"The Terror of Li Tung"
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dochermes"The Terror of Li Tung"
2/14/1980
I.
The doorbell rang in a single unbroken note, as if whoever was outside dared not let it stop. It was one-thirty on a dark cloudy night with a wind chill in the single digits, and the old ten-story building had been dark except for a single light on the second floor. In a few seconds, lights blazed on in the windows of the first floor and a gaunt young man dressed all in black opened the door to the street. "Okay already," he snapped. "What's the problem?"
"Let me in, hurry, hurry please." The visitor was a beefy man in shabby clothes, unshaven and not smelling too fresh. He tried shoving past the young man, who turned sideways to let him into the tiny foyer. It was just big enough for the two of them to stand without brushing against each other, all it held was a bench and a shelf with a lamp on it. On the wall was an oil portrait of a gnomish elderly man tagged KENNETH DRED 1900-1979.
"You better calm down," suggested the man in black with just a trace of menace in his voice. "Give me your name and why you're here, right now."
"Metzger! Phil Metzger. I need to see Kenneth Dred. Hurry, please."
The young man glared with cold grey eyes at the frantic visitor. "You're a little late, pal." He pointed at the portrait behind him. "Mr Dred passed away last year. My name is Jeremy Bane, I'm carrying on his work."
"Oh my God, no. What am I gonna do? Listen, I met Dred a few years ago when I got mixed up with Red Sect. He helped me escape them. He told me to come here if I ever needed help again." Metzger's eyes swung wildly around the tiny room. The door to 38th Street still stood wide open. "You're Dire wolf, aren't you? I've heard of you."
Bane jabbed a finger into Metzger's chest. "Get a grip. Tell you what. Step inside and you can tell me what you're so afraid of."
"There's no time. Li Tung knows I'm running. I thought he was a fraud but he's real... I've seen too much. I've seen the monster he keeps. Someone has to stop him!"
Those were Metzger's last words. Jeremy Bane instinctively swung aside, flattening against the wall as his instincts for danger flared up. A blinding flash of lurid red light tore right through Metzger's chest with a stink of burning meat. He didn't even have time to scream before Bane was catching his corpse. With a low curse, the Dire Wolf dropped the body and dove out through the open door into the empty street. He was just a second too late, the red tailights of a black Pontiac were swinging around the corner to Lexington Avenue. Fast as he was, he couldn't catch it on foot and all he had on him was the anesthetic dart gun which was no use against a vehicle.
For one second, his eyes swept the buildings on the opposite side of the street, but he couldn't spot a clue that anyone would have seen what happened. The few lit windows in apartments above ground level stores were closed and curtained against the winter. Instantly, he swung back inside and closed the door. The Trom-built locks and alarms went on automatically with low clicks. He stared down at the body at his feet with a calmness that was remarkable under the circumstances but then, he had become used to sudden unexplainable violence in his life.
At the moment, he was alone in the headquarters building. His teammates were all scattered on their own business, even Cindy was at Tel Shai training for a few days. Taking a pair of thin latex gloves from a pocket of his black sport jacket, he knelt down and searched the body as Hawk had been teaching him how to do. Metzger was wearing work shoes, jeans and a red flannel shirt, all almost worn out. Whoever Li Tung was, he didn't seem to pay his stooges well. The pockets held three keys on a ring, none of them for a car. There was an ancient wallet which did hold a driver's license though, as well as a few assorted ticket stubs and so forth. There was forty dollars and some change, a folding knife and a clean red handkerchief. Bane put all these items on a shelf just inside the inner door, then picked up the body under the arms and dragged it inside.
The Dire Wolf closed the inner door and hauled what remained of Phil Metzger into the emergency room to his left. This held two adjustable hospital beds and he placed the corpse on one of them, got a sheet from a closet and covered it up. He had no intention of reporting the death. It was far from the first felony he had committed this way. The Dire Wolf had decided to dispose of the corpse through a Gateway crystal, sending it hundreds of miles out into the Atlantic. Several hitmen who had been sent after him had disappeared this way, leaving no evidence and soon their bosses had stopped trying.
