"The City Beneath the City"
May. 26th, 2022 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"The City Beneath the City"
8/17-8/19/2013
I.
Almost four AM in the rough neighborhood of Westfield on the edges of East LA. Josef Jubilec strode down a side street past an old bowling alley that had been boarded up years ago. He was a fit man two inches over six feet tall and dressed all in dark clothing... boots, pants, waist-length jacket. On his back was a knapsack longer than usual, and he held in his right hand a strange-looking device that looked like a wooden hoop. As he passed the single bulb burning over the door of the old bowling alley, Josef's long bony face with its short-cropped sandy hair could be clearly seen. He glanced around suspiciously and then kept walking.
A shiny black car slowed as it passed him. Not a glimpse of its occupants could be seen through the tinted windows, although the booming bass of the music was audible a block away. The car sped up again. Evidently, the people in the car saw nothing in Jubilec to interest them. As the car rounded the next corner, the Blind Archer smiled to himself. He had not seen a police cruiser in an hour, just cars full of drug dealers or cars with middle-aged men searching for hookers.
Josef paused at the corner. Across the street was a field through which a railroad track ran. There was a low wire fence that had been knocked down in several places. Josef saw a metal barrel surrounded by garbage, a sure sign that vagrants used it to burn scrap wood on chilly nights. He turned to look left and right, wondering if he should head back to the hotel and get some sleep before his team arrived later the next morning... well, this morning actually.
Then he spotted movement. Over by the railroad tracks, two dark figures were creeping through the gloom. One was short and squat, the other well over six feet tall and wearing a long coat of some sort. They were carrying bundles. The furtive movements and constant glancing in all directions would have seemed suspicious to any observer.
Watching them, determining that they had not noticed him standing next to the closed up building, the Blind Archer thumbed a button on the device he held, and the bow snapped open on its hinge by the grip. He disliked using a gimmicky folding bow such as this, being a purist who prefered a handcarved longbow, but when he was out in public he felt the folding bow was a little less conspicuous. He strung the bow and satisfied himself that it was ready.
Before he stepped out into the street, Josef reached behind his left shoulder and undid the top flap of his knapsack. The feathered ends of a dozen three-foot-long arrows were exposed. The knapsack was actually a quiver he had fashioned himself. He did not draw a shaft just yet, but crossed the street and began to follow the two sneaking figures by the tracks. As he approached, the smaller one caught sight of them and squawked in alarm. This close, Josef could make out that the smaller one was dressed in rags, including fingerless gloves and a wool hat pulled low on his head. He was carrying three plastic bags that were filled with some items.
Beside him, the tall figure swung around, his long coat swirling. Josef pegged him immediately as the real threat. Speeding up his pace, the Blind Archer called out, "Hold it, you two! I just want a few words."
The taller figure had longish black hair tied back in a ponytail. He clapped the other man on the shoulder and said in a deep bass voice, "Run, my friend. I will catch up to you."
"Yes, Imperatus! Hurry." As the smaller man took off at an awkward lope, the tall man suddenly raced directly at Josef with startling speed. He hurtled over the uneven ground faster than an Olympic sprinter. Alarmed at this unexpected twist, the Blind Archer reacted just as quickly. A shaft was notched and let fly in a flash. Josef had selected an arrow with a head of round hard rubber rather than one with a point. At the speed an arrow from his bow flew, those rounded heads struck with the force of a heavyweight boxer.
The arrow struck the onrushing man directly on the forehead and bounced off without any effect. Josef was startled and there was no time for a second shaft. The stranger called Imperatus was upon him in a rush, and one fist that felt like a block of iron crashed hard against the side of his face. The Blind Archer fell heavily onto his side, not entirely unconscious but dazed enough to be helpless. After a few minutes, his head cleared. Like other Tel Shai knights, decades on the tagra diet of Tel Shai had enhanced his body's healing beyond what medical science could explain. He leaped back onto his feet, not having let go of the bow even in his stunned condition, but both men were gone.
Josef searched the area for an hour but found nothing. It would be getting light soon. He walked briskly back the way he had come, folding his bow again and strapping it across the top of his knapsack. Entering a better neighborhood eventually, he found his rental car untouched where he had left it. He felt disappointed and sullen over the events. At least he would be able to get a few hours sleep before his team arrived from New York.
II.
By two o'clock that afternoon, the four interns had leased their own car at the airport and found the Hyatt where Josef waited. He had rented two adjoining suites for the next few days, one for the girls and one for himself and Timothy. They had gotten used to camping together in jungles and deserts and icefields as part of their training but he felt it avoided friction to segregate them by gender. In his room, everyone quickly set themselves up. Demrak Jin and Jocelyn Garimara claimed the short couch, Timothy Limbo pulled over a chair from the writing desk to face everyone and Haley Lawson blithely dropped down on the nearer of the two beds and removed her shoes.
Watching them, Josef Jubilic had deep misgivings. He just did not feel they were ready for a mission. True, he himself had not yet been twenty years old when he had broken away from the sect of Blind Archers and struck out on his own. And he knew in an objective way that the former team of KDF members had also been very young when they had first joined. It didn't matter. He wasn't happy with leading these inexperienced kids into danger and he would have aborted this mission if he could.
After napping and showering, Josef had changed into Navy blue slacks, a white dress shirt with no tie and a black business suit jacket. As the new team got themselves arranged, he related what had happened not even twelve hours earlier.
"The man clearly has some abilities beyond the Human norm," he said. "No one can just ignore a hard rubber arrowhead to the face. The way he struck me down also showed unusual strength and speed. Finally, his irises were red."
"Oooooh, that's always a bad sign," Haley broke in. At eighteen, she was the youngest of the new members. Windcatcher was tall and thin, five feet eight, with long reddish-brown hair. Under low dark bangs, beautiful lime-green eyes peered out with insolence. "Bright red! Always trouble."
"That's true," Josef said. "I did not get a good look at the other suspect. He was much smaller, dressed in tatters, and he made a run for it so that this 'Imperatus' could handle me."
From the couch, Jocelyn Garimara sighed. She was older than the others, in her late twenties. Her dark smooth skin and straight glossy black hair hinted at her background. Jocelyn was an Australian Aborigine who had been an outcast from her family because of the Red Spectre that had attached itself to her. She was well dressed in a lilac-colored pantsuit, with a silk blouse and thin gold necklace. She hesitated but then said, "And there's a connection with why we have come here, then?"
"That seems clear," Josef said. "This area has seen a rise in missing persons reports in the past three months. There have been many robberies but the items stolen were food, clothing, blankets, that sort of thing. Not the usual items that burglars take." He clasped his hands behind his back and started pacing. "Then there's the way the homeless population has been acting."
"What do you mean?" asked Jocelyn. "What's going on?"
"The usual homeless individuals are not seen in their regular places for a week or two. Then they are spotted, active and all over the place. Then they vanish again."
"Well, that IS odd," Jocelyn said. Her huge dark eyes were introspective. "Where do they go?"
"No one knows," Josef said. "Which is why the LAPD has asked us to dig around a little. Unofficially, as usual."
"That is exactly what bugs me!" Timothy Limbo shouted. He slapped his palm against one knee angrily. He was wearing his usual outfit of motorcycle boots, well-worn jeans and a white T-shirt under a short leather jacket. Timothy was not a big man, several inches under six feet tall and wiry. He had a mop of bright yellow hair that almost got in his own face. "I hate that. If they expect us to do the dirty work, they could at least give us some credit. GahDAM. If any of us get killed on these adventures, the cops will deny they ever heard of us. I hate that."
The Blind Archer smiled dryly. "Yeah. I see your point. But that's always been the way the KDF has functioned. We are off the record, off the books, the little men who weren't there. But we would carry out our work even if we were actively opposed by the authorities. I suppose it's better than having the police trying to stop us and getting in the way."
"I suppose," Timothy grumbled. He did not sound convinced in the slightest.
Josef continued, "So today I propose we become familiar with the Westfield area. It's the bad part of town, and believe me Los Angeles has a few of those. We will get the territory fixed in our heads, come back here to eat and rest for a while. And then, in the middle of the night, we will go out hunting trouble."
Getting off the bed and stretching, Haley Lawson glanced over at the small blonde woman who was sitting motionless on the couch next to Jocelyn. "Say, Jin, you haven't had anything to say about this."
"Words should be better than silence," replied Demrak Jin.
III.
Josef divided them up into pairs to search the vacant area by the railroad tracks that afternoon. His own ability as a Blind Archer enabled him to spot living things even in darkness, fog or heavy rain, but it was not useful seeking inanimate objects. He inspected the metal barrel where tramps and vagrants burned bits of scrap wood and paper for warmth, but found nothing significant.
He did find it interesting how deserted the immediate area was. A few blocks away, children were playing and adults chatted on porches and there was considerable traffic. But near the tracks, people stayed away as if a gas leak had been reported. Where this would have been disturbing or alarming to most, Josef Jubilec was excited. It meant they were on the right track.
As he watched the first car go by that he had seen in fifteen minutes, the Blind Archer wondered what they were getting into. Demrak Jin approached, leaving her teammates to the search. In the bright afternoon sunlight, the young Gelydra looked more than a bit creepy herself. Only a few inches over five feet tall, she was thin and flat-chested in her khaki pants and dark green polo shirt. Jin's white hair was thick and bristly, cut short, and her wide face had a pug nose and perpetual sullen expression. She was not at all pretty by most standards, but Demrak Jin nevertheless had a charisma that some people found attractive. She was someone that was difficult to ignore even when just standing there.
The Gelydra woman had a big handbag slung over her shoulder that contained her dart gun and other KDF gadgets, as well as a bone-bladed knife she had crafted herself. She stepped up to peer distastefully at the garbage around the fire barrel. "Nothing so far, Josef. And yet.. my instincts are warning me. We are near danger as sure as if there was blood in the water."
The Blind Archer agreed. "I feel something too, Jin. I thought it was my imagination." His dark blue eyes moved suspiciously over the area. "Those tracks are in poor condition. I doubt if a train has been on them in twenty years. Judging by this neighborhood, no one is likely to tear them up and erect a mall on this field any time soon."
Jin turned back as she saw the others trotted up with excitement in their faces. "It seems they found something," she grumbled.
Taking big strides with her long legs, Haley Lawson waved at the two by the barrel. "Hey! Hey, you guys. Here we go. You know my powers to summon air have made me more sensitive to air currents, right?"
"No," Demrak Jin answered.
"Well, they do. I'm walking through the broken glass and old newspapers and disgusting items discarded by perverts when I feel air circulating where there shouldn't be any. Over there. That pile of broken rocks and tree branches. Air is getting sucked down into the ground over there." Windcatcher slapped her palms together in satisfaction as if dusting them. "Pretty good, eh?"
"Interesting!" Josef said. "Very interesting. Timothy, want to have one of your friends take a look?"
"I was thinking just that," Timothy Limbo said. He held up a hand and a barely visible wisp appeared, floating just above his palm. It was a tiny tornado of vapor, spinning down to a point, and even in the sunlight they could hardly see it.
"Okay, buddy, get down there and poke around," Timothy said as if talking to a dog he wanted to do a trick. The wisp flashed away and was lost from sight.
"I still can't decide if those caspers have consciousness of their own or if they're just projections of your subconscious or what," Haley said. "Have you figured that out yourself?"
"I'm not sure. Sometimes they seem to act on their own, but that could be my subconscious giving them orders." Timothy shrugged, hitched up his jeans and stuck his thumbs in two belt loops. "They just started showing up a few years ago. My friendly ghosts."
The Blind Archer stared at the rough pile of broken rock that Haley had mentioned. "What's he seeing, Tim?"
"Tunnel of some kind. Dirt walls and hooks or something, neat and dry. He's reached a dead end, he can't get through. That end is sealed up tight." Timothy Limbo held out his hand and the swirling wisp returned to him, then popped out of existence like a soap bubble. "I don't know about you guys, but to me that whole thing seems worth checking out."
"We'll come back later," Josef said, starting to walk back to where they had left their cars.
"In the middle of the night, you mean," Haley mumbled. "Area like this in the wee hours... I think we should bring some shotguns and flamethrowers."
