torg 01 - Storm Knights (35 page)

118

Alder watched as the stalenger tightened its tentacles around Tolwyn. She was strong, but the creature was choking the life out of her. Kurst and the soldier were out of his line of sight, but he could hear the sounds of their struggle. He tested the net, but he had no leverage and didn't think he could break it if he did.

"Mara, can you reach me?" he asked.

The young woman was able to get her hand within inches of his face. "I think I know what you want," she said as sharp-edged nails sprang from her finger tips. She sliced the net, and Alder fell to the ground.

Tolwyn continued to struggle, but her movements were becoming weaker. The stalenger was killing her. Alder pulled his pistol, aimed at the body of the beast, and fired two shots. It crashed to the ground beside Tolwyn, the life spilling from it. He ran to her, helping her remove the tentacles from around her throat and limbs.

"The beast was strong, Rick Alder," Tolwyn gasped.

"Not as strong as you, Tolwyn," he said.

They heard a noise on the trail before them. Alder raised his gun, but then lowered it when Kurst emerged. He was carrying the soldier's rifle.

"Kane is gone," Kurst informed them. "He has retreated up the trail toward the cave."

The others, with Mara's help, were freeing themselves from the net. Alder helped Tolwyn to her feet and returned her sword.

"It's going to be a long climb with that madman out there." He mentally counted their weapons — his pistol, Kurst's rifle, Decker's pistol, Mara's pistol, and Tolwyn's sword. The others were not armed. "All right, let's regroup before we do this."

119

Mobius examined his troops one last time. The shock-troopers, the tanks, the super-powered agents, the mummies — all were ready. He turned to his attending priest.

"Open the bridges, Ahmed," he ordered. "It is time for the Nile Empire to extend to Earth. Let us send forth the Tenth Empire!"

And with that, the reality of Pharaoh Mobius connected to Earth, turning the land around Egypt and the Middle East into a new realm. The fifth reality had arrived, and the Gaunt Man's plan was back on schedule.

120

The group climbed the trail up to an overhang. Beneath the massive rock was an opening. It was dark and uninviting.

"That is where the stone is," Tolwyn said.

"It might also be where Kane is," warned Bryce.

"No matter, the villain is a coward who I will easily dispatch."

Bryce wasn't so sure, but Tolwyn, once on a course, could not be swayed.

Decker stepped forward. "Kurst, you stand guard out here with Rat and Coyote. The rest of us will see what's in the cave."

Bryce watched for some negative reaction from Kurst, but he merely nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tolwyn asked. "Let us proceed."

Decker followed her, and Mara, Alder, and Bryce were right behind.

121

Kurst waited outside the cave with the two boys. He stretched his senses in all directions, watching for any signs of danger. He looked at the rifle in his hands, and knew that it was not something he wanted to use. He handed it to Coyote.

"Coyote, huh?" Kurst asked.

The boy nodded.

"That is what Decker calls the stone they seek," the hunter told them. "He says that it is a legend from this world, a legend called the Heart of the Coyote."

"You aren't from here, are you?" Coyote asked.

"No. I am from a place called Orrorsh. There I am a hunter for the High Lord, a common servant who is treated well because of his skills."

"What were you before that?" Rat inquired.

A puzzled look crossed Kurst's face. "I do not remember."

"Do all of you people from other worlds have bad memories? First Tolwyn and now you," Coyote said.

"My memories were taken from me, boy," Kurst responded. "I do not know what happened to Tolwyn's."

Coyote cradled the rifle carefully. "Are you sure you want me to have this?"

"You will need it more than I. Now watch for signs of Kane or his followers."

"Mr. Kurst," Rat whispered, "is that one of them?"

Kurst turned to see a figure standing in the shadows some distance away. It was Thratchen. "Stay here, and guard the cave," Kurst ordered as he stepped to meet Thratchen.

"Are they still alive, Kurst?" Thratchen asked.

"What do you want here? You will ruin everything."

"The Gaunt Man has sent others to do your job," Thratchen explained. "He grows fearful of these storm-ers and has decided to eliminate them. There is one called Kane that I have not met."

The hunter nodded. "We have met him and his band. They have been hounding us all through this canyon."

"There is also another. The Gaunt Man has called forth the Carredon."

Kurst paled at the mention of the terrible dragon. It was the monster of Orrorsh, the scourge of every world the Gaunt Man ever conquered.

"You must not let them die, Kurst. If we do not learn why these stormers are different, then we will never learn how to defeat them."

"If the Gaunt Man has ordered their deaths ."

"The Gaunt Man fears his plans are collapsing! My master failed to arrive on schedule, and now this planet threatens to throw us from it. Because of this the Gaunt Man is not thinking, he is simply reacting. We must do what is best for him in the long run."

Or is it what is best for you, Kurst thought. But he said, "I will do what I can."

Thratchen smiled wickedly. "I know you will, hunter."

122

Tolwyn yielded the lead to Decker, who had a flashlight that cut through the darkness of the cave. He trained the beam along the narrow passage. It stretched back as far as the beam reached, neither widening nor narrowing as it went. They followed the passage for many long minutes, and then it opened into a larger chamber. The chamber was full of Indian relics, all preserved through some quirk of the cave, or weather, or something none of them understood.

"Decker, dim your light," Bryce called.

The congressman did so, but the group was still able to see. The room was bathed in a soft blue glow.

Tolwyn stepped around Decker and walked over to the far wall. "This is a holy place, Christopher," she said with conviction.

The priest moved beside her. In a cavity in the wall rested a turquoise stone. Crimson bands swirled within it. It was shaped like a human heart, and about the same size as one, only it was made of the strangely-colored stone. It glowed softly, illuminating the chamber with its own light.