As he covered the body, Bane felt a slight twinge. If he had let Metzger into the hall and closed the door, the man would still be alive. Under the floor was the powerful talisman Yellow Shield which would have blocked that gralic bolt. Well, too late now. If this guy had hired out to a warlock after having previously gotten in trouble working for Red Sect, he had been no choir boy. Bane remembered everything that Atron Ke had told him about Li Tung when they had met a year earlier. The warlock was a Gelydra and a worshipper of Grelok, so he would be as near the ocean as possible. Using one of the Eldar arrows that pointed toward gralic force, Bane thought he should be able to track down Li Tung almost at once, especially if he headed down toward the Battery to start. Right now was a good time for that start.
Turning off the light in the emergency ward, the Dire Wolf trotted quickly up the stairs toward the second floor but before he reached the landing, an oppressive sensation of impending danger hit him with almost physical intensity. His Midnight War experiences had sharpened all his instincts. Bane stopped in mid-step and swung around to see a roiling ball of red light churn in the air almost within reach.
He folded his arms in front of him, hands near the hilts of the silver daggers sheathed under his sleeves. This was something new. A grotesque face took shape within that red cloud, unstable and wavering as if seen through turbulent water, growing clearer and suddenly seeming able to see him. It was the grotesque face of one of the Ulgorans with marked piscine qualities. The bulging dark eyes, two thin mustaches hanging from the corners of a wide lipless mouth, the smooth rubbery skin.. all marked the man as an inhabitant of sunken Ulgor.
Bane had never seen the face before but there was no doubt. "So. Li Tung, eh? You've got your nerve."
"Surface man!" hissed a voice across a great distance. "You have much to answer for."
"Yeah? You blasted a hole through a guy right inside my front door and you tell me I did wrong? We're going to meet face to face, buddy, and I promise you that you won't like it." Bane stood his ground as the unsteady red cloud drifted closer.
Li Tung did not speak for a long moment. Evidently he was used to people being terrified by this image of his face appearing in mid-air and Bane's steady defiance surprised him. The Ulgoran sorcerer continued, "You will tell me now what that fool said to you!"
"I will tell you now to drop dead," Bane answered. He suddenly whipped out a dagger from its sheath and slashed it right through the red aura. Those daggers had their silver blades ensorcelled by the immortal Eldarin and they were potent. The boiling cloud dispersed with a sharp popping noise like a bubble bursting. Bane watched the space where it had been suspiciously before sliding the dagger back under his sleeve. "And don't come back," he snapped at the empty air.
II.
In a damp chamber deep underground, Li Tung cried out and reeled back a step. He pawed at his face and was reassured he had not actually been harmed. When those ensalir daggers had pierced his gralic projection, it had felt as if his real face had been slashed. Getting his bearings, drawing his long heavy cloak about his corpulent body, the Geldydra hissed angrily and turned to face his three Human hirelings. They shrank back in unconcealed dread.
It was disconcerting to see big powerful men, with thick necks and muscular arms, step back fearfully before the stare of a single strange being. Any one of them looked as if he would be able to break the sorcerer without trouble, but they all fell back against the wall as if he were aiming a deadly weapon at them. The chamber they were in had rough stone walls decorated with abstract murals painted in shades of blue and green. In one wall was set a massive steel plate ten feet to a side, and against the wall facing it was a carved stone throne draped with some rubbery fabric. The high back of that throne curved forward in a shape resembling a shark snout, even the eyes reresented by black gems. The sorcerer stood in front of that throne, trembling with murderous rage.
"The fool Metzger has gone to join his ancestors," Li Tung announced in a voice that had slight sibilance to it. "But he has spoken to a surface man. Now that air-breather must die as well. My presence here above the waves must remain secret until I am ready to strike. Madigan! You are a member of this city's criminal underworld. It is you who will slay this Jeremy Bane."
"Bane....?" gasped Madigan. He was massive enough to be a professional wrestler, and his flattened features suggested he had taken a few beatings in his life. "You mean, the Dire Wolf? Kill him? Hell."
"Yes." Li Tung held up clawlike hands and a vague red shimmer played around them. "Do not tell me you fear him more than you do me!"
"No, boss, of course not." Madigan stood up straighter, tugged his jacket down and squared his shoulders. "You want him dead, he's on the way to the morgue."
The warlock smiled, his face more fishlike than ever. "It is well you have answered thus. Your rewards have been substantial so far, have they not? You have been given more wealth since serving me than you have ever seen before." Li Tung lowered his hands and the gralic force faded. "Make your plans. Purchase whatever weapons you need, hire more men if necessary, but I want to see the head of this Dire Wolf on the floor before me."
