dochermes

"Those Who Remember"

11/2/- 11/3/1986

[REVISION: The origin of Simon Cohen has been completely changed and all mentions of it have to be rewritten. He actually was an aging Kabbalist and disgraced Rabbi who with Alchemist Lee Hutchins' help, permanently placed his consciousness into a stone Golem of their making. He became his own Targhul.]

I.


Even before the door had slammed fully open, the Dire Wolf was in the smoky room and attacking. The nearest thug opened his mouth but didn't get a chance to yell. Bane threw a left backfist that spun the man completely around and dropped him to his knees. A second thug rushed right into a side kick to the stomach that doubled him up and made him retch. On the other side of the dingy room, one of the goons snapped off a shot but it got nowhere near its fast-moving target. The Dire Wolf swerved and lunged, closing fifteen feet in a split-second. Left forefist to the jaw, then a right sidefist to the chest connected almost at the same time. The guard crashed back against the wall behind him so hard that a framed picture fell to the floor.
.
That left only one thug still on his feet in that room. His expression was complete dismay and fear. A few seconds ago, he had been arguing listlessly with the other hired help about sending one of them out for sub sandwiches and beer, and now his three pals were on the floor. Standing in front of him was a gaunt man just six feet tall, dressed all in black, with cold grey eyes stabbing out at him from a narrow feral face. The gunman knew who this had to be.

"Forget about going for your gun," Bane said quietly. "Keep your hands where I can see them. Good." Behind the Dire Wolf, the thug who had only taken a backfist groggily managed to get to his feet, one hand reaching into his waistband where the butt of a .38 showed. Without showing how he knew the man was up again, Bane whirled on his right heel, whipping his left leg around in a reverse roundhouse kick that cracked his heel to the goon's jaw. This time, that man would stay down.

As though nothing had interrupted him, Bane returned his full attention to the gunman in front of him. "Let's get this over with," he said in a calm voice that did not need to threaten. "You and your boys here have just re-entered the country. We know you were bringing supplies to Cohen, we found the van you abandoned. The question now is, where is he? Where is the Stone Man?"

"I can't tell you that! He'd break me in half."

"No, I am the one you should be afraid of. Cohen won't be in any shape to hurt you. Where is he?"

As the man hesitated, he suddenly felt a sharp stinging pain on the end of his nose. Somehow, a silver-bladed throwing dagger had appeared in Bane's hand and nicked him. The Wolf held the knife so the light reflected off it. The thug gasped and abruptly there was an identical pain in the lobe of one ear, and he still had not seen Bane move.

"Where is he?" repeated Bane in the same even tone of voice.

The gunman's nerve broke. "Are you sure you can stop him?"

"I know I can. Where?"

"Up in Canada. Toronto. 1138 Chichester Road. But... it's like a nightmare. He has a death squad of things that aren't human. And he's a monster himself! He ain't flesh and blood- he's made outta STONE!"

Bane smiled tautly. "I know he is. We've met. The cops will be here in a few minutes. Long before you and your buddies go to trial, Simon Cohen will be destroyed. That's a promise." The Dire Wolf's Kumundu training had long ago reached the point where he could strike from any position without giving any warning. Faster than a real wolf, he lunged in and his stiff open hand cracked down like an axe blade to the side of the man's neck. As the gunman dropped to the floor, Bane swung to survey the situation. This was the supervisor's office of a construction company in Jersey City, drab and sparse with a desk, some chairs, two filing cabinets and a bathroom in one corner. The four men sprawled where they had fallen. His best judgement estimated they would be unconscious for a few more minutes and not able to get up and walk around for maybe twenty minutes after that. Since the police were already on their way, Bane felt a certain satisfaction in getting here first and getting the information he needed. His informants had been reliable so far.

He was being watched. In an instant, Bane snapped to full alertness and whirled around, the dart gun appearing in his left hand. There in the doorway loomed a manlike figure that filled the opening. Wide batlike wings were folded, but even so it was obviously a Kulan. The beast from Fanedral had red leathery hide, talons and claws and a head like a hound with upright ears and lambent yellow eyes. Bane held the dart gun on the demon, even though he knew the anesthetic darts would not pierce that tough hide. "What do YOU want?" he demanded.