"It sings to me, Christopher. It greets us. But it is in pain, as well. The invaders have hurt this world, and the stone feels the pain," Tolwyn told them.

"That's the Heart of Coyote," Decker explained. "Coyote was a hero of Indian legend, who helped mankind by bringing us things from the gods. I guess he stole them, actually. The legend concerning this relic is that when Coyote was preparing to leave man on his own, he left a piece of himself behind in case we ever needed it."

Mara moved forward to view the stone, letting her sensor lense drop into place. The stone shined even more brightly on her sensor than the world itself did, and even after she had adjusted the intensity. The stone was literally a piece of the energy she and the other stormers contained.

"Hey," Alder said. "Do you feel anything?"

"You mean that vibration?" Bryce asked.

Then the wall behind them exploded, filling the chamber with shards of stone.

123

Minutes before the wall exploded into a thousand pieces, Kurst was rushing through the narrow passage. His own eyes were better accustomed to the darkness, but even he had to feel his way along because of the lack of light beyond the few feet provided by the entrance. He had to reach the group before the Carredon did. He refused to yield a catch to the monster, and more, he agreed with Thratchen that these stormers should be studied. There was something about them that went against every experience he ever had on other worlds.

A few feet more, and he could smell the oldness of the cave. More, he could smell the "stench of Apeiros" as Thratchen called it. This place literally reeked with the scent, if you were familiar with its smell.

Ahead he could see a soft blue light now, and he could tell by the way his foot falls echoed that a larger chamber opened further up the passage. The lack of violent sounds encouraged Kurst. Perhaps, Thratchen was wrong. Perhaps the Carredon was not on the stormers' trail.

Then an explosion knocked him to the ground. Something was happening in the chamber, and Kurst knew he had to get there before it was over.

124

Malcolm Kane watched the small man rush past his hiding spot. He was wedged within a fissure in the passage wall, trying to decide how to proceed. He had not yet completed the task the Gaunt Man had given him, and that bothered him. He did not like to fail.

But he knew that to attack so many people by himself was foolish. Some of them had guns, while all he had was his knife. The bitch named Tolwyn had cut him, and he wanted to make her pay for that. He just had to figure out the best course open to him.

He should have recruited more help, he realized. He didn't know how large the priest's party had grown on its trek across the country. He figured that a lizard man, one of the flying starfish, and the soldier who deserted his unit would be more than enough to take out a cop, a priest, and two kids. And it would have been, too, he was certain. But the priest changed the rules. He added more players to his team. That was unfair.

Kane hated unfairness.

And, the more Kane thought about, he hated the priest and the bitch, too.

125

The cloud of dust and flying rock cleared, and Tolwyn could see again. She wiped dirt from her eyes and looked to see what had caused such destruction. What she saw made her heart skip a beat.

In the shattered opening where the rear wall had been stood the Carredon. It barely fit within the tall chamber, even with its black wings folded behind it. But there it was, just like in the fragments of her memory.

There was the monster that killed her.

And now it was here to kill her again.

The stone cried in her mind, pleading for her help.

But Tolwyn could not even help herself. She saw the beast's huge dagger-like claws, and she remembered the pain those claws had brought to her a lifetime ago. She saw its tooth-filled maw, and she remembered it tearing through her fellow warriors. And she saw its armored hide, and she remembered how sword and spear and arrow bounced away without harming the creature.

And, for the first time in her memory, Tolwyn was afraid.

126

Alder watched as the dragon pushed into the chamber. It didn't have a lot of room to maneuver, but it looked very formidable. The police officer thought back to how this had begun for him. It seemed like decades had passed since the events at Shea Stadium, not weeks. He felt older, worn out. The only hope his promise of revenge had was if Tolwyn and the others escaped this chamber with the stone. Otherwise the entire trek out of New York and across the country was meaningless. He refused to let everything they had fought for end here.

He checked his pistol. It had three slugs chambered. He decided that three would have to do. He raised the pistol. Then he halted, amazed.

The dragon spoke.

"Remember me, Tolwyn of House Tancred?" the dragon asked. Its voice was hollow, like a bottomless pit. "I killed you once. I have come to kill you again."

Alder watched as Tolwyn curled up in the corner. She was frightened past the point of sanity. He guessed that if the monster that killed him had returned, he might go over the edge too. But Tolwyn had the power to fight the thing, if she could be made to realize that. If he could show her that the beast wasn't invincible.

The police officer rolled forward, coming up on one knee with his gun extended. He knew that the move had opened the wounds made by the ravagon, but he could live with that. He aimed at the dragon's head and emptied his revolver.

The first shot ricocheted off its armored snout, causing it to turn his way. The second shot went wide of his mark, bouncing off the wall behind it. The third shot hit soft flesh, burying itself in the dragon's left eye. Dark fluid ran down its cheek, and its roar rocked the chamber.

"The stormer draws blood!" the dragon bellowed. "Now the Carredon has a turn!"

One taloned paw flashed opened, and the three clawed nails pierced Alder's body and lifted him from the floor. The officer never knew such pain or fear, but he had accomplished his goal — he had shown them that the monster could be hurt.

Though it hurt him, Alder twisted on the claws so that he could look at Tolwyn. Blood welled from his mouth, and his vision was starting to fade, but he forced his vocal chords to work.

"It can be hurt, Tolwyn," he gasped. "It can be hurt."

The Carredon flexed his claws and Alder slid off of them, landing in a puddle of his own fluids. His last sight was of Kurst entering the chamber. Good, he thought, now they're all together.