Free The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone by T C Southwell Page A

taproom. The mage did his best to provide whatever
Murdor wanted, but the ale he conjured was weak and tasteless. The
gladiator had grown tired of the hardships of travelling across the
desert, and almost regretted the deal he had made.
    When the wolf
returned, several hours later, his eyes were bright with excitement
as he gambolled away in the direction whence he had come, pausing
to look back. Murdor gathered, from his antics, that the beast had
found the trail. Gearn mounted his horse and followed him. The
gladiator trudged after them, part of him hoping they had only been
turned around, and the trail would lead back to Arlin.
     
     
    Sabre glanced
across the fire at Tassin as he turned the spit upon which their
supper, a wild pig, was impaled. Her bruises had faded, and
although she still looked tired, her tanned skin glowed with health
once more. They had camped by the stream for five days to allow her
to recover her strength. He had built a rude shelter to keep off
the dew, and hunted every day. Her wound had healed, speeded by the
good food and the poultice he renewed each afternoon.
    They had spent
many hours in idle conversation, and he found her to be a pleasant
companion, well-versed in many subjects. Thanks to the cyber, he
was a font of information, most of which she would not understand,
so he kept to topics she knew something about. She had mellowed
considerably, he found, and although she still did not help much
with the camp chores, she treated him more as a companion than a
servant now. He lowered his gaze to the fire.
    "We should
move on, you know. We can't camp here forever. There may be people
beyond the forest. Perhaps even civilisation. Just think, soft
beds, good food, pretty clothes, servants and princes."
    Tassin eyed
him, clearly irritated by his teasing. "It would be nice to get
back to civilisation."
    "Yeah, I
thought you might like that."
    She glanced at
the jungle and shuddered. "But I do not fancy going through
that."
    "Why not? You
went through worse than that in the Death Zone."
    Picking up a
pebble, she tossed it into the stream. "Well, I suppose there is no
choice, is there? We certainly cannot go back, so we have to carry
on."
    Sabre smiled
at her martyred air, reflecting that she had endured a lot. "I hope
what you're looking for is on the other side."
    She shook her
head. "It cannot be; we left it behind."
     
     
    The next
morning, they crossed the grassland and entered the jungle's humid,
sullen beauty. Orchid-like plants clung to damp, lichen-covered
trees, trailing streamers of sweet scented flowers. Soft ferns grew
in the humus, and a host of tropical plants vied for supremacy,
carpeting the jungle floor with vibrant hues. Verdure reigned
supreme in a life and death struggle for light, water and soil,
where the strong flourished and the weak withered. Older trees fell
prey to parasitic plants, and when the giants fell they opened up
opportunities for their saplings. Vines linked the jungle behemoths
in an aerial web festooned with moss and hanging creepers. Brightly
feathered birds flew overhead, filling the air with raucous cries
and lilting, liquid songs. Fleeting glimpses of shy animals drew
Sabre's eyes to the colourful foliage in which they hid, and the
scanners thronged with so many life signs that the black field
resembled a starry sky.
    For a while
the open jungle was easily traversed, but it grew denser as they
moved further in, and Tassin's leg hampered her. Hanging creepers
and vines clogged the way, forcing Sabre to hack a path with the
sword. Their progress slowed as the foliage grew thicker, and
insects attacked. Tassin swatted at the blood-sucking pests, which
left itching bites. Sabre was also assaulted until he came across a
bush the cyber's data banks identified as one that contained an
insect-repellent chemical. Once anointed with the pungent sap, the
insects left them alone.
    Late in the
afternoon, Sabre came across a fallen forest giant whose spreading
roots