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“I’ll help you.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder.
“You’re doing enough,” he said. “Help the others. And help us win.”
He wore a mask of grim determination. It was going to be a hard fight, that expression said. And we’re going to need all the help we can get.
I boarded the cart. The arlath pulled forward, tugging the cart behind it. There were three carts, each packed with patients and provisions.
The drivers didn’t slow down, not even when someone got in their way. Those that got knocked over bolted up onto their feet, dusted themselves off, collected their spears, and took off again.
I had front row seats, watching as the shuttlecraft warships came thundering in overhead. Their undercarriage plasma cannons made loud high-pitched noises as they charged and unloaded. The bolt of plasma expelled from the weapons was a solid beam that sliced through the forest and swung in an arc. The huts didn’t burst into flames. Instead, they exploded and melted before my eyes.
The first ship pulled up and banked hard to make another pass.
The other two ships came in hot and released their luminous bolts of liquid plasma. It was so hot it turned white the moment it struck the earth.
One of the ships screeched, leaned to one side, and struck the second ship.
Something had brought it down. But what?
A mechanical fault?
I couldn’t see what caused it.
I peered closer and noticed Titan warriors led by their chief atop Emperor’s Peak. They ran a few short steps and threw their spears.
I marveled at the distance, speed, and strength with which they hurled them.
They were more like missiles.
The spears struck the ships so hard they sliced through their hulls with ease. They must have been tipped with something.
The warriors hurled more spears that made the shuttlecraft resemble a pin cushion.
The ship pulled up but the thrusters didn’t respond. It smashed into the village and tumbled end over end. The arlaths pulling the carts screamed and rose up on their hind legs.
Alerted to the danger, the remaining shuttlecraft steered toward Emperor’s Peak and fired on it.
One moment the warriors were there, and the next, they were gone.
The arlaths turned a corner and the scene was wiped from view.
But the sounds…
The sounds remained and would haunt me for the rest of my life.
The cart pulled to a stop.
The driver climbed off and began unloading it. He began with the injured and placed them inside a canoe waiting on the riverbank. One patient per canoe, and a couple boxes of resources.
I hated to think why they divided everything up this way. Perhaps because they didn’t expect everyone to reach their destination?
A nurse was placed at the back of each canoe, so they were paired with a patient.
I was placed in a boat with Fiath.
He looked up at me and our eyes met.
