The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume Four (75 page)

The other ship made a flat turn and started for him, but flying fighters was an old story to Turk Madden. He had flown almost every kind of ship in the air. Yet the enemy pilot had been trained well, and he handled his ship like it was part of him.

“Okay, bud,” Turk said, “you want to play!” He gave the ship everything she had and started for the other fighter, head on. For what seemed minutes they rushed down at each other, yet Turk knew it was only a fleeting instant, then, suddenly, the other pilot broke and hauled back on the stick. The nose of the plane went up, and he went up and over in a wild, desperate effort to escape what seemed fiery and certain death in a head-on collision. And in the fleeting instant when his underside was exposed, Madden poured a darting stream of fire into the other ship!

He banked steeply and swung away, then circled and started back, but the enemy fighter, smoke pouring from it, was headed for the mountains, far below. Even as he watched, the smoke turned to a sudden, crimson burst of flame—and then where the ship had been there was only a puff of smoke and a few disintegrating fragments.

A hand fumbled for his brow and he wiped away the sweat. Then he headed down and south for the lake. He would be able to land beside Doone’s wrecked transport. The plateau was long enough, and from what he knew of it from his visit to the wrecked ship, it was good enough for a landing. Getting off again might be quite a problem. If he ever tried.

The Goose was down on the lake when he circled over and dipped his wings, then he darted away, headed into the wind, and eased the fighter to a landing on the plateau, taxiing to a place close beside the transport.

Scotty and Young were there to greet him as he started down the hills. “Get him?” Young demanded eagerly.

“Yeah.” Turk mopped his brow and grinned at them. “I hope there’s no more of them!”

He glanced from one to the other. “Either of you ever been in that Domed House?”

“I have,” Young said. “Don’t know much about it, though.”

“I’m going in there,” Madden said. “I’ve a hunch that’s where Bekart went and where he took Raemy. We’ve got to get her back, get Doone, and get that steel box. And it’s got to be done fast, commando stuff.”

“You can count me in,” Scotty said.

Madden shook his head. “No. I’ll take Shan Bao because he talks this stuff a little. I’ll take Ryan because he’s small, tough, and it’s his job, anyway. And Young here because he knows something about it, about the Domed House, I mean.”

When the last straggler had come in and the rescued prisoners were gathered around, eating and drinking coffee, Turk Madden began going through them, one by one. Each man talked, through interpreters when necessary, telling what he knew of the Domed House, the guard system, the valley itself, the discipline and the probable location of Raemy and Bekart, if prisoners.

The guard was relieved every hour at the temple, and a sharp watch was kept for any movement to attack them. It was dusk when Turk gathered his little group around him.

“Understand this much,” he said briefly, “these men are our enemies. They have held American flyers as slaves, they have killed some, tortured others. We must rescue Bob Doone and his sister. We needn’t worry about Bekart. He should be punished, but we have enough to do without that. Let’s go!”

D
ARK AND COLD LAY THE VALLEY
under a high-riding moon when the four men reached the icy rim and looked down. The descent to which Young had led them was at the upper end of the long, deep canyon. Far below them, chill and mysterious in the moonlight, lay the towers and rooftops of the monastery and village. Among them all, at the highest level, was the huge dome of the Domed House.

The air was crisp and still. The rattle of a stone sounded loud in the clear, sharp air. Turk rubbed his fingers against the chill and scanned the town below with a practiced, soldier’s eye. Young moved up beside him. “So far as I know, nobody’s ever tried it from here. It’s desperately steep, but working down there on a wall, once, I noticed what seemed to be a path up here. That’s our only chance.”

“We’ve got ropes if the wall runs close enough, or if the path doesn’t lead all the way around.”

“The guards are nearly giants,” Young warned. “Big men, and powerfully muscled.”

From below came eerie sounds, the strange music drifted to them, then a chanting voice lifted momentarily, high and shrill, yet barely audible where they stood. Uneasily, Shan Bao shifted his feet. Turk’s feet felt for the path.

It was actually merely a ledge, only inches wide, where a lower stratum of rock had thrust out and weathering had still to chafe it away.

