"Slaves of the Red Squid"
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dochermes"Slaves of the Red Squid"
12/18/1999
I.
On a cold morning in the last month of the millennium, Jeremy Bane strode into the workout room and met the five members of his new team. The Dire Wolf regarded them somberly as they turned to face him. They're so young, he thought. All within a few years of either side of twenty. Just kids. Of course, so had he and the rest of his first team been when they had entered the Midnight War so long ago.
"Good morning, brothers and sisters," he said in his usual low tone. "Today we will start on our first mission and our briefing will be in the conference room. But first..." Turning his grey eyes to the young Chinese-looking man at the end of the loose line, he said quietly, "Argent, the discipline of our Tel Shai team is voluntary but it must be kept. I cannot accept your frequent challenges to my authority. At a critical moment, it could mean failure and death. So I ask you, do you think you would make a better captain than me?"
Sheng Mo-Yuan did not hesitate. He was a small man, still a teenager, not more than five feet five and one hundred and fifty pounds, wide and solid in build. He seemed to be Northern Chinese, but the high cheekbones and prominent eagle nose contradicted this and he was in fact from Chujir. "May I be honest? Yes, of course. I have heard much of you, the famous Dire Wolf, and your twenty years in the Midnight War. But that's the point!"
Bane did not change expression. "Go on."
"You are faster than Human but so am I. And I can also be stronger than Human and I can become resilient beyond harm. In battle, I should lead. I did fine on my own."
Now the Dire Wolf smiled very slightly. "This is not something to be settled by words. You ARE good, Argent but you have much to learn. There can be only one captain. Step to the mats."
"I was hoping for this," grinned Argent wickedly. "Let's do it, old man."
Silently, the two walked over to the thin padded mat which covered a quarter of the floor. The other four members turned to follow with uneasy expressions. Bane stood in the center and waved one hand, palm up in a 'come on' gesture. In a sudden blur, Argent flashed right at him and was met by a storm of short close punches to the body which threw him back off his feet. Bane eased in a loose ready stance again, hands down by his sides. Sheng shivered almost imperceptibly and rushed forward again. Bane knew that shudder meant Argent had changed the focus of his gralic focus from speed to a different ability. Hurtling in sideways, the Chujiran fighter whipped up a high side kick straight at Bane's face. That leg had enhanced strength in it, enough to break bone like candy cane if it had connected. The Dire Wolf swayed his upper body just enough to let it whoosh past. He anticipated the follow-up reverse kick and he caught that ankle with both hands, stepping back and flinging Argent down to the floor. Bane lunged down and slapped the back of Argent's head hard enough to daze, then straightened up and stepped back. The message was clear. That could have been a fatal strike instead of a warning palm.
Furious, Argent leaped up at the Dire Wolf, his face a tiger mask. The kid is as good as he thinks he is, Bane thought, but he's just too obvious. Yes. There was the shiver. Now Sheng was going to try invulnerability. The young Chujiran threw two quick roundhouse punches and Bane could see that he was leaving himself open deliberately, inviting a blow to a body that had become as hard as stone. A punch to Shen's torso would mean cracked knuckles at best.
Bane moved the punches aside, using soft deflecting blocks. As Argent kicked up at his stomach, Bane lifted that leg up and swept the youth's other leg out from under him. He let Sheng get up and then threw him again. Again, Sheng attacked and this time Bane whirled his opponent overhead and to the mat, pinning him down in an aikido lock. Argent shifted his focus to strength but he could not get leverage in that wrist lock.
Not even breathing hard, as calmly as if they had been discussing what to have for lunch, Bane said, "I trust I've made my point. I don't intend to speak of this again." Releasing the Chujiran, he stepped away and regarded the rest of his team.
"We will meet in the conference room in ten minutes, full field suits and gear." Not looking back, he turned and strode easily across the room and out the door.
II.
On the second floor, Bane took his field jacket from a locker and shrugged into it. Cradling the helmet in the crook of one arm, he turned to face the conference room and a surge of emotion hit him. There was the long oak table, with ten chairs on each side and one at each end. The table meant so much. Twelve chairs. Twelve knights, twelve friends, almost all gone now, dead or retired or disabled. Of the original teams, only a handful remained. It was nine years since the last case of the original KDF- that hellish night in Necropolis, City of the Dead...
He snapped back to the present as the first of his team entered the room, annoyed at himself for not concentrating on the moment. The past would always be there later. "Megan," he said.
"Ready for duty, captain," came the even reply. Megan Salenger was just twenty, a slim girl of medium height with thick black hair and dark eyes in an inquisitive foxlike face. She was a Human orphan who had been raised from infancy by the hidden race of the Trom for just this purpose. As a KDF member, she gained access to the knowledge and training of the Order of Tel Shai. Also, she admitted freely, she was a needed liaison between the Trom and the Humans who knew nothing of them. In turn, she donated advanced technology to the KDF. It was a fair trade.
"So, Megan," Bane began, "Have you decided on a war name yet? Leonard Slade used MONITOR, you know."
"I'm going to stick with TROM GIRL. Don't look at me as if I'm simple. Enemies will underestimate me. Who could feel threatened by someone called Trom Girl?"
"It's your choice," he admitted. He himself had picked up the nickname DIRE WOLF even before he had entered the Midnight War but the years had shown it suited him.
Josef Jubilec entered, wearing the field suit grudgingly. At twenty-eight, he was the oldest of the new Tel Shai knights, and he had the longest independent career. For the past five years, he had crossed Europe and the Middle East as a sort of counter-assassin for hire, protecting the wealthy from attempts on their lives by interecepting killers first. He had done well financially and was both respected and feared, but he was still unsatisfied. He wanted something better, something nobler, and a chance meeting with the Dire Wolf had given him an exciting new prospect... "a cause beyond money," he had said.
Josef was one of the Blind Archers of Chujir, a warrior cult which bought infants from every race to raise as the elite guard of the Emperor. There was some stigma over his leaving, and Bane suspected Josef had had to fight for his freedom but he expected to learn the whole story soon.
"Josef, your specialized arrowheads are ready," Bane told the Archer. "Anesthetic needles, blast, dazzle. Three dozen of them in the front room. The hard rubber heads you already use are fine as they are."
"Good, very good," the bowman answered in the oddest accent any of them had heard. He was the tallest there, two inches over six feet, with highly-developed chest and arms from a life pulling the string. Josef had sandy hair, light blue eyes in a narrow face and an air of watchfulness. As he spoke, the three remaining team members entered, Sable and Argent with Unicorn in the rear.
Bane frowned. Ashley Whitaker was a perfect little blonde just over five feet tall, with whitish hair and crystal blue eyes. She was wearing the field jacket and carried the helmet, but she was wearing snug white jeans instead of the black pants with their inner armor layer. Over one shoulder was slung the ensorcelled horn which gave her her name. She had turned 19 a few months earlier.
"Ashley, those are not uniform pants," he snapped. "You know better."
"White is the new black," she replied breezily. "And the armor makes my butt look fat."
"Change before we leave or remain here on kitchen cleaning detail," he said. "Everyone take a seat, please. I call to order this meeting of the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Our first mission. We will be going to an area near Flanders, Pennsylvania. There have been a serious of eight mysterious fires in the past two weeks. Not arson, not a natural phenomenon as far as any experts can determine. Areas more than a mile across have burst into spontaneous flame, resisted all efforts to put out the blazes and have included areas of rocky hills with nothing to burn. No one has a clue what's going on."
Bane leaned back in his seat and continued, "You will learn that the authorities treat us as useful specialists who can be called in but only on an unofficial, off the record capacity. We're acting on our own as far as the law goes. The governor's office and the Pennsylvania State Police have contacted me to see if I want to investigate and I said we would look into it."
Unicorn chirped, "So, if we're caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge blah blah?"
"Pretty much. We are knights of Tel Shai. We would carry out our duty even if the authorities were actively trying to stop us. That's been the situation more than once in the past. I've read the reports from the State Police but to be honest, I didn't see anything useful. We will be leaving in twenty minutes. Each of you should have an overnight bag already stocked in your quarters but if you want extra supplies, get them now. Megan, your assignment is to ready the Corby for flight. Sheng, I need you to come down to the basement to help lug up some supplies I think we'll be needing."
Sheng grinned and asked, "Too heavy for one man to carry?"
But Bane ignored that,saying, "Let's go. Unicorn, get in uniform or stay behind."
III.
