CHAPTER 21

The Orc were not the best at hearing and, as far as he knew, they never had been. When it came to not listening, though, the elves had them beat hands down. The only thing that Hoop really wondered about, as he watched Taylya kneel to the ground and sniff at something, was how did a species with ears that were so damn big become so dependent on their sense of smell. Half the time they acted like they couldn’t even hear you but, damn, they always let you know if you smelled funny. That made Hoop actually sniff at his underarm and, well, he had to admit it this time. He not only smelled funny but, funky.

He jumped down off the fallen tree that he had been standing on. It was a tree that, a year earlier, he had named the “Great Wall of Orcland.” Hoop then strolled over to Taylya, who was still busy playing in the dirt, and he said, “I done told you woman, Anders is long since split for the triangle. If he aint there then him and that little elf chick are already home and doing the humpity bumpity. I’d bet you money that’s why they didn’t make the extraction.”

This time, Taylya did look up from the ground and she told her partner, “say that again and, next time dear lover, I will shoot you. Shuenea-Wa?”

Hoop just became more frustrated and tossed his arms in the air before considering her tone. Then he turned back around and meekly asked, “you were kidding about the shooting part, right?”

Now Taylya had moved a few meters forward and was poking around in some bushes as she said, “do you know what I miss most about John?”

Hoop had gone back to watching the area. He had some of those rangers on a hasty perimeter but, after what had happened he could hardly say he trusted them to keep him safe. Hoop was betting more on the time of day that it was. You rarely encountered Orc’s in these kinds of lighting conditions. Hoop figured it had something to do with their eye sight. It was kind of like this was their night time even if it was one of the more illuminated times on this crazy planet. It sounded strange but, why not? It just kind of figured.

When Taylya was finished she came back out of the bush and gave Hoop the answer to the question that he had obviously decided to ignore, “John knew how to keep his mouth shut in the bush.”

Hoop still kept his eyes on the scanning as he replied with frustration, “do we have to bring that up again?”

Taylya snapped at him, “I’m talking about this bush, dumbass!”

Now Hoop finally looked at her, “oh, sorry.”

Taylya stomped her foot and pointed due west, “there was someone here yesterday. He was human, he was loaded down, and he never fired a shot. He also went that way.”

That was towards what was left of a fire. There were still wisps of gray smoke that was slowly rising into the air. It was an area that Hoop had chosen to avoid up till now. Fires rarely got big enough, out here, to consume an entire tree. The place was just too wet to start with and those sky scraper sized trees were virtual lakes all by themselves. They held an enormous amount of water inside and made good places to fill your canteen if you knew how. The problem was that fires would sometimes cause a centuries worth of accumulated water to evaporate, practically speaking, in an instant. That would weaken the tree and in a few days, that tree would wind up looking like the “Great Wall.” You did not want to be near one when they came down either.

That led to Hoop asking the logical question, “do we really want to check over there?”

How could Taylya answer that question? She really had no desire to go over there either. Still, she told Hoop, “it’s where he went. It’s not like these people know any better.”

He did not like it but, Hoop followed and when they reached the source of what had been the fire, he kicked around and came to a very quick conclusion, “this was Masterson’s bird all right. Poor bastard, you know he had like six kids or something, must have been Catholic.”

Avery had reported that he saw all but one of his stick get out of the chopper. Three had followed him to the extraction point and, if the information was too be believed, then that left three missing since they had already found the places where the other two missing rangers had been killed. The Orcs had left no bodies behind, they rarely did, but Taylya had found definitive proof that bodies had been there. Given the information that had been learned in the after action report, that gave them a good idea of who those two men were.

It left Taylya sniffing for Caldwell, Thompson, and Simmons. If Avery was too be believed then they had been the ones who exited out of his side of the chopper. Still, Taylya considered the source and realized, she did not always believe Avery. Then she stumbled on something that made her quietly apologize to her commanding officer. She raised up and signaled for Hoop to catch up. Then she pointed down to the mess on the ground, “Simmons was the dark skinned human, Shuenea-Wa?”

