Ronon stared at him, a chill racing down his spine. It took him a second to find his voice. “Go get Nekai. Get all the others. Hurry.”
“What? But — ” The other man saw the look on his face and nodded, shutting his mouth quickly. “I’m on it.” Then he was gone in a flurry of limbs.
“What’re you doing?” Setien asked. “Why’d you send Adarr away? Just climb up here and cut me down and we can get moving again!”
“I’m working on it,” Ronon assured her, holstering his gun and grabbing the branch with both hands. He jumped and hauled himself up, then stood carefully, one hand against the trunk for balance, and studied his surroundings. No sign of the snare’s other end at this level, though that didn’t mean it wasn’t here — whoever had set this trap knew their woodcraft, and there was plenty of bark and leaves and branches to use for cover. “But we’re on a time limit.”
She understood at once. “How high am I?” There was no fear in her voice, but the outrage was gone as well. Now she was all business.
“At least twenty meters.”
“Oh.” He thought he heard her sigh, though he couldn’t be sure from this distance — it might have been a breeze rustling through some leaves. “I can’t even reach my gun. Or raise my fist.”
“I know.” He felt around the trunk carefully but didn’t find anything. So he wrapped his arms around it instead and shimmied up to the next branch to repeat the process.
Each climb took him closer to Setien, and even if he couldn’t locate the rest of the snare, if he could get close enough, he could try to swing her over to him, then cut her loose.
The problem was, she was well beyond the overlap range of the tracking device. Which meant she’d become fully exposed the second she’d been trapped. And every minute Ronon couldn’t reach her meant another minute the Wraith might notice her signal and lock onto it.
They’d gone from being the hunters to being the hunted again. Only this time Setien was bound and helpless. Ronon tried not to think about what would happen if he couldn’t get her free in time. .
*
*
*
It felt like hours had passed before Adarr returned, though Ronon knew it had to be less than that. If for no other reason than that he hadn’t managed to make much progress in climbing. Adarr had clearly filled the others in on the situation, and Banje immediately called up to them as they all gathered around the base of the tree.
“Ronon, come down,” he said. “Turen’s on her way up.”
Ronon considered arguing for a minute, then nodded. He had height and reach and muscle over Turen, but the higher he climbed the thinner the branches became. He’d already had to climb past several because they wouldn’t support his weight. Once he got much higher the trunk might not be willing to hold him either. Turen was small and light and fast — she’d be able to get a lot farther than he could.
He passed her on the way, and she gave him a quick smile. “I’ll get her,” she assured him, but Ronon knew she was just trying to cheer him up. They had no idea how high Setien really was, or how difficult it might be to disarm the snare. They had to face the possibility that she was stuck up there until the original hunters returned to claim their prize — or until the Wraith beat them to it.
Back on the ground, Banje was conferring with Nekai. Ronon joined them. “This is my fault,” he told them at once. “I should have seen the snare. I should have stopped her.”
“You had no reason to look for traps here,” Nekai argued. “None of us did. We haven’t seen any signs of settlement anywhere — as far as we knew, this whole world was uninhabited.”
“It might still be,” Banje pointed out. “They may be using the ring to come through and hunt here, then return to their own world. That would explain why we haven’t seen any settlements anywhere.”
“If that’s the case, it could be a while before they return,” Frayne offered from behind them. “So that’s good, anyway.” The fact that he was trying to be hopeful only underscored the gravity of the situation.
“The Wraith won’t be as patient,” Ronon pointed out. “She’s been up there almost an hour, maybe more. No way they haven’t picked up on her signal by now.”
“If Turen can’t cut Setien down right away, she’ll get close enough to fog the signal again,” Nekai assured him. “We’ll hide and ambush any Wraith who show up. Then we can get her down at our leisure.”
Ronon nodded. But he still paced impatiently for the next half hour, waiting for word.
Finally, Turen called down, “I’m as close as I can get, I think.”
“How close is that?” Nekai shouted up.
