Page 21 of On A Rift's Edge
The female lion dog regarded Lyall with a flat stare. “I have shifted into this form so I may better explain to Katsuo the words of the—” Her words dissolved into the collection of sounds that must be the name the trash scorpions gave themselves.
“Fine.” Lyall didn’t move from his spot. The komainu could damn well explain herself with him standing there.
This time it was Kat who gripped Lyall’s shoulder, as if for reassurance. “What did it say?”
The lion dog shifted her gaze from Lyall to Kat, then back again. “He and his clan know where the human prisoner is being held in the base. The gift they are offering you is the captive’s life.”
9
Kat thought he knew stubborn—his mom could win an argument with a pack of mules—but Lyall had even her beat with his pigheadedness.
“I’m aware that crossing over into a Riftland has risks.” Kat had said a variation of this sentence five times. “But the guardians have given both of us permission to go into drakone territory, and the phantoms aren’t inside the military base anymore.”
“The jellies aren’t the only dangerous species who live there.” Lyall was walking next to him, or more accurately, stomping along while he complained about Kat’s decision to go immediately to the base and try to free the human prisoner. “Not to mention that those fucking drakones can’t be trusted. I can go myself and rescue this stupid human.”
“We’ve been over this.” Kat gestured to the trash scorpion, who was scuttling in front of them, the collection of junk on his shell swaying from one side to the other but never toppling over. The hike from the monstertown to the base wasn’t far, and the crab-like creature had wanted to go there under its own power. They had left Chucky back at the monstertown, trying and failing to use his psychic powers to give the guardians nightmares. “I’m the only one the trash scorpion clan will show the prisoner to, and Kaveh and Remi are back at the ranch.”
Kat gestured at the flashes of green light deep within the clouds swirling above them. Rift storms were beautiful, in their own eerie way. Unfortunately, most Earth tech didn’t work during one, so calling Kaveh and Remi for advice hadn’t been an option. “Besides, you said you were more comfortable in your Riftworld form inside a rift. Don’t take this the wrong way, but many humans might find a hellhound alarming, especially if they’ve gone through a traumatic experience.”
“They’d be scared shitless,” Lyall huffed. “Who cares? The human should be grateful to be alive.”
Despite the female komainu remaining in her humanoid form, her translation of the trash scorpion’s language had left a lot of questions unanswered. Kat suspected one reason was that the crab-like animal had little interest in the topics most pressing to humans. The trash scorpion couldn’t tell the guardians who had taken him from the base or how he had ended up in an art exhibit. The creature also couldn’t—or wouldn’t—give any details about the prisoner.
Lyall had jumped to the conclusion that the human had trespassed through the rift, taken away species to sell, and had run into trouble when he tried to pull the same shit again.
That last phrase was all Lyall. So was his ferocious opposition to Kat putting himself in danger to help someone else. It was touching, annoying, and sexy at the same time.
“I should turn the pain in the ass over to the fucking snakes when I’ve finished interrogating him,” Lyall continued, pulling out a pouch made of the same material as his outfit and handing it to Kat. “I found a modified version of living leathers humans can use when I was digging up info on the control object. Remi’s wearing his all the time like I told him to. Take a drink from this.”
The pouch was alive, scaled skin rippling over its surface, and Kat had so many questions, even though the first one that popped into his mind was how Lyall could hide anything given how tightly his living armor clung to each sculptured muscle. The second was why the hellhound carried around living leathers humans could use. Had Lyall planned to give them to Kat as a present when he bought them? Maybe he had been thinking about Kat during the last several months and even planning on coming back. If that was the case, why hadn’t he mentioned it?
He lifted the opening to his lips and took a tentative sip. Something wet and rubbery slid into his mouth, and a moment later he was frantically swallowing the entire contents.
Lyall gave him a hearty whack on the back, and Kat coughed out the last few drops that had gone into his lungs. “I think that bottle stuck its tongue down my throat.”
“It likes you.” Lyall put out an arm to steady him. “How does it taste?”
“Not bad, actually.” A lingering flavor remained in Kat’s mouth, sweet and sour at once. He touched his throat and felt the loose cord that now hung from his neck. Pulling it up, he found a canine tooth dangling from it.
He was about to ask what Riftworld concoction he had put into his body and how the snake-like creature could morph from a water pouch into a necklace. Then he glanced up and realized they were only a few meters away from the Saguaro Rift.
It soared up into the sky, rippling lines of color and light that many people compared to the aurora borealis. It wasn’t the first time Kat had crossed the rift or visited the military base—when Remi’s mafia cousins had tried to grab Kat, Lyall had more or less kidnapped him and taken him to the base to protect him. That had been under dire circumstances, though. This time he was choosing to go across.
“We can turn back.” Lyall sounded hopeful, but Kat shook his head.
“I’ve been at the base when the phantoms were insideandduring a rift superstorm. Besides, I’m with you. Other than Kaveh, you’re the biggest badass I’ve ever met.”
That got a laugh from Lyall. “Ok. I’m going to transform, so if I growl get behind me. Otherwise, I’ll pick you up in my teeth and carry you.”
That sounded scary and arousing all at once, and Kat didn’t know why everything Lyall said had this effect on him.
They were friends. That was all.
Other than needing to close his eyes against the brightness of the barrier for a second, walking into the rift wasn’t difficult this time around either. The ground underneath his feet was as solid as ever, and the air still smelled like wet desert earth and rain. Kat glanced down at his e-watch, which he had forgotten to take off. It was no more than a clunky bracelet now, the technology inside it non-functional now that they were inside part of the Riftworld.
The trash scorpion picked up his pace, his tower of trash oscillating wildly as they made their way to the base. It was only a little less terrifying during the day, framed by gloomy storm clouds above it. Kat reminded himself that the phantoms who had tried to kill him a few months ago were gone.
The shattered exterior perimeter was unchanged, with half-destroyed checkpoints and rusting razor wire. As they approached the main building, its exterior pockmarked with bullet holes, Kat spotted a flash of color.
