He glared at me for a long moment, and then glanced around at the others.

  “No, I will stay the course. As you said, there is no time. But we should cut the grass and cover her with it—and mark this spot, so we do not forget her upon our return.”

  I shrugged. “Very well.”

  Several villagers slashed at the grass with their swords and knives, cutting down a wide section of vegetation. Then they piled the clippings over Slurra’s body, concealing it. Meanwhile, I cut a large X into the ground with the tip of my dagger.

  “Satisfied?” I asked Apok.

  He grunted.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  The grass thinned before we reached the tree line, and it became increasingly difficult to conceal ourselves among the stunted blades. I brought us to a halt when we were about one hundred yards away. I had been to this spot before, and not that long ago, during an ill-fated hunting trip with Kasheena. Then, we had encountered a Chinese manufactured, tank-like probe of some kind, along with an angry mother triceratops and her litter of newborns. The dinosaur had destroyed the robot, so I had no fears of crossing paths with it again. What worried me now was how we could break cover and reach the forest without being seen.

  We crouched there, gathered close together, and debated what to do next. Every time I voiced a strategy or plan, Apok would find fault with it, encouraging the others to do the same. I admit—I lost my temper with him again, and we ended up arguing.

  That proved to be our undoing.

  We learned later that the Anunnaki, perhaps spotting our pursuit across the plain, had left behind a group of archers, who had hidden themselves in the tops of the trees while the rest of their party continued on with their captives. We were unaware of these archers’ presence until their arrows began to whistle down upon our clustered ranks, sprouting from throats and shoulders and backs.

  Shouting, our forces panicked and scattered, scrambling in all directions to avoid the rain of missiles. More of our ranks were brought down as a second volley struck. I spotted Karenk with his sword drawn, glancing wildly about as if expecting the bowmen to rise up out of the grass. I was about to shout to him to get down when I tripped over a fallen tribe member and crashed to the ground, knocking the wind from me. Doing so saved my life, as another shaft buzzed through the air where I’d been standing just a second before.

  As I struggled to regain both my breath and my footing, I saw Tolia duck down and notch an arrow. Then she sprang up and loosed the missile. Without waiting to see if the arrow found its mark, she darted to another spot, where she crouched back down and repeated the attack. She did this all across the field, avoiding enemy arrows while firing her own, but she was too far away. The reptilian bowmen had the advantage of higher ground, which helped their range. Our own archers couldn’t compete with that. If we stayed where we were, caught out in the open, we’d be slaughtered. Our only choices were to retreat or charge. I thought of Kasheena, a captive of those cold-blooded, scaly bastards, and decided that retreating would be no better than standing here waiting to die.

  Clambering to my feet, I drew my sword and held it high. “Listen up! All of you! Follow me!”

  Then I charged across the field, running in a crisscross pattern to confuse the hidden archers. Karenk and others followed my lead, dashing toward the tree line from different angles, darting back and forth, and even doubling back, all to provide a more difficult target.

  I glanced back only once and noticed that those who had followed my attack were—like myself—almost to the trees. With some dismay, I saw that those who hadn’t were being struck down as they fled in panic. We had started this rescue mission with two dozen tribesmen, but those numbers were steadily dwindling.

  Slipping into the shadow of the forest, I ducked down and paused, scanning the foliage for the enemy. The bushes to my right rustled as if some great beast were about to bear down on me, but then Karenk emerged, bloodied from where a passing arrow had carved a furrow in his bicep, but otherwise okay. We nodded at each other. He pointed at a nearby tree, indicating the archers’ position. We crawled forward, creeping up to the trunk. Before we could climb, two more villagers joined us. I was surprised to see that Apok was one of them.

  We huddled together beneath the tree. The leaves rustled far above us as the concealed archers bustled around.

  “Where are the others?” I asked.

  Karenk shook his head. “I do not know.”

  “Scattered,” Apok whispered. “Or dead, thanks to your leadership.”

  “I saw two archers above us,” Karenk said, hurriedly cutting off my response to Apok. “And two more in that tree yonder.”

  “They don’t seem to be running out of arrows.”