“Ten, maybe twelve meters,” she answered. “No sign of the rest of the snare — whoever set this is really good. They’ve got the vine supported by upper limbs from three different trees, which is why it can handle her weight.”
“Hey!” Setien screeched at that, but she didn’t add anything further.
“If it’s ten meters, she might be okay,” Banje pointed out quietly. “If it’s twelve, though, they’re both exposed.” He looked at Nekai, who shook his head.
“We can’t risk both of them,” the V’rdai leader decided, his voice rough. “We need to get ready. Turen!” he called up. “Come back down!”
“I might be able to get a little higher — ” she offered, but Nekai cut her off.
“Come down right now!”
“Go,” Setien agreed. “They’ll be on their way. You don’t want to be up here when they arrive.”
“I can’t just leave you hanging here!” Turen argued.
“You can, and you must,” Setien told her. “Go down now. You can come back up after the Wraith are dead.” But even from down below Ronon could hear the dull cast to her voice, so unlike her. Setien was already preparing herself for the fact that she might not survive this situation.
“We’ve got to do something!” Ronon told Nekai angrily. “We can fashion a net, string it across the trees below her, and then cut the vine!”
“We will,” Nekai agreed. “As soon as we can. But we don’t have a net. And the Wraith will be coming. We need to deal with them first. Take cover.” Ronon didn’t move. “Now, Ronon!”
“He’s right, Ronon,” Setien shouted down to him. “I’m already bait — no sense in offering them more.”
Ronon growled but finally took shelter behind a tree. He had his pistol in hand already, fingers tight around the butt, and he drew his sword as well, keeping the blade low so it wouldn’t flash in the filtered sunlight. It had taken him and Turen weeks to fashion the jagged Dart fragment into a proper blade, and longer for him to find something he felt was suitable for the rest of the weapon. He had finally settled on using only Wraith trophies. A Wraith jawbone formed the hilt and handle. A braid of Wraith hair wrapped around that for the grip, and the leather coat he’d taken from the first commander he’d killed formed the scabbard. The sword served not only as a weapon but as a symbol of his hatred for the Wraith, and now he focused on that, trying to push his fear for Setien aside. He’d kill anyone who came for her. Then they would get her loose and all head back to their base together.
*
*
*
It seemed far too soon before they began hearing sounds in the forest, coming from the direction of the ancestral ring. “Wraith,” Banje whispered, alerting the rest of them, and Ronon strained to pick up what the Desedan’s sharp ears had noticed. But he didn’t hear anything.
At least, not at first. After another minute he picked up a faint rustling. It could have been the wind, but then he heard it again. And again. It was too regular to be a breeze. They were footsteps.
But soft ones, not the heavy warrior’s tread he was used to. He glanced at Banje, who caught his eye and then shrugged. He was puzzled as well.
Ronon peeked out from behind his tree — and froze, knowing that to move again might draw attention. He had seen a flash of white among the browns and greens and golds up ahead. Then another. And another. Even with so quick a glimpse, he recognized the shading. Wraith hair and flesh. Three of them.
But not warriors. The warriors wore those helmets to protect their heads, and those covered their hair and faces completely. These Wraith were bareheaded.
Which meant they were commanders. That explained why they were so quiet — the commanders were more graceful, more stealthy then the warriors they used for brute force.
But three commanders at once? Hunting together? The Wraith had never done that before!
The others had noticed now as well, and Ronon saw each of them tense in turn as they realized the same thing he had. The Wraith had changed their hunting tactics. And going up against three commanders was very different from taking out one commander and two warriors.
Especially without Setien.
Ronon started to raise his pistol, but a hand on his wrist stopped him. Nekai. The V’rdai leader had closed the distance between them so quietly Ronon hadn’t even noticed.
“Not yet,” Nekai whispered. “Wait until they stop beneath her. Then we’ll take them.”