The hangar occupied the entire top floor of the old building on East 38th Street, and its floor space was occupied almost entirely by the black stealth copter CORBY. It was a jet-assisted craft rebuilt and modified by Leonard Slade until not much remained of the original Bell helicopter. It was so beyond Human technology that, if knowledge of its capabilities became public knowledge, governments and intelligence agencies would immediately be trying to claim it with as much manpower and ruthlessness as it took.
There was no tail rotor, just two short vertical vanes which used air streams to help steer. The two blades on the top assembly were slowly starting to turn as Josef sat in the pilot seat and ran through the many warm-up procedures. Slowly circling the craft, Megan Salenger made her inspection with her hand-held sensors but also relying on sight and touch. She wore one of the KDF field suits, one with extra devices built in, including a round disc between her shoulder blades. "All systems confirmed nominal," she said. "I would like to install upgrades. Many upgrades, actually."
Josef Jubilec had already stowed two longbows, his quiver and a case of thirty extra shafts in the tiny cargo hold, along with all their personal gear. As Megan passed by his open hatch, he called out, "Nervous, Trom Girl? This is your maiden adventure, after all."
She gave him a cool disapproving glance. "My emotions are under full control, as always. I was raised by the Trom, remember."
"But you're not a Trom. You're Human and that means you have the full range of emotions as the rest of us."
"Don't fall into the trap of looking for conflict where there is none, Josef. I am well balanced."
He shrugged and climbed down. "Personally, I think you don't know what you're missing but it's your life."
Before she could respond, Bane and Argent came through the door, carrying a large plastic bin by its handles. They had already stowed an identical bin in the Corby's hold and, as they secured this one, Trom Girl said, "All checks positive, captain. Ready to take off."
"Very good," Bane answered. "In case you guys are curious, we're bringing along some supplies I think might be useful. Some prep doesn't pay off but it's always worth a try."
"Hah! It is December and ten degrees above zero in Flanders," put in Argent. "I hope it is wood for a fire."
Bane watched as Sable and Unicorn hurried into the hangar. Ashley was wearing the full KDF field suit and she gave him a thumb's up. "Take your stations," he said to everyone. Megan, you're on navigation and communications. Argent, I want you as co-pilot to watch how I fly this bird. Pilot training is lined up for all of you. You've got a lot of work ahead. Megan, is the building sealed and defenses up?"
"All set," Trom Girl said as she swung herself up through the hatch and picked a spot on the rear bench. There was only room for two there, so two members had to sit on the floor. As everyone strapped in, the Dire Wolf lightly vaulted into the pilot seat and sealed the airtight hatch. He was wearing the war helmet, which functioned to tie in to the controls. He looked over the dials and gauges for a few more seconds, then brought the turbines up to speed and the rotors sped up. The CORBY lifted up to hover steadily five feet off the floor and he retracted the landing wheels into their housing.
Argent glanced up. "Uh... captain, aren't you going to open the roof panel?"
Bane said, "We're not going to enter Manhattan air space in daylight. Because we have a shortcut available." Everyone take a deep breath and hold it." He reached up and placed his fingertips on a pale blue faceted jewel set incongrously in a silver frame on the instrument console. Bane focussed the full intensity of his will. There was a gorgeous flare of sky-blue light and the hangar disappeared. Abruptly as that, the CORBY was hanging in the sky hundreds of feet above the forests of western Pennsylvania,
"So that's how that feels," said Josef from the back bench. "You used an Eldar travel crystal."
"One of the bigger ones," Bane answered. "Whew. That's not easy by any means." He pressed the control sticks and sent the CORBY forward with its nose down, building up to a cruising speed of three hundred miles per hour. Soon, he dropped down to near treetop level but saw no signs of buildings and anything manmade except for a single road.
"We are eighteen kilometers south-southeast of Flanders city limits," Megan reported from her station. She watched the screen of her own console. "The most recent reported mysterious fire was five kilometers due west."
Bane slowed the craft. "So far, there have been no repeat fires at any site. No apparent patterns."
"Hmm," Sheng muttered as he stared through the windscreen. "So what's your plan, cap?"
"Captain or Jeremy. Not cap."
"Okay, Dire Wolf, so what's your plan?"
Bane did not reply immediately and they all thought he was going to snap at Sheng but he held his peace. "We'll begin with infra-red scan. Megan, set our sensor to medium range and start looking for any unusual patterns. I'm going to our operating ceiling level."
For the first time since they had gotten in the CORBY, Sable spoke. She was reserved and quiet by nature. Sitting by a rear observation port, she had been gazing down at the landscape. Lauren Sable Reilly was twenty-one, an attractive brunette with dark eyes, a snub nose and a wide mouth. Despite her name, she took after her Cuban mother. Her powers of perception did not seem to be obviously useful for a combat team but in fact she was in many ways the most invaluable member and Bane was pleased with her thoroughnesss.
She pointed a finger at the port and said, "In that direction. The ground is much warmer than the surrounding area. The vegetation is drier." Sable did not go into any more detail but Bane swung the copter around.
"Could this BE any more gorgeous?" Unicorn suddenly burst out. "I mean, just look at it, I haven't seen a house since we got here. We have to come back here in the autumn when the leaves change. Huh, Sable, what do you think?"
"I'd like that," Sable said with a wistful smile. "I haven't seen as much of the world as you have."
"Aw, it'll be great! Did I ever tell you about the time me and my mom got stranded in Okali? There we were, wild animals climbing over each other to get at us..." Unicorn was off again. She was like a bottle of talk that could only be stopped up for so long at a stretch. Sable indulged her unlikely reminiscences because they always turned out to be true.
"I think we've found it," Bane said as the CORBY descended. They were hovering over a rough oval area containing perhaps three or four acres. Enormous openings in the rough tumbled stones suggested caverns. The trees and vegetation were dry and unhealthy-looking, even the pine trees seemed scorched. The helicopter touched down as neatly as a dragonfly on a stem and the rotors slowed. Bane popped the hatches on both sides with a hiss as the pressurized cabin opened.
The five new knights of Tel Shai disembarked with an eagerness that reminded the Dire Wolf of himself twenty years earlier. Argent did not swing down on the handle provided for that purpose, he simply stepped out and dropped down to the rocky ground. The others followed quickly. Josef took a second to strap his hand-crafted wooden quiver across his back, with its sixteen arrows and an assortment of interchangeable heads in compartments. He wore a field suit but he was allowed to leave the helmet behind because his power of blindfolded archery would be hindered by it. Selecting a longbow from the hatch, he did not string it but carried it as it was.
Closing the hatches and putting the alarm systems on ready, Jeremy Bane faced his team. Just kids, he began to think but caught himself. No. Tel Shai knights and KDF members. Lowering his helmet over his head but leaving the visor up, he said, "Sable, what do you have?"
She was squatting near a boulder, fingertips grazing the dry soil. Sable's ability let her enhance any of her senses with gralic force, expanding them past organic limits. "The ground is not only warm, but it has a vibration in it. Very faint." She looked up uneasily. "Something is moving beneath us!"
"Steady," he said. "Trom Girl, can you get a reading on what it is?"
"Not through ninety feet of shale and granite," she answered quickly. "Trom science is good but it does have its limits."
"It's a gigantic naked mole rat!" squealed Unicorn enthusiastically. "Or maybe worms the size of fire hoses."
"Easy there," Bane said.
"Mole People from the center of the Earth?" she continued hopefully.
"Let's get some information first. All right, team, let's scatter and look around. Trom Girl and Sable, keep probing the area. Josef, if you can pick up any life forms, let us know. Sheng and Ashley, stay alert. We have no idea what the situation is."
For the next twenty minutes, the team investigated without results. Standing by the cORBY, Josef Jubilec said, "Say, Sheng, can you focus your power into enhanced senses the way Sable does?"
"No. I've tried. Strength, speed and density, that's it. My powers are strictly physical. What about you? When you cover your eyes, do you get X-Ray vision or anything?"
"Ha. I wish. No, I become aware of living things and can track them but that's all. In fact, I-" he broke off with a worried expression and called, "Captain!"
Jeremy Bane strode briskly up. "You guys know we're being watched, don't you?"
"I think we all picked up on it the same time." From the sparse woods, Megan and Sable hurried back. Josef saw them, then took a black cloth from his belt and tied it over his eyes. "That's better. Let's see.. yes. We're surrounded. Men moving through the trees, maybe twenty. No, not men. Not Humans..."
Trom Girl was taking readings. "Twenty-one non-Human variants, each carrying a gralic charge. Body temperature averages at two hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit." She was breathing quicker. "That CAN'T be right. Average pulse one hundred and forty-two per minute..?"
The Dire Wolf pointed. "Here they come." As he spoke, a shrill howling echoed over the hills and naked crimson men charged from all directions.
III.
