Yenza and I leaped onto the skimmer and barely had time to grab on to something before Spader gunned the engine and launched from the dock. If anybody could catch this guy, it was Spader.
The Traveler from Cloral was going to have another wish come true.
We were about to get dangerous.
Chapter 15
The Ravinian aquaneer was nearly halfway to the nearest gunboat.
We had some catching up to do. Spader stood at the motorcycle-like controls of the skimmer and opened up the double-pontoon engines. The small craft lurched forward and seemed to fly over the water. Yenza and I knelt on either side of Spader, holding on to the rails. We knew that if we so much as hit a small swell, we’d be launched.
“When’s the last time you drove one of these?” I called to my friend above the whine of the engines.
“No worries, mate,” he said while staying focused ahead. “What is it you say on First Earth? It’s like riding a bike.” He gave me a quick look back and a sly smile. “1 like riding bikes.”
I knew that. If the aquaneer was catchable, Spader would catch him. His long dark hair flew back in the wind. His almond-shaped eyes were focused dead ahead. It was good to be back together.
Yenza called to me, “Spader says the exiles are fugitives from another territory.”
Her words surprised me at first. The last time I was with Wu Yenza, she didn’t know anything about anything. But since then she had become Spader’s acolyte. She had read his journals. She was up to speed. It still felt weird, but it also felt good. We needed as many people on our side as possible.
“Are they worth risking Grallion for?” she asked.
I looked her straight in the eye. How could I answer that? I didn’t want to see Grallion sunk. That would be a catastrophe beyond imagining. But I had also seen the horror of what Earth had become. I had no doubt that the same kind of fate would hit Cloral.
“Yes” was my simple answer.
Yenza nodded. She accepted my word.
“I told them to navigate the hauler out beyond the raiders’ ships and to wait for us to join them,” she explained. “I thought we’d hide them in Panger City. If the raiders learn they’re in a hauler, they’ll hunt them down for sure.”
“Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen,” I said.
“We will,” Spader called back. “We’re almost on this woggly.”
I looked ahead to see that we were catching up to the Ravinian spy. He kept glancing back like a runner who was nearly out of gas and desperate to get to the finish line before his nearest challenger caught up. Our skimmer had much more power. We were going to get him.
“Who is he?” Spader called back to Yenza.
“Never seen him before,” she replied. “He isn’t one of my aquaneers.”
I added, “Then you won’t mind if he gets hurt.”
Both Spader and Yenza gave me a quick, surprised look.
“Bold words, mate,” Spader said. “You’ve changed a might.”
“You have no idea.”
At the rate we were closing, I figured we’d reach him with a hundred yards to spare. Spader was that good. I stood up next to Spader and yelled, “Pull up next to him, so I can jump aboard!”
Spader gave me another smile. “You really have changed.”
I shrugged. If he was surprised at my words, he was going to be totally shocked when he saw me lay into that renegade aquaneer. Unfortunately, our plans quickly changed. We were suddenly bathed in bright, blinding light from the closest gunship. They had trained high-intensity spotlights on us. It got worse. I shielded my eyes in time to see that the aquaneer had stopped his skimmer and had grabbed a long, silver water rifle. He had decided to make a stand on the water.
We weren’t ready for that.
“He’s gonna shoot!” I shouted just as the first blast erupted.
The shot hit our skimmer square in front, nailing the steering column. The force pulled the handles out of Spader’s grasp, and we spun sharply to our right. Yenza didn’t hesitate. With an impossible sense of balance that could only have come from spending years on the water, she pulled up the floor panel to grab for her own weapon. It was going to be a shoot-out.
Spader grabbed the handles back and started maneuvering evasively. I crouched down, trying to make a smaller target. While Spader spun us every which way, I caught glimpses of the aquaneer who was our quarry. His skimmer was dead in the water, his back was braced against the steering column, his rifle was up and aimed at us.
He was no longer our quarry. We were his quarry.
