Page 76 of Feast

Thusar nodded and turned back to Gunnar. The bearded ukkur was unwinding a length of leather cord from around his wrist. Ika had noticed that before and assumed that it was just a piece of simple decoration, but now she realized it was a weapon. Two long pieces of cordage with a pouch in between.

A sling.

Gunnar crouched and searched beneath the snow until he found a suitable stone, a little bigger than a ksh berry.

“Did you see their position?” Thusar asked.

Gunnar shook his head.

“Naw,” he grunted. “Too busy getting the rot out of the way.” Then to Muk he said, “Kid, I need you to stick your head out there and draw their fire. As soon as the bastards pop up, I’ll get ’em.”

“Why me?” Muk complained.

“Because I’m the one with the sling, Thusar is busy shielding Ika, and Slaine is too gods-rotted crazy to follow directions.”

Muk sighed in resignation. “Rot me. Fine. Just tell me when you’re ready.”

Gunnar set the stone into the pouch of the sling and began twirling it with a soft whirring sound.

“Ready,” Gunnar said.

Muk took a deep breath and jumped out into the open, waving his arms and making himself as visible as possible.

“Over here, you dumb bastards!” Muk roared.

There was a pop of rifle fire, and Muk ducked just in time as the glowing red bolts sizzled over his head and slammed into a tree behind him in an explosion of sparks.

At the same time, Gunnar released the stone from his sling. There was a whistling sound as the missile flew through the air followed by a loud thud.

“Got ’im” Gunnar said grinning. “Head shot.”

“Good,” Thusar said. “But try to keep the second one alive. We may need to interrogate him.”

Gunnar nodded and reached into the snow to search for another stone. Before he found one, however, crazy Slaine bellowed and bolted from his hiding place.

“Slaine!” Thusar yelled. “Come back here!”

But it was too late. The ukkur was already sprinting up the slope of scree and rubble like a mad animal. The second nith sniper popped out from the crag where he was hiding, took aim, and fired.

“Slaine!” Ika shrieked.

The shot missed. Slaine’s reflexes were too quick for the nith. He dodged to one side, and the shot sparked harmlessly off a chunk of rubble, reducing it to stone shards.

The nith fired again and again, but each time Slaine jumped out of harm’s way, zig-zagging his way up the slope toward the sniper’s position. With one final leap and a blood-curdling roar, Slaine pounced at the nith, knocking the rifle away and seizing the creature by its black uniform.

He then proceeded to slam the nith’s head repeatedly against the rock wall of the cliff.

“Gods-rotted crazy bastard,” Thusar hissed. “Muk, stop him before he pulps that nith’s brain.”

With the danger now out of the way, Ika and the other ukkur broke from the trees and began picking their way up the slope. Muk was the fastest among them, and he sprinted up to Slaine and forcefully pulled his snarling friend off the battered nith.

“Slaine, what the hell were you thinking?” Thusar yelled as he reached the top.

“Nith try hurt Ee-kah,” Slaine grunted. “So Slaine hurt nith.”

Thusar just shook his head.

“Fair enough, Slaine. Fair enough. Is that thing still alive?”