The Cull of Lions (Darkening Stars Book 2) Read online

  “Stay here, with the vehicle,” Selena told their driver.

  Disappointment flickered over the man’s deeply lined face. The long thick scar running down his left cheek jumped as his jaw worked and lips twitched, as if he was chewing something unsavoury. “Are you sure, Ma’am? No one’s been down any of the other tunnels before, and I’m right handy in a fight.”

  “I’m sure you are, Private. What’s your name?”

  “Jack Harding, Captain.”

  “Well, Private Jack Harding, I’m sure you know that one of the first rules of combat is to ensure your exit is covered, so stay here and keep your weapon to hand and your eyes open. We might need to leave in a hurry.”

  When Selena and the others gingerly entered the rabbit hole the Caretakers simply walked around them. It wasn’t long before they came to another door, this one remaining open to allow the steady stream of Caretakers in and out.

  Selena and the others stepped out into a new and unexplored world, pausing briefly to take in the view. A deep-red, dusty soil lay beneath their feet, host to a tough yellow grass, while before them lay a vast motionless ocean. The sky was lilac and it was difficult to determine where the sea ended and where the sky began, for it all seemed to blend together to create the most bizarre effect. It was as if the land they were standing on was floating in Mid-air. The tunnel-tree they’d exited from was impressively tall and spread out far overhead, the same as those found back on Eden, yet the other trees were entirely different. Those were slim, considerably smaller, and their wispy leaves a light-green transparent mesh. Every now and then one of those strange leaves snapped shut and retracted into the dark-red bark, dragging unwilling insects and creatures similar to lizards and birds with it. Singh Shuddered and cursed, causing Kes to turn and frown at him.

  “What’s up?”

  “It’s those trees. They’re the colour of blood. There’s something about this place, it sets my teeth on edge.”

  Selena looked at him for a moment. “Blood Trees, that’s an apt name for them. Arthur. We’re here, so what’s next?”

  “I’d imagine Franks and Amanda would have set up a base camp relatively close to the rabbit hole. If I’m right, and this is the tunnel they came down, then they should be around here somewhere. Incidentally, I double checked and I was right, until now the search has only been focused entirely on Eden. There was just too much ground for them to cover on that world alone. No one will have searched this place at all, as far as I’m aware apart from Franks and Amanda, hopefully.”

  “Just how do you know that?”

  “Because I looked it up before we set off from Base Camp. I have an eidetic memory.”

  Selena turned to him. The eerie half smile flowing and twisting on his unearthly face sent a chill right through her. “How does your face do that?”

  “I was reborn with it, remember? It’s a living material, both a gift and a curse. Some people might admire the ability, others probably despise it.”

  Selena didn’t answer. The picture of Za’an’s ruined forehead and lifeless eyes were stamped firmly in her memory, so she knew exactly how much of a threat he could be.

  Arthur glanced at her and then continued. “By the way, this place needs a name. What about Arcadia? It’s an alternative name for Eden, and as we’ve come from one version of it to another it kind of makes sense.”

  “Yes it does,” she agreed. “Arcadia it is then.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “What is it, Braxis?”

  “Look, over there at the edge of the trees. There’s a tent.”

  “Yea Gods, you’re right,” she declared with delight. It was so well camouflaged none of them had noticed it before. As one, they ran over to the shelter. Braxis knelt to cover their right side, while Kes echoed his movements to the left. Singh readied his weapon as he and Selena approached. She stood to one side and threw aside the tent flap while Kes braced himself, weapon ready, facing the opening. For a moment no one spoke. It was empty.

  Kes rose to his feet and walked over to a small dead campfire. Kneeling on one knee he held his hand open above the ashes and then sifted them through his fingers. “These are cold. I’d say that no one’s been here for quite a while. Franks and the others could be anywhere but at least we know for sure we’re on the right track.”

  “One moment,” Arthur held out his fist and opened it. In it was a small box made of the same ceramic material as his skin. As they watched the lid popped open and small metallic insects flew out.