Jocelyn Garimara chuckled as she walked beside the Windcatcher. "We've got something better," she said. "Wherever I am, the Red Spectre is!"
They stopped at an Italian restaurant called Three Brothers on the way back to the hotel. "We're on an expense account, so order whatever you like," Josef said as they claimed a table. Aside from Jin having to be talked out of ordering raw fish as usual, the meal was unremarakable. The new team were young and active and could pack away food at an alarming rate.
Finally, as the waiter started taking their plates, Haley Lawson pushed her chair back. "Ugh. I need to unsnap my pants and lie down on the floor, I'm so stuffed."
"You do not look any different," Jin told her. Sometimes she really was unfamiliar with slang and figures of speech, but her teammates were starting to wonder if the Gelydra just had a dry sense of humor and was acting the part of the stranger in a strange land to some extent.
Paying for the meal with his card, Josef looked over his team. "We have almost seven hours before I want to go back there and start the investigation. I suppose you all can be given free time until then, but I'd want to know where you are in case of emergency."
"I'm just going to hang at the hotel," Haley said. "It's pretty luxurious. I'll soak in the tub, take a nap, watch TV."
"I would like to do the same," Demrak Jin agreed. "There is nothing about this city that appeals to me. I may as well rest until we go into action."
Josef glanced over at the young Aborigine woman who was just nibbling a final breadstick. "Jocelyn, what about you?'
"Hmm. There's a cineplex just down the road from the hotel. I might go see that thriller NO RETURN POSSIBLE with Kate Wieland. I always liked her comedies, maybe I'll check out this movie."
Timothy Limbo stood up and stretched. "You bunch of old fogeys. I am going out to explore the town and have some fun. Never been in LA before."
"I know there is no point in telling you to be careful," Josef Jubilec said more in resignation than anger. "But if and when you get in trouble, send one of your caspers to us and we'll come to the rescue."
"Hah!" Timothy snorted. "When have I ever gotten in trouble?"
"When has the Sun ever come up in the East?" muttered Haley as she got up too.
IV.
At just after two in the morning, they assembled by the tracks. The neighborhood was so quiet it might have been abandoned as if a hurricane was predicted and everyone had evacuated. Here and there, a single light showed in a scattered window but traffic was sparse and the sidewalks empty. They had parked their leased cars on the main street and hurried over to the vacant lot.
Only Josef had the full field suit with inner layer of flexible armor and hidden gadgets. Since the new team were not yet Tel Shai students, the Trom council in New Mexico had not approved for them to have new equipment made. Bending the rules a bit, Megan Salenger had given them all spare communication Links to carry. Each new member wore an anesthetic dart gun and carried a few resonance grenades and smoke capsules, which were not Trom devices.
Timothy as usual wore his boots, jeans and white T-shirt with leather jacket. Joceyln had on hiking shoes, jeans and a dark blouse with a windbreaker over it. Haley wore white sneakers, bright blue shorts and tight white long-sleeved shirt, but she was wrapped in an ankle length blue cloak that fastened at her throat. It was Demrak Jin who was dressed most oddly, in a tight outfit of dull grey sharkhide that was so abrasive to the touch that the other members had learned to just not brush up against her. Strapped across her back was a sheath holding a bone-bladed knife the size and shape of a machete. She had crafted this herself back in Ulgor, when she had come of age.
Each of them carried a powerful pencil flashlight but it was still vaguely light out on the summer night, with the city lights nearby and they had not needed them yet. As they stood around the loose pile of rocks, Haley said, "Oh, I can feel air being drawn down in the ground right here. Josef, put your hand right here."
The Blind Archer did so. "Yes. There's a definite draft. But where's the opening? How do we get down there?"
They poked around and a minute later, Timothy said, "Here! Under these boards." He tugged a couple of rotted two by fours aside, after removing some rocks that had been piled on them. Beneath was a round hole large enough to allow a person entry. Josef shone his flashlight down into the opening.
"Looks like some spikes driven into the sides of the hole. That's how they climb in and out." He adjusted the folding bow fastened to the quiver on his back. "Okay, we're going down. Team, it's obvious we're not dealing with some homeless people down on their luck. That man called Imperatus was stronger and faster than normal, and my arrow didn't even bother him. Be on guard."
"As if we're not already jumpy being in this neighborhood in the middle of the night," Haley muttered, drawing her cloak tighter around her. She was last to sit on the edge of the hole and start climbing down. The railroad spikes had been driven firmly into the hard-packed dirt and were sturdy enough, but it was tricky finding the next one with her foot. She was surprised by how deep the hole was, it was a descent of maybe sixty feet before she was standing by her teammates in an open area large enough to hold them all. Haley stood upright, surprised again that the ceiling was that high.
"So much work must have gone into digging this," Timothy said. Like the others he had taken out his pencil flashlight but as policy only one or two of them used the light at a time. "Pretty impressive."
Josef examined the walls dubiously. "This wouldn't work in a wet swampy area." He pointed at the tunnel behind them, and drew his folding bow from its velcro straps. The bow snapped open and he strung it. "I'll go first."
"If you insist..." whispered Haley to herself, then added, "The breeze is really noticeable down here. How do vagrants manage to draw fresh air down into a hole in the ground?"
Ahead in the tunnel, Josef said, "I think we'll find stranger mysteries than that going on down here." The four members of the new team followed behind him. More than two hundred feet further ahead, the dirt tunnel ended suprisingly upon a brick wall. It was stained and chipped by the passing of time, and there was no way around it. The tunnel just stopped there.
"Too weird," Haley said as she poked around the wall. "I can feel the air currents but I have no idea how they are getting through. This is more than a little spooky, if you ask me."
"There must be some way to open this," Josef said, "but damned if I see it." He was probing the bricks intently. "Timothy, do your friends see a latch or section that swings on a pivot?"
Holding up his hand, Timothy Limbo dismissed the casper. The tiny swirls of haze could not been seen in the dim light. "Nope, sorry. They say they can't get through and they can squeeze under a bank vault door."
"And how do you know that?" asked Haley.
The Blind Archer exhaled in annoyance. "All right. We need to use our big gun. Jocelyn, you think your Spectre can blow this wall open for us?"
The Australian girl said, "No problem. My Gammon could blast the whole thing apart but I suppose you don't want the tunnel to fall down." Long years of travel had left her without a discernible accent and she seldom used the regional slang of her childhood. "How about a small hole to begin with?"
"Fine," Josef answered. "Maybe everyone should step back a bit."
As her teammates withdrew about ten feet into the tunnel behind them, Jocelyn took a deep breath and braced herself, feet planted well apart and her weight balanced. Floating out from within her body came a flat two-dimensional blur of dark red energy. As it hovered in mid-air, it could be seen more clearly. The Gammon was the same size and general shape of Jocelyn Garimara herself, with no visible features. It was dark red with a thin white outline around its edges and a crackling noise accompanied its appearance.
Watching from a prudent distance, the team held their breaths. Jocelyn called on her Gammon sparingly and its appearances were rare enough that they had not gotten used to it. The Red Spectre turned its featureless head as if staring at Jocelyn for confirmation, then flashed at the brick wall exactly like a bolt of lightning. Thunder roared deafeningly in the tunnel and echoed back and forth. The Spectre reformed, swung around and dove back into Jocelyn's waiting body.
Rubbing their ears as the ringing left them partially deaf for the moment, the KDF team approached. A hole four feet across had been blasted in the wall. Steam rose from its edges. Josef peered through, seeing that wall was six inches thick. On the other side was a larger tunnel, walled with ancient bricks, branching off on two directions.
Coming up right behind him, Haley whistled. "Wow. Doesn't look like a sewer, thank God.. I was afraid we'd be wading through cold you-know." Her voice sounded odd to herself, but her hearing was returning.
"No," the Blind Archer answered. "I think this was for a subway but it has been sealed off for decades." He lifted a leg and stepped through the opening with bow in hand. "Maybe a hundred years or so ago..."
As they followed him, Timothy Limbo said, "You know, where's the light coming from?"
No one could figure that out. Like the fresh air, this walled-off underground station was clearly visible in a soft diffused light that had no source they could see. "Weird," Haley said. "This makes my skin crawl."
Jocelyn Garimara always looked thoughtful, that was her basic personality, but now her huge dark eyes were more serious than usual. "It's good we have chosen to investigate this, Josef. Something unnatural is at work."
Standing on the black and white tiled floor, flanked by two unmarked doors which were boarded shut and had not been opened in many years, Josef Jubilec could not disagree. "More than just a group of vagrants robbing stores at night. Let's go this way."
After only going a short distance, they came out on a large open space with a high ceiling. In the lowered strip to their left, steel rails were set in the ground with a round bumper plate at the end of the line. The tracks only led sixty feet before stopping at another brick wall. To one side was a wide staircase that had been intended to lead up to the street but it too had been sealed off.
In a rough circle, six unclean men in rags watched them with open hostility. Piles of blankets and sleeping bags marked off their personal territories. There were stacks of canned food, jugs of bottled water and a cardboard box crammed with empty beer and soda cans. The vagrants were sitting around a battery-powered radio on the floor which was set to the police band. As the five strangers appeared out of the darkness, one of the men scrambled awkwardly up onto his feet and yanked out a shoddy .32 revolver.
IV.
Before he even managed to point that gun, a hard rubber knob smashed against his hand, sending the pistol flying from a numb grip. Fifteen feet away, Josef lowered his bow. Even those who had been looking right at him had not seen him select an arrow from the quiver on his back. There was good reason why the sect of Blind Archers were so feared wherever they were known.
"My hand! You broke my hand, mister!"
"That could easily have been an arrow with a steel point," Josef told him. "You men are in no danger from us, we are not the police. Nor are we here to take you away."
One of the other men got to his feet. The white beard had been trimmed with scissors but the long disordered hair had not seen a barber in some time. "How the hell did you even get down here anyway?"
"It's what we do," Josef told him unhelpfully. "We are looking for Imperatus."
"Imperatus! Now I know you're from the government," said the oldest vagrant.
"Shut up, you fool," hissed the injured man who was gingerly inspecting his hand. From the way he moved his fingers and could make a fist, evidently nothing was actually broken. "Never heard of no Imperatus. Get out of here!"
"It won't be that easy," the Blind Archer said. Beside him, Demrak Jin reached behind her shoulder to grasp the hilt of her bone-blade knife.
"Let ME do the questioning," she whispered. "I will start with the fat one, there, the one with the glasses. He looks frightened already. I will start with his fingernails...."
As several of the homeless men shrank back, Josef put a restraining hand on Jin's thin shoulder. "No torture. We've talked about this."
"It works, that is all I have to say." She sniffed and stepped back beside her team mates, still giving the bespectacled man an appraising stare as if deciding where to cut first.
"Why is it so warm down here?" Haley suddenly blurted out. "We're in a sealed chamber sixty feet down. It should be freezing but I'm starting to sweat."
"Good question," added Jocelyn beside her. "Add that to the light from nowhere and the fresh air. This place makes no sense any way you look at it."
Josef took a menacing step toward the huddled vagrants. His weathered face and deepset dark blue eyes could be genuinely scary, he had lived a hard life as a mercenary and counter-assassin and it showed. "You're going to give us answers!"
"We ain't talking," muttered the oldest man, going back to his can of beer and turning his eyes downward.
Haley Lawson tried being reasonable. "Look. You men can't leave here without us seeing how you get in and out. We're well fed and rested, we can wait you out."
There was no answer. Josef glanced back at Timothy. "Any luck with your little friends?"
"Nothing so far," the young man admitted. "I have three caspers looking for any openings, even a small air vent. Nada, zilch."
"All right then, we need to do some exploring," Josef decided. "That wall blocking the tracks to begin with. Jocelyn, can you blast an opening for us?"
She had started to reply when everyone gave a start at an unexpected clicking noise behind them. In the grimy wall which still held scraps of an ancient poster that was no longer legible, a gap appeared in the tiles in a vertical line. A doorway swung inward and a bizarre figure peered out at them. He was a big man, wearing a robe of some dark green material with yellow trim, sashed at the waist. The face was deformed and swollen as if by some infection, the longish brown hair hung loose to his shoulders. And the strange man stared at them with red-irised eyes.
"Come with me, intruders," the man said. He hesitated with the words and his accent was unfamiliar. "But I fear you will regret learning the answers you seek."