The team had automatically drawn into a loose circle facing outwards, guarding each other's backs. It was Josef Jubilec who took the biggest toll on the attackers. Smooth and unhurried, he drew one arrow after another from his quiver and loosed them as if he did not need to aim. The first four had punch-heads, hard rubber bulbs. At the speed those shafts traveled, those bulbs hit like hammers. Four of the enemy were knocked to their knees or backs as the arrows smacked hard into their faces. The next two shafts had regular barbs and he took one of the attackers out with an arrow through the knee. Whirling he faced a crimson man at close range. There was no time to be fancy. The shaft sank inches deep in the man's chest.
Argent and Unicorn had drawn their darts guns and fired them accurately but with no results. Each dart normally would drop a grown man in his tracks quickly enough that most didn't realize what had happened. But nothing happened now. Argent glared and his jaw dropped. Either these men were wearing red leather tights or they had the thickest, roughest hide ever. And it look as if they had.. horns? Next to him, Sable had her dart gun in hand but she never used it. She froze in position, too startled and uncertain to fire. During those few seconds of motion and confusion, she stood paralyzed.
It was Megan Salenger who took the biggest toll of the attackers. She had clicked the sensor to its plate on her belt and snapped a cartridge into a flat device with a pistol grip. Whirling in a circle, she triggered a pale beam of light that struck with terrific kinetic impact. The crimson-skinned men were slapped off their feet, tumbled upside down or off to one side as the photon ram hit them. In a few seconds, she had swept away most of the enemy.
"Way to go, Trom Girl!" yelled Unicorn. "Woo-HOO!"
Surprisingly, Bane himself had held back. He was observing his new team in action. He had ejected his clip of anesthetic darts and inserted resonance caps. As he saw an attacker get too close, the Dire Wolf blasted that one in time. Each resonance cap detonated with a blast that could crack a rib or break a nose but which were usually non-fatal.
In a little over twenty seconds, it was over. Most of the crimson men managed to get up and scrambled for the woods, where Bane let them go. On the hot stony ground, eight of the strange men sprawled, two dead and six injured. Watching them warily, Bane holstered his gun and announced, "The dancing's over for now. Megan and Josef, excellent work. Argent and Unicorn, your problem was that the darts don't work on these goons. With experience, you'll learn to fall back on a second defense."
"I froze, Jeremy," said Sable in a hushed voice. "I just stood there like a deer in the headlights."
"You'll get another chance." There was no condemnation in his voice but no comfort either. "We're far from done here."
Three of the red men were crawling feebly around and flopping in obvious pain. "Megan," Bane said, "Knock those guys out with a neural shock. High intensity. We need two for questioning."
Jubilec had been retrieving his arrows and returning them to his quiver. He unscrewed the tip of the pointed one that had killed a red man, extracted the shaft and replaced it to its slot but he put the sharp tip in a side pocket of his jacket. Catching Bane's eyes on him, he frowned. "I don't reuse a point which has taken someone's life."
"I understand," the Dire Wolf said. He was standing over the moaning creature which still had an arrow sticking out of its knee. "Gather over here, team. This is the one we will question first."
Sable was pale but her voice was steady. "Captain, you know what these monsters are, don't you? You've dealt with them before."
"Yes."
"We know, we know," Argent put in. "Been everywhere, seen everything..."
Bane ignored the Chujiran as he seemed to be doing more frequently. "These are Danarmyl, the Children of Margoth. They were Human once but, thousands of years ago, Darthan warlocks modified them for life underground. Their body heat can go up to five hundred degrees, so don't wrestle one. Their skin is tougher and thicker than leather, and as you can see, they have a bony carapace ridge around their cheeks and temples, and yes, the males have these thick stubby horns." He knelt beside the red man. "I know you can understand me, for I speak the primal tongue, our Prilyrdyn. I am going to remove this arrow and stop your bleeding. Do not move."
Megan squatted down to help, she had extensive emergency training. They got the shaft out, cleaned and dressed the wound and stepped back. She said to Bane, "He will not be able to walk without surgery."
"I don't care," was the answer. "We were standing here and they attacked us without warning or cause. I think we showed admirable restraint." Bane leaned over the wounded Danarmyl and his voice got sinister, "Now, it's time for you to talk."
III.
The interrogation went on for twenty minutes and the watching Tel Shai knights saw a different side of their captain. Bane made no threats, did not raise his voice or show a weapon. He did not use a teammate in the old good cop/bad cop routine. As far as they could tell, he acted much the same as he always did. But the injured Danarmyl reacted as if he had a real Dire wolf snarling inches from his face, fangs bared and ears back. The prisoner seemed eager to answer.
Jeremy is doing this just from force of personality, thought Argent sullenly. Maybe our captain is all he thinks he is.
Finally, Bane straightened and turned back to his team, who were standing near the stealth copter. "Megan, knock him out. We don't have much time. The Danarmyl who ran will be back with the rest of their tribe. This guy said three hundred warriors but my guess would be that's exaggerated and we'll be facing fewer than that. They will whip themselves up into a frenzy, dancing in a circle and screaming and whatever. Before they can do that, we will settle things. Sheng, I want you to get those bins we loaded. Can you carry them? They weigh a hundred and twenty pounds each."
"Not a problem for me," the Chujiran said with just a bit too much smugness as he unloaded the bins and held one in each hand as if they were balloons.
Bane continued, "Next, our base of operations. We need to secure the CORBY. Sable."
"Yes, captain."
"You have trained enough to do simple lift-off and touch-down. Take the CORBY up to tree-top level and hover. Its Trom power source will let it stay in mid-air for days without problems." He was watching her to see how she took this order. "When I signal the fighting is over, land and retrieve us."
"No, Jeremy."
"WHAT did you say?"
"I said no. I didn't come here to huddle in the copter while the rest of you do the fighting. All right, I froze in the attack. I might do it again. But how will we know if I don't get a chance?"
Bane nodded with the faintest look of satisfaction. He had been hoping she would object. "Fair enough. Unicorn, you take the CORBY up and stand by."
"Fine with me," said the little blonde, turning on her heel and striding over to pop open the hatch.
Facing the four remaining knights, Bane drew them closer almost as if they were a football team huddling. "Use the resonance caps. Our darts won't even penetrate the hide on these men. Sheng, I trust you to use your own judgement in hand to hand. Your gloves and boots will protect you for a few seconds before burning through. So no wrestling with these goons."
"Sound advice," Argent grinned.
Josef had opened the cargo hold, stowed away his anesthetic needle heads and stocked up on the resonance cap heads. "Ready," he said, tying the black cloth across his forehead like a headband. As he spoke, he stepped away and Ashley in the pilot's seat started the rotors. Everyone backed away quickly. Jeremy Bane watched the hundred million-dollar advanced craft rise with a grinning Unicorn at the stick and his heart sank. It was like a father watching a teenage daughter pull out of the driveway in a new Mercedes. Ah well.
"Let's go," he told the others and set off at a brisk pace.
At one point, Bane led them out of the clearing and through the sparse forest, without explanation. Sable turned her head as if listening but said nothing.
Seeing they were all close enough, Bane said, "The Danarmyl we interrogated was called Nommo the Metalsmith. He said the tribe is living in fear. They have been taken over by some enormous beast their legends never told of. A slithering monster with mind-control powers that is sending these blasts of gralic heat to the surface to ease itself."
Reaching the cave opening, large enough for two of them to enter side by side, they marched in. The light-enhancing visors and infra-red projectors in their helmets cut in automatically to let them see in the increasing gloom.
"wait," said Argent, "so the blasts from this monster started those fires?"
"So it seems. The monster is getting more dangerous, letting off blasts underground, enslaving the Danarmyl and occasionally eating one." Bane led the way as the tunnel dropped down at a slight angle. "Nommo describes the beast as a gigantic cylinder of flesh, with long tentacles and glowing eyes. It's the same color as the Danarmyl themselves."
"The Red Squid...." Sable said thoughtfully.
"As good a name as any. Here come a few, Megan, stun them!"
Instantly, the Trom Girl swept her nerve beam over four charging Danarmyl, and they fell face down with thuds. The Tel Shai knights moved past. Even in their insulated field suits, the dry heat was becoming uncomfortable.
"I think the main body of the warriors went past us on the surface. That was when we turned off through the woods, because I heard them go by. While they are up there and tending to their dead and wounded, it gives us some freedom to act here."
The tunnels were evidently natural in origin, although they had been widened and shaped by melting the rock. As the Tel Shai knights hurried along, they came to a vast level arena of black granite from which side tunnels led off. A lurid red glare flickered over the stones, with no clear source. Circular fissures sprayed steam and boiling water as if the earth itself was bleeding from an opened artery.
