Part 10 (2/2)

Rising smoothly to his feet, the Armorer could no longer feel the vibration-not through the soles of his boots. The faint rumble was still there, but not growing appreciably louder.

Turning, he ran back toward the encampment, not wanting to raise the alarm by

shouting, in case there were scouts ahead of the wag who were on the fringes of the woodland who would hear him. As he reached the hooded entrance to the plastic and canvas wall, he almost ran into Margia. The woman was grim faced, her white teeth and blond hair s.h.i.+ning in the reflective light of the moon against the dark of her tanned flesh, barely covered even in the cold night.

”Something's up, honey,” she said to the Armorer. ”Some way off, but-”

”A wag? Mebbe old predark sec?”

She nodded briefly. ”How d'you know, sweets? Same your end?”

”Yeah, so it's at least a two-p.r.o.nged attack.”

Margia looked around. Dean and Tammy hadn't yet joined them, and so were

presumably at their posts. ”The young ones aren't here, so unless they're not as aware-”

”Unlikely,” J.B. cut in.

”Precisely. I guess they're just going to try to pull us in opposite directions. One from where they come from, and one from where we came from.”

”That's a.s.suming that they come from the settlement,” J.B. pointed out.

Margia shrugged. ”Good a.s.sumption as any. Anyway, stop arguing and let's get everyone up.”

Inside the camp, all was still and quiet, the fire that warmed the camp now dying, the lamps now stilled apart from the muted lights that prevented the camp being in total darkness. Both armorers moved toward the queen's tent, joined on the way by Tammy and Dean.

”Guess you know what we're here for,” the young Cawdor said wryly to J.B.

”Anyway, we could see you and Margia move past us, so we knew before it became obvious,” Tammy added with a toss of her auburn curls, catching the dim light and making her eyes sparkle with the light of oncoming battle.

The Armorer a.s.sented. ”Need to get everyone together as soon as possible.”

Margia arrived at the tent first, where Petor rose from out of the shadows. As always, he was guarding his queen and mentor.

”Trouble?” he asked, already wide awake and alert.

”Wags approaching on the southwest and northeast,” Margia said briskly. ”Not much time, boy, so tell Glo I said we need to move-”

”n.o.body tells Petor what to do, even me,” Gloria snapped as she emerged from her tent, interrupting her sister's officious flow. Despite only being awakened by the discussion outside the tent a few moments before, the warrior queen had already brought herself around to full consciousness, and was pulling on her clothes as she emerged. She smiled at Dean as she caught his expression on seeing her firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s before they were covered. ”When you're older, son,” she said to him before returning her full attention to J.B. and Margia. ”How big are the wags?”

”Hard to tell for sure,” J.B. mused. ”I'd guess they were at least six-tonners because of the tracks. The rumble was low enough to suggest they were really digging into the ground. Could mean a lot of men-or a lot of firepower.”

”How come they're getting through that jungle?”

The Armorer shrugged. ”Could be old rail cattle grids to move the foliage. It wouldn't be that dense under that much weight. I've seen it done before. But that will make them harder to attack, give them some serious armor.”

”Blind-side gren attack,” Margia said dismissively.

”If you get the blind side,” J.B. murmured.

But the blonde didn't hear him. Her attention was taken by the sight of Jak Lauren coming out of Gloria's tent, not fully clothed and checking his Colt Python.

”Still playing, then, Glo?” she mused.

The woman shot her sister a warning look, her blue eyes icy and piercing, even in the dim light of the camp.

”Leave it, Marg,” she husked in a low voice that carried all the more menace and authority for being quiet. ”We'll sort this between ourselves...later. Now we've got more important things to see to.”

”They always are,” Margia said dismissively, turning on her heel. ”I'll get the armory opened up- that's if you can spare at least one of your little proteges...”

Petor colored at this parting shot and looked at his queen.

”Ignore the b.i.t.c.h. You and Jon know what to do,” Gloria said, inclining her head to indicate that he should follow the blonde.

As Petor left, Ryan and Krysty approached. They were closely followed by Doc and Mildred. The companions' tent was near enough to Gloria's in the new camp for them to be awakened by the exchanges, and they were already partly aware of what was happening. J.B. filled them in on the rest while Gloria dispatched Tammy to wake the other warriors and prepare them for battle.

By now the air outside the encampment was carrying the sounds of the wags as they approached. Sentries posted by Tammy called back in relay that the wags were approaching at speed now they were on the plain.

”Plan?” the one-eyed warrior asked the Gate queen. He was prepared to follow her lead until such time as they were out on the battlefield and initiative became imperative.

”Rock and a hard place,” she replied. ”If we stay in here, we're sitting targets, and if we move outside, then we're in plain sight to be picked off. At least outside we can scatter and distract.”

”Mebbe a pincer movement with the fastest outriders to act as fire drawers,” Ryan mused.

”It'd be a suicide mission,” Gloria replied.

Ryan shrugged. ”Mebbe, but not necessarily. If each group then splits and maintains a zigzagging pattern, they can draw fire into empty s.p.a.ces. After all, chances are that whoever this is hasn't had a real combat situation, unless you count coming up against their own experiments in the woods.”

Gloria considered this for a moment, then nodded decisively. ”Eh-la, eh-la,” she called, once again adopting a different tone and intonation for the syllables that acted as a call to her warriors.

The roused and alert women drew close to their leader, and Gloria outlined the situation in a few words. There was no shortage of volunteers for the outriders, and the fastest were soon dispatched, while Margia, Jon and Petor pa.s.sed among the warriors, handing out extra blades, blasters and ammo to those who requested them.

Ryan gathered his people around and spoke while they all checked their personal weapons and took grens pa.s.sed out by J.B.

”You know the plan. It's the only one that's possible for any of us right now, but I don't think any of us like it. So stay frosty, and look for ways into the wag.” He fixed his good eye on Jak. ”You've got the best throwing aim of any of us. If you can get a gren in any gaps they may leave...”

”No need to say,” the albino muttered. ”One hole, many dead...”

Ryan nodded. ”Okay, let's do it.”

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