"Kembali, no!" yelled one of the homeless men. "They will bring the authorities and take us away 'for our own good.' Please..."
The weird man held up a gnarled hand with only three fingers and a thumb. "It is the will of Imperatus. Do you defy him?"
"No...no, of course not."
The man called Kembali gestured to the KDF team. "Come then. I hope you like surprises," he said with an unpleasant chuckle.
As they entered a narrow corridor behind that trick door, Josef led the way but he realized his bow might not be at its most useful in cramped spaces. With Demrak Jin right behind him and aching for a fight, though, he thought he could always just step aside and let her face an attack. They walked in silence down a long hallways not wide enough to let them go two abreast, with the same mysterious light and fresh air they had been puzzled by all along. The tiles on the walls stopped at a certain point to be replaced by rough unfinished stone.
Their guide did not speak and they did not question him. Eventually, the party halted in front of a pair of tall wooden doors guarded by another man in a brown wool robe. Although unappealing to say the least, his face was not as grotesque as those of their guide. His eyes were red too, though, and reflected the light in a feline manner. This man was leaning on a long thick staff topped with a leaf-shaped blade held on by wire.
"Hah! Kembali, you bring tourists to a part of the world they are not likely to see otherwise," observed the guard.
"Whatever Imperatus orders, I carry out," Kembali admitted. "Otherwise, I would die before I let outsiders see our City Beneath the City. Will you let us pass?"
The guard bowed and stepped aside, opening one of the doors with his free hand. "I also obey Imperatus.. as we all must."
As the door swung outward, stifling heat and dazzling light spilled out into the corridor. The new KDF team followed Kembai onto a platform that gave them their first view of Tamerlet.. the City Beneath the City.
V.
For long moments, they were breathless at the sight. Far below them, dozens of stone buildings stretched out in orderly rows with avenues between them. The buildings were not more than two stories high and most were painted with vivid patterns on the outer walls. Smoke came from a few chimneys here and there. In those narrow streets between buildings, huddled shapes scurried about whatever business they might have, carrying baskets or bundles. The hunched figures were wrapped in drab coarse robes. The city was nearly silent, with none of the chatter found in most human gatherings.
The stench of sulphur rose up in the heated air. It was like stepping from a cool air-conditioned office out onto a summer sidewalk. Haley gasped and whispered to Jocelyn, "Someone loves rotten eggs!"
"Too right," the Australian woman said. "Smell that? These people raise a lot of mushrooms, I bet, and guess what they use for fertilizer."
Turning, Kembali's gruesome face split in a grin that did not make it more attractive. "Not what you expected, eh?"
"Not at all," Josef Jubilec answered. "I have no trouble admitting it."
"Follow me, then," the deformed man said as he started down long stone steps carved from the wall of the cavern. There was no handrail and the KDF members took pains to descend safely. Eventually, they were standing on the floor of the city.Several of the citizens paused to stare at the outsiders. Like Kembali, their faces were swollen and often discolored in patches, and the red eyes gleamed in the bright light from nowhere. But a glare from Kembali sent the curious city-dwellers on their way.
"I can't handle this aroma," Haley said. As Windcatcher, she had the ability to summon air from anywhere in the world. Usually, she brought winds to lift her in a semblance of flight but now she teleported clean clear air from somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and surrounded herself and her team with it.
"Oh, that's more comfortable," Timothy Limbo sighed. "Thanks, Hales."
Kembali marched them onto the main avenue of the city, wider than the other streets, with a few market stalls set up on either side. As they hurried along, the team noticed a great deal of items that must have been brought down from the LA streets. Magazines, clothing and shoes, even fresh fruit like bananas and bags of tangerines. "Now we know where all the loot from the robberies has been going," Haley said.
Ahead of them was a building larger and more ornate than the rest. Its front doors were flanked by six-foot high columns and the walls had streaks and swirls of green and yellow in patterns that seemed to be words in some esoteric language. Two more guards with spears stood on the steps in front of this building, but they were hardly distorted in appearance at all. In a normal crowd on the city above, they would not have drawn undue attention. Greeting Kembali and trying not to stare at the outsiders, they admitted the party.
Josef and his team found themselves in a sort of waiting room, a good-sized chamber with padded benches along the wall. A long sideboard held platters of cheese, crackers and fruit, with bottles of wine and goblets alongside. As they entered, a tall busty woman in a green and yellow robe put down her wine glass and turned to face them. She had a minimum of the facial distortion that seemed to afflict the population, only some swelling along the jawline and a purple streak down one temple. The bright golden hair that reached past her shoulder blades was decorated with silver threads.
"Kembali! I heard you were bringing visitors, so I rushed from the workshop to see for myself," she said with the strange sibilant accent he showed.
Stepping forward toward the outsiders, she held up her open hand by her face in a sort of salute. "Greetings! Welcome to the Kingdom of Tamberlay, the City Beneath the City. I am Lady Meneeru, highest of the ruling family and cousin to great Imperatus himself."
Josef began introducing himself and his team. To her credit, Meneeru took the time to match the names to the faces as she studied them. She seemed intrigued most by Demrak Jin, who was giving her a sour glare. "This one is not like the others," she said at last. "I sense she has lived in or near the sea most of her life...?"
"Yes," Jin answered bluntly.
As Meneeru smiled at the rebuff, a door at the end of the hall opened and two of the citizens hobbled out. They were older men, so bent and twisted they seemed they should hardly be able to walk at all but they rushed out at a good pace, arguing under their breath. It was not English they spoke but something vaguely Northern European.
"Ah," the tall blonde woman said. "Imperatus has ruled on their dispute. Family businesses so often go wrong. We may enter now."
There were no soldiers or guards in the throne room, which struck Josef as odd. On a bench along the left wall, a withered elderly man was bent over, scribbling furiously in an ordinary loose-leaf binder. Standing just behind the throne were two pre-teen boys in shorts and tunics, evidently messengers ready for assignment. Their faces were just beginning to show signs of distortion. But all anyone noticed when entering would be the man on the throne.
A long wide red carpet led from the door where they entered to the foot of the elaborate carven throne, which sat on a dais under a chandelier. Seated bolt upright in that royal seat was a tall powerfully-built man in the green and yellow robes of the ruling family, although his had a crest of some symbol sewn on the left breast. The long glossy black hair was bound by a silver crown which had no gems in it but which did rise at either temple to form stylized eagle wings. The face which watched them approach was wide-jawed and haughty, tilted back slightly. Aside from the crimson eyes, he had none of the deformity common to the denizens of this city.
"Wow," Haley said to no one in particular, "Imperatus isn't half bad. Wonder if he needs a princess?"
"Hush," said Jocelyn, looking anxious.
As they neared the end of the carpet at the foot of the throne, Imperatus spoke in a deep, controlled voice. "Stop there." His accent was marked, and he spoke slowly and clearly as if to compensate. "You will not be required to kneel today, since this is your first audience with us and we make allowances. Kembali, Meneeru.. be seated, dear cousins."
Josef Jubilec had unstrung his bow as they entered, and now he folded it on its hinge so as to seem less like a possible threat. "This city is an astounding achievement. And for your people to have built it without anyone on the surface suspecting its existence...."
"Many hands have labored," Imperatus answered. "This is not our first stronghold, since we abandoned the former city beneath Berlin. Even now, another colony of our people have nearly finished preparing the new home for us to settle."
"You are moving?" Josef asked. "After all this work to establish yourself here?"
Imperatus raised a hand to silence him. "You do not know the history of your kin and mine. Centuries ago, we revealed ourselves and were slaughtered and persecuted and driven into hiding again. Your kind thought we were monsters, changelings. Ever since, we have been safe because we are unknown."
"It may not be like that now," Josef said. "We are more tolerant than we used to be. I think our peoples might be able to co-existent peacefully."
Imperatus brought a clenched fist down on the arm of his throne. "It is not your kind who would be in danger. The safety of everyone in Tamberlay is a heavy responsibility."
"This might be getting a little personal," the Blind Archer suggested, "but medical science has made huge advances in recent years. Whatever is afflicting your people, mutating them, perhaps a treatment or even cure is possible."
For the first time, the rugged face of Imperatus showed emotion as he smiled. "There is something you do not know, Human. Perhaps it would be best if you were shown what is both our boon and our curse."
Both Kembali and Meneeru were up on their feet protesting, talking over each other in their agitation. When Imperatus raised his open hand, they became silent at once. "Be at ease," he told them. "We feel it is best for these intruders to understand the situation before their fate is decided."
That last phrase struck the KDF team like a splash of ice water. They silently drew slightly closer together, facing outward a little to form a circle. Demrak Jin did not reach for her long knife, but she was planning her moves if fighting broke out.
Standing up slowly and stepping down from the throne, Imperatus stood before the outsiders. He was a head taller than Josef, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Although he was not bearing any weapons, he did not call for guards. "My cousins, you will accompany us. We have not viewed the Dead One in too long a time. Perhaps its presence will give us a jolt we need." He gestured to the intruders. "Follow us, and open your minds. You will see what no one from the world above has ever been granted."
He moved on without another word, leading through a door hidden behind a tapestry, along a twisting corridor whose floor gradually began to slant downward. Twice, Imperatus had two open massive doors with a large key he had fastened to a band around his waist under the robe. The descent went on for some time, the air grew sultry and Haley surreptitiously summoned cool mountain to surround them. The young interns of the KDF found it hard to be silent after a while.
At one point, Josef saw Timothy Limbo hold up his hand as a casper appeared swirling over it. He raised an eyebrow in question, but Timothy just shrugged and said nothing.
Finally, after it seemed they had gone for miles into the earth, the passage ended at an oak door fastened with an iron bar. On that door was the universal warning sign of a human skull. Imperatus turned back to those following him, and his expression was tense, maybe even nervous. With explanation, he lifted the heavy iron bar from its slot and leaned it against the wall, then pulled the massive door open on old hinges that squeaked in protest.
The chamber within was illuminated with the strange light that filled the undergound city, and they saw now that this was its source, as well as the warmth in caverns that should be freezing. In the center of that chamber, a waist high railing surrounded the circular mouth of a pit twenty feet across. Up from that pit shone the greenish light, as waves of hot air stinking of sulphur rolled up in gusts. With a finger to his lips for silence, Imperatus led his cousins and the outsiders over to stand by the railing. Josef and his team stared down at the Dead One.
VI.
At the bottom of the pit, filling it, was the tremendous bulk of what seemed to be at first a colossal squid with a red hide. At a second look, many differences could be seen. The staring eyes, large as dinner plates, were set higher on the head and had an unsettling human aspect. Two short blunt horns protruded from the top of the head and a bifurcated fin ran down the mantle. The tentacles were coiled around the massive cadaver, so their length was difficult to estimate, but there seemed to be more than ten of the appendages.
The thing was definitely dead, it appeared, yet even so, light and heat radiated up that shaft to rush over them. Imperatus regarded the great bulk somberly, then turned to his visitors. "What would you make of this, then?"
"It's an Obanchu," Josef replied casually. "A creature of the Sulla Chun. Very powerful, very malevolent. We're lucky it's dead all right, or all of us would either be dead ourselves or barking insane right now." He stared at the brute. "Not even a Sulla Chun, just one of its offspring, and even dead it's still potent."
Behind them, the burly Kembali started forward in a rage. "You are making this up! How could you know such things?"
Stopping his cousin with a simple palm pressed to the man's chest, Imperatus said quietly, "This outsider is correct. Our lore names this Dead One an Obanchu, and We have long suspected it was a servant of some kind to even greater Old Gods. The outsider is learned. We think there is need to talk...?"
Seeing Imperatus was hinting for a name, his cousin Meneeru stepped in, "He is called Josef, my lord." She pronounced the name 'Yosef' but the Blind Archer dikd not see the need to correct her. "He is leader of this team who investigate what they consider strange and inexplicable."
"That is true, my lord," Josef began but Imperatus stopped him with that gesture for silence.
