Chapter 20
When he awoke, he was naked. Naked and tied to a pole several feet off the ground. His head throbbed and something was wrong with his side. Looking down, Jason saw the flesh on his right hip had been ripped open. Is that my hip bone? The pain caught up with what he was seeing, and he moaned.
“That looks like it hurts,” came a voice close by. Jason turned his face as far as the leather straps holding his head back against the pole would allow. Billy, too, was strapped naked to a pole. Then, as his vision cleared, Jason noticed two more bodies propped up on poles: first Rizzo, and then Traveler, at the far end, who was secured to three poles. Arms and legs spread wide to smaller cross beams. Jason saw that each could move somewhat.
“Everyone all right?” he asked.
Billy answered first: “Couldn’t be better, Cap.” Then Rizzo, “I’m good, Cap.” Then Traveler, “This is not an honorable way to die.”
“Well, you’re not dead yet,” Jason said, turning his head in the opposite direction but not seeing another pole there. “Any idea where Ricket is?”
“I’m here, Captain.”
Jason heard the mechanical voice coming from below. Ricket, helmetless, seemingly unhurt and still in his battle suit, stood below him looking up. Behind Ricket, in a semi-circle, were at least one hundred Craing warriors, and behind them, just as many Serapins. A murmur of quiet talking filled the air.
“I could use an update about now, Ricket. What the hell’s going on?”
“They are deciding your fate as we speak,” he replied.
“Is there a reason I’m pinned up here on a pole with blood streaming down my leg, while you’re standing down there, perfectly fine?”
“First, they believe I am no threat. Second, they are intrigued by my … mechanical qualities. They’re quite intelligent, Captain.”
“Fine. What are they going to do with us? I don’t suppose you could reason with them?”
“Yes, sir, I’ve been actively doing that. Seems the killing of their sentry guard has complicated matters. Theirs is a clan steeped thousands of years in tradition. We have dishonored them. They fully believe in an eye-for-an-eye form of justice.”
“Perhaps we can give them something they want or need,” Jason said, seeing the same Craing who had spoken earlier making his way through the crowd. Jason then noticed in the distance other Craing beings—a handful of females with their small breasts exposed and small Craing children holding their hands.
“In speaking with their leaders, I found they need for little,” Ricket said. “I had noticed very few females lived among the tribe. When I mentioned this and that we had the medical capability to assist them with that imbalance, I detected elevated heart rates, although they showed no outward signs of interest. That same condition is borne by both Craing and Serapin.”
The Craing leader had joined Ricket at his side and was looking up at Jason.
“Can you translate for us, Ricket?” Jason asked.
“I will do my best. I’m learning this dialect as I go, sir.” Ricket turned to the Craing and spoke in a strange, highly-guttural language. The Craing listened and then slowly nodded his consent. They both looked up at Jason.
“I’m sorry for the death of your …” Jason paused: What the hell should I call him? “The death of your fellow …”
“No offense, but you’re kinda f*cking this up, Cap,” Billy intoned with a wry smile.
Jason ignored him. “I’m sorry we killed your sentry. There is no excuse. We acted impulsively when he discovered our whereabouts. We are simple travelers and only wish to move on,” Jason explained.
The Craing spoke for an extended period of time, first looking at Ricket, and then up at Jason. Similarly to how humans speak, he used his hands in gestures and to emphasize his points. Jason and the Craing looked to Ricket for the translation.
“His name is Wik-ma—at least, that's the English phonetic equivalent. He says he is inclined to just kill the lot of us, me included. They are especially excited about the amount of meat that would be available from Traveler. He mentioned another tribe, the ones we saw on chariots earlier. They are currently not completely at war. He phrased it as a brief lull. That tribe has far more Serapins. From what I understand, Serapin are the lifeblood of a tribe. For many years now, the other tribe has possessed the singular female Serapin, the queen. Many times this tribe has attempted to abscond with her. All attempts have failed. The other tribe is too strong. He said if we could bring the queen here to his tribe, that it would go a long way towards getting us our freedom.”
“Like kidnap her? That’s ridiculous. He’ll just have to do that himself,” Jason said, while maintaining as much of an impassive expression as possible.
