By Susan Zell
Disclaimers and Notes: See Chapter One
Brothers
Chapter Ten
Marguerite
screamed as she was rushed by a silver-laced apeman, her hand immediately
fumbling at her waist for her pistol. Roxton shoved her aside, struggling to
gain his feet and met the lead attacker. The small fire in the hut was
scattered at the onslaught and hot embers rolled haphazardly to set mats
ablaze. Marguerite fell onto Veronica, who was just rising half crouched behind
her. They both tumbled hard to the ground.
The Silverback's putrid breath swept over Roxton and fear bubbled up inside him as he met the brute's rush. It slammed him back against the wall, branches cracking but not breaking at the sudden weight. His half-healed broken leg reverberated with agony, as he had to use it to brace himself. His vision swam for a moment, and as it cleared again, he just managed to catch sight of the Silverback's upraised arm, gripping a crude blade stuck into the cracked stock of his once pristine rifle. Roxton somehow got a hand up to stop its advance toward his skull.
The muscles in his arm trembled with the strain. He wasn't fully healed and the beast before him was at its prime and full of rage. There was no holding it back. Shouting was erupting all around him but he couldn't see what was going on. All his concentration centered at keeping the monster at bay. But inch by inch, its yellow teeth lowered toward his neck.
Gaining her feet, Veronica leaped on the back of another apeman, as it hurtled inside with a third close on its heels. Plunging her knife deep into its hairy skin, it gave a terrible howl and shrugged her violently aside before she could land a final thrust. She landed in a heap again by a dazed Marguerite.
Challenger pulled a pistol and fired at the third apeman charging a distracted Summerlee, who was patting out the flames that crawled up his pants caused by a burning log at his feet.
Marguerite raised herself up dizzily on her elbow. Her head had struck something hard. Most likely Veronica's skull. Then she saw a hairy shape lurching over the blonde beside her. Kicking out hard with her booted foot, she knocked the legs out from under the beast. It fell onto Veronica's upturned blade, letting out a screech with its last breath.
Ned struggled up out of a deep dream and woke in the midst of chaos. Shouts and shapes were all about him, but the one thing that seeped into his dazed brain was the smell of apemen. It clogged his nostrils with its foul stench. His hand groped for a weapon and rejoiced when it closed around his rifle. He didn't question where it came from, only that it was there when he needed it.
He rose to his feet, the rifle sweeping into position out of sheer instinct. The hairy form of the Silverback took shape. It was attacking Roxton. Ned almost took a panicked shot, but then he stopped, slowed his wild breathing, and gauged the situation. He kept the rifle aimed at his target and waited till he had a clear shot. In that instant, the Silverback's head pulled back.
The rifle cracked and the Silverback flew to the side in a spray of crimson.
Veronica sprang to her feet and approached the Silverback warily. The sheer size of it up close was amazing. She recognized it immediately from Ned's description. It was most surely dead since most of its skull was gone. A quick glance around verified that all the apemen were dispatched and everyone was all right.
She turned her head and took in Ned, standing there with the rifle still trained on the beast, his eyes wide and his stance secure. His breath exploded out in a strangled gasp. She spoke to him softly, approaching from the side. "It's dead. You did it, Ned."
Ned stood there for a second, his gaze never wavering from the slumped thing in the corner. But then the rifle nosed down limply and he staggered back. Veronica was there to hold his arm and keep him upright.
"It's over," he whispered. "It's finally over." The Silverback was dead. Revenge had been extracted. Amends had been made.
Marguerite scrambled over to Roxton as the man slid slowly down the wall. He looked wretched but none of the blood on his body belonged to him. He just seemed dazed. "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.
He only nodded, reaching the ground, taking in the body of his enemy as it lay near him. He closed his eyes for a moment and then gathered Marguerite in a tight embrace. Surprised, she said nothing but only held him, wanting him to know that she was real and that everything was finally over. It seemed very important to do so.
His big hand cradled the back of her head, keeping it against him as though his life depended on it. She could feel it shake. The man had faced his greatest fear. She knew of his hatred for things simian. Here had been the deadliest simian of all, and he had lived through it. And he had protected her from it. As annoyed as she had been that he had shoved her so roughly aside at its charge, it also once again demonstrated his deep affection for her. And that almost made her tremble.
Eventually, he relaxed his body and sat back. His eyes turned to her. "Next time," he told her softly, "I'll think I'll listen to you."
She laughed. "Oh, that will be the day." But her eyes shone with the fondness that she still refused to acknowledge. Maybe some day.
To Malone, he turned and said, "That was a hell of a shot."
Ned grinned, his flash of teeth pale and white in the murky gloom. "I surprised myself."
"Well done and thanks."
Challenger and Summerlee approached them. Both men were fine, a little singed but nonplussed at the events.
"Look at the size of that monster!" Challenger exclaimed. He was on his knees beside the body, examining it like a child with a new toy.
Summerlee suppressed a shudder. "Well that was a rather rude way to wake up. Ned, I must say, what fine shooting!"
"One track mind," Challenger remarked distractedly of the Silverback. "It must have snuck past the sentries. All to get at you, Roxton."
The hunter shrugged weakly. "Notoriety is a terrible burden." He picked up the remains of his poor rifle. It had never looked so shoddy. But it wasn't a complete loss; already his mind was contemplating how to repair the stock. And he certainly couldn't deny it had more character now.
Challenger pouted while poking at the body. "The cranium cavity is smashed all to ruin. There's no way to judge if this beast was the next step in apemen evolution or one of Hargrove's amok experiments." He scowled at Ned.
"Really, George! Just get it out of here," Marguerite snapped.
"I second that motion," piped up Summerlee.
Torches and a crowd came from outside as the Laru, alerted by the commotion, approached.
"I think you'll be even more heroic to them now," Veronica noted. "Maybe they'll name you the Silverback Slayer," she teased him, though proud beyond measure.
"I'll just settle for being me. Good old reliable Malone." He blushed at her unexpected praise.
Roxton extended his hand. "A brother in arms," he said.
Ned was stunned at the gesture. Knowing what it meant to the hunter to offer such a title. The journalist warmly clasped the presented hand. "A brother in arms," he repeated, his chest swelling with pride. "An honor."
"Well earned," admitted Roxton. "You make a hell of an adventurer, Ned Malone."
Ned beamed with contentment.
"But you still need a hat."
The End