Wednesday Briefs: Ancalagon Ch. 95

 

I was on my feet and chasing after Bouncer, but he’d already been across the room from me. Plus, despite his muscular bulk, Garjah was fast and used to his planet’s gravity. I had increased muscle mass and bone density after the incident on Ardra but I still struggled in the higher gravity to move at speed. Besides, I didn’t want one of the nervous security offers to shoot at me.

If Garjah threatened to shoot anyone who took a shot at Bouncer, when he’d probably either dodge it or manage to have it bounce off his armored back, then he’d tear them limb from limb if they hurt me. I was much easier to damage than either one of them.

As a result, I almost lost them as we ran down the corridors of the building. Three officers were following Garjah, and a second one was behind me. Ases had stayed behind, but I wasn’t about to let anyone with weapons chase Bouncer without following them. The officer Garjah had put on us had followed me, so there was a flicker of worry for him but he could take care of himself. He had his mech, after all.

Bouncer had slowed from his headlong rush through the building once he neared the food preparation area, and now he was prowling. His head was low, swinging back and forth as his front shoulders rose and fell in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. One ear twitched, and then he rushed through the main area and all the staff scattered, screaming and shouting as they dove out of his way.

All except the one clutching a pot in his hand. Shit! Was all this because he was hungry? If we’d chased after a rampaging cerops and let him attack a cook for the food he was preparing for a fancy welcoming dinner… well, I don’t know what would happen but I knew it wouldn’t be good.

The terrified staff worker was screaming and twisting, but Garjah had him trapped beneath his body with his powerful forelegs on either side of his arms. Then he sat on his legs. Just sat, literally pinning the man.

“Get him off me!” he screamed. He worked an arm free and hit Bouncer in the side.

“Hey!” Even if Bouncer was after his food, it wasn’t okay to hit him. He didn’t know better.

Bouncer leaned down and snarled right in his face, his fangs bared in warning. There was another cook backed against a counter with a big knife in his hand, and I wasn’t sure about the expression on his face. He looked like he was thinking about lunging forward to protect the other one, so I kept running until I was right next to Garjah, aiming my nastiest glare at the knife-wielding maniac. Even with his back to me, it was like Garjah saw me coming. He put an arm up and caught me, stopping me instantly.

It knocked the air out of my lungs, but what shocked me more was the sight of the open pot. Its lid had come off, and there wasn’t a tasty meat stew or some other savory dish Bouncer could have sniffed out in hunger.

No, there was a comm pad and another one of those ball things. Fear jolted through my body, and I stiffened. Garjah had his weapon out, and he pointed it at the man’s face. “If you move hit him again, I will shoot you in the face.” His weapon was probably on stun, but no one wanted to be shot in the face.

Not even homicidal assassins. The man dropped his arm to the floor. “Get him off me!” Bouncer lifted one paw and flexed his claws, and the scent of urine hit the air. Stars! The man was really afraid. Like, terror levels that meant he was willing to go with the arresting officers and face attempted murder of high officials and visiting ambassadors in order to save his own skin rather than spend another second near Bouncer.

Who was currently prancing over to me with his ears perked, looking very proud of himself. Then his nose twitched again.

What now?

He leapt onto the counter, grabbed the seared… something that used to be an animal, and jumped back off. Sitting at my feet, he began tearing off huge chunks, purring almost loud enough to drown out the derision the security officer’s mocking the assassin who refused to go anywhere near him. They complained about the smell from his wet pants, about having to take him out the back, and promised retribution of the highest order for trying to murder, well whoever he’d tried to murder.

“Put him in my safe room,” Garjah said.

“Yes, sir.”

I wasn’t sure where to look. Bouncer was… disturbingly happy tearing into the roast with his claws and teeth considering how he’d just had a man trapped between his claws in a similar position, the pot was still laying open on the floor with the deadly ammunition inside, and Garjah was giving me a look.

“What?” I asked.

“What were you thinking, chasing after us? You could have been hurt.”

“I was thinking someone was going to hurt Bouncer, and I wanted to be there to tear their face off.” Or scream into their ear holes until they could never hear again, because I would have sworn down the stars from the sky.

“You do realize that your cerops is bigger than any that’s ever been seen before, right? And he pays more attention to what’s going around him than an animal should.” The officer was still behind me.

Like he was using me for cover when he stood at least a head taller. And he skittered back as soon as Bouncer stopped, mid tear with a strip of meat still attached to the roast, and looked around my thighs at him. 

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J Ray Lamb

Julie Lynn Hayes