To the Dire Wolf's utter surprise, the Kulan answered. "Justice," it said and laughed wildly before leaping out of sight. Bane rushed to the doorway and looked up just in time to see the demon speed away over the rooftops, wings beating and tail whipping from side to side. He holstered his weapon and stared as the Kulan was gone in the distance. Seeing a beast from Fanedral here, following him, could only mean that Simon Cohen was aware he was being hunted. Cohen was known to command a small army of creatures from adjacent realms. He must have had this demon tracking Bane all the while. There was no time to lose.

Jumping down the metal stairs to the gravel, Bane got in his car and fired it up, pulling out of the construction yard and out onto the highway. Before he had gone more than a mile, two New Jersey State Police cars sped past him toward the construction site. That was close. Maybe the thugs would tell the cops who had thrashed them but he doubted it and he certainly wasn't going to volunteer the information. Bane raced toward the George Washington Bridge just below the speed at which he would get pulled over. It was just getting dark.

( the rest of the story )

"Secret of the Golden Shield"

2/23/2005

I.

The holding cell in the 20th Street police station was old. The concrete floor was stained, the wooden benches were chipped and marked, the toilet bowl had a permanent discoloration. Keeping it pretty was apparently not high on the list of priorities. On a cold evening in late February, Jeremy Bane was led by Lt Montez to the holding cell. They were quite the opposites, visually. Bane was six feet tall, gaunt, no more than a hundred and seventy pounds. He wore a black turtleneck, sport jacket and slacks; he had black hair with a few scattered grey strands, and he had pale grey eyes under heavy brows. Montez on the other hand was a few inches shorter and a hundred pounds heavier. He wore a white dress shirt with the cuffs rolled back, dress trousers with the snap unfastened behind the belt, and he had wavy black hair and dark eyes. If he could have kept his weight down, he would be quite handsome.

"Guy's being held as a material witness," Montez explained. They walked down a hallway with frosted-glass windowed doors on every side, past detectives drinking coffee and complaining, with a constant ringing of telephones. "He was found with the decapitated body, he's got no ID and he won't give answers. Says he will only talk to you."

"Did he give a name?" asked Bane.

"Yeah. Pagan, Christopher Pagan. Guy's well dressed and seems coherent."

The Dire Wolf shook his head slightly as they approached the holding cell. Behind the bars, four big, tough thugs were sitting as far away from a blonde man as they could without climbing up on each other. The man watched them with a predatory smile that was remarkably sinister.

"One other thing," Montez whispered. "Our boys tried to search him but couldn't get their hands in his pockets. They got upset when I asked them why. They said- get this- his clothes feel like hot leather." Bane said nothing. They reached the holding cell and the man calling himself Pagan stepped forward with a grin. Before he could speak, Bane said, "Nugash, Gornak. Nugash."

Pagan gripped the bars and thrust his head forward.

"Gornak, semba gathrak-- brazo il tumbor. Sim?"

The blonde man nodded and stepped back. Again, the tough guys in the cell cringed away from him.

"That's another funny thing," Montez said. "He hasn't made any threatening moves at all, he's not a big guy but those goons are afraid to get near him. All right, Bane. Who is he? What were you saying?"

"It's a little-known language," the Dire Wolf answered. "I thought he might know it but he didn't answer and it seemed like he didn't recognize it."

"Says you. He seems to know you. Give me a name."

Bane stepped back. "Wish I could help."

"Well, THERE'S a comment that is useless. Come on, Bane, give me something to work with."

The Dire Wolf folded his arms and looked thoughtful. "I'll do some digging. He looks Central European. Has anyone come to post his bail?"

"Nope. He hasn't even made a phone call, he just asked that we get you."

"I see. Well, my name has gotten around in the underworld, I'm afraid." Bane turned and started for the door. "This is one I don't think I can be any help with. Sorry, lieutenant, but I don't know the answer to every mystery."

Montez snorted. "If you ask me, you know more than you ever tell. Okay, I don't have anything to hold YOU on! Did I tell you that this guy can't be fingerprinted? The ink just smudges, they tried all day."

"That's a new one," Bane admitted as he headed down the hall to the front desk.

Montez accompanied him, saying, "You know something about law. What are the statutes regarding suppression of evidence in a murder case?" but got no answers. Bane remarked again that he didn't know anything that could help the police, said he wished them good luck, and headed across 7th Avenue.

