Beyond the Moons by David Cook

companions from the war, even the quiet days fishing in the nearby ponds. He focused his thoughts on these, forcing the vertigo from his mind.
    By the time his head had cleared, the creatures were moving away. “Hope, let us, your quastoth find food, Nyaesta,” Teldin overheard one of them say. The farmer was not quite sure if quastoth meant kinsmen or slaves. He knew he should not even have any idea what the word meant, but somehow he understood everything that was said. The creatures continued their conversation out of his hearing. Most returned to the wreck, but two pairs, master and slave, continued on up the trail. Teldin watched as they disappeared into the woods.
    Risking discovery, Teldin slid back to where the giff was sheltered. The big, blue creature was half-standing, his club in hand. Teldin grabbed a sleeve and pulled the giff down. “You,” he hissed. “Those things have taken the trail to Liam’s farm. What are they likely to do?”
    The giff looked earnestly at the human. “I told you. They are killers, ravagers of worlds.” He did not need to say more.
    “We’ve got to do something,” Teldin moaned.
    “Give me a weapon and I am ready to fight,” Gomja rumblingly announced.
    The giffs bravado brought home to Teldin the precariousness of their position. With so many of the creatures and only two of them, there was no chance of winning a battle. Even following the neogi into the woods was dangerous, provided they could escape the notice of the creatures at the wreck. Teldin wanted to go forward and help, but he was certain the neogi would discover them if the pair moved at all. Torn between fear and loyalty to his friend, Teldin balked, unable to reach a decision. Common sense urged him to stay where he was. Liam was his friend, though. He had to remember that, Teldin thought. It was cowardice to abandon the old farmer without trying, even if the attempt was hopeless. Swallowing back his fear, Teldin decided to brave a journey to Liam’s farm.
    The giff knelt silently beside him, barely restraining himself from charging amid the neogi. For a second the human considered abandoning the big alien and setting out on his own. Teldin did not owe the giff anything and did not even particularly trust the creature. He had tried to kill Teldin once already. Gomja had warned him of the neogi’s arrival, though. Furthermore, the giff just might hold the answers to what was now happening to Teldin’s life.
    Loyalty finally won out. Teldin nodded to the watchful giff. “We’re going to Liam’s. Come on.
    The giff did not move. “1 cannot leave my captain,” the tall, blue one insisted.
    “Your captain’s dead. Liam’s not,” Teldin snapped, almost forgetting and raising his voice. “We go where I say!”
    The giff did not take a second urging. Rising slowly, he began to push through toward the path. Before Gomja had managed two lumbering steps, Teldin pulled him back. “Not that way,” the human ordered. “We’ll follow the stream.”
    Moving with as much silence and grace as they could manage, the pair splashed along the water’s edge. Several times Teldin came to an abrupt halt, fearful that the neogi had heard their passage. Finally, the two reached the mossy bank. The water gurgled past the small stones and sticks, hiding their movements. In a short time, Teldin was certain they were beyond the range of any possible discovery.
    “Hurry up!” Teldin ordered, forcing the pace as hard as possible. The heavy-set and stocky-legged giff was no sprinter, but he lumbered along the bank as best he could. Following the stream was longer than the trail the two neogi scouts had taken, and Teldin had already wasted too much time with his own indecision. With his choice made, the young farmer was suddenly afraid for his neighbor. If the neogi meant ill, old Liam would have poorer luck than a chicken against a fox.
    The first lights of dawn were tinting the leaves of the wood, providing just enough light