Evil Ascending

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Suddenly, a glowing green plane of light shot out and sliced cleanly through the haze. Coyote felt rather than heard faint screams, then the light hit him and collapsed into a single, sustained needle. It pinned him in space like an insect in a collection, leaving him powerless. «My pet, my pet, you have been returned to me.» A chittering hum filled his mind, and he felt the muscles of his face contract into a smile. «And you brought me a prezent!»

  The Yidam struggled against the energy being projected into Coyote like a game fish fighting a fishing line. He had searched for a connection to Fiddleback and found it, then realized too late that the Dark Lord had anticipated this type of foray into Coyote's mind. As the Yidam fought, his frustration bled into the link, and Coyote felt Fiddleback's delight in the Yidam's helplessness.

  Coyote realized that Fiddleback had intended the trap to catch another Dark Lord and that it should have swallowed the Yidam whole. «Iz that you, Vikram? Did I not deztroy you when I had your wife? After all thiz time, can it be you?»

  «Living proof you do not always win.»

  «I am entropy, Vikram. I always win. Mozt of your comradez welcomed me when I pozzezzed them. Your wife mozt azzuredly among them. Come to me.»

  The Yidam continued his fight. «I am not for you, beast. Were you as strong as you imagine yourself, you would have destroyed me by now.»

  Coyote sensed the Yidam's bluff and desperation in the link, and he bled it off into a red star that arced across the sky. The rest of the message passed unadulterated through the link like a gold spark and struck the black orb in its heart. A bar of black cycled through the band, then another gold spark raced back down the link.

  «Father?»

  «Rajani?»

  The Yidam's return message blasted back too strong for Coyote to control or affect in any way. It passed back through the link as a ragged gold circlet. It struck the sphere and filled the corona with gold highlights, then that color drained away leaving a blue after-image in its wake. Another black line and another appeared in the pulsar's band as the cycling slowed.

  The power in the link wavered for a second, giving Coyote a chance to do more than act as an unwitting conduit. He fused his revulsion with the past the Yidam had shown him into an alloy with his conscious hatred of Fiddleback. He infused it with his fury at having his mind raped by the Yidam and his body being possessed by Fiddleback and forged it all into a scarlet axe blade. He chopped down into the link and felt a searing jolt of pain blow the top off his head.

  He found himself stumbling back within the Yidam's chamber. He landed on his butt, then caught the Yidam before he could hit the floor. Shaking his head to clear it, Coyote flipped the Yidam over to his back, then folded the cloak up into a pillow and placed it beneath the monster's head.

  The Yidam's red eyes opened. "Thank you," he whispered hoarsely.

  "That was Fiddleback. I know that much. What happened? Who is Vikram?"

  The Yidam brushed aside his question and tried to get up, but Coyote pinned him to the ground with a hand in the middle of his chest. "No, damn you. You rip through my mind without so much as a 'by your leave' and then ignore me. Do you think I am Fiddleback's minion?"

  The Yidam sank back and shook his head. "No. Were you, the link never could have been severed. You are powerful, which is doubtlessly why he chose you."

  "Good. Then you know that I can be a powerful weapon used against him. Answer my questions."

  "There is no time."

  "Give me the short form." Coyote looked up as Mong appeared in the Gonkhang. "Are we hidden again?"

  "Four men died, and 10 are being cared for in our infirmary. They will not die in pain." Mong knelt by the Yidam. "We are reestablishing the wards and should be difficult to find."

  "Answers, I want them now." His fists balled, Coyote stood over both men.

  The Yidam reached up and grasped Mong's shoulder affectionately. "My wife studied religions the way I studied war. Through the Dalai Lama, she was introduced to Mong and he, in turn, instructed her in his faith. Though she was barred from visiting this monastery because of her sex, I was extended an invitation to take a retreat here. I happened to be here when Fiddleback managed to subvert the crew of the ship that had brought me here."

  Coyote nodded. "Including your wife?"

  The Yidam closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Including her. Their subversion suddenly gave him a beachhead on Earth, and that precipitated another Dark Lord making a strike at him. During the time he was preoccupied, I returned to the United States and made arrangements with Dr. Chandra for the care of my daughter."

