We bolted. And we no longer had to worry about being too obvious. The Hork-Bajir were after us, and we had to use maximum speed to escape.
"The plan seems to be working so far," Jake called down.
"Yeah. They're on us," Rachel said.
We ran through the bushes like only Hork-Bajir can run. Our arms slashed the air, again and again, quick as striking snakes. We destroyed bushes and saplings like a pair of out-of-control, nuclear-powered lawn mowers.
SLASH!SLASH!SLASH!SLASH!
But there was one big problem with doing what we were doing. See, we were slowed down a little by having to cut our way through. And the Hork-Bajir behind us could just follow our trail.
"They're gaining on you!" Jake said.
"Yeah, we noticed. How far to the ravine?"
"Too far! You won't make it this way."
"Well, find a way!" I yelled. I could see the pursuing Hork-Bajir. Their horn blades were bobbing above the undergrowth. They were not far behind us. Not far, as in pretty soon I'd be smelling their bad breath.
"!...! can't tell what anything is from up here," Jake cried. "lt's like reading a map or something. What should I be looking for?"
"We need to go at an angle," I said. "Look for a gully or ditch that runs across our path. The deeper the better."
"0h. Nothing! Wait. Maybe that's a gully. There's a little stream running down it."
"Just tell us left or right!" I yelled.
"0kay. Left! No! No! I was thinking my left. Go right! Okay, ten more steps . . ."
The Hork-Bajir were on us. In seconds they'd have us in clear view.
"There!" Jake yelled.
"Yeah!" I said. We hit a tiny, shallow stream. It was almost hidden by overhanging vines and drooping branches. "This way, Rachel."
I crouched as low as my massive, stiff Hork-Bajir body could go, and I ran bent over along the stream. Rachel was inches behind me.
"0w!" she yelped.
"What?"
"Your tail caught me in the neck. Never mind! Run! Run!"
Behind us I could hear the noise of the pursuing Hork-Bajir grow louder, then slowly more distant.
"AII right!" Jake said. "You lost them. Now you have to cut left to get back toward the ravine."
Up and out of the gully we leaped. Back on dry ground we found some nice, open country beneath very tall trees.
"0h, man, this isn't good," Jake said.
"What? Tell me."
"The fire is sweeping right down the lip of the ravine from the north!
And the Yeerks are closing the gap from the south!"
"What do we do?" I asked.
"Look, there's no way around this, Tobias. There's a line of Hork-Bajir now between you two and the ravine. You have to go through them."
"Hope you haven't lost all that anger," Rachel said to me. "Looks like we fight, after
On our left, fire!
On our right, the front ranks of Taxxons!
Straight ahead, a ravine a hundred feet deep. It was like it had been cut with a knife. Like someone had slashed the earth and made a cut so deep you could throw a skyscraper down it.
The ravine was narrow, no more than forty feet across. At the bottom, I knew, was a rushing stream. In spring it would swell with the melting ice from the mountains.
But now the stream was narrow, leaving wide sandy banks on either side.
"You're only about fifteen, twenty seconds away from the ravine!" Jake called down. "But there are more bad guys getting in the way. I'm
pretty sure I count six. Two Taxxons and four Hork-Bajir warriors."
"0h, man," I muttered.
Fifteen seconds, Jake had said. I counted in my head as I ran. One . . .
two . . . three . , . four. . .
"HeeeRRRROWWRRR!"
A Hork-Bajir warrior leaped at me, a blur of dark green-black leather skin and flashing blades. Then more of them. They were everywhere!
"Rachel! Behind you!"
SLASH! A wrist blade drew a line of blood across my chest.
SLASH! I fought back, hacking at my attacker with all my speed and strength.
"AHHHH!" The pain came out of nowhere! A Hork-Bajir had jumped up from the deep grass and hit me from behind. I could feel my entire left side starting to go numb.
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH! My wrist blades and elbow blades ripped into Hork-Bajir flesh. I went a little crazy, I think, because I didn't even know what I was doing anymore. I was on automatic. I was a slashing, ripping, tearing machine.
But I was getting hurt at the same time. I was outnumbered. There were three Hork-Bajir on
me. Two on Rachel. There had been three on her, too, but she'd taken one of them out of the fight.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! My entire world was nothing but blow and counterblow. A wrist blade cut toward my head, and I blocked it. I swiped upward with my knee, and then jerked my talons back to catch the thigh of the Hork-Bajir behind me.
Every move happened in a split second. In the time it would take a human to blink his eyes once, I would block two thrusts and throw three of my own.
Then . . . WHAM! I was on my back in the dirt. My left leg had stopped working! Two Hork-Bajir now stood over me. One raised his ripping talon, ready to bring it down on my chest!
I lay back helpless, staring up at the blue sky.
Suddenly, a flash of pale gray, coming down like a rock! Like an arrow fired from a cloud it came, wings tucked back, dropping at more than a hundred miles an hour.
A peregrine falcon. The fastest thing in the air.
Jake!
At the last second, his wings opened, he took the shock of the air and he swept his talons forward, all in one fluid movement.