  “The bees,” Selena said.

  Those small golden machines rose straight upwards and for a moment remained in mid-air, before shooting off suddenly in all directions. Arthur’s gaze followed them as he said, “We may as well make camp, there’s everything we need right here. If they are around trust me, my bees will find them, and of course there’s always the remote chance they could come back on their own anyway.”

  “Agreed. Kes, clean out that fire pit,” Selena ordered. “Braxis, search their tent, see if you can find any clues. Singh, I want you to do a perimeter check. Arthur, go with him. When you’re all done put your own tents up. We could be here for quite a while.”

  Later, when they’d made their own camp, Arthur went out again. After strolling around peering into all kinds of things he disappeared into the tree but returned after about thirty minutes. “I need you all to come with me,” he said, “though it’s a bit of a walk. The bees have found something. Unfortunately it’s not our friends.”

  With Arthur leading the way through the forest they finally came to a clearing and stood before a large grass-covered mound, with dirt exposed on one side to the elements. Hundreds of Caretakers were working away at it feverishly, so it boiled as if it were covered with ants.

  “What’ that?” Selena asked. “It looks like a dig site.”

  “Aye, it sure does,” Kes replied. “Those Caretakers appear to be covering it back up again and what are those things they’re carrying, sticks?”

  No one said anything for a while, and then Arthur spoke. “I’d say that those are bones.”

  They turned to him as one, their faces whitening.

  “Of what?” Selena asked.

  The warm and gentle wind bought a subtle, cloying scent from the blood trees. “I’d say it’s this planet’s original occupants,” Arthur replied.

  Selena turned to him, stunned. “How could you possibly know that?”

  Arthur turned his pristine ceramic face to her. “According to the bees those remains were buried with advanced technology, which the caretakers are now reburying. It appears that there are a great many other similar sites showing up around us on the bees sensors. These scans also show countless ancient ruins of what appear to be cities. According to the bees estimates this grave could hold five hundred thousand bodies and, judging by the sheer number of the burial sites they’ve detected one can imagine there’s a great many dead here. I’d say what we’re looking at is evidence of genocide.”

  *****

  No one wanted to look more closely at the mass grave, so they returned to the camp and sat around the fire which Kes had made with deadwood and then lit to combat the cold, as the day drew on and the temperature dropped. They ate silently, each alone with their thoughts. At length Singh finished and put down his plate. Then he held his cup before him in both hands, as if savouring the smell of the fresh coffee and enjoying the warmth.

  “If the ForeRunners built the rabbit holes then it makes sense this is one of their worlds,” he began, “but if that’s the case then what’s with all the bodies?”

  “Could be the Manta arrived suddenly and killed them, and then left before the ForeRunners returned,” Kes offered.

  Arthur held a cup of the coffee too, staring into the hot depths but not drinking. “Or it could be a world they wrestled from the Manta after the bugs murdered the original inhabitants.”

  “None of that makes sense,” Selena replied. “The ForeRunners lost that war, remember? So,
if they’d wrested this place from the Manta, as you suggest, then the Manta would have come back and reclaimed it when they finally won. This all points to these dead inhabitants, whatever they were, either dying before the ForeRunners got here…”

  “Or the ForeRunners themselves killed them,” Kes continued for her. “But why would they do something like that?”

  One of the sentry guns suddenly burped into life. Instantly they snatched up their weapons and dived into what cover they could, as a monstrous horse-like reptilian creature three times their height raced out of the blood trees straight towards them. With a deafening scream its awesome jaws opened, displaying arm-length and razor-sharp teeth. Then it staggered and bellowed as its body was ripped apart by hundreds of high explosive, armour piecing rounds. The creature stopped, gave a long drawn out groan and collapsed with a sickening thud. The sentry gun fell silent.

