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"CORONET II: Even Cold Comfort Is Better Than None"
CORONET II: Even Cold Comfort Is Better Than None"
6/23/2022
I.
Keeping well back, Galvan and Unicorn had endured watching Sable painstakingly investigate the grounds for the past six hours. They knew their captain's intense concentration and wanted to do nothing to interrupt it. Sable's gift was enhanced sensory perception. She used gralic force to increase her eyesight, sense of smell and tactile awareness to levels far beyond what flesh and blood were thought to be capable of achieving.
Through each room of that mansion, disturbing little beyond occasionally lifting an object and then replacing it exactly, Lauren Sable Reilly saw details at an electron microscope level as she chose. She could see in the infra-red or ultra-violet range, she sniffed traces of odors that no forensics equipment could detect, she heard the wooden fibers in the floor and the furniture still creak as they straightened out after being stepped on the day before. Information poured into her mind in a deluge that only decades of strict discipline could assimilate into any useful coherence.
In her early forties, Sable was a trim, athletic woman of average height and build in the black KDF field suit. Her jet black hair was brushed back from a high forehead. Large dark eyes, a snug nose and full lips gave her distinctive face that normally showed a warm friendly nature but right now her features were set in a taut mask.
The giant Melgar and the petite platinum blonde Unicorn followed, silently making their own observations and drawing their own conclusions. Galvan loomed up a full foot taller than his teammates. He had the massive muscular build of a lumberjack, and his rough outdoorsy clothes and work boots added to that impression. So did the curly light brown hair and short thick beard. Not demanding Sable tell him what she had learned was taking all his strength of will. Staying close to him to give emotional support, Ashley Whitaker also was aching to find out what their captain had learned and was biting her lip not to start rattling off questions. Keeping silent went against her basic personality.
Finally, after what seemed an interminable afternoon of prowling the mansion, Sable dropped down gracelessly onto the wooden bench in a gallery lined with original oils. Most of the paintings were of Hudson Valley landscapes and historical scenes. As she sat down, the team captain buried her face in her hands and exhaled sharply. "Oh. My head is killing me," she said and drooped forward in weariness. "That was a long stretch of using my powers."
"You want some water, captain?" asked Ashley, breaking the silence of the day. The little blonde dug in a pocket of her own field suit. "I've got some high-protein bars here."
"What? Oh. No, thank you, Ashley, I'm fine. So much to take in. First, let me say that our friends were alive and unharmed when they were taken from here. No traces of necrotic tissue smell anywhere where they had been. Jin, Timothy and Archie were captured by an Alchemical vapor that enervated them. I recognize its odor. 'Yellow Lotus' is what it's usually called, it makes you too weak to even raise a hand but there's no permanent damage. Our friends were carried away, helpless but unhurt."
"An Alchemist?" rumbled Galvan. He had begun pacing back and forth, even the plush carpeting not able to muffle his heavy footsteps. "They are always bad news."
"Especially in this case. Let me summarize what I've found. Nine people have been staying in this mansion for more than a month. One was a middle-aged white American man in only fair health, with nothing Midnight War about him. He did maintenance and upkeep. There was a Southeast Asian woman about forty who prepared meals, and a specifically Chinese woman in her early seventies who served as maid and personal assistant. A medical doctor in his sixties, no longer in professional practice. They were mere servants to the real threats. I've identified two men as familiar enemies. Jorge Vargas, called Repel, and Indigo the Illusionist. A young woman who stayed here is one of the Calveron. I'm certain she's the Amelia Mancuso that Jeremy met three years ago. She has Invocation skills. The fourth Midnight War denizen is an non-powered man with technical skill involving Trom tech and I am certain he is the criminal called the Flying Fool."
"Dang," interrupted Unicorn as she plopped down next to her captain. "I HATE it when someone organizes a team of bad guys to imitate us. It's always a disaster fighting them. As soon as we joined, Sable, we had to tangle with Avathor's League of Predators and then that bunch who called themselves Dark Cloud."
"I remember, Ashley. Repel and Indigo were in fact members of both of those squads. The others are all dead. Duffy the Sumo, the Fatal Wasp, Avathor himself and even Arem Kamende, all out of the way." Sable straightened up and turned her gaze toward her teammates. "So we're dealing with one of these squads who are assembled to act as a strike force. There was also a Human bodybuilder staying on these premises but I picked up no hints of any gralic powers in his traces. He acted as a driver, as far as I can tell."
Galvin bent forward, studying her face. "You know who the Alchemist is who is leading this team, don't you?"
"Yes. It's bad news," Sable admitted. "We're dealing with Olivia Wang, the Spinner of Webs, probably the most dangerous mastermind still active. There are rumors in the badlands that one of her lieutenants has staged a coup and driven her off her throne. That would be Samuel Policastro. Our sources hint that Olivia has been on the run for more than a year, spotted all over East Asia and Europe with Policastro's assassins right behind her. It seems she has been gathering a team like our own for protection."
"And now she's got our guys!" Unicorn blurted, "Jin and Tim and Archie are all prisoners. They came here to investigate the stolen yacht and instead they were captured. Sable, we need to get after them right this second! Where can we find them?"
Getting back up on her feet, tugging down the field jacket where it had risen up, Lauren Sable Reilly gave Ashley a sad look. "I know Olivia too well, honey. She will be contacting us soon, certainly today."
"Why are we waiting for that?" roared Galvan as his self-control finally broke. "She's had our people for twenty-hours! Who knows what tortures she's putting them through? Let's get after them right now."
Reaching up, the tiny Unicorn rubbed a small hand between Galvan's shoulder blades. The Melgar's muscles felt like warm granite, so dense that rifle bullets would glance off and so charged with gralic force that he could fling a car across a parking lot. But his heart was as loving and vulnerable as any Human child's.
"It's going to be okay," Ashley told him. "We are too valuable to mistreat. Look, both of us have been taken prisoner by enemies, right? We got out fine. They know we hold in our heads all the secrets of Tel Shai lore and Midnight War history, stuff worth huge fortunes. The Spinner of Webs won't chance damaging us if she can get at that knowledge."
Watching with a cool detached eye, Sable nodded once. "More than that, Galvan. Olivia is a schemer and a planner, not hotheaded in the least. She doesn't want you or Sulak or our Blind Archer coming after her in a murderous rage. Nor does she want the Dire Wolf of all people enraged at her. She will not harm Jin, or Timothy or Archie without urgent need."
The big Melgar deliberately unclenched those great hands and lowered his shoulders. "I suppose even cold comfort is better than none at all."
II.
In an unfurnished basement with bare stone walls, three folding cots were laid out in a row. Lying on rubber sheets, stripped completely naked, were Timothy Limbo, Demrak Jin and Archie McAllister. A faucet protruding from one wall stood over several buckets and a bin full of soiled rags and towels, and there was a three-legged wooden stool nearby as well. Two light bulbs in the ceiling gave off harsh glare revealing the scene.
The man called Quando rinsed his hands off under the faucet and slapped them roughly on his pants. Below average height but wide and massive, he had obviously spent many hours building his chest and arm muscles. While he wore loose baggy trousers, the tight brown T-shirt showed off that over-developed upper body. Quando apparently was Southern Chinese judging by his hair, skin tones and facial bone structure but a few long scars stretching whitely from left ear to his mouth distracted any observer.
"Cleaning up your filth! No fit job for a gladiator..." he grumbled. "Still, what My Lady commands, I am sworn to obey."
Trying without success to raise his head, Timothy said in Cantonese, >"It's a wise dog that does not bite the hand that feeds it."<
"Oh, spare me your feeble wit," Quando snapped. "No one's impressed at your language skills. It's time to spray you fools with more Yellow Lotus."
"You can skip me," Timothy said, "I don't want to get hooked on that stuff."
