Lindsay woke up and untangled her arms and legs from Donil's, careful not to wake her as she put on her armor. She headed to the door.
"You're going to fight them," Donil's voice said from behind her.
Lindsay turned to where Donil still lay in the bed and nodded. "Yes. If something happens to Nol or Sirix... they'll need me there."
"What if something happens to you?"
Lindsay sat down next to Donil and took her hand. "Donil, they're going to target me anyway. They know I'm here. If they don't see me, they might break off and then some might escape. It has to be clean. We have to get them all."
"I understand..." Donil looked at their hands. "But I still don't want you to go."
"I know. But I'll be ok. I promise."
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."
"Good thing I will. I have to see what you look like when the braids come out. Now give me a hug before I go for good luck." The two embraced, Donil squeezing her so tightly she could hardly breathe. "I'll see you in a few hours," she said, separating herself.
"In a few hours," Donil repeated, pensively.
"And not from a stretcher." This made Donil smile and Lindsay waved goodbye as she pulled the flap up and slipped out.
She removed Donil's braids from her hair as she walked. They had been weird and haphazard, there were five of them with most being a hybrid of a French braid and a regular one, though she'd seemed to get it by the end. She shook out her hair, feeling the curls wrap about her fingers and bounce around her face. She'd have to rely on her natural texture to hide the inconsistencies in the waves.
But it was ok. It had made Donil smile and that was really all that mattered when the poor doctor was about to be facing a field of death and gore. A field Lindsay was going to be responsible for giving her.
"Glad you made it, Earth girl," Nol said from where she stood next to Sirix. "For a moment there I thought you weren't coming."
"Of course I was! After all that work? I can't let you and Sirix take all the credit." She shot a smirk in Sirix's direction.
Sirix made a point of not looking at her but surveying the main clearing instead. She was expecting at least some comment on her hair. "They'll want to take you alive."
"That's what we're counting on," Lindsay replied, stonily. "Alright, no sense in waiting any longer. Unit 1!" she shouted. "Into the trench!" Unit 1 ducked into the circular trench they had dug around the border of the clearing as Unit 2 covered them up with woven mats and brush.
"Unit 2!" Nol called out. "Into the trees!" She flashed a wide grin at Lindsay as she effortlessly swung a large harpoon launcher onto her blue shoulder. "I can't wait to try this thing out on those freaks." She climbed halfway up a tree and waited.
"Now it's my turn," Lindsay said, picking up a torch and lighting it. "Where are you going to be, Sirix?"
"I'm staying here. I can't very well let you face a dozen mutants with one of my subordinates, can I? What kind of Bona Serat Corsar would I be?"
"A living one."
"That sounds awfully boring." He flashed her that wide grin, showing off the over-wide canines.
"Then get yourself killed, see if I care." She bounced on the balls of her feet, legs ready to run in whatever direction she might suddenly need to, the way she'd always done before the first serve of a match. She glanced over to where her own harpoon was buried under a layer of dirt. Once they arrived, she'd have seconds to get to it.
"You do," he said, clearly eyeing the place a harpoon launcher was buried.
"You're damn right I do," she said.
He appeared slightly stunned.
"Way more than I should for someone as frustrating as you!" She threw the torch into the large bonfire. Instantly, it was ablaze with thick black smoke pouring up into the sky.
She watched the expanse, Sirix standing next to her, doing the same, both not speaking, breathing heavily as they waited in anticipation. She snaked her hand around his, feeling the rough calluses of his palm and fingers against her softer skin. He gripped her hand tightly.
In the sky, the first m-shaped black slit appeared against the sun. Seconds later, a dozen more rose up. "Here we go!" Lindsay whispered to herself.
Suddenly, Sirix was wrapped around her, a knife to her throat. She pulled at his arm, screaming loudly as she fought the knife away. She hadn't truly realized how powerful he was, his hold was as strong as steel as she clawed at it. She felt as helpless as a three-year-old trying to fight against a full-grown adult. If this were real, she'd have been dead in a second.
The Nobillo crested the trees, seeing the struggle for the clearly human girl's life, they dove. A spear from that range would risk killing her as well, they wouldn't want to take the chance. Not when The Immortal was at stake.
The Nobillo landed. He was as horrible as the first she'd seen. His huge white eyes pulsed with pink behind them, around them hung the fleshy eyelids that had failed to form properly, instead curling up around them. This one didn't even have the vestiges of a nose, just two slits where one might have been. Its skin was grey like the one in her memory, but this time striped with pale pink strips. Its mouth was just as horrible: lipless, oversized, with long, sharp fangs.
Around them the others landed, encircling them. There had to be at least fifty all together, a full raiding party, which meant they had been on their way to attack a Bonat village. Lindsay could see some of them carried pouches of that foul smelling substance they used to rain fire down.
"Release the human, Bonat," the creature hissed through sharp teeth. It could talk? Lindsay was momentarily stunned even though she'd seen the one speak before. They just seemed so monstrous she was unable to believe speech was something they all might possess.
With the force of her resistance suddenly disappearing, Sirix's knife slipped, cutting her. She screamed. If they hadn't been sure of her peril, they were now. "Release her!" it demanded, clearly concerned that its quarry was at risk.
"No! She's mine!" Sirix said, now being more careful with the placement of the knife.
"If you kill her... we'll make sure you are alive when we devour you. Leave her to us and we'll let you walk away, Bonat."
"No, you won't. If I let her go, you'll be on me in a second." He began to edge towards the woods. "I believe she and I are going to take a little walk."
"You're not going anywhere!" The creature lunged at them.
Lindsay slipped out from under Sirix's arms and rolled to where her harpoon was. The mutant changed direction, sliding after her, sending a spray of loose dirt behind.
"Unit 1! Go!" she shouted as she grabbed her harpoon and thrust it into the creature's chest. Its large mouth hung open in a silent scream as she yanked the harpoon out.
The concealed Bonat popped out from behind the circle of Nobillo. Strangled screams echoed through the air as the Bonat soldiers attacked. Sirix leapt into the fray, jumping on the back of a distracted Nobillo soldier and slitting its throat.
"Fly!" A Nobillo with a green, beakish face shouted. The remaining Nobillo attempted to take flight.
"Unit 2! Attack!" Lindsay shouted.