As they paused here, Bane glanced over at the Blind Archer. "Josef, you need oxygen. Put on the clear mask and cut in your suit's supply. You see why I want you to at least bring a helmet with you?"
As the bowman fastened a small plastic cup over his nose and mouth, its line leading back to his suit, he said, "You have a point."
Sable had been standing off to one side, probing with her enhanced senses. "Jeremy.. there's something nearby, something alive and really big. Bigger than an elephant. It's moving slowly. I can feel its vibrations through the ground."
"Good. Anything else?"
"Yes, more Danarmyl. Feels like four or five stomping around." She raised a finger. "That way. Just out of sight."
Bane said, "Let's keep moving, then." He led them through the arena down the biggest tunnel, and soon they came to the main amphiteatre, This was a high-ceilinged area, supported by pillars and columns. At one side, the ground extended out to form a narrow platform over a gigantic pit. This platform extended twenty feet over the opening, like a pirate's plank out over the sea. The deep red light pulsed and flickered over the ceiling, though they could not tell from where. Argent lowered the heavy plastic bins he had been carrying.
All of them felt waves of hatred rush over them from that pit. It was the same feeling of menace one got from having a large animal growling inches away, but deeper and more implacable. An enemy to all living things lurked there.
Standing by that platform over the pit were a half dozen Danarmyl, warriors with axes and long-shafted tridents. One was different, standing behind the warriors for protection. He was thin, almost skeletal, wearing a grotesque crown of volcanic rock shaped into antlers. Like the others, he wore a short kilt of what looked like tough asbestos fibers but he had also had a padded tunic set with gems. He rested a ceremonial sword with its point upon the ground- more than four feet long, with a curved single-edge sabre blade.
Bane spoke directly to this individual. "We are knights of Tel Shai from the world above," he announced in a loud, clear voice. "We have come to free you from the tyranny of the Obanchu."
"I am Dalmu the Shaman! No one has asked you to step into our realm or to inferfere in our affairs. Go now, leave in peace."
"That monster threatens us on the surface," Bane answered. "As you must realize. It sends blasts of killing heat to where we live and this cannot be overlooked. Are you that much in fear of the Red Squid?"
The shaman hesitated an instant too long and one of the guards blurted out, "Yes! We are its slaves. It tortures our dreams and gives us no rest."
"Ruma, be silent!"
"No, the time to suffer without hope is past. The red beast will kill us all if no one slays it."
The shaman lifted the long sword and spun it in a vertical art before resting its point on the ground again. The threat was obvious. But to his surprise, the warriors did not back down. They glared back defiantly.
"The Obanchu is too much for us," One spat angrily. "If Tel Shai can slay it, I say let them do it and now. Too many of us have been fed to the beast."
Furious, Dalmu raised the sword again, back behind his head for a killing stroke. Faster than anyone could follow, going from stillness to a lightning attack, the Dire Wolf leaped in and landed a single uppercut from the ground. It snapped the shaman's head as far as it could without the neck breaking. Dalmu fell to a seated position and Bane caught the sword before it could fall. He handed it to Sable and held out his open hand toward the staring Danarmyl. "You men go protect your families. We will face the monster. It's our duty." He pointed at the stunned shaman, who was trying to rise. "Take him with you. When the threat is over, we will join you."
As the Danarmyl complied, hauling Dalmu with them rather more roughly than seemed strictly necessary, Bane turned back to his team. One of the crimson men stayed and said, "Let me go with you. It was my child the monster fed on."
"All right," Bane answered. "I would not deny you that."
IV.
Behind them, Sable rested the heavy sword across her shoulders. She had brought her perception back to normal Human levels as the stench of sulphur and the surges of heat were getting to her. With her teammates, she followed the Dire Wolf onto the plattform of stone that stretched out fifteen feet over the gaping pit. She gazed down with them at what they had come here to destroy. The Red Squid!
Only the floor of the pit sixty feet below them quivered an immense jelly-like mass bigger than an elephant. Its intelligent black eyes glittered in the gloom with hatred, and even as the intruders from the surface gazed down upon it, the monster attacked. Tentacles thicker than a man's leg exploded upward with terrifying suddenness, lashing around blindly until they made contact. One whipped around Josef's body and tightened viciously, hauling him upside-down into the air. The Blind Archer's bow fell from numb fingers as he was flung from side to side. Another questing tentacle went right for Megan and caught her by one leg, circling up to tighten around her chest. The tentacles slammed the two knights together with jarring force.
Surprising herself, Sable ran in under the tentacle with held Josef and, planting her feet far apart, swung the ceremonial sword with a grunt of effort. The edge of that blade sliced deeply along the red rubbery surface and opened a gouge which spewed thick hot ooze. Again, she raised the sword like an axe and chopped down with all her strength. Wounded, the tentacle released Josef with a thump and retreated back down into the pit. Sable dropped the sword and pressed a hand to her chest, gasping. She had not had any idea she was going to do that. Getting hold of herself, she went to see if the bowman was hurt.
The Red Squid was not a mere animal. Stifling waves of mental force boiled up out of the pit and rolled over the Tel Shai knights like clouds of oppressive steam. The monster knew it had deadly enemies come to destroy it. Glaring down, Bane growled, "Sulla Chun! I might have known. Another pet of the Sulla Chun." The silver daggers under his sleeves felt hot from the gralic force they were deflecting. "Argent! Bring those bins over here."
Everything was taking place within a few seconds. Even as Sable cut Josef loose and went to check on him, Megan had activated her gravity shield on full. Unencumbered, she would have risen upward at nearly the speed of sound. As it was, she lifted slowly but stubbornly, trying to break loose of the grip of the tentacle around her body. Her ascent tugged the tentacle taut and stretched it, but the beast would not let go. The monster in the pit could not have guessed how much trouble these strangers would cause it.
The wounded tentacle rose again, swaying from side to side like the trunk of a mammoth. For the first time, they could see that the broad flat tip of each appendange had a rudimentary eye set in it. That eye swung in its socket to watch them. Bane helped Argent haul the heavy plastic bins to the very edge of the platform over the monster and snapped open the lids.
"Time to end this, Sheng. Dump it all on that thing," he said. Together, they turned the bins upside down and poured out a steaming mass of white flakes down to land squarely on the Obanchu. A huge cloud of steam boiled up. The Red Squid convulsed violently and shrieked with a deafening howl that was louder than mere sound. Its tentacles flailed aimlessly and then, suddenly, it was silent.
"Goddam, captain," Sheng yelled, "just what WAS it we dropped?"
"Dry ice. Three hundred and forty pounds of dry ice."
The young Chujiran grinned with new admiration at his leader. "Hah! The perfect present for such a beast."
It took another hour to wrap everything up, much longer than the fighting itself had lasted. Using Trom Girl's sensors and Sable's enhanced perceptions, they determined conclusively that the Obanchu was dead. Megan was bruised and sore, but she had broken free when the monster was dying. Josef had two cracked ribs and walked stiffly over to look down at the huge carcass before he was satisfied.
Bane told Trom Girl, "Megan, take readings on everything. The Danarmyl, too. We don't know much about their Race."
"I'm on it," she answered with a perceptible wince as she walked.
When they were off to one side, the Dire Wolf said, "Sable, I saw you cut Josef loose on your own intiative. Quick thinking under stress. You are not a fighter by nature, as Sheng is. I think you role in our team is going to be investigation and research rather than slugging. Still, you acted correctly."
Lauren Sable Reilly had a curious little smile on her pug face. "Jeremy. Seriously, was that the reason you handed me the sword in the first place?"
"Could be. You never know with me, I'm devious." He went over to the Danarmyl, Ruma, who had been standing and watching. "It's time for us to be going. When your tribe returns, they are likely to still attack us on sight, so we need to be scarce. We will return soon to see if our two Races can straighten things out between us. Good luck. Oh, and I would recommend sealing off this chamber or covering that body with a few tons of rock. It's not going to smell like a bouquet of roses, that's for sure."
The Tel Shai knights began to walk out of that area, back toward the tunnels that led to the surface. They were suddenly weary as the adrenaline left their systems. Both Megan and Josef were sore and unhappy.
Striding alongside the Wolf, Sable began, "You know what I think?\\
"What?"
"It occurred to me before all the mayhem. These Danarmyl. They are red-skinned men with horns and burning hot bodies, using pitchforks, living underground. Don't you think they are the real source of the medieval devil legends?"
Bane smiled at her. "You're sharp, Sable. Yes, every legend has a kernel of truth, they say."
