Syarrhe [SPECTRA - BOOK ONE]

Chapter Ten

Qo'ji sighed. "He's dead."

The monk rose from the deceased Jynn and dusted off her hands on her faded gray robes. Once slate gray, her monk wrappings had become grubby and worn during her three months on Shiuq. Even her white hair was matting and the ends hadn't been their usual silver color since she got here.

The situation on Shiuq was much more pressing than the vague concept of a sister that had brought her here. A small colony of Jynns shrank by the day, afflicted by a mysterious plague that only affected their kind. Qo'ji had several theories as to the source of the plague, each more implausible than the last.

"Qo'ji!" gasped Relli, an adolescent Jynn girl, running to the monk. "More incoming!"

"Get to shelter," Qo'ji instructed the girl. She waved her hand at the other Jynns who had gathered to witness the death of one of their scholars. "All of you! Go- now!"

They scattered like alley cats, dashing to their rough-constructed shelters. Qo'ji stood poised over the corpse at her feet, staff planted in the ground, and set her blue eyes to the horizon. A vast hill of savannah grass rose before her, the weeds twisting dry and brown in a ghost of a breeze. Qo'ji narrowed her eyes- she heard them now.

The Qesmians marched over the hill, their hard bodies hunched and bulbous blue eyes staring out in every direction at once. Sharp pincers emerged from their top set of arms, and the middle set carried blasters. Their exoskeletons reflected the light of Tyrr shining overhead, and their fanged jaws gaped, tasting the air. Eight pairs of bulging eyes set on Qo'ji and the corpse at her feet, and they approached, forming a semicircle ahead of her. Four pointed blasters, and the other four stretched out their arms, blocking any immediate escape. She met them evenly.

In the hard, clicking, spitting language of Qesmians, the one on the far right spoke: "Why do you linger by this body?"

Qo'ji processed the words and replied, "I am making sure he is dead. No worries- this is one less Jynn to worry about."

Clicking laughter rippled through the Qesmian ranks. One on the left side said, "I forgot humans can't smell death. Such weak creatures."

"Our sense of smell may not be keen," Qo'ji replied, "But our language abilities never falter."

More clicking laughter. The one on the right, apparently the leader, stepped forward. "Why have you come to Shiuq, human? What side are you on?"

"I am on my own side. I am a Voqani monk, here to observe the situation and report back to my mentor."

Clicking rippled between them, hacking and spitting in between clicks, too fast for Qo'ji to understand. The one on the right spoke again after a moment's discussion: "We have no quarrel with the Voqani. Go in peace, and tell your mentor the Qesmians shall soon prevail."

Qo'ji made a Voqani gesture of good tidings to the Qesmians. "Go in peace."

The Qesmians turned and marched away, and then one paused, jaws parted. It turned slowly back around and then let out a lurching hiss that contorted its body.

Qo'ji followed its glare- Relli had poked her head out of the tarp that hung in her doorway. She gasped and ducked back inside, and the Qesmians lurched forward. Qo'ji jumped forward.

"No!"

She slammed her staff on the ground and a shockwave rippled out ahead of it in a cone, knocking the Qesmians off their feet. Qo'ji ducked behind a crate, hearing the Qesmians raise their clicking voices in fury. Blaster shots flew by all around the crate, and one particularly well-aimed blow shot through the crate, catching Qo'ji in the back of her hip.