Chapter 9

Mary ran for the babies' lives.

Rodger and Paul had been dropped haphazardly in the double stroller, crying as the wheels bumped and jarred down the uneven grassy slope. She fought to keep them going, going at speed, knowing one wrong move would send the not yet year old infants spilling onto the ground. Danny was to her left, with the other stroller. He held half Orang Jeli, with one arm, the boy clinging to his neck as if he knew what was at stake, all sense of play gone. Danny's free hand pushed his double stroller, the front wheels coming up off the ground more often than not. Goldie ran a bit ahead of them, sprinting on all fours, calling out obstacles.

Above...

Rinda burst out of the dining room door, skidding to a stop, eyes unable to accept it.

Ludzie.

A Ludzie ship. Above their homes. There was no fleet here. No Orang warships to aid them. They ... they...

"Rinda!"

Chuck's voice broke through all fear. Turning, she reflexively caught the Orang rifle her husband had tossed to her. Hands which had not touched a weapon in a year automatically checked the safety, the clip. She saw the others pouring out into the path. Alicia had a second rifle. Chuck held the third. He gestured, voice firm.

"Rinda, Alicia! Help the kids! Nona, medkits! Everyone else, arm!"

Her hopes soared. A plan. That's all she needed. A plan. With no further thought, she was off.

Daium despaired as she ran home.

The weapons were scattered. Every home had some, so they would never foolishly be unable to reach them if some native beast entered the town. Non-native dangers had never been considered.

Ludzie.

The ship was a small one. A scout, or destroyer. It was damaged. Heavily damaged. How much from some earlier fight, how much from stupidly coming out of hyperspace inside the atmosphere, she couldn't say. Smoke and fire came from the rear. As she watched, two streaks appeared in the sky, coming from the landing pad. The white trails met the Ludzie ship. A fireball erupted. A split second later, the sound wave hit.

The squirrels. Fighting back. The stupid, fucking ... there had been a chance this wasn't an attack. That it was, yes, a damaged ship. That those leaving it on feathered wings were abandoning the craft to its fate.

Now ... now...

The ship was falling.

Danny could see that. It was going to come down, inland, to the west. On the other side of the crops, it looked like. There was fire. A dozen, two dozen, winged creatures were gliding down, green wings spread wide. They were huge. He knew that. Over eight feet tall, with talons and beaks ... the lowest one split off. Had spotted them. Was dropping lower...

Golden fur flashed before him.

Goldie was not useless.

She knew that now.

Her body, for once, had a use.

She could not help with the babies. Could not carry one, could not push a stroller. She could not work a weapon. Her hands were not nimble enough to work most tools, her legs no good at keeping her upright for any length of time. She was not the most technical person in the village.

She could do one thing, though. One thing, that could save her friend. Her brother.

With a running jump, the golden teen leapt up at the incoming alien.

It tried to veer. Too late, it saw her as a threat. With a roar her throat had never given, Goldie grabbed a feathered wingtip. There was bone in that wing, bone that snapped easily as gravity captured her body again. The creature screamed, a taloned claw futilely reaching for her. Goldie held on tight as she hit the grass. Her free hand grabbed another paw full of feathers, even as her legs pushed her up and onto the body of the thing. With a roar, she went for its neck.

Chuck picked a spot next to a tree, firing up into the sky.

He was trying to hit them, naturally. That was the goal when you used a weapon. At this range, up into the wind, he knew he had little chance. No. He wanted them to come this way. To come towards him. Away from the children. The first clusters of bird people were landing, between the fields and the town. Between him and his babies. All thoughts of demanding their surrender ended as projectiles hit the tree, splinters ejecting from the thick trunk.

Chuck lowered his aim.

He had their attention.

The door to their home did not so much open, as cower back in fear. Hannah was in before her husband, rushing to the far wall as she had never moved before. Eyes hard, her hands gripped the rifle on its mount.

She had never known true fear. Never been in true danger. Even in the first encounter with the Ludzie, there had been a sense of un-realness. This new universe still had not exerted its permanence deep into her being.

Now...

Now, she knew this was life. This was all she, her husband, her children, would ever have. There was no going back. They would live, and die, here.

Dying was not on the agenda.

"Here!"

Whirling, she tossed the heavy weapon to Anthony. He grabbed it from the air, briefly dropping the butt to the ground as he finished belting on a pistol belt. Hannah took a belt of ammo from a peg, tossed it on like a sash, grabbing the remaining weapon down.