From nearby, a deep rumbling growl sounded through the thick walls. Again, the hired thugs flinched involuntarily and Li Tung smirked as he saw this. "Do not fear the Malak," he reassured him. "He will be well fed on normal meat from now on. Go now. I command you to slay Jeremy Bane."
"You can try," came a mocking voice from behind him.
III.
Everyone jumped as if stung by scorpions. In the doorway to that chamber stood a thin figure all in black, watching them with grey eyes that missed nothing. The three hired goons snatched for shoulder holsters or waistbands but, although they were tough hardened killers, their reflexes were hopelessly inadequate against what they faced. Bane drew and fired three times so quickly it sounded like one explosion, his long-barreled Smith & Wesson booming unbearably loud in the enclosed space. The thugs twitched and fell in different directions, one of them staying alive just long enough to break his fall with his hands before sagging down to the moist floor. The echoes of those three shots slammed back and forth from wall to wall.
The Dire Wolf swung his pistol over to cover Li Tung, holding his arm out full length. The sorcerer glanced back and forth from the intruder to the three dead men, then deliberately strode over to the throne set against the far wall and lowered himself with as much dignity as he could summon. He concealed his taloned hands in the loose sleeves of his robe and met Bane's glare without unease.
"You will want to know why I am here in your surface world," said the warlock with a smirk. "Surely you will not slay me before you learn that?"
"Don't be too sure," Bane answered, but he did gently lower the hammer on the pistol and brought his arm down. "It might be safer to just plug you now."
"I must know, how did you locate me? And so quickly?"
"Why should I give away my tricks? Look, Li Tung. Your life is hanging by a thread right now. I suggest it's in your best interests to start telling me things." The Dire Wolf stepped closer, moving past the still-warm body of the man who had been called Madigan. "Every time a Gelydra shows himself on the surface, there's a lot of dead people. Maybe we can prevent that. Maybe you yourself can survive this night."
Li Tung made a wheezing sound that was his Race's type of laughter. "Oh, the confidence of youth! Little air-breather, you have more to learn than I have patience to teach. But let me give a slight lesson. Do you know this throne room is under sea level? That this wall right there has tons of water beyond it?"
"Yeah, so does the Lincoln Tunnel. So what?"
"And that steel panel suggests nothing to you?" As he said that, Li Tung saw Bane's eyes flicker almost involuntarily toward the huge metal plate set in the far wall and the sorcerer yanked a chain that hung by his throne. The plate crashed down inward on hidden hinges and a solid wall of freezing sea water thundered into that chamber like a living thing. It swept furiously to fling Bane off his feet and throw him head over heels. Even as he realized what had happened, the Dire Wolf was tugged a thin clear membrane from its slit inside the lapel of his jacket. The membrane had tabs which hooked over his ears to cover his nose and mouth.
With an effort of will because it was not a natural thing to do underwater, Bane took a breath. The Trom-crafted membrane separated oxygen from water by its one molecule-thick permeability. The Dire Wolf got his footing as the chamber had been known filled completely with icy water. He could survive with the membrane, but it was meant for emergencies and he was not drawing in as much to breathe as he would in open air. He always felt out of breath when using the Trom membranes. Stroking with his arms, he faced the Gelydra warlock and realized he had dropped his gun during the deluge.
Li Tung breathed in through his lipless mouth and as he exhaled, gills slits opened on either side of his throat. It was the final touch to demonstrate just how inhuman he was. He had not stirred as the room had been flooded. "Interesting. I thought you would be floating dead by now, but you seem to have some clever surface gadget. Hah! Well, I have a few surprises of my own yet."
"Time to finish this," Bane answered, his voice distorted by the water. He lunged toward the sorcerer but swung around barely in time to evade a huge dark shape that had flashed toward him and which his peripheral vision barely caught. The clash of fanged jaws snapping shut was right in his ear. The Dire Wolf pushed up off the stone floor as strongly as he could and just escaped being swiped by a dark leathery arm as thick as his body.
It was a Malak! He had never seen one but he had read of them in Kenneth Dred's notes. Created by the Darthim to guard the island of Maroch, they were unnatural hybrids. Its ten foot long body was like that of a tiger shark but with humanlike arms and legs ending in clawed digits. The Malak's head had a noticeable forehead and vicious intelligence in the glassy eyes. The beast swept up toward Bane, its gaping mouth opening wide enough to take him in whole in another second. Fighting the water resistance, the Dire Wolf twisted sideways. He heard Li Tung laugh gleefully. Bane swirled upwards toward the ceiling, drawing his daggers and as the Malak lunged, its snout was sliced deeply by a silver blade. Black blood spread in the water.