Ronon hesitated, then nodded. It was the smart thing to do. They’d be more exposed that way, and they’d be stationary. He just didn’t like letting them get that close to Setien.
But he knew if she was down here she’d have agreed. They had to take out all three Wraith at once, to prevent them from summoning help, and this was the best way to do it.
He relaxed his arm slightly, and Nekai removed his hand. Then the Retemite slid away again, stopping a few feet to the side where he could take refuge behind another tree.
And they waited.
Within minutes the Wraith had reached the site of the snare. They moved silently, eyes wary, weapons drawn. These three would not be taken by surprise. When they stopped, they put their backs to each other, so that they had all sides covered. Only then did one of them glance up, and then only quickly.
“What have we here?” it called out, its words hissing from between its pointed teeth. “Setien D’onbach of the Mahoir? Quite the prize!”
“An odd place to find yourself,” one of the others commented, clearly speaking out loud for her benefit. “So high and so defenseless. Almost like a gift!”
“But who would make us such an offering?” the third pondered. “Not that we can refuse, of course.” Even from here Ronon could see its sharp grin.
“The question becomes, how to retrieve our present?” the first one asked. “We dislike climbing, especially when other dangers could lurk nearby.”
“Cut me loose and I’ll come down to you,” Setien offered, which made all three Wraith laugh.
“That is a good plan,” one agreed after their chuckling had ceased. “Yes, perhaps we should cut you down.”
Then they all raised their pistols as one, and began firing — straight up.
“No!” Ronon gave up all pretense of hiding and burst from his cover, charging the Wraith. He was already shooting at them as he ran, sword raised high to cut them down as soon as he was close enough. Behind him he heard commotion as the others followed, and more gunfire whizzed past him, targeting the three commanders.
But the Wraith had clearly been ready for any threat. They split up at once, diving behind nearby trees, and returned fire,, continuing to shoot up into the branches every few seconds. And apparently their pistols had multiple settings like Ronon’s because he could hear the crackle of leaves and wood burning up above. Those were no stun-bolts!
He had winged one of the commanders before they could duck away, and now he targeted that one, circling the tree it was using for cover. They traded shots back and forth before Ronon was able to swing around the other side and lash out with his sword. The blade bit deep through Wraith leather and flesh, and he heard the commander gasp in pain as he dropped to his knees. Ronon was pivoting back around the trunk again in an instant, sword flashing as it leapt forward to strike the Wraith’s head from his shoulders.
One down, two to go.
But those two were firmly entrenched now, and the other V’rdai hadn’t been able to get the drop on them yet. Nor could Ronon, not without running right into their weapons fire.
“We need to go!” Nekai shouted, aiming at one Wraith but just missing him and striking the tree instead. Chunks of bark and wood flew.
“Not without Setien!” Ronon insisted. He looked for a way to get behind the Wraith but didn’t see one.
“They’ll have reinforcements on the way!” Nekai insisted. “We’ll all get killed — or captured!” The thought made Ronon shiver. But he wouldn’t abandon her. He couldn’t!
One of the two remaining Wraith fired upward again, and Ronon heard something snap up among the leaves. Then he heard what sounded like a strong wind — but it was coming straight down.
“Look out!” Banje yelled, ducking back behind a tree. The others followed his lead, except for Ronon — the Wraith were taking refuge as well, and he used the opportunity to cross the space to one of them. The Wraith commander had just enough time to glance up when Ronon’s shadow fell across him, sword blade and pistol bolt right behind it and both centered on his head.
The Wraith’s body dropped, Ronon turned —
— and leaped backward to avoid being crushed by a large shape as it crashed to the ground right beside him.
It was only when he picked himself up again that he realized it was Setien. The last shot must have struck one of the branches supporting her, and the others couldn’t hold her weight alone. Or it had severed the vine itself. Either way, she had plummeted more than twenty meters — for a second he berated himself for not trying to catch her, then admitted that was ridiculous. Falling from that height, she would have crushed him, and then they would both be dead.