"You are not one of our subjects and so should not address us in that manner. 'Your Majesty' would be the proper form." He turned back to thoughtfully watch the unmoving hulk at the bottom of the pit. "The gralic force which the Dead One gives off even now is what is making our people misshapen and unsightly. Yet its benefits are great, too. We may be immortal. Our subjects that you saw are those who built this city more than a hundred years ago, when Los Angeles was a mere town. We age so slowly that it is hard to notice. The royal family were youths then, little more than children, and we stopped aging when we reached maturity."
"Wait, wait," Haley interrupted at last. "Are you telling us that you yourself are a hundred years old? And you have been king of these poor crippled up folks all that time?"
Imperatus let a stern tone enter his voice. "We speak only truth, child. There is still more. Growing through puberty in the presence of the Dead One seems to have gifted our royal family with unusual abilities. Only a few babies have been born down here for whatever reason, and we will be interested to see what powers they exhibit as they grow. If any."
The ruler of the underground city turned away from the pit with an effort. It obviously had an hypnotic effect on him. "Come. Let us repair to a feast. Whatever your deposition will be, for now you are guests of the court and should be well treated. We feel there is much to discuss."
As everyone left the chamber, they paused to watch Imperatus close and bar the door again. Then the long hike began upward, ending as they emerged into the throne room. Imperatus beckoned to one of pages. "Here, boy! Tell the cooks to set places for five more at the great table. Seat them at the head so we may speak with them, and arrange apologies to those who normally would be seated there. Quick now!"
As the youth took off at a trot, Imperatus caught the disapproving expressions on the faces of Kembali and Meneeru. He raised a finger and waggled it in reprisal. "Have faith in our judgement, dear kindred. Have we not guided our people through so many dangers already?"
The burly form of Kembali bowed low. "The will of Imperatus is my law," he said but a grudging quality could not be hidden in his voice.
"And you, our lady?"
The blonde woman Meneeru drew herself up to her full impressive height and met his eyes squarely. "You are wiser than I in these matters, my lord. My doubts and misgivings cannot be taken in consideration."
The page came hurrying back into the throne room and dropped to one knee. "All ia ready, lord. The chef wishes to say he is very pleased with the beef tonight."
"Come then," Imperatus said. He pointed "History in Tamberlay is being made in more ways than one."
The outsiders were seated facing each other at the head of a long table covered with a fine silk cloth. China plates and good silverware were placed before them, and immediately servants began bringing out the food. Despite the KDF team's concerns about being served weird underground grub, the meal was normal roast beef in a heavy brown sauce, sweet potatoes, yellow rice and black beans and side dishes of hard-boiled eggs in garlic in little bowls. Wine both rose and red were offered, along with tall goblets of ice water. The only odd touch was that mushrooms completely covered the meat and those who did not care for them simply put them to one side.
Taking his seat in a high-backed chair at the table's head, Imperatus for some reason removed his crown and placed it on a shelf built into the chair. This seemed to be a Tamerlet custom, as was the practice of having hot damp cloths handed to everyone from time to time. The underground people wiped their hands and faces with these cloths and the guests followed the practice.
As the meal went on, the conversation consisted mostly of Imperatus interrogating Josef over his knowledge of the Obanchu and the Midnight War in general, then of what had brought the KDF team down here investigating. The Blind Archer answered with seeming frankness but he was experienced dealing with international criminals and with warlocks. Even his answers drew information from his host.
After the main course was cleared away, lighter fare was brought out. Shrimp salads, wedges of cheese and sliced fruit, even dishes of ice cream. Several of the Tamerletans at the table lit cigarettes and puffed away contentendly with no one criticizing them. As Josef finished a slice of Camembert, Imperatus turned to the outsider at his left, Haley Lawson. "We must apologize for neglecting you, child. There was so much to cover. We hope the cuisine was acceptable?"
"Oh, it's fine. You know what I'm wondering, your majesty? Aren't you curious about the world above you? You're under Los Angeles, there is so much to see. Don't you want to go up and explore it?" The Windcatcher chatted as informally with royalty as she would have with a cab driver.
Imperatus reacted with polite indulgence. "Ah, but we have, dear. Fortunately, the effects of the Dead One have left this one appearing normal except for eye color and tinted glasses conceal that. We have seen Paris, London, even Hong Kong. This keeps us informed of the upper world's doing."
He stopped to take a final sip of ice water. "In fact, years ago, before you were born dare it be said, We met a man you know well. We disagreed and even clashed but We hope our parting was amicable. He was known as the Dire Wolf."
Now Josef almost choked on a biscuit. "The Dire...? You met Jeremy Bane? Our captain?"
"Oh yes. He was a young man at the time, of course, no older than this lady is if we may say so."
"You're bugging me with that habit about referring yourself in the plural!" Haley snapped out of nowhere.
"That is known as the Royal 'We', since a monarch speaks for the kingdom as well," Imperatus answered without offense. The bright red eyes fixed on Haley's green ones with amusement. "As an American, you are not familiar with royalty."
"Naw, we just have super-rich people and celebrities," she laughed. "They're our version of royalty."
Rising, Imperatus seemed to be giving a signal for everyone to stand as well. "No, no, our friends. Please take your rest and enjoy the meal. We must attend to business with our guests." He carefully placed the winged crown on his head again and stepped away from the table. "Our apologies we did not have chance to speak with our friends tonight as this is a special occasion. Yosef, you and your team will accompany us. Good Kembali, Lady Meneeru, attend us as well."
The ruler of the City Beneath the City did not return to the throne room as they had expected but swung down a different corridor. At one point, two of the spearmen encountered the party and he gestured for them to follow. With the three Tamerletans and the five outsiders, it was getting to be a sizeable group. Imperatus led them to a portion of the palace that seemed almost chilly and stale, in contrast to the rest of the city. Here was a wide concrete ramp that led down to a wall with heavy flanking doors which held smalled barred window.
"Honored guests..." Imperatus began, but this time it was Josef Jubilec who interrupted.
"Team," he barked, "If they get us in that dungeon, we'll have trouble getting out. Let's go." With that, he snapped his bow into the open position.
At once, the two guards brought their spears down into position but they were already dying. Demrak Jin had whipped her long knife from its sheath and swung it left and right to slide its bone blade across their throats. Windpipes severed, choking on their own blood, the guards fell to their knees and then on to their faces. Wheeling about, the tiny Gelydra woman took a threatening step toward Imperatus. "I will die before I am chained," she snarled in a nonhuman voice. "And you will die before I do."
Unimpressed, the ruler of the underground city came forward to meet her attack. The bone blade gleamed in a white arc that stopped short as Imperatus caught it in his bare hand. Demrak Jin tugged furiously but could not wrench her weapon free. "Grelok's horns!" she cursed.
"A gift from the Dead One," Imperatus said and released the knife, letting Jin tumble to the damp stone floor as she lost her balance. "Density control is a useful attribute."
Josef had fitted an arrow to his string, one with a bulbous metal head. "There is explosive in this one," he said. "Shall we see what limits your density has?" His teammates came around behind him, even Jin who was fuming with indignation.
"Our lord does not stand alone," rumbled Kembali in a voice suddenly much deeper. Josef whirled just as a fist bigger than his head whizzed at him, barely missing when he dropped back a step. Kembali had grown until Josef's head barely reached the center of the Tamerletan's chest. The deformed man's robe had split and fallen off him, leaving him wearing only a thin sort of cotton kilt he had been wearing under it. The giant lunged for Josef, then came up short and started pawing at his face in alarm.
Timothy Limbo whisperered to Josef, "My caspers are keeping him distracted. Nothing like having little blurs across your eyesight to make you worry."
As the huge Kembali blinked and wiped his eyes because of the vague wisps that kept passing over them, Josef looked back at Imperatus. "Well, you guys are full of surprises. The royal family, hey? You have density, he has growth. I suppose next the blonde over there will sprout wings?"
"You mock what you do not understand," Imperatus shouted. "Meneeru, perhaps you will demonstrate your own gift."
The tall woman frowned at the sight of her confused cousin still worrying about his vision. "Oh, outsiders. You know nothing. My lord can grow immaterial and walk through walls or become more dense than stone. My cousin can grow twice as tall as a tall man or reduce himself to the size of a mouse."
"And you? We're waiting."
Meneru raised her fists. "If I wish, I may flare up brighter than the midday sun I barely remember. But I think, using my gift in the other way may be a more amusing method." With that, the air around her shimmered and she vanished from view. A second later, the crisp crack of a hard blow sounded and Josef took it without any defense raised. He stumbled and almost fell.
"How can you defy an invisible enemy?" Imperatus said as he watched. "Meneeru can strike you all night if she wishes. We say you outsiders should surrender now, avoid being beaten and accept your fate."
"Oh get off your high horse," Haley Lawson scoffed. "You haven't dealt with Windcatcher before!" She threw back her long cloak from her shoulders and a rushing blast of Antarctic wind poured out to sweep over the area where Meneeru had been standing. That air had been summoned from a storm near the South Pole and it carried a wind chill forty degrees below zero. The unseen woman shrieked and there was a thud as she fell. Her still invisible form was covered with a thin coating of ice crystals which left her as an outline.
"Another few seconds of that and she would be getting frostbite all over," Haley announced. "Look, your majesty if I may call you that, you've got the situation all backwards. You should be surrendering to us."
Imperatus was stunned by the sudden reversals. He started forward to check if Meneeru was all right, then stopped as he saw the towering Kembali receive two anesthetic darts from Timothy Limbo's air-powered gun. The giant swayed and fell over backwards. As he dismissed the caspers, Timothy swung the dart gun around to cover Imperatus. "Look, no matter how tough you are, you can't handle the likes of us. Be realistic."
As he spoke, a half dozen more of the spear-carrying guards came racing down the sloping hallway. Jocelyn Garimara said, "This is getting tiresome." She braced herself and unleashed her Gammon. A blur of dark red force slid out of her body and hovered in front of the suddenly terrified guards. This close to the Red Spectre, their hair was standing straight out in all directions and their skin tingled painfully as if getting shocked by static electricity. The weird apparition drifted closer and pointed back the way they had come. Terrified beyond memory of their duty, the guards spun and took off at a full run.
Jocelyn faced Imperatus and her Red Spectre came to glide in between them protectively. "Touching my Gammon is getting struck by lightning, mate," she explained. "Do you want to see how it feels?"
All the smug self-assurance had been knocked out of the monarch. For a long minute, he got as far as opening his mouth but could not form words. Finally, he managed to get out, "Of course I-- We would not. Who ARE you people?"
"We are the top world's version of your royal family," laughed Haley.
Frowning, Josef Jubilec lowered his bow and eased the tension on the string. "We will be leaving now, Imperatus. It's a problem what to do with you. Obviously, we can't arrest an entire city of people. Even taking you and your cousins into custody would be a problem. We don't hold prisoners indefinitely."
"Simple solutions are the best," said Demrak Jin, cleaning her blade on a dead guard's clothing. "Leave me with these three and they will be no further trouble."
"We don't do that, either," Josef sighed, "although it's tempting. We must follow Tel Shai ethics if you kids are going to be accepted by the Order as students. Let's see. Imperatus, I'll tell you what. Just keep a low profile. Cut down on the robberies to only necessities. What's with the missing persons we heard about?"
"There were four last week," the ruler admitted. "Young men in a street gang. They followed one of our people who was bringing blankets back here. We were watching from a distance. They began to abuse him and We thought he was in danger. Changing to greater density, we slew them quickly and we took them down here. Their bodies feed the mushroom fields."
"Oh Jeez," said the Blind Archer. "Okay. I admit that those thugs were no great loss to society but even so. You can't do that. Here's my final call. We will monitor this area and if there are an unusual number of suspicious deaths or disappearances, my team will return with more like us to destroy this place. You may not know the Dire Wolf is still active and as dangerous as ever. He would be our leader."
Head lowered, Imperatus seemed shrunken and deflated. These terms were like nothing his proud spirit had ever had to accept. "We see no choice. Our first responsibility is to keep our people safe and our city as well. We accept. Go now, a messenger will accompany you back to the surface world."
Folding his bow on its hinge, Josef looked over his team to be sure they had followed the conversation. They all nodded in acceptance. He finally said to Imperatus, "I'm sorry everything worked out this way. Somehow I feel if things had gone differently, we might have been allies."
With sorrow in his red eyes, the ruler of Tamerlay exhaled deeply. "Who knows? The future is an unwritten book and both our stories are far from over."
