Dragon DelaSangre

by Alan F. Troop

  Jorge slaps me again. I realize I'm on the cot—my neck, my wrists, my ankles chained. I make no effort to test my fetters. The Dragon's Tear wine shackles me more completely than they ever could.

  Casey Morton looks down at me, spits in my face. "I hate you!" she says. She begins to cry and pummels my face with her fists, striking again and again, saying, "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

  Jorge pulls her back. "Casey, honey, stop," he says. "We don't know how long we have until the wine wears off. Let's get what we need from the arms room and finish these creatures off."

  "How can we get through the door? You told me yourself, there's no visible lock. No way you can see to release the crossbeam."

  "That was before." Santos beams. He puts his face to the bars, directs his words at me. "Today, when we were firing the cannon I finally had a chance to examine the mechanism." He clangs the cutlass blade against the steel bars. "There's a release lever that can be reached through a crack in the stone. You just need something skinny and strong to reach it." Santos laughs, thrusts the cutlass through the bars. "This will do, I think."

  They turn off all lights on the floor, leaving me in total darkness. Without the slightest glimmer of light, even I can't see through the blackness. I'm tempted to sleep, but I fight the impulse. Elizabeth is in danger. I concentrate on reaching her. To my amazement, I do, finding myself in her dreams, her mind more open to me than any day since our wedding. The Dragon's Tear wine, I think. I try to call her name, but can't form the word.

  Dogs bark outside. I hear them with her, see her room as she does as she blinks her eyes open. I feel her confusion too as we hear the sound of metal scraping stone, the metallic click of the crossbeam lever releasing, the groan of the arms door being yanked open, the clank of heavy objects being moved on the veranda.

  "Peter?" Elizabeth mindspeaks. "I hear things. What is happening?"

  I try to tell her. The words almost form, but slip away before they gel. "Danger," I want to say. "Save yourself."

  "Why don't you answer me?" Elizabeth asks. "Peter, please!"

  She rises and I watch through her eyes as she walks to the bedchamber's outside door. "No!" I imagine myself yelling, but no sound, no thought escapes me. Elizabeth opens the door and Casey Morton screams.

  Elizabeth roars and I see Casey's horrified countenance just as my bride does.

  "Casey! Move!" Jorge Santos shouts and the blonde jumps to one side. He lifts a massive weapon to his shoulder and aims it at Elizabeth. She stares at the barrel's black muzzle and I recognize the weapon as a rail gun. I try again to warn my bride, but she rushes forward without hearing me.

  The gun explodes before her, Jorges Santos flying back from the recoil. Elizabeth screams as the ball rips through her right eye socket. Her mind goes blank.

  Cut off from her, I lie motionless in the dark, alone with my thoughts. Grief engulfs me. I attempt to move, to curl into a fetal position, but even that is refused me. I can't blink an eyelid or moan. It is wrong, I think, to be denied the ability to weep.

  * * *

  Chapter 28

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  Time passes or doesn't move at all. It's impossible for me to tell. All I know is the hard slab of the cot beneath me, the weight of my chains. I strain to see anything of my surroundings, but view only darkness. I listen, but hear only the stillness around me. I know Santos will come to kill me. The man could never leave knowing the murderer of his sister still lives.

  I struggle to move, concentrate on controlling just one finger—the small one on my right hand. I will it to respond. It trembles and, if I could, I would smile. I will it to move again and it flexes. I turn my attention from finger to finger, slowly bringing each to life. My eyelids resist and then succumb to my desire to blink.

  My successes make me hopeful and I try once more to mindspeak. "Elizabeth!" I call. "Elizabeth, please answer me!"

  A sob escapes from my lips when I receive no reply. I lie still again, give way to the solitude of my existence.

  Something… a wisp of energy… a glimmer of a thought touches me. I concentrate, try to reach out, strain to receive whatever may be out there.

  "Elizabeth!" I call again.

  A feeble reply brushes my consciousness. "Peter?"

  I open my mind to her, attempt to merge with her, like I did before. I recoil from the pain and confusion I find, her anger as she rejects me. "Elizabeth," I mindspeak. "Please."

