‘Peter,’ said Vale. ‘Stay still. I’ll kill it. Just let me move closer. Dusty. Your lance.’

‘Vale,’ said Peter. ‘It’s all good. He’s friendly.’

‘What do you mean? This is a creature of the invaders.’

‘No. He’s an imp. I think.’ Peter turned and regarded him. ‘What are you?’

The imp had slipped away from Vale and had put Peter between him and the lance that Vale now leveled at him. The imp’s webbing harness glinted with metals and colors that showed it to be made from synthetic materials.

‘In danger that’s what I am.’

‘And are you with the blackbirders? The invaders?’ said Peter.

His technology looked more like what the aliens had in their portal than the wood, bone, and hide things the humans made.

‘No. They’re the enemy,’ said the imp.

‘Lad? What are you talking about?’ said Dusty. ‘Vale. Get in there and poke the beastie.’

‘You can’t understand him, can you?’ said Peter.

‘Animals can’t talk,’ Vale scoffed at him, his look one of surprise and a little dismay. ‘It’s just yammering and twittering.’

Leave him alone.’ Peter said urgently. ‘I’ve met this one before. He’s not friends with the invaders.’

‘I shot them,’ said the imp. ‘The Arthan invaders. I’ve been helping you all this time.’

‘So you killed the blackbirder at the camp?’

‘No. I just stunned it with my dart gun.’ The imp pulled the gun from a pouch on his webbing harness and waved it around. The hand gun and the gold wrapping of the chocolate bar glinted in the light.

Vale and Dusty shouted and raised their weapons.

‘Put that away,’ Peter said to the imp. ‘For the last time you two. He’s no danger to us.’

‘It has one of the invader’s weapons,’ said Vale.

‘Give it to me,’ Peter said. The imp huffed out a breath, and after a pause handed the gun over.

Vale whistled low. ‘You really can talk to it?’

Peter studied the gun. It fitted his hand better than it would a manisaur’s two thumbed grip.

Or blackbirder’s.

‘Shaman,’ said Dusty. ‘I don’t know if I like this. Talking with animals.’

‘He’s not an animal.’ Peter held his hand out in greeting to the imp. ‘I’m Peter. What’s your name?’

The imp did not touch Peter’s hand, but instead twittered and burbled at him. Underneath it all Peter thought he sensed a Thaluk name.

‘Varuq'hat,’ Peter repeated. ‘Oasis-of-Trees? What are you doing here? Why follow us?’

‘Oh that’s obvious,’ said the imp Varuq'hat. ‘I’m following these invading-Arthan-aliens just as you are.’

‘To kill them?’

‘Oh no. I’m no killer.’

‘Then who killed that blackbirder at the Snow Camp?’

‘Oh I shot it, but to stun only. They killed their own after.’

Peter studdied the gun. Although it almost fitted his hand he could not see how it might work.

‘You mean the thraqanonkra — the ravening beasts?’ Peter said. ‘Those creatures ate the stunned blackbirder?’

The imp cocked his head. ‘A strange description, but that would be how it happened. They are an evil force in the universe. That they are here on Eoth is a calamity that we must stop.’

‘Doesn’t answer my question. Why are you here? With us?’

‘I though that was obvious. You’re giving me a ride. While you go in the direction of the invaders at least.’

‘I only hear yammering shaman?’ said Vale. ‘How is it you speak with this evil creature?’

‘Tulanvarqa — connexion. It’s complicated,’ said Peter. ‘But he says he means no harm, and I think that’s true.’ He passed the gun back to the imp. ‘He’s the reason that blackbirder alien stopped shooting at us. Do not harm him.’

‘And I brought you chocolate.’ The imp held out the chocolate bar to him again.

‘How did you get this again?’

‘From the portal complex. I found things in the bags the Arthans had taken from you.

The gold foil crackled as Peter turned it over. ‘It’s been chewed on.’

‘Yes. But too sweet for my liking. And there is something decayed about it.’ The imp’s face wrinkled in what Peter guessed was disgust.

Peter shrugged and tucked the chocolate into a pocket.

Vale and Dusty had drawn away. They muttered together out of Peter’s hearing.

‘We should press on,’ said the imp. ‘They are moving faster now.’

‘You know where they are?’ said Peter.

‘Yes. Their devices leak in the EM range. I can track this.’

‘So they do have radios?’

