torg 01 - Storm Knights (36 page)

For Rick Alder, the war was over.

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 watch 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.

"You are dead, little woman. Look around you. Your companions have fallen, like that last time we battled so many centuries ago. History repeats itself, and I see that you have failed to learn from it."

"I have learned enough, worm!"

Tolwyn launched herself at the dragon, slashing away with the saber. Her intensity drove the dragon backwards, but it would soon realize she was unable to truly hurt it. Then it would strike back.

Father Bryce desperately sought a solution to the problem of the Carredon when he heard the gentle song. He looked around and realized that the sound was coming from the blue and red stone.

"I hear you," he said. "I actually hear you."

132

Malcolm Kane held the young boy named Rat as a shield, daring the other boy to fire his rifle. Kane was impressed with the older youth so far, for he had not thrown the weapon away like Kane demanded, but instead made his own demand. But the game was still in the opening moves, and Kane would get his way. When he first saw the boys in front of the cave blocking his path of escape, he thought only to get past them and away as quickly as possible. But now that he was wrapped up in matters of death, he wanted to enjoy the experience.

"Very well, boy," Kane called, watching with satisfaction as the rifle shook in the youth's unsteady hands. "I'll tell you again. Drop the gun."

"Drop Rat," was the youth's response.

Kane merely smiled. Then he calmly jabbed the point of his knife into Rat's shoulder. The younger boy screamed.

"You bastard!" Coyote cried, aiming down the length of the rifle's barrel.

"Are you good enough to pick me off, child?" Kane taunted. "I don't think you've ever even fired one of

those. You could hit your friend. Or you could miss completely. Now drop the gun or I'll keeping cutting him until you do."

Kane smiled as the youth began to lower the rifle. As soon as the gun was out of his hands, Kane would kill the brat he held and go after the one called Coyote. He would leave both of them as evidence that this wasn't over yet. The priest still had to face him. He wanted the priest to remember that.

A noise on the ridge above them made Kane jerk his head. Something was crashing through the underbrush. He looked up to see a lizard man leap toward him. Instinctively, he dropped Rat and raised his knife. The lizard man smashed into him, and the two of them went sprawling. They landed dangerously close to the edge overlooking the river.

"Tal Tu!" Coyote yelled in relief. Then he saw that Tal Tu was still nursing his own wounds.

Kane struggled with the edeinos, trying to get his knife in position to stab. He noticed that the lizard had a wound that had been bandaged, but the dressing was soaked with the creature's blood.

"You should have stayed where they left you, lizard," Kane said, finally freeing his knife hand. He plunged the blade into Tal Tu's side, burying it as far as the hilt. The lizard was weak, and a few more stabs would bring it down. Kane slid the blade from the lizard, than plunged it in again.