Time To Run
Tkkia skidded to a halt and stretched out an arm to kir human companion. His two legs hadn't been able to keep up with kir six legs. "Get on my back," ke told him. "Hang on to my thorax."
Joe scrambled up and hung on with on hand, the other clutching a jagged metal hoop. Their precious stolen cargo was in a bag slung across his body. "I'm on. Go!"
Tkkia took off again, racing down the corridors of the queen's palace, listening for the staccatto steps of the pursuing guards. Ke was merely a lowly worker, was never supposed to be in this place to begin with, but even the palace was a nest, and nests always had a certain logic to them.
Ke turned a corner that should lead to the outside, and found guards storming up the cross corridor. Fear made kir stumble, and Joe leaned down and sent the metal ring sliding, points uppermost, across the floor towards the guards.
Tkkia recovered and lunged forward, fleeing for the door.
Behind them, there was a snap and then a hideous scream.
"What was that?"
Joe chuckled. "We call it a bear trap. Let's get out of here before they escape."
"Good idea," Tkkia muttered back, and made the idea reality.