  It takes all my energy to understand her thoughts. "Peter, where have you been?" she asks. "Where are you now?"

  "Oh, Elizabeth, you can't believe how happy I am to hear you… I was afraid he killed you."

  "Very nearly. He hurt me badly, Peter. Where are you? I need you. I think he and the woman are still near me. Please, Peter."

  "Lie still. Don't let them know you're alive," I say. "I'm below, locked in one of the cells. At dinner they tricked me. They served me Dragon's Tear wine."

  "Oh, Peter! I warned you."

  " You did and you were right. But now we have to stop them."

  "I'm healing quickly. It won't be long before I'm much stronger, Peter," she says. "I can hear them now. They're talking about you."

  I attempt to raise my arm. It refuses to budge. I force a sigh. It seems control of my thoughts will be easier than command of my body. "Elizabeth, I'm afraid it will be awhile before I can leave my cell." The idea of leaving her alone angers me. I try again to merge with her thoughts. This time she doesn't rebuff me.

  Elizabeth emits a mental gasp when I join with her. Together we listen.

  "We could use more firepower," Jorge says. "They should be here soon. But for now, we need to rely on ourselves. We don't know where the woman is or how many more things like this are around. We still have to kill DelaSangre. Bring me three more rail guns and I'll load them for us."

  Casey Morton grunts her assent.

  "They still don't realize what we are," I say. "That has to be to our advantage. Can you open your good eye just a skinch?"

  Elizabeth does and together we watch Santos nearby, working in the flickering yellow glow of two lit torches, pouring powder into one of the large guns.

  "Peter?" my bride says. "I can do it. I'm growing stronger. In a little while I'll be able to stop them. …"

  "No! Not without me." In my cell I try to lift my arm again. It rises a half-inch before my strength fails me. "If they think you're dead, they'll leave you alone and concentrate on searching the house, trying to find the person they imagine you to be. By the time they give that up and come for me, I'll be recovered enough to elude them. Then we can both end this."

  "What if they go for you first? I won't be able to help you there. It would be better if I acted sooner, alone."

  "I know Santos. We've played chess for months. He always goes on the defensive. He knows I'm locked in a cell. He'll want to find and eliminate you first."

  "What if you're wrong?" Elizabeth says. "It is possible you know." Irritated, she twitches her tail.

  I feel her movement. "Stay still!" I warn her again.

  "Did you see that?" Casey asks Santos.

  Jorge, intent on working the ramrod, driving the charge home, says, "Huh?"

  "I think the thing's tail moved."

  "Casey, it's just an involuntary movement," he says. "We blew half its head off. Nothing would survive that…"

  The high-pitched growl of a small outboard motor interrupts their conversation. Santos and Morton both look seaward. Out in the dark, the dogs greet the noise with a chorus of barks and growls. Santos says, "I think the cavalry's arrived."

  Casey stares at the water and snorts, "Some cavalry! Four middle-aged men in an inflatable dinghy."

  The dog pack's noise turns to bedlam and, in my cell, I can picture them on the beach massing for an attack. Staccato bursts of machine-gun fire cut through their clamor, turning their growls into yelps, their barks into howls.

  Santos grins. "With that armament, I think they're help enough.
"

  As the bursts and dog yelps continue, Santos goes on loading the rail guns.

  "Why bother?" Casey asks.

  Jorge shrugs. "Just in case," he says.

  In my cell I wince at each machine-gun blast, worry that all my dogs will be destroyed forever and wonder, if we survive, whether I'll ever be able to replace them. All too soon the gunshots stop and the night becomes quiet again.

  "Damn!" I mutter. I clench my fists, open them. I'm able to raise my arms almost to shoulder height, then drop them. Soon, I think. If only I have enough time.

  I groan when the first man steps into Elizabeth's view. Tall and thin, grinning, looking like a charter captain in his yachting cap, T-shirt and khaki shorts, Jeremy Tindall approaches Jorge, his hand out, and says, "Mr. Santos, I believe." Three shorter, more muscular men follow behind him, their faces obscured by the shadows.

  I pray that Arturo isn't one of the others.

  "You should have killed him long ago," Elizabeth mind-speaks.

