Coin of the Realm td-77

by Warren Murphy

  But that stopped being an option when Remo suddenly reversed direction. He came at Chiun.

  Chiun saw the look of terror on Remo's face. He swam to him and took his shoulder, mouthing the word "What?" silently.

  Remo pointed back. Chiun pushed him aside to see. There were a dozen of them. They filled the narrow tunnel, their mouths gulping and dribbling bubbles. Their black eyes were unwinking.

  But it was not their fishy faces that concerned Chiun. It was the razorlike spines that covered their oblate bodies. Stonefish. And they were heading in their direction. Behind them, Chiun saw two grinning Moovians swimming in place. A big rattan basket drifted beside them. It was clear that the Moovian octopus worshipers had released the stonefish from the basket and sent them on their deadly way.

  Chiun pushed Remo to one side, signaling him to stay clear, and then arrowed for the stonefish like a speedy dolphin.

  One stonefish swam a little ahead of the others and Chiun dealt with him first.

  With an index finger, Chiun speared the fish through its open mouth. With the other hand he shaved the deadly spines with sharp flashing strokes.

  In a twinkling the stonefish was as harmless as a guppy, its spines drifting to the tunnel floor like discarded toothpicks.

  Chiun made quick work of the next three.

  The effect on the remaining stonefish was remarkable. They turned around and wriggled their tails in the opposite direction. The Moovians saw them coming. They lost their pleased grins and climbed all over one another in their haste to get out of the way. One made it. The other got a stonefish tangled up between his legs. He struggled for a short time. Bubbles erupted from his open mouth, and he sank to the floor in slow motion.

  Chiun signaled to Remo. Remo kicked off from the coral wall and swam after the Master of Sinanju. His face was calmer now.

  Around a turn in the tunnel, the light increased. Moonlight. The tunnel turned vertical and Chin paused under the blue-coral well while Remo caught up.

  When Remo arrived, he looked up in time to see two bare feet disappear from the water. Two more stonefish floated disconsolately.

  Chiun pointed to Remo's long fingernails. Remo nodded a yes. It was not a very firm nod, but his face showed anger, which pleased Chiun. His fears were abating. They went up.

  Chiun performed his barbering trick on his fish, ran it through for good measure, and then looked to Remo. Remo was like a man trying to catch a live mine in his hands. The stonefish twisted viciously. Remo dodged. In frustration, he grabbed its tail and smashed it against the coral. Stunned, the fish floated listlessly.

  Chiun touched Remo on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow carefully. He led Remo up to the coral mouth of the natural well. He stopped under the surface and waited. Nothing happened for a long time. Then a Moovian face suddenly broke the still surface. The man looked down to see what was happening.

  Chiun pinched the Moovian's nose between two fingers and pulled him into the water. Remo broke his spine with a chop across the back of the neck. The Moovian sank like a dead starfish.

  Chiun then made a series of complicated motions that Remo interpreted as "Go take a look."

  Remo gave the Master of Sinanju a "Who, me?" look. Chiun nodded.

  Reluctantly Remo went up. No sooner had he broken the surface than he felt hands wrap around his ankles and he was floating beside Chiun, his face furious.

  Chiun's motions asked, "See anything?"

  Remo shook his head angrily. Chiun smiled and went up. Remo kicked his feet angrily as he followed him up. When he broke the surface, Remo demanded, "What was that all about?"

  "I had to know it was safe."

  "And I was the guinea pig?"

  "You were in no danger. I had your ankles."

  "And I almost had a freaking heart attack. Do you know what I went through back there?"

  "You met a child of Ru-Taki-Nuhu. And why don't you speak up? Not all of our enemies may have heard you."

  "We'll settle this later," Remo promised, pulling himself out of the well. When he stood up, his stocking feet made puddles.

  Chiun shook his kimono skirts of excess water. Then he began to wring out the hem.

  They were on the coral reef they had seen earlier. It was a mad jumble of blue outcroppings and hollows streaked with white lying about thirty feet from shore. They stood on one end, the sea to their backs and coral ridges before them.

  "When this is over I'm going to have nightmares for a week," Remo said in a bitter voice.

