by K. T. Tomb
“From what Lichuan has told me,” Andrik began, “there are three more wings similar to this one and a large throne room, if you will, with smaller chambers off of it in the center. My understanding is that this large hallway leads a corridor, which leads all the way around the meeting rooms and the throne room and the corridors to the other wings lead off from each side. You understand?”
The other three nodded.
“Okay. Each of you searches one of the wings and I will search the throne room and the chambers. Got it?”
Again, they nodded their assent.
“We’ll meet back here when we’ve each finished our search. By that time, one of us ought to have found her.” Andrik started to say, if she is even here, but decided to keep a more optimistic attitude about their chances of finding Nora and rescuing her. Instead of making any further comments, he simply transformed into a bat once more, which was signal enough for the others to move out with him.
The layout was almost exactly as Lichuan had described it. At the other end of the large hallway was another covered corridor which led off to both the left and the right. He could see where the corridors turned to form the square which was set off by another wide space filled with fountains, pools, trees, and all sorts of flowers surrounding the main building of the palace, which rose high above them. Without transforming to give further commands, one split off to the right and the other two volunteers went left. Andrik continued straight ahead into the larger building.
Finding Nora was not difficult at all; in fact, Andrik had only to fly into the throne room in order to see the copper-haired beauty standing at perfect attention in a stunning emerald dress standing beside the throne where another woman sat. That will be Han Ba, he told himself. He was considering his approach when Han Ba called out.
“Oh my, there is a bat in the throne room. Might I presume that Andrik has finally found his long-lost partner?” she laughed as she made the comment. “You might as well reveal yourself. You’re fooling no one.”
Andrik transformed and then approached her in a confident stroll, wary of his surroundings and expecting jaingshi to come rushing out of the chambers on either side as he drew closer to where Han Ba sat and Nora stood.
“You’re a bit late, really,” Han Ba said. “Nora has decided that she and I make better partners than the two of you.”
Andrik glanced toward Nora. “Is that true?”
“Need you ask?” she replied.
“Why?”
“It is about opium, Andrik,” Nora replied simply.
“What have you done to her?” Andrik asked, fixing a fluorescing glare upon Han Ba as he leapt forward. He was struck in the air by a flying jaingshi, which had appeared out of nowhere. Before he knew it, they were swarming around him.
Chapter Twenty
Nora looked on through what appeared as a thick mist without any concern as Andrik fought with all of his might and dispatched dozens of the flying jaingshi, but they were finally able to overwhelm him with their sheer numbers and pin him to the floor.
“Nora!” Andrik called out as he was pinned against the floor by the weight of the jaingshi. “Snap out of it! She’s compelling you!”
“And you think that telling her that will undo it?” Han Ba laughed aloud as she rose from her position on the throne and moved down the steps of the platform to where Andrik was pinned to the floor.
Nora could hear a voice, but it was one that she did not recognize, and it seemed to be off in the distance somewhere instead of right in front of her. She did not recognize the person who was calling out to her either. In fact, she had never seen the man before, though she thought she recognized the accent of the English that he spoke.
She’s compelling me? Who is compelling me? Nora questioned in her mind. Something in her conscience told her that she ought to know what it meant to be compelled, but she could not quite recall exactly what it was.
“It will do you no good to call out to her, Andrik,” Han Ba smirked. “The wiser course for you to take would be to give in to me and join her.”
“Not a chance,” Andrik objected.
“What would be the purpose of our being enemies?” Han Ba reasoned. “We ought to be on the same side rather than being ordered around by mortals like Her Majesty Queen Victoria, don’t you think?”
“The same team?” Andrik asked. “We have no common interests.”
“On the contrary,” Han Ba replied. “If you will stop struggling against my jaingshi, then I will let you up and we can discuss things as equals.”
In spite of the fact that all he wanted to do was rip her throat out and rescue Nora, Andrik agreed to stop struggling. Without the weight of the jaingshi pinning him down, he would, at least, be able to come up with a new plan for rescuing Nora. Besides, Miko and the others ought to have been able to fight their way through the hordes of jaingshi outside by that point.
“Fine,” he agreed. “Let’s talk.”
“You realize that if you give me your word, unless I attack you, you can do me no harm.”
As hard as it was to agree to her terms, Andrik gave his consent and Han Ba directed the jaingshi to let him up.
“A very wise choice,” Han Ba smiled.
Andrik could see that she was extremely confident in her powers. She was an ancient MI, perhaps even an original MI, since she had been able to compel Nora. From his understanding, only original MIs were able to compel another MI. The problem Andrik faced was that he wasn’t sure. He had only been an MI for a little more than a couple of years. There were still intricacies of MIs that he did not yet understand.
“What common interests do we have?” Andrik asked, buying time.
“We are all mortal-immortals, of course. Why should we be at odds with each other?”
“How about something more specific?” he challenged.
“More specific?” she asked. Andrik could feel her attempting to work on his mind. He had been trained to fight against compulsion at Bracksea. It was training which Nora should have been given, but had not because the Duke was so eager to get her into Crimea.