  The other three men emerge into the light and I let out a sigh of relief when I see that all are Asian. Tindall nods toward a gray-haired Chinese man dressed much like him. The man is older than the others and carries a large, black Colt automatic in his right hand. "This is General Chen," Tindall says, "and these"—he points to two fatigue-clad men armed with AK-47 machine guns—"are his assistants."

  Santos shakes Tindall's hand, nods to the others, who nod back to him. "Glad you're here. We can use the help."

  Casey points at Elizabeth. "It isn't bleeding anymore."

  "What the hell is that?" Tindall says. He backs away, as do the others, muttering in Chinese.

  "I'm not sure," Santos says. "But whatever it is, it's dead." He turns to Casey. "If it would make you happy, take my blunderbuss. Shoot it again." The Cuban cocks the newly loaded weapon, holds it out for her.

  "I've never fired one of these," Casey says, and takes the rail gun, holds it with both hands by her waist.

  Santos begins to pour powder into the wide barrel of yet another gun. "Just point it and pull the trigger," he says. "Worst thing happens, you'll miss, and since it's dead already anyway—who cares?"

  The blonde scowls at him. "Sometimes you're such an asshole! What if it's alive?"

  She pokes the barrel of her gun into Elizabeth's left haunch. To my relief, my bride stays still.

  Tindall and the Chinese step closer. The two assistants hold their AK-47s at rest. "I'd be careful if I were you," Chen says, and points his pistol in Elizabeth's direction.

  "Looks dead to me," Santos says, dropping a golfball-size lead ball into the barrel of the blunderbuss, ramming it home. He cocks the hammer, primes the flashpan with gunpowder.

  "Maybe…" Casey says. She prods Elizabeth again with the gun barrel then points it straight at my bride's midriff.

  "NOT THE CHILD!" Elizabeth mindspeaks, roaring, sweeping her tail in front of her, knocking Casey down, the blonde's gun flying from her hands, the woman screaming.

  Chen empties his automatic into Elizabeth as he backs up, Tindall behind him. His men rush in front of him, fumble with their machine guns, preparing to protect him.

  Elizabeth roars, ignores Chen's bullets, kills one man with a single slash across his neck, yowls as the other man empties his clip into her. She leaps forward and seizes him in her mouth, shaking him until he no longer moves.

  "Son of a bitch!" Santos shouts. He shoulders his gun, fires, the ball whizzing by the side of Elizabeth's head.

  Crying, Morton tries to crawl away, saying, "Please, please."

  I feel the agony of Elizabeth's wounds. I know the hunger that courses through her, the need for food to speed her healing. I share her anger at her attackers. Elizabeth bellows and I revel as she rakes Casey's body with her talons, rips her open. I smell the rich aroma of fresh blood as my bride breathes it in, savor it as she does.

  The blonde screams again and Elizabeth attacks once more, biting a huge hunk of flesh from Casey's leg, swallowing it in one gulp.

  Santos drops his now empty rail gun, watching my bride. Elizabeth eyes him as she tears another piece of flesh from the dying woman. She looks for Tindall and Chen, but they've disappeared from sight.

  "THE MAN!" I feel my bride's hunger and need for energy, but I see the danger too. "YOU HAVE TO STOP THE MAN!"

  "He's nothing," Elizabeth says.

  The Cuban dives for Casey's discarded gun.

  Elizabeth sweeps her tail at him, knocks him down.

  Santos grabs the rail gun by the tip of the barrel and scrambles back, pushing with his feet, scooting on his rump. Elizabeth, growling, stalks him until he backs into the wall of the house. Unable to retreat any farther, he yanks the rail gun toward him just as my bride rushes at him, and slashes out with her left claw.

  He blocks her with the gun—its barrel slamming into his forehead with the full force of Elizabeth's blow—then pivots the blunderbuss and fires it at point-blank range.

  Fire and smoke erupt in front of Elizabeth. The noise deafens her. The massive ball passes through the side of her neck, shredding flesh, shattering her spine, splintering her shoulder bone. I bellow in my cell at the same time as Elizabeth roars in pain on the veranda. She staggers backward, collapses against the parapet, her eyes still open, her mind still aware.

