torg 03- The Nightmare Dream

by Jonatha Ariadne Caspian

  "When do you descend, Uthorion?" Malraux asked. Was there a slight hint of amusement in the Antipope's tone? Uthorion could not be sure, but he did not doubt it. All High Lords could be arrogant bastards when they chose to be.

  "I shall not descend until 1 have word that Tolwyn is dead," the High Lord declared, brushing Ardinay's golden locks out of her eyes so that he could see.

  "Why not just enter the realm and finish it," Malraux prodded. "Surely you don't believe that this paladin can stand before your power?"

  "I do not know what I believe anymore," Uthorion sighed. "It all seemed so easy when I found Drakacanus. The Gaunt Man even helped me establish my own cosm. I was destined for greatness and power, I was sure of that back then. Then that woman, that bitch from Duke Bordal's litter, had the audacity to place a curse upon me with her dying breath." He stopped, unsure of how much of his innermost fears he should allow Malraux to be privy to. They were allies now, certainly, but one never knew when the tenuous treaties that High Lords formed would be broken.

  Uthorion turned Ardinay's body away from the wall and signalled for the ravagon stationed atop a far battlement. Once a trusted lieutenant in the Gaunt Man's court, Uthorion knew that the winged demonkind served as the High Lord of Orrorsh's eyes throughout the cosmverse, but he also knew that they served important functions for those who knew how to best make use of their unique abilities.

  The winged demonkind alighted beside Ardinay's form, kept young all these centuries through the power of Drakacanus. It tilted its head curiously, letting it hang precariously atop its long, thin neck.

  "Go down bridge, into Aysle realm on Earth, and summon Delyndun to me," Uthorion ordered.

  Without a word, the ravagon flew off in search of the elven wizard.

  "I do not trust the demonkind," Malraux commented once the ravagon was out of earshot. "They are always ... watching."

  "You do not have to trust them, Jean Malraux," Uthorion said as he returned to the battlement. Below, in the courtyard, the combined races of Aysle let up a cheer for the Lady of the Houses when they saw her beautiful form. Uthorion twisted Ardinay's lips into a smile and waved her slender hand in mock appreciation of the masses.

  "You only have to learn how to use them," he declared as the Ayslish sent up a second cheer, and the sun dipped beneath the lip of its path through the Boiling

  Sea.

  17

  Andrew Decker joined Kurst in the slow walk to outfitting. Neither wanted to be without supplies for the trip they had ahead of them. The congressman still remembered the flight from the weretiger called Scythak back at the Twentynine Palms hospital complex. Decker fought as hard as he could, with what few weapons he had, but the huge hunter from Orrorsh was too much for him. Eventually Decker ran out of options, and Scythak closed in for the kill. That was when Kurst appeared.

  "How did you get back here?" Decker asked for the tenth time.

  For the tenth time, Kurst answered him. "Through a gate — a portal between the marine base and the Gaunt Man's manor in Borneo."

  "How is that possible?" Decker asked. Even to himself he sounded like a broken record.

  "As I have explained before, Mara found a way to utilize the power we have within us," Kurst said.

  "The possibility energy?"

  "Yes. The energy that brands us as stormers."

  "Storm knights," Decker corrected, using the phrase that Tolwyn had coined.

  "Storm knights," Kurst agreed. "She focused the combined energy of our group and opened a gate to you. Tolwyn wanted to come, but I convinced her I was the best choice for the battle I knew waited on the other side of that portal."

  Decker recalled how Kurst shifted into his werewolf form and attacked the larger weretiger. He was losing, falling beneath Scythak's greater strength, when suddenly Kurst shifted into a new form. He became a giant bear, a werebear, and with the surprise of his transformation coupled with the bear form's superior strength, Kurst killed Scythak.

  "How did you gain a new form?" Decker asked as the question came to his mind.

  "I am not sure," Kurst admitted, "but I believe it had something to do with you. While the Gaunt Man was ripping possibilities from me with his sorting machine, I felt your presence. I remember you pointing to a part of myself I did not know existed. Later, when I saw how Mara formed the gate, I figured out how to release that part of me which the Gaunt Man had long ago imprisoned. I remembered the form of the bear, and I shifted into it."