  “No,” Karenk agreed.

  “We’ve got to put an end to this, and fast.” I turned to the other villager—a teenage boy barely old enough to shave. Back on Earth, he’d have been learning how to drive, or falling in love for the first time, or maybe thinking about what college he wanted to go to. Not so here in the Lost Level. But that didn’t make him any different than a teenager back home. He was just as young, and just as scared. “What’s your name?”

  When he answered, his voice quavered. “Martek.”

  “Okay, Martek. Can you climb?”

  He nodded.

  “Good.” I looked him over. “You don’t have a weapon.”

  “I had a spear, but I … when the arrows started falling … I dropped it.”

  I handed him my sword. He looked at it as if I were offering him a live snake.

  “But … but Aaron …?”

  “Take it,” I whispered. “You know how to use one, right?”

  He nodded again, and then took it nervously, holding it carefully.

  “It’s a good blade. I want that back when we’re done.”

  I grinned, trying to set him at ease, but Martek only looked nauseous.

  “Okay, Karenk—you and Martek take that tree over there. Apok, you and I will take the one above us.”

  “Me?” Apok blustered. “I don’t think—”

  “You wanted to be in charge. You wanted to lead. Now lead on, Apok.”

  Karenk chuckled softly. Apok glared at him and then at me.

  “Very well. I am not afraid.”

  But he was. I knew that he was. It was apparent from the hesitation in his voice and the way he carried himself. It echoed in his sullen expression as, still chuckling, Karenk led Martek toward the other nearby tree. It showed in the color his ears turned as he began to climb. I won’t lie—I enjoyed seeing his discomfort. Then, I heard our fellow tribe members shouting out on the plain, still under bombardment, and my attention returned to the task at hand. Making sure my revolver and dagger were both holstered safely, I sprang up into the tree and began to follow after him.

  I don’t know what world they came from, but these particular trees were unlike anything back on Earth. You have to be mindful of the vegetation here in the Lost Level. Just like everything else in this place—humans to dinosaurs to aliens to robots—the plant life comes from all across the universe and all of its myriad dimensions, and not all of the forms are pleasant or docile. A botanist could spend their entire life in this place and still not catalog them all. I’ve encountered things as innocuous as red pine trees or purple dandelions. But I’ve also seen grass that will cut you quicker and deeper than any razor, tree bark that acts like flypaper, vines that will creep into your camp and strangle you in your sleep, and even a walking, bipedal sort of oak that tosses exploding pinecones at anything it deems a threat.

  The tree that Apok and I now climbed was similar to a palm tree in shape and texture, but it was much taller, and rather than fronds, it sported a bushy, leafy top supported by a vast network of thick limbs that spread out far around it—forming a natural platform of sorts. These limbs were only found at the top, however. The rest of the length of the trunk was bare, save for warty, knoblike protrusions of bark all along its length. They reminded me of the handholds on those artificially manufactured rock climbing walls back home, and we utilized them in much the same manner, carefully making our way upwards as stealthily as possible.

  As we drew closer to the top, the tree limbs vibrated as the Anunnaki archers moved back and forth, picking their shots. The leaves rustled, but otherwise, the snake men made no sound. I saw a few more of our fellow tribe members sneaking through the forest below us, regrouping, but there was no sign of Tolia. I hoped she was okay. Across from us, I saw Karenk and Martek scaling the other tree. Then I turned my attention back to climbing.

  Apok parted the branches and scurried up into the leaves. Carefully choosing my footing, I hurried after him, emerging into a broad, flat area, almost like a deck, formed by the expanding tree limbs. Two Anunnaki were perched atop these limbs, moving nimbly back and forth along thick, sturdy branches wider than Karenk’s chest. Both opponents were armed with bows. A pile of arrows lay between them, balanced atop a thick blanket of leaves and supported by a cluster of thinner branches. Given how many they had already fired, I had to assume the heap had been bigger at one point. Both reptilians were clad in leather armor fashioned from human skin. It was not the first time I had seen the snake men wearing such garments, but the sight always sickened and angered me. Their backs were to us, giving us the element of surprise. Gritting my teeth, I pulled the revolver.