  After a moment’s pause they stood and walked over to examine the creature’s body. At a murmured instruction from Selena, Braxis played the beam of his slicer backwards and forwards over the body, turning it to ashes, while the others returned to their seats. All of them cradled their weapons, peering into the darkness that was falling around them. Before long nothing remained of the creature except burns on the grass and a fine ash drifting on the now chill wind.

  “Jesus, did you see those teeth,” Braxis said, taking a seat and putting his weapon down beside him. “It had a mouth like a chainsaw.”

  “I want two of you on guard at all times tonight,” Selena ordered, her breath puffed white. “Kes, you’re with me, Singh with Braxis. You two have the first watch, six hours each shift.”

  “What about me?” Arthur inquired. “I can stay awake all night. There’s no need for you to stand guard, you could all take a rest.”

  “You do that, supplement the others,” she replied. Climbing to her feet she turned her back on him and entered her tent, the flaps closing behind her.

  *****

  The sunrise through the frost covered blood trees was spectacular. The scenery changed rapidly from a sea of frozen darkness to one of blood-red, as the warmth of the sun chased away the chill of the night and revealed the natural colour of the trees.

  “What the...” Kes pointed towards a cat-sized flying creature that looked somewhat like a drifting jellyfish. It alighted gently on one of the branches and stared at them through myriad gleaming eyes that grew out of its body on long thin wavering stalks. Then with a sudden shriek the creature disappeared, as one of the mesh-leaves snapped shut around it and sucked it squirming into the tree.

  “Are you thinking what I am?” Singh asked. “That thing looked intelligent. If it was and came from around here then it would surely have known not to sit where it did, which suggests it’s from someplace else.”

  Before anyone could say anything else Arthur leapt to his feet and his pale countenance broke into a grin. “We need to go, right now. I’ve despatched a bee to bring Harding and the Skimmer through the tunnel. Forgive me, Captain, but this is important. We’ve found Franks and Amanda!”

  The bees found their friends eighty miles away and, while Selena agreed with Arthur’s decision, she wished he’d consulted her first. It seemed churlish, however, to tell him off. Particularly in front of the others, but she was determined to have a word with him when they had a quiet moment.

  Harding arrived within thirty minutes. As the transport set down beside them he looked around at the tent and the burn marks on the grass and the trees damaged by gunfire from the sentry gun. “Looks like I missed the party.”

  “We’ll fill you in later,” Selena looked at Arthur. “You drive, I want us there soonest. Now move.”

  *****

  “It was the smoke and heat from their fire that attracted the bees,” Arthur informed them, as he guided the skimmer over the treetops. “We’re just about there now.”

  As he spoke their small craft slowed and then lowered to the ground beside a small campfire and a skimmer that lay close to some ancient ruins. Amanda and Franks ran up to their craft waving and grinning insanely, as they all climbed out. To Selena’s surprise Franks ignored her proffered hand and hugged her, his rough brown beard tickling her face.

  “Selena, I’m so glad to see you.” He grinned, hugged her again and then shook hands with the others, but his blue eyes widened in astonishment at the sight of Arthur. “Our skimmer died on us and we’ve no idea why. Bizarrely the same thing happened to the radio equipment.”

  “Singh, check it out.”

  “Have you any news about Hope?” Amanda asked.

  “Sorry, not yet. We’d hoped you’d found her,” Selena replied.

  “No, we were doing a wide sweep and hoping she’d hear the skimmer and try to attract our attention. Then we saw these ruins and stopped to investigate,” Franks said. “We were intending to return to our base camp, but when we came back here we found that the skimmer’s power units were completely drained and the solar chargers had no effect on them at all, or the radios come to that.”

  “I’m so glad you found us,” Amanda added. “One more day and we’d have been forced to walk back, even if there are nasties out there.”

  Singh climbed out of their vehicle. “This thing is royally screwed, but I can’t figure out why. It’ll probably be a damn good idea to get out of here pronto, before the same thing happens to our own machine.”

  “Agreed,” Selena said. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Franks and Amanda grabbed their equipment and tossed it aboard the skimmer, leaping agilely over the sides and sitting down gratefully. Once back at the camp they were soon tucking into hot stew and thick crusty bread, rustled up by Braxis.