As Taylya ventured closer to the body and began to examine him, Hoop stood there and just looked confused, “I don’t get it. Why would they leave the body? You better watch out for traps Tay-Tay.”

It was not that Taylya hadn’t considered the possibility of a booby trap. She just did not think it likely given the fact that there were no tracks anywhere near her. Sure, if the Orcs had left behind an exploding present, they would have tried to cover those tracks but, only to a point. A long time ago, Tay had learned to check far out for signs of traffic. If they suddenly stopped then something nearby probably had a trip wire or two. She saw nothing of the sort here.

What she did see was, “quite frankly Hooper, I’m more worried about the other possibility.”

Hoop went back to watching the surrounding terrain, “and what would be more disturbing than getting your arms and legs blown off?”

One of the first things that Taylya noticed was that someone else had already gone over this body. That someone had been very squeamish about it and this ruled out gnomes. Taylya took note of what was missing from Simmons gear. It basically boiled down too weapons, ammo, and survival gear. Taylya started looking for other kinds of tracks as she told Hoop, “the kind of disturbing that gets everything else blown off. The Orcs have never done anything like this before. We are too far south for this much activity. They are being far too aggressive in our own backyard.”

“Did you ever think,” Hoop asked as he lit up a smoke, “that maybe they’re just pissed off about that base of theirs that we trashed a few months back? Remember? The one that we hit before the Rangers showed up?”

Taylya sniffed at the base of the tree. It was so strong that there was definitely more than one human who had been here. It made sense that they would shelter at the base of the tree and, also, it was stupid that they would shelter at the base of the tree. That meant they were not only human but recently arrived ones, ie soldiers from Earth. Taylya called out, “I found Caldwell and Thompson.”

Hoop had jumped back up on a root, “bodies?”

“No,” Taylya said as she followed the impressions and weight, “they were alive when they left here.”

Only afterwards did Hoop realize he should not have felt this way but, he had surely felt it. He jumped down off the root and in disgust he muttered, “cocksuckers!” Then with reluctance he asked the elf, “which way did they go?” Taylya did not immediately reply and Hoop got stern, “stop fucking around Tay-Tay, which way did they go?”

Now, Taylya reluctantly admitted, “northwest, towards the triangle.”

“Goddamn it!” Hoop flung is cigarette to the ground even if he was less than half way finished with it. He stomped around and then told her, “you know we have to go after them, right?”

“Well,” Taylya tossed the unspoken idea out there, “we don’t actually have to if.. well, you know, I don’t actually tell anyone what I have found here.”

Hoop actually did consider that option but, he couldn’t make himself do it. He had been a Ranger once. He knew how serious they were about accounting for every single person, dead or alive. He also knew one or two things about the triangle and, that was cutting his options down quickly, not to mention the possibility of his throat if he decided to go back to the firebase and report this.

Now Hoop just stomped in a circle as he mumbled, “of all the damn directions. Why would…”

How could Taylya answer that. It was actually very simple really, “they didn’t know any better Hoop.”

“Tay-Tay,” Hoop stopped and looked her in the eye, “they’re not supposed to know any better. That’s the damn point! I don’t even like knowing!” Hoop was still furious, “well we only got one choice Tay. We got to go get them before they blunder on to one of them little mountain fairy paths.”

Taylya protested, “they won’t even know what they’re looking at Hoop. Stop worrying already. They may be going in that direction but, there is no way they’ll get that far. It’s a long way from here and, besides that, the Orcs are all stirred up right now. What’s the odds we’ll even find them alive?”

“I’m more worried about finding them fast,” Hoop replied. Then he took a second to compose himself and he deflated. He sounded pretty pitiful as he asked his companion, “sides that, I’m not sure we’re even asking the right question.”

Taylya arched a brow at that, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t play stupid on me woman,” Hoop replied. He made eye contact and said, “how did they know to hit us here? How did the Orc’s know this was an eL-Zee?”

Taylya shrugged, “well it’s not like we haven’t used this place before.”

