met her eye.  “Andie,” Andie told him, pointing to herself.  “Melek,” she said pointing to him.  She shrugged, pointing at the girl.

“Chaba,” Melek replied.  Melek turned to Kris and came up to her.

Kris didn’t understand the words, but it seemed like a formal statement of something.  He made two fists and turned the back of them towards Kris, showing her his tattoos.  He touched them to her forehead, and then lightly beat on his own forehead, the fingers of his fists facing his head.

Andie spoke softly.  “Kris, hold up your hands as fists, thumbs together.  Jerk them apart, as if you were breaking a chain.”

Kris didn’t see how that could be significant, but when she did what Andie suggested, there was a sigh from Melek and the others.  Her confusion was compounded when they began to stomp their right feet in unison.

Andie laughed.  “What do you want to bet that their idea of a cheer is stomping the right foot?”

It wasn’t until Ezra and the other man returned that anyone got around to asking the girl more questions than her name.

Ezra spoke to Kris and Andie, while the other fellow filled in Melek.  “Collum looked all over the area and couldn’t see anyone else.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the odds are they’ll miss them eventually and start looking for them.  I suppose maybe if she was running away, maybe she thought she could escape easier in the mountains, or if they were coming, she could see them from further away.”

In spite of the ease that they had learning the girl’s name, everything else was a struggle.

Ezra finally shook his head.  “This is taking too long.  It’s like trying to piece together English like King Alfred would have spoken in 900 AD.  A word here, a word there, but everything is different, and there’s at least one more language overlaying her basic tongue.  I have no idea why those two were up on the flank of the mountain, and the girl just shakes her head ‘no’ when we ask her about it.  She’s terrified, that’s for sure.

“In many slave cultures, the masters practiced ‘group punishment.’  That is, they punished everyone for the sins of just one.  At a guess, she’s trying to rely on our ignorance to keep others from being punished.  She seems certain that we will return her to those others.

“The bottom line, though, is that we need to get our shit together and get ready to get out of Dodge sooner rather than later,” he told Kris and Andie.

He spoke for a while with Melek, and then was back.  “Kris, you and Andie are in good shape when it comes to backpacks.  Andie can use mine, and you’ve got yours.”

He huffed a sigh.  “The girl has to come with us -- the only way Melek will leave her behind is if he cuts her throat first.  There is no way we can afford to have someone along -- besides me -- who can’t carry their own weight, so she’s going to be carrying a hefty pack as well.

“Right now, Melek and his men are fashioning packs of their own.  We’re lucky in that the previous tenants left everything inside, and it’s merely dusty for the most part.  And, while most of it isn’t serviceable, there’s a lot of it, and not so many of Melek’s men, so a couple of them have been set to cannibalizing bits and pieces to fix the gear in the best shape.