Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [113]
The bulky creature flung itself into the nearby cluster of gargantuan anemones and began ripping at the stems, chewing through the armorplate. The ch’kanh thrashed, but the pantherlike shadow knew how to fight them. It seized the plants in its jaws and shook them until they were uprooted. It crunched and slurped, feeding on soft inner tissues as if sucking marrow from bones.
When the light from Bhali’v’s blazer fell directly upon it, the oily shadow seemed to grow darker and harden. The predatory thing turned, its eyes like the diamond glitter of fallen stars.
“What is that?” Avi’h cried. “It is one of the Shana Rei!”
Any answer was cut off as the leonine monster focused on the dazzling blazer and loped toward them.
“Run!” Anton called. The Marathans rushed after him.
The Designate grabbed Bhali’v. “Do not let it kill me!”
“It is attracted to the light,” Engineer Nur’of shouted. “Turn off your blazer!”
But the terrified bureaucrat clung to the reassuring glow as if it was his only protection. Avi’h pushed his assistant toward the shadow lion and ran shrieking after the other members of the party. Bhali’v screamed, a high-pitched sound of terror, before the oily black predator bore him to the ground and tore him to pieces just as it had attacked the armored anemones.
The beams of other blazers shone erratically while their bearers ran. Anton saw another shadowy form slinking out of the clusters of ch’kanh. “Keep running!” The second predator sensed their body heat, and the survivors had no weapons with which to fight the beasts.
Anton risked a glance behind him and saw with sick relief that the second predator had joined the first to feed on the warm body of Bhali’v.
When the Designate finally collapsed, far from the shadow lions, Anton allowed them to take a desperate rest. Jolting fear had driven them in a stampede, but their physical reserves had run out; now they shuddered and wept. Anton remained on his feet, his muscles trembling.
“The darkness will take us all,” Avi’h cried. “The Mage-Imperator commanded me to come back to Maratha, but I should have refused. How could I deny his orders? If I had remained on Ildira, I would be under the seven suns right now. I could be in the daylight, and safe, and—”
“And all of us would still be here,” Nur’of pointed out. “None of us wants to be in this situation.”
“Work until the task is done,” Vik’k the digger said. “Never give up.”
As Anton caught his breath and looked toward the horizon, he felt a thrill of relief. He stared until he was certain, then called to the rest of the survivors. “Keep your eyes there. Fix your vision, and you’ll see. Can you make out the glow? That’s the dawn. We’re close to the daylight side. If we keep walking in that direction, the light will get brighter with every step we take.”
Vao’sh was the first to acknowledge him. “Yes, I see it. The sunlight is over there. It is still too faint to do us any good, but at least it gives us hope.”
Nur’of climbed to his feet. “I have rested enough in the darkness. If hope is all we have left, then I will not spurn it.” He marched across the rocky landscape toward the half-imagined glow of sunrise. They still had a terribly long distance to traverse.
With renewed spring in his step, Anton set off, and soon he had taken the lead.
Chapter 53—MAGE-IMPERATOR JORA’H
Though only four days had passed since he had delivered Osira’h to the Prism Palace, Designate Udru’h returned unexpectedly from Dobro. He strode into the skysphere reception hall, demanding to speak to his brother and ordering all the pilgrims and supplicants to scatter. “I must speak in private with the Mage-Imperator!” He made his way to the chrysalis chair, moving with unyielding confidence, even if at times it seemed the entire Empire shifted uncertainly beneath his feet.
Yazra’h and her Isix cats stood in place