2/6/2016
8/17-8/19/2013
I.
Almost four AM in the rough neighborhood of Westfield on the edges of East LA. Josef Jubilec strode down a side street past an old bowling alley that had been boarded up years ago. He was a fit man two inches over six feet tall and dressed all in dark clothing... boots, pants, waist-length jacket. On his back was a knapsack longer than usual, and he held in his right hand a strange-looking device that looked like a wooden hoop. As he passed the single bulb burning over the door of the old bowling alley, Josef's long bony face with its short-cropped sandy hair could be clearly seen. He glanced around suspiciously and then kept walking.
A shiny black car slowed as it passed him. Not a glimpse of its occupants could be seen through the tinted windows, although the booming bass of the music was audible a block away. The car sped up again. Evidently, the people in the car saw nothing in Jubilec to interest them. As the car rounded the next corner, the Blind Archer smiled to himself. He had not seen a police cruiser in an hour, just cars full of drug dealers or cars with middle-aged men searching for hookers.
Josef paused at the corner. Across the street was a field through which a railroad track ran. There was a low wire fence that had been knocked down in several places. Josef saw a metal barrel surrounded by garbage, a sure sign that vagrants used it to burn scrap wood on chilly nights. He turned to look left and right, wondering if he should head back to the hotel and get some sleep before his team arrived later the next morning... well, this morning actually.
Then he spotted movement. Over by the railroad tracks, two dark figures were creeping through the gloom. One was short and squat, the other well over six feet tall and wearing a long coat of some sort. They were carrying bundles. The furtive movements and constant glancing in all directions would have seemed suspicious to any observer.
Watching them, determining that they had not noticed him standing next to the closed up building, the Blind Archer thumbed a button on the device he held, and the bow snapped open on its hinge by the grip. He disliked using a gimmicky folding bow such as this, being a purist who prefered a handcarved longbow, but when he was out in public he felt the folding bow was a little less conspicuous. He strung the bow and satisfied himself that it was ready.
Before he stepped out into the street, Josef reached behind his left shoulder and undid the top flap of his knapsack. The feathered ends of a dozen three-foot-long arrows were exposed. The knapsack was actually a quiver he had fashioned himself. He did not draw a shaft just yet, but crossed the street and began to follow the two sneaking figures by the tracks. As he approached, the smaller one caught sight of them and squawked in alarm. This close, Josef could make out that the smaller one was dressed in rags, including fingerless gloves and a wool hat pulled low on his head. He was carrying three plastic bags that were filled with some items.
Beside him, the tall figure swung around, his long coat swirling. Josef pegged him immediately as the real threat. Speeding up his pace, the Blind Archer called out, "Hold it, you two! I just want a few words."
The taller figure had longish black hair tied back in a ponytail. He clapped the other man on the shoulder and said in a deep bass voice, "Run, my friend. I will catch up to you."
"Yes, Imperatus! Hurry." As the smaller man took off at an awkward lope, the tall man suddenly raced directly at Josef with startling speed. He hurtled over the uneven ground faster than an Olympic sprinter. Alarmed at this unexpected twist, the Blind Archer reacted just as quickly. A shaft was notched and let fly in a flash. Josef had selected an arrow with a head of round hard rubber rather than one with a point. At the speed an arrow from his bow flew, those rounded heads struck with the force of a heavyweight boxer.
The arrow struck the onrushing man directly on the forehead and bounced off without any effect. Josef was startled and there was no time for a second shaft. The stranger called Imperatus was upon him in a rush, and one fist that felt like a block of iron crashed hard against the side of his face. The Blind Archer fell heavily onto his side, not entirely unconscious but dazed enough to be helpless. After a few minutes, his head cleared. Like other Tel Shai knights, decades on the tagra diet of Tel Shai had enhanced his body's healing beyond what medical science could explain. He leaped back onto his feet, not having let go of the bow even in his stunned condition, but both men were gone.
Josef searched the area for an hour but found nothing. It would be getting light soon. He walked briskly back the way he had come, folding his bow again and strapping it across the top of his knapsack. Entering a better neighborhood eventually, he found his rental car untouched where he had left it. He felt disappointed and sullen over the events. At least he would be able to get a few hours sleep before his team arrived from New York.
II.
By two o'clock that afternoon, the four interns had leased their own car at the airport and found the Hyatt where Josef waited. He had rented two adjoining suites for the next few days, one for the girls and one for himself and Timothy. They had gotten used to camping together in jungles and deserts and icefields as part of their training but he felt it avoided friction to segregate them by gender. In his room, everyone quickly set themselves up. Demrak Jin and Jocelyn Garimara claimed the short couch, Timothy Limbo pulled over a chair from the writing desk to face everyone and Haley Lawson blithely dropped down on the nearer of the two beds and removed her shoes.
Watching them, Josef Jubilic had deep misgivings. He just did not feel they were ready for a mission. True, he himself had not yet been twenty years old when he had broken away from the sect of Blind Archers and struck out on his own. And he knew in an objective way that the former team of KDF members had also been very young when they had first joined. It didn't matter. He wasn't happy with leading these inexperienced kids into danger and he would have aborted this mission if he could.
After napping and showering, Josef had changed into Navy blue slacks, a white dress shirt with no tie and a black business suit jacket. As the new team got themselves arranged, he related what had happened not even twelve hours earlier.
"The man clearly has some abilities beyond the Human norm," he said. "No one can just ignore a hard rubber arrowhead to the face. The way he struck me down also showed unusual strength and speed. Finally, his irises were red."
"Oooooh, that's always a bad sign," Haley broke in. At eighteen, she was the youngest of the new members. Windcatcher was tall and thin, five feet eight, with long reddish-brown hair. Under low dark bangs, beautiful lime-green eyes peered out with insolence. "Bright red! Always trouble."
"That's true," Josef said. "I did not get a good look at the other suspect. He was much smaller, dressed in tatters, and he made a run for it so that this 'Imperatus' could handle me."
From the couch, Jocelyn Garimara sighed. She was older than the others, in her late twenties. Her dark smooth skin and straight glossy black hair hinted at her background. Jocelyn was an Australian Aborigine who had been an outcast from her family because of the Red Spectre that had attached itself to her. She was well dressed in a lilac-colored pantsuit, with a silk blouse and thin gold necklace. She hesitated but then said, "And there's a connection with why we have come here, then?"
"That seems clear," Josef said. "This area has seen a rise in missing persons reports in the past three months. There have been many robberies but the items stolen were food, clothing, blankets, that sort of thing. Not the usual items that burglars take." He clasped his hands behind his back and started pacing. "Then there's the way the homeless population has been acting."
"What do you mean?" asked Jocelyn. "What's going on?"
"The usual homeless individuals are not seen in their regular places for a week or two. Then they are spotted, active and all over the place. Then they vanish again."
"Well, that IS odd," Jocelyn said. Her huge dark eyes were introspective. "Where do they go?"
"No one knows," Josef said. "Which is why the LAPD has asked us to dig around a little. Unofficially, as usual."
"That is exactly what bugs me!" Timothy Limbo shouted. He slapped his palm against one knee angrily. He was wearing his usual outfit of motorcycle boots, well-worn jeans and a white T-shirt under a short leather jacket. Timothy was not a big man, several inches under six feet tall and wiry. He had a mop of bright yellow hair that almost got in his own face. "I hate that. If they expect us to do the dirty work, they could at least give us some credit. GahDAM. If any of us get killed on these adventures, the cops will deny they ever heard of us. I hate that."
The Blind Archer smiled dryly. "Yeah. I see your point. But that's always been the way the KDF has functioned. We are off the record, off the books, the little men who weren't there. But we would carry out our work even if we were actively opposed by the authorities. I suppose it's better than having the police trying to stop us and getting in the way."
"I suppose," Timothy grumbled. He did not sound convinced in the slightest.
Josef continued, "So today I propose we become familiar with the Westfield area. It's the bad part of town, and believe me Los Angeles has a few of those. We will get the territory fixed in our heads, come back here to eat and rest for a while. And then, in the middle of the night, we will go out hunting trouble."
Getting off the bed and stretching, Haley Lawson glanced over at the small blonde woman who was sitting motionless on the couch next to Jocelyn. "Say, Jin, you haven't had anything to say about this."
"Words should be better than silence," replied Demrak Jin.
III.
Josef divided them up into pairs to search the vacant area by the railroad tracks that afternoon. His own ability as a Blind Archer enabled him to spot living things even in darkness, fog or heavy rain, but it was not useful seeking inanimate objects. He inspected the metal barrel where tramps and vagrants burned bits of scrap wood and paper for warmth, but found nothing significant.
He did find it interesting how deserted the immediate area was. A few blocks away, children were playing and adults chatted on porches and there was considerable traffic. But near the tracks, people stayed away as if a gas leak had been reported. Where this would have been disturbing or alarming to most, Josef Jubilec was excited. It meant they were on the right track.
As he watched the first car go by that he had seen in fifteen minutes, the Blind Archer wondered what they were getting into. Demrak Jin approached, leaving her teammates to the search. In the bright afternoon sunlight, the young Gelydra looked more than a bit creepy herself. Only a few inches over five feet tall, she was thin and flat-chested in her khaki pants and dark green polo shirt. Jin's white hair was thick and bristly, cut short, and her wide face had a pug nose and perpetual sullen expression. She was not at all pretty by most standards, but Demrak Jin nevertheless had a charisma that some people found attractive. She was someone that was difficult to ignore even when just standing there.
The Gelydra woman had a big handbag slung over her shoulder that contained her dart gun and other KDF gadgets, as well as a bone-bladed knife she had crafted herself. She stepped up to peer distastefully at the garbage around the fire barrel. "Nothing so far, Josef. And yet.. my instincts are warning me. We are near danger as sure as if there was blood in the water."
The Blind Archer agreed. "I feel something too, Jin. I thought it was my imagination." His dark blue eyes moved suspiciously over the area. "Those tracks are in poor condition. I doubt if a train has been on them in twenty years. Judging by this neighborhood, no one is likely to tear them up and erect a mall on this field any time soon."
Jin turned back as she saw the others trotted up with excitement in their faces. "It seems they found something," she grumbled.
Taking big strides with her long legs, Haley Lawson waved at the two by the barrel. "Hey! Hey, you guys. Here we go. You know my powers to summon air have made me more sensitive to air currents, right?"
"No," Demrak Jin answered.
"Well, they do. I'm walking through the broken glass and old newspapers and disgusting items discarded by perverts when I feel air circulating where there shouldn't be any. Over there. That pile of broken rocks and tree branches. Air is getting sucked down into the ground over there." Windcatcher slapped her palms together in satisfaction as if dusting them. "Pretty good, eh?"
"Interesting!" Josef said. "Very interesting. Timothy, want to have one of your friends take a look?"
"I was thinking just that," Timothy Limbo said. He held up a hand and a barely visible wisp appeared, floating just above his palm. It was a tiny tornado of vapor, spinning down to a point, and even in the sunlight they could hardly see it.
"Okay, buddy, get down there and poke around," Timothy said as if talking to a dog he wanted to do a trick. The wisp flashed away and was lost from sight.
"I still can't decide if those caspers have consciousness of their own or if they're just projections of your subconscious or what," Haley said. "Have you figured that out yourself?"
"I'm not sure. Sometimes they seem to act on their own, but that could be my subconscious giving them orders." Timothy shrugged, hitched up his jeans and stuck his thumbs in two belt loops. "They just started showing up a few years ago. My friendly ghosts."
The Blind Archer stared at the rough pile of broken rock that Haley had mentioned. "What's he seeing, Tim?"
"Tunnel of some kind. Dirt walls and hooks or something, neat and dry. He's reached a dead end, he can't get through. That end is sealed up tight." Timothy Limbo held out his hand and the swirling wisp returned to him, then popped out of existence like a soap bubble. "I don't know about you guys, but to me that whole thing seems worth checking out."
"We'll come back later," Josef said, starting to walk back to where they had left their cars.
"In the middle of the night, you mean," Haley mumbled. "Area like this in the wee hours... I think we should bring some shotguns and flamethrowers."
Jocelyn Garimara chuckled as she walked beside the Windcatcher. "We've got something better," she said. "Wherever I am, the Red Spectre is!"
