“Let’s go,” Harriet said, leaping into her seat. “Get me to the station in less than twenty minutes and I’ll give you a tip of two silver coins!”
“What?!” The rickshaw driver gasped. “Two silver coins? Let’s go!”
The rickshaw driver pedaled harder than he had ever done before. The rickshaw sped out of the garden and hit the street.
“Lawd, child!” Harriet said.” Keep up this pace and I just might double that tip!”
****
“Another one?” Harriet sighed.
“Yes and this one is a child,” Chief Constable Magaska Hota replied.
“Lawd!” Harriet gasped. “Where?”
“This is where it gets really bad,” the Chief Constable replied. “Her body was found in the stacks at the Willamette University Library. Witnesses say the murderer was Chinese.”
“We need to get there before the students start protesting and the press gets wind of this,” Pei-Pei Ming said.
“Too late,” the Chief replied. “The students started protesting about an hour ago. Several Chinese students have been attacked, as has a Dr. Doc-Fai Hung – a professor in the Chinese studies department. We have a squad of constables there keeping the situation under control, but I need you to take care of this…and fast!”
Harriet and Pei Ming saluted the Chief Constable and headed out the door of his office.
“We’re on it, Chief Constable,” Harriet said as she dashed out of the room. Pei-Pei Ming followed closely behind her.
“It’s rush hour, so we’ll take the airship again,” Harriet said. “Unless you wanna poof us over there with your displacement engine.”
“I can only transport myself,” Pei Ming said. “Myself, plus up to fifty pounds.”
“The airship it is then,” Harriet said. Let’s go, Gatekeeper.”
****
The dirigible landed on the grass-covered courtyard, which the schools and dormitories of Willamette University encircled.
Harriet leapt out of the dirigible. Pei-Pei Ming followed her.
A ring of constables pushed back a seething mass of students who shouted demands of justice.
Harriet and Pei pushed their way through the crowd. Recognizing Harriet, the constables parted for a moment to let them into the cordoned area outside of the library, where the girl’s body lay.
Inside the library, at the top level of the stacks, Constable Kojoe stood beside the corpse. He smiled upon seeing Harriet. “Greetings and salutations, Gatekeeper Tubman!”
Harriet rolled her eyes. “Constable Kojoe, this is my partner, Pee-pee Ming…Pee-pee, this is Constable Kojoe.”
“Pee-pee?” Constable Kojoe whispered.
“It’s Pei-Pei – pay…pay – not Pee-pee,” Pei Ming said, shaking her head. “Touché, partner.”
Harriet flashed Pei-Pei a sly smile as she knelt down beside the corpse, which – like Shi Yan Bo – lay face down.
“Who is she?” Harriet asked, as she inspected the girl’s mahogany face.
“Amut Sut Hotep,” Constable Kojoe said. “Sixteen years old; second year, pre-med major; straight A-student and Secretary of the Student Union.”
Amut Sut Hotep’s silk, turquoise blouse had been nearly completely torn from her body. Deep cuts were on her right forearm and her right baby finger was severed at the second joint. Carved deep into the girl’s back were three Chinese characters.
“War,” Pei-Pei Ming said, reading the blood-encrusted wounds.
“How many witnesses?” Harriet asked.
“Three,” Constable Kojoe replied. “They’re in a meeting room downstairs.”
“Let’s get this over with, then,” Harriet sighed.
Like the witnesses to the murder of Shi Yan Bo, the witnesses to Amut Sut Hotep’s tragic death were interfaced with the engram iconoscope. In the witnesses’ memories of the murder, Amut was reading the ancient Zulu epic, Indaba – a favored classic among the Black populace of Oregon – when a man in a red, traditional, silk Chinese tunic and trousers and red silk gloves ascended the ladder that led up to the stacks. The man’s face was concealed by a crimson mask formed in the image of a demon with bulging, yellow eyes, ears the size of bird wings and wicked-looking fangs protruding from a snarling, twisted maw.
Spotting the man in the mask, Amut sprang to her feet and attempted to kick the man off the ladder, but he was too quick for her and leapt to the platform of the stack, landing beside her.
