James Axler – Demons of Eden

The surge of relief washing through Krysty left her momentarily weak. She rose to her feet and ran joyfully into his arms.

Doc, Jak and Sisoka were with him. Ryan quickly explained how he had been drawn to them by the sound of his friends’ blasterfire.

“Joe and warriors crawl all over place,” Jak said. “Looking for us. Trapped.”

“It’s me he really wants,” Sisoka said softly. “Perhaps I can convince him to let all of you go.”

“And take the location of this magic valley back to the world?” Doc asked. “Not very likely, child.”

“Our only escape route is the cave,” Ryan said.

“My strategy exactly,” Krysty agreed.

Sisoka heaved a deep, forlorn sigh. “I have no choice. Even if I surrendered to Touch-the-Sky, he would still defile the sacred place.”

“Then let’s move on it,” J.B. said impatiently. “Not stand around talking about it.”

They moved deeper into the twisting labyrinth, squeezing through narrow places and clambering over heaps of shale, scrambling for footholds on chunks of granite and sandstone.

Sidling around the bulging base of a boulder, they faced the cavern entrance. It was smaller than Ryan had estimated, a cleft wider at the bottom that the top, seemingly punched into the mountain wall. A narrow stair of handholds had been niched into the rock, extending upward to a shelflike threshold ten feet above their heads.

The wavery glow from inside the cleft was a bluish fog, more like a phosphorescent mist than an actual light.

Everyone stopped to stare for a long moment, then Sisoka moved forward. The others followed, scalps tingling at the prospect of entering the cave.

A dark shape bounded from a patch of gloom between the rock, and as one, blaster barrels snapped up and fingers crooked tight around triggers.

Blood-sniffer nosed Sisoka’s hand, then glanced at Ryan and showed his fangs and red tongue in a grin. They all released their suddenly pent-up breaths in gusty sighs.

“Damn wolf again,” J.B. growled. “Hoped it’d been chilled.”

Ryan eyed Blood-sniffer and saw the beast had only narrowly avoided that fate. A bleeding gash stretched along its right side, and a red-rimmed notch had been chopped into the base of its tail, probably with an ax. Still, the wolfs condition and spirit seemed sound.

A thunderclap came from the rocky maze on the far side of the entrance, and a bullet splashed cold air on Ryan’s right cheek. As his blaster came up, he heard the rattle of stones, a breathless exchange of Lakota and running footfalls from the murk.

Ryan and Jak opened up with their blasters, providing covering fire for the others as they scrambled up the stairs chiseled into the rock. Surprisingly J.B. helped Blood-sniffer climb the niches by pushing him upward with a shoulder against his rump.

Rock chips scattered under the impact of the Gewehr’s subsonic rounds. Ryan scaled the steps as quickly as he could. He heard a whup of displaced air over his head, followed by the whine of a ricochet. Pulverized stone sprinkled him.

When he reached the shelf, he lay flat and fired the SIG-Sauer in the direction of the autofire. Jak bounded up the niches, not using his hands, his finger working the trigger of his Colt Python.

He stumbled slightly at the top, put a hand over his right hip, brought it away and stared with rueful eyes at the blood glistening on his white palm.

“Shit,” he muttered, and staggered, putting out a hand to catch himself.

Ryan slid an arm under his shoulders and half carried, half dragged Jak past the threshold of the cleft. The thundering hammer of the automatic rifle ceased.

Everyone was waiting for them around a bend in a narrow of the corridor of stone. While Ryan reloaded, Krysty and Doc watched the cave entrance. Mildred gave Jak a quick examination, forcing him to drop his pants. Sisoka was listening to the words from outside that floated in.

“Touch-the-Sky is having difficulty convincing his warriors to follow him into the cave,” she said. “They’re arguing.”

Krysty looked tense and impatiently shook her head. “We need to get on the move before the argument is resolved.”

Mildred told Jak he could pull up his pants and she said, “Not too bad. The bullet exited his hip above his right buttock. It’s deep, sheared through some muscle and might have cracked the bone.”