Turk edged along the rocky lip, his mouth dry. Were they visible from below? He thought not, yet he seemed naked, exposed, helpless. A foot edged out, felt carefully, then his weight shifted, for an instant his hands gripped until his foot was sure, then he moved along.

Hours seemed to pass. Sweat popped out on his face and dried away. The ledge zigged to a lower ledge, which zagged away into darkness under an overhang. They felt their way through the ominous darkness, and found, finally, a place where a spring trickled water into a deep crevice. It seemed a good route, and they followed it.

Darkness closed around them. Turk felt his way, then suddenly, warned by falling water, he stopped. It was well he did, for when he put his foot out it encountered empty space. With a pencil flash, he studied the drop. It fell away far below the reach of the finger of light. He drew back, studying the rocky walls. Finally, he found a way that seemed possible. Then they were on a level again.

Turk had not begun to consider escape. He knew that a wise man never enters any hole or any place of danger without first considering a way out. Yet now there was no chance. What had to be done must be done, and there was no time for details. He moved along and smiled to himself to know that three men moved behind him.

They might have been ghosts wafted by some breeze from beyond the grave for all the sound they made.

The deep crevasse in which they walked ended so suddenly that Turk stopped and Young ran into him. They made no noise, and it was well, for they stood on the edge of a pool, no more than twenty feet across. It was a pool surrounded by shade trees, and now, kneeling on the far side was a girl. She bent down and dipped up water with a wooden bowl, and drank from it. Her face was a delicate tracery of old ivory in the moonlight, and when she put down the bowl she knelt there on the stone slab, gazing up at the moon.

Turk held himself very still. Behind him he could hear the breathing of the other men. Suddenly, and why he did not know, Turk decided he was going to speak to her. Carefully, he moved out from the others and skirted the pond on light-stepping feet. When he was no more than a few feet away, he spoke to her gently in Mandarin.

It was a wild chance, but she did not look like a Ngolok woman, nor like a Lolo. At the sound of his voice, she stiffened, and her chin came down, but she did not look at him. She did not turn her head, but looked across the garden. “Who speaks from the willows?” she asked.

He spoke very softly, knowing that now he needed her help, her willing help. “A man who seeks the woman he loves, and her brother, who are prisoners here.”

“You are not Chinese?”

“American.”

Surprisingly then, she turned her head and spoke in clearest English. “Then speak to me so. I was educated in a mission school and have talked with many Americans.”

“You know the prisoner—Bob Doone?”

“Yes, I speak with him often, although it is not allowed.” She arose and looked up at Turk. “He is the one you seek?”

“Yes, and the American girl who came today? They did get her, didn’t they?”

The girl nodded. “She came in with her hands tied and an American with her. He has been talking with Bo Hau, our master.”

“You are a prisoner, too?”

“Yes, they keep me as a hostage to keep the aid of my father, who is in Sining. He sends many caravans here, but he does not like the trade. It is done for my protection.”

“You know how we can reach Doone? And his sister?” The others had moved around the pool and stood beside him.

“It cannot be done. They are guarded with great care. Bo Hau has wanted something from the American. The man who came today with the woman, I heard him say he could show them how to get it. That he would use the air!”

“By torturing her in front of her brother!” Young said. He swore bitterly. “To think the guy was once on our side! That we ate at the same mess!”

Turk shook his head. “We cannot accept your decision that it cannot be done. It must be done, and tonight, we’ll do it.”

She nodded as one who understands when a decision is irrevocable. “Then I will take you there,” she said, “but what of the guards?”

Turk put his hand on her shoulder. “You take us.” He grinned. “We’ll cross our guards when we get to them!”

Without further hesitation she turned and led them across the garden. Had they traveled by any other route than down the water course there would have been walls to climb, but here the gardens of the Domed House ran right against the mountain itself.

Her way took them to a door set in a high wall. She opened it and went in, leading them across a paved court where they moved silently. At the far wall she hesitated. “I will speak to the guard,” she said, “and then—”

Silently, Shan Bao glided to the fore. “And then I shall act!” he said, low-voiced.