  Lacking a ranged weapon, Apok drew his short sword and began to inch toward them, blocking my shot. Worse, his footsteps vibrated the tree limbs. I felt it through my own soles, and so did our opponents. Both whipped around quickly, forked tongues flicking at the air, reptilian eyes showing neither surprise or hate—their faces, like those of the rest of their kind—cold, expressionless masks. They raised their bows, arrows already notched to rain down upon our friends, and pointed them at us instead.

  “Apok,” I shouted, “drop!”

  I half expected him to argue with me, to take exception with my command even in the face of death, but he didn’t. Instead, my conniving companion ducked low, nearly losing his balance and slipping through the branches as a result. He scrambled for a handhold, struggling precariously. The first snake man loosed his arrow. It zipped through the air where Apok had been standing a mere second before. The second bowman swiveled toward me, but I shot him twice, aiming both rounds at his center mass. He made no sound as the bow slipped from his scaled hands. They never did. Even in death, the Anunnaki were silent. They communicated through telepathy. Maybe they screamed telepathically, as well. If so, I hoped at that moment that all of his kind heard him shriek as he crashed through the foliage and tumbled to the forest floor below.

  The other archer reached for another arrow, but I shot him in the face. He stood there for a moment, swaying back and forth on the tree limb, before finally falling. He flopped about, blood splattering against the leaves, but managed to stay perched in the treetop, even after he lay still.

  Panting for breath, Apok pulled himself back up onto the platform and shakily rose to his feet. His complexion was the color of cheesecloth, and his forehead shone with sweat. He glanced around at his feet and then bent over and retrieved his fallen short sword.

  “You’re lucky that didn’t fall below.”

  He nodded.

  I pointed at the fallen archer. “Check his corpse, Apok. Make sure he’s dead.”

  Apok stared up at me and then glanced at the fallen Anunnaki with clear trepidation.

  “The snake man’s not moving. Surely he is dead.”

  Ignoring him, I flipped open the revolver’s cylinder, and ejected the spent brass casings into my palm. I winced as the hot metal touched my flesh, but I didn’t want to lose them. One of the keys to surviving in this place is to make do with what you have and never discard anything if you can at all help it. Everything can be repurposed and recycled. I’ve made knives from broken compact discs, fashioned fishing lures from bits of bone and electronic scraps, and turned an old rusty stop sign into a formidable shield. I’ve seen skulls turned into bowls and mugs, a canoe used as armor, and a hair dryer used as a flail. With that in mind, I dropped the empty brass into the leather pouch containing the ammunition for my sling and then blew on my blistered palm.

  As a result, I didn’t see the next arrow until after it had whistled by my head and buried itself in Apok’s left eye.

  Apok made a surprised, chortling sound, and swayed back and forth on his feet. A small dribble of blood trickled down his cheek. His left eye was gone, and half a feathered shaft jutted from the socket. He swayed back and forth on his feet and then toppled over face forward. The arrow snapped as he hit the branch.

  I ducked low, scrambling for cover, and then spotted Tolia. She was crouched behind me, holding her bow. I gasped in surprise, realizing that it was she who had killed Apok.

  “Tolia? When did you get here?”

  “Just now.” She nodded at the dead snake man. “I see you didn’t leave any for me.”

  “I’m sure you’ll have your fair share before we’re done. Tolia—why did you …?”

  “Kill him?”

  “Yeah.”

  She sauntered over to Apok’s body. Kneeling, she flipped him over and checked his pulse. “Because he would have killed you the first chance he got. And probably Karenk and myself and anybody else who sided with you. Understand something, Aaron. The Anunnaki are not the only threat to our tribe right now. With her father dead, it falls to Kasheena to lead our people. She is his heir—his only heir. But she is among the captives. There are many who would take advantage of this situation to usurp control for themselves. Apok was only the loudest of them. There are others back in the village who will not make their intentions so obvious.”

  “Apok was a shithead,” I agreed, “but he had his supporters, even among the warriors in our party. How are they going to react when they find out?”

