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yourself can predict my evasions . . . given time. In fact, if you're as smart as you believe you are, you
should have seen a pattern already." That was a dangerous statement. Tirdal wasn't aware of falling into
a pattern yet, but he just might have. But he had to goad Dagger into thinking even less, to level the field
between them.
At that moment, the signal from Ferret came in. He cleared the screen and allowed it to appear,
and studied the map revealed. His Darhel gear could come up with much of the same data for him, but
of course Ferret didn't know that. And this did prove Ferret was an ally, at least until Dagger was taken
out of the equation. After that, they'd have to see.
"As for cheating," he said with a deliberately human tone of malicious amusement, "it wasn't I who
tossed a grenade into a resting party while hiding behind a rock."
That seemed to have done the trick, Tirdal thought, as four shots ripped overhead of his cover,
blasting dirt into the water. And his Sense showed him Dagger's surroundings, the link between them
suddenly solid. He saw the scope image, saw himself as a tiny form that had moved just in time and sunk
out of sight. The sun was over there, so Dagger was on that bluff to the east, as Ferret had said. Tirdal
brought the image of that back from his memory and confirmed with an image from the suit sensors'
cameras. Dagger was . . . right about there, and that might just be in range of the punch gun, if he took
the shot now. The punch gun, he reminded himself, was a speed of light weapon. All he had to do was
account for the .7416 seconds of recharge time and dodge for cover in between shots. He set the
artifact down and got to work.
The suit's computer set up the map for him, and he shifted to a slightly less steep section of the
parched dun gully. Then he was up andpoounk! firing, dropping, shoving to the right off a protruding
rock, up andpoounk! then down and left to the flat piece of shale and up andpoounk! and left again to a
hardened chunk of clay and fire and right and fire and left and again from the same location, as random
as an ordered mind could manage.
A Sense came to him, but it was not of Dagger firing, it was of Dagger panicking. Tirdal grinned his
toothy grin. Securing the artifact, he moved out.
* * *
Ferret just lay still and rested as the firefight ensued. Dagger was clearly not shooting well.
Interesting. He was terrifying on the range, great in exercises, had done well enough against the bugs that
had jumped them. As to real battles, Ferret knew of his record, but wasn't aware of any specific
commendations for his shooting. Things did tend to go to hell in an engagement, true. But Dagger's cold,
calculating façade was just that. He clearly wasn't that impressive a shot when it came down to it. That
was good to know.
For now, Ferret inhaled the fetid odors, the grass and strange pollens, the dirt and casts left by
things like worms. The local sun was to the west and into Dagger's eyes. After the four shots, he had the
sniper located pretty much within a ten meter square, allowing for sonic distortion from the grass. He
was sure that if he could get a look up that way, he could pin Dagger down exactly. He might even get a
good shot off, as extreme as the range was.
Then Tirdal was shooting back. So Darhel could shoot and mean it. Whatever philosophy kept
them from engaging in war was a guideline only. Tirdal and likely others had obviously gotten over it. It
was about time, he thought, that they took some of the load. It was also, he realized as an afterthought,
about time that humans kept an eye on them. Militant Darhels would be bad, with the greater access to
GalTech they had.
For a moment, Ferret just lay there and grinned. Then his fatigue-sodden brain realized this was the
time to move. He pulled his knees in at once and started crawling under the waving stalks, hoping to
close a few meters with Dagger. If this could be repeated a few times, he'd be close enough for a good
shot from cover, well inside his practical range.
Of course, it would have to be a good shot. He'd get the one only, then Dagger would shoot back.
He might hit, too, even if he wasn't showing the greatest aptitude at present. Obviously, Tirdal was
dodging. Ferret had less agility at the moment.
* * *
Dagger's view was disrupted by the incoming map from Ferret. He scanned it at once, wondering
what it was, as he hadn't triggered anything he was aware of. It took a moment for him to realize it was a
map of his location. The little bastard was alive and had teamed up with the Darhel. Well, that was fine,
because Dagger had planned on killing him anyway, and this would just make it that much nicer. He
growled anyway. Asshole.
Then he flinched as the first shot snapped into the cliff. Tirdal was shooting back! He actually could
do it. That wasn't a pleasant thought, if it was going to be a real fight.
Still, it was extreme range for the punch gun, and the Elf had little skill at aimed fire. He hunched to
take a shot in case the little bastard showed up again, and he did, but over there. Dirt showered down
from the first explosive hit, and the second bolt hit off to Dagger's left, then another hit beneath him some [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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