She opened the door and passed within, but when she had taken five steps she paused and turned slightly, then she spoke softly in some strange tongue. The guard stepped toward her, answering with a question. Swiftly, Shan Bao moved in, but some scarcely audible sound must have come to the guard. He wheeled, grasping his huge sword. Yet big as he was and fast as he was, he had no chance. The Manchu was too close, and his deadly knife darted like a serpent’s tongue and the big man fell forward. Shan Bao used the knife once more, and then they moved on.

Young breathed into Madden’s ear, “You have that guy around all the time?”

Turk nodded. He started to speak, then stopped, for now they were entering a long, dank passageway that trended down in a long, steep ramp. When they had gone a hundred yards they began to pass barred doors.

“Slaves,” the girl whispered, “slaves, and most of them Chinese or Lolos. There is another guard ahead, then the men prisoners. The girl is kept above stairs.”

Hardly had she finished speaking when a huge man loomed around the corner ahead of them. His eyes widened and his mouth opened for a bellow that would have rocked the monastery, but Turk was moving. Lunging like a fullback, he plowed into the big guard before the man could lift his sword, and, knocked from his hands, it hit the floor with a loud clang.

The huge man grabbed at Madden, but Turk slipped inside of those mighty hands and smashed a right to the guard’s heart with every ounce of his two hundred pounds of whipcord and steel muscle behind it. The big man staggered and went back on his hands and knees.

“The prisoners!” Turk snapped crisply at Sparrow Ryan. “Don’t bother about me! Go get Doone!”

The guard rushed, and Turk came to his feet, weaved inside the huge hands, and slashed the Ngolok’s face with a lancing left hand, and then he began throwing punches with every ounce of power he had. Smashing the guard back with a wicked overhand right, he hooked a left and right to the body. Wildly, the guard swung, but Madden was inside and fighting for his life. He stabbed a right to the body, then lifted his hand and hacked the edge of it across the guard’s Adam’s apple!

Gagging horribly, the guard fell to his knees and Madden smashed him to the floor. Then he rolled the big man over and, ripping off the rawhide string he used for a belt, lashed the man’s hands behind him. Then he bound his feet together and hurriedly gagged him with a corner of the padded cloth ripped from the man’s clothing.

Bob Doone—Turk knew him at once from his resemblance to Raemy—lunged from a cell. A half-dozen others followed from other cells. The Chinese girl was hastily motioning them on, so wiping the sweat from his face, Turk started after her. The others fell in behind.

Now she led them up a steep, winding stair into a wide stone hall. Then up another stair. Suddenly, Turk paused. “Ryan,” he said, “you’d better take Doone and get out. Get that steel box!”

“And leave you? Don’t be crazy!”

“You’ve got a job to do!” Turk told him. “Besides, I’ll have Shan. From now on, it’s up to me. Don’t tell Bob I’m after Raemy.”

Ryan hesitated, then shrugged. With Young he turned back. Turk walked on down the empty passage behind the slim, young Chinese girl. Suddenly, she gestured at him and stepped into a doorway at one side of the passage. Turk and Shan Bao followed, and no sooner were they concealed than four of the guards appeared, and marching between them were Raemy and Bekart!

Watching, they saw the group turn into a wide doorway and vanish into a room. Turk hesitated a moment, his mind working swiftly. From all appearances the prisoners were being taken to a questioning. This would be the one big chance: when they were not locked in cells!

The long passage was dank and gloomy. Certainly, if modern tendencies were alive among the Ngoloks, they had done little to improve their living conditions. A chill pervaded the great Domed House, the damp, empty chill of a building long cold.

T
HIS WAS NO SECRET
and marvelous lost civilization, it was the den of a barbaric people, constructed long ago, and almost untouched since. The flagstone floor was uneven and dirt gathered in the cracks. Here and there dampness had left stains on the wall and ceiling.

“You’d better go back to the garden,” Turk whispered to the girl. “We’ll come that way and take you with us!”

He stepped out of his hiding place boldly and walked across to the huge plank door. Without a glance over his shoulder he lifted the latch and stepped within. He heard the light slap of Shan Bao’s footsteps behind him and heard the door close softly. He did not turn his head, for his eyes were riveted upon the great hall in which he stood.