  "You avoided possession by being here, I assume. How did your daughter—Rajani is her name, isn't it—escape Fiddleback?"

  "I do not know for certain, but I assume Fiddleback was looking for a specific mental pattern. The Cythera he got instantly. My wife took more time, and my daughter, she thinks enough like a human to be difficult to spot or control." The Yidam smiled weakly. "Did you know you humans have a very disorderly mind structure?"

  "Vast fortunes are made by people who try to help us deal with that problem." Coyote returned the smile.

  "We have to find my daughter. She can read Fiddleback."

  "Read him?"

  "My meditations here helped me defend myself against Fiddleback. She is better shielded against him than I am, and if she is free of the stasis tube, she will be able to eavesdrop on his thoughts. That's why she was able to piggyback a message to me through the link." The Yidam's lower arms pushed him up into a sitting position. "In stasis, she was able to meditate without outside influences. When I first came here, I was not that much different than you or Mong." His spare arms hugged his knees to his chest. "Because I meditated here, the wishes, dreams and beliefs of the monks over the past 25 years changed me into the Yidam that was meant to guard them from evil influences."

  Coyote shivered and stood. "That's some change."

  "It is, but as the price to elude Fiddleback and his influence, it is cheap." Accepting Mong's and Coyote's help, the Yidam pulled himself upright. "We must hurry and find Rajani."

  "Do you know where she is?"

  The Yidam nodded to Coyote. "In Japan and in danger."

  Coyote winced. "Japan will take two days, maybe less if I can get a helicopter in here."

  "No, there is another way." The Yidam looked at Mong and the monk nodded. "Go, Coyote, and prepare yourself. You have the skills you need to leave this place, and now I will show you the way home."

  Sin tugged the storm grate back into place in the street above, then gingerly lowered himself down the steel-rung ladder in the manhole wall. With his pistol tucked into the waistband of his pants at the small of his back, he grabbed the wet, greasy rungs with both hands. Standing only on his right leg, he hopped down one rung, then shifted his grip. Each jolting hop sent pain up through his left leg, but he found the pain much less intense and decreasing noticeably.

  He landed with a splash in the cylindrical tunnel. "Rajani, right?"

  The woman nodded, her gold hair reduced to a dim gray in the darkness. "Yes, Sinclair?"

  "Call me Sin." He squinted and looked both up and back along the tunnel. "I figure they'll expect us to head toward where these tunnels dump into the ocean. We need to find a crosscut tunnel that will take us deeper into Kimpunshima."

  She pointed off in the direction she was facing. "You mean like that one down there?"

  Sin saw nothing but blackness. "You can see in the dark, too?"

  Rajani held a hand out to him, then looped his right arm over her shoulder. Sin immediately felt the physical warmth she radiated. "The plants in here are bioluminescent in the ultraviolet range. Come on, I'll help you."

  "Okay." Is there anything she can't do? Not only does she stare me in the eyes and start my leg feeling better, but she popped a button in my brain that left me feeling better than Erika ever did. And now she can see in the dark. Sin glanced over at her. And didn't I think I heard her voice i
n my mind?

  He heard a chittering and immediately filled his left hand with the Beretta. "Did you hear that?"

  She nodded. "Rats. Let me concentrate, and I can make certain they will leave us alone." Sin would have made a comment, but his right foot slipped in the slime at the bottom of the cylinder. Rajani caught him and held him upright. "Are you okay? I can clear the pain again."

  "No, no, don't do that." Sin coughed lightly. "It does deaden the pain, but, ah, you shouldn't be doing that to folks."

  "What do you mean? I know it pleased you."

  "Yeah, well, I need a clear head here, you know." Sin frowned because he got the distinct impression she didn't know. "You're rather unique, you know that?"

  She nodded solemnly. "I believe I am the only Jes'da ever born on your world."

  Born on your world? Sin swallowed hard. He knew she looked weird, and he wondered what kind of insanity it took to do the body mods and tattoos she'd had done. Especially the eyes. Now he knew: schizophrenia. "So, you're not from Earth?"