"Shut up, just shut up." The brute carefully adjusted a heavy-duty respirator mask over his face and took a few experimental breaths. From a closed container, he held up a common plastic spray bottle and strode over to discharge a gush of that pale yellow haze into Tim's face. Despite all attempts to hold his breath, Timothy had to inhale a full dose. Quando skipped over Archie and held the spray bottle up toward Demrak Jin's face.
The expression in her eyes gave him pause. It was not so much Human anger as the clear deliberate expression of a cat judging when to pounce on a mouse. Quando saw a determination to kill him in those eyes that was deeper and more implacable than he had seen in many enraged victims before. He sprayed the vapors into her face without hesitation.
"You do have shark eyes," he muttered. "The stories about you Gelydrim seem to be true."
"You have no idea," Timothy called over, which made him cough. "She's already decided which way your intestines are going to spill out."
Quando gave the imposing bulk of the third prisoner a thoughtful gaze. Archie was muscular in a workman's way, bulk and definition made by effort and not by planning. He was a little thick around the waist, a little undefined in the abdomen, but his arms and legs looked solid. "I was told not to spray this one again," Quando said. "He is not a Tel Shai knight. Too much of the Yellow Lotus could kill him."
Archie grunted. "Much obliged."
"My Lady knows all about you! She knows about the Tagra tea regimen which gives Tel Shai knights their enhanced healing and resilience. Even with this second dose of Yellow Lotus, you two are still shaking off enough drugs to put a mule in a coma. Believe me, My Lady will learn the mystery of Tagra from you. She will study samples of your hair, skin, blood work... She will unravel the secret of Tagra. Maybe she will live to be young and beautiful for ANOTHER hundred years!"
With a particularly smug chuckle, Quando opened the thick plank door and stepped out up the wooden steps. Before he passed from sight, he called back down, "One hour until it's time for your nutrient IV drips, my friends. Hope you have a good appetite. Ha ha har!"
He left the door open and his voice could be heard giving instructions to the guard at the top of the stairs. Silence followed. Then, slowly and painfully, Archie McAllister managed to raise one hand and flex his fingers.
III.
"Jocelyn's plane will arrive at Newark Airport in six hours," Sable told her teammates. "I heard from Josef. He's in Brussels, he was meeting a potential client for a bodyguard assignment but he canceled and he's getting on the next available flight home. Carlo is at Tel Shai being tutored by Teacher Jathis, so we can't disturb him."
Sitting bolt upright in a plain wooden chair facing Sable's desk, Unicorn demanded, "Whatever happened to Sheng anyway? Sometimes he just drops out of sight, him and his undercover gigs!"
"I can't reach him. His Uncle Pao tells me Sheng mentioned going to Chujir for some reason but that was yesterday afternoon." Sable could not keep exasperation from her normally muted tones. "I know he stepped down to part-time status, but I'm going to yell at him to keep us better informed about him whereabouts."
On the brown leather couch against the near wall, Galvan grudgingly closed his laptop and put it aside. "Not much luck figuring out where the Spinner of Webs might be, or where she might be holding our people. Her empire is too huge. She has fortresses and strongholds and mere offices everywhere from Macao to Boise, Idaho. We'd need a thousand members to crash all of them simultaneously without alerting her to move our friends."
Sable tried to sound encouraging. "I'm still mulling over all the clues at that mansion. Olivia was careful to leave no paper trail, not even a receipt in a wastepaper basket but... There must be something useful. Once I knew a suspect had come from the Southwest by the pollen in his pants cuff. Let me think. Give me some more time to go over details in my mind's eye."
"I'm tired of waiting!" yelled Galvan, towering over his partners as he rose with closed fists held at chest level. "Melgarin are not made to sit idly by when action is called for."
"At least you know little Demrak Pol is safe with Cheval," Ashley said. "And my April is with Cory at our house with more Trom security gimmicks than anywhere else on Earth. We can concentrate..." Her words were cut off by the chimes of the front door. All three of them plunged across the office and out into the main hallway as if a live grenade had ben thrown into their midst.
"Galvan, stand by!" Sable ordered, taking her place in front of the solid oak door. "Ashley, open the street door to let her into the foyer, then check the scanners."
"I'm on it," Unicorn replied, sliding open a wooden panel at face level to reveal a monitor screen which had already lit up. "Getting readings. Adult Human female, biological age eighty-one, five feet three and one hundred five pounds, all vitals like heartbeat and blood pressure within normal range. No metal larger than three keys. No unusual chemical signature. Visual scan reveals no weapons. Seems safe enough, captain."
"We'll see." Sable turned the knob and swung the door in toward her to reveal the nooklike foyer that was barely large enough to contain three people at a time. A withered, bent Asian woman blinked at her through thick-lensed round-rimmed glasses. With shiny white hair tied up in a bun, outlines shrouded by a baggy ankle-length print dress, the visitor certainly appeared harmless. But more than once the KDF members had fought vicious assassins who had presented equally mild appearances.
"I suppose you have a message from your Lady," Sable snapped, arms folded and face taut.
"Yes. May I sit? My back hurts more than usual today," came a voice with a subtle British accent.
"This way." With Galvan and Unicorn flanking from out of arm's reach, Sable led the old woman to the waiting room next to her office. She gestured for their guest to take a chair in front of the massive oak desk which sat under a gorgeous hand painted map of the world as it had been in 1937, then seated herself behind her desk and placed her folded hands on the surface before her.
Galvan and Unicorn placed themselves on either side of the desk facing the Spinner of Web's envoy, remaining on their feet, keeping their faces impassive with considerable effort. The giant Melgar's body was tense enough that knots of hard muscle stood out through the material of his shirt.
"Deliver your message now," Sable told the old woman.
"To the Knights of Tel Shai and the members of the Kenneth Dred Foundation, I speak as I was instructed to by the Spinner of Webs," the envoy began. Her voice was firm but undertones of uneasiness could be detected. "Three of your number are now in her custody. The Lady assures you that they have not been abused or mistreated, nor need that be their fate."
"Go on."
"You are aware that an ambitious lieutenant named Samuel Policastro has usurped control of the Lady's Empire. For the past eight months, the Spinner Of Webs has worked from the outside to regain her throne. Now she sees that Providence has delivered powerful allies to her side."
Sable's normally subdued voice became deadly calm. "Go on," she repeated.
"Your people will be returned to you, completely unharmed, after your team strikes against the forces of Policastro and brings him down. He has the secrets of Velkandu Alchemy, he has minions from the White Web and the Night Gorillas and Furious Buddha, and he has spies everywhere. But the Lady is certain the Knights of Tel Shai can bring him to ruin as they have defeated many more formidable enemies."
"And that's your message? Anything else?" Sable asked.
"I have not been given anything further to say," the old woman said. She was beginning to show signs of nervousness from being so near the intimidating bulk of Galvan, who was more impressive the longer you looked at him. The muscles on his arms looked like bundles of wire under the skin.
"We will take counsel," said Sable. "Ashley, take her to the waiting room next door and return here."
Silently, the blonde Unicorn gestured for the Spinner of Web's envoy to step out into the hall. The seldom used room next to the office was nearly empty, holding only several chairs, a low coffee table with some magazines and two heavily curtained windows. The walls were painted a pleasant light blue with white trim and the overhead lighting was soft. Ashley locked the door on the woman without a word. That waiting room was as soundproofed as possible.
Back in the office, Unicorn closed the hallway door behind her. "She's secure, captain."
"Good. I was using my perception on our guest, of course. As far as I can tell, she is under absolutely no mind control or Alchemical influence. The trace elements in her perspiration, her subvocal tremors and pupil changes all indicate she was simply repeating what she was instructed to say."
Galvan exhaled gustily and moved over to stand in front of his team leader. "Yeah? The real question is whether or not that message has any truth in it?"