  Santos, almost as stunned as she, sits across the walkway from her, his back still to the house's wall. Casey lies on the deck between them, her blood coating the wood planks, her breath coming in spastic gasps. The Cuban stares at Elizabeth, waits for her to roar forward and finish him.

  "I can't, Peter. I can't move.…"

  "I know," I say, feeling what she feels, knowing as she does how badly she's injured. I struggle to sit up, my body finally beginning to comply. "Don't give up. Your body can survive this."

  She sighs. "He won't let me."

  "It won't be much longer before I can move well enough to find my way out."

  "It will be too late, Peter."

  Together we watch Santos. He stares at her, shakes his head, mutters, "Son of a bitch." Then he crawls toward her, stopping by Casey, putting his lips on her forehead—a farewell kiss, I suppose. He lingers a moment, then continues on, stopping just out of Elizabeth's reach. Santos examines her again, shakes his head once more. "What are you doing with that?" he says, reaching forward.

  "Oh, Peter," Elizabeth mindspeaks as the Cuban undoes the gold chain that I just this morning wrapped around her wrist.

  Santos holds it in his fist. Still staring at Elizabeth, he scoots back to the wall and braces against it, pushing himself up with his legs. The Cuban pauses, inspects the gold clover charm, kisses it and fastens the chain around his neck. Never taking his eyes off Elizabeth, he sidles away from her, works his way to the arms room.

  Tindall and Chen come out of the shadows. Chen stoops over, picks up an AK-47 lying by the side of one of his dead men. He checks the magazine, finds it's empty and reloads it. Then, chambering a load, he points it at Elizabeth.

  "Don't bother," Santos says. "I have something better."

  I try to change shape, but the Dragon's Tear remains too much with me. I look around the cell, try to recognize anything that might help me free myself. The dark defeats me. I tug at my chains. They resist me. "Try to escape, Elizabeth, " I say. "Before he comes back!"

  "You know better, Peter. I can't."

  "You have to force yourself to heal. You have to try, even if it takes your last bit of energy."

  "No," she mindspeaks. "It might kill the baby."

  "Elizabeth," I say, "Without you, what chance does the child have?"

  "I won't risk hurting my baby! "

  I try to think of something to say to inspire her, to spur her to act in her own interest. I worry that Elizabeth's injuries have weakened her ability to reason.

  Santos returns carrying a cannonball under one arm, a canister of powder under the other. He ignores Elizabeth's scrutiny, goes about the business of loading the cannon.
>
  Frantic, I struggle against my shackles.

  "I couldn't let that woman harm the baby," Elizabeth mindspeaks.

  "I understand."

  Once the cannon's loaded, Santos looks at Tindall. "You could help you know," he says.

  Chen laughs, keeps his rifle trained at Elizabeth. "Jeremy doesn't like to get his hands dirty," he says. "He's used to others doing his work for him."

  Tindall scowls at him, walks over to Santos. "Just show me what to do," he says. He grunts and groans as he helps Santos inch the ship killer around, until the black, gaping maw of the cannon aims straight at Elizabeth's head.

  Santos stares at her. "I don't know what the hell you are," he says. "But this should finish you." He walks away, toward the arms room.

  "Peter, I don't want to die," Elizabeth mindspeaks.

  I pull at my chains as best I can, knowing I lack the strength to escape yet. "I know, my love," I say.

  "Your love… I like that. Peter, I was so young… I was learning. I would have made a good wife for you after the baby was born."

  "I'm sure, love. I'm sure you would have." In the dark, I feel tears wetting my cheeks, do nothing to wipe them away.

  "Promise me, you'll say good things about me to our son."

  "Of course," I say, not quite sure she realizes what she's saying.

  Santos returns with a torch he's taken down from the wall.

  Elizabeth sighs, says, "I would have been a very good mother."

  The Cuban lowers the torch's flaming end to the touch hole and the roar of the cannon penetrates the house, reverberating in my cell.

  * * *

  Chapter 29

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  Rage alternates with sorrow. I know my bride is dead. For the first time since our marriage, I can't find her touch. I have no sense of her. It's as if I've lost my sight, or my hearing. I am truly alone now, without hope, my future shattered.