CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Abe rode down into the box canyon, with Alf, Lowrn, Grunn, and Ferg hot on his Elum’s heels. He could smell the stench of fresh blood in the air, and at the sight of the dead Grubb on the ground he felt a fresh surge of anger at the world for its cruelty.
It seemed his whole mission was doomed to be nothing but one catastrophe after another.
“It’s a dead Grubb!” Alf called out from behind him. “Who killed him?”
“I don’t know,” Abe called out, as his Elum picked his way down into the box canyon, “but whoever did it is going to pay.”
It was the work of thirty seconds to get down to the dead being’s body and dismount from his Elum. Abe crouched beside the body, and when he saw the words drawn in blood across the Grubb’s body, the fury that enveloped him transcended hot.
the bringer of pain was here
“Bringer of Pain!” he screamed at the sky. “Wherever you are, I’m going to find you and rip your guts out!”
Alf turned the Grubb over onto his stomach, covering the bloody letters. “Hey, Abe…that’s not very nice to –”
Abe whirled around, raising his clenching his fists. “I don’t care, Alf! This Pain Bringer is a murdering scum, and I’m going to kill him!”
Alf ducked back, cowering under what Abe judged to be righteous fury –
And suddenly Alf was pointing up the hilltop. “Abe! Sligs on the hilltop!”
Abe whirled around, his anger turning to surprise and fear as he saw that his companion was right. At least a dozen Sligs were appearing at the top of the box canyon opposite where he and his friends had entered, raising rifles to their shoulders.
“Get under cover!” he shouted.
He cast a glance around the area; there was not much cover to be found, but for the huge boulder under the cliff overhang. He ducked forward, racing at the huge rock.
Alf, Lowrn, Ferg, and Grunn charged after him.
Then the lasers started to fly.
Making loud buzzing noises, the concentrated beams of light blazed down from the Sligs’ Barrage rifles flying down the hill to burn at the Mudokons. Abe ducked and dodged madly, confident that his friends would copy him, hoping his random pattern would let their fiery shots hit nothing but the rocky ground of the canyon.
Holes burnt in the ground all around them from near-hits by the Sligs atop the ridge. Abe and his friends arrived behind the rock, but the laser barrage continued, chipping bits off the rock’s edge. He could hear and feel the shots that struck the rock, and could feel its temperature rising rapidly under his hands.
“This is bad,” he growled. “Stuck in a canyon with a Slig force.”
Ferg winced as a little bit of rock bounced off his forehead. “Do you think they’re part of Fragg’s slave gaurds?”
“It’s a good bet,” Abe grunted. “But I’d have thought they’d be farther north of here…”
A shiver ran down his spine that wasn’t caused by the impact of laser against his rock protection. “Unless Fragg’s brought Sligs along here to get me personally.”
At the sound of hissing flames from somewhere uncomfortably close, Abe whirled around, drawing his Snuzi pistol. He widened his huge orange eyes as he saw a Wolvark racing toward him, propelled by a pair of boot rockets that sent him flying across the box canyon at a frantic rate. What made the matter a problem was the laser carbine the Wolvark was holding, and that its trigger was depressed, spraying a long stream of laser bolts toward the Mudokons.
“Duck and roll!” Abe screamed. “We’re being flanked!”
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