"Ammo!" She turned, tossing a second sash to her husband. He caught and dropped it over his head in one motion. As she moved past him, he grabbed the back of her head. She paused, eyes closing as his lips touched hers fleetingly.

Then they were moving.

Mary screamed in pain as a Ludzie bullet pierced her shoulder.

She fell, legs tangling under her. Hands still gripping the stroller, her body pulled the cart over with her. The distressed cries of the babies became screams of pain.

Her unfocused eyes could see Danny. See him ten feet, fifteen feet, further towards home. He couldn't stop. Couldn't risk the other babies. Couldn't help her.

Two of the creatures were descending towards her.

She'd failed...

Failed...

Mommy ... Daddy...

Light flared to her right.

An orb. An orb of glowing blue light, easily ten feet tall. It stood there, in the grass. Humming. Drowning out the cries of the babies.

All other noise stopped.

The world stopped.

Mary's eyes widened.

From the sphere, appeared a brown horse, with a rider.

She was a teen. Short black hair, small breasts under thick, tan, leather armor. In her hand was a wooden bow, arrow already nocked and drawn. With a shout that told the universe to beware, she released the bowstring before the mount's front hooves even touched this world's soil. Another arrow was nocked even as the rear hooves met the ground. The contact sounded like thunder to Mary's ears.

In an instant, horse and rider were gone, bounding away out of view. As quickly as they were gone, another sprang from the mist. The horse was tan, its rider majestic. She was all curve and muscle, blonde braid whipping behind her head as she entered this world. Her own bow was large, her muscles straining as she held the string taut. Leather clad legs directing her mount, the pair bolted opposite of where the first went. Her arrow let fly as she passed out of view.

Mary then saw the others...

Cathy pulled back hard on the reins, Rhea almost rearing up as she tried to comply. A girl was on the ground before her, right hand clutching her left shoulder, red blood trickling from between her fingers. Next to her, some sort of baby carriage, upturned onto the ground. Two infants were in the grass, yowling in distress. One of them seemed ... lightly furry. She turned her head. Both hunter's horses had come through. Ben, unable to see the strangeness of it all, looked around from his mount unconcerned.

"Did it work?"

"You're human!"

The stranger was on her feet, legs shaking, eyes wide. She was in a light dress, arms and much of her legs bare. Lunging forward, she grabbed up for Cathy's hand.

"The babies! We have to get the babies back!"

Cathy looked up. Ahead, she could see wooden buildings, maybe a bit over half a mile away. A man was pushing another cart towards it, two people from the town running to meet him. One of them looked ... blue and furry.

She blinked. That couldn't be right. A sound overhead jerked her head up. Something large was falling, burning. The stranger tugged harder on her hand.

"Please!"

Yes. Of course. She had to help. To not help would be evil. Cathy nodded.

"Give me one, give the other to Ben. He's blind." The girl nodded, letting go and dropping down on one knee next to the crying babies. "Ben! You're going to be handed a baby! Hold on to it hard, we'll be galloping!"

"Sam's?"

"No!" The girl was beside her again, holding up a white diapered child. She was using both arms, pain written all over her face. Taking the reins with her right hand, Cathy took the baby with her left. A smudged red handprint on his back sent a chill through the princess.

Lil dropped down onto her shoulder, sword in hand.

"What the hell is going on?"

The stranger paused, lifting the lightly furred baby into her arms. She looked up at the nude fairy, blinking once. That was all the reaction, as if she had seen her like before.

"We're being attacked! Anything with wings is bad! Please, help us!"

Lil let out a snort as the girl rushed behind them to hand the second kid to Ben. She waved her sword in front of her a few times, as if testing the balance she knew so well.

"So, it's that type of world. Just our luck."

"I have him!" Ben yelled. Cathy took a look behind. The girl had fallen to her knees, hand again trying to stem the bleeding.

"Go! Please!"

The horses bolted towards the town.

Sam had no idea what was going on. All she knew was arrows killed flying things, and killed them well.

The last of the creatures in the air that she could see dropped, her arrow embedded into its chest. The rest had landed, were taking cover. They had weapons, some of them, strange devices with a stock like that of a crossbow, but not a bow. They were birds, yet seemed to glide rather than fly. That was good. It meant now she could focus on the ground, ignoring the air. Ignore that huge burning thing falling behind her. To her left, she saw three creatures behind a small rise in the earth, their back to her. They were shooting their weapons at a large tree just before the town. Well, she could change that. Kicking her heals into Brownie's flanks, she charged, another arrow notched.