The sharkbeast pawed at its injured nose and plunged forward again, but Bane evaded that charge and the silver blades slid along the monster's flank, slitting the skin for a good nine inches. That hide was so abrasive that just brushing against it tore Bane's skin. With a roar, the Malak spun and its tail crashed against Bane harder than a sledge hammer. The Dire Wolf spun backwards, losing control and dropping one of his knives. The flexible Trom-foil armor he wore under his clothes was good but not perfect and some of that impact got though. It was hard enough to breathe through the membrane and now his ribs ached and he was not drawing a full breath at all. Bane shifted his grip on his remaining dagger as the Malak touched its wounded side. The small piglike eyes fastened on him with murderous intent.
In that instant, a new form hurtled through the opening to the ocean and slammed headlong into the injured brute. The newcomer was a man in a grey hide outfit, wielding a three-foot knive with a bone blade honed sharper than steel. He drove that weapon deep into the Malak's chest cavity, twisted it and tugged it down to cut the beast's torso open so internal organs spilled out into the water. All this happened in less than a second. The newcomer kicked away from the dying brute and stared up at the stunned Dire Wolf.
Atron Ke had sandy blond hair over a bony angular face and cloudy blue eyes. He wore his usual tunic and leggings of grey rough sharkhide, and the bone-bladed machete now had strings of dark blood and gore clinging to it. As he saw Bane, Atron chuckled. The two short fleshy horns at his temples gave him a demonic aspect.
"Ah, you have not forgotten me, Dire Wolf! Did you think you would be glad to meet the Destroyer again?"
Bane caught his breath, sheathed his dagger and managed a smile. "Yeah, you picked a good time to make a dramatic entrance." He hesitated, but added, "Thanks, Atron. I had my hands full."
"And where is Li Tung?" demanded the Destroyer. They both glared about the submerged room but only the dead were there with them... the Malak and the three thugs. "Ever the coward. When he saw me arrive, the warlock fled. He has no stomach for battle. Bah, what a weakling."
Retrieving his other dagger, Bane sheathed it carefully. Those blades had been a gift to him from Kenneth Dred when they had first met and he would do whatever was necessary to hold onto them. "You came here looking for Li Tung? What was he up? What was his scheme this time?"
"Take time to let your breath return," the Gelydra warrior told him. "This water is too cold for your Human body, Dire Wolf. Come. Let us get up in the air." Bane swam toward the door through which he had entered that chamber and they moved up steep stone steps. As the two of them emerged to a corridor above sea level, they broke surface and were standing on a dry floor. Bane yanked off the oxygen membrane and took some deep breaths. That device kept him alive under water but it was nowhere near as good as natural air.
Watching him, Atron had rinsed off his weapon and now he placed it in the carved walrus tusk scabbard across his back. "Long have I pursued Li Tung," he somberly said. "Never will I forgive him for his attempts to enthrall me... as happened on the night we fought, you and I. Well, he may have postponed my cutting his head off for the moment but I will catch him yet. Back to my world beneath the waves I go! Fare thee well, Jeremy."
"Wait. Atron, wait. I need to know what Li Tung was planning. In case he comes back, so I can keep an eye on him." Bane was dripping and shivering but his voice kept its usual authority.
The Gelydra shrugged. "I know he was meeting a Human named Lee Hutchins. An Alchemist. What he intended to do with this Alchemist, I cannot say. But you would be wise to locate Lee Hutchins and keep a wary eye on him."
"I'll do that. Thanks again, Atron. Maybe I can repay you someday."
The ferocious Destroyer grinned and raised an admonishing forefinger. "I do not doubt it. We shall meet again, perhaps as allies, perhaps not. The Midnight War rages and both our lives are far from over." With that, Atron dove headlong down into the cold dark waters which covered the steps leading into the flooded chamber. Bane stood there thoughtfully watching the ripples lessen, then his pragmatic matter-of-fact mind took over and he decided that the moment his main concern was getting into dry clothes in a warm room. Then he realized he never did find out what Li Tung's scheme had been.