Boom. Boom.
I remembered the sound of those sleek, silver water guns from the last time I was on Cloral. They were no water pistols. They fired highly compressed rockets of water that could tear somebody in two. Spader kept us moving and spinning. I heard and felt the water projectiles fly by. Yenza had her rifle up and ready. She took to one knee and fired back. Her aim wasn’t great, which didn’t surprise me, considering we were randomly spinning one way and then the other. It also didn’t help that the guy was in silhouette because of the bright spotlights from the gunboat behind him.
Which also meant we were lit up like ducks in a shooting gallery.
“You still want on that skimmer?” Spader asked.
“Can you get me there?” I called back.
“I’ll take that as a challenge.” He laughed.
Unbelievable. We were in the midst of a deadly water fight and Spader was as calm as if we were playing Marco Polo.
“Need a couple of shots to his left,” Spader called calmly to Yenza.
“Done,” she called back calmly and started squeezing off a series of shots that forced the aquaneer to dive down and take cover on the right side of his skimmer. But he wasn’t done shooting. He lay flat on his stomach like a sharpshooter and took aim back at us.
“Stand by, mate,” Spader called to me. “I’ll swing around his bow.”
Spader gunned the skimmer and launched forward. The aquaneer saw what was happening and tried to swing his rifle toward us, but Yenza let loose with a volley of shots that made him duck down below the rails of his small craft. Spader was now flying on a straight line, which made it easier for Yenza to take aim.
“If he pokes his head up,” she growled without taking her eye away from the barrel of the gun, “he’s done.”
“Right,” Spader announced. “Off you go, mate.”
He swung our skimmer around the bow of the enemy. The aquaneer tried to sit up and raise his rifle, but Yenza nailed his gun with a shot of her own. His silver rifle clattered to the deck of his skimmer. I had my window. Spader barely slowed as we crossed the bow. I sprang forward, launching toward where I hoped the skimmer would be when I landed. I left our moving boat and landed with both feet on the deck of the aquaneer’s skimmer.
The guy scrambled for his rifle. There was no way he’d be able to get it up to aim and fire, but that wasn’t his plan. He used the long rifle like a bat and swung it at me, nailing my right knee. Ow. It didn’t cripple me, but it sure hurt. I lashed out with a backhand to his head. I really nailed him but the guy didn’t react.
Bad news.
It was a dado.
There were dados on Cloral. Swell.
He swung his rifle back, trying to hit my other leg. This time I was ready. I grabbed the rifle with both hands before it made contact and yanked him to his feet. I didn’t know how strong this dado was, so I wasn’t sure if I had a chance against him. I couldn’t knock him out, that much was for sure. My best hope was to throw him over the side, where Yenza could finish him off with a couple of shots.
The two of us struggled, both with two hands on the rifle. The dado was strong, but not superhuman. On the other hand, he fought dirty. He lifted his knee to nail me where it hurts. I saw it coming and pivoted to my left, catching his knee with the back of my leg. It hurt, but at least he didn’t jangle anything. What it mostly did was make me mad. I drove my right elbow back into his chest. Again the guy didn’t flinch. He drove the palm of his left hand forward, hitting me square in the chest. It threw me off my feet. Yeow. It was like he bruised my heart. I lay on my back on the deck, looking up at him as he lifted his leg to kick me in the head. I had to fight through the pain to protect myself. I caught his foot, twisted, and brought the guy down to the deck with me. I leaped onto his back like a wrestler. I wanted to roll him off the skimmer and into the water. The guy was flat on his stomach, making it impossible for me to get leverage. I snaked my arm under his, trying to get my hand up and onto the back of his neck for a half-nelson wrestling hold. As I struggled to get control, I looked up to see Yenza on the skimmer, with her rifle up and aimed… at us. I didn’t care how good of a shot she was, she could easily have hit me instead of the dado. I opened my mouth to yell at her to stop. Too late. She fired. I flung myself off the dado to protect myself.