  “I’ve a question for you,” Selena began. “What can you tell us about the dig? Arthur tells me that there appears to be millions of bodies buried there, and those caretakers are very intent on covering it all up.”

  “Yeah, we noticed that,” Franks replied through a mouthful of food. “We spotted the site shortly after we arrived. It was already partially exposed and the caretakers were working away like crazy, that’s why they were coming through the rabbit holes empty handed. We tried to clear some of it and take a look, but they kept covering it back up again. We were hoping it would provide some clues as to what happened here, with regards to the ruins, and possibly even what might have happened to Hope. We thought she might have wandered in there somehow and become trapped.

  “Just before we set off to the ruined city the caretakers intensified what they were doing, no idea why. Perhaps it’s a religious thing, respect of the dead, or perhaps even a fear of whatever killed them. We still don’t understand what uncovered the bodies in the first place and it didn’t really matter that much at the time. I expect a research team will be sent here soon. In the meantime our prime concern is to search for Hope.”

  “I have a thought about the power loss on your skimmer,” Singh said, changing the subject. “It strikes me that’s quite an effective defence. If you’re holed up in a city fighting for your lives and your enemy loses all power in their weapons and vehicles, then that could make a hell of a difference to the battle.”

  “Yes, but turn that on its head,” Kes replied. “What if it was the other side who had those weapons? If they could drain the defenders power sources, it would soon be game over.”

  They spoke for a while and then Selena suggested the exhausted Franks and Amanda retire to their tent, reassuring them the bees would continue the search while they slept and they’d be woken immediately if there was any news. Selena and Kes took first watch, Singh and Braxis the second. When Selena awoke in the morning it was to find Singh gently shaking her shoulder. He held out a cup of tea and watched her accept it and blow on the hot liquid, before taking a sip.

  “I’ve got something to show you,” he said.

  “What?” she asked, stretching with a slight groan and ignoring the sleeping bag as it slipped aside and revealed her bare breasts. She took another sip of the near
scalding liquid and then put the cup down. Swinging her legs out she stood on the groundsheet and began to dress. The morning air was damp and mysterious, filled with the cloying musk of wild flowers and Selena found herself relaxing.

  “You just need to come with me,” Singh replied, shaking his head from side to side while an odd grin played over his lips. “You’re going to love this.”

  Rubbing at her face with bare hands, Selena followed him out of the tent and across the clearing. She was desperate for a shower, but could always wash after. The others, apart from Braxis who remained behind to guard the camp, trailed along behind them. In moments they all stood before the lines of caretaker machines working away at the dig site.

  “Watch,” Singh said, and then called loudly through cupped hands. “Hey, I’m hungry get me an apple.”

  One of the machines froze for a moment or two and then turned to face them, while the others carried on as before. As the stream of its fellows carried countless baskets of dirt down into the dark, gaping hole this one suddenly scuttled away and quickly came back with an apple. Sitting on its back legs it rose up to waist height and handed the apple to Singh, before returning to work with the other machines. Singh’s eyes twinkled as he took a large bite of the crunchy green fruit and chewed, aromatic juice dripping down his chin.

  Selena frowned. “How did you do that?”

  “You know me,” Singh replied, swallowing. “I just thought it funny to ask one of them to do it, but I was amazed when it complied. It’s obvious they understand our language, but I’ve no idea why they’d obey us.”

  “My God,” Amanda gasped from behind Selena. “Do you realise what this means?”

  “What? Are you all right, hon?” Franks asked, putting his hand on her arm and turning her to face him, worriedly.

  Amanda shrugged him off. “Hey,” she called loudly. Again one of the caretakers stopped and faced them. “We’ve lost my daughter, Hope. Go and find her for me.”

  With that a dozen or so other machines stopped and joined their comrade facing Selena and the others. Remaining still for a few moments they then turned as one and marched off into the trees.