  Decker nodded. Although his time under the rune staff induced coma was becoming a fading memory, he did remember when the Gaunt Man called him to re-pattern Kurst's possibilities. He left the bright glow at I he center of Kurst's being alone, for it was the destiny that fate had originally set for the shapeshifter.

  Kurst pulled a chain and pendant from his pocket a nd regarded it carefully. It was the pendant that Scythak had worn. "Jewelry was so unlike Scythak," Kurst said. "This pendant stinks with Orrorsh sorcery."

  "What do you think it is?" Decker asked.

  "I don't know," Kurst admitted, "but I bet Thratchen has something to do with it."

  "Thratchen? Isn't that the thing chasing Mara?"

  Kurst nodded. "He helped us against the Gaunt Man, though. Not in overt ways, but subtly. It was he who forced Mara to figure out how to use the gate power."

  "For his own purposes, no doubt," Decker finished.

  The shapeshifter laid a strong hand on Decker's arm, making him pause before they entered the supply tent. "We have to talk about what we do next," Kurst said.

  Decker looked surprised. "We're going to help defend the storm front," he stated. "We've got to keep the edeinos from crossing the boundary."

  "There are others to do that," Kurst said. "There is an entire army here. Two more would make little difference either way."

  "Then what do you suggest, Kurst?"

  "We must catch up with Tolwyn and the others. Our destiny lies with them, and they will need our help for the final battle."

  "What are you talking about?" Decker asked. "What battle? We don't even know where they are now. For all we know, they could be on their way back to Twentynine Palms even as we speak."

  Kurst shook his head. "They are on their way to Aysle, the magical reality."

  "How do you know that? How can you be sure?"

  "Tolwyn wants to find Angar Uthorion, the necromancer that invaded her world five hundred years ago," Kurst explained. "She also wants to find out how her beloved Lady Ardinay still happens to be alive — and why Aysle has become a dark and evil place. If they defeated the Gaunt Man, which they must have done for the rune staves to have fallen from your body, then Tolwyn will convince them to go with her to Aysle."

  Decker let the implications of Kurst's words run through his head. Then he asked, "How do we find this place called Aysle?"

  "Leave that to me," the hunter replied, clapping Decker on the shoulder.

  They hurriedly entered the supply tent and began outfitting for the journey ahead of them. Kurst suggested taking low-tech items. He found a good blade — polycarbide, the supply sergeant bragged — and two bayonets that would make serviceable spears if mounted properly. He took a rifle almost as an afterthought, perhaps unsure of its utility. In the end he accepted the weapon because it was made to carry the bayonet.

  For himself, Decker took two pistols — a .45, and a smaller .38 as a back-up. He trusted in technology. Decker asked for canteens, but as they were preciously guarded items, they received only one each.

  "There is water where we are going, Ace," Kurst said. "More water than either of us can drink."

  Rations and walkie-talkies — the latest miniature headset types — made up the rest of their supplies. They thanked the sergeant and started out.

  Outside the supply tent, Julie Boot was waiting for them, her face set and still. "Planning on leaving without me, Ace?"

  Decker felt himself involuntarily straighten to attention; he wondered if Kurst noticed. "It's
not a question of leaving without you. It's survival. You've got valuable skills —"

  "And you're going to save me from wasting them?" she finished for him. "Who'll save you next time?"

  Decker's mouth tightened as his jaw muscles bunched. He searched for a soft reply. "After we do what we can here, we're going to go find Tolwyn and the others. Kurst thinks they need us, and I owe them more than I can ever repay. Two of us is enough to risk, especially since your skills could save many more than two if you were here, with the hospital, with supplies ... You'll be safer here."

  "Look around, Ace," she said, her voice getting louder. "Your definition of safe leaves a lot to be desired. You need a medic, and I'm going."

