Free Meritorium (Meritropolis Book 2) by Joel Ohman Page B

and Hank meaningfully. “They must be all in one piece, and fit to fight.” She turned back to instructing Grigor, Orson, Sven, and some of her men on the assemblage of a harness-like traveling cage. It was big enough to send a shudder down Charley’s spine at the thought of whatever animal combo the contraption was to be used on.
    “Right, okay …” Charley hefted his club uncertainly. It was a brutal weapon, but it was just a stick. He looked to Sandy and then to Hank, his thoughts suddenly flashing back to their bion hunt. They had done the seemingly impossible then, how hard could this be?
    “Oh, and one of you three needs to be the bait.” Marta stood up straight, her hands massaging her lower back and then resting on her substantial hips.
    Charley’s eyes widened, his pulse quickening.
    Marta eyed the three of them quietly for a moment, and then, seeing that no reply was forthcoming, she sighed. “Okay, if you must make me choose—how about the mighty bion hunter?”
    Hank released his breath audibly. “Yeah, great idea. Charley, you heard her. Get on over there and be bait while we hunt this thing.”
    Marta smiled, her teeth gleaming brightly. “Why, no, not Charley. I want the one who was talking my Jameson’s ear off all morning about being the mighty bion hunter who is unparalleled in bravery. It takes a lot of bravery to be bait and face down any combo that comes sniffing around.” She looked directly at Hank, eyes narrowing. “I want you to be bait.”
    Charley’s shoulders relaxed. He could see Sandy out of the corner of his eye, still doing her best to ignore Charley but now fighting back a smile, neither wanting to attract the attention of Marta. Hank froze in place; his mind appeared to be scrambling for an excuse while his mouth was unable to dispense with anything that would manage to leave his pride intact. “Why, yes … me, of course, if it requires bravery, then it should be me. It’s just that—”
    “You’ll do great,” Marta said, turning away from Hank with a dismissive bustle of her hips and toward Charley and Sandy. “Now, as for you two.” She eyed them carefully. “You look handy with that club there, at least for a Pretty Girl, eh, Pretty?”
    “My name’s Sandy,” Sandy said, dipping her chin to eye Marta steadily in return.
    Marta continued unabashed. “Right, anyway, I have a good spot for you. And, Charley, Mr. High Score himself—a Score of 173—the highest I’ve seen in quite some time…” Marta’s eyes shone bright as she stared at Charley’s forearm, almost mesmerized. Charley saw a look of envy, or greed, or something flash across her broad face. He shifted away from her gaze and wondered just how high of a Score Marta had seen in Meritorium; had she seen a Score higher than his?
    Marta started speaking again abruptly, her eyes lifting to his. “Yes, I’ve something special planned for you indeed …”
    “So,” Charley said. “What kind of animal combo are we trying to capture exactly?”
    “I’m glad you asked!” Jameson appeared at Marta’s side, looking as if he might jump out of his skin with excitement. “So, this is a great area for seeing all kinds of combos: there are lots of chimpanzelles, chimp-gazelles—Hank told me that you have already seen plenty of those, but those aren’t really worth that much in Meritorium; the crowd wants to see bigger game.” He hopped from side to side in a way that Charley thought was reminiscent of a chimpanzelle himself. “Let’s see, you will likely see some marmosals. Those things are weird: they are a combination of marmoset and jackal. Umm, those aren’t worth much, though, either …”
    “Which combos are worth the most?” Charley asked.
    Marta interrupted Jameson before he could begin. “Well, the bigger the better, as a general rule. So that is what we are going for.”
    “Right,” Jameson said. “But there are some smaller combos that are crowd favorites and pay well, too.