  "I just said I was." She stopped. "We're at the tunnel. Away from the ocean, yes?"

  "Yes, away from the ocean." Sin tested his left leg, and the pain had subsided to a dull, tired ache. He started to pull his arm from her shoulder, but she shivered. "Are you cold?"

  "Yes, but this is something else." She faltered a half-step, then leaned heavily on him. "He's still there."

  He homed the pistol and held her up. "Who?"

  "Fiddleback." Her head came up. "He's here."

  He heard the bubbling rush of water and felt a shiver run through Rajani. He turned toward the sound and faced the black tunnel behind him, but then the echoes shifted. He tried to place his body between the sound and Rajani, but couldn't be sure what was out there and where it was. "Help me, Rajani."

  She mumbled something, but he missed it as the water boiled around his legs. He heard it churning to a filthy froth and felt the warm fluid flick up on his face and neck. Then something tugged at his left pant leg. He felt a hunk of the bloody cloth tear free, and something hard rasped against his bare flesh. New pain started from where Rajani had dulled the old pain, and Sin knew something had re-opened the bullet wound.

  "Rajani! What is it?"

  She shook her head weakly, her hair brushing against his neck. "Move. Go."

  "I hope it doesn't track by scent, because I'm bleeding." Great. Bleeding in a river of sewage that's home to something slithery! I should've let the rocket kill me.

  «No, Sinclair. That would have been bad.»

  "Rajani? Did you just say something?"

  «It comes again.» She leaned heavily against him, vainly attempting to get him to turn around. His left hand grabbed the waistband of her jeans to hold her up, and he moved in the direction she wanted, but he could still see nothing. In the back of his mind, like the clicking of a Geiger counter approaching an atomic pile, a staticky sound built.

  Something in the miasmic river made the gentle thrupping sound of a fish striking at the surface. Sin recognized it as almost being normal, but it seemed louder than it should have. The sound also ripped through the tunnel like a serrated knife sawing through bone.

  Sin let Rajani steady herself against the tunnel wall, freeing his left hand. "C'mon, thing. You and me." He grinned toward where he knew Rajani stood, "It lives in a cesspit. How tough can it be?"

  "Very," she whispered, "It is not from here."

  "What?"

  «Fiddleback wants us dead.»

  Suddenly, a segmented serpentine form reared up through the sludgy water. Mandibles clicked once, then Sin cried out as something slashed across his chest. It sliced through his shirt, suspenders and flesh, then withdrew. With it went the mental static.

  Sin hissed and pressed his left hand over the cut. "Proper tools to do a proper job." Sin swallowed hard. "Where is it, Rajani? If I can find it, I can kill it."

  She said nothing, but he felt her hand on his shoulder as he reached around and pulled the Beretta with his right hand. His vision swam for a second, then he saw himself drawing his gun. I'm seeing through her eyes! In an instant the static pounded back into his brain and he felt fetid water splash up and over him.

  What he saw disturbed him more than how he saw it. The creature had risen up and pulled back like a cobra preparing to strike. One of the two larger mandibles dripped blood. Other smaller ones ringed the creature's mouth and clenched reflexively as if to rip great hunks of flesh out of him. The composite eyes sat nestled deep in a spiny, chitinous skull and glowed a dull green.

  Sin saw the viewpoint in his eyes crash toward his head as Rajani integrated their views. He blinked, and Sin saw through her eyes what his eyes were seeing as the creature's head drove forward. As it did so, the creature's mouth flared open, its jaws bending it out into a hexagonal shape.

  He stabbed his right hand straight at it, and the creature engulfed his whole hand, gun and all. Sin felt the sting as auxiliary mandibles chomped down on his wrist, but he didn't pull back or fight it. The creature's eyes pulsed with green fire, and the spiny antennae twiddled back and forth as something inside the head bit down with a chank!

  Sin's finger tightened on the trigger. The bullet blew out the back of its head and covered the wall behind it with glistening bits of chitin. The hot gasses from the muzzle plumped the jaws and pulled the pincers from Sin's wrist a second before the head shot back. It smacked the wall, spattering it with more dark fluids, then the whole creature slid beneath the sluggish river of effluent.

