Elemorts

Chapter X - Deep in the Woods

Finally, he headed downstairs, had a modest breakfast of cheese omelet and bread in the dining room on the ground floor, and then stepped outside into the hunting lodge's driveway — in Malorawa Forest.

The tunnel from the hangar at the spaceport had joined the underwater tunnel. When it branched off near the end, Zablaron took the station bus to Malorawa Forest. It had led here, to this hunting lodge in the middle of a clearing.

Apparently, the lodge was centuries old and used by the emperor and his entourage on hunting trips. It served basically the same function now, except that now it was used by VIPs arriving from the spaceport if they were so inclined to do a bit of hunting. I do mean to do a bit of hunting, Zablaron thought.

The lodge, a quaint, stone and wood structure, stood on a small, verdant mound and afforded a view of the dense forest canopy surrounding it.

Zablaron started down the sloping driveway toward the stable. He approached the stableman and handed him sixty-nine Karomozian learts. Soon, a brown mare with a white mark on its forehead was trotted out, saddled and bridled.

Zablaron never had much love for horses and never understood the Grebriks' obsession with them. For a moment, he found himself thinking about that meddlesome Grebrik at the spaceport. Jayrock. He shook the thought from his mind and mounted the mare.

He spurred it down the dirt path and then turned east when it branched off toward the dense forest. Two police officers stood in the way.

"You again?" the female officer complained. "What do you want this time?"

"The forest beyond here is still off-limits, just like last time. Nothing new here," the male officer added, bored.

"Oh, but last time I forgot to introduce myself," Zablaron replied nonchalantly, looking down at them from his mount. "I am Zablaron Inrazax, CEO of Point Blank, the company whose weapons both of you happen to be wielding, instead of your standard-issue firearms."

The police officers glanced uneasily at their pistols and then back at Zablaron.

"I was present at the spaceport last night when one of my shipments was attacked. I helped thwart the attack. Would you be so kind as to lead me deeper into the woods... to the Crimson Crows?"

For a heartbeat, the police officers remained silent, taken aback. Finally, the male officer spoke up, "Eh, delivering them the CEO of Point Blank can't hurt, can it? Follow us."

Not if I can help it, Zablaron thought.

...

They had set up camp in one of the Maloran nimtree groves. It was a tiny one with just five nimtrees. Ivado, Clarine, and Merel had made cuts in the trees and had half emptied the sap, but Florinok was worried it would not be enough.

Clarine kept blabbering, louder than Florinok would have liked, that she wanted to go back while Merel kept muttering something to himself. Xemesh sat under a tree, his head in his hands.

Her own nerves were on edge. She kept pacing back and forth, jumping at the slightest sound made by some animal or the other passing through the brush. She was so tense she wanted to scream, and she did not want to think about what would happen if any more of those horrible men in suits found them here. But she could not afford to look afraid at any cost or else risk everyone promptly heading back.

Alvoak soon joined them back after contacting her on the holophone. "You should have seen the look on Kez's face when I brought him the bound man," he quipped in a lousy effort to lighten the mood.