Ancalagon - 99. Chapter 99

Bouncer ran circles around us, which was probably a good thing. I was a hot, sweaty and panting mess as I trotted through the jungle. The sun filtered through the tall trees to leave a dim view of the ground, and there was silence all around us. I wasn’t sure if that was because we were pursued, and the jungle sensed the brewing danger, or if the cerops running around us was danger enough.

I almost wished Bouncer was sentient right then. If only he could answer some questions about what he was seeing when he ran the perimeter around us as we moved deeper into the jungle and farther away from the Four Arms who’d invaded Garjah’s home.

Ases might be able to answer my questions. He was shifted, loping by my side, his ears swiveling. The straps to his knives were the same expanding material as the necklet he wore that let him communicate and transmitted his location to his mech.

“Can… they track you… through your link to… mech?” I gasped out between breaths.

Ases tilted his head, then shook it. I hoped he was sure. “Do you hear anyone following us?” That got an instant head shake. So what was Bouncer looking for? Or maybe he was just looking. We hadn’t spent time around the wild areas on the planet, and everywhere we’d gone was full of people.

He was a predator. Ases, for all he had thick back limbs with flexible, wide feet and a tail to help him balance, as well as strong forearms with clawed paws with opposable thumbs that let him run bipedal, climb, or fight in ways people didn’t expect, was still a civilized being. He loved to let his wilder side out to explore, climb, and tussle, but he didn’t have to shift unless he wanted to.

Staying on the ground with me when he would be twice as fast in the trees was probably killing him. I appreciated his dedication to my safety, but he’d be of more use checking out our back trail. “Why don’t you go up… and look?” My chest was starting ache, and my feet and calves felt like hamburger.

I needed to get more exercise.

Ases narrowed his eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” I swore. “Just gonna… keep running. If no one is… following… we can maybe stop.” A break would definitely be welcome. My brain was whirling with a ton of questions, and my body was quickly flagging. I kept my word, skirting around a tall tree with a thin trunk when it bent into my path under Ases’s weight, but not stopping.

Bouncer came leaping through the bushes behind me, startling me and sending my heart rate spiking even higher. “I wish… you’d stop that!”

He nudged me as I jogged. “Stop,” I complained. I rubbed my shoulder over my eyes, getting the stinging sweat out of them, and banged into him. He chuffed. “Sorry.” But… not really.

Ahead of us, Ases leapt down onto the path. He stood sideways across it, so I slowed then finally stopped. Leaning forward, resting my fists on my knees, I struggled to catch my breath. “What?”

He grunted, then a moment later, Ases rose to stand on his feet. “There’s no one behind us. Either they lost our trail and gave up, or they never figured out where we went in the first place.”

I wasn’t so sure I was happy at the sound of either option; if they lost us so thoroughly, would Garjah find us? “What do you think happened?” The words still came out choppy, but I didn’t have to gasp for air between words. I shoved the bundle of his robe I’d twisted around my arm in case he needed to shift back into his bipedal form toward him. “Put that on.”

“Someone clearly stole Garjah’s transport. Or they attacked him and incapacitated him and then took it. Nothing else would stop him from getting back to you before we were attacked. It’s a good thing you recognized their intentions when you first saw them.”

“Sneaking like that? Not hard. I was just glad I got Bouncer out. I’m sorry about your mech.”

Ases shrugged. He fingered his necklet. “They can’t use him. He shuts down if I go out of range, and if he comes online because I’m close by, which I’m clearly not.” He gestured around to the jungle.

“So you can’t use him to get a message to someone?” I slumped, squatting down on my heels.

“Oh no, I can. He only responds to my signal. I can send messages through the controller in my necklet or issue commands.”

“Can he see what’s going on at the house?”

“If you want me to set him to record, he can, yes.”

“Um, yes.” I collapsed onto my ass into the dirt. We were on a game trail, and I’d like to sit in something besides dirt, but Bouncer didn’t care. He dropped onto his belly next to me and started chewing on his front paws.

“I won’t be able to see what he’s recording without a comm,” Ases said.

Grinning, I flipped open a pouch in my pants. “I got that covered.” I handed it to him. “Let’s see what’s happening.”

At first, nothing looked like it was out of place or unusual. Then I could hear voices. “Where are they?”

“I checked the atrium. Nothing in there but claw marks going up the trees.”

“Did you check the roof?”

“Of course.”

The voices were getting louder. “Garjah wouldn’t have risked leaving them here unprotected if he didn’t have a Plan B. They’re not in the house.”

The meeker voice spoke, hesitatingly. “Do you… do you think this was a trap?”

“What? Of course not. He didn’t even notice the vapor before it knocked him out. How could he have known we were going to capture him and then come get his mutated freak and the offworld invader?”