"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.
For Rick Alder, the war was over.
&nbs
p; 127
Kurst entered the chamber as Alder fell from the Carredon's claws. The others were still standing around in shock, and it appeared that Alder's sacrifice hadn't roused them as he had hoped it would.
The hunter wracked his brain, trying to figure out a strategy to employ. Everything he thought of kept coming back to the original problem — the Carredon was designed to kill and kill well. It had no weaknesses that Kurst knew of. He could remember no battle where it had received a wound. But here was a situation that looked hopeless, but Alder had wounded it. It had one less eye now, and that could be the way to defeat it.
But a voice in the back of Kurst's mind gave him pause. What, the voice asked, would be the price for countering an order of the Gaunt Man? Before he answered that for himself, the Carredon spoke again.
"You, the one called Decker," the dragon intoned, waving the claw covered with Alder's blood at the congressman. "No unnecessary deaths need occur. My master is impressed with you, stormer. I bring you an offer from the Gaunt Man, High Lord of Orrorsh and Torg of the cosmverse."
Decker stepped forward, but stayed beyond the Carredon's reach. "What is this offer?"
The dragon seemed to smile. "The Gaunt Man has the power to grant your greatest wish."
"And how does this High Lord know what I wish for?"
"Because he has looked into your heart."
Decker seemed taken aback by that. The Gaunt Man had actually used his powers to find out what he could about these stormers! Remarkable, he thought. Kurst decided to let this gambit be played out before he made his own move.
"What did he see, dragon?"
"He saw your love for this country, and he saw your sorrow at its wounds from Baruk Kaah's invaders. He has authorized me to offer you this."
The Carredon clacked its claws together and an image appeared within the chamber for all to see. It was the image of a black stone, as dark as night and shapeless. Still, it radiated power, not unlike the blue stone the group had come to find. Kurst knew it for what it was. It was a darkness device, like the Gaunt Man's Heketon.
"With this object of power, you could become the High Lord of this world and join the Gaunt Man as an equal being. Instead of destroying this world, you could save it. You could impose the laws and doctrines you hold so dear not only in this country, but in every country. You can be president, and then you would have the power to reshape this world into the image that burns so fiercely in your heart. And more, with the power of reality, you could bring back the woman named Vicky."
Decker lowered his head for a moment, then looked into the Carredon's remaining eye. "That's a very tempting offer. But if I were to impose my will onto this country, then it wouldn't be America. It would be something less, no matter how strong it was. It would be a sham."
The Carredon was losing patience. "What is your answer, stormer?"
"My answer? Go to hell!" Decker raised his pistol, a Beretta, and fired at the dragon's other eye.
128
Kane watched from the shadows of the narrow passage, letting anger and disappointment fill his hollow spaces. The Gaunt Man had promised him power! Now he was offering it to one of the priest's companions. That wasn't right!
He would show them that Malcolm Kane deserved the power and the glory. He would find this black stone of power and claim it for his own. Then he would make the priest and his group pay. And he would make the Gaunt Man pay as well.
With those thoughts firmly running through his mind, Kane went back down the passage toward the opening to the canyon. He had no interest in the outcome of the events unfolding in the chamber. He had only his own vision, and that was enough.
129
Father Christopher Bryce backed against the wall of the chamber, not heeding what Indian relics he was crushing beneath his feet. He was trembling with fear at the sight of the monster, sickened by the death of Rick Alder. And now the beast was tempting Decker, showing its true demonic nature. But Decker was not swayed by
the offer. Instead he fired shot after shot into the beast until the sound in the enclosed area was deafening. And then his pistol clicked, indicating that it was empty.
Mara took up the battle then, firing blasts of high-intensity light from her laser pistol. These caused burn marks to appear across the dragon's chest, and it roared in anger. It prepared to launch itself at the girl, but she resumed firing.
"She will run out of energy soon," Kurst said. "Pray to your god, Bryce. I do not think we will defeat the Carredon."
"You speak as though you know the creature."
"I do."
Then Kurst's body began to shift, flowing from flesh to fur. He grew to over six feet tall, and widened as his body grew muscle. His features elongated, stretched, and formed into a muzzle full of sharp teeth. As the priest watched, Kurst had become a man-shaped wolf of gigantic size. The wolf looked at the priest, then charged toward the Carredon.
With a mighty leap, the wolf was upon the dragon, raking it with his powerful claws. The wolf slashed at the burns Mara's laser made, adding to the beast's injuries. Deep cuts sliced across the dragon's scales, staggering it. But it was stronger than Kurst. The wolf was no match for the terrible engine of destruction. It grasped the giant wolf in one powerful claw and dug its talons into his flesh.