"I think it does," Sable said. "We've been following reports from the badlands. Olivia Wang has been on the run from her own organization. This Policastro is an Alchemist himself and he seems to taken over her empire. I can absolutely see Olivia using us as living weapons against Policastro."
"Maybe we should go along with it," Ashley suggested. "I mean, we would tackle Policastro on our own, right? He's just another one of the bad guys we stomp in our Midnight War crusade. It's not like Wang is asking us to kidnap babies or burn down a hospital or something."
Galvan grumbled. "Giving in would open a door we could never close again."
"Yes. I agree." Sable stood up and regarded her two teammates thoughtfully. "For thirty thousand years, Tel Shai knights have never cooperated with extortion or blackmail. It's one of our deepest principles. Attacking Policastro because of Olivia's orders would send the message that we can be used. Any villain who abducts one of us or even some innocent hostages would expect to be able to order us around. I have to reject Olivia's offer."
"But Tim is still her prisoner! And Jin and Archie!" Ashley bleated in dismay. "Who knows what she'll do to them? Geez, she's the Spinner of Webs! Have you HEARD some of the tortures she's ordered on undercover cops she caught?"
"I'm worried about that, too, of course. But I think she doesn't want us to be completely enraged and out to obliterate her if she can help it. It's not just the three of us. She'd have Josef, Sulak, Sheng and Karina coming after her with retribution in their hearts And I know she's deathly afraid of Jeremy. Imagine knowing that he's determined to kill you! Hopefully we'll have some time to search for our friends before Olivia escalates matter."
"Welll... I hope you're right," Ashley mumbled. "You're smarter than me in these things, Sable. There's a reason why you're captain of the team. But I can't hide the fact that I'm just plain scared for our friends."
"We all are. Would you bring the messenger back here?" A minute later, the elderly woman was escorted back into the office. Sable said, "Inform your Lady that we cannot accept her terms. We make no threats or demands. But we ask that she send you or another envoy here in twenty-hours to hear our own proposal. You may go now."
With a stiff, semi-formal bow, the old woman turned and headed out into the hall. The three KDF members went with her and ensured she got out onto the sidewalk safely before closing the outer door.
Watching the monitor showing the street camera, Unicorn sighed. "And there's the expected black sedan pulling over to let her in. So predictable. What's the counter proposal we'll have for her when she returns, captain?"
"There isn't one," Sable said. "All our energies are going into first finding our friends and after that we'll deal with Olivia Wang.... for the final time."
IV.
Although he had lost his license to practice because of inappropriate prescribing of painkillers, even though he was now doing whatever an infamous international criminal ordered, Palmer Frobish still wore white slacks and a lab smock when working. It helped him justify his actions to himself. Dressing like a doctor, being as precise and professional as possible, was a way of rationalizing the horrible things he now found himself doing.
Frobish came down the steps into the cellar carefully, carrying in one hand three plastic bags of the glucose and nutrient solution for the prisoners. So many of his tasks involved patching up Olivia Wang's thugs, setting broken bones and stitching knife wounds, even extracting bullets. The Spinner of Webs provided all the equipment needed, he contributed his expertise. There was no way out for him, he knew. Once you knew even a little about a society such as this, leaving it was not for the living.
He paused for a moment to regard the three unconscious forms on cots in front of him, each deep in the stupor of the Yellow Lotus. They seemed unharmed, which relieved his misgivings. Too many times had he been forced to keep tortured prisoners alive despite the atrocities that had been done to them. Today at least, he was only providing sustenance to three people and not harming anyone.
First, the woman. Under the unforgiving glare of the overhead bulb, her naked body was exposed in every detail. She was thin, even gaunt with ribs showing, but with sleek hard muscles on her arms and legs which suggested a professional runner or swimmer. Such an odd face, too. Flat and wide, with thin lips and stiff white hair that bristled straight up. He could not imagine what nationality she was. Frobish hung one of the nutrient bags on its metal pole next to the cot and inserted its drip into the vent taped to the back of her hand. Her skin was cold and clammy, but he took a second to assure himself her pulse was strong and regular.
Next, the big man on the middle cot. What a brute. Even in his prime, Palmer Frobish had never hit six feet in height and he vaguely envied the power implied in a body that size. Still, what good had being tall and muscular done this fellow? Here he was, helpless and facing God only knows what fate. Frobish sighed and placed a second nutrient bag to its pole, then took hold of the man's lower left arm only to be utterly shocked as that hand clamped tight around his own wrist. The man sat up and yanked Frobish into a short straight jab that flattened the disgraced doctor's nose and dazed him. Even in his confusion, Frobish struggled to get free and Archie crashed a follow-up hard right hook that sounded like a hammer striking a melon.
Frobish sagged without a sound to the floor. Hopping up off the cot, Archie ran over to close the door and fasten its latch. He had been working over plans about what to do when anyone entered the cellar, and having only one man to deal with was better than he had hoped. Archie had been in some barroom brawls in his day and could throw a decent punch, but he was no martial artist and wouldn't have been able to handle two or three good sized opponents at the same time.
The man was dead, his eyes still open. Those blows had done a lot of damage. If he had time to let it sink in, this would have grieved Archie but all he could think about was survival for himself, Timothy and Jin. He went through the corpse's pockets and to his complete joy found an old-style flip phone. Yes! He tapped in Sable's personal number and instantly heard her voice say, "Yes?"
"This is Archie," he whispered. "I can't make too much noise. We're alive and unharmed so far, I don't know where we are..."
"We've already got a lock on your location," she said. "Hang tight! We're on our way."
Archie left the phone open, figuring it might somehow help the team find them sooner, and he wedged it up out of sight behind one of the corner beams. He realized he was taking deep heavy breaths and tried to calm down. This was going smoother than he had dared hope. How were his friends? Archie saw their chests rise and fall evenly enough. That Yellow Lotus, whatever it was, was sure strong stuff.
But why hadn't it kept him under, he wondered? Why had he shaken it off so quickly? He wasn't on the Tagra tea regimen. That was only for Tel Shai knights. He didn't have their enhanced healing factor. But no time to wonder about that now. Where were they? How long would it take Sable and her team to get here? Even as he fretted over that thought, a loud pounding sounded from the other side of the door.
"Doctor? Doctor Frobish! You were told never to close this door!" roared a man's voice. "Why is it locked? Doctor!"
Not having any idea how the late doctor's voice had sounded but feeling he had to try something, Archie said, "Just a minute."
"That does it!" yelled the voice. A thunderous impact snapped the hinges free and the thick wooden door swung inward on its bent lock. Lowering a gnarled fist from that blow, the man called Quando glowered at what he saw in the cellar. "Free? And you killed My
Lady's physician? Fool, I will pull off your leg and beat you to death with it."
V.
The two story bungalow took up half of the surface area of the small island four miles out to sea from Long Island Sound. A round area of crushed gravel could accomodate a helicopter or a small plane which could make do with limited runway space. Around the house was a circular rim of pine trees and underbrush, broken by a cleared mooring space for two cabin speedboats. The island had no room for much else to be built.
In an austere office on the ground floor of the bungalow, the Spinner of Webs was at work.
Any outsider observing the scene would have had no idea how surreal it really was. They would have seen a beautiful woman in her late twenties, tall and slender and elegant in a pale green silk dress with a high collar, sitting up straight at a desk and studying her open laptop. Standing nearby, spare and withered but still holding herself erect was a white-haired woman whose bony features suggested she had reached at least eighty.
In fact, Yau was eighty-one years old. She had been taken in as an infant found abandoned in a war-ravaged fishing village when Japanese troops had come marauding through on their way inland. Little Yau had spent her life in service to the strange imperious woman who now sat at the desk and who looked exactly the same that day as she had in 1939.
Olivia Wang tapped out a final impatient message and closed the laptop more emphatically than seemed really necessary. She turned those oblique jade-green eyes to her most trusted servant and managed a wry smile. "No more business for today, old friend. I have taken back more than half of my enterprises from Policastro. Let my lieutenants consolidate and strengthen their holds. I have had enough for the moment."
