Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 19

"Out of the fire and into another fire." Koil muttered to himself as he took cover beneath one of the collapsed trees, as the blaze burned over his head, kicking ash and smoke up into the air, while bullets simultaneously whizzed over his head, threatening to take his life with each one. While he reloaded his gun, Koil thought of the moments which had lead up to this current situation. He remembered the incendiary grenade flying through the air, and him thinking to get out of the way just in time. The grenade had created a large explosion which shook the entire mountainside. It spread it's chemical mixture all over the trees and ground, which, when it came in contact with oxygen, spontaneously combusted and set everything it touched on fire. The place where Koil had been standing was now burned to a crisp, and now Koil was pinned against a rock, trying to shield himself from both the flames and bullets. The Elite was on the other side of the treeline, and was shooting with his electrically charged rifle, causing everywhere it hit to explode with energy. Koil didn't have the firepower to contend with it, and he was beginning to run out of ammo. As he looked for a way out, he looked at the cliffside that was a straight drop down the side of the mountain. Thinking quickly, he pulled out some of the cords that were left over from his parachute, and began to fasten them into a rope. He tied it around the rock, and then, keeping his head down, he started to rappel down the side of the cliff wall, pushing off the rock with his legs, and slowly paying out the rope with his hands. He began to make slow but steady progress, but then heard the click of a gun above him. He looked up and saw that the Elite had figured out his ruse, and was aiming right down at him. Koil gritted his teeth and drew his pistol, aiming it upwards. He wasn't going down without a fight.

Dante ran through the jungle as fast as he could, pushing his speed to the maximum. He dodged every tree, log, rock, and creature that was in his way. He knew that Elicia was behind him, and she would have a difficult time catching up, but that didn't matter right now. All he knew now was that he needed to get to Koil in time. He poured on the speed, and finally arrived at the bottom of the cliff. Dante cocked his head to listen, and he could faintly hear the sound of gunfire coming from the crash site higher up. Looking at the solid rock wall, he pulled out his twin swords, and stabbed both into the wall. Making sure that they were secure, he pulled himself up onto the wall, and began to use the two swords to climb up, their highly sharpened and sturdy blades providing foot and handholds. Soon, Dante was flying up the side of the cliff, and he was gaining on the top, where he could see the fire raging and the smoke rising. Then, he saw a small figure throw a rope over the side of the cliff, and begin to rappel down. Looking closer, he could see it was Koil. Climbing up to a small ledge that was just beneath Koil's rope, he was about to signal to him, until he saw the Elite peek over the edge and aim his gun at Koil. Thinking quickly, Dante grabbed his sword and threw it at the Elite, it's piercing blade landing in his chest, knocking him over onto his back. Koil flinched and looked down beneath him, to see Dante standing there. Koil had wide, disbelieving eyes. "How did-you know what, never mind." Koil sighed, and slid down the rest of the way, finally standing face to face with Dante. "You took your time." Koil said, smiling slightly. Dante didn't return it, looking serious. "We ran into an old friend. Mister Zero." Koil's smile instantly disappeared. "What? How did he-" He was interrupted by a sound from above, and the both of them turned to see the Elite that had been stabbed by Dante's sword pull the blade out of his chest, then stare down at them.

What the hell are you doing, Nolun? As he looked over the waterfall, Nolun thought this to himself as he tried to find what he was looking for. He had managed to follow the stream all the way back to the waterfall that he had jumped off of, and had seen the broken tree that had fallen with him when he had ran from the Skraarback. The Piece had provided the only light, as his flashlight and flares weren't working. Night was fully upon the planet now, and everything had gotten as black as booster oil. He could still hear the roar of the waterfall in his ears, and the small beam of light from the cube illuminated everything around him. Oddly enough, no creatures seemed to come near him when he was holding it out in the open. On the way here, he had seen a large beetle-like creature in his path, but as soon as it was exposed to the glow of the Piece, it had flown away. It was like the creatures were...afraid of it. Not wanting to consider the implications of that now, he stared at the waterfall and tried to remember his dream. He saw the man in his mind's eye. Stepping close to the water, placing his hand on the stone...Nolun walked over to the place where he approximately thought that the place would be, then felt around for something that he could press. Finding nothing, he found himself stumped until he realized he was forgetting something. If that dream he had was from a long time ago, everything had changed since then. The trees had grown, the animals had gotten bigger...bigger. Like the stream! Thinking quickly, he moved his hand over to the right, until it was right under the waterfall. The raging, cold water pounded over Nolun, until his hand found something. He pressed in on it, curiously, then the wall in front of him moved away, revealing some sort of secret chamber. Nolun hesitantly walked in, ready for any sort of Marker booby traps. But, it turned out the room was very small, small enough to fit just a simple chair. Sitting in that cahir was a skeleton, one that had managed to be well-preserved, but very old. At least 200 or 300 years old. Nolun, a little freaked out, wondered why this would be here, until he noticed what the skeleton was holding. He pulled it out of his hands to reveal markings which read

This is the Journal of:

Merrick Crossman

Nolun stared at the book for a long time, then heard something in the faint echoes of the back of his mind. "Find the scribe..."