feared she would run out of steam before getting outside, but she felt surprised when she flew out of the opening barely short of breath. Thank God for adrenaline!
She set Patsy down. "Listen to me. You must run; get as far away as you can!"
"But, what 'bout you, Mum?"
"I'll stay here, and hold them at bay for as long as possible."
"No, come wi' me!" She pulled at her arm as she tried to back away.
"Patsy, please, you don't--"
"Aelfraed to Sir Differel. Do you read me, Madam?"
Started, she slapped her hand to the earpiece. "Aelfraed?! Where are you?"
"Above you, Madam!"
Above me?! She glanced up into the sky, expecting a helicopter, but Patsy point above the mouth of the mine.
"There!"
She looked, and saw that the mine opened into a rocky hill. Aelfraed stood near the top, waving at her, as Holt, Maggie, and Mrs. Widget descended the steep slope as fast they could manage. She smiled when she saw they were all armed, and grinned when the recognized the L82 her master-at-arms carried.
"Get your arses down here, now! We have an incursion!"
"Roger that, Madam! Aelfraed out." The other three quickened their pace as her butler began his descent.
"Those people will be able to get you out of here," she told Patsy. "Wait for them here."
"Yes, 'um."
She holstered her pistol, and summoned Caliburn as she approached the entrance. The horde came closer; they would be on top of her in a minute. She examined the cross braces that supported the opening. The beams were thicker and heavier, no doubt to better withstand the weather. She chopped at each upright as she swung the greatsword back and forth, splitting and splintering the tough wood until it cracked and the uprights fell apart, dropping the cross beam to the floor. She jumped back, but the ceiling remained intact. She pulled her pistol, but it was too late: the horde was only a handful of feet away.
She fired into it, striking a Martian Cat down with each shot, but her magazine emptied in seconds. She raised Caliburn, ready to wade into them, when automatic fire steamed in on either side of her. Maggie appeared on her left and Mrs. Widget on her right. The housekeeper paused long enough to hand her half a dozen clips, then resumed shooting. She turned and saw Holt standing behind them, fingering the rifle's trigger.
"Holt! The ceiling!"
He went down on one knee and the raised the sight to his face. "Stand aside!"
She retreated left with Maggie as Mrs. Widget dodged right, both still shooting. He fired, and the mini-shell screamed between them and struck the roof of the tunnel with a loud, fiery explosion. He fired again, and again; he let off six shots in total at different places as she reloaded her pistol, and with the last shot the ceiling crumbled and fell in a roar and a cloud of dust. A few cats were caught outside; she and her lady servants cut them down before they could attack.
When the dust settled, she inspected the cave-in. It looked to her as if the blockage was complete, with no gaps. She headed back to the others and saw that Aelfraed had finally joined them. Patsy had latched herself onto Maggie with a determined grip.
She approached Holt. "I'll want a full report later, but for now, give me the highlights."
"I sent Cpl. Cummings to round up the other snipers and follow us. They should have reached your sniper post and be heading for us right now."
She nodded. "Aelfraed, you, Maggie, and Mrs. Widget take Patsy and rendezvous with them. Have them split up, with half taking you back to the pub and the rest continuing on to join Holt and myself. I want you to secure whatever plans you can find of this mine. We need to make sure there are no other exits."
"Of course, Madam." He reached into his coat pocket, removed and activated a transponder, and tossed it on the ground. She recognized it as a GPS transceiver that would allow them to pinpoint the exact location of the mine.
"But why not accompany us?"
She gestured at the blocked opening. "Those were just the offspring. The Cat that attacked me was the adult, come to Earth to rear its young. We still have to find and destroy it. Since this is the center of its territory, Holt and I will remain in ambush. Now, get going; that's an order."
She could see Maggie and Mrs. Widget would have refused, but Aelfraed forestalled them. "Very well, Madam. We'll await you at the inn." The two women glanced at each other, but finally nodded their compliance.
A calliope whistle hissed behind them. Differel turned with the others and saw the adult about three fathoms further back. It stood over the body of a moor pony, its tails lashing with agitation.
