He was far from the village now, deep into the endless sea of wheat. The field murmured and sighed. Dark clouds swept so low to the earth, he could almost hear them whisper.
They are close now ... and they know that I am here ...
He stopped and stood perfectly still, projecting his senses into the night, casting the delicate web and waiting to see where it touched. They were bearing to the left, out of the fields, toward the trees that masked the creek. The man and the wolf were together, moving steadily away from his path.
Ki came suddenly alert. Something he couldn’t name pricked the edge of his senses.
They are running, but not retreating, and that is not the same thing ... they are waiting for me ... drawing me in ...
He pictured where he was in his mind, and drew a mental arrow toward the creek along the path of the wolf and its keeper. Then he drew a second line, slightly below and to the left. With luck and a fast pace, it would take him to the creek before the others...
Ki slid quietly down the bank of the creek, exactly as he had done earlier that night, some miles farther upstream. Moving slowly through the water, he brought his breath under control, slowed the beat of his heart, and buried his fears under a curtain of serenity and peace.
The man and the wolf were up there. They were searching for him now along the banks, and back the way they’d come through the fields. The keeper kept to the trees and sent the wolf ranging ahead. Ki could sense its presence, almost see it in his mind as it loped silently through the dark, muzzle low to the ground, fiery red eyes searching every leaf and stone in its path. It had missed him so far because the high banks and the water masked his scent. Soon, though, it would discover where he’d entered the water and return with this news to its master. When that happened, Ki knew he had to be gone. The creek was a useful passage and nothing more. It was not a fighting ground. He didn’t dare let them catch him there...
Ki froze, trying to become one with the night. The wolf was close—close—close! So near he could almost hear the beast’s soft pads upon the earth, smell the wild odor of its fur.
He knew he could wait no longer. The wolf had told the man. The man knew, and he was coming—bounding through the woods with a terrible rage in his heart.
Ki scrambled up the bank and flattened himself against a tall tree. He gripped one of the razor-edged shuriken in each hand. The star-shaped disks of steel felt as natural to his touch as the flesh of his body. In a sense, they truly were extensions of himself. Ki had spent a great part of his life learning to kill. Now the weapons he used were merely hands with other shapes.
Silently he moved away from the tree and searched the dark. Clouds still covered the moon. No light at all filtered through the branches above...
Suddenly it was there, a gray shadow loping through the brush, moving toward him like a specter without a sound. Ki bent his knees, let the breath sigh out of his lungs. The fear was still with him, bound like a prisoner behind the paper-thin wall of his thoughts.
A moment ... a small moment more ... now!
Ki controlled his fear no longer. It welled up within him, surging through his veins and chilling his blood ... It sought him out to bring him to his knees, but Ki embraced it like a brother, gripped it in his hands like a sword.
The wolf instinctively sensed the sudden change in its victim ... it smelled the stink of terror unleashed by the man-thing ... its primitive heart sang out with murderous joy, and even as it bounded off the ground, stretched to rip the man-thing’s throat, its dark brain whispered that this was no danger at all, no more than a hare in the fields ...
“Heeeeeee-hai!” The sharp cry burst from Ki’s lungs.
The razored metal stars left his hands in a blur, hummed across the night, and tore the flesh of the wolf. The animal howled and jerked its head in pain. Ki stepped deftly aside, felt the wolf’s foul breath on his shoulder, heard its body snap branches and tumble into the creek.
Quickly he dismissed the wolf from his mind. He knew where the shuriken had struck, for he knew where his hands had sent them—one to the throat, the other between the eyes. The second missile had sliced through bone and cut well into the brain.
He had no time for a dead foe now—there was another enemy somewhere about, this one likely as dangerous as the first. Two more stars were already in his hands. He sprang off to the right, moving as far from the scene as he could. The wolf-keeper knew where he was—Ki had told him that. He’d be coming right for him, following the—
The man rose up like a stone splitting the earth. Ki slammed one foot to the ground, twisted desperately away, whipped back his arm to loose his weapon. It was too late—much too late—and he knew it. The mountain man bellowed out his anger and crushed Ki to his chest. Great arms drove the breath from his body. Ki lashed out with his feet, but the man simply lifted him off the ground and let him kick air. The grip tightened. Ki struggled to move, but couldn’t. Pain screamed in every muscle and tendon. Already, searing white lights whirled in his head. It would be over in a second—he’d pass out and his lungs would collapse. And after that—
He could still move his legs, but they were useless ... his body, his hands and arms, were crushed in the terrible vise ... there was no use ... nothing ...