‘Not so strange I think.’ The imp waved a small device he had pulled from the webbing harness he wore across his body. He indicated a distant gap in the low hills to the east. ‘That way.’

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

‘That’s brilliant.’ Peter urged his mount on. ‘Vale? Dusty? The imp knows the way. Come on.’ He urged Girl off where Varuq'hat pointed.

Girl lifted onto her rear legs and ran with enthusiasm. The two Snow Clan wheeled their mounts, their querying shouts lost in the rush of cold wind.

Vale pulled alongside Girl as the mount ran. ‘How is it you trust this creature?’

‘I saved its life,’ said Peter. ‘And he saved mine. We know each other well enough. Give me your word, you and Dusty will not harm it.’

Vale nodded. ‘Until it betrays us.’

‘He won’t.’

Peter sensed Girl’s enthusiasm. Somehow the imprint had communicated to the creatures they had quarry in their sights. Their feral hunting instinct emerged and the mounts ran as if they scented blood.

The wind gusted as they crested a slope and ran down the other side. Varuq'hat’s fur-feathers shimmered as the heightened breeze ruffled his fur-feather pelt.

‘I find it too cold,’ the imp said. ‘I’ll just slip into the saddle bag again. You won’t poke me in my sleep will you?’

The rolling hills seemed to go on forever. Once they got to the top of one hill, or skirted around another, a shallow valley would rise into view and separate them from the next hill. Everything had been smoothed and rounded, as if something had squashed this land almost flat, but not completely.

Always the pass, that the imp had pointed out, loomed in the distance. It got closer, but never fast enough.

After a particularly steep climb up a scrub covered slope they crested the ridge Vale called them to step back lower on the slope.

He dismounted.

‘I see them,’ Vale said. ‘Their trail comes from one valley over. We’ve been on a parallel track to them.’

‘Varuq'hat said they were getting close.’

‘We have to avoid getting skylined on the ridge.' Vale dismounted. 'We need to find a way over the ridge but under cover of trees.’

‘Or go fast before they notice,’ said Dusty and joined him on the ground.

‘If I can see them,’ said Vel. ‘They would see us even easier. My hope is that I fell back before they saw me.’

‘Varuq'hat,’ Peter called. ‘Could use a little help here.’

Peter slipped down Girl’s flank until he stood in the saddle webbing close to the large saddle bags. The huge mounts could carry much more than any horse or man could. Even a place for an imp to sleep within.

‘Hey. Stop sleeping. We’ve caught up with them.’

Vale and Dusty moved low to the ground as they crept towards the crest of the ridge. The wind gusted as it howled up and over the hill. Snow blew from the ground while the scrub rattled and shook. Then the wind slackened.

Peter thumped the saddle bag. ‘If you want to see them…’

‘I’m already scouting out the approach,’ Varuq'hat said from the ground. ‘I’ve been noting the signal strength.’

‘You should have warned us you had got out,’ Peter said. ‘Vale is worried about being spotted on the ridge.’

‘Perhaps. But I believe there is little chance of that. They prepare to attack your friends. You should to get there sooner than later.’

Pater joined Vale and Dusty.

‘What do you see?’

‘The Snow Clan have taken a position in the middle of the river valley. There is little cover for them, but at least they are together. All the supplies are in the middle, with warriors and mounts set up around.’

‘But the aliens and their ravening beasts have drawn close. They will attack after dark.’

‘What can we do?’ said Peter.

‘Though we are out numbered, we will attack them at their rear.’

Dusty grunted agreement. ‘If we have surprise then we may get them between us and pick out enough to even the odds.’

‘But there are more of the Clan than blackbirders.’

‘I think we have learned they have stronger weapons than the arms of men. Surprise is the only way we have ever been successful against them in the field. Our raid on the Snow Clanhome, the place we found you in, required the same surprise. The chance we took when you broke free gave us an added opportunity that we took.’

‘Luck comes to those who prepare and plan, but also are willing to take action. We may have luck this afternoon, but we will need to move fast, and under cover.’

‘We move below the tree line. This scrub will hinder not hide us. But within the trees, if we can find a stream to follow, we can approach them before they see us.’

‘These humans have a good strategy,’ said Varuq'hat.

Vale and Dusty started at the sounds the imp made. Dusty drew his blade.

‘Easy Dusty. He likes your plan.’

