"They see in the dark, yes. But still they do not know what they see. Within the herd other warriors wait and are overlooked."
The Thunder-talker nodded. "Go now, make ready. Sunrise, walk wary."
Tani smiled at her. "Very wary," she agreed. "You also, wise one." She trotted silently from the tent and went to ground in a small hollow at the far edge of the camp. The chill ground would shield part of her heat signature. With only her head showing she'd look like a rock-rabbit to any heat sensors. The small plump creatures tended to be about in the early hours of the day or during the night, their thick fur shielding them from any chill.
At the edge of the camp Baris halted his troops. "The whole place is asleep. Ideena, you and Cregar go to that big tent, grab all the jewels you can. Stun-spray every tent you pass. You other four, stunners on wide spray. Don't worry, we have additional power units. Walk in line and overlap stun beams in front of us in a semicircle. Make no noise."
They obeyed, setting their stunners. At his word they started forward, stunners weaving in a pattern which should cover and overlap every living thing in front of them in a wide area. Unprepared for this tactic, the Nitra in the vanguard fell silently in their cover and without the attackers even knowing of their presence. Moving in skilled quiet, Ideena and Cregar had circled just outside the stun influence toward the shaman's tent. They sprayed it and entered. Ideena took one look and swore viciously in a low monotonous voice.
"No one here but a Ghesh-damned comcaller." She touched the panel. "Warm, someone was using it only a few minutes ago. Had to be that girl. Look through the gear here. If they cleared out fast they may have left the cat's-eyes behind." She began raking through the Thunder-talker's possessions ignoring a commotion which flared up in the distance.
"Do you really want to waste time?" Cregar snapped. "The rangers could be on their way right now."
Ideena glared. "No, they couldn't. We paid high for the infocheck. Their copters are on the far side of the area. Even if they were warned just now they couldn't get here in time. But we may have to get back into the port a different way. Move it, Cregar. Check that box!" She gave a subdued cry of pleasure as several bracelets tumbled out of the folded cloth. She snatched up the jewelry, crooning at the play of light over green and sparkling white, before wrapping them again and thrusting them into her pocket.
"Worth a whole packet of credits. Any more?"
"No sign."
Her mouth turned angrily down. "You promised a lot more than these."
"The wretched woman is probably wearing the rest. Get out and look for her if you want them," Cregar growled. It wasn't likely Ideena would find anyone. But it would get her off his back. She scowled and vanished through the entrance only to leap back again.
"What..."
"Don't talk. Get out the back under the edge. Fast. We've got company."
Cregar was no fool. He dived for the edge of the tent, levered a peg out, and crawled through the gap. Ideena followed and he turned to re-peg the edge. As he did so a heavy blow to his back spun him partly around. Ideena stunned the warrior who had appeared, then looked down at Cregar.
"I thought you were supposed to be good, Circus Man?"
"I'm alive aren't I?" Cregar shook himself as he rose to his feet glancing at the heavy fighting spear which had struck him at close range. He owed Laris one for that, if it hadn't been for her warning he'd have been wearing lighter body armor under his shirt. The spear would have gone through the lighter level of that.
He took the lead again, drifting through cover to wait and look back once they were clear. Two of their men were down, dead he thought. The third had been struck down and was being tied even as they watched. There was no sign of the fourth. Baris had hung back cautiously behind his small command. Seeing that he apparently used no weapon, the Nitra had ignored him.
Baris put two and two together when he was ignored and fled as if in a blind panic. Ideena and Cregar came up with him two miles out of the clan camp.
"What do we do now?"
"We get to the copter and come back." Ideena was white with fury. "I'll show them they don't beat me so easily." She smiled nastily. "There's a wide-spray heavy-duty stun on the copter. We brought it aboard in that chest Baris carried. We'll lift, come in at about fifty feet, and spray everything for a mile around the camp. Now, run."
They trotted through the brush and over rough ground until Ideena was stumbling and even Cregar was wearying. They reached the copter, Baris leaped to the pilot's seat and waited, speaking softly.
"Get your breath first. Give them time back there to calm down. Did anyone see what happened to the others? I know some crazy horse killed one. He walked into it around a bush and it jumped him."
"Three dead then," Cregar said. "They've got the other one and he'll talk if they keep him alive."
"So we clean him. Leave him with the others. They'll identify them in time but nobody'll know anything. If we reach the port before daylight we can get to the ship and clear before they can stop us."
Ideena looked mutinous. "Not without my gems."
"Not without my beasts either," Cregar added.
"Okay, okay. Here, take a drink and then we'll go." Baris passed over a flask and both drank. The Fever brandy burned a track clear to their livers and both gasped at the rush of heat. Ideena nodded.
"All right. I'm ready. Go, Go!"
Baris lifted the machine into the air on steady engines, swung it around, and pointed it south to the camp. The return engagement was about to begin. This time...
Chapter Nine
Again the coyotes were the first to hear the copter returning. It couldn't be Kelson. He'd said they couldn't get to her until dawn. It had to be the enemy coming back. Tani stared up at the sky. From the sounds heard by Minou and Ferarre the machine was coming in barely off the ground. That was the action of a peacekeeper machine about to stun-spray. These people must have one of those harmless pacifiers.
But why, what did they want? She was standing in the entrance of the Thunder-talker's tent with the older woman. They'd been replacing the tumbled clothing. Tani stood motionless, her mind suddenly racing. The enemy had been here. They'd searched among clothing and taken—what? Her hands flashed into life.
"Elder sister! Those who came, they took what?"
"My bracelets."
"Those of the Thunder-talker's power?"
"Not so. Friends gifted me these. But Thunder-talker gems. I mourn their loss."
Tani put two and two together in one intuitive leap. "I think two of our enemies have banded together. Some come to steal the cat's-eyes. The others come to take my spirit-friends." She reached for the coyotes and Mandy the paraowl, urging the paraowl to be ready, the coyotes to go with the Thunder-talker. Then she turned back to the medicine woman. "My spirit-friends hear them coming back again. Take off your gems of power, hide them well outside somewhere. Quick, be quick!"
She called Mandy as the Thunder-talker swiftly stripped herself of the gemmed belt, the necklace, and items of her calling. The paraowl arrived just as the Nitra medicine woman vanished into the dark to hide her sacred jewelry. Mandy landed lightly and waddled forward as Tani dropped to one knee to stroke the large bird.
"Take this message to Brad," she told her friend, impressing it with both voice and mind. "Brad, I'm with Djimbut clan. We have been attacked and they are returning. Thieves after cat's-eyes and possibly my team. Tell Kelson to close the port." By now she could hear the copter almost at the camp fringe. "Mandy, fly fast. Copter enemy. Fly!"