James Axler – Starfall

“There’s something else we didn’t consider,” J.B. said, “that might have brought the baron’s men here.”

“Phlorin,” Ryan answered. “I’ve already been thinking about that.”

The Armorer nodded. “No matter what it looks like now, that rain’s going to let up sooner or later. And if we can get those people off our asses now, it would be a good thing.”

“I want to make sure Krysty’s going to be okay before we give that woman to the baron’s people.”

J.B. nodded. “Get it done.”

Ryan kept the SIG-Sauer in his fist and drew the panga with his other hand. He approached the old woman lying on the floor and dropped into a squat beside her. “You and I are going to talk.” He hooked a finger behind the gag in her mouth and pulled it below her chin. He deliberately let the cold steel of the panga’s edge caress her throat with enough weight to draw a thin line of thick dark blood.

The woman’s black eyes blazed. “There’s nothing I have to say to you.”

“Good,” Ryan told her. “Means you’re ready to listen. You’ve done something to that woman over mere.” He pointed at Krysty with the panga. “Fucked her head up somehow. I mean to see her back the way she’s supposed to be.” He freed the woman’s left hand, then stepped on her wrist, trapping it against the earthen floor.

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” the old woman wheezed. Her trapped hand moved weakly, like a dying spider trying to scuttle into hiding.

Ryan was conscious of every eye in the room on him. If the other ex-prisoners had any idea what he was talking about, none of them showed it. “I’m going to whittle you down to a more manageable size,” he told her roughly. “I know ways that can make your dying a long time in com­ing.”

The woman laughed at him, her spittle laced with the blood from the wound in her chest. “Do you actually think you can frighten me, man?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Ryan answered in a flat voice. “I’m just telling you how it’s going to be.”

“Cut me if you wish.” Phlorin coughed again, sputtering blood up through her thin blue lips. “I can put myself past the pain. And now that I have Krysty with me, I don’t have to be alone when I die.”

“I can throw you out there in that acid rain.” Ryan stared hard into the woman’s magnetic black gaze. “You’ll be alone then.”

“It won’t matter. I’ve bonded myself with Krysty. She is a part of me now, and I am a part of her. There’s nothing you can do to prevent that.”

Ryan glanced over at Mildred.

“This woman’s dying,” Mildred said. “Even if I had all the supplies I’d need and we could guarantee that she wouldn’t be moved for a few days, she won’t make it.”

“You see?” Phlorin taunted. “All you can do is hasten the inevitable. I’d consider it a favor. I don’t like lying here, being weaker and more helpless than I’ve ever been.”

“When you die,” Ryan said, “mebbe Krysty will wake up and never remember you were even there.”

“Do you want to take that chance?”

Ryan gave her a cruel fox’s grin. “You’re dying, bitch, and I’m going to be trying it sooner or later because I don’t think you’re going to let go on your own. Rather it was sooner, let me know what I’m dealing with while I’m trying to save our asses. And that’s an ace on the line.”

“Krysty is one of us,” the old woman said. “How you got her to give up her birthright is beyond me. And she’s very strong.”

“You brought us here,” Ryan said, “and mixed us up in this. It wasn’t any of our business.”

“Couldn’t die alone, because then everything I’d known would die with me. Chosen don’t die alone, don’t die far from home without returning.” Her words slurred and be­came hollow, drifting away.

“You’re losing her,” Mildred said.

Bolstering the SIG-Sauer, Ryan grabbed the woman. She fought against him weakly, then gave up. She spoke softly and sibilantly, and it took Ryan a moment to realize the same words were coming from Krysty across the room. They were two voices singing the same song.