Now he had to move fast. He got in his silver Toyota Matrix and headed uptown. At 40th Street, he crossed over to 3rd Avenue and left his car at the Imperial Garage. He trotted north another four blocks and circled a small Golden brick building that had a walk-in emergency clinic, some doctor's offices and the Dire Wolf Agency. Bane went into the dead end alley between his building and the building next to it, which was a Thai restaurant closed at this hour.To his right was a metal door that said EXIT ONLY. He glanced at his watch. 11:24. This was going to be interesting. After five more minutes passed, the Dire Wolf broke several laws by taking a small device from an inner pocket and pushing a button. The device chirped and two dull clicks came from the door. The alarms and the lock had been undone. One of his KDF teammates had made the neutralizer with Trom technology advanced beyond Human knowledge.

From overhead, there was a loud flapping noise and a dark manlike figure dropped down out of the black sky. Bane took it by one leathery arm, "In here, quick." He tugged the Kulan in through the door, closing it behind them and reactivated the alarms and lock. They were in a very short hallway with the side of a staircase to the left. With his key, Bane unlocked a plain door with a brass plate DIRE WOLF AGENCY and ushered Gornak through. Only after he had closed the hall door behind them and it locked automatically did Bane let out a deep breath.

He turned to face a nightmarish figure, a manlike creature close to seven feet tall, with red leathery hide. it had batlike wings which were now folded, talons on fingers and toes, and a ropy tail that whipped back and forth. The creature's head was that of an enormous hound with upright ears and a long muzzle. As Bane looked up at that face, the creature said in perfectly clear English, "Thank you, captain, I had no idea what to do."

The Dire Wolf unlocked the door to the inner office and led Gornak in, thumbing on the overhead lights. He was not worried about being seen from the street. The wide window over the leather couch on the wall facing them had curtains as opaque as he could manage. "Okay, Gornak, first tell me about the escape."

The Kulan demon went to the center of the room and sat down crosslegged on the floor. With his wings and proportions, it was more comfortable than any chair. Unhesitating, Bane did the same and say down facing him a few feet away.

"I watched the clock on the wall over the desk, as you said. When the hands meant Eleven Thirty, I dropped my Veil and was revealed in my true form. From the time I ripped the cell bars free and tossed them aside, then flew down the hallway and out the front door could not have been more than three or four seconds. I rose up out of sight of those Humans on the street and flew north. When I caught your distinctive scent- all Humans have different odors as much as different faces, I dropped down beside you."

Bane whistled. "Whoa. I seriously doubt if any of the prisoners or the cop at the desk will be able to produce a clear story, much less any two of them matching up. When you released your gralic force, the security cameras as well as cell phones and computers would be frozen. They may be ruined. So I don't think there is much chance of a dragnet going out for a red Kulan. Your human guise, though, that's a different matter."

The phone on the desk rang. Bane glanced at it and ignored it. "Got to be Montez. Let it ring. No light shows under the hall door or the window.. I've checked. Even if he gets officers pounding on the door, he can't know we're here." The Dire Wolf looked back at Gornak. "He's going to be sore. Ah, not the first time."

The Kulan threw his head back and yawned, an unsettling sight considering his fangs. "Let me tell you what brought me here, captain--"

"Not just yet. I don't think Montez has grounds to get a search warrant but I wouldn't put it past him to try." The Dire Wolf jumped up. "I thought I was being way too paranoid but it seems like I was just paranoid enough." He unslung a laptop from where it hung charging in a satchel beside the desk and put it by the Kulan. Bane looked over his desk thoughtfully. The check book, the ledger, the correspondence were all innocent.. just normal accounts of the mundane murder cases he had handled. The few references to Midnight War events were on his laptop. Bane had been careful to leave as little trail as possible. He looked in the closet. Nothing there, just clothes and a cardboard box of newspaper clippings. The bathroom was also unincriminating. There was nothing in there that could not have been purchased at CVS.

Only one thing remained. Bane knelt beside the three-shelf bookcase on otherwise bare wall facing his desk. He knelt and undid a latch and then swung the case around on hidden casters. A shallow pit was revealed, chiseled out of the concrete by Bane himself quite against the terms of anyone's lease. Within it was a steamer trunk, black with Golden metal corners and a big old-fashioned lock. The Wolf lifted it up and slid it over the carpet to Gornak, then swung the bookcase back and locked it in place. The average police search would not find those latches and the pit was now empty anyway.