3/2000- Rev 5/21/2013
12/18/1999
I.
On a cold morning in the last month of the millennium, Jeremy Bane strode into the workout room and met the five members of his new team. The Dire Wolf regarded them somberly as they turned to face him. They're so young, he thought. All within a few years of either side of twenty. Just kids. Of course, so had he and the rest of his first team been when they had entered the Midnight War so long ago.
"Good morning, brothers and sisters," he said in his usual low tone. "Today we will start on our first mission and our briefing will be in the conference room. But first..." Turning his grey eyes to the young Chinese-looking man at the end of the loose line, he said quietly, "Argent, the discipline of our Tel Shai team is voluntary but it must be kept. I cannot accept your frequent challenges to my authority. At a critical moment, it could mean failure and death. So I ask you, do you think you would make a better captain than me?"
Sheng Mo-Yuan did not hesitate. He was a small man, still a teenager, not more than five feet five and one hundred and fifty pounds, wide and solid in build. He seemed to be Northern Chinese, but the high cheekbones and prominent eagle nose contradicted this and he was in fact from Chujir. "May I be honest? Yes, of course. I have heard much of you, the famous Dire Wolf, and your twenty years in the Midnight War. But that's the point!"
Bane did not change expression. "Go on."
"You are faster than Human but so am I. And I can also be stronger than Human and I can become resilient beyond harm. In battle, I should lead. I did fine on my own."
Now the Dire Wolf smiled very slightly. "This is not something to be settled by words. You ARE good, Argent but you have much to learn. There can be only one captain. Step to the mats."
"I was hoping for this," grinned Argent wickedly. "Let's do it, old man."
Silently, the two walked over to the thin padded mat which covered a quarter of the floor. The other four members turned to follow with uneasy expressions. Bane stood in the center and waved one hand, palm up in a 'come on' gesture. In a sudden blur, Argent flashed right at him and was met by a storm of short close punches to the body which threw him back off his feet. Bane eased in a loose ready stance again, hands down by his sides. Sheng shivered almost imperceptibly and rushed forward again. Bane knew that shudder meant Argent had changed the focus of his gralic focus from speed to a different ability. Hurtling in sideways, the Chujiran fighter whipped up a high side kick straight at Bane's face. That leg had enhanced strength in it, enough to break bone like candy cane if it had connected. The Dire Wolf swayed his upper body just enough to let it whoosh past. He anticipated the follow-up reverse kick and he caught that ankle with both hands, stepping back and flinging Argent down to the floor. Bane lunged down and slapped the back of Argent's head hard enough to daze, then straightened up and stepped back. The message was clear. That could have been a fatal strike instead of a warning palm.
Furious, Argent leaped up at the Dire Wolf, his face a tiger mask. The kid is as good as he thinks he is, Bane thought, but he's just too obvious. Yes. There was the shiver. Now Sheng was going to try invulnerability. The young Chujiran threw two quick roundhouse punches and Bane could see that he was leaving himself open deliberately, inviting a blow to a body that had become as hard as stone. A punch to Shen's torso would mean cracked knuckles at best.
Bane moved the punches aside, using soft deflecting blocks. As Argent kicked up at his stomach, Bane lifted that leg up and swept the youth's other leg out from under him. He let Sheng get up and then threw him again. Again, Sheng attacked and this time Bane whirled his opponent overhead and to the mat, pinning him down in an aikido lock. Argent shifted his focus to strength but he could not get leverage in that wrist lock.
Not even breathing hard, as calmly as if they had been discussing what to have for lunch, Bane said, "I trust I've made my point. I don't intend to speak of this again." Releasing the Chujiran, he stepped away and regarded the rest of his team.
"We will meet in the conference room in ten minutes, full field suits and gear." Not looking back, he turned and strode easily across the room and out the door.
II.
On the second floor, Bane took his field jacket from a locker and shrugged into it. Cradling the helmet in the crook of one arm, he turned to face the conference room and a surge of emotion hit him. There was the long oak table, with ten chairs on each side and one at each end. The table meant so much. Twelve chairs. Twelve knights, twelve friends, almost all gone now, dead or retired or disabled. Of the original teams, only a handful remained. It was nine years since the last case of the original KDF- that hellish night in Necropolis, City of the Dead...
He snapped back to the present as the first of his team entered the room, annoyed at himself for not concentrating on the moment. The past would always be there later. "Megan," he said.
"Ready for duty, captain," came the even reply. Megan Salenger was just twenty, a slim girl of medium height with thick black hair and dark eyes in an inquisitive foxlike face. She was a Human orphan who had been raised from infancy by the hidden race of the Trom for just this purpose. As a KDF member, she gained access to the knowledge and training of the Order of Tel Shai. Also, she admitted freely, she was a needed liaison between the Trom and the Humans who knew nothing of them. In turn, she donated advanced technology to the KDF. It was a fair trade.
"So, Megan," Bane began, "Have you decided on a war name yet? Leonard Slade used MONITOR, you know."
"I'm going to stick with TROM GIRL. Don't look at me as if I'm simple. Enemies will underestimate me. Who could feel threatened by someone called Trom Girl?"
"It's your choice," he admitted. He himself had picked up the nickname DIRE WOLF even before he had entered the Midnight War but the years had shown it suited him.
Josef Jubilec entered, wearing the field suit grudgingly. At twenty-eight, he was the oldest of the new Tel Shai knights, and he had the longest independent career. For the past five years, he had crossed Europe and the Middle East as a sort of counter-assassin for hire, protecting the wealthy from attempts on their lives by interecepting killers first. He had done well financially and was both respected and feared, but he was still unsatisfied. He wanted something better, something nobler, and a chance meeting with the Dire Wolf had given him an exciting new prospect... "a cause beyond money," he had said.
Josef was one of the Blind Archers of Chujir, a warrior cult which bought infants from every race to raise as the elite guard of the Emperor. There was some stigma over his leaving, and Bane suspected Josef had had to fight for his freedom but he expected to learn the whole story soon.
"Josef, your specialized arrowheads are ready," Bane told the Archer. "Anesthetic needles, blast, dazzle. Three dozen of them in the front room. The hard rubber heads you already use are fine as they are."
"Good, very good," the bowman answered in the oddest accent any of them had heard. He was the tallest there, two inches over six feet, with highly-developed chest and arms from a life pulling the string. Josef had sandy hair, light blue eyes in a narrow face and an air of watchfulness. As he spoke, the three remaining team members entered, Sable and Argent with Unicorn in the rear.
Bane frowned. Ashley Whitaker was a perfect little blonde just over five feet tall, with whitish hair and crystal blue eyes. She was wearing the field jacket and carried the helmet, but she was wearing snug white jeans instead of the black pants with their inner armor layer. Over one shoulder was slung the ensorcelled horn which gave her her name. She had turned 19 a few months earlier.
"Ashley, those are not uniform pants," he snapped. "You know better."
"White is the new black," she replied breezily. "And the armor makes my butt look fat."
"Change before we leave or remain here on kitchen cleaning detail," he said. "Everyone take a seat, please. I call to order this meeting of the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Our first mission. We will be going to an area near Flanders, Pennsylvania. There have been a serious of eight mysterious fires in the past two weeks. Not arson, not a natural phenomenon as far as any experts can determine. Areas more than a mile across have burst into spontaneous flame, resisted all efforts to put out the blazes and have included areas of rocky hills with nothing to burn. No one has a clue what's going on."
Bane leaned back in his seat and continued, "You will learn that the authorities treat us as useful specialists who can be called in but only on an unofficial, off the record capacity. We're acting on our own as far as the law goes. The governor's office and the Pennsylvania State Police have contacted me to see if I want to investigate and I said we would look into it."
Unicorn chirped, "So, if we're caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge blah blah?"
"Pretty much. We are knights of Tel Shai. We would carry out our duty even if the authorities were actively trying to stop us. That's been the situation more than once in the past. I've read the reports from the State Police but to be honest, I didn't see anything useful. We will be leaving in twenty minutes. Each of you should have an overnight bag already stocked in your quarters but if you want extra supplies, get them now. Megan, your assignment is to ready the Corby for flight. Sheng, I need you to come down to the basement to help lug up some supplies I think we'll be needing."
Sheng grinned and asked, "Too heavy for one man to carry?"
But Bane ignored that,saying, "Let's go. Unicorn, get in uniform or stay behind."
III.
The hangar occupied the entire top floor of the old building on East 38th Street, and its floor space was occupied almost entirely by the black stealth copter CORBY. It was a jet-assisted craft rebuilt and modified by Leonard Slade until not much remained of the original Bell helicopter. It was so beyond Human technology that, if knowledge of its capabilities became public knowledge, governments and intelligence agencies would immediately be trying to claim it with as much manpower and ruthlessness as it took.
