Quest for the Well of Souls - Jack L. Chalker [22]
"Ulg!" cried the Parmiter, as all the air in its body was suddenly squeezed out. The pistol fell from its grasp.
Doc and Grune hit the wall a second time, then a third. And that did it. Not only did the wall splinter and give way, but it collapsed the unstable half-roof as well.
As they lumbered into the compound yard, Joshi released the rope.
Mavra rolled as no one would have believed possible and got back on her feet. "The stream!" she screamed to Joshi, and he turned.
The boiling pot landed directly on the back of one of the great lizards, which bellowed terrifyingly in its sudden agony and rolled over, tumbling the other lizard, too.
Fed by the dry straw that was all over, the flames ignited the collapsed roof of the compound.
With tremendous speed, Joshi and Mavra jumped into the icy stream and, trying not to slip, walked along its pebble-strewn bottom to the forest outside.
Inside the compound, the Parmiter gasped. It was sure a couple of bones were really broken now. Blood trickled from a corner of its mouth. It looked around, stunned.
"Let's get out of here!" it screamed to its companions, one of whom was still groaning in agony from its burns. "If the natives get here with their spears and bows, we've had it!"
They had not survived so long following so crooked a path to let injury or failure trap them. The Parmiter, with difficulty, jumped on the unburned lizard and the two dashed out of there, fast—followed, almost immediately by the injured lizard.
Breathing hard, Mavra and Joshi stopped and turned toward the compound. They could see the fire's glow, but it seemed to be localized. They watched as the two great shapes dashed out onto the beach, and they saw that while one seemed almost to blend into the beach, hard to see, the other had big dark spots on it that made it easy to trace.
"What the hell is going on here?" Joshi gasped.
She shook her head. "I don't know. But it's the end of our world, that's for sure."
"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely puzzled. "They won't be back."
"Oh, yes they will," she retorted. "Them or somebody worse. They weren't just pirates, Joshi. They landed here just to get us—kill, kidnap, I don't know what. But they were pros. They wouldn't go after us with a village full of cured tobacco just a little ways off. Somebody's put a price on my head."
He shook his head unbelieving. "But—why?"
"The only reason I can think of is that somebody's finally figured out the way to that Northern spaceship, and they're eliminating the competition," she replied in a strange, coldly professional tone he'd never heard in her voice. He was experiencing the true Mavra Chang for the first time, and she bewildered him.
But her eyes were shining. After all these years—the great game was on again, the game she was born to play.
"Fire's already down, probably almost out," he noted, uncomfortable. "Want to see what we can salvage?"
"We'll keep away, spend tonight here in the bushes," she responded, tone still businesslike but with that same excited undertone.
"The natives—" he began, but she cut him short.
"Won't come close on Ship's Day, no matter what. You know that." If they did, they would risk the wrath of the Ambreza.
"What about the Ambreza?" he pressed, trying to find some way to return to the comfort of his old situation. It was all he'd known since the fire that scarred him.
"No flares were fired, so they're not alerted," she pointed out. "If they don't have a random patrol in this area they might not find out about what happened until it's too late."
He looked at her strangely. "Too late for what?"
"I haven't tried to escape in so many years they take it for granted now," she pointed out. "No tight watches any more. But even though I long ago gave up on the idea, I always kept a trove, just in case. You know that. The dried tobacco in the back shed and the little gold bars I've collected over the years by bartering the stuff through the Trader."
He nodded. "I always thought that was all it was for