She didn’t expect to get free, but the movement allowed her to get her hands on some tools.
“You two should take the children back to the cresh; I’ll escort the human to the port,” the one holding her said, tightening his grip on her arm.
“Ouchie!” Han said, only half faking the pain. As if trying to pull her arm away again, she shifted around.
“No, this is my task,” Malsum objected, backing up and herding the children a little further away. Both kids were sounding angry rattles. If the situation wasn’t so serious, they’d be adorable.
“We could keep the human,” one of the men advancing on Malsum said. “We take the younglings back to the cresh, and Dorum takes her back to his domicile. We can all meet later.”
“I won’t let you do that,” Malsum said with an angry rattle.
“Even if you speak up, who is going to believe an adultette and a couple of children over three honorable adults?” the leaders scoffed.
“We’ll share the human, correct?” one of them asked.
“Or sell her,” the leader answered.
Han wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying; she was busy getting herself in just the right spot. That meant she wasn’t prepared when Malsum attacked the leader. She heard a flurry of movements, grunts, rattles, and impacts.
She was worried for Malsum but had to concentrate on dealing with Dorum. With a flick of her thumb, she opened the neuro-disrupter and pressed it firmly against Dorum’s chest. The moment it had full contact, Dorum jerked, let out a gurgle, and dropped to the ground.
The neuro-disrupter’s effects didn’t last long, so she dropped it and moved to kneel next to his head. She slapped a medicated-mask over his nose slits and mouth and pressed. He came out of the neuro-disrupter quicker than she expected.
Thankfully the mask sealed and started releasing the sleeping agent just as Dorum reached up to push her off. There wasn’t any power behind his push, and she easily batted his hand away. She forced herself to remain with Dorum until his eyes fully closed and body relaxed.
She’d had a bounty manage to pull the mask off once. That incident taught you to make sure they were under before you moved your attention away.
Jumping to her feet, she turned to see one of the remaining Talins slap Lirsum to the ground. Rishmun jumped on the Talin’s back and tried to punch him in the earhole.
Malsum was engaged in combat with the other Talin. Despite being smaller, he was doing surprisingly well, although slowing down and starting to take more hits than he was delivering.
Digging into the hidden pocket on her wrap, she pulled out two cuffs then eyed the chaos around her.
Poor Rishmun went flying, landing further down the alley. By now Lirsum was back up and charged the Talin again. She grabbed hold of his leg and climbed up faster than Han thought possible.
The little girl made the perfect distraction, and Han was able to click one of the manacle-rings around the Talin’s ankle.
He let out a startled rattle as he grabbed hold of Lirsum and pulled her off him. Instead of letting her go, he held her in the air, her little legs dangling in the air. She snarled, blood dripping from her mouth.
Han looked at the Talin’s neck and realized Lirsum had managed to bite him in the narrow strip of exposed skin at the base of his neck.
Rishmun grabbed hold of Lirsum and added his weight to hers. This forced the Talin’s arm down so he let go of Lirsum.
“There is something wrong with these children!” he shouted. “They should be put down.”
“Han, run!” Rishmun yelled. “We’ll hold them off.”
It was only then that he remembered Han. Looking past her, he saw his companion lying motionless on the ground.
He turned to her. “What did you do to Dorum?” he roared and rushed her.
“Thank you,” she said, waiting till the last minute to pivot so he crashed into the Talin that Malsum was fighting.
In a perfect universe, only the two adults would’ve gone down, but unfortunately Malsum got tangled too. The three of them went down in a crash of limbs and angry rattles. Before they could separate, she clamped on the last manacle-ring. The moment the second one closed, it activated and the two manacles pulled together.
Startled yells and rattles filled the air as one man's ankle was jerked to the other man’s wrist. Unfortunately the cuffs left too many limbs free, and Malsum was still in the mix.
Grabbing a foot she thought belonged to Malsum, she walked back and pulled him out of the fray. The two Talins tried to get up but got further tangled and fell back.