  "Now you know why the octopus is called the Enemy of Life. "

  "Yeah, and remind me to write the National Geographic people a nasty letter."

  "Hush, Remo," Chiun said quickly. Remo froze. His ears became attuned to their surroundings. The slosh and suck of waves on coral predominated. But through selective attuning, Remo focused those sounds out until they became distant background noise.

  Other sounds surfaced. Lungs respirating. Hearts beating, measured, but loud. There was a gurgle that Remo recognized as a man's bowel contents shifting.

  "I count nine of them," Remo whispered.

  "No, three."

  "Listen again. Nine. Nine hearts. Nine pairs of lungs."

  "But three opponents. Trust me, I know."

  And the seriousness of the Master of Sinanju's tone made Remo feel a thrill of supernatural disquiet. Flashing afterimages of his underwater fight with the octopus came back to him. He shook them off:

  Then came the scrape of sandals against coral. It was all around them. They were surrounded.

  "I have never trained you for this, my son. For that, I am sorry. But I had thought these octopus worshipers were no more.'

  "We can handle them," Remo said gamely. But his eyes were nervous.

  "Remember that they will use fear to conquer your spirit before they attempt to conquer your body.

  "We're Sinanju. We can take them," Remo repeated woodenly. And the pad and scrape of sandals inched closer. A head appeared over the top of an outcropping. It was gray and bulbous with frighteningly large orblike eyes. It was the head of an octopus. Remo wondered what it was doing out of water, when a hardwood club appeared next to the head. It was being held by a human hand. Remo figured it for another octopus worshiper climbing along the top of the coral ridge. But it moved more swiftly that a man should be able to crawl.

  It stepped out from behind the ridge. It was over twelve feet tall.

  Then, seeing what made it so tall, Remo laughed out loud.

  "Look at those fools," he yelled, pointing. He laughed again. It was with relief.

  For the thing with the head of an octopus was a Moovian man. He was riding the shoulders of another man, who rode atop a third, who in turn carried them both with surprising agility.

  "What is this, the Moo circus?" Remo chortled. "They look like acrobats."

  "Have respect," Chiun warned. "For you face a foe twice your height, with three minds to outthink you and six arms with which to fight. In olden days, this was the feared octopus pyramid."

  "If they're trying to be a human octopus," Remo pointed out, "they're two arms short."

  "They use their feet as well."

  "I stand corrected. Now, you stand back. I want this one for my own."

  "I have two others to deal with."

  Remo peered over his shoulder. Another octopus pyramid was striding up behind them. A third clambered up from the sea, dripping water. They waved their many arms and made hooing sounds that reminded Remo of owls. Each hand clutched a weapon-a bone knife or war club or blowgun.

  Remo went for his man-or men. A blowgun puffed from the middle component in the human octopus construct. The moonlight silvered its path. Remo dodged it with ease.

  He twisted around the thing in a series of eye-defying steps. Once behind it, Remo kicked out. The bottom man's knees buckled and the three-man pyramid wavered. A hardwood club swiped at Remo's head, but he avoided it. A knife sliced at him and he danced out of the way. The puff o
f a dart came on its heels, and Remo had no time to spot it. He dropped and rolled.

  When he came up, Remo blinked. The bottom man was now on top. He hadn't seen it happen, but he knew it was true. He had recognized the bottom Moovian as one of the traitorous Red Feather Guard.

  Remo cursed his mistake. He should have kicked the front of the kneecap to shatter it. He had clipped the man in the back of the knee where the natural buckling reflex had absorbed the blow. And now the man had somehow changed places so that his damaged knee didn't matter.

  Well, Remo wasn't going to make that mistake again. Chiun was counting on him. A hasty glance showed the Master of Sinanju poised between two lumbering totemlike groups. Silhouetted against a full moon, it was a fantastic sight. As if the tiki gods of the Grove of Ghosts had come to life.

  Remo circled his foe, but the creature-Remo had already started to think of it as such-kept shifting with him. The occasional dart puffed out. Remo was forced to keep his distance so he could maneuver. Every time he shifted closer, they tried to nail him. Already Remo was beginning to feel respect for these octopus worshipers.