They stopped at an Italian restaurant called Three Brothers on the way back to the hotel. "We're on an expense account, so order whatever you like," Josef said as they claimed a table. Aside from Jin having to be talked out of ordering raw fish as usual, the meal was unremarakable. The new team were young and active and could pack away food at an alarming rate.
Finally, as the waiter started taking their plates, Haley Lawson pushed her chair back. "Ugh. I need to unsnap my pants and lie down on the floor, I'm so stuffed."
"You do not look any different," Jin told her. Sometimes she really was unfamiliar with slang and figures of speech, but her teammates were starting to wonder if the Gelydra just had a dry sense of humor and was acting the part of the stranger in a strange land to some extent.
Paying for the meal with his card, Josef looked over his team. "We have almost seven hours before I want to go back there and start the investigation. I suppose you all can be given free time until then, but I'd want to know where you are in case of emergency."
"I'm just going to hang at the hotel," Haley said. "It's pretty luxurious. I'll soak in the tub, take a nap, watch TV."
"I would like to do the same," Demrak Jin agreed. "There is nothing about this city that appeals to me. I may as well rest until we go into action."
Josef glanced over at the young Aborigine woman who was just nibbling a final breadstick. "Jocelyn, what about you?'
"Hmm. There's a cineplex just down the road from the hotel. I might go see that thriller NO RETURN POSSIBLE with Kate Wieland. I always liked her comedies, maybe I'll check out this movie."
Timothy Limbo stood up and stretched. "You bunch of old fogeys. I am going out to explore the town and have some fun. Never been in LA before."
"I know there is no point in telling you to be careful," Josef Jubilec said more in resignation than anger. "But if and when you get in trouble, send one of your caspers to us and we'll come to the rescue."
"Hah!" Timothy snorted. "When have I ever gotten in trouble?"
"When has the Sun ever come up in the East?" muttered Haley as she got up too.
IV.
At just after two in the morning, they assembled by the tracks. The neighborhood was so quiet it might have been abandoned as if a hurricane was predicted and everyone had evacuated. Here and there, a single light showed in a scattered window but traffic was sparse and the sidewalks empty. They had parked their leased cars on the main street and hurried over to the vacant lot.
Only Josef had the full field suit with inner layer of flexible armor and hidden gadgets. Since the new team were not yet Tel Shai students, the Trom council in New Mexico had not approved for them to have new equipment made. Bending the rules a bit, Megan Salenger had given them all spare communication Links to carry. Each new member wore an anesthetic dart gun and carried a few resonance grenades and smoke capsules, which were not Trom devices.
Timothy as usual wore his boots, jeans and white T-shirt with leather jacket. Joceyln had on hiking shoes, jeans and a dark blouse with a windbreaker over it. Haley wore white sneakers, bright blue shorts and tight white long-sleeved shirt, but she was wrapped in an ankle length blue cloak that fastened at her throat. It was Demrak Jin who was dressed most oddly, in a tight outfit of dull grey sharkhide that was so abrasive to the touch that the other members had learned to just not brush up against her. Strapped across her back was a sheath holding a bone-bladed knife the size and shape of a machete. She had crafted this herself back in Ulgor, when she had come of age.
Each of them carried a powerful pencil flashlight but it was still vaguely light out on the summer night, with the city lights nearby and they had not needed them yet. As they stood around the loose pile of rocks, Haley said, "Oh, I can feel air being drawn down in the ground right here. Josef, put your hand right here."
The Blind Archer did so. "Yes. There's a definite draft. But where's the opening? How do we get down there?"
They poked around and a minute later, Timothy said, "Here! Under these boards." He tugged a couple of rotted two by fours aside, after removing some rocks that had been piled on them. Beneath was a round hole large enough to allow a person entry. Josef shone his flashlight down into the opening.
"Looks like some spikes driven into the sides of the hole. That's how they climb in and out." He adjusted the folding bow fastened to the quiver on his back. "Okay, we're going down. Team, it's obvious we're not dealing with some homeless people down on their luck. That man called Imperatus was stronger and faster than normal, and my arrow didn't even bother him. Be on guard."
"As if we're not already jumpy being in this neighborhood in the middle of the night," Haley muttered, drawing her cloak tighter around her. She was last to sit on the edge of the hole and start climbing down. The railroad spikes had been driven firmly into the hard-packed dirt and were sturdy enough, but it was tricky finding the next one with her foot. She was surprised by how deep the hole was, it was a descent of maybe sixty feet before she was standing by her teammates in an open area large enough to hold them all. Haley stood upright, surprised again that the ceiling was that high.
"So much work must have gone into digging this," Timothy said. Like the others he had taken out his pencil flashlight but as policy only one or two of them used the light at a time. "Pretty impressive."
Josef examined the walls dubiously. "This wouldn't work in a wet swampy area." He pointed at the tunnel behind them, and drew his folding bow from its velcro straps. The bow snapped open and he strung it. "I'll go first."
"If you insist..." whispered Haley to herself, then added, "The breeze is really noticeable down here. How do vagrants manage to draw fresh air down into a hole in the ground?"
Ahead in the tunnel, Josef said, "I think we'll find stranger mysteries than that going on down here." The four members of the new team followed behind him. More than two hundred feet further ahead, the dirt tunnel ended suprisingly upon a brick wall. It was stained and chipped by the passing of time, and there was no way around it. The tunnel just stopped there.
"Too weird," Haley said as she poked around the wall. "I can feel the air currents but I have no idea how they are getting through. This is more than a little spooky, if you ask me."
"There must be some way to open this," Josef said, "but damned if I see it." He was probing the bricks intently. "Timothy, do your friends see a latch or section that swings on a pivot?"
Holding up his hand, Timothy Limbo dismissed the casper. The tiny swirls of haze could not been seen in the dim light. "Nope, sorry. They say they can't get through and they can squeeze under a bank vault door."
"And how do you know that?" asked Haley.
The Blind Archer exhaled in annoyance. "All right. We need to use our big gun. Jocelyn, you think your Spectre can blow this wall open for us?"
The Australian girl said, "No problem. My Gammon could blast the whole thing apart but I suppose you don't want the tunnel to fall down." Long years of travel had left her without a discernible accent and she seldom used the regional slang of her childhood. "How about a small hole to begin with?"
"Fine," Josef answered. "Maybe everyone should step back a bit."
As her teammates withdrew about ten feet into the tunnel behind them, Jocelyn took a deep breath and braced herself, feet planted well apart and her weight balanced. Floating out from within her body came a flat two-dimensional blur of dark red energy. As it hovered in mid-air, it could be seen more clearly. The Gammon was the same size and general shape of Jocelyn Garimara herself, with no visible features. It was dark red with a thin white outline around its edges and a crackling noise accompanied its appearance.
Watching from a prudent distance, the team held their breaths. Jocelyn called on her Gammon sparingly and its appearances were rare enough that they had not gotten used to it. The Red Spectre turned its featureless head as if staring at Jocelyn for confirmation, then flashed at the brick wall exactly like a bolt of lightning. Thunder roared deafeningly in the tunnel and echoed back and forth. The Spectre reformed, swung around and dove back into Jocelyn's waiting body.
Rubbing their ears as the ringing left them partially deaf for the moment, the KDF team approached. A hole four feet across had been blasted in the wall. Steam rose from its edges. Josef peered through, seeing that wall was six inches thick. On the other side was a larger tunnel, walled with ancient bricks, branching off on two directions.
Coming up right behind him, Haley whistled. "Wow. Doesn't look like a sewer, thank God.. I was afraid we'd be wading through cold you-know." Her voice sounded odd to herself, but her hearing was returning.
"No," the Blind Archer answered. "I think this was for a subway but it has been sealed off for decades." He lifted a leg and stepped through the opening with bow in hand. "Maybe a hundred years or so ago..."
As they followed him, Timothy Limbo said, "You know, where's the light coming from?"
No one could figure that out. Like the fresh air, this walled-off underground station was clearly visible in a soft diffused light that had no source they could see. "Weird," Haley said. "This makes my skin crawl."
Jocelyn Garimara always looked thoughtful, that was her basic personality, but now her huge dark eyes were more serious than usual. "It's good we have chosen to investigate this, Josef. Something unnatural is at work."
Standing on the black and white tiled floor, flanked by two unmarked doors which were boarded shut and had not been opened in many years, Josef Jubilec could not disagree. "More than just a group of vagrants robbing stores at night. Let's go this way."
After only going a short distance, they came out on a large open space with a high ceiling. In the lowered strip to their left, steel rails were set in the ground with a round bumper plate at the end of the line. The tracks only led sixty feet before stopping at another brick wall. To one side was a wide staircase that had been intended to lead up to the street but it too had been sealed off.
In a rough circle, six unclean men in rags watched them with open hostility. Piles of blankets and sleeping bags marked off their personal territories. There were stacks of canned food, jugs of bottled water and a cardboard box crammed with empty beer and soda cans. The vagrants were sitting around a battery-powered radio on the floor which was set to the police band. As the five strangers appeared out of the darkness, one of the men scrambled awkwardly up onto his feet and yanked out a shoddy .32 revolver.
IV.
Before he even managed to point that gun, a hard rubber knob smashed against his hand, sending the pistol flying from a numb grip. Fifteen feet away, Josef lowered his bow. Even those who had been looking right at him had not seen him select an arrow from the quiver on his back. There was good reason why the sect of Blind Archers were so feared wherever they were known.
"My hand! You broke my hand, mister!"
"That could easily have been an arrow with a steel point," Josef told him. "You men are in no danger from us, we are not the police. Nor are we here to take you away."
One of the other men got to his feet. The white beard had been trimmed with scissors but the long disordered hair had not seen a barber in some time. "How the hell did you even get down here anyway?"
"It's what we do," Josef told him unhelpfully. "We are looking for Imperatus."
"Imperatus! Now I know you're from the government," said the oldest vagrant.
"Shut up, you fool," hissed the injured man who was gingerly inspecting his hand. From the way he moved his fingers and could make a fist, evidently nothing was actually broken. "Never heard of no Imperatus. Get out of here!"
"It won't be that easy," the Blind Archer said. Beside him, Demrak Jin reached behind her shoulder to grasp the hilt of her bone-blade knife.
"Let ME do the questioning," she whispered. "I will start with the fat one, there, the one with the glasses. He looks frightened already. I will start with his fingernails...."
As several of the homeless men shrank back, Josef put a restraining hand on Jin's thin shoulder. "No torture. We've talked about this."
"It works, that is all I have to say." She sniffed and stepped back beside her team mates, still giving the bespectacled man an appraising stare as if deciding where to cut first.
"Why is it so warm down here?" Haley suddenly blurted out. "We're in a sealed chamber sixty feet down. It should be freezing but I'm starting to sweat."
"Good question," added Jocelyn beside her. "Add that to the light from nowhere and the fresh air. This place makes no sense any way you look at it."
Josef took a menacing step toward the huddled vagrants. His weathered face and deepset dark blue eyes could be genuinely scary, he had lived a hard life as a mercenary and counter-assassin and it showed. "You're going to give us answers!"
"We ain't talking," muttered the oldest man, going back to his can of beer and turning his eyes downward.
Haley Lawson tried being reasonable. "Look. You men can't leave here without us seeing how you get in and out. We're well fed and rested, we can wait you out."
There was no answer. Josef glanced back at Timothy. "Any luck with your little friends?"
"Nothing so far," the young man admitted. "I have three caspers looking for any openings, even a small air vent. Nada, zilch."
"All right then, we need to do some exploring," Josef decided. "That wall blocking the tracks to begin with. Jocelyn, can you blast an opening for us?"
She had started to reply when everyone gave a start at an unexpected clicking noise behind them. In the grimy wall which still held scraps of an ancient poster that was no longer legible, a gap appeared in the tiles in a vertical line. A doorway swung inward and a bizarre figure peered out at them. He was a big man, wearing a robe of some dark green material with yellow trim, sashed at the waist. The face was deformed and swollen as if by some infection, the longish brown hair hung loose to his shoulders. And the strange man stared at them with red-irised eyes.
"Come with me, intruders," the man said. He hesitated with the words and his accent was unfamiliar. "But I fear you will regret learning the answers you seek."
