Sheared of its moorings, the rope slithered through the tree branches. As she watched it, Krysty sent a small prayer to Gaia, the Earth Mother, to watch over her companions and keep all safe from harm.
She took up cover behind the oak tree as she listened to the crash and thunder of heavy objects smashing through the trees overhead. She barely made out the thick tree trunk that swept down at the gang still trying to steal their trade goods.
Then it was among them, over a ton of falling wood that Ryan had selected from farther up the hill. Steel cable had been easy enough to come by in the redoubt, and Ryan, Dean and Jak had returned for it after the one-eyed man had picked the ambush spot and made his plans.
Short loops of the steel cable jutted from the underside of the huge tree trunk. The loops folded out big enough to catch a man’s arm, hand or foot, and it was thin enough with the force coming up with it to slice right through skin, flesh and bone as it passed.
It was also in a man’s instinct to lift a hand to defend himself against something he thought was falling on him. Ryan had counted on that.
Krysty watched the tree trunk arc through the trees, staying less than two feet above the ground just as Ryan and Doc had planned on. Three or maybe four men lost their lives when the tree trunk smashed into them. At least that many lost hands and arms in the vicious coils of steel cable.
A head spun free of one man’s body, scissored off by the cable before he could escape. The sound of dying men multiplied below.
Krysty extended her arm and fired her remaining two shots at a man rushing the last position she’d seen Ryan in. The man went down. Ducking behind the tree, she broke open her weapon and shook the brass loose. Her fingers moved smoothly as she refilled the cylinder. After those rounds were fired, she had only four more in her shirt pocket.
She shifted around the tree, finding a new position that offered a less constricted view of the clearing below. They were down to all or nothing.
RYAN SHOVED HIMSELF to his feet as the tree trunk suspended from steel cables swung back in its trajectory. The huge block of wood slammed into two other men who’d been missed the first time. They flew almost thirty feet with the impact, and didn’t move again after that.
Doc came up with the Le Mat blaster and fired a round of scattergun pellets that knocked a handful of men reeling. Then he went to cover.
On the second time through, the trailing coils of steel cable caught more hands and arms. It also smashed into the converted horse-drawn wag. A horse whinnied in pain and terror as it struggled to get up.
Standing beside a tree, Ryan picked his targets coolly and fired with rapid accuracy, choosing the biggest part of the men’s bodies to hit. The gang members went down in succession.
When he’d fired the Steyr empty, Ryan left it by the tree. If he survived, he could get the long blaster later. He drew the SIG-Sauer P-226 and rushed forward, gaining ground and assuming a new position that caught the gang unaware.
Rising to one knee, he fired three times and cut a man down in midstride. His combat senses caught some movement to his left. He pulled around as a line of bullets chopped into the ground where he had been.
Liberty stood beside a tree and levered another shell, then fired again. “You’re a dead man, One-Eye!”
Ryan shoved the SIG-Sauer forward, facing the .3O-.3O’s barrel as it swung toward him. There was no time to move, and he knew Liberty had him dead in his sights. He squeezed the trigger, expecting to feel a bullet hit him in the next heartbeat.
Instead, Liberty’s head snapped back, his skull opening up and loosing brain matter over the trees behind him. The corpse dropped in an uncoordinated tangle of limbs.
Turning back to the clearing, Ryan saw one of the gang members spin away from Doc. A load of buckshot had taken the man’s face from him, along with his life.