1/24/1972- Rev 6/15/2014
2/14/1980
I.
The doorbell rang in a single unbroken note, as if whoever was outside dared not let it stop. It was one-thirty on a dark cloudy night with a wind chill in the single digits, and the old ten-story building had been dark except for a single light on the second floor. In a few seconds, lights blazed on in the windows of the first floor and a gaunt young man dressed all in black opened the door to the street. "Okay already," he snapped. "What's the problem?"
"Let me in, hurry, hurry please." The visitor was a beefy man in shabby clothes, unshaven and not smelling too fresh. He tried shoving past the young man, who turned sideways to let him into the tiny foyer. It was just big enough for the two of them to stand without brushing against each other, all it held was a bench and a shelf with a lamp on it. On the wall was an oil portrait of a gnomish elderly man tagged KENNETH DRED 1900-1979.
"You better calm down," suggested the man in black with just a trace of menace in his voice. "Give me your name and why you're here, right now."
"Metzger! Phil Metzger. I need to see Kenneth Dred. Hurry, please."
The young man glared with cold grey eyes at the frantic visitor. "You're a little late, pal." He pointed at the portrait behind him. "Mr Dred passed away last year. My name is Jeremy Bane, I'm carrying on his work."
"Oh my God, no. What am I gonna do? Listen, I met Dred a few years ago when I got mixed up with Red Sect. He helped me escape them. He told me to come here if I ever needed help again." Metzger's eyes swung wildly around the tiny room. The door to 38th Street still stood wide open. "You're Dire wolf, aren't you? I've heard of you."
Bane jabbed a finger into Metzger's chest. "Get a grip. Tell you what. Step inside and you can tell me what you're so afraid of."
"There's no time. Li Tung knows I'm running. I thought he was a fraud but he's real... I've seen too much. I've seen the monster he keeps. Someone has to stop him!"
Those were Metzger's last words. Jeremy Bane instinctively swung aside, flattening against the wall as his instincts for danger flared up. A blinding flash of lurid red light tore right through Metzger's chest with a stink of burning meat. He didn't even have time to scream before Bane was catching his corpse. With a low curse, the Dire Wolf dropped the body and dove out through the open door into the empty street. He was just a second too late, the red tailights of a black Pontiac were swinging around the corner to Lexington Avenue. Fast as he was, he couldn't catch it on foot and all he had on him was the anesthetic dart gun which was no use against a vehicle.
For one second, his eyes swept the buildings on the opposite side of the street, but he couldn't spot a clue that anyone would have seen what happened. The few lit windows in apartments above ground level stores were closed and curtained against the winter. Instantly, he swung back inside and closed the door. The Trom-built locks and alarms went on automatically with low clicks. He stared down at the body at his feet with a calmness that was remarkable under the circumstances but then, he had become used to sudden unexplainable violence in his life.
At the moment, he was alone in the headquarters building. His teammates were all scattered on their own business, even Cindy was at Tel Shai training for a few days. Taking a pair of thin latex gloves from a pocket of his black sport jacket, he knelt down and searched the body as Hawk had been teaching him how to do. Metzger was wearing work shoes, jeans and a red flannel shirt, all almost worn out. Whoever Li Tung was, he didn't seem to pay his stooges well. The pockets held three keys on a ring, none of them for a car. There was an ancient wallet which did hold a driver's license though, as well as a few assorted ticket stubs and so forth. There was forty dollars and some change, a folding knife and a clean red handkerchief. Bane put all these items on a shelf just inside the inner door, then picked up the body under the arms and dragged it inside.
The Dire Wolf closed the inner door and hauled what remained of Phil Metzger into the emergency room to his left. This held two adjustable hospital beds and he placed the corpse on one of them, got a sheet from a closet and covered it up. He had no intention of reporting the death. It was far from the first felony he had committed this way. The Dire Wolf had decided to dispose of the corpse through a Gateway crystal, sending it hundreds of miles out into the Atlantic. Several hitmen who had been sent after him had disappeared this way, leaving no evidence and soon their bosses had stopped trying.
