Shadows, стр. 32

Chapter 14

The two mechanics glanced up at Tanavuna and his men, at first with eyebrows raised in a gesture of unspoken question, then in narrowed squints at the rifles aimed their way.

“Speak one word, and you’re both dead,” Tanavuna said. “You have a choice, either point out rope and a cloth to bind you with, or I’ll have to cut your throats.” Both mechanics raised their hands and climbed down. Minutes later they were tied and sitting in a corner.

Tanavuna stood before the double doors, and a quick peek inside showed stairs going down, with no way of knowing how deep they went. All he could think about was Kesteluni at the mercy of the J’Stull, so rather than wait for someone to return he took half a step into the darkness with his rifle pointed ahead.

Kuun’s hand stopped him. “We can’t afford to lose you,” the man whispered, without explaining if he was referring to his role as lieutenant or hetman. Not waiting for Tanavuna to respond, Kuun led the way down, his brother close behind.

Lanterns set at intervals along the walls shed wan light on the steps, with illumination at the bottom coming from rooms or passages to either side. The stairs were rough-hewn and wide enough for firm footing but with worn indents that could trip the unwary. A tumble might well prove fatal, even without J’Stull waiting below. Tanavuna had taken eight steps down when Kuun sped up, came to a landing, and wheeled right with his M14 leveled at the waist. Unaa took a step to follow but Tanavuna grabbed the back of his robe.

“Who are you?” somebody yelled. Kuun opened fire with the selector set to full-automatic, which made bracing it against his hip understandable. Firing an M14 at full-automatic from the shoulder made it impossible to keep on target, no matter how good you were. The 7.62mm rounds packed a heavy punch, but the tradeoff was a strong recoil that threw off aim at more than a semi-automatic rate of fire. Captain Cutter said the only time it made sense to use full-automatic was to spray a small area where it was hard to miss, or to drive the enemy to ground.

“Let me go!” the younger man yelled, but Tanavuna held on. Return fire ripped into Kuun before they had a chance to move. Going to his aid would have meant stepping into a storm of bullets.

Bleeding from a dozen hits, Kuun somehow remained standing and kept firing. When his first magazine ran dry, he took three seconds to swap out magazines and started firing again. Brass casings clinked on the floor. The noise of the gunshots echoed like thunder in the stairwell while the air stank of burnt gunpowder. Return fire from inside the room blended into a cacophony that made it impossible to tell one shot from the next. Kuun’s body jerked both from holding the gun and being ripped apart by bullets. Blood sprayed the walls and turned the front of his robe crimson.

When the second magazine was empty, the dying man waved the others back up the stairwell. He met the eyes of his sobbing brother and waved again. Incredibly, even as more bullets hit him, Kuun clicked a third magazine into place and continued firing. When the last bullet left the chamber, he finally slumped sideways.

Tanavuna was only halfway from the bottom when Subitorni stepped into view, pistol extended. He shot Kuun once in the head. Tanavuna raised his rifle but a second J’Stull came up behind Subitorni, saw them, and started shooting.

He dragged Unaa back up the stairs, bullets zipping off the walls with at least one hitting a step and ricocheting back down the stairwell. A loud grunt indicated it struck J’Stull flesh, and no more shots followed them out. By a miracle, they got back to the top without injury.

Tanavuna pressed himself against the left side of the opening, while Unaa and Ammaii did the same on the right. They aimed their rifles through the doorway and fired several rounds in case the J’Stull tried to follow them up.

“You should have let me kill them!” Unaa said, between heaves that were half gasps and half sobs. “I could have—”

Tanavuna cut him off. “He is beyond our help now. We will honor him later. Now we must find a way to get back down there.”

“They must have to come back this way to leave,” Ammaii said.

Tanavuna was about to risk a glance below when a voice caught his attention.

“There may be another way out.”

“Who said that? Where are you?”

“I am behind the vehicle to your right. I am armed, so please do not try to attack me. I am not your enemy, but I will defend myself.”

“If you are not our enemy, why are you hidden?”

“Forgive me, but merely because I know that I’m not your enemy, does not mean that you will agree.”

Tanavuna held his rifle steady but had to admit the man’s words made sense.

“What did you mean there could be another way out?” Ammaii said. “Are there more tunnels below?”

“There are tunnels throughout this plateau and this region. Some are naturally made, some are not. The water which runs through the wall around the Inner City is said to come from a spring that flows beneath us, and I do know there are other tunnels down there. They might connect to passages leading out of the city.”

“I cannot make a plan based on mights and maybes,” Tanavuna said.

“I know not why you are here,” the voice said. “But we may have common cause.”

Tanavuna had heard enough to notice the stranger’s accent was distinct from natives of the region, with a more precise pronunciation of each word than was usual around Imsurmik.

Ammaii started