“How about we join with the Heavenly Kingdom to support Hong in bringing down the Qing Dynasty?” she asked. “They’ve made a horrible mess of things and it is time for something new.”
“If you bring down one Dynasty,” Andrik started, working hard to remain focused on fighting off the very strong compulsion she was attacking him with. Wait, isn’t compulsion a form of attack? He had to be sure, because if he made the error of attacking her after giving his word, he would fall powerless before her. He continued his statement as he looked for his opportunity. “You have to replace it with another.”
“Well, since you have put things so clearly,” Han Ba smiled, “the best thing for our kind, we mortal-immortals here in China, is the reestablishment of a Dashing Dynasty.”
“Dashing Dynasty?” Lichuan’s voice called out from the far end of the throne room.
It was the perfect distraction to allow Andrik to attack. He would find out soon enough if he was breaking his word when he did so.
Nora watched what was taking place through the thick mist surrounding her. She had watched Han Ba allow the man pinned to the floor to get up and considered the benevolence of the ancient MI. It was quite easy to service someone so gracious to her enemies. She was in the middle of her admiration of Han Ba when things took a very sudden and confusing turn. She saw the man who had been talking to Han Ba lunge at her in an attack. She heard Han Ba’s command to defend her and started to move against the man when she heard a sharp voice call to her through the thick mist. “Nora!” She recognized the voice of Miko.
“Miko!” she called out in response. The mist cleared instantly and she saw that it was Andrik who had attacked Han Ba. She drew back away from him and looked around her. Han Ba had countered Andrik’s attack with a great deal of force. To her surprise, Andrik tumbled away from her as though he was nothing more than a toy doll.
“Bad
choice!” Han Ba screeched as she flew at Andrik. “You gave your word!”
Nora stood frozen in place. She wanted to go to Andrik’s rescue, but she still hadn’t completely cleared the confusion in her mind.
“Nora, catch!” She heard the voice of Miko call out to her again.
Unsure of what she was about to catch, she looked up to see an object tumbling end over end toward her. As it drew nearer, she could see that it was a wooden stake with the blunt end of it wrapped in leather. She snatched it out of the air and rushed forward to Andrik’s aid.
Han Ba had descended upon Andrik and was about to deliver what might have been a fatal blow—given that Andrik was without any form of defense in that moment— when Nora called out to her.
“It’s all over, Han Ba!”
Han Ba turned just in time for Nora to drive the stake into her heart.
Nora drew back, leaving the stake where it had been planted.
Han Ba looked at her with momentary surprise and then began to laugh. “Won’t work, sweetheart. Just like it didn’t work with Vlad.”
Han Ba reached to pull the stake from her chest with a smirk. In the next moment, the smirk was replaced by one of confusion when the stake wouldn’t budge. She turned her eyes toward Nora with an unspoken question in them as she collapsed to the floor and then began to shrivel up. Within moments, Han Ba, along with the stake and the leather that was wrapped on its handle, was nothing more than ancient dust on the floor of the throne room in the governmental palace at Ningpo.
“Andrik, are you okay?” Nora asked, reaching down to help him to his feet.
“I’ll be okay,” he sighed.
“I’m so sorry.” She held him tight against her and kissed him as tears started to spill over the rims of her eyes.
“Hey,” he said, drawing back after enjoying the long, passionate kiss. He used his thumb to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “No need for that. We’re still alive. Well, mostly.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Nora was still a bit confused even after they arrived back in London and were sitting in the Duke’s study at White Hall. Andrik had been able to explain to her about the assault made by him and Lichuan, along with the Small Sword Society and the local MIs he had recruited. Like it was an afterthought, he had added that Miko had also joined them with some New Order MIs from the Crimea.
“I knew that I heard his voice,” she said. “It was what brought me out of that thick mist and helped me recognize you.”
“You didn’t recognize me?” he asked.
Nora explained the whole scene from her perspective as well as what had led up to the mist taking over. It had been done so subtly throughout the week that she had been entirely defenseless against it.
Besides explaining that, Nora told him how Miko had called out to her and hurled the stake to her, but she had never seen him. “I wonder why he didn’t stick around?”
Andrik had only shrugged at the question. He was glad that his rival had not stuck around, but he spent little time or concern over it.
Nora was still sorting through the events in her mind as she, Andrik and Alfred waited for the Duke, who had been detained at Buckingham Palace. His cheerful, thundering voice interrupted his thoughts as he entered the room.
“We’ve done it again!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Her Majesty is elated and you two are to thank for it.”
“You should add Miko,” Nora whispered.
“Of course we’ll add Miko,” the Duke responded. “He provided some great support in a time of urgent need, but it was the two of you who really fleshed out the situation in Shanghai and the various aspects of the Taiping Rebellion. We will certainly secure our interests with the Qings in Shanghai and the other ports. Alfred, why don’t you go ahead and brief the two of them, instead of compelling them to listen to me babbling on?”
