Page 56 of Ice Planet Barbarians

Oh, shit. I’m a little terrified of what we’re about to find, but we’ve come this far. Vektal and his men press ahead, so we have little choice but to keep up. “Have you hunted these a lot?” I ask him.

“Not often,” he tells me. “Only when a khui is needed. They are too fierce otherwise.”

“Great,” I say dryly.

“This will go well,” Vektal tells me and gives me a comforting pat on the arm, which only sends a flare of pain through my new wound again.

At least when I get a khui, Maylak will be able to heal me. At this rate all she’s going to have left are a bunch of Georgie-shaped pieces. I ready the knife I carry with me.

“What’s happening?” one of the new girls asks, shivering in her furs. Her name’s Nora, I think, and she’s one of the stronger newbies.

The ground thumps again, and Vektal points at a copse of pink feathery trees ahead. “Take the women there. If the creature comes for you, hide amongst the trees.”

“By climbing them?” I look at the other women. “I don’t think they can climb.”

“You won’t need to climb,” Vektal says. “He cannot get to you through them.” I wonder at his words, but there’s no time to talk. He presses a kiss to my forehead and then passes Tiffany off to me. She’s so weak that she clings to me, and I have to drag her over to the trees with Nora’s help.

It feels a bit sexist to have all the women huddling under the trees as the men go off to fight, but I look at the women around me and feel a little despair. We’re weak, exhausted, and not used to all this cold. If the little green men showed up right now, we’d be helpless to fight back against them, even if we outnumbered them.

The ground shakes again, and at my side, Kira clutches a spear while Liz moans unhappily. “What the fuck is that Jurassic Park shit?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her. But I ready the knife I carry with me.

Something gives a high-pitched roar, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It seems close, really freaking close, and the ground shakes again. Megan chokes back a sob of fright, and the other women are whispering. I hiss for silence because I want to know what the hell is going on, damn it. The thought of Vektal out there with some huge monster frightens me.

What if he gets hurt? What if he . . . dies? My heart clenches at the thought. In such a short period of time, I’ve come to care for him more than I like to admit, even to myself.

I don’t want to be here if Vektal is not.

A gigantic head rises over the trees. I suck in a breath, staring in horror. There’s a thing with four glowing blue eyes, two sets stacked on top of one another. It’s got enormous tusks and is covered in long, grayish shaggy fur. It gives another high-pitched roar and lumbers forward, the ground shaking. It’s taller than all the trees, and as it moves past, I see long, twiggy legs with wide feet pushing through the snow. An alien hunter hangs off of one side, clinging to a spear sticking through the creature’s flank.

“Holy shit,” Liz says. “What the hell is that?”

“I think it’s a sa-kohtsk,” I say, feeling faint. It looks like a Macy’s Parade float with legs. And they’re going to kill that thing? Dear God. Be careful, Vektal, I send out quietly. More of the men run past, chasing after it with spears. I try to pick out Vektal in the group, but I don’t see him. He doesn’t carry a spear, only knives and a sling, and the thought fills me with dread.

“I wish I had a bow,” Liz says as we stare at the creature lumbering past.

“That’s random,” Kira comments, her tone awed. We can’t take our eyes off the sa-kohtsk.

“I was a champion archer when I was a teenager,” Liz comments. “Though I don’t know if I could shoot that thing.”

“Huh,” is all Kira says.

I stride forward through the snow as the creature lumbers away from the trees, the hunters chasing it. Where is Vektal? Where? I follow behind in the distance as the men harass it with spears.

The creature bellows again, and his head swings low, dipping toward the ground. An alien grabs one of the jutting tusks, and as the creature jerks his head back, the man goes flying onto the creature’s head, barely holding on. I suck in a breath as I recognize the graceful movements and the long, fluttering black hair. Vektal. My hand goes to my mouth, and I press my fingers against my lips so I don’t scream in fright.

Please don’t get killed for me, I think. Please.

I watch as he gracefully flips to his feet atop the monster’s head. It swings back and forth, trying to dislodge him, but Vektal’s holding on tight. He pulls something from his vest —a bone blade, I think—and raises it high into the air.

With a battle cry, he plunges it downward, and the creature screams and writhes in pain. Behind me, a few of the women choke out cries of their own. I’m breathless as Vektal raises the knife and slams it home over and over again, driving it into the creature’s eye.

With a final gurgle, the creature staggers. It takes one step forward and then collapses. The ground shudders with the force of it, and I can’t help but rush forward to Vektal. I push through the thick, knee-high snow, ignoring my exhaustion. I have to get to him, to know he’s all right.

When I do, I see he’s covered in blood and gore from the creature, wiping his face clean on one edge of his vest. He grins at me, and it’s so boyish and did-you-see-me that I choke back my sob and fling my arms around his neck. “You scared the shit out of me,” I babble in English, not caring that he’s getting my new clothing all gunked up.

“Georgie?” he asks, patting my back. “Are you well?”

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