It was getting hard to think ... too much effort ... Ki stopped trying, let himself fall effortlessly through the thick, syrupy—
“No!”
Something cried out angrily inside him, jarred him back to life ... he couldn’t see it, but he knew what it was ... his kami, his spirit ... it had come to take him away ...
He sent a last desperate message coursing through his body. Nothing answered. His head, his legs, his arms—all gone, all—No! There was something. His hand. The fingers of his right hand—they were still there, still free. He flexed them tentatively, let them slide a few inches ... there was some kind of clothing ... the skin of an animal ... and beneath that...
He could feel himself slipping, falling gently through the darkness. With a final effort he grasped the thick, fleshy member and wrenched it with the last of his strength ...
The giant howled, threw Ki from him, and bent to clutch the pain between his legs. Ki rolled, sucked in precious air, and shook his head. The man rose up and came for him again. His enormous legs shook the ground. Ki caught a quick glimpse of wild, fiery eyes buried in a thick mat of hair, a tangled beard encrusted with filth. The man growled and lumbered toward him. An arm the size of a tree limb whistled past Ki’s head, but he wasn’t there. He ducked under the blow, jabbed his hand in fast, and danced away.
The giant stopped and rubbed a fist over his bloodied nose in obvious bewilderment. Nothing had ever struck him before. Rage filled his eyes, and he came at Ki with a vengeance. Ki moved about in a circle, palms up and open. God—the bastard was monstrous! Close to seven feet and as thick-bodied as a grizzly. If he ever caught Ki again, gripped him in those arms...
He patted the pocket of his jacket for the weapons that should be there—but the pocket was torn away, the shuriken gone. The giant came at him. Ki backed away. A big fist struck out at his head and Ki jumped to the right, twisted, and slammed his feet at the creature’s face. The man howled and staggered back. Ki moved in quickly. The giant hammered Ki’s shoulder and smashed him hard against a tree. Ki felt a rib snap, but bit back the pain and struggled to his knees. The man kicked out at his head. Ki moved, took the blow on his arm, and scrambled away through the grass.
Damn—he was incredibly fast for his size! He’d misjudged this enemy badly, and the error had nearly cost him his life. He rolled on the ground, jammed one hand into the earth, and snapped his body like a whip. His left foot hit the mountain man in the groin and doubled him up. Ki came to his feet, whirled, kicked out savagely, and drove his foot into a bearded face. An enormous arm came up out of nowhere, clutched Ki’s leg in a grip of iron, and threw him across the clearing.
Ki landed badly—the broken rib hit hard and nearly took him under. Th
e giant kicked him in the belly and sent him flying. Ki rolled away, saw a heavy foot coming down to crush him, and threw himself aside. A big knee hit him on the chin, and Ki spit blood. He shook his head, backed off, and let the giant come again. It took all the courage he could muster to stand his ground. He had to, and he knew it. It was the only way.
The giant howled his anger and swept his fist at Ki in a killing blow. Ki jerked his head away, backed off half a step. Another arm whistled past his shoulder. The man roared his frustration, and opened his arms to crush Ki again.
Ki didn’t move. He let the arms come, danced in close, and smelled fetid breath on his cheek. His hands lashed out like pistons, whipped back, and struck the hairy face again and again. The hard edges of his palms pounded the thick throat, drove at the matted face. Bone and cartilage snapped. The man staggered, shook blood from his face. Ki hit him again, snaked his left against the hairy temple like an ax, flexed his right arm like a blade, and drove his stiff fingers at the base of the massive nose. The giant went rigid. A cry stuck in his throat. The bone Ki had driven into his brain cut off his life and he dropped like a tree.