There was no tail rotor, just two short vertical vanes which used air streams to help steer. The two blades on the top assembly were slowly starting to turn as Josef sat in the pilot seat and ran through the many warm-up procedures. Slowly circling the craft, Megan Salenger made her inspection with her hand-held sensors but also relying on sight and touch. She wore one of the KDF field suits, one with extra devices built in, including a round disc between her shoulder blades. "All systems confirmed nominal," she said. "I would like to install upgrades. Many upgrades, actually."
Josef Jubilec had already stowed two longbows, his quiver and a case of thirty extra shafts in the tiny cargo hold, along with all their personal gear. As Megan passed by his open hatch, he called out, "Nervous, Trom Girl? This is your maiden adventure, after all."
She gave him a cool disapproving glance. "My emotions are under full control, as always. I was raised by the Trom, remember."
"But you're not a Trom. You're Human and that means you have the full range of emotions as the rest of us."
"Don't fall into the trap of looking for conflict where there is none, Josef. I am well balanced."
He shrugged and climbed down. "Personally, I think you don't know what you're missing but it's your life."
Before she could respond, Bane and Argent came through the door, carrying a large plastic bin by its handles. They had already stowed an identical bin in the Corby's hold and, as they secured this one, Trom Girl said, "All checks positive, captain. Ready to take off."
"Very good," Bane answered. "In case you guys are curious, we're bringing along some supplies I think might be useful. Some prep doesn't pay off but it's always worth a try."
"Hah! It is December and ten degrees above zero in Flanders," put in Argent. "I hope it is wood for a fire."
Bane watched as Sable and Unicorn hurried into the hangar. Ashley was wearing the full KDF field suit and she gave him a thumb's up. "Take your stations," he said to everyone. Megan, you're on navigation and communications. Argent, I want you as co-pilot to watch how I fly this bird. Pilot training is lined up for all of you. You've got a lot of work ahead. Megan, is the building sealed and defenses up?"
"All set," Trom Girl said as she swung herself up through the hatch and picked a spot on the rear bench. There was only room for two there, so two members had to sit on the floor. As everyone strapped in, the Dire Wolf lightly vaulted into the pilot seat and sealed the airtight hatch. He was wearing the war helmet, which functioned to tie in to the controls. He looked over the dials and gauges for a few more seconds, then brought the turbines up to speed and the rotors sped up. The CORBY lifted up to hover steadily five feet off the floor and he retracted the landing wheels into their housing.
Argent glanced up. "Uh... captain, aren't you going to open the roof panel?"
Bane said, "We're not going to enter Manhattan air space in daylight. Because we have a shortcut available." Everyone take a deep breath and hold it." He reached up and placed his fingertips on a pale blue faceted jewel set incongrously in a silver frame on the instrument console. Bane focussed the full intensity of his will. There was a gorgeous flare of sky-blue light and the hangar disappeared. Abruptly as that, the CORBY was hanging in the sky hundreds of feet above the forests of western Pennsylvania,
"So that's how that feels," said Josef from the back bench. "You used an Eldar travel crystal."
"One of the bigger ones," Bane answered. "Whew. That's not easy by any means." He pressed the control sticks and sent the CORBY forward with its nose down, building up to a cruising speed of three hundred miles per hour. Soon, he dropped down to near treetop level but saw no signs of buildings and anything manmade except for a single road.
"We are eighteen kilometers south-southeast of Flanders city limits," Megan reported from her station. She watched the screen of her own console. "The most recent reported mysterious fire was five kilometers due west."
Bane slowed the craft. "So far, there have been no repeat fires at any site. No apparent patterns."
"Hmm," Sheng muttered as he stared through the windscreen. "So what's your plan, cap?"
"Captain or Jeremy. Not cap."
"Okay, Dire Wolf, so what's your plan?"
Bane did not reply immediately and they all thought he was going to snap at Sheng but he held his peace. "We'll begin with infra-red scan. Megan, set our sensor to medium range and start looking for any unusual patterns. I'm going to our operating ceiling level."
For the first time since they had gotten in the CORBY, Sable spoke. She was reserved and quiet by nature. Sitting by a rear observation port, she had been gazing down at the landscape. Lauren Sable Reilly was twenty-one, an attractive brunette with dark eyes, a snub nose and a wide mouth. Despite her name, she took after her Cuban mother. Her powers of perception did not seem to be obviously useful for a combat team but in fact she was in many ways the most invaluable member and Bane was pleased with her thoroughnesss.
She pointed a finger at the port and said, "In that direction. The ground is much warmer than the surrounding area. The vegetation is drier." Sable did not go into any more detail but Bane swung the copter around.
"Could this BE any more gorgeous?" Unicorn suddenly burst out. "I mean, just look at it, I haven't seen a house since we got here. We have to come back here in the autumn when the leaves change. Huh, Sable, what do you think?"
"I'd like that," Sable said with a wistful smile. "I haven't seen as much of the world as you have."
"Aw, it'll be great! Did I ever tell you about the time me and my mom got stranded in Okali? There we were, wild animals climbing over each other to get at us..." Unicorn was off again. She was like a bottle of talk that could only be stopped up for so long at a stretch. Sable indulged her unlikely reminiscences because they always turned out to be true.
"I think we've found it," Bane said as the CORBY descended. They were hovering over a rough oval area containing perhaps three or four acres. Enormous openings in the rough tumbled stones suggested caverns. The trees and vegetation were dry and unhealthy-looking, even the pine trees seemed scorched. The helicopter touched down as neatly as a dragonfly on a stem and the rotors slowed. Bane popped the hatches on both sides with a hiss as the pressurized cabin opened.
The five new knights of Tel Shai disembarked with an eagerness that reminded the Dire Wolf of himself twenty years earlier. Argent did not swing down on the handle provided for that purpose, he simply stepped out and dropped down to the rocky ground. The others followed quickly. Josef took a second to strap his hand-crafted wooden quiver across his back, with its sixteen arrows and an assortment of interchangeable heads in compartments. He wore a field suit but he was allowed to leave the helmet behind because his power of blindfolded archery would be hindered by it. Selecting a longbow from the hatch, he did not string it but carried it as it was.
Closing the hatches and putting the alarm systems on ready, Jeremy Bane faced his team. Just kids, he began to think but caught himself. No. Tel Shai knights and KDF members. Lowering his helmet over his head but leaving the visor up, he said, "Sable, what do you have?"
She was squatting near a boulder, fingertips grazing the dry soil. Sable's ability let her enhance any of her senses with gralic force, expanding them past organic limits. "The ground is not only warm, but it has a vibration in it. Very faint." She looked up uneasily. "Something is moving beneath us!"
"Steady," he said. "Trom Girl, can you get a reading on what it is?"
"Not through ninety feet of shale and granite," she answered quickly. "Trom science is good but it does have its limits."
"It's a gigantic naked mole rat!" squealed Unicorn enthusiastically. "Or maybe worms the size of fire hoses."
"Easy there," Bane said.
"Mole People from the center of the Earth?" she continued hopefully.
"Let's get some information first. All right, team, let's scatter and look around. Trom Girl and Sable, keep probing the area. Josef, if you can pick up any life forms, let us know. Sheng and Ashley, stay alert. We have no idea what the situation is."
For the next twenty minutes, the team investigated without results. Standing by the cORBY, Josef Jubilec said, "Say, Sheng, can you focus your power into enhanced senses the way Sable does?"
"No. I've tried. Strength, speed and density, that's it. My powers are strictly physical. What about you? When you cover your eyes, do you get X-Ray vision or anything?"
"Ha. I wish. No, I become aware of living things and can track them but that's all. In fact, I-" he broke off with a worried expression and called, "Captain!"
Jeremy Bane strode briskly up. "You guys know we're being watched, don't you?"
"I think we all picked up on it the same time." From the sparse woods, Megan and Sable hurried back. Josef saw them, then took a black cloth from his belt and tied it over his eyes. "That's better. Let's see.. yes. We're surrounded. Men moving through the trees, maybe twenty. No, not men. Not Humans..."
Trom Girl was taking readings. "Twenty-one non-Human variants, each carrying a gralic charge. Body temperature averages at two hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit." She was breathing quicker. "That CAN'T be right. Average pulse one hundred and forty-two per minute..?"
The Dire Wolf pointed. "Here they come." As he spoke, a shrill howling echoed over the hills and naked crimson men charged from all directions.
III.
