I saw the wrist blade slice right into his own head. He sliced right into his own head!
"No!" I yelled in horror.
"Yah!" Jake yelped.
There was a gash six inches deep in the Hork-Bajir's head. He reached up with his clawed hands and pulled the gash open. He pulled his own head open! And it's not like it didn't hurt him. I could see the pain on his face.
Blood - or something - oozed in shades of deep red and deeper blue-green. He held the gash open and we stared, Ax and me, right into the Hork-Bajir's brain. I guess Jake and Marco could see it pretty clearly, too.
"0h, man," Marco moaned. "Can I just say "yuck"?"
Jara Hamee pressed the two sides of the gash together. He held the cut for a few seconds, and with amazing speed, the bleeding coagulated.
A long scab began to form over the gash.
That's when I started breathing again. I had stopped. Then I started my heart up. I swear it had stopped,too.
"Did you see a Yeerk in there in his head?" I asked Ax shakily.
"No," Ax said, just as shaken as I was. "No Yeerk. "
"Did that scare the pee out of you, Ax-man, or doesn't that kind of thing bother you Andalites?"
"l am as peeless as you, Tobias, my friend."
"That wasn't necessary," I told Jara Hamee.
His face - insofar as he had a face - was still scrunched up in pain. He was breathing hard and sweating the same blue-green fluid I'd seen inside his head.
"Necessary," he grunted through his pain. "Jara Hamee is strong. But Jara Hamee needs help."
"Help to do what?" Ax asked him gently.
The Hork-Bajir stared at Ax, then shifted his gaze to me. "Flying animal saw my kalashi. Jara Hamee must find her. Jara Hamee ..." He struggled to come up with a word. Then he made a gesture with his hands, as if someone were tearing something out of him. As if someone were removing his heart.
There was no question what it meant. Even across the huge divide between our species, I could recognize that emotion.
"You love her," I said.
"Jara Hamee loves," the Hork-Bajir said. "Kalashi, Jara Hamee free. Want free."
Ax swiveled his stalk eyes back toward me. "l think I believe him."
"Yeah. Me, too, Ax."
"Hey. You guys down there?" Cassie called down from above. "We have company coming."
"What kind of company, Cassie?" I heard Jake snap.
"Fifteen, maybe twenty people. They're strung out in a line. Coming this way."
"And I have an equal number coming from the southeast," Rachel said.
"And ... oh, man. They have Hork-Bajir with them! It's not even dark and they're bringing Hork-Bajir out! In the open!"
"They want our boy here real badly," I said. "lt's a big risk running aliens through the woods when it's still light enough to see."
"They're converging on you," Cassie reported. "l have a small troop of Hork-Bajir coming up, too. Oh, man. This isn't good. You guys
are practically surrounded. You have maybe five minutes till they're all over you."
"Talk about bad timing. It's getting late," Marco pointed out. "lt's almost dinnertime. My dad will give me much grief if I don't get home in time for dinner."
Jake laughed. So did I. It was just so ridiculous having to worry about being grounded when we were halfway surrounded by Yeerks.
"We could easily escape," Ax said. "We can all morph some small animal or bird and not be seen."
"That wouldn't help old Jara Hamee here," Marco said.
"Distraction," Jake said. "We need to draw the bad guys away."
"But the Yeerks are looking for a Hork-Bajir," Ax pointed out. "Will they be foolish enough to follow any of us?"
"We can only hope they will," Jake said tersely. "We can get away, but I don't think we can leave Jara Hamee behind."
But I had a different idea. Unfortunately, it was a dangerous idea. A very dangerous idea. And the danger would all be on someone else. Not me.
I hesitated. It makes me sick when other people take risks that I can't take. "Look, uh . . . there might be a way . . ." I said at last.
"What?" Jake asked.
"They want a Hork-Bajir to chase, right? Well, we could give them one."
"Morph a Hork-Bajir?" Marco asked. "Ewwww."
"Jara Hamee isn't just any animal," Cassie objected. "He's sentient.
He's self-aware."
"Ax morphed me once," Jake pointed out. "And Cassie, you morphed Rachel."
"l'm just saying we have to get Jara Hamee's permission, at least," Cassie said. "But whatever you decide, do it quick!"
"l'll do it. I'll morph the Hork-Bajir," Rachel said. Suddenly I saw her glide down through the trees on her huge eagle wings. "l need to change morphs, anyway. It's getting too dark for eagle eyes."
"No. I should do it," Ax said quickly.
"No way," Rachel said. She was already starting to demorph. "l have dibs."
"Dibs?"
"l spoke first," Rachel explained.
Ax let it go and focused his main eyes back on the Hork-Bajir. "Yeerks are coming. One of my friends wishes to morph you. To trick the Yeerks.
Do you agree?"
"Jara Hamee hates Yeerks," the big Hork-Bajir said. Like that was all the answer he needed to give.
"0kay then, turn around, Jara Hamee," I ordered the Hork-Bajir.
"Close your eyes and don't look till I tell you. If you open your eyes this Hruthin here . . . this Andalite . . . will slice and dice you. You got it? Eyes closed."
The Hork-Bajir turned around obediently. I would have laughed if I wasn't feeling half-sick with worry for Rachel. I mean, this seven-foot-tall monster was taking orders from a twenty-inch-long bird.
But my sense of humor was slightly damaged right then. Rachel was going to morph a Hork-Bajir. And then she was going to draw off the Yeerks.