Chapter 6

“Bara Magna!” Scodonius shouted. “What is it with this blasted desert? Just once I’d like to take a trip somewhere without the desert throwing every hostility imaginable at me!”

But the desert really didn’t seem too worried about upsetting Scodonius. The two vehicles were flying at full speed north, with a pack of Wasteland Wolves hot on their tailpipes.

“This sort of thing doesn’t normally happen?” Vocta shouted over the hubbub.

“No, that’s the problem,” Kirbraz shouted back. “This happens all the time.”

Dozens of wolves were leaping and bounding all around them, drool streaking in their wake. From their sides, they seemed to appear from atop the dunes and descend fast upon their flanks, and it was all Perditus and the Water Agori could do to weave around each other to escape the attacks.

“Try taking a stroll outside the village and you’re guaranteed to come across at least one tribe of Vorox, four Bone Hunters, a pack of Sand Bats, and a minimum of one rabid Rock Steed,” continued Kirbraz. “You can usually expect things taking a turn for the worse in Bara Magna.”

“Speaking of turns for the worse,” Perditus said, pointing up ahead.

“Don’t even bother,” grumbled Scodonius. “Let me guess, there’s a bunch waiting for us up ahead. Oh wow, there they are. Look at how surprised I am.”

Scodonius was correct. There were a bunch waiting for them up ahead.

“I’m so shocked!”

Vocta frowned. “Can you not just plow through them?”

“Can’t,” Perditus shook his head. “They wouldn’t run if we charged at them, and there’s no telling what damage they could do if we hit them. It could mangle our vehicles, and we’d be done for sure.”

“So, what? We just slow down and ask them to step aside?”

“Well—” Perditus threw a glance at her. Had she been this sarcastic before, or were the Tajun pair rubbing off on her? “We’ll look for an opening we can slip through. And if we can’t get out without harming any of them, we blast our way out.”

“Let me use the turret,” Kaldii offered. “Let me see if I can drive them off while you steer.”

“Go ahead. There’s a storage compartment up there if you need more Thornax.”

Without further ado, the Earth Agori scrambled to the top of the Thornatus and situated herself above the launcher. Her eyes narrowed as she took aim at the largest of the wolves up ahead.

She fired. The shot flew true, finding its mark at the Dune Wolf’s feet. The Wolf danced a little in surprise but turned and growled at the Thornatus. Resolved to try again, Kaldii reloaded.

“Are they normally so aggressive?” asked Vocta.

“Vorox and Bone Hunters have gotten more aggressive at night,” Perditus responded, swerving and firing his force blaster. “Forced the wolves to fight for whatever they can get during the day.”

Kaldii fired another warning shot, and another, but to no avail. Frustrated, and horrified that she might be forced to injure the wolf, she finally aimed the Thornax Launcher straight for the wolf’s legs.

And then—a flash of yellow blinded her through the scope. She reeled and looked up.

A fearsome, sleekly armored motorbike had leaped over the dunes behind the wolves and taken them by surprise. The predators were scattering, their ring shattered as the yellow vehicle raced pursued them, protected by its long tracks that protruded from the front as blades.

Freed from the ring of wolves, the Thornatus and the halves of the Kaxium peeled away from their course and bounded after the predators, relentlessly driving them in every direction. Realizing that their quarry would not make for easy prey any longer, the hunters ran off and scattered back into the dunes.

When the last of them were gone, the yellow vehicle and the Thornatus pulled alongside each other.

“Howdy-do, partner?” grinned Crotesius. “Since when do you dance with wolves?”

“Since twenty minutes ago. What, you hear us screaming or something?”

“Something like that,” Crotesius smiled at the Kaxium riders. “I’d recognize the sounds of their screaming anywhere.”

“He’s the screamer,” Scodonius gestured at Kirbraz. “As we all know, he’s the one with the higher-pitched voice.”

“Mmm,” The Fire Agori nodded. He looked at Perditus.

“So what took you so long? I thought you were supposed to reach the worksite by this morning.”

“Got held up,” the Glatorian responded, coolly gesturing to the Rock Agori. “Found some prisoners of Sahmad’s along the way.”

“Oh?” Crotesius looked at Vocta and Kaldii. His eyes narrowed. “Brown markings? Where have I seen brown markings before…”

“We’re former Skrall Agori,” Vocta explained quickly. “It’s… complicated.”

“I see.”

“But we don’t belong this far south,” she added. “Our home is where the rest of the Skrall originally came from. We’re seeking to get back there. These guys said they’d take us as far as the Dark Falls, and we’ll take the Black Spikes north from there.”

“Understood. Well in that case, we’d better get a move on. Sun’s setting fast and we’re sitting Earth Moles out here.”

✴        ✴        ✴

By the time the three vehicles reached the campsite, the sun had disappeared behind some mountains west of them and the shadows engulfed them. No sooner were the Agori setting up for the night than Crotesius grabbed Perditus’ arm and pulled him some distance away.

“What are Kirbraz and Scodonius doing here? I thought this operation was supposed to be low-key.”

“Evidently, Tajun was hoping we’d forgotten about anything that remained up here.”

“The more attention this project gets, the more we’ll attract the eyes of the Skrall patrols.”

Perditus simply shrugged. “Have you found anything?” he asked.

“Not of consequence. Dug up a few large nuggets, but the bulk seems to have embedded itself deep under the river. They took a pretty long fall.”

“If it’s that much trouble, it isn’t worth it. As you say, Skrall patrols are too dangerous to risk.”

“I know, I know. I’ll probably call it after tomorrow.”

He hesitated.

“Are you going to stick around for the clean up?”

Perditus eyed the Agori in the distance, as the Earth Agori struggled to help the Tajun riders set up their needlessly large tent.

“To be perfectly honest, I think I want to see this journey to its conclusion.”