The team had automatically drawn into a loose circle facing outwards, guarding each other's backs. It was Josef Jubilec who took the biggest toll on the attackers. Smooth and unhurried, he drew one arrow after another from his quiver and loosed them as if he did not need to aim. The first four had punch-heads, hard rubber bulbs. At the speed those shafts traveled, those bulbs hit like hammers. Four of the enemy were knocked to their knees or backs as the arrows smacked hard into their faces. The next two shafts had regular barbs and he took one of the attackers out with an arrow through the knee. Whirling he faced a crimson man at close range. There was no time to be fancy. The shaft sank inches deep in the man's chest.
Argent and Unicorn had drawn their darts guns and fired them accurately but with no results. Each dart normally would drop a grown man in his tracks quickly enough that most didn't realize what had happened. But nothing happened now. Argent glared and his jaw dropped. Either these men were wearing red leather tights or they had the thickest, roughest hide ever. And it look as if they had.. horns? Next to him, Sable had her dart gun in hand but she never used it. She froze in position, too startled and uncertain to fire. During those few seconds of motion and confusion, she stood paralyzed.
It was Megan Salenger who took the biggest toll of the attackers. She had clicked the sensor to its plate on her belt and snapped a cartridge into a flat device with a pistol grip. Whirling in a circle, she triggered a pale beam of light that struck with terrific kinetic impact. The crimson-skinned men were slapped off their feet, tumbled upside down or off to one side as the photon ram hit them. In a few seconds, she had swept away most of the enemy.
"Way to go, Trom Girl!" yelled Unicorn. "Woo-HOO!"
Surprisingly, Bane himself had held back. He was observing his new team in action. He had ejected his clip of anesthetic darts and inserted resonance caps. As he saw an attacker get too close, the Dire Wolf blasted that one in time. Each resonance cap detonated with a blast that could crack a rib or break a nose but which were usually non-fatal.
In a little over twenty seconds, it was over. Most of the crimson men managed to get up and scrambled for the woods, where Bane let them go. On the hot stony ground, eight of the strange men sprawled, two dead and six injured. Watching them warily, Bane holstered his gun and announced, "The dancing's over for now. Megan and Josef, excellent work. Argent and Unicorn, your problem was that the darts don't work on these goons. With experience, you'll learn to fall back on a second defense."
"I froze, Jeremy," said Sable in a hushed voice. "I just stood there like a deer in the headlights."
"You'll get another chance." There was no condemnation in his voice but no comfort either. "We're far from done here."
Three of the red men were crawling feebly around and flopping in obvious pain. "Megan," Bane said, "Knock those guys out with a neural shock. High intensity. We need two for questioning."
Jubilec had been retrieving his arrows and returning them to his quiver. He unscrewed the tip of the pointed one that had killed a red man, extracted the shaft and replaced it to its slot but he put the sharp tip in a side pocket of his jacket. Catching Bane's eyes on him, he frowned. "I don't reuse a point which has taken someone's life."
"I understand," the Dire Wolf said. He was standing over the moaning creature which still had an arrow sticking out of its knee. "Gather over here, team. This is the one we will question first."
Sable was pale but her voice was steady. "Captain, you know what these monsters are, don't you? You've dealt with them before."
"Yes."
"We know, we know," Argent put in. "Been everywhere, seen everything..."
Bane ignored the Chujiran as he seemed to be doing more frequently. "These are Danarmyl, the Children of Margoth. They were Human once but, thousands of years ago, Darthan warlocks modified them for life underground. Their body heat can go up to five hundred degrees, so don't wrestle one. Their skin is tougher and thicker than leather, and as you can see, they have a bony carapace ridge around their cheeks and temples, and yes, the males have these thick stubby horns." He knelt beside the red man. "I know you can understand me, for I speak the primal tongue, our Prilyrdyn. I am going to remove this arrow and stop your bleeding. Do not move."
Megan squatted down to help, she had extensive emergency training. They got the shaft out, cleaned and dressed the wound and stepped back. She said to Bane, "He will not be able to walk without surgery."
"I don't care," was the answer. "We were standing here and they attacked us without warning or cause. I think we showed admirable restraint." Bane leaned over the wounded Danarmyl and his voice got sinister, "Now, it's time for you to talk."
III.
The interrogation went on for twenty minutes and the watching Tel Shai knights saw a different side of their captain. Bane made no threats, did not raise his voice or show a weapon. He did not use a teammate in the old good cop/bad cop routine. As far as they could tell, he acted much the same as he always did. But the injured Danarmyl reacted as if he had a real Dire wolf snarling inches from his face, fangs bared and ears back. The prisoner seemed eager to answer.
Jeremy is doing this just from force of personality, thought Argent sullenly. Maybe our captain is all he thinks he is.
Finally, Bane straightened and turned back to his team, who were standing near the stealth copter. "Megan, knock him out. We don't have much time. The Danarmyl who ran will be back with the rest of their tribe. This guy said three hundred warriors but my guess would be that's exaggerated and we'll be facing fewer than that. They will whip themselves up into a frenzy, dancing in a circle and screaming and whatever. Before they can do that, we will settle things. Sheng, I want you to get those bins we loaded. Can you carry them? They weigh a hundred and twenty pounds each."
"Not a problem for me," the Chujiran said with just a bit too much smugness as he unloaded the bins and held one in each hand as if they were balloons.
Bane continued, "Next, our base of operations. We need to secure the CORBY. Sable."
"Yes, captain."
"You have trained enough to do simple lift-off and touch-down. Take the CORBY up to tree-top level and hover. Its Trom power source will let it stay in mid-air for days without problems." He was watching her to see how she took this order. "When I signal the fighting is over, land and retrieve us."
"No, Jeremy."
"WHAT did you say?"
"I said no. I didn't come here to huddle in the copter while the rest of you do the fighting. All right, I froze in the attack. I might do it again. But how will we know if I don't get a chance?"
Bane nodded with the faintest look of satisfaction. He had been hoping she would object. "Fair enough. Unicorn, you take the CORBY up and stand by."
"Fine with me," said the little blonde, turning on her heel and striding over to pop open the hatch.
Facing the four remaining knights, Bane drew them closer almost as if they were a football team huddling. "Use the resonance caps. Our darts won't even penetrate the hide on these men. Sheng, I trust you to use your own judgement in hand to hand. Your gloves and boots will protect you for a few seconds before burning through. So no wrestling with these goons."
"Sound advice," Argent grinned.
Josef had opened the cargo hold, stowed away his anesthetic needle heads and stocked up on the resonance cap heads. "Ready," he said, tying the black cloth across his forehead like a headband. As he spoke, he stepped away and Ashley in the pilot's seat started the rotors. Everyone backed away quickly. Jeremy Bane watched the hundred million-dollar advanced craft rise with a grinning Unicorn at the stick and his heart sank. It was like a father watching a teenage daughter pull out of the driveway in a new Mercedes. Ah well.
"Let's go," he told the others and set off at a brisk pace.
At one point, Bane led them out of the clearing and through the sparse forest, without explanation. Sable turned her head as if listening but said nothing.
Seeing they were all close enough, Bane said, "The Danarmyl we interrogated was called Nommo the Metalsmith. He said the tribe is living in fear. They have been taken over by some enormous beast their legends never told of. A slithering monster with mind-control powers that is sending these blasts of gralic heat to the surface to ease itself."
Reaching the cave opening, large enough for two of them to enter side by side, they marched in. The light-enhancing visors and infra-red projectors in their helmets cut in automatically to let them see in the increasing gloom.
"wait," said Argent, "so the blasts from this monster started those fires?"
"So it seems. The monster is getting more dangerous, letting off blasts underground, enslaving the Danarmyl and occasionally eating one." Bane led the way as the tunnel dropped down at a slight angle. "Nommo describes the beast as a gigantic cylinder of flesh, with long tentacles and glowing eyes. It's the same color as the Danarmyl themselves."
"The Red Squid...." Sable said thoughtfully.
"As good a name as any. Here come a few, Megan, stun them!"
Instantly, the Trom Girl swept her nerve beam over four charging Danarmyl, and they fell face down with thuds. The Tel Shai knights moved past. Even in their insulated field suits, the dry heat was becoming uncomfortable.
"I think the main body of the warriors went past us on the surface. That was when we turned off through the woods, because I heard them go by. While they are up there and tending to their dead and wounded, it gives us some freedom to act here."
The tunnels were evidently natural in origin, although they had been widened and shaped by melting the rock. As the Tel Shai knights hurried along, they came to a vast level arena of black granite from which side tunnels led off. A lurid red glare flickered over the stones, with no clear source. Circular fissures sprayed steam and boiling water as if the earth itself was bleeding from an opened artery.