"My Lady has not eaten today," reminded the elderly woman, inclining her head in a polite half-bow. "It is past two in the afternoon."
"Thank you, Yau. My serums sustain me but for good health I should take in nourishing meals. Some tea, first, if you would."
Shuffling over to a small side table, Yau busied herself with pouring from a silver teapot into a fine ceramic cup inscribed with gold emblems. "The chef mentioned roast duck for tonight. I could ask him if some is ready?"
"Not yet." Olivia accepted the cup and sipped it thoughtfully. "There is still so much to do. Perhaps I killed my father too soon, I could use his help running this empire. But it had to be. Only one tiger to a hill, as the saying goes."
Yau waited silently. After a moment, the Spinner of Webs finished her tea and placed the cup to one side. "I know we have gone over every detail of your visit to the KDF," she said at last. "Over and over. You are skilled at detecting deceit and deception, Yau. The leader, the one called Sable, was she hiding any conflicting emotions?"
"Not that I could see, My Lady. She was angry, of course. She is determined to rescue her teammates. But I saw no doubts or uncertainty in her manner."
"And when my name was mentioned? Did she react at all?"
"No, My Lady. I believe she expected to hear it. She seemed to already know that is you who hold her friends."
Olivia allowed her elegant lips to curl ever so slightly in a wry smile. "Ah, such is life. Even white hot coals eventually cool and turn dark. Never mind, my dear. Come, let us check with Dr Forbish before contacting Sable again."
What repy Yau would have made will never be known. Outside the house, the deafening rattle of high-powered machine gun fire made them both flinch violently. Cat quick, the Spinner of Webs rushed over to the windows. Not a hundred yards away, her speedboats were both being torn into splinters by gunfire from an unmarked black helicopter hovering at treetop level. "She has found us somehow. Yau, go to the safe room and remain there indefintely."
"But, My Lady, what of you?"
"Shall I repeat an order? I told you to go!" Olivia Wang pulled up a square brown leather satchel from beneath her desk and slung it by its strap over her left shoulder. "Sable does not realize what she is challenging."
As the aged servant hobbled from the room, the Spinner of Webs dismissed her from thought. A wall panel in the hall outside opened to a fortified safe room, soundproofed and well-equipped with food and bottled water. Olivia opened the top flap of her satchel and gave a quick glance at the rows of thin-walled glass vials held in their padded racks. Eighty years studying Velkandu, the Alchemy of the Midnight War, had gone into the solutions and serums in those vials and she had chosen carefully what to select.
The racket outside had ceased. The Spinner of Webs opened her door just as Quando came running up. His face never was good at hiding emotions and its rage now had made it a tiger mask. "My Lady! We are under assault!"
"So I gather," she snorted. "The other Coronet members should be already out there to repel our attackers. Both boats are destroyed, but they can not know about the camouflaged submersible. Go guard it."
"I must report, My Lady. One of the prisoners, the big one named McAllister, somehow recovered from the Yellow Lotus. He killed Dr Frobish. I beat him senseless and left him locked in the cellar."
"Frobish dead? Pity. He served me well. So be it, go to the submersible."
"I hear and obey," the burly Chinese said, turning on his heel and galloping back down the hall. Olivia Wang turned the other way, intending to see how her team was reacting. That must be one of the CORBYs out there, the KDF stealth copters which used Trom technology. Before she got to the far end of the hallway, a huge man crashed bodily through the windows and landed lightly on his feet. Not even scratched by all the broken glass, Galvan pointed an accusing finger.
"Those prisoners had better be alive and well, Alchemist!" he bellowed. "Your life depends on it."
"Ah, the Melgar. I have heard of you," said Olivia with a confident smile. "You are supposed to be nearly as strong as that ox Sulak?"
Galvan surprisingly gave an amused snort and began striding toward her. "Please. You will wish you only had Sulak to deal with. Take me to the prisoners." He stopped short as Olivia flung one of the vials to shatter on the floor at his feet and a noxious burst of black vapor swirled up around him. He broke into a convulive coughing jag and dropped to one knee, head hanging down as the acrid fumes clung to him.
"Bullets may bounce from your skin and swords snap against you," Olivia called to the struggling Melgar. "But you are still flesh and blood and must breathe to live."
Racked with coughing that he could not stop, Galvan managed to rise again, pawing at his face and wheezing like bagpipes. Unsteady but determined, he took a single menacing step toward her enemy before Olivia flung a second vial to break open in front of him, then a third. Thick white frost rushed over to coat his entire body. The temperature in that hallway dropped forty degrees instantly. Despite all his efforts, Galvan fell face down with a thud and could not rise.
"Now I have four prisoners," laughed the Spinner of Webs.
VI.
Hovering forty feet up, Sable swung the CORBY around on its axis, watching for any of the enemies who might be leaving the building. She was for once wearing the full KDF field suit, including the helmet with its visor up. "How's the infra-red scans?"
"Good news," Ashley said from the co-pilot seat. "Positive IDs on Timothy, Archie and Jin. They are alive in the cellar. I'm reading eight other Human signatures, not including Galvan. I swear, I'll never forget him jumping out the rear hatch and then immediately diving in through that window. That guy is a Melgar, all right."
"Their boats are useless, and I don't see any other way that our enemies could get off this island. Bringing us down now, be ready for skirmish."
"More than ready!" Unicorn responded, reaching back behind her to snatch up her talisman in its white leather sheath. The ensorcelled horn of an actual Unicorn from Okali gave her the ability to nullify gralic abilities in others. Ashley was the only KDF member without special powers of her own, but the horn qualified her for membership. "Let's get in there and mess them up."
"In that doorway, watching us. It's Amelia Mancuso, the Calveron," Sable began to say, backing the steathcopter up a dozen yards.
Staring up at the ominous black shape of the CORBY, Amelia raised both hands in prayer and cried out, "Thunderbolt of Draldros!" From a cloudless blue sky, lurid red lightning zig-zagged down to explode directly on the stealthcopter. The rotors blew off to spin wildly away, the Trom impulse engine shorted out and the instrument panels went dark. The CORBY dropped straight down to thump hard on the ground and then keel over on its side.
Turning to the Flying Fool, Amelia grinned with a wicked glee she had never shown before. "You can see who's the valuable player on the Coronet team, right?"
"We all bring our specialties to the table," Woodley laughed, rising up to chest height and hurtling smoothly toward the wreck, accelerating as he went. The front right hatch had sprung open. Two hands gripped the opening and Unicorn stuck her helmeted head up. She drew her anesthetic dart gun but never had a chance to use it. Moving at fifty miles per hour, the Flying Fool twisted his body to bring his legs up and drove both boots squarely into Ashley's chest with an impact that cracked ribs and forced all the air from her lungs.
"Now THAT'S a kick!" Woodley shouted as he landed next to the wrecked CORBY. "To hell with Quando and his damn kung fu." He saw the blonde KDF member feebly twitching and trying to catch her breath. The Fool picked up the dart gun from where she had dropped it, aimed carefully at the open visor of her helmet and from inches away fired one of the anesthetic needles into her cheek. Ashley slumped into immediate unconsciousness. Peering into the cabin, Woodley called over to his partner, "Looks like the pilot is still stunned from the crash. Let's get them both out in the open and make sure they're in no shape for any tricks."
Walking briskly over, Amelia restrained her laughter with effort. "Oh, this feels good! What was I moping about all this time? Draldros! Margoth! Grelok! Oh great Halarim, I will serve you well for these gifts. Step aside, let me turn them into charcoal."
"Uh, I don't think the chief would like that," Woodley said. "She wants hostages. Remember, there's more of these KDF characters out there and we'll have to deal with them."
"I can't wait. Let them do their worst," the Calveron told him, but she did not press her attack. "They have met more than their match in Coronet."