  Images ran through Decker's head, images of his mental fight against the Gaunt Man. It was Julie's voice that helped him find his way back, that helped him make it through the doors the Gaunt Man threw into his path. He owed her his life. That much, in all of this surreality of invasion, was crystalline sharp.

  "She has a point," Kurst observed, "and an ulterior motive."

  She would not plead to be taken, but she did demand it. And, Decker admitted almost hopelessly, she was adamant enough to risk following them. Alone. She had saved his life. But it bit into him as deep as the runes had once bit that he was bringing the woman he loved to a world where he could guarantee nothing.

  He nodded once, sharply, and they turned as one to the supply sergeant for another kit.

  18

  Major Charles Covent scanned the wall of rain and lightning with a pair of high-powered binoculars. He could see vague shapes gathering on the other side, but as of yet nothing had broken through. He didn't like waiting. He knew that the longer they waited, the more likely the chance of the lizards getting enough of their kind over here to flip the reality.

  He had his forces ranged all along the front from one end of the Sequoia National Forest to the other. He had a division at the ready, but even so they were spread thin to cover the forty miles of forest. Lanes of fire had been established, but other units remained mobile in order to respond to wherever the lizards broke through in number. He had the entire line of trees on this side of the storm rigged to explode into flame on his order, which should create a wall of fire to hold them back. He thought about what Kurst and Tal Tu had told them, and it still seemed impossible. All the lizards had to do was get twenty-five thousand of their people across the storm front. Then, if the stelae had been set, this area would become a Dead Ring. If that happened, all of the soldiers would be slaughtered as their weapons systematically failed.

  A jeep pulled up beside Covent's station. Decker, Kurst, Major Boot, Tal Tu and Paragon jumped out.

  "I've got a couple of ideas for you to try, Charlie," Decker said as he walked over. "But we're going to have to hurry if we want to accomplish anything before they start moving."

  "Why haven't they attacked yet, Ace?" Covent asked. "I can see them through the occasional breaks in the storm, but they're just standing there."

  "They are waiting for sufficient numbers to flip this reality," Tal Tu explained. "Baruk Kaah will not make the same mistake twice. This time he will rush this line of defenders with three or four times the number he needs to activate the stelae."

  Decker quickly outlined his plan. Covent nodded, jotted down a few notes, then handed the written orders to a sergeant for implementation.

  "That should slow them down and maybe even give them something to think about, but we need a more permanent solution," Covent said.

  "What do you have in mind?" Decker asked.

  "We need to find the stelae," Covent declared.

  "That will be difficult, major," Kurst responded. "Not only will a stelae of this importance be well hidden, it will also be well guarded."

  "That's why I want to send you and Decker to deal with it," Covent shot back.

  Kurst and Decker exchanged glances. Then Decker spoke. "I'm afraid we can't do that, Charlie. We'll help you with the initial attack, but as soon as the confusion is heavy, we're going through the storm."

  "Are you crazy, Ace?" Covent exploded. "That's suicide! Of what possible use can such an action be?"

  "We're going to try to reach one of the maelstrom bridges," Decker explained calmly, trying to reassure the major. "We're going to travel up the bridge to find some friends of ours. But we'll also bring enough explosives to hopefully take the bridge down. That should slow them down even more."

  Covent wiped a hand over his face. "We'll talk about this," he said at last. "But first let's look at the maps. I want to try to pinpoint likely places to plant a stelae."

  19

  The pilot looked at the orders from Major Covent with disdain. "They want me to do what?" he bellowed.

  "Those are your orders," the crew chief said. "We've already filled the bomb bay for you. All you have to do is fly the damn plane."

  "What's my cargo?" he asked indignantly*

  "Rocks," the crew chief smiled. "Just fly over the storm, pick a target, and open the bay doors."

  "Rocks? Rocks don't explode! What good are rocks?"

  The crew chief pushed up close to the pilot, impatience screwing his face into an angry mask. "Bombs don't explode past the storm front either, and rocks are a hell of a lot cheaper for virtually the same effect. From the height you'll be flying, those rocks will drive through bodies like shrapnel. Now get a move on."

