“You’re a filthy coward,” he growled. “You stole my female—dragged her into the shadows—because you fear to fight me for her.”
The Riiver Leader drew himself up.
“Lies!” he hissed. “I do not fear to fight you fairly! But how can I, when you hold the alien murder weapon that can kill with a blast of light?”
In answer, Bravik tossed the blaster to one side. A few of the other Riivers had gathered there and they scattered quickly, as though he had thrown a bomb.
“Let her go,” Bravik growled. “Let her go and let’s fight. If you win, you can turn us both into Riivers. If you lose, I take my female and leave.”
“Agreed!” The Leader pushed Danni roughly to one side and launched himself at Bravik with an angry hiss.
The big Kindred just had time to get his arms up before the Leader tackled him. And then the two of them were rolling on the ground, punching and growling in a blur, and Danni could do nothing but try to get out of the way.
“Come, pretty one—let us wait for the Leader to be victorious together,” a voice hissed in her ear.
Turning, Danni saw a Riiver creeping up behind her, its red eyes gleaming in the dim cave.
“No! Stay away from me!” She especially wanted to avoid the thing’s dripping jaws. Now that she knew a bite meant infection and the living death of becoming a Riiver herself, she wanted to avoid getting bitten at all costs.
Desperate, she looked around for a weapon and spotted the blaster, lying at the edge of the bone pile. With a quick duck and dash to get around the Riiver that was reaching for her, she had it in hand.
Never used one of these things before!
But that didn’t stop her from pointing it at the Riiver and pulling the trigger. There was a blast of blue light and a huge hole suddenly appeared in the center of its pale, wrinkled white torso. Its hissing scream died in its throat as it dropped to its knees, the red eyes rolling up in death as it finally fell over.
Danni jumped away from the body and turned to see what was going on with Bravik and the Riiver Leader.
“Die! You will die, Tall One!” the Leader was hissing. “I will kill you myself and chew your bones! I will feed your flesh to your female as I breed her and fill her with my spawn!”
Danni raised the blaster again, but hesitated. The two of them were too close and she wasn’t any kind of a shot—she wouldn’t have hit the Riiver that was attacking her if it wasn’t so close. She didn’t want to try to shoot the Leader and miss and hit Bravik instead.
But the Riiver’s jaws were wide open, exposing its poisonous fangs. Bravik had one hand around its throat but the other was pinned by the Leader’s claws as they struggled on the floor of the cave together.
“You…fucker,” Bravik growled as they wrestled. “I’ll kill you and every fucking last one of the abominations in this cave! You’ll never hurt anyone again because you’ll all be fucking dead!”
As he spoke, he flipped them over so that he was on top, bearing down on his rival. His big hand tightened around the Riiver’s throat, causing the Leader’s red eyes to bulge from their sockets. But he still had enough breath to shout in a croaking voice,
“Riivers, to me! Kill the Tall One!”
At once half a dozen Riivers, which must have been hiding in the shadows, jumped on Bravik’s broad, bare back, hissing and clawing.
“No!” Danni gasped. “No, that’s not fair! Oh—what should I do?” If she shot into the crowd of Riivers, she might hit Bravik. But if she didn’t, the big Kindred would certainly be killed!
Suddenly a presence filled the cave around her, a calm, strong, feminine presence that seemed to envelope Danni like a warm quilt on a cold day. The reeking stench of the Riivers was replaced by the delicious scent of green and growing things—life instead of death, growth instead of corruption—filled Danni’s nose.
“Shoot, daughter,” a warm, feminine voice spoke in her ear. “Shoot and I will guide the shots. Do not fear but hurry—your warrior is in danger!”
Danni didn’t know if she was hallucinating or not but it didn’t feel like a hallucination. It felt real and right and she was suddenly sure of what to do.
Closing her eyes, she pointed the blaster at the mass of writhing Riivers on Bravik’s back and began to fire.
She could hear hisses and yelps and the thud of falling bodies and when she opened her eyes, the Riivers that had attacked Bravik were dead—all of them sprawled on the floor around him. The only living one was the Leader—he and Bravik were still grappling on the ground.