Alfred Covington took over the briefing as he usually did before and after missions.
“You actually achieved more than was originally intended,” he began. He fixed a stern, almost threatening gaze upon them as he continued. “Your methodology was extremely careless and you are both lucky to still be sitting here. However, given the extreme circumstances— some of them being the fault of the Duke and me for having been in too great of a rush to finish Nora’s training and get her out into the field—you did what a solid team of agents ought to do. You collected the intelligence we needed and survived to deliver it to us.”
He replaced the stern expression with a smile, which relieved both Nora and Andrik greatly. “The ironic part of the success comes from an entirely unexpected turn of events. It seems that it became known that soldiers and sailors from the British and American concessions had joined up with the Small Sword Society. Evidently, after seeing action with them at Ningpo, Lichuan made a successful attempt to recruit them. The stink raised by the French over the participation of the British and American soldiers has made it quite necessary for Her Majesty to side with the Qings and protect the status quo and her interests in the region.”
“The men who joined Liu?” Andrik asked. He was grateful that they had joined him and hearing that they had joined with Lichuan brought on some mixed feelings. He had grown to like Lichuan and was glad that the SSS could call for support from the local MIs whenever they needed it. To him, it didn’t matter whether the Qings or the Rebellion ultimately ruled, but he would never suggest anything of the sort.
“They have been reprimanded by Her Majesty and removed from the region,” Alfred responded, fixing Andrik with a knowing look which told him that George Emery would not be getting involved in any form of discipline against them.
“Chin up, Nora,” the Duke said when he noticed that Nora seemed pensive and hoped to offer her a bit of encouragement. “You were not trained to resist compulsion. We will, of course, remedy that immediately. And we will give you a break to finish your training as well. We have done you an enormous disservice and one which nearly cost us dearly. It is a lesson we will not be forgetting. In fact, Her Majesty gave me a pretty thorough scolding for overlooking such an important detail. It will not happen again. I apologize.”
“I do not hold any of you to blame, really,” she responded. “I understand why you rushed me out into the field. I hold no ill will against you. I am disappointed in myself for allowing my personal feelings concerning opium to stand in the way of my duty and allowing Han Ba the opportunity to work on me so subtly.”
Alfred answered her. “I certainly understand your distaste of opium, given what you went through, but without the necessary training to resist compulsion, you were entirely at her mercy. There was nothing that you could have done, whether she worked on you subtly or suddenly.”
Nora considered his words for a moment and was satisfied with the response, but she still had a question lingering in her mind.
“Might I ask a question?”
“Please do,” the Duke responded.
“Andrik explained to me about the fact that both Vlad and Han Ba were original MIs and were therefore resistant to being killed by a stake. How then was I unable to eliminate Vlad, but able to eliminate Han Ba?”
“Even I am at a loss on this one,” Andrik joined in.
“I’m sure you are,” the Duke laughed. “In fact, I did not even know about it until Alfred told me about it. You see, he directed Miko to find and make a stake of peach wood. It is highly toxic, thus the necessity of the leather wrapped around the handle. Handling the wood with your bare hands would have brought on murderous pain. Just preparing the stake made Miko sick and he had to rush out of the palace and hide for several days until he had recovered enough to return to Crimea.”
“What is the significance of a peach wood stake?” Nora asked.
“Peach wood will kill an original MI from the Orient,” Alfred responded. “Other types of wood kill certain MIs from various regions around the world. I suppose that I ought to train the two of you in those particulars, given that we’ve faced
original MIs in both of our cases thus far.”
“That would be a splendid idea!” the Duke roared with laughter. “Now, both of you go get some rest and then we’ll call you, Andrik, back for a briefing on his next assignment while you, Nora, will go to Bracksea for more training.”
Sometime later, Nora and Andrik fell on their backs to catch their breath after an hour of intense lovemaking. Once they were able to breathe again, Nora snuggled up against Andrik’s chest.
“I’m not looking forward to being separated while you go off somewhere to face danger alone,” she murmured.
“I’m not looking forward to it either,” he responded.
“I’m not sure you can make it back alive without me there to rescue you,” she smiled.
“I’m beginning to wonder about that myself.”
“Perhaps you’re the one that needs to stay here and be trained some more?”
“Maybe it is time that you shut up and kiss me.”
The End
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STEROID BLUES
A thriller by
K.T. TOMB
Steroid Blues
Published by Quests Unlimited
Copyright © 2018 by K.T. Tomb
All rights reserved.
(Previously published)
Steroid Blues
Chapter One
Courtney sat at the table in her favorite coffee shop in the quaint downtown area of Waunakee, Wisconsin, her face scrunched up in disgust. She looked down at the yellow legal pad next to her laptop and ripped the top page off in frustration, crumpling it up and slamming her foot down on it.
What the heck is going on with me? I’m normally so good at putting my book ideas down on paper and pulling it all together, she thought to herself. Ugh, this is no use. I haven’t had a good idea in far too long. I’m way overdue now.