"You should never have challenged me, Kurst," the Carredon boomed. "I am not some stormer for you to dispatch, and my claws can harm you." The Carredon squeezed its talons together to prove its point, and the life began to slip out of Kurst, splattering the ground with bright drops of red.
Decker, his gun reloaded, resumed firing at the monster. He picked up on the wolf's strategy and aimed for the wounds already inflicted upon the creature. The wolf was dropped when the bullets hit, forgotten in the haze of pain that Decker brought to it.
"Never have I been so wounded, stormer!" the Car-redon screamed. "But the pain I feel is nothing compared to the pain I will bring you."
The congressman stood his ground, firing bullet after bullet until his clip emptied. And still the Carredon advanced. It raised its talons high into the air, prepared to bring it down on Decker. But Mara leaped between them, driving her own metallic claws deep into the dragon's chest. In pain-driven rage, it struck out blindly and caught Mara with the back of its paw. That saved her from being decapitated, but it still sent her flying across the chamber. She landed in a heap and was still.
"Go ahead, monster," Decker declared. "Go ahead and strike me down."
"No, Decker," the Carredon said. "The rage has left me, and I have a more lasting pain to inflict upon you."
The Carredon raised one talon and brought it to rest upon a scale near its shoulder. It carved a symbol into the scale, scratching it through the top layer of its metallic hide.
Bryce saw Kurst, again in man form, try to rise. But his wounds were too great and he fell to the chamber floor. But he read the rune that the Carredon carved. "Never life."
Then the beast moved to a second scale. It repeated the carving ritual, forming another rune upon its own body.
"Never death," Kurst read weakly.
The Carredon gripped the scales and tore them from its flesh, ripping away meat with the pieces of armor. It spoke words that Bryce did not understand, and it blew upon the twin scales, pointing them toward Decker. With the words of magic completed and the breath to move them, the scales flew from the monster's claws. They spun in the air, forming into pointed staves of metal each about a foot long. The carved runes could be clearly seen upon the shaft of each staff, glowing brightly with magical energy.
Faster than either Bryce or Decker could move, the staves struck the congressman, burying themselves in his chest. Decker screamed in agony as lambent energy played across his body, flowed into the jutting staves, and shot out into the darkness beyond the chamber. Decker collapsed, but the energy continued to dance along the metal rods formed from the Carredon's own body.
"Now, priest," the monster laughed, "perhaps I'll let you wat
ch as I flay the skin from Tolwyn's bones.
130
Coyote and Rat watched the cave entrance nervously. They felt the earthquake-like tremor that rocked the area moments ago, unaware that it was caused by the Carredon crashing into the chamber of the blue and red stone. But both knew something terrible was happening within the cave, and they struggled with themselves over whether they should stand their ground as Kurst had ordered or rush after him into the cave.
As they watched and waited, they saw movement at the entrance. "Look," Rat shouted, running toward the cave to meet the group.
"No, Rat, wait!" shouted Coyote, but his warning was too late.
Rat ran to the opening, trying to see which of his friends was emerging. When he saw the blonde hair, he knew that it wasn't any of his friends. It was Kane.
The big man grabbed Rat and lifted him to his chest, using the boy as a living shield against Coyote's rifle. He had his large, serrated knife in his hand, holding it just beneath Rat's chin.
"Drop the gun, boy," Kane commanded. "Do it!"
Coyote hesitated, knowing that whatever he did in the next few seconds would be wrong.
He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and aimed along the barrel. "Let go of Rat," he said in his toughest voice, hoping the fear he felt wasn't too noticeable. "If you hurt him, so help me I'll kill you."
Instead of screaming in rage or tossing Rat aside or any of the other things Coyote imagined he would do, Kane simply smiled. "All right, boy, let's see who handles death better."
131
"No, spawn of hell, I'll not let you hurt her!" Father Bryce screamed across the chamber.
The Carredon chuckled. "And what will you do to stop me, stormer?"
As the dragon and Bryce glared at each other, Tolwyn stood up. The fear was still with her, but she was fighting it, pushing it away.
"I am tired of hearing the word 'stormer', Carredon," she said. Her voice began weak, but grew in strength as she spoke. "Would you like me to call you worm?"
"But that is what you are, Tolwyn," the Carredon said. "You are worms. You are stormers."
"We are storm knights!" she shouted, drawing her saber from its sheath.
torg 01 - Storm Knights Page 26