"We need to get moving," Bane said as he unlocked the trunk. The big padlock was a decoy, the real lock was hidden in the trim. Inside was his field suit and an assortment of weapons and tools. On top of the packed items was an oval packet wrapped in tissue paper. Bane took this and locked the trunk again.

"I need you to carry this," he said. The demon picked up the heavy trunk with one hand and held it at chest height. Bane hardly noticed, he knew Kulan were strong. Unwrapping the tissue paper revealed a beautiful pale blue faceted gem in a silver frame. This was rare indeed, less than a dozen were known to exist. Standing up, Bane crossed over to turn off the lights and walked back from memory to where the winged demon sat on the carpet. The room was almost completely dark, the only light being the faint red bulb of the cordless phone on the desk. Sitting down next to the demon, the Wolf asked, "You got that trunk?" Getting a grunt in reply, Bane placed one hand on Gornak's thick arm and his other hand on the travel crystal. "This is going to be rough," he muttered.

A brilliant flare of pure blue light swirled and was gone. When it faded, the room was empty.

( the rest of the story )

"Let Sleeping Dragons Lie"

8/28/1987

I.

When Kwali and Gornak leaped at each other and began pounding away, the clash should have come as no surprise.

Their explosion of tempers had been building up for weeks. As Gornak's mating season neared, he grew increasingly tense and jumpy. Since there were no female Kulan in the real world and he dared not return to Fanedral to court one, he found no outlet for his reproductive urges. Gornak was unusual among Kulan in that he was able to restrain his impulses at all; back in Fanedral, most of his demon brethren were constantly being punished for their ferocious outbursts.

As for Kwali, his admittedly humorless personality had little patience for anyone taking liberties. His own marriage to his cousin Kisura had been arranged by the elders, more a part of his duties as the holder of the Cat's-Claw than a romantic relationship. Lately he had been under pressure from her and from the elders to produce offspring. His reluctance was criticized sharply, which put him in a foul mood most of the time.

More and more frequently, the two Tel Shai knights quarreled with each other. As their captain, Jeremy Bane kept an eye on them but as neither Gornak nor Kwali were short with their other teammates, he decided not to intervene yet. Then, late on a hot August afternoon, the explosion came.

"Jeremy, you'd better get up to the hangar," Cindy blurted as she rushed into the office on the first floor. As soon as she spoke, the Dire Wolf was up out from behind his desk and following her. There was no one alive he trusted more than the little blonde telepath. It was her perceptions and insights in the members' minds that made a team of such strongly independent individuals as workable as the KDF had been.

As they hopped into the high-speed elevator which shot them up to the tenth floor, Cindy turned a worried face on her longtime lover and partner. "It's the two you-know-whos at it again," she said. "Talk about cats and dogs!"

There was more truth than poetry in that expression, the Dire Wolf thought. Kwali had become strongly feline in both mind and body after wearing the potent Claw of the Black Lion day and night for years. Strikingly in a sub-Saharan African face, his irises had turned bright green. As for Gornak, the dog-headed Kulan demons did live and hunt in packs as both dogs and before them wolves did. Cindy's theory was that Gornak had subconsciously accepted Bane as his new Alpha Male pack leader, which did seem to ring true.

As the elevator reached the top floor, Bane wondered if maybe he should have taken the friction between the Kulan and the Cat's-Claw more seriously, maybe not assigned them to work as a pair so often.

The door opened onto the hangar which took up the entire top story of the headquarters building. Standing at the opposite end, its landing gear clamped down, the black stealthcopter CORBY waited under cool fluorescent lights. Banks of electronic equipment and benches loaded with tools lined the walls.

When he stepped into that hangar, Jeremy Bane was stunned to see Kwali crash upside down against a wall, scattering tools and machine parts. The big Danarakan was too agile and too resilient to be harmed even by such an impact, though. He rolled, dropped lightly to his feet and plunged directly at his opponent.