"Move!" She ran to one side, firing her pistol to draw it off. Maggie picked up Patsy, and she, Mrs. Widget, and Aelfraed sprinted away towards the hill to climb back up. Holt fired but missed; the round exploded on the ground just in front of it. The Martian Cat leapt backwards, and she realized he had missed on purpose, to distract it. Her own bullets ricocheted off the alien feline's armoured hide, but it turned to track her. Holt fired again, but it jumped aside before the mini-shell reached it. It charged her as soon as it landed, and she aimed for its face. Holt fired a third time, but his aim was off as he shot wild. The round struck the ground beneath the Cat and the explosion knocked it off its feet. She aimed for its eye and fired, but the bullet struck the brow ridge at the last moment. Holt fired his last round, but the Cat was already on the move. It dodged the mini-shell, which impacted a boulder some yards behind it, and turned to rush at him as he jerked the magazine loose and reached into a pocket for another. She fired as it passed her, but the rounds bounced off the side of its head. It slammed into Holt, knocking him down, and swatted him on the head as he struggled to get up.
She summoned Caliburn and hammered at the Cat's flank. It spun around, screaming, and jumped on her, throwing her onto her back and pinning her to the ground. It had its forelegs on her arms, and she couldn't move.
A black shape hurtled into view from one side, collided with the Martian Cat, and pushed it off her. She rolled out of the way and got up on her hands and knees. The Beast of Exmoor lay on top of the Martian Cat, gripping it with its claws as it bit at the back of its neck. The Cat rolled, dislodging the Beast, then regained its feet and threw itself at the Beast, which had also recovered and charged its opponent. They crashed, chest to chest, and gripped each other with their forepaws as they each bit at the other's neck, all the while shrieking, hissing, and spitting.
Differel ran over to Holt. He lay unconscious; his pulse was strong, but he had a nasty gash on his forehead that bled profusely. She took out her Sykes-Fairbairn dagger and cut at the stitching of her jacket sleeve before ribbing it off. She placed his handkerchief over the wound and tied it in place with the sleeve.
She rose and turned her attention to the fighting felines. They wrestled together, rolling over the ground as they bit, clawed, and raked, then sprang apart, circled and feinted at each other for a few moments, and jumped, each trying to overbear the other. She glanced at the anti-material rifle, but rejected it. It was too big and heavy, not to mention powerful, for her to handle. Her only hope would be to get a clear shot at the Cat's eye with her pistol.
She hopped to her feet and ran around the furious felines, looking for an opening while trying to avoid getting trampled. They changed direction too quickly for her to follow, and she was soon left winded. As she stood to one side, catching her breath, the Beast miscalculated a leap. It landed too short, and the Martian Cat tackled it, bore it to the ground, and rolled it onto its back, whereupon it nearly eviscerated the Beast with the claws on its central legs. It then lowered its head to tear out the Beast's throat.
Differel bolted towards them as Caliburn appeared in her free hand. She would have only one chance, otherwise the Cat would kill her. She struck it on the flank with the greatsword, twice. It spun around, its head barely four feet from her face. She raised the pistol and fired as it lunged for her. The round struck the eyeball and penetrated into the cranium behind it, sna
pping its head back and checking its forward momentum. She actually heard the bullet rattle around inside the skull as the head jerked in various random directions, until finally it collapsed.
She rolled it off the Beast and decapitated it to be sure. Despite its armoured hide and musculature, Caliburn sliced through the neck like it was soft cheese. She willed the sword away and turned towards the Beast, kneeling behind it to examine its abdomen.
"Bloody hell." The damage was too extensive, even if she had a full medical team on hand. It would bleed out in minutes. She sidled up to the head and lifted it. The Beast opened its eyes and focused on her. They were lime-green with vertical-slit pupils, but there was something strange about how they regarded her. She had looked into the eyes of dying individuals before, both Human and animal, and the expression that stared back at her looked far more like that of the former than the latter. Then the eyes clouded over as the panting stopped. She placed her hand on its chest, and felt its heart stutter and stop.
"If there is a Valhalla for cats, may you be welcomed as a valiant warrior." It had saved her life; she wished she could properly honour it in some way. She stroked the back of its neck, and felt something odd. Bending down, she looked more closely and saw a thin, dark-gray circlet of plastic surrounding its neck. A sliver as thin as fine wire ran along the skin under the fur