  With plenty of reservations but no desire to go against his orders, the pilot climbed into his cockpit and fired up the engines.

  "Remember," the crew chief called, "stay above the level of the storm!"

  The pilot nodded, but he already knew that. He had even less of a desire to have his engines conk out over the enemy.

  "Rocks," he chuckled, then flew off to make his delivery.

  20

  The map on the table was of California. There were triangles drawn upon it that marked the Dead Ring, those areas which already belonged to the edeinos. Covent, Decker, Kurst and Tal Tu leaned over the map, estimating where the next apex would be positioned.

  "They can place the stelae anywhere, as long as no arm of the triangle is more than three hundred miles long," Kurst explained.

  "That puts it probable location here," Covent said as he drew a circle with his compass.

  Tal Tu leaned closer, studying the images on the map. Decker had explained what the symbols were, and the edeinos had quickly figured out how to interpret them. He had advanced leaps and bounds since joining up with Alder and leaving the Living Land.

  The edeinos tapped the map with one clawed finger. "Here is where the restan group has placed it," Tal Tu said carefully. "It is in this place called Angeles National Forest."

  "That's still a big area," Covent said. "All right, I guess that's where I'm going."

  Decker look shocked. "You can't go, Charlie. You're needed here. You can't leave Colonel Matthews to handle the troops by himself."

  "What choice have I got?" Covent asked. "There's no one else."

  "I will go," Tal Tu replied. "I know what to look for, what to watch out for. I am the best choice."

  A sergeant entered the command tent. "Sorry to interrupt, major, but I'd thought you'd like to hear. Three planes dropped their rock payloads over the storm. We don't know about all of them, but one observation team noted that a large number of creatures were killed by the falling rocks. They were lucky enough to catch a break in the storm front at the moment of the drop."

  "Too little too late, I'd imagine," Covent sighed. "Thanks, sergeant."

  The sergeant nodded and took his leave.

  "Your offer is generous, Tal Tu, but I can't put you in

  i hargc of a platoon," Covent picked up where he left off.

  I hey just won't trust you, and that will put the mission at risk."

  The sergeant burst into the tent again, and Covent spun on him angrily. "What is it now, sergeant?" he demanded.

  "The lizards are coming through the storm!" the sergeant blurt
ed.

  "Set off the explosions," Covent ordered. "I want that wall of fire up now!"

  They all rushed out of the tent, the discussion about who was going after the stelae forgotten as a more immediate threat was revealed.

  21

  Quin Sebastian stepped off the transport and looked around. For a base so close to the battlefront, Twentynine Palms was overly subdued. He was a soldier of fortune who worked for whoever had the money — as long as the job didn't go against his own moral standards. Of course, being in the field of work he was in, his moral standards did have some rather unclear borders. His most recent job was for President Jonathan Wells, the man he worked for when he had been a CIA operative. Wells had asked him to go into the Zone of Silence, into New York actually, to check into rumors that Wells' predecessor, President Douglas Kent, was still alive. The rumors suggested that he had not been killed during the initial invasion, but was hiding out in the very heart of the enemy's camp. Sebastian had accepted the job. He made it as far as a relocation camp in Kentucky when the call came for him to return to the farm. Instead of Wells being on the line, however, it was Dennis Quartermain.

  "Wells is dead, Sebastian," Quartermain had informed

  him. "He's been assassinated."

  Sebastian did not like Quartermain. In fact, he didn't trust the man. Neither did Wells for that matter, and the details of Quin's mission were never revealed to Quartermain. Quin had decided to keep the mission secret. He could always go back to New York. Right now he had a more personal assignment. And his target, according to Quartermain, was Congressman Andrew Jackson Decker.

  Two men in dark glasses were waiting for him when he stepped onto the tarmac. He knew their type — God, he used to be their type! — and he wondered what agency they were assigned to. As this was the site of President Wells' assassination, they were probably FBI or Secret Service men.

  He gave them his winningest smile, and said, "Don't bother with my luggage, just take me to see Colonel McCall."