Only a handful of Humans from any realm would have dared confront an enraged Kulan as Kwali was doing. Gornak was a nightmarish figure seven feet in height, covered with a leathery red hide. His batlike wings were folded against his back, but the barbed tail whipped back and forth and the talons on his hands were fully extended. The Kulan had the head of a great hound, with upright ears and a long muzzle armed with fangs.

Gornak roared in his fury, but amazingly Kwali was not intimidated. The Danarakan warrior lunged in close and smacked a vicious backhand that slapped the demon's head to one side. Tall and muscular as he was, the African champion had no weapons and seemed to be defenseless against the formidable beast. Wearing only a plain T-shirt, dark slacks and slippers, Kwali nevertheless ducked under a swipe of one clawed hand and struck a second looping roundhouse blow to the demon's head.

"Knights of Tel Shai!" yelled the Dire Wolf from the doorway. "Both of you, freeze where you are!"

That was a tone of voice that they had never heard before from him. Gornak and Kwali indeed stopped dead and even held their poses for a second before turning to face their captain. Even as their rage toward each other faded, both were uneasy at realizing the Dire Wolf was actually angry at them. They felt as if they were unexpectedly in real danger.

When Bane stepped toward the two combatants, Cindy was more than content to fall back behind him.

"Two knights of the Order... fighting? Are you imposters? Are you under some mind control or the effects of a drug trance? Turn to face me. Brothers, your memberships in both the Kenneth Dred Foundation and the Order of Tel Shai are in jeopardy. Cindy, I want you to listen in with your full powers. Gornak, you explain first. I saw you throw your teammate against the wall with force that would be fatal to a normal Human."

The Kulan demon straightened from his feral crouch with effort. "He said that I should be neutered. Like a pet! Captain, in Fanedral I would have eaten the tongue that spoke such words."

"You are not in Fanedral now," Bane replied. "You have been given refuge with us and you agreed to live by our ways. And you, Kwali, what do you have to say?"

The big African warrior lowered his fists and unclenched them as if it was the most dificult act he had ever done. His deep baritone with the Danarak accent responded quietly, "I have endured all the affronts my honor can bear, Jeremy. Do you know what this beast asked? He wanted to know if any of the women of my tribe would be willing to mate with him! And he offered to pay in gold. Wakimbe be my judge, I have reached my limits."

Bane turned the infamous pale grey eyes on Gornak, and they had never seemed colder. "I think you MUST have known better than that. What were you thinking?!"

"Humans cannot understand," growled the demon. His wings snapped open and beat slowly behind him, great ribbed membranes like the wings of a bat. "My blood boils through my veins. My heart pounds like a bass drum in my chest. Kwali mocks me because he has a mate and I do not."

"I have not mocked you," the Cat's-Claw muttered.

"So often has he bragged how strong the women of his tribe are, what tireless runners and fierce fighters they are. Is it beyond reason that one could be undaunted by a night with me?"

"Wakimbe's Soul!" yelled Kwali. "I will not suffer such blasphemy a moment longer." He stabbed an accusing finger at Bane. "Much as I value your respect and much as I revere the Teachers of Tel Shai, I cannot sleep under the same roof as.. as a Kulan of Fanedral!"

Before Bane could respond, everyone gave a start as cold yellow flame rushed up over Gornak and the demon seemed to become Human. A tall blond man with a sardonic face stood there in a black business suit with a white shirt and knitted silk tie... or seemed to. This was an illusion granted to Gornak when he had first fled to the world.

The guise was intended to allow the Kulan to move around in public without causing panicked stampedes from people. He did not physically change, the Human form existed only in the minds of those who saw him. 'Christopher Pagan,' with his forged IDs and fictitous backstory, was a convenience that Gornak only used when he had to.

"I will inflict myself on you no longer," said Pagan in a voice not quite that of Gornak. "I was wrong to think I could be accepted by you Humans. I quit! I resign! Burn what few belongings I have gathered, for I shall never return for them."

"Hold it," Bane said. "Wait a second. You can't make a hasty decision like that...."

"I can do whatever I think best," snapped Pagan as he spun on his heel and headed for the door. "The three of you might be able to kill me. But you cannot make me stay any other way." He broke into a lope and slammed the door behind him.

Left behind in the hangar, Cindy and Kwali turned to their captain in shock. It was the first time they had seen Jeremy Bane uncertain how to react.

( the rest of the story )