“Cut the bullshit Tay,” Hoop replied, “we got plenty of landing zones. Too many for them to know which one we’re going to use next. You know and I know, they ain’t that damn smart.”

“So what Hoop,” Taylya stepped up and got in his face, “they got lucky. It happens. This is the first time in ages that we’ve moved this many assets into this region. There was a good chance that one of the el-Zee’s would be covered.” When Hoop did not respond she just asked, “or are you suggesting something else my lover?”

“No,” Hoop did not look her in the eye when he responded.

“You’ve been acting like a twit since I reached the firebase,” she told him. “Are you making an insinuation Hoop?”

He still wouldn’t look at her, “it ain’t you I’m worried about.”

“Who then?” Taylya would not drop it, “we already know that Avery is ass deep in his own shit, so, it’s not him that you’re worried about.”

Hoop huffed and finally looked at her, “it kind of bothers me that Anders was here. Anders is missing. It was Anders eL-Zee that got hit. This is the closest one to the triangle and, then, he’s got that little piece of Elf hanging around now. I see that little bitch about every time we go in the field these days. I never thought nothing was right about that.”

Taylya’s jaw tightened and she slapped Hoop, “don’t call her that!”

Hoop did not even flinch at being slapped. He did not draw back. Instead he got right in Taylya’s face, “you see, right there woman! I been acting like a twit? You been lying to me since I told you what that chick’s name was. You know her and you been lying about it. I can take a lot of shit from you Tay, not this, not lying.”

Taylya backed up and turned her back on Hoop. Her shoulders slumped and then she had to push back a tear. She finally said, “yes she has been hanging around lately, only, she’s not here to see Anders. She comes around to see me, Hoop. That’s why she’s been following us. She’s not a spy, she’s not an informant.”

Hoop threw up his arms and grunted in frustration, “then who the fuck is she Tay?”

When Taylya turned back around, Hoop saw something in this woman that he had never seen before. She looked hopeless, lost, pathetic, even afraid. She gulped, took a deep breath, and then she told him, “Cami is my sister.”

Hoop had been pulling out another cigarette. When Taylya said that he dropped it to the ground, then the entire pack. His eyes got big and he let out, “are you fucking insane woman? You smuggled a daughter of Quintescau up the fairy trail?” Hoop almost panicked as he began pacing around in a circle. When he stopped he was still jumpy. He pointed his finger at Taylya, “please don’t tell me she’s his youngest one.” Taylya didn’t answer and that was all the answer that Hoop needed. He blew up and finally had to ask the big question, “what sign?”

Taylya still could not look Hoop in the eye, “you already know that Hoop. Stop asking questions you already know.”

“Jesus Christ I wish I believed in Jesus Christ!” Hoop stopped pacing and thought it over. He then asked, “does Anders know? Who else knows? For that matter, how does your old man not know?”

“I don’t know,” Taylya blew up, “all right? I don’t know any of that right now!” Taylya tried to find her well of strength but, it did not stop the tears, “all I know is, now that we are using the temple again, I had an out for her. I was going to try and get her to New York. She would be safe in America.”

Putting aside the fact that there was no way in hell she was ever going to get that girl through the Dell, Hoop had his doubts if she would ever be safe, anywhere. For one thing, he had seen how that girl acted and she had a hard time keeping a low profile. Hoop had to figure that old Quintescau probably thought the girl was still in school. It was the only reason he didn’t have his entire army out, tearing up the country, looking for her.

Hoop knew that the current situation could not last for long, no matter how well Tay had covered her tracks. Once the Noveus-Faeyu tracked this Cami down, to Horshen’s village, they would go in and extract her, kill anybody who happened to be standing in their way, and then the IAF would blow that place to kingdom come, just for good measure. All that Hoop knew to say about that was, exactly what he told Taylya, “son of a bitch, you have really humped the bunk this time.”

Taylya watched as her companion as he began walking off. She was scared to ask him the really important question. He knew it too. As he climbed over a thick root he told her, “well come on. We got to fix this shit, and fast.”