Amut backpedaled away from the man. He closed on her, slashing at her neck with what appeared to be a jade-handled straight razor. The student threw up her arms to shield against the deadly strikes. She winced as – several times – her skin opened to reveal the flesh underneath. Blood sprayed with each wound, leaving a red mist in the air.
The man in the mask slammed his shoulder into Amut’s solar plexus and she collapsed to her knees as the air rushed from her lungs.
The man wrapped his fingers around Amut’s neck and then slammed her face into the floor. Blood trickled from her mouth as a tooth rolled from between her lips and bounced along the floor of the stack.
The man in the mask then mounted Amut’s back, straddling her waist with his knees and cut away her blouse with his weapon. He then proceeded to carve into her back with the razor.
Amut screamed as he mercilessly ripped at her young flesh with the razor. After a minute of agony, the girl fell still.
The man in the mask rose to his feet, looked around at the witnesses, waved to them and then descended the ladder. He sauntered toward the rear exit and a moment later he was gone.
With the information gathered from the witnesses, Harriet and Pei-Pei left the library as Constable Kojoe gathered written statements.
“Thoughts?” Harriet asked.
“I think we have definite Green activity,” Pei-Pei replied. “Possibly a Skin-Walker; maybe even a Wendigo.”
“A Skin-Walker? Maybe,” Harriet said. “A Wendigo? No. A Wendigo would have eaten them before their hearts stopped beating…they can’t help themselves. It might not be a Green at all, though. The last breach of the Gate was six months ago; it was a Night Howler and I put that one down.”
Pei nodded.
“One thing I do know is that whoever – or whatever – is doin’ these killins wants to set off a war between the Chinese and Negro communities,” Harriet said.
“Who stands to gain from such a war?” Pei asked.
“Two groups,” Harriet answered. “The Greens…and the First Nation community”
“The First Nation? Their War Chief…Wabli Ska?” Pei Ming said. “You think he is behind this?”
“He’s the most vocal – and the most popular – separatist in Oregon,” Harriet said. “He believes the First Nation would have overcome the Europeans eventually, but when the Negro and Chinese forefathers built Oregon, they pushed the Europeans to retaliate by awakening the Old Ones from their thousand year slumber, which forced the First Nations to flee into Oregon in order to escape the Greens that invaded their lands.”
“He was once a constable was he not?” Pei asked.
“So they say,” Harriet replied. “He is the older brother of Baas’ son-in-law, Talltrees and a close friend. That was a long time ago, though.”
“So, when do we bring him in for questioning?”
“We don’t,” Harriet answered. “Wabli Ska is the Chief Constable’s son…we don’t want to cause the Chief Constable unnecessary grief on a hunch. We’re going to Tipi Wowahwa District and interrogating him there.”
“Now?”
“No, child; I promised to meet Black Mary for dinner,” Harriet replied. “We’ll meet up after.”
More students gathered on the yard, their faces masks of sorrow and fury. Several of them pointed toward Harriet and Pei-Pei.
“Better use that displacement engine,” Harriet said. “Those students ain’t taking too kindly to Chinese faces right now.”
“Alright,” Pei-Pei said, stepping into the tear in the world that had alr
eady formed. “I’ll see you onboard the airship.”
Pei disappeared.
Harriet pushed her way past the students and jogged to the airship. She prayed that the perpetrator was, indeed, a Green. She would rather face a thousand Greens than be forced to execute someone she cared for.
Before entering the dirigible, she turned her gaze skyward. The clouds were a bright pink. The sun was going down. Darkness was falling upon Oregon.
****
Harriet dipped her pounded yam into the egusi stew and slid the mixture into her mouth. “Mm, this is delicious, Mary!”
Stagecoach Mary smiled. “I told you, this is the best African restaurant in all of Oregon.
“You might just be right, but there is this place near the Gate that’ll make you…”
“Excuse the interruption.”
Harriet looked over her shoulder. “Pei-Pei! Have you come to join us?”
“I wish that was the case,” Pei answered. “But a Stonecoat has breached the Wall near South Gate.”
“A Stonecoat? I ain’t seen one of those in years!” Harriet said, rising from her chair. “This should be fun; the last one took out fifteen Union Soldiers and a Russian steambot before I could put it down.”