9/10/2022
6/23/2022
I.
Keeping well back, Galvan and Unicorn had endured watching Sable painstakingly investigate the grounds for the past six hours. They knew their captain's intense concentration and wanted to do nothing to interrupt it. Sable's gift was enhanced sensory perception. She used gralic force to increase her eyesight, sense of smell and tactile awareness to levels far beyond what flesh and blood were thought to be capable of achieving.
Through each room of that mansion, disturbing little beyond occasionally lifting an object and then replacing it exactly, Lauren Sable Reilly saw details at an electron microscope level as she chose. She could see in the infra-red or ultra-violet range, she sniffed traces of odors that no forensics equipment could detect, she heard the wooden fibers in the floor and the furniture still creak as they straightened out after being stepped on the day before. Information poured into her mind in a deluge that only decades of strict discipline could assimilate into any useful coherence.
In her early forties, Sable was a trim, athletic woman of average height and build in the black KDF field suit. Her jet black hair was brushed back from a high forehead. Large dark eyes, a snug nose and full lips gave her distinctive face that normally showed a warm friendly nature but right now her features were set in a taut mask.
The giant Melgar and the petite platinum blonde Unicorn followed, silently making their own observations and drawing their own conclusions. Galvan loomed up a full foot taller than his teammates. He had the massive muscular build of a lumberjack, and his rough outdoorsy clothes and work boots added to that impression. So did the curly light brown hair and short thick beard. Not demanding Sable tell him what she had learned was taking all his strength of will. Staying close to him to give emotional support, Ashley Whitaker also was aching to find out what their captain had learned and was biting her lip not to start rattling off questions. Keeping silent went against her basic personality.
Finally, after what seemed an interminable afternoon of prowling the mansion, Sable dropped down gracelessly onto the wooden bench in a gallery lined with original oils. Most of the paintings were of Hudson Valley landscapes and historical scenes. As she sat down, the team captain buried her face in her hands and exhaled sharply. "Oh. My head is killing me," she said and drooped forward in weariness. "That was a long stretch of using my powers."
"You want some water, captain?" asked Ashley, breaking the silence of the day. The little blonde dug in a pocket of her own field suit. "I've got some high-protein bars here."
"What? Oh. No, thank you, Ashley, I'm fine. So much to take in. First, let me say that our friends were alive and unharmed when they were taken from here. No traces of necrotic tissue smell anywhere where they had been. Jin, Timothy and Archie were captured by an Alchemical vapor that enervated them. I recognize its odor. 'Yellow Lotus' is what it's usually called, it makes you too weak to even raise a hand but there's no permanent damage. Our friends were carried away, helpless but unhurt."
"An Alchemist?" rumbled Galvan. He had begun pacing back and forth, even the plush carpeting not able to muffle his heavy footsteps. "They are always bad news."
"Especially in this case. Let me summarize what I've found. Nine people have been staying in this mansion for more than a month. One was a middle-aged white American man in only fair health, with nothing Midnight War about him. He did maintenance and upkeep. There was a Southeast Asian woman about forty who prepared meals, and a specifically Chinese woman in her early seventies who served as maid and personal assistant. A medical doctor in his sixties, no longer in professional practice. They were mere servants to the real threats. I've identified two men as familiar enemies. Jorge Vargas, called Repel, and Indigo the Illusionist. A young woman who stayed here is one of the Calveron. I'm certain she's the Amelia Mancuso that Jeremy met three years ago. She has Invocation skills. The fourth Midnight War denizen is an non-powered man with technical skill involving Trom tech and I am certain he is the criminal called the Flying Fool."
"Dang," interrupted Unicorn as she plopped down next to her captain. "I HATE it when someone organizes a team of bad guys to imitate us. It's always a disaster fighting them. As soon as we joined, Sable, we had to tangle with Avathor's League of Predators and then that bunch who called themselves Dark Cloud."
"I remember, Ashley. Repel and Indigo were in fact members of both of those squads. The others are all dead. Duffy the Sumo, the Fatal Wasp, Avathor himself and even Arem Kamende, all out of the way." Sable straightened up and turned her gaze toward her teammates. "So we're dealing with one of these squads who are assembled to act as a strike force. There was also a Human bodybuilder staying on these premises but I picked up no hints of any gralic powers in his traces. He acted as a driver, as far as I can tell."
Galvin bent forward, studying her face. "You know who the Alchemist is who is leading this team, don't you?"
"Yes. It's bad news," Sable admitted. "We're dealing with Olivia Wang, the Spinner of Webs, probably the most dangerous mastermind still active. There are rumors in the badlands that one of her lieutenants has staged a coup and driven her off her throne. That would be Samuel Policastro. Our sources hint that Olivia has been on the run for more than a year, spotted all over East Asia and Europe with Policastro's assassins right behind her. It seems she has been gathering a team like our own for protection."
"And now she's got our guys!" Unicorn blurted, "Jin and Tim and Archie are all prisoners. They came here to investigate the stolen yacht and instead they were captured. Sable, we need to get after them right this second! Where can we find them?"
Getting back up on her feet, tugging down the field jacket where it had risen up, Lauren Sable Reilly gave Ashley a sad look. "I know Olivia too well, honey. She will be contacting us soon, certainly today."
"Why are we waiting for that?" roared Galvan as his self-control finally broke. "She's had our people for twenty-hours! Who knows what tortures she's putting them through? Let's get after them right now."
Reaching up, the tiny Unicorn rubbed a small hand between Galvan's shoulder blades. The Melgar's muscles felt like warm granite, so dense that rifle bullets would glance off and so charged with gralic force that he could fling a car across a parking lot. But his heart was as loving and vulnerable as any Human child's.
"It's going to be okay," Ashley told him. "We are too valuable to mistreat. Look, both of us have been taken prisoner by enemies, right? We got out fine. They know we hold in our heads all the secrets of Tel Shai lore and Midnight War history, stuff worth huge fortunes. The Spinner of Webs won't chance damaging us if she can get at that knowledge."
Watching with a cool detached eye, Sable nodded once. "More than that, Galvan. Olivia is a schemer and a planner, not hotheaded in the least. She doesn't want you or Sulak or our Blind Archer coming after her in a murderous rage. Nor does she want the Dire Wolf of all people enraged at her. She will not harm Jin, or Timothy or Archie without urgent need."
The big Melgar deliberately unclenched those great hands and lowered his shoulders. "I suppose even cold comfort is better than none at all."
II.
In an unfurnished basement with bare stone walls, three folding cots were laid out in a row. Lying on rubber sheets, stripped completely naked, were Timothy Limbo, Demrak Jin and Archie McAllister. A faucet protruding from one wall stood over several buckets and a bin full of soiled rags and towels, and there was a three-legged wooden stool nearby as well. Two light bulbs in the ceiling gave off harsh glare revealing the scene.
The man called Quando rinsed his hands off under the faucet and slapped them roughly on his pants. Below average height but wide and massive, he had obviously spent many hours building his chest and arm muscles. While he wore loose baggy trousers, the tight brown T-shirt showed off that over-developed upper body. Quando apparently was Southern Chinese judging by his hair, skin tones and facial bone structure but a few long scars stretching whitely from left ear to his mouth distracted any observer.
"Cleaning up your filth! No fit job for a gladiator..." he grumbled. "Still, what My Lady commands, I am sworn to obey."
Trying without success to raise his head, Timothy said in Cantonese, >"It's a wise dog that does not bite the hand that feeds it."<
"Oh, spare me your feeble wit," Quando snapped. "No one's impressed at your language skills. It's time to spray you fools with more Yellow Lotus."
"You can skip me," Timothy said, "I don't want to get hooked on that stuff."