"Kembali, no!" yelled one of the homeless men. "They will bring the authorities and take us away 'for our own good.' Please..."
The weird man held up a gnarled hand with only three fingers and a thumb. "It is the will of Imperatus. Do you defy him?"
"No...no, of course not."
The man called Kembali gestured to the KDF team. "Come then. I hope you like surprises," he said with an unpleasant chuckle.
As they entered a narrow corridor behind that trick door, Josef led the way but he realized his bow might not be at its most useful in cramped spaces. With Demrak Jin right behind him and aching for a fight, though, he thought he could always just step aside and let her face an attack. They walked in silence down a long hallways not wide enough to let them go two abreast, with the same mysterious light and fresh air they had been puzzled by all along. The tiles on the walls stopped at a certain point to be replaced by rough unfinished stone.
Their guide did not speak and they did not question him. Eventually, the party halted in front of a pair of tall wooden doors guarded by another man in a brown wool robe. Although unappealing to say the least, his face was not as grotesque as those of their guide. His eyes were red too, though, and reflected the light in a feline manner. This man was leaning on a long thick staff topped with a leaf-shaped blade held on by wire.
"Hah! Kembali, you bring tourists to a part of the world they are not likely to see otherwise," observed the guard.
"Whatever Imperatus orders, I carry out," Kembali admitted. "Otherwise, I would die before I let outsiders see our City Beneath the City. Will you let us pass?"
The guard bowed and stepped aside, opening one of the doors with his free hand. "I also obey Imperatus.. as we all must."
As the door swung outward, stifling heat and dazzling light spilled out into the corridor. The new KDF team followed Kembai onto a platform that gave them their first view of Tamerlet.. the City Beneath the City.
V.
For long moments, they were breathless at the sight. Far below them, dozens of stone buildings stretched out in orderly rows with avenues between them. The buildings were not more than two stories high and most were painted with vivid patterns on the outer walls. Smoke came from a few chimneys here and there. In those narrow streets between buildings, huddled shapes scurried about whatever business they might have, carrying baskets or bundles. The hunched figures were wrapped in drab coarse robes. The city was nearly silent, with none of the chatter found in most human gatherings.
The stench of sulphur rose up in the heated air. It was like stepping from a cool air-conditioned office out onto a summer sidewalk. Haley gasped and whispered to Jocelyn, "Someone loves rotten eggs!"
"Too right," the Australian woman said. "Smell that? These people raise a lot of mushrooms, I bet, and guess what they use for fertilizer."
Turning, Kembali's gruesome face split in a grin that did not make it more attractive. "Not what you expected, eh?"
"Not at all," Josef Jubilec answered. "I have no trouble admitting it."
"Follow me, then," the deformed man said as he started down long stone steps carved from the wall of the cavern. There was no handrail and the KDF members took pains to descend safely. Eventually, they were standing on the floor of the city.Several of the citizens paused to stare at the outsiders. Like Kembali, their faces were swollen and often discolored in patches, and the red eyes gleamed in the bright light from nowhere. But a glare from Kembali sent the curious city-dwellers on their way.
"I can't handle this aroma," Haley said. As Windcatcher, she had the ability to summon air from anywhere in the world. Usually, she brought winds to lift her in a semblance of flight but now she teleported clean clear air from somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and surrounded herself and her team with it.
"Oh, that's more comfortable," Timothy Limbo sighed. "Thanks, Hales."
Kembali marched them onto the main avenue of the city, wider than the other streets, with a few market stalls set up on either side. As they hurried along, the team noticed a great deal of items that must have been brought down from the LA streets. Magazines, clothing and shoes, even fresh fruit like bananas and bags of tangerines. "Now we know where all the loot from the robberies has been going," Haley said.
Ahead of them was a building larger and more ornate than the rest. Its front doors were flanked by six-foot high columns and the walls had streaks and swirls of green and yellow in patterns that seemed to be words in some esoteric language. Two more guards with spears stood on the steps in front of this building, but they were hardly distorted in appearance at all. In a normal crowd on the city above, they would not have drawn undue attention. Greeting Kembali and trying not to stare at the outsiders, they admitted the party.
Josef and his team found themselves in a sort of waiting room, a good-sized chamber with padded benches along the wall. A long sideboard held platters of cheese, crackers and fruit, with bottles of wine and goblets alongside. As they entered, a tall busty woman in a green and yellow robe put down her wine glass and turned to face them. She had a minimum of the facial distortion that seemed to afflict the population, only some swelling along the jawline and a purple streak down one temple. The bright golden hair that reached past her shoulder blades was decorated with silver threads.
"Kembali! I heard you were bringing visitors, so I rushed from the workshop to see for myself," she said with the strange sibilant accent he showed.
Stepping forward toward the outsiders, she held up her open hand by her face in a sort of salute. "Greetings! Welcome to the Kingdom of Tamberlay, the City Beneath the City. I am Lady Meneeru, highest of the ruling family and cousin to great Imperatus himself."
Josef began introducing himself and his team. To her credit, Meneeru took the time to match the names to the faces as she studied them. She seemed intrigued most by Demrak Jin, who was giving her a sour glare. "This one is not like the others," she said at last. "I sense she has lived in or near the sea most of her life...?"
"Yes," Jin answered bluntly.
As Meneeru smiled at the rebuff, a door at the end of the hall opened and two of the citizens hobbled out. They were older men, so bent and twisted they seemed they should hardly be able to walk at all but they rushed out at a good pace, arguing under their breath. It was not English they spoke but something vaguely Northern European.
"Ah," the tall blonde woman said. "Imperatus has ruled on their dispute. Family businesses so often go wrong. We may enter now."
There were no soldiers or guards in the throne room, which struck Josef as odd. On a bench along the left wall, a withered elderly man was bent over, scribbling furiously in an ordinary loose-leaf binder. Standing just behind the throne were two pre-teen boys in shorts and tunics, evidently messengers ready for assignment. Their faces were just beginning to show signs of distortion. But all anyone noticed when entering would be the man on the throne.
A long wide red carpet led from the door where they entered to the foot of the elaborate carven throne, which sat on a dais under a chandelier. Seated bolt upright in that royal seat was a tall powerfully-built man in the green and yellow robes of the ruling family, although his had a crest of some symbol sewn on the left breast. The long glossy black hair was bound by a silver crown which had no gems in it but which did rise at either temple to form stylized eagle wings. The face which watched them approach was wide-jawed and haughty, tilted back slightly. Aside from the crimson eyes, he had none of the deformity common to the denizens of this city.
"Wow," Haley said to no one in particular, "Imperatus isn't half bad. Wonder if he needs a princess?"
"Hush," said Jocelyn, looking anxious.
As they neared the end of the carpet at the foot of the throne, Imperatus spoke in a deep, controlled voice. "Stop there." His accent was marked, and he spoke slowly and clearly as if to compensate. "You will not be required to kneel today, since this is your first audience with us and we make allowances. Kembali, Meneeru.. be seated, dear cousins."
Josef Jubilec had unstrung his bow as they entered, and now he folded it on its hinge so as to seem less like a possible threat. "This city is an astounding achievement. And for your people to have built it without anyone on the surface suspecting its existence...."
"Many hands have labored," Imperatus answered. "This is not our first stronghold, since we abandoned the former city beneath Berlin. Even now, another colony of our people have nearly finished preparing the new home for us to settle."
"You are moving?" Josef asked. "After all this work to establish yourself here?"
Imperatus raised a hand to silence him. "You do not know the history of your kin and mine. Centuries ago, we revealed ourselves and were slaughtered and persecuted and driven into hiding again. Your kind thought we were monsters, changelings. Ever since, we have been safe because we are unknown."
"It may not be like that now," Josef said. "We are more tolerant than we used to be. I think our peoples might be able to co-existent peacefully."
Imperatus brought a clenched fist down on the arm of his throne. "It is not your kind who would be in danger. The safety of everyone in Tamberlay is a heavy responsibility."
"This might be getting a little personal," the Blind Archer suggested, "but medical science has made huge advances in recent years. Whatever is afflicting your people, mutating them, perhaps a treatment or even cure is possible."
For the first time, the rugged face of Imperatus showed emotion as he smiled. "There is something you do not know, Human. Perhaps it would be best if you were shown what is both our boon and our curse."
Both Kembali and Meneeru were up on their feet protesting, talking over each other in their agitation. When Imperatus raised his open hand, they became silent at once. "Be at ease," he told them. "We feel it is best for these intruders to understand the situation before their fate is decided."
That last phrase struck the KDF team like a splash of ice water. They silently drew slightly closer together, facing outward a little to form a circle. Demrak Jin did not reach for her long knife, but she was planning her moves if fighting broke out.
Standing up slowly and stepping down from the throne, Imperatus stood before the outsiders. He was a head taller than Josef, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Although he was not bearing any weapons, he did not call for guards. "My cousins, you will accompany us. We have not viewed the Dead One in too long a time. Perhaps its presence will give us a jolt we need." He gestured to the intruders. "Follow us, and open your minds. You will see what no one from the world above has ever been granted."
He moved on without another word, leading through a door hidden behind a tapestry, along a twisting corridor whose floor gradually began to slant downward. Twice, Imperatus had two open massive doors with a large key he had fastened to a band around his waist under the robe. The descent went on for some time, the air grew sultry and Haley surreptitiously summoned cool mountain to surround them. The young interns of the KDF found it hard to be silent after a while.
At one point, Josef saw Timothy Limbo hold up his hand as a casper appeared swirling over it. He raised an eyebrow in question, but Timothy just shrugged and said nothing.
Finally, after it seemed they had gone for miles into the earth, the passage ended at an oak door fastened with an iron bar. On that door was the universal warning sign of a human skull. Imperatus turned back to those following him, and his expression was tense, maybe even nervous. With explanation, he lifted the heavy iron bar from its slot and leaned it against the wall, then pulled the massive door open on old hinges that squeaked in protest.
The chamber within was illuminated with the strange light that filled the undergound city, and they saw now that this was its source, as well as the warmth in caverns that should be freezing. In the center of that chamber, a waist high railing surrounded the circular mouth of a pit twenty feet across. Up from that pit shone the greenish light, as waves of hot air stinking of sulphur rolled up in gusts. With a finger to his lips for silence, Imperatus led his cousins and the outsiders over to stand by the railing. Josef and his team stared down at the Dead One.
VI.
At the bottom of the pit, filling it, was the tremendous bulk of what seemed to be at first a colossal squid with a red hide. At a second look, many differences could be seen. The staring eyes, large as dinner plates, were set higher on the head and had an unsettling human aspect. Two short blunt horns protruded from the top of the head and a bifurcated fin ran down the mantle. The tentacles were coiled around the massive cadaver, so their length was difficult to estimate, but there seemed to be more than ten of the appendages.
The thing was definitely dead, it appeared, yet even so, light and heat radiated up that shaft to rush over them. Imperatus regarded the great bulk somberly, then turned to his visitors. "What would you make of this, then?"
"It's an Obanchu," Josef replied casually. "A creature of the Sulla Chun. Very powerful, very malevolent. We're lucky it's dead all right, or all of us would either be dead ourselves or barking insane right now." He stared at the brute. "Not even a Sulla Chun, just one of its offspring, and even dead it's still potent."
Behind them, the burly Kembali started forward in a rage. "You are making this up! How could you know such things?"
Stopping his cousin with a simple palm pressed to the man's chest, Imperatus said quietly, "This outsider is correct. Our lore names this Dead One an Obanchu, and We have long suspected it was a servant of some kind to even greater Old Gods. The outsider is learned. We think there is need to talk...?"
Seeing Imperatus was hinting for a name, his cousin Meneeru stepped in, "He is called Josef, my lord." She pronounced the name 'Yosef' but the Blind Archer dikd not see the need to correct her. "He is leader of this team who investigate what they consider strange and inexplicable."
"That is true, my lord," Josef began but Imperatus stopped him with that gesture for silence.
"You are not one of our subjects and so should not address us in that manner. 'Your Majesty' would be the proper form." He turned back to thoughtfully watch the unmoving hulk at the bottom of the pit. "The gralic force which the Dead One gives off even now is what is making our people misshapen and unsightly. Yet its benefits are great, too. We may be immortal. Our subjects that you saw are those who built this city more than a hundred years ago, when Los Angeles was a mere town. We age so slowly that it is hard to notice. The royal family were youths then, little more than children, and we stopped aging when we reached maturity."