As they paused here, Bane glanced over at the Blind Archer. "Josef, you need oxygen. Put on the clear mask and cut in your suit's supply. You see why I want you to at least bring a helmet with you?"
As the bowman fastened a small plastic cup over his nose and mouth, its line leading back to his suit, he said, "You have a point."
Sable had been standing off to one side, probing with her enhanced senses. "Jeremy.. there's something nearby, something alive and really big. Bigger than an elephant. It's moving slowly. I can feel its vibrations through the ground."
"Good. Anything else?"
"Yes, more Danarmyl. Feels like four or five stomping around." She raised a finger. "That way. Just out of sight."
Bane said, "Let's keep moving, then." He led them through the arena down the biggest tunnel, and soon they came to the main amphiteatre, This was a high-ceilinged area, supported by pillars and columns. At one side, the ground extended out to form a narrow platform over a gigantic pit. This platform extended twenty feet over the opening, like a pirate's plank out over the sea. The deep red light pulsed and flickered over the ceiling, though they could not tell from where. Argent lowered the heavy plastic bins he had been carrying.
All of them felt waves of hatred rush over them from that pit. It was the same feeling of menace one got from having a large animal growling inches away, but deeper and more implacable. An enemy to all living things lurked there.
Standing by that platform over the pit were a half dozen Danarmyl, warriors with axes and long-shafted tridents. One was different, standing behind the warriors for protection. He was thin, almost skeletal, wearing a grotesque crown of volcanic rock shaped into antlers. Like the others, he wore a short kilt of what looked like tough asbestos fibers but he had also had a padded tunic set with gems. He rested a ceremonial sword with its point upon the ground- more than four feet long, with a curved single-edge sabre blade.
Bane spoke directly to this individual. "We are knights of Tel Shai from the world above," he announced in a loud, clear voice. "We have come to free you from the tyranny of the Obanchu."
"I am Dalmu the Shaman! No one has asked you to step into our realm or to inferfere in our affairs. Go now, leave in peace."
"That monster threatens us on the surface," Bane answered. "As you must realize. It sends blasts of killing heat to where we live and this cannot be overlooked. Are you that much in fear of the Red Squid?"
The shaman hesitated an instant too long and one of the guards blurted out, "Yes! We are its slaves. It tortures our dreams and gives us no rest."
"Ruma, be silent!"
"No, the time to suffer without hope is past. The red beast will kill us all if no one slays it."
The shaman lifted the long sword and spun it in a vertical art before resting its point on the ground again. The threat was obvious. But to his surprise, the warriors did not back down. They glared back defiantly.
"The Obanchu is too much for us," One spat angrily. "If Tel Shai can slay it, I say let them do it and now. Too many of us have been fed to the beast."
Furious, Dalmu raised the sword again, back behind his head for a killing stroke. Faster than anyone could follow, going from stillness to a lightning attack, the Dire Wolf leaped in and landed a single uppercut from the ground. It snapped the shaman's head as far as it could without the neck breaking. Dalmu fell to a seated position and Bane caught the sword before it could fall. He handed it to Sable and held out his open hand toward the staring Danarmyl. "You men go protect your families. We will face the monster. It's our duty." He pointed at the stunned shaman, who was trying to rise. "Take him with you. When the threat is over, we will join you."
As the Danarmyl complied, hauling Dalmu with them rather more roughly than seemed strictly necessary, Bane turned back to his team. One of the crimson men stayed and said, "Let me go with you. It was my child the monster fed on."
"All right," Bane answered. "I would not deny you that."
IV.
Behind them, Sable rested the heavy sword across her shoulders. She had brought her perception back to normal Human levels as the stench of sulphur and the surges of heat were getting to her. With her teammates, she followed the Dire Wolf onto the plattform of stone that stretched out fifteen feet over the gaping pit. She gazed down with them at what they had come here to destroy. The Red Squid!
Only the floor of the pit sixty feet below them quivered an immense jelly-like mass bigger than an elephant. Its intelligent black eyes glittered in the gloom with hatred, and even as the intruders from the surface gazed down upon it, the monster attacked. Tentacles thicker than a man's leg exploded upward with terrifying suddenness, lashing around blindly until they made contact. One whipped around Josef's body and tightened viciously, hauling him upside-down into the air. The Blind Archer's bow fell from numb fingers as he was flung from side to side. Another questing tentacle went right for Megan and caught her by one leg, circling up to tighten around her chest. The tentacles slammed the two knights together with jarring force.
Surprising herself, Sable ran in under the tentacle with held Josef and, planting her feet far apart, swung the ceremonial sword with a grunt of effort. The edge of that blade sliced deeply along the red rubbery surface and opened a gouge which spewed thick hot ooze. Again, she raised the sword like an axe and chopped down with all her strength. Wounded, the tentacle released Josef with a thump and retreated back down into the pit. Sable dropped the sword and pressed a hand to her chest, gasping. She had not had any idea she was going to do that. Getting hold of herself, she went to see if the bowman was hurt.
The Red Squid was not a mere animal. Stifling waves of mental force boiled up out of the pit and rolled over the Tel Shai knights like clouds of oppressive steam. The monster knew it had deadly enemies come to destroy it. Glaring down, Bane growled, "Sulla Chun! I might have known. Another pet of the Sulla Chun." The silver daggers under his sleeves felt hot from the gralic force they were deflecting. "Argent! Bring those bins over here."
Everything was taking place within a few seconds. Even as Sable cut Josef loose and went to check on him, Megan had activated her gravity shield on full. Unencumbered, she would have risen upward at nearly the speed of sound. As it was, she lifted slowly but stubbornly, trying to break loose of the grip of the tentacle around her body. Her ascent tugged the tentacle taut and stretched it, but the beast would not let go. The monster in the pit could not have guessed how much trouble these strangers would cause it.
The wounded tentacle rose again, swaying from side to side like the trunk of a mammoth. For the first time, they could see that the broad flat tip of each appendange had a rudimentary eye set in it. That eye swung in its socket to watch them. Bane helped Argent haul the heavy plastic bins to the very edge of the platform over the monster and snapped open the lids.
"Time to end this, Sheng. Dump it all on that thing," he said. Together, they turned the bins upside down and poured out a steaming mass of white flakes down to land squarely on the Obanchu. A huge cloud of steam boiled up. The Red Squid convulsed violently and shrieked with a deafening howl that was louder than mere sound. Its tentacles flailed aimlessly and then, suddenly, it was silent.
"Goddam, captain," Sheng yelled, "just what WAS it we dropped?"
"Dry ice. Three hundred and forty pounds of dry ice."
The young Chujiran grinned with new admiration at his leader. "Hah! The perfect present for such a beast."
It took another hour to wrap everything up, much longer than the fighting itself had lasted. Using Trom Girl's sensors and Sable's enhanced perceptions, they determined conclusively that the Obanchu was dead. Megan was bruised and sore, but she had broken free when the monster was dying. Josef had two cracked ribs and walked stiffly over to look down at the huge carcass before he was satisfied.
Bane told Trom Girl, "Megan, take readings on everything. The Danarmyl, too. We don't know much about their Race."
"I'm on it," she answered with a perceptible wince as she walked.
When they were off to one side, the Dire Wolf said, "Sable, I saw you cut Josef loose on your own intiative. Quick thinking under stress. You are not a fighter by nature, as Sheng is. I think you role in our team is going to be investigation and research rather than slugging. Still, you acted correctly."
Lauren Sable Reilly had a curious little smile on her pug face. "Jeremy. Seriously, was that the reason you handed me the sword in the first place?"
"Could be. You never know with me, I'm devious." He went over to the Danarmyl, Ruma, who had been standing and watching. "It's time for us to be going. When your tribe returns, they are likely to still attack us on sight, so we need to be scarce. We will return soon to see if our two Races can straighten things out between us. Good luck. Oh, and I would recommend sealing off this chamber or covering that body with a few tons of rock. It's not going to smell like a bouquet of roses, that's for sure."
The Tel Shai knights began to walk out of that area, back toward the tunnels that led to the surface. They were suddenly weary as the adrenaline left their systems. Both Megan and Josef were sore and unhappy.
Striding alongside the Wolf, Sable began, "You know what I think?\\
"What?"
"It occurred to me before all the mayhem. These Danarmyl. They are red-skinned men with horns and burning hot bodies, using pitchforks, living underground. Don't you think they are the real source of the medieval devil legends?"
Bane smiled at her. "You're sharp, Sable. Yes, every legend has a kernel of truth, they say."
3/2000- Rev 5/21/2013