"Shut up, just shut up." The brute carefully adjusted a heavy-duty respirator mask over his face and took a few experimental breaths. From a closed container, he held up a common plastic spray bottle and strode over to discharge a gush of that pale yellow haze into Tim's face. Despite all attempts to hold his breath, Timothy had to inhale a full dose. Quando skipped over Archie and held the spray bottle up toward Demrak Jin's face.
The expression in her eyes gave him pause. It was not so much Human anger as the clear deliberate expression of a cat judging when to pounce on a mouse. Quando saw a determination to kill him in those eyes that was deeper and more implacable than he had seen in many enraged victims before. He sprayed the vapors into her face without hesitation.
"You do have shark eyes," he muttered. "The stories about you Gelydrim seem to be true."
"You have no idea," Timothy called over, which made him cough. "She's already decided which way your intestines are going to spill out."
Quando gave the imposing bulk of the third prisoner a thoughtful gaze. Archie was muscular in a workman's way, bulk and definition made by effort and not by planning. He was a little thick around the waist, a little undefined in the abdomen, but his arms and legs looked solid. "I was told not to spray this one again," Quando said. "He is not a Tel Shai knight. Too much of the Yellow Lotus could kill him."
Archie grunted. "Much obliged."
"My Lady knows all about you! She knows about the Tagra tea regimen which gives Tel Shai knights their enhanced healing and resilience. Even with this second dose of Yellow Lotus, you two are still shaking off enough drugs to put a mule in a coma. Believe me, My Lady will learn the mystery of Tagra from you. She will study samples of your hair, skin, blood work... She will unravel the secret of Tagra. Maybe she will live to be young and beautiful for ANOTHER hundred years!"
With a particularly smug chuckle, Quando opened the thick plank door and stepped out up the wooden steps. Before he passed from sight, he called back down, "One hour until it's time for your nutrient IV drips, my friends. Hope you have a good appetite. Ha ha har!"
He left the door open and his voice could be heard giving instructions to the guard at the top of the stairs. Silence followed. Then, slowly and painfully, Archie McAllister managed to raise one hand and flex his fingers.
III.
"Jocelyn's plane will arrive at Newark Airport in six hours," Sable told her teammates. "I heard from Josef. He's in Brussels, he was meeting a potential client for a bodyguard assignment but he canceled and he's getting on the next available flight home. Carlo is at Tel Shai being tutored by Teacher Jathis, so we can't disturb him."
Sitting bolt upright in a plain wooden chair facing Sable's desk, Unicorn demanded, "Whatever happened to Sheng anyway? Sometimes he just drops out of sight, him and his undercover gigs!"
"I can't reach him. His Uncle Pao tells me Sheng mentioned going to Chujir for some reason but that was yesterday afternoon." Sable could not keep exasperation from her normally muted tones. "I know he stepped down to part-time status, but I'm going to yell at him to keep us better informed about him whereabouts."
On the brown leather couch against the near wall, Galvan grudgingly closed his laptop and put it aside. "Not much luck figuring out where the Spinner of Webs might be, or where she might be holding our people. Her empire is too huge. She has fortresses and strongholds and mere offices everywhere from Macao to Boise, Idaho. We'd need a thousand members to crash all of them simultaneously without alerting her to move our friends."
Sable tried to sound encouraging. "I'm still mulling over all the clues at that mansion. Olivia was careful to leave no paper trail, not even a receipt in a wastepaper basket but... There must be something useful. Once I knew a suspect had come from the Southwest by the pollen in his pants cuff. Let me think. Give me some more time to go over details in my mind's eye."
"I'm tired of waiting!" yelled Galvan, towering over his partners as he rose with closed fists held at chest level. "Melgarin are not made to sit idly by when action is called for."
"At least you know little Demrak Pol is safe with Cheval," Ashley said. "And my April is with Cory at our house with more Trom security gimmicks than anywhere else on Earth. We can concentrate..." Her words were cut off by the chimes of the front door. All three of them plunged across the office and out into the main hallway as if a live grenade had ben thrown into their midst.
"Galvan, stand by!" Sable ordered, taking her place in front of the solid oak door. "Ashley, open the street door to let her into the foyer, then check the scanners."
"I'm on it," Unicorn replied, sliding open a wooden panel at face level to reveal a monitor screen which had already lit up. "Getting readings. Adult Human female, biological age eighty-one, five feet three and one hundred five pounds, all vitals like heartbeat and blood pressure within normal range. No metal larger than three keys. No unusual chemical signature. Visual scan reveals no weapons. Seems safe enough, captain."
"We'll see." Sable turned the knob and swung the door in toward her to reveal the nooklike foyer that was barely large enough to contain three people at a time. A withered, bent Asian woman blinked at her through thick-lensed round-rimmed glasses. With shiny white hair tied up in a bun, outlines shrouded by a baggy ankle-length print dress, the visitor certainly appeared harmless. But more than once the KDF members had fought vicious assassins who had presented equally mild appearances.
"I suppose you have a message from your Lady," Sable snapped, arms folded and face taut.
"Yes. May I sit? My back hurts more than usual today," came a voice with a subtle British accent.
"This way." With Galvan and Unicorn flanking from out of arm's reach, Sable led the old woman to the waiting room next to her office. She gestured for their guest to take a chair in front of the massive oak desk which sat under a gorgeous hand painted map of the world as it had been in 1937, then seated herself behind her desk and placed her folded hands on the surface before her.
Galvan and Unicorn placed themselves on either side of the desk facing the Spinner of Web's envoy, remaining on their feet, keeping their faces impassive with considerable effort. The giant Melgar's body was tense enough that knots of hard muscle stood out through the material of his shirt.
"Deliver your message now," Sable told the old woman.
"To the Knights of Tel Shai and the members of the Kenneth Dred Foundation, I speak as I was instructed to by the Spinner of Webs," the envoy began. Her voice was firm but undertones of uneasiness could be detected. "Three of your number are now in her custody. The Lady assures you that they have not been abused or mistreated, nor need that be their fate."
"Go on."
"You are aware that an ambitious lieutenant named Samuel Policastro has usurped control of the Lady's Empire. For the past eight months, the Spinner Of Webs has worked from the outside to regain her throne. Now she sees that Providence has delivered powerful allies to her side."
Sable's normally subdued voice became deadly calm. "Go on," she repeated.
"Your people will be returned to you, completely unharmed, after your team strikes against the forces of Policastro and brings him down. He has the secrets of Velkandu Alchemy, he has minions from the White Web and the Night Gorillas and Furious Buddha, and he has spies everywhere. But the Lady is certain the Knights of Tel Shai can bring him to ruin as they have defeated many more formidable enemies."
"And that's your message? Anything else?" Sable asked.
"I have not been given anything further to say," the old woman said. She was beginning to show signs of nervousness from being so near the intimidating bulk of Galvan, who was more impressive the longer you looked at him. The muscles on his arms looked like bundles of wire under the skin.
"We will take counsel," said Sable. "Ashley, take her to the waiting room next door and return here."
Silently, the blonde Unicorn gestured for the Spinner of Web's envoy to step out into the hall. The seldom used room next to the office was nearly empty, holding only several chairs, a low coffee table with some magazines and two heavily curtained windows. The walls were painted a pleasant light blue with white trim and the overhead lighting was soft. Ashley locked the door on the woman without a word. That waiting room was as soundproofed as possible.
Back in the office, Unicorn closed the hallway door behind her. "She's secure, captain."
"Good. I was using my perception on our guest, of course. As far as I can tell, she is under absolutely no mind control or Alchemical influence. The trace elements in her perspiration, her subvocal tremors and pupil changes all indicate she was simply repeating what she was instructed to say."
Galvan exhaled gustily and moved over to stand in front of his team leader. "Yeah? The real question is whether or not that message has any truth in it?"
"I think it does," Sable said. "We've been following reports from the badlands. Olivia Wang has been on the run from her own organization. This Policastro is an Alchemist himself and he seems to taken over her empire. I can absolutely see Olivia using us as living weapons against Policastro."
