‘And she did. She went with me for my safe conduct; we had a flyer each; she flew us direct over the mountains and down onto Sunside. And with the new sun rising she bade me farewell and raced her beasts home again. That was the last time I saw her. Watching her flyer out of sight, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
‘Some time later Lardis and his Travellers found me, and now I’ve told you everything . . .’
In a little while Jazz said, There are a couple of other things I’d intended asking you. One of them was about that warrior creature which caused all the destruction at Perchorsk. Well, you’ve answered that – it was Lesk’s creature – but there are other things. The great bat, the wolf, the thing in the tank.’
Zek shrugged. ‘Maybe the bat and wolf got through accidentally. Blinded by the light, the bat flew into the sphere. Like us, it was guided one way through the gate. Similarly the wolf, which was old, nearly blind. As for the thing in the tank: it was a vampire. As coincidence would have it, it numbered among its ancestors both a wolf and a bat. In its metamorphic state, it was likely to take on characteristics of both. The slug characteristics are typical of its swamp origin. Maybe it entered the gate looking for prey. I don’t know . . .’
Jazz blinked tired eyes, said: Too deep for me. I begin to half-understand, but then I bog down. I suppose I’m just weary. One last thing. What about the others from Perchorsk, the men who came through before you?’
‘I wasn’t told about them,’ she grimaced. ‘Khuv – the lying dog – didn’t mention them! But I did learn about them from Karen. Belath took the first of them; mutated, he’s now one of Belath’s warriors. The other was a man called Kopeler. I used to know him.’
‘Ernst Kopeler, yes,’ Jazz said. ‘An esper.’
Zek nodded. ‘He could read the future. When he came through the gate Shaithis’s familiar bats saw him. Shaithis took him, but before he could make use of him Kopeler shot himself dead. If I’d been able to read the future, maybe I’d have done the same.’
Jazz nodded his agreement, said, ‘It’s time we got on down. I’ve still got a spot of weapon-training to do. And after that … I want you very much. That’s assuming I can still manage it, of course.’ He grinned – but only for a moment.
Wolf, who had been still and silent for some time, began to growl low and throatily. His ears twitched nervously, went flat to his head.
‘What – ?’ Zek stiffened, looked startled; and for the first time Jazz noticed how quiet it had gone, and the thickness of the mist where it rolled down from the mountains. Zek clutched at him, her eyes suddenly flown wide.
‘What is it?’ he husked.
‘Jazz,’ she whispered. ‘Oh, Jazz!’ She half-closed her eyes, put a slim hand to her forehead. Thoughts . . .’ she said.
‘Whose thoughts?’ Gooseflesh rose on his spine, his forearms.
‘ Theirs .r
Panicked shouts came echoing up to them; shockingly, an explosion tore the night: one of Jazz’s grenades, left with Lardis. A weird, bestial roaring commenced: a primal sound. ‘What the hell – ?’ Jazz lifted Zek down from their niche in the rock, turned from her to begin making the descent.
‘No, Jazz!’ she cried, then clapped a hand to her mouth. And: ‘Oh, be quiet.,” she whispered. More explosions followed, hideous screaming, then shouting in blunt, commanding tones. Following which all was a tumult of sounds – battle sounds, and desperate!
‘They were waiting for us!’ Zek hissed. ‘Shaithis, his lieutenants, a warrior, hidden away in the deepest recesses of the rock. And there are other warriors out here!’
Something huge launched itself from a position higher than their own. It throbbed in the thin mist that curled over the treetops, a dark shape speeding down the sky, trailing appendages which tore through the higher branches of the trees almost directly overhead. It, too, began to roar.