  She leaned over and grabbed an Anunnaki arrow from the pile. Then, she placed one foot on Apok’s forehead, grasped her arrow with both hands, and slowly pulled, twisting and turning the shaft, taking care not to break it, until finally the missile was free. She tossed the bloody arrow down to the forest floor, and plunged the Anunnaki arrow into the wound. Then she looked up at me and smiled.

  “When they find out he was shot by an Anunnaki? They will curse the snake men even more than they already do.”

  Before I could respond, Karenk called out to me, his voice echoing across the treetops.

  “Hello, Aaron!”

  I cupped my hand around my mouth. “All clear, Karenk. You?”

  “We have bested our foes. Young Martek fought bravely.”

  “Excellent! We’ll meet you guys down below.”

  Tolia and I made a quick search of the treetop, looking for any gear we might be able to scavenge, but found nothing. She refilled her quill from the pile of arrows, commenting on her distaste for the inferior shafts and arrowheads.

  “What do we do with him?” I pointed at Apok’s corpse.

  She prodded his body with her toe and then pushed him off the limb. Branches snapped and rustled as he plummeted to the ground. Apok’s corpse landed with a sound like a sack of wet potatoes. Tolia flashed me a look of mock innocence and batted her eyelashes.

  “It’s such a shame. He fell after he was shot. We could do nothing for him. It was too late.”

  Grinning, I shook my head. “You sure don’t mess around, Tolia.”

  “Mess?” She frowned.

  “Never mind. Just an expression from my world.”

  “I sometimes forget that you are not from our world, Aaron. I consider you one of us. You are a worthy addition to our tribe and Kasheena’s bed.”

  “Thank you, Tolia. That might be the nicest thing anybody has said to me in quite some time.”

  “It is meant.”

  “Well, I appreciate it. You’re pretty badass yourself.”

  “That is a compliment?” she asked.

  I nodded. “It is.”

  “Then, thank you, Aaron. I will honor it.”

  We climbed back down to the forest floor, anxious to regroup with the rest of the party and continue our pursuit.

  Chapter 3

  The Determined Dozen

  One by one, the survivors of the ambush gathered beneath the trees. Some were injured. Others had escaped the bombardment unscathed. When everyone from our party was finally accounted for, we discovered to our shock that only thirteen of us remained alive. Everyone else had been slain by either the Anunnaki archers or the worm we had encountered previously. Despite this, none of the survivors were disillusioned or ready to surrender. Indeed, they seemed instilled with a renewed resolve and strength, eager to continue the pursuit.

  Most of the injuries suffered by our party were minor, except for one man named Oke, who had taken an arrow to the stomach. The shaft was embedded deep, and each time we tried to remove it, the barbed arrowhead did more internal damage. Sweating and pale, and squirming in agony, the anguished villager begged us to kill him so that he wouldn’t further delay our rescue attempt. We conferred among ourselves, debating what to do. The wound was probably fatal, especially this far from the village, and Oke was obviously in a great deal of pain. While myself and several others debated a course of action, a villager named Tomkin, who I later learned had been the injured man’s best friend since childhood, stabbed Oke in the heart with a dagger. It was quick and decisive, and Oke’s final breath was spent thanking him. Tomkin wept when the deed was finished.

  And then we were twelve. In addition to myself, Tolia, Karenk, Martek, and Tomkin, we had two other teens about Martek’s age—Flik, a slender lad, and Sleeth, a girl who was as proficient with a sling as Tolia was with a bow. There were also three other men—a hunter named Kert, a farmer named Shlak, and a one-armed, one-eyed, grizzled old-timer named Trut, whose face was a mass of scar tissue. And there were two more women—another farmer named Marta and a young mother named Karune, whose child and sister were both among the captives.

  We briefly mourned our dead and lamented that there was no time to bury them, or even cover their corpses to prevent animals from getting at them. Shlak and Marta seemed upset at the news of Apok’s death, but they didn’t question Tolia’s account. The Anunnaki shaft jutting from his eye socket seemed to satisfy them. They didn’t treat me with suspicion, and I saw no signs of dissent or argument from them.

 

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