"Maybe we should go along with it," Ashley suggested. "I mean, we would tackle Policastro on our own, right? He's just another one of the bad guys we stomp in our Midnight War crusade. It's not like Wang is asking us to kidnap babies or burn down a hospital or something."
Galvan grumbled. "Giving in would open a door we could never close again."
"Yes. I agree." Sable stood up and regarded her two teammates thoughtfully. "For thirty thousand years, Tel Shai knights have never cooperated with extortion or blackmail. It's one of our deepest principles. Attacking Policastro because of Olivia's orders would send the message that we can be used. Any villain who abducts one of us or even some innocent hostages would expect to be able to order us around. I have to reject Olivia's offer."
"But Tim is still her prisoner! And Jin and Archie!" Ashley bleated in dismay. "Who knows what she'll do to them? Geez, she's the Spinner of Webs! Have you HEARD some of the tortures she's ordered on undercover cops she caught?"
"I'm worried about that, too, of course. But I think she doesn't want us to be completely enraged and out to obliterate her if she can help it. It's not just the three of us. She'd have Josef, Sulak, Sheng and Karina coming after her with retribution in their hearts And I know she's deathly afraid of Jeremy. Imagine knowing that he's determined to kill you! Hopefully we'll have some time to search for our friends before Olivia escalates matter."
"Welll... I hope you're right," Ashley mumbled. "You're smarter than me in these things, Sable. There's a reason why you're captain of the team. But I can't hide the fact that I'm just plain scared for our friends."
"We all are. Would you bring the messenger back here?" A minute later, the elderly woman was escorted back into the office. Sable said, "Inform your Lady that we cannot accept her terms. We make no threats or demands. But we ask that she send you or another envoy here in twenty-hours to hear our own proposal. You may go now."
With a stiff, semi-formal bow, the old woman turned and headed out into the hall. The three KDF members went with her and ensured she got out onto the sidewalk safely before closing the outer door.
Watching the monitor showing the street camera, Unicorn sighed. "And there's the expected black sedan pulling over to let her in. So predictable. What's the counter proposal we'll have for her when she returns, captain?"
"There isn't one," Sable said. "All our energies are going into first finding our friends and after that we'll deal with Olivia Wang.... for the final time."
IV.
Although he had lost his license to practice because of inappropriate prescribing of painkillers, even though he was now doing whatever an infamous international criminal ordered, Palmer Frobish still wore white slacks and a lab smock when working. It helped him justify his actions to himself. Dressing like a doctor, being as precise and professional as possible, was a way of rationalizing the horrible things he now found himself doing.
Frobish came down the steps into the cellar carefully, carrying in one hand three plastic bags of the glucose and nutrient solution for the prisoners. So many of his tasks involved patching up Olivia Wang's thugs, setting broken bones and stitching knife wounds, even extracting bullets. The Spinner of Webs provided all the equipment needed, he contributed his expertise. There was no way out for him, he knew. Once you knew even a little about a society such as this, leaving it was not for the living.
He paused for a moment to regard the three unconscious forms on cots in front of him, each deep in the stupor of the Yellow Lotus. They seemed unharmed, which relieved his misgivings. Too many times had he been forced to keep tortured prisoners alive despite the atrocities that had been done to them. Today at least, he was only providing sustenance to three people and not harming anyone.
First, the woman. Under the unforgiving glare of the overhead bulb, her naked body was exposed in every detail. She was thin, even gaunt with ribs showing, but with sleek hard muscles on her arms and legs which suggested a professional runner or swimmer. Such an odd face, too. Flat and wide, with thin lips and stiff white hair that bristled straight up. He could not imagine what nationality she was. Frobish hung one of the nutrient bags on its metal pole next to the cot and inserted its drip into the vent taped to the back of her hand. Her skin was cold and clammy, but he took a second to assure himself her pulse was strong and regular.
Next, the big man on the middle cot. What a brute. Even in his prime, Palmer Frobish had never hit six feet in height and he vaguely envied the power implied in a body that size. Still, what good had being tall and muscular done this fellow? Here he was, helpless and facing God only knows what fate. Frobish sighed and placed a second nutrient bag to its pole, then took hold of the man's lower left arm only to be utterly shocked as that hand clamped tight around his own wrist. The man sat up and yanked Frobish into a short straight jab that flattened the disgraced doctor's nose and dazed him. Even in his confusion, Frobish struggled to get free and Archie crashed a follow-up hard right hook that sounded like a hammer striking a melon.
Frobish sagged without a sound to the floor. Hopping up off the cot, Archie ran over to close the door and fasten its latch. He had been working over plans about what to do when anyone entered the cellar, and having only one man to deal with was better than he had hoped. Archie had been in some barroom brawls in his day and could throw a decent punch, but he was no martial artist and wouldn't have been able to handle two or three good sized opponents at the same time.
The man was dead, his eyes still open. Those blows had done a lot of damage. If he had time to let it sink in, this would have grieved Archie but all he could think about was survival for himself, Timothy and Jin. He went through the corpse's pockets and to his complete joy found an old-style flip phone. Yes! He tapped in Sable's personal number and instantly heard her voice say, "Yes?"
"This is Archie," he whispered. "I can't make too much noise. We're alive and unharmed so far, I don't know where we are..."
"We've already got a lock on your location," she said. "Hang tight! We're on our way."
Archie left the phone open, figuring it might somehow help the team find them sooner, and he wedged it up out of sight behind one of the corner beams. He realized he was taking deep heavy breaths and tried to calm down. This was going smoother than he had dared hope. How were his friends? Archie saw their chests rise and fall evenly enough. That Yellow Lotus, whatever it was, was sure strong stuff.
But why hadn't it kept him under, he wondered? Why had he shaken it off so quickly? He wasn't on the Tagra tea regimen. That was only for Tel Shai knights. He didn't have their enhanced healing factor. But no time to wonder about that now. Where were they? How long would it take Sable and her team to get here? Even as he fretted over that thought, a loud pounding sounded from the other side of the door.
"Doctor? Doctor Frobish! You were told never to close this door!" roared a man's voice. "Why is it locked? Doctor!"
Not having any idea how the late doctor's voice had sounded but feeling he had to try something, Archie said, "Just a minute."
"That does it!" yelled the voice. A thunderous impact snapped the hinges free and the thick wooden door swung inward on its bent lock. Lowering a gnarled fist from that blow, the man called Quando glowered at what he saw in the cellar. "Free? And you killed My
Lady's physician? Fool, I will pull off your leg and beat you to death with it."
V.
The two story bungalow took up half of the surface area of the small island four miles out to sea from Long Island Sound. A round area of crushed gravel could accomodate a helicopter or a small plane which could make do with limited runway space. Around the house was a circular rim of pine trees and underbrush, broken by a cleared mooring space for two cabin speedboats. The island had no room for much else to be built.
In an austere office on the ground floor of the bungalow, the Spinner of Webs was at work.
Any outsider observing the scene would have had no idea how surreal it really was. They would have seen a beautiful woman in her late twenties, tall and slender and elegant in a pale green silk dress with a high collar, sitting up straight at a desk and studying her open laptop. Standing nearby, spare and withered but still holding herself erect was a white-haired woman whose bony features suggested she had reached at least eighty.
In fact, Yau was eighty-one years old. She had been taken in as an infant found abandoned in a war-ravaged fishing village when Japanese troops had come marauding through on their way inland. Little Yau had spent her life in service to the strange imperious woman who now sat at the desk and who looked exactly the same that day as she had in 1939.
Olivia Wang tapped out a final impatient message and closed the laptop more emphatically than seemed really necessary. She turned those oblique jade-green eyes to her most trusted servant and managed a wry smile. "No more business for today, old friend. I have taken back more than half of my enterprises from Policastro. Let my lieutenants consolidate and strengthen their holds. I have had enough for the moment."