As he covered the body, Bane felt a slight twinge. If he had let Metzger into the hall and closed the door, the man would still be alive. Under the floor was the powerful talisman Yellow Shield which would have blocked that gralic bolt. Well, too late now. If this guy had hired out to a warlock after having previously gotten in trouble working for Red Sect, he had been no choir boy. Bane remembered everything that Atron Ke had told him about Li Tung when they had met a year earlier. The warlock was a Gelydra and a worshipper of Grelok, so he would be as near the ocean as possible. Using one of the Eldar arrows that pointed toward gralic force, Bane thought he should be able to track down Li Tung almost at once, especially if he headed down toward the Battery to start. Right now was a good time for that start.
Turning off the light in the emergency ward, the Dire Wolf trotted quickly up the stairs toward the second floor but before he reached the landing, an oppressive sensation of impending danger hit him with almost physical intensity. His Midnight War experiences had sharpened all his instincts. Bane stopped in mid-step and swung around to see a roiling ball of red light churn in the air almost within reach.
He folded his arms in front of him, hands near the hilts of the silver daggers sheathed under his sleeves. This was something new. A grotesque face took shape within that red cloud, unstable and wavering as if seen through turbulent water, growing clearer and suddenly seeming able to see him. It was the grotesque face of one of the Ulgorans with marked piscine qualities. The bulging dark eyes, two thin mustaches hanging from the corners of a wide lipless mouth, the smooth rubbery skin.. all marked the man as an inhabitant of sunken Ulgor.
Bane had never seen the face before but there was no doubt. "So. Li Tung, eh? You've got your nerve."
"Surface man!" hissed a voice across a great distance. "You have much to answer for."
"Yeah? You blasted a hole through a guy right inside my front door and you tell me I did wrong? We're going to meet face to face, buddy, and I promise you that you won't like it." Bane stood his ground as the unsteady red cloud drifted closer.
Li Tung did not speak for a long moment. Evidently he was used to people being terrified by this image of his face appearing in mid-air and Bane's steady defiance surprised him. The Ulgoran sorcerer continued, "You will tell me now what that fool said to you!"
"I will tell you now to drop dead," Bane answered. He suddenly whipped out a dagger from its sheath and slashed it right through the red aura. Those daggers had their silver blades ensorcelled by the immortal Eldarin and they were potent. The boiling cloud dispersed with a sharp popping noise like a bubble bursting. Bane watched the space where it had been suspiciously before sliding the dagger back under his sleeve. "And don't come back," he snapped at the empty air.
II.
In a damp chamber deep underground, Li Tung cried out and reeled back a step. He pawed at his face and was reassured he had not actually been harmed. When those ensalir daggers had pierced his gralic projection, it had felt as if his real face had been slashed. Getting his bearings, drawing his long heavy cloak about his corpulent body, the Geldydra hissed angrily and turned to face his three Human hirelings. They shrank back in unconcealed dread.
It was disconcerting to see big powerful men, with thick necks and muscular arms, step back fearfully before the stare of a single strange being. Any one of them looked as if he would be able to break the sorcerer without trouble, but they all fell back against the wall as if he were aiming a deadly weapon at them. The chamber they were in had rough stone walls decorated with abstract murals painted in shades of blue and green. In one wall was set a massive steel plate ten feet to a side, and against the wall facing it was a carved stone throne draped with some rubbery fabric. The high back of that throne curved forward in a shape resembling a shark snout, even the eyes reresented by black gems. The sorcerer stood in front of that throne, trembling with murderous rage.
"The fool Metzger has gone to join his ancestors," Li Tung announced in a voice that had slight sibilance to it. "But he has spoken to a surface man. Now that air-breather must die as well. My presence here above the waves must remain secret until I am ready to strike. Madigan! You are a member of this city's criminal underworld. It is you who will slay this Jeremy Bane."
"Bane....?" gasped Madigan. He was massive enough to be a professional wrestler, and his flattened features suggested he had taken a few beatings in his life. "You mean, the Dire Wolf? Kill him? Hell."
"Yes." Li Tung held up clawlike hands and a vague red shimmer played around them. "Do not tell me you fear him more than you do me!"
"No, boss, of course not." Madigan stood up straighter, tugged his jacket down and squared his shoulders. "You want him dead, he's on the way to the morgue."
The warlock smiled, his face more fishlike than ever. "It is well you have answered thus. Your rewards have been substantial so far, have they not? You have been given more wealth since serving me than you have ever seen before." Li Tung lowered his hands and the gralic force faded. "Make your plans. Purchase whatever weapons you need, hire more men if necessary, but I want to see the head of this Dire Wolf on the floor before me."
