caught
her sister hyperventilating in a corner of the hut, when she thought no one
else was around. Anna had always blown it off like it had never happened, but
Magali knew it bothered her sister to be so vulnerable for such a large part of
each day.
Following the Shrieker into the
cave, Gayle bent at the waist and knee, murmuring and holding out a hand like
it was a feral dog she was trying to tame.
The Shrieker’s eyes shifted to
Gayle. Its neon-yellow tail began to grow more agitated with her approach,
frothing the transparent slime into a mass of tiny bubbles. Magali froze,
knowing that Gayle was going to get herself killed. With the Shrieker’s
attention on her, however, she and Anna might still get out alive.
And then again, she had no way of
knowing how far this particular Shriek was going to carry. If the whole mound
took it up…
“Magali, let’s go, ” Anna
cried.
“Anna, get out of here.”
Anna hesitated a moment, then
Magali heard her sister get up and flee.
Once she was gone, Magali took a
breath and held it, biting her lip. Squid ain’t heroes, she thought,
remembering her father’s favorite saying. Then, setting her jaw, she lunged
forward and grabbed Gayle by the hair, tugging her backwards and down. As
Gayle slipped and floundered in the slime, Magali grabbed her by a fistful of
shirt and began tugging her away from the Shrieker.
Gayle bit her arm, hard. As
Magali automatically yanked her arm away and inspected the damage, Gayle shoved
her.
Gayle was surprisingly strong.
And graceful. Too graceful. In an instant, Gayle twisted herself away and
backwards through the slime, slipping out of Magali’s hands to come to a
sliding stop with Magali between herself and the Shrieker.
If Magali had had doubts that
Gayle was military-trained, the stance that the woman fell into cleared all
doubt an instant later. It was a highly-effective martial art that Magali
recognized from her father’s long daily practice-sessions. Dragon Fist .
An aggressive and deadly modern compilation of a dozen different ancient
martial arts styles that was taught exclusively to the Coalition special
forces.
…or to a few dozen Fortune
colonists, care of one of their own.
What the Hell? Magali
thought, eying the slim, elderly woman with a new wariness.
She had only enough time to take
a nervous step backwards before Gayle lunged at her. Magali had the option of
dodging—leaving Gayle to slide into the Shrieker behind her—or deflecting the
blow and using the woman’s own momentum to bring her to the ground.
The long, miserable hours in
which Magali’s revolution-obsessed father had forced her to train for war with
his starry-eyed pack of freedom-fixated idealists—only a handful of which were
still alive—had nonetheless sunk in. Though Magali hadn’t had to use a single
move to defend herself in over four years, the ingrained training came back as
instinctively as it always had. She caught the woman’s fist, shoved it aside,
brought her knee into the woman’s stomach, followed that with knocking her
off-balance by trapping her legs, and used the leverage to throw her to the
ground.
From the slime of the cavern
floor, Gayle stared up at her with as much surprise as Magali had felt, only a
moment ago, realizing this elderly woman had somehow studied Dragon Fist.
But, instead of naming Magali a
rebel and demanding to take her to the Camp Director as Magali had feared,
Gayle simply sat up, blinked at Magali, blinked at the Shrieker, and started
crawling towards the creature on her hands and knees, cooing platitudes.
She’s got the Wide, Magali
thought again, desperate, now. The mental fuzz in her head was getting louder,
the Shrieker still agitated from being touched and the commotion that had
ensued.
Seeing no other choice, Magali
once again grabbed the older woman by the hair and yanked her backwards, away
from the Shrieker, but this time kept a firm hold on
her sister hyperventilating in a corner of the hut, when she thought no one
else was around. Anna had always blown it off like it had never happened, but
Magali knew it bothered her sister to be so vulnerable for such a large part of
each day.
Following the Shrieker into the
cave, Gayle bent at the waist and knee, murmuring and holding out a hand like
it was a feral dog she was trying to tame.
The Shrieker’s eyes shifted to
Gayle. Its neon-yellow tail began to grow more agitated with her approach,
frothing the transparent slime into a mass of tiny bubbles. Magali froze,
knowing that Gayle was going to get herself killed. With the Shrieker’s
attention on her, however, she and Anna might still get out alive.
And then again, she had no way of
knowing how far this particular Shriek was going to carry. If the whole mound
took it up…
“Magali, let’s go, ” Anna
cried.
“Anna, get out of here.”
Anna hesitated a moment, then
Magali heard her sister get up and flee.
Once she was gone, Magali took a
breath and held it, biting her lip. Squid ain’t heroes, she thought,
remembering her father’s favorite saying. Then, setting her jaw, she lunged
forward and grabbed Gayle by the hair, tugging her backwards and down. As
Gayle slipped and floundered in the slime, Magali grabbed her by a fistful of
shirt and began tugging her away from the Shrieker.
Gayle bit her arm, hard. As
Magali automatically yanked her arm away and inspected the damage, Gayle shoved
her.
Gayle was surprisingly strong.
And graceful. Too graceful. In an instant, Gayle twisted herself away and
backwards through the slime, slipping out of Magali’s hands to come to a
sliding stop with Magali between herself and the Shrieker.
If Magali had had doubts that
Gayle was military-trained, the stance that the woman fell into cleared all
doubt an instant later. It was a highly-effective martial art that Magali
recognized from her father’s long daily practice-sessions. Dragon Fist .
An aggressive and deadly modern compilation of a dozen different ancient
martial arts styles that was taught exclusively to the Coalition special
forces.
…or to a few dozen Fortune
colonists, care of one of their own.
What the Hell? Magali
thought, eying the slim, elderly woman with a new wariness.
She had only enough time to take
a nervous step backwards before Gayle lunged at her. Magali had the option of
dodging—leaving Gayle to slide into the Shrieker behind her—or deflecting the
blow and using the woman’s own momentum to bring her to the ground.
The long, miserable hours in
which Magali’s revolution-obsessed father had forced her to train for war with
his starry-eyed pack of freedom-fixated idealists—only a handful of which were
still alive—had nonetheless sunk in. Though Magali hadn’t had to use a single
move to defend herself in over four years, the ingrained training came back as
instinctively as it always had. She caught the woman’s fist, shoved it aside,
brought her knee into the woman’s stomach, followed that with knocking her
off-balance by trapping her legs, and used the leverage to throw her to the
ground.
From the slime of the cavern
floor, Gayle stared up at her with as much surprise as Magali had felt, only a
moment ago, realizing this elderly woman had somehow studied Dragon Fist.
But, instead of naming Magali a
rebel and demanding to take her to the Camp Director as Magali had feared,
Gayle simply sat up, blinked at Magali, blinked at the Shrieker, and started
crawling towards the creature on her hands and knees, cooing platitudes.
She’s got the Wide, Magali
thought again, desperate, now. The mental fuzz in her head was getting louder,
the Shrieker still agitated from being touched and the commotion that had
ensued.
Seeing no other choice, Magali
once again grabbed the older woman by the hair and yanked her backwards, away
from the Shrieker, but this time kept a firm hold on
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