“I advise you to reconsider, Captain. He is quite serious about killing us. He fears the other tribe. Overtly breaking the peace treaty would be catastrophic.”
Jason’s mind went to Mollie and Nan and the pirates. Time was running out. “Well, how does he see this working? We certainly can’t do anything tied to these poles,” Jason said, looking at the Craing leader.
“They’ll release three of you. But Traveler stays.”
Jason noticed the Craing leader and Ricket were looking at his private parts. What the hell are they looking at? No … not at his private parts … his injured hip. Over the last few minutes, the nanites had worked overtime; the wound had completely healed. Wik-ma turned and walked into the crowd, which parted, leaving a wide opening. At fifty yards out, the Craing leader turned back around and faced them.
Jason looked over at Traveler. “You going to be okay up there a while longer, Traveler?”
“Yes, I am fine,” he replied stoically.
“Listen, we’ll be rescued. Zebra team is no more than a half-day out, can you hang in there that long?”
"That will not be a problem, Captain,"
Thump thump. Two arrows, one in each upper thigh, pierced Traveler's thick grey hide. Blood spurted and flowed freely down his legs. He made no sound. He continued to look straight ahead, no indication of what must be excruciating pain. Jason turned to see that Wik-ma was now holding a long wooden bow and had knocked another arrow at the ready.
"Ricket, tell that son a bitch that if Traveler dies, or is further mistreated, all bets are off. He can just kill us all right now."
Ricket conveyed Jason's words to the approaching Craing leader. "Wik-ma says that no additional harm will come to the prisoner, but we need to make extra haste, for without attention he'll surly bleed to death within several hours." Jason realized that waiting for a Zebra team rescue was no longer an option.
* * *
Rizzo, Billy and Jason had their eyes on the proud rhino warrior secured to the three poles. "Ricket, keep an eye on him. The way they’re licking their chops around here, I’m not so sure he'll be alive until our return. Try to get him released from that pole, if you can. And one more thing: Look around for the portal. It has to be close by.”
“I’ll do my best, sir,” Ricket replied.
Jason's team was not allowed to go anywhere near their battle suits or weapons. Using an assortment of leather-like garments, similar to short skirts and strapped sandals, the three SEALs quickly made preparations to head out.
"We look ridiculous like this," Billy said. "Rizzo, so help me God, you mention this to anyone—"
"Why would I want anyone knowing we're wearing dresses?" Rizzo countered, looking equally humiliated.
"Knock it off, you two, we have bigger issues at hand," Jason said.
Earlier, Wik-ma, who seemed to be tribe leader for both Craing and Serapins, had made a crude map in the dirt with the tip of an arrow. He provided the location of the black-caped tribe in respect to their current location. After an extended debate between Ricket and the tribe leader, Jason’s team had been allowed to carry three of the tribe’s stubby swords. As Jason studied the lines in the dirt, he estimated the distance to be no more than eight miles, but he was only guessing.
Jason brought his attention back to Rizzo and Billy. "I don't like this—it's wrong at so many levels. But our priorities have to be saving Traveler, getting back to The Lilly, and ultimately defending Earth. So we'll grab their Serapin queen and get right back here, understood?” Billy and Rizzo nodded. “I've been in contact with Morgan via NanoCom. Seems they're making good progress crossing the plains. I’ve instructed them to avoid being captured—watch their backs as they approach the encampment.”
* * *
The three-man team moved quickly through the forest, following the same path out through the trees as they had taken in earlier. Once out on the open plains, they headed in the opposite direction they had come. The terrain was fairly flat and visibility wasn't a problem due to the multiple nearby planets high in the night sky. There were several landmarks they needed to watch for along the way—a large rock shaped like the letter "T", a snake-like river or brook, and an area where nothing grew. What Wik-ma described as scorched earth—whatever that meant. Supposedly, the enemy tribe would be close, within a few hundred yards back into the tree line.
Billy had taken point, Rizzo followed, and Jason brought up the rear. They were running fast, their pace consistent. Each one had been through the same SEAL training. They were in the ‘zone.’ They’d learned to move past exhaustion, past the pain.