From nearby, a deep rumbling growl sounded through the thick walls. Again, the hired thugs flinched involuntarily and Li Tung smirked as he saw this. "Do not fear the Malak," he reassured him. "He will be well fed on normal meat from now on. Go now. I command you to slay Jeremy Bane."
"You can try," came a mocking voice from behind him.
III.
Everyone jumped as if stung by scorpions. In the doorway to that chamber stood a thin figure all in black, watching them with grey eyes that missed nothing. The three hired goons snatched for shoulder holsters or waistbands but, although they were tough hardened killers, their reflexes were hopelessly inadequate against what they faced. Bane drew and fired three times so quickly it sounded like one explosion, his long-barreled Smith & Wesson booming unbearably loud in the enclosed space. The thugs twitched and fell in different directions, one of them staying alive just long enough to break his fall with his hands before sagging down to the moist floor. The echoes of those three shots slammed back and forth from wall to wall.
The Dire Wolf swung his pistol over to cover Li Tung, holding his arm out full length. The sorcerer glanced back and forth from the intruder to the three dead men, then deliberately strode over to the throne set against the far wall and lowered himself with as much dignity as he could summon. He concealed his taloned hands in the loose sleeves of his robe and met Bane's glare without unease.
"You will want to know why I am here in your surface world," said the warlock with a smirk. "Surely you will not slay me before you learn that?"
"Don't be too sure," Bane answered, but he did gently lower the hammer on the pistol and brought his arm down. "It might be safer to just plug you now."
"I must know, how did you locate me? And so quickly?"
"Why should I give away my tricks? Look, Li Tung. Your life is hanging by a thread right now. I suggest it's in your best interests to start telling me things." The Dire Wolf stepped closer, moving past the still-warm body of the man who had been called Madigan. "Every time a Gelydra shows himself on the surface, there's a lot of dead people. Maybe we can prevent that. Maybe you yourself can survive this night."
Li Tung made a wheezing sound that was his Race's type of laughter. "Oh, the confidence of youth! Little air-breather, you have more to learn than I have patience to teach. But let me give a slight lesson. Do you know this throne room is under sea level? That this wall right there has tons of water beyond it?"
"Yeah, so does the Lincoln Tunnel. So what?"
"And that steel panel suggests nothing to you?" As he said that, Li Tung saw Bane's eyes flicker almost involuntarily toward the huge metal plate set in the far wall and the sorcerer yanked a chain that hung by his throne. The plate crashed down inward on hidden hinges and a solid wall of freezing sea water thundered into that chamber like a living thing. It swept furiously to fling Bane off his feet and throw him head over heels. Even as he realized what had happened, the Dire Wolf was tugged a thin clear membrane from its slit inside the lapel of his jacket. The membrane had tabs which hooked over his ears to cover his nose and mouth.
With an effort of will because it was not a natural thing to do underwater, Bane took a breath. The Trom-crafted membrane separated oxygen from water by its one molecule-thick permeability. The Dire Wolf got his footing as the chamber had been known filled completely with icy water. He could survive with the membrane, but it was meant for emergencies and he was not drawing in as much to breathe as he would in open air. He always felt out of breath when using the Trom membranes. Stroking with his arms, he faced the Gelydra warlock and realized he had dropped his gun during the deluge.
Li Tung breathed in through his lipless mouth and as he exhaled, gills slits opened on either side of his throat. It was the final touch to demonstrate just how inhuman he was. He had not stirred as the room had been flooded. "Interesting. I thought you would be floating dead by now, but you seem to have some clever surface gadget. Hah! Well, I have a few surprises of my own yet."
"Time to finish this," Bane answered, his voice distorted by the water. He lunged toward the sorcerer but swung around barely in time to evade a huge dark shape that had flashed toward him and which his peripheral vision barely caught. The clash of fanged jaws snapping shut was right in his ear. The Dire Wolf pushed up off the stone floor as strongly as he could and just escaped being swiped by a dark leathery arm as thick as his body.
It was a Malak! He had never seen one but he had read of them in Kenneth Dred's notes. Created by the Darthim to guard the island of Maroch, they were unnatural hybrids. Its ten foot long body was like that of a tiger shark but with humanlike arms and legs ending in clawed digits. The Malak's head had a noticeable forehead and vicious intelligence in the glassy eyes. The beast swept up toward Bane, its gaping mouth opening wide enough to take him in whole in another second. Fighting the water resistance, the Dire Wolf twisted sideways. He heard Li Tung laugh gleefully. Bane swirled upwards toward the ceiling, drawing his daggers and as the Malak lunged, its snout was sliced deeply by a silver blade. Black blood spread in the water.