  The Master of Sinanju let them come. No fear touched his heart. Not for himself. He was concerned for Remo. The last Master of Sinanju to vanquish an octopus attack was Lu. He had used the Bursting Seed attack. That would not do here. And these octopus worshipers might know of that famous battle and have devised a defense. They had had centuries in which to consider the matter.

  Chiun let the demons come for him. They were easily evaded in the clear light. The things made their ridiculous hooing sounds.

  A hardwood club smashed down. Chiun's hand intercepted it. The club shattered. The shock traveled up in the low man's arm. He howled in his agony, and the sound was fearsome.

  "Aiiee!" Chiun cried, adding a fearsome sound of his own. The octopus pyramid behind him froze. That was enough. Chiun moved for the group with the injured limb.

  His leap carried him to the height of the second man's head. Chiun's sandal touched the head and found purchase. The other sandal kicked one way, his arms slashed the other. The middle limbs suddenly let go of their weapons, and another howl came forth. Chiun floated up to the top man, who was hooing forlornly.

  Chiun caused him to drop his blowgun with a slashing of fingernails. The hand came off at the wrist, pumping blood. A chopping blow shattered the opposite shoulder.

  Chiun leapt to the ground and whirled.

  The octopus man was howling and screeching in pain. Its limbs waved feebly. Chiun added to their symphony of agony with a brutal groin kick.

  The lowest man collapsed in pain. The octopus fell apart on the coral, and, once more facing mere men-injured ones at that-the Master of Sinanju went among them, liberating their brains from their skulls with quick, bone-crunching blows.

  Proudly Chiun turned to the remaining octopus man. "Come," he taunted in Moovian. "You think you are one mighty creature, but I will make of you three corpses." Remo decided that the heads were the creature's weak spots. This time he would take out the man on the bottom and then the others would fall into range of his hands-like pulling down a sand castle.

  If only they would stop making that eerie sound. It was starting to get to him.

  Remo feinted to the left. The thing shifted with amazing speed. It was as if all three brains were hooked together. He moved right, and went for the bottom head.

  Suddenly the thing split into three men. Remo felt his reflexes react automatically to deal with the new situation. A mistake. But he couldn't help himself. Whoever these guys were, they had a way of fighting that took Sinanju training into account.

  Remo was suddenly surrounded by three club-waving Moovians all staring like owls. He looked for the one with the blowgun. He was the only one who concerned Remo.

  Remo sidestepped a speeding dart. He moved in. Then the blowgun was tossed to another hand, and another dart came from that direction. Remo shifted, and one of the clubs came at him.

  He ducked under the blow and took the man's wrist, using the force of the Moovian's attack to flip him.

  The man skidded along the coral, but found his feet with the agility of an acrobat. He suddenly leapt onto the blowgun man's back and the third scampered atop them. They stood joined again and resumed their frenzied octopuslike gesticulations.

  Remo dodged behind a coral ridge. He needed time to think. And he wouldn't get it while he was preoccupied with avoiding darts.

  Behind the coral, Remo considered the ridiculousness of his predicament. In his time, he'd weaved through heavily armed hordes of killers. But these circus-freak Moovians had him on the run. Remo had been trained to deal with opponents either singly or in groups-but not freaking octopus worshipers. He'd have to find a different approach.

  The octopus head of the tallest Moovian suddenly topped the ridge above him. It went "Hooo-hoooo."

  And Remo had an idea.

  He went up the ridge until he was in the Moovian's face.

  "Boo!" Remo said. And he jellied the man's face with the flat of his palm. Remo knocked the top man off the human pyramid and took his place.

  It happened so fast that the middle Moovian didn't know how to react. While he was giving it thought, Remo staved the top of his head in and pushed him aside.

  The man on the bottom found himself surrounded by the dead bodies of his comrades. Then whose legs were those wrapped around his neck? he wondered. He looked up. "Hoooo?" he said.