"My Lady has not eaten today," reminded the elderly woman, inclining her head in a polite half-bow. "It is past two in the afternoon."
"Thank you, Yau. My serums sustain me but for good health I should take in nourishing meals. Some tea, first, if you would."
Shuffling over to a small side table, Yau busied herself with pouring from a silver teapot into a fine ceramic cup inscribed with gold emblems. "The chef mentioned roast duck for tonight. I could ask him if some is ready?"
"Not yet." Olivia accepted the cup and sipped it thoughtfully. "There is still so much to do. Perhaps I killed my father too soon, I could use his help running this empire. But it had to be. Only one tiger to a hill, as the saying goes."
Yau waited silently. After a moment, the Spinner of Webs finished her tea and placed the cup to one side. "I know we have gone over every detail of your visit to the KDF," she said at last. "Over and over. You are skilled at detecting deceit and deception, Yau. The leader, the one called Sable, was she hiding any conflicting emotions?"
"Not that I could see, My Lady. She was angry, of course. She is determined to rescue her teammates. But I saw no doubts or uncertainty in her manner."
"And when my name was mentioned? Did she react at all?"
"No, My Lady. I believe she expected to hear it. She seemed to already know that is you who hold her friends."
Olivia allowed her elegant lips to curl ever so slightly in a wry smile. "Ah, such is life. Even white hot coals eventually cool and turn dark. Never mind, my dear. Come, let us check with Dr Forbish before contacting Sable again."
What repy Yau would have made will never be known. Outside the house, the deafening rattle of high-powered machine gun fire made them both flinch violently. Cat quick, the Spinner of Webs rushed over to the windows. Not a hundred yards away, her speedboats were both being torn into splinters by gunfire from an unmarked black helicopter hovering at treetop level. "She has found us somehow. Yau, go to the safe room and remain there indefintely."
"But, My Lady, what of you?"
"Shall I repeat an order? I told you to go!" Olivia Wang pulled up a square brown leather satchel from beneath her desk and slung it by its strap over her left shoulder. "Sable does not realize what she is challenging."
As the aged servant hobbled from the room, the Spinner of Webs dismissed her from thought. A wall panel in the hall outside opened to a fortified safe room, soundproofed and well-equipped with food and bottled water. Olivia opened the top flap of her satchel and gave a quick glance at the rows of thin-walled glass vials held in their padded racks. Eighty years studying Velkandu, the Alchemy of the Midnight War, had gone into the solutions and serums in those vials and she had chosen carefully what to select.
The racket outside had ceased. The Spinner of Webs opened her door just as Quando came running up. His face never was good at hiding emotions and its rage now had made it a tiger mask. "My Lady! We are under assault!"
"So I gather," she snorted. "The other Coronet members should be already out there to repel our attackers. Both boats are destroyed, but they can not know about the camouflaged submersible. Go guard it."
"I must report, My Lady. One of the prisoners, the big one named McAllister, somehow recovered from the Yellow Lotus. He killed Dr Frobish. I beat him senseless and left him locked in the cellar."
"Frobish dead? Pity. He served me well. So be it, go to the submersible."
"I hear and obey," the burly Chinese said, turning on his heel and galloping back down the hall. Olivia Wang turned the other way, intending to see how her team was reacting. That must be one of the CORBYs out there, the KDF stealth copters which used Trom technology. Before she got to the far end of the hallway, a huge man crashed bodily through the windows and landed lightly on his feet. Not even scratched by all the broken glass, Galvan pointed an accusing finger.
"Those prisoners had better be alive and well, Alchemist!" he bellowed. "Your life depends on it."
"Ah, the Melgar. I have heard of you," said Olivia with a confident smile. "You are supposed to be nearly as strong as that ox Sulak?"
Galvan surprisingly gave an amused snort and began striding toward her. "Please. You will wish you only had Sulak to deal with. Take me to the prisoners." He stopped short as Olivia flung one of the vials to shatter on the floor at his feet and a noxious burst of black vapor swirled up around him. He broke into a convulive coughing jag and dropped to one knee, head hanging down as the acrid fumes clung to him.
"Bullets may bounce from your skin and swords snap against you," Olivia called to the struggling Melgar. "But you are still flesh and blood and must breathe to live."
Racked with coughing that he could not stop, Galvan managed to rise again, pawing at his face and wheezing like bagpipes. Unsteady but determined, he took a single menacing step toward her enemy before Olivia flung a second vial to break open in front of him, then a third. Thick white frost rushed over to coat his entire body. The temperature in that hallway dropped forty degrees instantly. Despite all his efforts, Galvan fell face down with a thud and could not rise.
"Now I have four prisoners," laughed the Spinner of Webs.
VI.
Hovering forty feet up, Sable swung the CORBY around on its axis, watching for any of the enemies who might be leaving the building. She was for once wearing the full KDF field suit, including the helmet with its visor up. "How's the infra-red scans?"
"Good news," Ashley said from the co-pilot seat. "Positive IDs on Timothy, Archie and Jin. They are alive in the cellar. I'm reading eight other Human signatures, not including Galvan. I swear, I'll never forget him jumping out the rear hatch and then immediately diving in through that window. That guy is a Melgar, all right."
"Their boats are useless, and I don't see any other way that our enemies could get off this island. Bringing us down now, be ready for skirmish."
"More than ready!" Unicorn responded, reaching back behind her to snatch up her talisman in its white leather sheath. The ensorcelled horn of an actual Unicorn from Okali gave her the ability to nullify gralic abilities in others. Ashley was the only KDF member without special powers of her own, but the horn qualified her for membership. "Let's get in there and mess them up."
"In that doorway, watching us. It's Amelia Mancuso, the Calveron," Sable began to say, backing the steathcopter up a dozen yards.
Staring up at the ominous black shape of the CORBY, Amelia raised both hands in prayer and cried out, "Thunderbolt of Draldros!" From a cloudless blue sky, lurid red lightning zig-zagged down to explode directly on the stealthcopter. The rotors blew off to spin wildly away, the Trom impulse engine shorted out and the instrument panels went dark. The CORBY dropped straight down to thump hard on the ground and then keel over on its side.
Turning to the Flying Fool, Amelia grinned with a wicked glee she had never shown before. "You can see who's the valuable player on the Coronet team, right?"
"We all bring our specialties to the table," Woodley laughed, rising up to chest height and hurtling smoothly toward the wreck, accelerating as he went. The front right hatch had sprung open. Two hands gripped the opening and Unicorn stuck her helmeted head up. She drew her anesthetic dart gun but never had a chance to use it. Moving at fifty miles per hour, the Flying Fool twisted his body to bring his legs up and drove both boots squarely into Ashley's chest with an impact that cracked ribs and forced all the air from her lungs.
"Now THAT'S a kick!" Woodley shouted as he landed next to the wrecked CORBY. "To hell with Quando and his damn kung fu." He saw the blonde KDF member feebly twitching and trying to catch her breath. The Fool picked up the dart gun from where she had dropped it, aimed carefully at the open visor of her helmet and from inches away fired one of the anesthetic needles into her cheek. Ashley slumped into immediate unconsciousness. Peering into the cabin, Woodley called over to his partner, "Looks like the pilot is still stunned from the crash. Let's get them both out in the open and make sure they're in no shape for any tricks."
Walking briskly over, Amelia restrained her laughter with effort. "Oh, this feels good! What was I moping about all this time? Draldros! Margoth! Grelok! Oh great Halarim, I will serve you well for these gifts. Step aside, let me turn them into charcoal."
"Uh, I don't think the chief would like that," Woodley said. "She wants hostages. Remember, there's more of these KDF characters out there and we'll have to deal with them."
"I can't wait. Let them do their worst," the Calveron told him, but she did not press her attack. "They have met more than their match in Coronet."
9/10/2022