The sharkbeast pawed at its injured nose and plunged forward again, but Bane evaded that charge and the silver blades slid along the monster's flank, slitting the skin for a good nine inches. That hide was so abrasive that just brushing against it tore Bane's skin. With a roar, the Malak spun and its tail crashed against Bane harder than a sledge hammer. The Dire Wolf spun backwards, losing control and dropping one of his knives. The flexible Trom-foil armor he wore under his clothes was good but not perfect and some of that impact got though. It was hard enough to breathe through the membrane and now his ribs ached and he was not drawing a full breath at all. Bane shifted his grip on his remaining dagger as the Malak touched its wounded side. The small piglike eyes fastened on him with murderous intent.
In that instant, a new form hurtled through the opening to the ocean and slammed headlong into the injured brute. The newcomer was a man in a grey hide outfit, wielding a three-foot knive with a bone blade honed sharper than steel. He drove that weapon deep into the Malak's chest cavity, twisted it and tugged it down to cut the beast's torso open so internal organs spilled out into the water. All this happened in less than a second. The newcomer kicked away from the dying brute and stared up at the stunned Dire Wolf.
Atron Ke had sandy blond hair over a bony angular face and cloudy blue eyes. He wore his usual tunic and leggings of grey rough sharkhide, and the bone-bladed machete now had strings of dark blood and gore clinging to it. As he saw Bane, Atron chuckled. The two short fleshy horns at his temples gave him a demonic aspect.
"Ah, you have not forgotten me, Dire Wolf! Did you think you would be glad to meet the Destroyer again?"
Bane caught his breath, sheathed his dagger and managed a smile. "Yeah, you picked a good time to make a dramatic entrance." He hesitated, but added, "Thanks, Atron. I had my hands full."
"And where is Li Tung?" demanded the Destroyer. They both glared about the submerged room but only the dead were there with them... the Malak and the three thugs. "Ever the coward. When he saw me arrive, the warlock fled. He has no stomach for battle. Bah, what a weakling."
Retrieving his other dagger, Bane sheathed it carefully. Those blades had been a gift to him from Kenneth Dred when they had first met and he would do whatever was necessary to hold onto them. "You came here looking for Li Tung? What was he up? What was his scheme this time?"
"Take time to let your breath return," the Gelydra warrior told him. "This water is too cold for your Human body, Dire Wolf. Come. Let us get up in the air." Bane swam toward the door through which he had entered that chamber and they moved up steep stone steps. As the two of them emerged to a corridor above sea level, they broke surface and were standing on a dry floor. Bane yanked off the oxygen membrane and took some deep breaths. That device kept him alive under water but it was nowhere near as good as natural air.
Watching him, Atron had rinsed off his weapon and now he placed it in the carved walrus tusk scabbard across his back. "Long have I pursued Li Tung," he somberly said. "Never will I forgive him for his attempts to enthrall me... as happened on the night we fought, you and I. Well, he may have postponed my cutting his head off for the moment but I will catch him yet. Back to my world beneath the waves I go! Fare thee well, Jeremy."
"Wait. Atron, wait. I need to know what Li Tung was planning. In case he comes back, so I can keep an eye on him." Bane was dripping and shivering but his voice kept its usual authority.
The Gelydra shrugged. "I know he was meeting a Human named Lee Hutchins. An Alchemist. What he intended to do with this Alchemist, I cannot say. But you would be wise to locate Lee Hutchins and keep a wary eye on him."
"I'll do that. Thanks again, Atron. Maybe I can repay you someday."
The ferocious Destroyer grinned and raised an admonishing forefinger. "I do not doubt it. We shall meet again, perhaps as allies, perhaps not. The Midnight War rages and both our lives are far from over." With that, Atron dove headlong down into the cold dark waters which covered the steps leading into the flooded chamber. Bane stood there thoughtfully watching the ripples lessen, then his pragmatic matter-of-fact mind took over and he decided that the moment his main concern was getting into dry clothes in a warm room. Then he realized he never did find out what Li Tung's scheme had been.
1/24/1972- Rev 6/15/2014