  "Me," the foe with the face like milk said. And then a double fist came at his face and the world turned first red, like blood, and then black, like octopus ink. Or like death. Remo jumped off the man's back. His feet hit the ground just ahead of the Moovian's pulped face. Remo dusted his hands off with pride.

  "Nothing to it," he said, "once you get the hang of it." He looked around for Chiun. The Master of Sinanju stood framed against the silvery-black water. He was in a defensive crouch, an octopus pyramid of men stalking him. They hovered over the edge of the water, many feet below. Remo saw three other Moovian bodies sprawled nearby.

  The Master of Sinanju knew that his pupil had succeeded in vanquishing his opponents. His heart swelled with pride. Now, together, the two of them would make short work of his last pyramid of octopus worshipers.

  "Remo, to me!" he called.

  Remo came up at a trot. And Chiun decided that here, the last battle between Sinanju and the octopus cult of Ru-Taki-Nuhu would take place. It would be best, and read best in the Book of Sinanju, if both the Master Chiun and his white pupil vanquished it. He would show Remo the correct attack method and they would do it together.

  "Hurry, Remo," Chiun called, considering how to word this last skirmish in his scrolls. Perhaps it would be better not to mention that Remo was white.

  "What's the rush?" Remo asked as he casually joined the Master of Sinanju.

  Chiun looked at him.

  "Are you mad? There is one of these monsters left. Here, I will show you the best way to defeat him."

  "Hold your horses, Little Father," Remo said.

  The octopus pyramid suddenly stopped waving its many limbs. Its hoooing sound began to die like a failing wind through a hollow tree.

  Remo walked up to the thing, not bothering to raise his arms to ward off the blows that would surely come. "Remo!"

  "Yes?" Remo asked, turning casually. It was unbelievable. Had Remo learned nothing from his battle? Turning his back on the evil thing like that.

  Chiun flashed into action, his sandals beating the ground, his hands reaching out to yank Remo from harm.

  Then Remo turned back and waved good-bye to the octopus pyramid. The silent thing waved its arms back. They were feeble little shakes. Then, stepping up to it, Remo pushed the lowest man in the chest.

  The entire octopus man fell back like a fallen tree.

  It struck the edge of the coral cliff, and without breaking into individual men, splashed into the ocean below. The Master of Sinanju peered over the edge into the water.
<
br />   "They did not fight you," Chiun said in disbelief.

  "How could they?" Remo asked. "They were already dead."

  "Already?"

  And from a back pocket Remo pulled out a blowgun. "I took this from my guy. One of them, anyway."

  "You . . . YOU . . . " Chiun sputtered.

  "Neat, huh? I figured, why screw around with them? Well, aren't you going to say something? Aren't you proud of the slick way I handled my end?"

  "Proud?" Chiun screeched. "Do you know how this will look in the Book of Sinanju? This was the last battle with these creatures."

  Remo's face acquired an injured look. "Why should I care how it will look? I got them. Dead is dead."

  "It was ridiculous. And you used a weapon. What will the High Moo say?"

  "He'll say it's about time. He thinks you forgot your weapons."

  "I am mortified," Chiun said huffily.

  "You're just pissed because when you write in your dippy scrolls how Sinanju conquered the last octopus worshiper, I'll get all the credit."

  "Glory hound," Chiun spat.

  "I knew it," Remo laughed. And laughing felt pretty good after all he had been through.

  Chapter 20

  Remo finished lashing the bamboo poles together.

  "I think it's long enough now," he called to Chiun. "Then bring it here," Chiun said testily.

  Remo hefted the pole onto his shoulder. To his surprise, it held.

  The sun was coming up. Pinkish rays tinged the Pacific. There were birds calling now. Not the twittering birds of the States, but the cacophony of jungle birds. Mynahs. Parakeets. Terns.

  The Master of Sinanju finished lashing the hands of one of the octopus worshipers behind his back with a vine. "Give it to me," Chiun said.

  After Remo had handed over the pole, the Master of Sinanju ran it up under the man's bound feet. It passed up his back, under his tied hands, to the next pair of bound ankles, and then to the next lashed wrists.

  Remo lifted the hands as necessary, until the pole's end bumped the shattered skull of the topmost man.