“Count me in!” Mary said, wiping the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief.
“Then let’s go, y’all,” Harriet said, heading for the restaurant’s exit. “We got a monster to kill!”
****
The Gate was abuzz with activity.
And soaked in blood.
The Constables who worked the top of the Gate, and the dirigibles that gave them support, fired volley after volley of ‘quake-shot’ at what appeared to be a colossal stone statue.
This immense effigy, however, was alive and, with the pile of pulverized Constables at its feet, apparently out for blood.
The creature stood nearly two stories tall. It appeared to be carved from gray granite with onyx striations defining its muscular frame. The creature roared as the quake-shot rocked its frame with powerful seismic tremors, but it continued to pile dead Constables atop one another.
“Gods!” Pei-Pei gasped. “So, that’s a Stonecoat, huh?”
“Yep,” Harriet replied. “Twenty feet of bone crushin’ death…stronger than fifty men; bullet proof; and as ornery as a dog with a bad tooth.”
“How did you kill that thing?” Constable Kojoe asked.
“Note that they are called Stonecoats,” Stagecoach Mary said. “Their hide is as hard as granite, but their insides are flesh – as soft as yours.”
“And yours?” Pei replied, perusing Mary’s muscular frame.
Mary shook her head. “Naw, my innards ‘bout as tough as my outtards.”
“How did you get to those organs, though, Harriet?” Pei-Pei Ming inquired.
“Up the fundament,” Harriet said.
“Harriet put the fun in fundament!” Black Mary snickered.
“Eww,” Pei-Pei Ming replied, turning up her nose.
“Don’t be too disgusted, child,” Harriet said with a smirk. “This is your kill.”
“I would much rather observe a master at work,” Pei-Pei said.
“I bet you would,” Harriet replied. “But what kind of example would I be if I denied you the experience of your first Stonecoat kill? Besides, imagine the respect you’ll get.”
Mary dropped a firm hand on Pei’s shoulder. “Hell, you’ll probably get a promotion.”
“I guess,” Pei-Pei sighed.
“Praise the Lawd! Harriet said. “Constable, bring us down.”
Constable Kojoe, who had eagerly volunteered to pilot the airship, lowered the dirigible until it hovered just a few feet over the heads of the Constables who manned the quake cannons atop the great wall.
Harriet slid the dirigible’s mahogany door open. “Pei-Pei, use the displacement engine to touch down between the Stonecoat’s feet. We’ll distract it. When you get a chance, you know where to go.”
“Will it smell really badly?” Pei-Pei asked, her face twisted into a scowl.
“Well, it ain’t a garden of roses in there, child,” Harriet said. “Once you’re…inside, destroy as many organs as you can and then use the displacement engine to ‘pop’ out of there.”
“Understood,” Pei-Pei replied. “See you soon.”
Pei-Pei leapt out of the door and then vanished.
“Kojoe,” Harriet said, slamming the door shut. “Circle around to the Stonecoat’s right…at about its eye-level.”
“I’m on it!” Constable Kojoe replied.
“It don’t have any peripheral vision, so it will have to turn its head toward us to attack us,” Mary said. “That should give Pei-Pei time to do her thing.”
“How quick is that thing?” Constable Kojoe asked.
“Quick enough to swat this airship like a fly if you don’t shake it,” Harriet answered. “But the Lawd gon’ see us through.”
Constable Kojoe pulled a napkin from the rear pocket of his trousers and wiped sweat from his brow. He then turned the dirigible’s steering wheel to his left and slammed his foot on the pedal beneath his right foot. The dirigible hissed and then lurched forward.
On the ground below, Pei-Pei appeared, then vanished and appeared and then vanished again, avoiding the frightening, battering ram strikes of the Stonecoat. With each miss, the Stonecoat’s wrecking ball-sized fists beat a crater into the soft earth.
The dirigible soared around to the side of the Stonecoat’s head.
Harriet stepped behind Constable Kojoe and peered out of the windshield. She placed a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder. “Get his attention.”
The constable wrapped his fingers around a brass toggle on the dashboard and then yanked his fist back toward his ribcage.
