Chapter 26: Wilderness

"Well, ladies, that proved easier than I thought." The man smiled and glanced at Nora's deecrets.

Varna could see out of the corner of her eye the female had sat down next to her. She had known them long enough to realize that the way the deecret was swishing her tail, the end moving from side to side in short flicking movements, that she was not happy.

Varna chose her target as Nora spoke. "And you are?"

"Oh, a distant cousin, my dear, Motasa Rmaxis at your service." He bowed his head slightly then puffed out his chest. "We intercepted a message to your Great Grandfather and luckily we had Traleia and her cruiser in close proximity to your captor's ship. To make things easy and ensure your co-operation your uncle ordered her to pretend she was working for your Grandfather. Unfortunately your uncle is off world for a council meeting at the moment, but he assures me he will be back the day after tomorrow to meet you.

"As for your sharp toothed friend and your little pets they are now surplus to requirements." He waved his hand in Varna's direction and addressed the guards. "Kill them!"

Varna was ready, and before her chosen target could aim his pistol she had kicked him in the groin, and as he gasped and started to double over she had spun forward and snatched the pistol from his hand. Beside her, Nora moved faster then she had ever seen anyone move, while her deecrets ripped the throats from two of the guards. In the space of three breaths the five guards were disabled or dead. Nora had taken out two, as had her deecrets, and Varna the remaining one. Motasa had turned tail and was running back to the house screaming for more guards. Varna repositioned the pistol in her hand, took aim and shot him in the head. She bent down, snatched another pistol from a fallen guard and stuffed it in her belt. She noted that Nora did the same.

She glanced round as more armed guards emerged from the building. Nora shot one and the rest dived for cover. "Come on, let's get out of here!" Varna started running for the woods at the side of the open area, firing as she went. Nora and her deecrets outpaced her and dived for cover amongst the trees, then Nora turned and covered Varna, keeping the guards pinned down with accurate pistol fire. Varna, her lungs bursting, heart banging against her ribs, finally made the relative safety of the trees. She threw herself down and lay gasping for a few moments as Nora kept the security guards at bay.

Once Varna had her breathing back to an almost normal level she pushed herself up and looked round. They were in a small gully at the edge of the wood, Nora lay on her stomach firing the pistol she had picked up, her deecrets lay either side of her below the edge of the rise. "Nora, we need to get out of here fast, before reinforcements arrive. They underestimated us once, they won't do it again."

Nora twisted and looked back at her. "Yep, they did didn't they, bastards! I knew as soon as that Motasa appeared we were in trouble, I could sense he had murder on his mind." Keeping low she rose and joined Varna. "Were do we go?"

"We head for the mountains. The other side of that range is the Sarlak family holding, they won't tolerate anyone from the Rmaxis family on their land for any reason, they loathe one another, so we can hide there for a while and work out a way off this planet."

They set off through the trees, making for the thicker forest and the mountains. As they ran, Nora asked if their pursuers had access to tracking animals.

Varna shook her head. "No," she gasped breathlessly. "There was nothing, they had no reason for such an animal." They heard crashing and cursing behind them that slowly faded away as they moved deeper into the wilderness. "Your deecrets are the most fearsome animals around here, Nora. In the old days even the wilderness was managed, it is only during the last few generations things became neglected."

They jogged for at least an hour. Varna's legs were burning, her breath coming in short gasps, and she had started to stumble from exhaustion when Nora called a halt in a small clearing. Varna sunk to her knees, and took large gulps of air as her heart smashed against her ribs. She swung her knees round and lay down on the short grass. After a few moments she looked up at the younger woman. Nora stood looking back down the slope of the hill they had been ascending.

Varna sighed "Ancestors, Nora, you look like you have just been walking in the park, you're not even breathing heavily!"

Nora turned, looked down at her and smiled. "I was going slow for you, Varna, none of my family or friends could ever keep up with me either, except my brother of course. He was always faster and stronger. She turned and looked up the hill through the trees towards the distant mountains. "We need to find cover for the night, there looks to be a line of cliffs in the distance maybe there will be caves we can hide in before they come looking for us in ships with sensors."

Varna groaned. "All right, I'm ready, let's go." She rolled over and pushed herself up on her knees. Nora held out her hand and helped her to stand up. They continued to jog through the trees towards the distant cliff, stopping now and then so Varna could catch her breath. When they reached the cliff face they angled along it until they came to an ancient rock fall that had revealed a cave opening. Water trickled down the rocks and they both scooped a handful to drink before picking their way up to the cave entrance.

The cave was a wide oval with a pool of water in the centre. A faint hint of steam rose from the surface and when Varna touched it with her fingers she found it to be warm. The spring that fed the pool must have originated deep underground, which explained the mineral taste of the water. They found a ledge at the back of the cave and Varna slid down with a sigh.

Nora sent her deecrets out to hunt and sat down next to Varna. "Are they likely to know of this cave?"