  "Bit off more than you could chew, eh?" Rajani's sight faded from his eyes, so Sin didn't get a good look at the deep scars on either side of the pistol's slide. He turned back toward her, saying, "Hey, the joke wasn't that bad," when he saw her sag against the sewer wall. He caught her and held her up out of the slime. "Hang in, kid. Rajani!"

  «Father?» he heard resound in his head.

  She went limp, and the world went black again.

  Sin looped his left arm around her slender waist, then tucked his gun away. Scooping her up in his arms, he was surprised at how little she weighed given her ability to hold him up when he needed help. Even with her added weight, his left leg felt pretty good, and his right wrist barely pained him.

  The sheer insanity of his situation clamped down on him like the creature's jaws had on his hand. He saw himself as another might. There he stood, a beautiful and exotic woman in his arms. Knee-deep in sewage, not a bullet to his name, and the blood of some creature that could have only come from a tabloid news story running down the wall of a tunnel, he saw himself like the hero of American Ninja IX: Recomb Revenge.

  What was worse, to him, was that his particular mental image of the moment almost made sense, because it only took into consideration the cosmetic conditions. What made it more bizarre was how Rajani had healed his leg and spoken through his mind and let him use her eyes. Part of him hoped the whole adventure was a nightmare from which he could awaken, yet another part feared it was some hallucination Galbro was forcing into his brain.

  Unfortunately, he decided, those two minority opinions safely bracketed the truth. Coyote had invoked the name Fiddleback to explain curious things that had happened in Phoenix. Now, here, in the darkness beneath an artificial island, another person had used the same name. And this time Sin had ample proof that something very strange was truly happening.

  As suddenly as the creature had attacked him, Sin's worldview shifted. Instead of seeing everything he knew as full and real, it all became like building facades on a movie set. Where he had assumed incompetence or petty jealousies as explanations for things going wrong, now he entertained the possibility that a Fiddleback might have been orchestrating disaster.

  In an instant he saw that further down that path lay paranoia. He resisted, slowing his progress toward it, but he did not wholly withdraw from it. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there aren't folks out to get you. He smiled to himself. And I know there are folks out to get us, so I'd best
get us out of here.

  Think, Sin, think. From a corporate security review he'd done three years before, he knew Kimpunshima had one manhole every 50 meters. He also remembered that at its center there was an open, festival-like area that was generally found packed with tourists at night. Splashing on into the darkness, he headed away from the ocean. Forty manholes in, and I should be in that area. May have to go a bit north, as well.

  Rajani's eyes came open and glowed gold. She stared at him for a second, then she blinked and the glow faded. "Sin?"

  "Easy, kid, I've got you. You're okay." He smiled at her even though he couldn't see her. "I don't know what that was, but it's gone now."

  Her voice came in a weary whisper lacking even enough strength to echo from the walls. "It was from Fiddleback . . . one of his pets. He sent it to finish what they tried to do with you earlier."

  "Will he send another?"

  Her hair brushed against his left hand as she shook her head. "He has been distracted." She grabbed his left shoulder. "Here . . . we have to go up here."

  "What? There shouldn't be anything here. It's not far enough."

  "Up here." She pointed up, and Sin saw a faint checkerboard pattern above them. "I have friends up there."

  "Can you stand?"

  "I think so."

  He gently lowered her legs, but kept his left arm across her back. She looped her arms around his neck and hung on until she had her legs firmly beneath her. Sin smiled and gave her a hug. "Good. Now for the hard part."

  "Yes?"

  "I can't see a bloody thing. Put my hands on the ladder."

  She directed his hands to the metal ladder on the tunnel wall. Unlike the other one, it was not constructed of metal rebar rungs sunk into the concrete. This one felt to Sin like the lower end of a fire escape that had been removed from its original location and placed in the sewer. It shook a bit as he mounted it, and, as he neared the grating above, he saw it was made of wood. That confirmed to him that the opening was not an official one.