A hissing din, like the lamentation of an immense snake, erupted from the undercarriage of the dirigible. A moment later, a black, iron rocket shot from the dirigible and sped toward the Stonecoat’s ear, leaving a white tail of steam behind it.
The rocket disappeared inside the Stonecoat’s ear.
The creature roared in agony and staggered sideways. Smoke billowed from the Stonecoat’s ear. It snapped its head toward its attacker, raising its mighty stone hand in preparation for an attack of its own.
The Stonecoat swept the back of its hand toward the airship.
“Hold tight!” Constable Kojoe shouted. He then slammed the ignition lever forward, shutting off the steam power to the engines and propellers.
The dirigible plummeted toward the earth, just avoiding the Stonecoat’s powerful backhand strike.
Constable Kojoe yanked the ignition lever backward. The airship continued to fall.
“Uh oh,” Harriet croaked.
“Aw, damn!” Mary sighed.
“I got this,” Constable Kojoe whispered, blinking away the sweat in his eyes.
The dirigible coughed and sputtered and then came to life with a jerk, hovering, for a second, a yard above the ground before rising skyward again.
“Whew,” Mary said, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “That was closer than two cockroaches on a bread crumb!”
“Did the Gatekeeper make it in?” Constable Kojoe asked.
Harriet slid the door open and peered downward. There was no trace of Pei-Pei. The Stonecoat clutched at its belly.
“It appear so.”
An odd noise, like gravel raining upon a block of ice, rose from the Stonecoat’s throat.
A torrent of a dark brown, oily substance fell from between the Stonecoat’s legs and splashed at its feet. The oil filled the air with an odor like rusted iron.
The creature’s coal gray eyes rolled backward and then it collapsed onto its face with a loud thud. It shuddered violently for a moment and then lay still.
Pei-Pei appeared, covered in oil and pieces of black flesh, between the Stonecoat’s legs. She wiped the sludge from her face and flicked it off of her fingers to the ground.
Laughter erupted fr
om atop the wall.
“Bring us down, Constable,” Harriet said, smiling.
Constable Kojoe landed the dirigible a few yards from the Stonecoat’s head.
Harriet leapt from the dirigible and sauntered toward Pei-Pei. “Good job, Gatekeeper!”
“Then why is everyone laughing?” Pei-Pei asked.
“Because you ventured up a Stonecoat’s ass,” Mary chuckled. “It would have been much easier… and less messy…to enter through its mouth!”
“But you said…” Pei-Pei began.
“Gatekeepers…let’s welcome, our sister, Pei-Pei Ming,” Harriet shouted, interrupting her. “Her initiation done. Let it be written upon y’all scrolls and sang about forever!”
“And ever!” Harriet’s fellow Gatekeepers shouted in reply.
“Great,” Pei-Pei Ming sighed.
“I would hug you,” Harriet said. “But…”
More laughter came from the gate.
Harriet inspected the craters formed by the Stonecoat’s punches. The ones made with its right fist were a foot deep. Those made with its left were nearly a foot and a half deep. Harriet whistled and shook her head.
“Lawd! Come on, I’ll show you where to clean up, child,” she said, walking toward the gate. “We have some new clothes for you, too. Hurry up and get dressed; we have to high tail it over to Tipi Wowahwa.”
****
Harriet looked down through a porthole. A herd of wild horses galloped across the vast, green plains that comprised the Tipi Wowahwa District.
The dirigible landed just outside of a small village of tipi, which were constructed of buffalo skin dyed red and indigo.
“Wabli Ska and his followers live here, but so do several elders and children,” Harriet said, firing up her monowheel, which was parked at the door of the airship. “Hopefully, things won’t get violent, but if they do, try hard to keep collateral damage to a minimum, Mary.”
Mary peered out of the porthole next to the door. “Oh, things gettin’ violent is highly likely.”
Harriet slid open the door. About fifty yards away – sitting atop white warhorses – were several men and women. Front and center – sitting atop a jet-black horse – was Wabli Ska. “I count thirty, in addition to Wabli Ska. We should be able to take them, but expect a few bumps and bruises.”
The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman- Freedonia Page 3