Ki stepped back, took a deep breath, and shook his head in wonder. He knew what his feet and hands could do. He had delivered enough lethal blows to kill a dozen men and more, and the monster had nearly taken him instead. He stood for a moment and gazed at the fallen giant. He had done what he had to, and felt no regrets. But there was no great joy in such a thing, either—no pride for a samurai’s soul. The man he’d killed hadn’t even known that he was a man.
Ki turned and walked toward the creek and didn’t look back...
Chapter 19
Ki opened his eyes and caught Jessie watching him from across the compartment. “That is a most peculiar look,” he said. “It must have some significance.”
“Oh, it does.” Jessie swept back her hair and grinned. “I was just thinking that’s a real fine Stetson. Looks good on you.”
“Yes. It is a nice gift, and I appreciate it greatly.” Ki cleared his throat and looked at the ceiling. “In time, perhaps it will become more—comfortable.”
Jessie made a face. “Ki, you are an ungrateful you-know-what.”
“This is true.”
“What you really mean is, in a few years it’ll get dirty, greasy, crusted with dust, and you won’t be able to tell what color it is.”
Ki smiled. “Ah, now there is a hopeful picture. Thank you.”
Jessie laughed and shook her head. She looked out at the country rolling by, then turned to him again, puzzlement crossing her features. “I never did figure that out, you know?”
“Figure what out?”
“How Gaiter shot point-blank at that wolf and missed.”
Ki stared. “For God’s sake, Jessie!”
“No, really. He hit the animal, I know that. What Torgler had to do was get him a little drunk, I guess. Switch the first three bullets for blanks and leave the others in.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully with the tip of her finger. “That’s got to be it. He knew how fast those creatures were. And he knew Gaiter couldn’t possibly get off more than a couple of shots ...”
“Very reasonable and logical,” said Ki.
Jessie looked up at his tone. “Well, that’s what happened. Do you have any better ideas?”
“The answer is much easier than that, Jessie.”
“It is?”
“Yes, surely.” He looked at her with a perfectly straight face. “Five of the wolves were ordinary animals. The sixth, the one that killed Gaiter, really was a werewolf.” Ki shrugged. “Simple, isn’t it?”
Jessie looked at him and groaned. “That’s very funny, I’m sure. Let’s make a rule, all right? Wolf jokes are out. I don’t think I’ll ever even like dogs again.”
Jessie went back to her book, and Ki closed his eyes. In the morning they’d be back in Sarah, Texas, the town Alex Starbuck had named for his wife. And soon after that they’d be at the ranch. And then...
It was over for the moment. They had stopped the cartel again, cut off one of its stingers. But he knew, like Jessie, that it was never really over.
The faceless men would know who’d beaten them in Roster. They’d come to town when they heard that Torgler had failed, put the pieces together, and learn what had happened. Eventually someone would ride out to the settlement and look for answers there. They’d see it then, the message Jessie had left—a challenge that said Alex Star buck was still very much alive in his daughter.
Feodor had pulled down all the posts that circled the village, torn off the wilted wreaths of wolfsbane, and tossed them aside. All but one. Now, instead of pale blossoms, the single post displayed the skin of a wolf, held there by one of Ki’s star-shaped shuriken driven solidly into the wood. The cartel knew Jessica’s calling-card, and wouldn’t miss its meaning.
Ki gazed out the window, and saw his reflection in the glass. For a moment, another face swam over his own.
I am sorry, he said silently. Iamsorry, Lucy Jordan ...
She had come into his life for only a moment, burning as fast and fiercely as a prairie fire. And in that incredibly short time, she had reached him more than he could have imagined, glimpsed a thing that even Ki would not allow himself to see.
He glanced at Jessie, then turned quickly away. Perhaps she saw a face in the window as well. He did not let his thoughts linger on that.
It is as it must be, he told her in his mind. I will live with who you are, Jessie. And who I am, as well...
Look for
LONE STAR AND THE UTAH KID
fifth novel in the hot new
LONE STAR series from Jove
Lone Star 04 Page 17