"Wait, wait," Haley interrupted at last. "Are you telling us that you yourself are a hundred years old? And you have been king of these poor crippled up folks all that time?"
Imperatus let a stern tone enter his voice. "We speak only truth, child. There is still more. Growing through puberty in the presence of the Dead One seems to have gifted our royal family with unusual abilities. Only a few babies have been born down here for whatever reason, and we will be interested to see what powers they exhibit as they grow. If any."
The ruler of the underground city turned away from the pit with an effort. It obviously had an hypnotic effect on him. "Come. Let us repair to a feast. Whatever your deposition will be, for now you are guests of the court and should be well treated. We feel there is much to discuss."
As everyone left the chamber, they paused to watch Imperatus close and bar the door again. Then the long hike began upward, ending as they emerged into the throne room. Imperatus beckoned to one of pages. "Here, boy! Tell the cooks to set places for five more at the great table. Seat them at the head so we may speak with them, and arrange apologies to those who normally would be seated there. Quick now!"
As the youth took off at a trot, Imperatus caught the disapproving expressions on the faces of Kembali and Meneeru. He raised a finger and waggled it in reprisal. "Have faith in our judgement, dear kindred. Have we not guided our people through so many dangers already?"
The burly form of Kembali bowed low. "The will of Imperatus is my law," he said but a grudging quality could not be hidden in his voice.
"And you, our lady?"
The blonde woman Meneeru drew herself up to her full impressive height and met his eyes squarely. "You are wiser than I in these matters, my lord. My doubts and misgivings cannot be taken in consideration."
The page came hurrying back into the throne room and dropped to one knee. "All ia ready, lord. The chef wishes to say he is very pleased with the beef tonight."
"Come then," Imperatus said. He pointed "History in Tamberlay is being made in more ways than one."
The outsiders were seated facing each other at the head of a long table covered with a fine silk cloth. China plates and good silverware were placed before them, and immediately servants began bringing out the food. Despite the KDF team's concerns about being served weird underground grub, the meal was normal roast beef in a heavy brown sauce, sweet potatoes, yellow rice and black beans and side dishes of hard-boiled eggs in garlic in little bowls. Wine both rose and red were offered, along with tall goblets of ice water. The only odd touch was that mushrooms completely covered the meat and those who did not care for them simply put them to one side.
Taking his seat in a high-backed chair at the table's head, Imperatus for some reason removed his crown and placed it on a shelf built into the chair. This seemed to be a Tamerlet custom, as was the practice of having hot damp cloths handed to everyone from time to time. The underground people wiped their hands and faces with these cloths and the guests followed the practice.
As the meal went on, the conversation consisted mostly of Imperatus interrogating Josef over his knowledge of the Obanchu and the Midnight War in general, then of what had brought the KDF team down here investigating. The Blind Archer answered with seeming frankness but he was experienced dealing with international criminals and with warlocks. Even his answers drew information from his host.
After the main course was cleared away, lighter fare was brought out. Shrimp salads, wedges of cheese and sliced fruit, even dishes of ice cream. Several of the Tamerletans at the table lit cigarettes and puffed away contentendly with no one criticizing them. As Josef finished a slice of Camembert, Imperatus turned to the outsider at his left, Haley Lawson. "We must apologize for neglecting you, child. There was so much to cover. We hope the cuisine was acceptable?"
"Oh, it's fine. You know what I'm wondering, your majesty? Aren't you curious about the world above you? You're under Los Angeles, there is so much to see. Don't you want to go up and explore it?" The Windcatcher chatted as informally with royalty as she would have with a cab driver.
Imperatus reacted with polite indulgence. "Ah, but we have, dear. Fortunately, the effects of the Dead One have left this one appearing normal except for eye color and tinted glasses conceal that. We have seen Paris, London, even Hong Kong. This keeps us informed of the upper world's doing."
He stopped to take a final sip of ice water. "In fact, years ago, before you were born dare it be said, We met a man you know well. We disagreed and even clashed but We hope our parting was amicable. He was known as the Dire Wolf."
Now Josef almost choked on a biscuit. "The Dire...? You met Jeremy Bane? Our captain?"
"Oh yes. He was a young man at the time, of course, no older than this lady is if we may say so."
"You're bugging me with that habit about referring yourself in the plural!" Haley snapped out of nowhere.
"That is known as the Royal 'We', since a monarch speaks for the kingdom as well," Imperatus answered without offense. The bright red eyes fixed on Haley's green ones with amusement. "As an American, you are not familiar with royalty."
"Naw, we just have super-rich people and celebrities," she laughed. "They're our version of royalty."
Rising, Imperatus seemed to be giving a signal for everyone to stand as well. "No, no, our friends. Please take your rest and enjoy the meal. We must attend to business with our guests." He carefully placed the winged crown on his head again and stepped away from the table. "Our apologies we did not have chance to speak with our friends tonight as this is a special occasion. Yosef, you and your team will accompany us. Good Kembali, Lady Meneeru, attend us as well."
The ruler of the City Beneath the City did not return to the throne room as they had expected but swung down a different corridor. At one point, two of the spearmen encountered the party and he gestured for them to follow. With the three Tamerletans and the five outsiders, it was getting to be a sizeable group. Imperatus led them to a portion of the palace that seemed almost chilly and stale, in contrast to the rest of the city. Here was a wide concrete ramp that led down to a wall with heavy flanking doors which held smalled barred window.
"Honored guests..." Imperatus began, but this time it was Josef Jubilec who interrupted.
"Team," he barked, "If they get us in that dungeon, we'll have trouble getting out. Let's go." With that, he snapped his bow into the open position.
At once, the two guards brought their spears down into position but they were already dying. Demrak Jin had whipped her long knife from its sheath and swung it left and right to slide its bone blade across their throats. Windpipes severed, choking on their own blood, the guards fell to their knees and then on to their faces. Wheeling about, the tiny Gelydra woman took a threatening step toward Imperatus. "I will die before I am chained," she snarled in a nonhuman voice. "And you will die before I do."
Unimpressed, the ruler of the underground city came forward to meet her attack. The bone blade gleamed in a white arc that stopped short as Imperatus caught it in his bare hand. Demrak Jin tugged furiously but could not wrench her weapon free. "Grelok's horns!" she cursed.
"A gift from the Dead One," Imperatus said and released the knife, letting Jin tumble to the damp stone floor as she lost her balance. "Density control is a useful attribute."
Josef had fitted an arrow to his string, one with a bulbous metal head. "There is explosive in this one," he said. "Shall we see what limits your density has?" His teammates came around behind him, even Jin who was fuming with indignation.
"Our lord does not stand alone," rumbled Kembali in a voice suddenly much deeper. Josef whirled just as a fist bigger than his head whizzed at him, barely missing when he dropped back a step. Kembali had grown until Josef's head barely reached the center of the Tamerletan's chest. The deformed man's robe had split and fallen off him, leaving him wearing only a thin sort of cotton kilt he had been wearing under it. The giant lunged for Josef, then came up short and started pawing at his face in alarm.
Timothy Limbo whisperered to Josef, "My caspers are keeping him distracted. Nothing like having little blurs across your eyesight to make you worry."
As the huge Kembali blinked and wiped his eyes because of the vague wisps that kept passing over them, Josef looked back at Imperatus. "Well, you guys are full of surprises. The royal family, hey? You have density, he has growth. I suppose next the blonde over there will sprout wings?"
"You mock what you do not understand," Imperatus shouted. "Meneeru, perhaps you will demonstrate your own gift."
The tall woman frowned at the sight of her confused cousin still worrying about his vision. "Oh, outsiders. You know nothing. My lord can grow immaterial and walk through walls or become more dense than stone. My cousin can grow twice as tall as a tall man or reduce himself to the size of a mouse."
"And you? We're waiting."
Meneru raised her fists. "If I wish, I may flare up brighter than the midday sun I barely remember. But I think, using my gift in the other way may be a more amusing method." With that, the air around her shimmered and she vanished from view. A second later, the crisp crack of a hard blow sounded and Josef took it without any defense raised. He stumbled and almost fell.
"How can you defy an invisible enemy?" Imperatus said as he watched. "Meneeru can strike you all night if she wishes. We say you outsiders should surrender now, avoid being beaten and accept your fate."
"Oh get off your high horse," Haley Lawson scoffed. "You haven't dealt with Windcatcher before!" She threw back her long cloak from her shoulders and a rushing blast of Antarctic wind poured out to sweep over the area where Meneeru had been standing. That air had been summoned from a storm near the South Pole and it carried a wind chill forty degrees below zero. The unseen woman shrieked and there was a thud as she fell. Her still invisible form was covered with a thin coating of ice crystals which left her as an outline.
"Another few seconds of that and she would be getting frostbite all over," Haley announced. "Look, your majesty if I may call you that, you've got the situation all backwards. You should be surrendering to us."
Imperatus was stunned by the sudden reversals. He started forward to check if Meneeru was all right, then stopped as he saw the towering Kembali receive two anesthetic darts from Timothy Limbo's air-powered gun. The giant swayed and fell over backwards. As he dismissed the caspers, Timothy swung the dart gun around to cover Imperatus. "Look, no matter how tough you are, you can't handle the likes of us. Be realistic."
As he spoke, a half dozen more of the spear-carrying guards came racing down the sloping hallway. Jocelyn Garimara said, "This is getting tiresome." She braced herself and unleashed her Gammon. A blur of dark red force slid out of her body and hovered in front of the suddenly terrified guards. This close to the Red Spectre, their hair was standing straight out in all directions and their skin tingled painfully as if getting shocked by static electricity. The weird apparition drifted closer and pointed back the way they had come. Terrified beyond memory of their duty, the guards spun and took off at a full run.
Jocelyn faced Imperatus and her Red Spectre came to glide in between them protectively. "Touching my Gammon is getting struck by lightning, mate," she explained. "Do you want to see how it feels?"
All the smug self-assurance had been knocked out of the monarch. For a long minute, he got as far as opening his mouth but could not form words. Finally, he managed to get out, "Of course I-- We would not. Who ARE you people?"
"We are the top world's version of your royal family," laughed Haley.
Frowning, Josef Jubilec lowered his bow and eased the tension on the string. "We will be leaving now, Imperatus. It's a problem what to do with you. Obviously, we can't arrest an entire city of people. Even taking you and your cousins into custody would be a problem. We don't hold prisoners indefinitely."
"Simple solutions are the best," said Demrak Jin, cleaning her blade on a dead guard's clothing. "Leave me with these three and they will be no further trouble."
"We don't do that, either," Josef sighed, "although it's tempting. We must follow Tel Shai ethics if you kids are going to be accepted by the Order as students. Let's see. Imperatus, I'll tell you what. Just keep a low profile. Cut down on the robberies to only necessities. What's with the missing persons we heard about?"
"There were four last week," the ruler admitted. "Young men in a street gang. They followed one of our people who was bringing blankets back here. We were watching from a distance. They began to abuse him and We thought he was in danger. Changing to greater density, we slew them quickly and we took them down here. Their bodies feed the mushroom fields."
"Oh Jeez," said the Blind Archer. "Okay. I admit that those thugs were no great loss to society but even so. You can't do that. Here's my final call. We will monitor this area and if there are an unusual number of suspicious deaths or disappearances, my team will return with more like us to destroy this place. You may not know the Dire Wolf is still active and as dangerous as ever. He would be our leader."
Head lowered, Imperatus seemed shrunken and deflated. These terms were like nothing his proud spirit had ever had to accept. "We see no choice. Our first responsibility is to keep our people safe and our city as well. We accept. Go now, a messenger will accompany you back to the surface world."
Folding his bow on its hinge, Josef looked over his team to be sure they had followed the conversation. They all nodded in acceptance. He finally said to Imperatus, "I'm sorry everything worked out this way. Somehow I feel if things had gone differently, we might have been allies."
With sorrow in his red eyes, the ruler of Tamerlay exhaled deeply. "Who knows? The future is an unwritten book and both our stories are far from over."
2/6/2016