‘It does? Well that is very fine,’ said Dusty. ‘Does not mean I will not stick it if it comes too close.’

‘Varuq'hat, will you come with us?’

‘Better. I will lead you along the path this one has hoped for.’ The imp referred to his device. ‘There is a patch of trees with a stream that would suit his purposes. I will take you. And then. We fight.’

Dusty raised his blade but Vale took hold of his hand. ‘I gave my word. Until it betrays us.’

‘You doubt that it will.’

Vale studied Peter. ‘I trust young Peter here. That is enough for now.’

The excited mounts ran slipping down the snowy slope towards the forest. The snow thickened near the shelter of the trees until the mounts waded through deep snow.

Peter feared they would step into a crevasse.

Or something. Perhaps that only happens on glaciers?

And then they entered the trees and progress slowed. Less snow but even under the trees the way would have been slow for a man. The imp directed them across the slope until the canopy opened up and they slipped into a stream. The edges crackled with ice and in larger pools snow covered the stiller water, but the mounts smashed through without pause downstream.

Water splashed up and froze on the saddle webbing. Under the trees the air should have been warmer, but the cold air ran down the lowest part of the ravine just as the stream did, so the frigid air snatched at the humans and made them huddle against their mounts.

Varuq'hat pressed himself against Peter, but through his thick clothing Peter only felt the dead weight of the imp, though his breath steamed hot and humid against his neck. The mounts too steamed gently, their great body hot from the exertion of the run. Then they broke from the stream, and ran along the bank where the trees had been swept clear, perhaps in a flood. Here the ground jolted against the pounding of the beast’s feet. Frost had bound the ground toice under the persistent shadow of the great trees. The black trunks and small dark olive green leaves reminded Peter of mountain beech forests back home.

They splashed through the water again. The canopy of great trees closed over above them, and it seemed as if they ran down a silver paved tunnel. In the distance the trees ended, and a bright snowy plain burned brighter than the deep stretch of the dark forest.

Vale pulled his mount up.

‘Imp,’ Vale said. ‘Tell me. Are they near? These blackbirder aliens?’

Peter realized the Clan men had taken his description of the aliens from him. A literal translation because they spoke in Clan and not English, or Thaluk. Tulanvarqa had worked its magic again somehow.

But not enough for the two men and the imp to understand one another.

Peter translated to Varuq'hat. The imp studied his device. It had a screen a lot like Peter’s phone, but with a metal section at the base, and a thin spine along the back that ended in a disk against the back of the screen. Sensor and electronics Peter guessed. It had some scientific purpose. Not just a communication device. More purposeful.

‘They have stopped moving, and are close by now. From the end of the trees the Arthans would take a few tens of heart beats for these beasts to reach them.’

Peter shook his head. The lack of numbers and times frustrated him, but a clear meaning all the same. He told Vale and Dusty.

‘Good enough,' said Vale. 'Follow close by, with weapons drawn. Listen to my word. There are but three of us, enough perhaps to startle, but not frustrate them. The secret is in surprise.’

‘I think I can provide some surprise,’ said the imp. ‘If they would let me go ahead.’

‘You understand them? Vale and Dusty.’

‘Yes. Though it is one way traffic,’ said Varuq'hat.

The three mounts came to the end of the trees. The sudden change in vegetation surprised Peter. Something had swept the forest clear of this land decades past, and only now did scrub start to reclaim the river plain.

‘Varuq'hat, the imp. He will go ahead,’ said Peter.

‘Will he now? And warn them of our approach?’

‘He says he likes your plan for surprise. He has a surprise for the blackbirder aliens of his own.’

‘Does he now?’ Vale stared at the imp.

Each regarded the other. It seemed to Peter that Varuq'hat would accept Vale’s decision, and just waited for it to be made. Dusty remained silent, that spoke volumes, and likely swayed Vale.

‘Go on then imp. Our chances are poor enough. Anything you can do to improve them is welcomed.’

Varuq'hat nodded in a very human way, the exact way to set Vale at ease.

‘Wait for my signal,’ said Varuq'hat. ‘Then run at them, through them, taking as many as you are able.’

‘What signal?’

‘Don’t worry,’ Varuq'hat said. ‘It’s unlikely you’ll miss it.’

And then the imp ran off, falling to all fours, and moving faster than Peter would have thought possible.

‘Just like Breeze.’