“Your destiny awaits you, young one. Your destiny awaits you.”
Will turned to respond to the old man, but he had already disappeared back inside of his hut.
The Journey to Sagarmatha
The old sherpa was correct; the journey to the base of the south face of the mountain was as hard and arduous as it was beautiful. Although it was mid-May, the elevation was lending itself to chilly temperatures, especially at night; falling snow slowed their pace at times. Will and the old man put on the furs they had brought with them to keep them warm.
Mid-morning on the eighth day of their journey, Will brought his horse to a halt and was quiet for a few moments. The old man halted his horse and turned to face Will to ask him why he had stopped.
“There are riders approaching from the southeast,” he answered. Will paused for a moment to listen again. “I would estimate at least ten or twelve horses riding hard. I noticed some smoke from an encampment last night, but did not think much of it.”
The old man looked concerned and a little confused as he looked in the direction Will had indicated the riders were coming from. “I don’t hear or see anything, young one. But if what you say is true, it is probably a band of Mongolian bandits. They will kill us without a second’s thought, take our horses and supplies, and leave our bodies for the vultures to feed on. Hurry, we must hide!”
Will and the old man started riding hard towards a large rock formation about two-hundred yards in front of them. When they were within twenty yards of the rock formation, the old man heard the horses Will had spoken of and looked over his shoulder to see his worst fears confirmed. A band of ten Mongolian bandits was indeed chasing them and gaining on them rapidly!
They arrived at the rock formation about a hundred yards ahead of the Mongolians. They both dismounted and the old man started running towards the rocks. He turned around and saw that Will was not following him.
“What are you doing, young one? We must hide and pray that the Mongolians do not follow us into the mountains beyond these rocks!”
“You hide, old man. I will make sure you are not harmed.”
The old man hesitated for a few seconds, and then continued climbing up the mountain to hide. Will walked into the opening in front of the large outcropping of rocks where the old man had entered the mountains. The hood of the fur coat hid his white features. The Mongolians were only forty yards away, and started to slow down as they saw Will standing alone and weaponless to confront them.
When they were within twenty yards, one of the Mongolians removed a long arrow from a quiver, strung it on his bow and let it fly in Will’s direction. His aim was true, and just as the arrow was about to strike Will in the heart, Will reached out and caught the arrow as if he were catching an annoying mosquito out of the air. After catching the projectile, Will snapped it in half and threw it on the ground in front of him.
At the sight of this, the Mongolians brought their horses to a stop within about four or five yards of Will and formed a semi-circle around where he stood. The man in the center of the group, who appeared to be the leader, was the first to speak to Will.
“What manner of trick is this that you catch arrows out of the air?”
Will pulled the hood of his fur coat down, and answered in Mongolian, “It was not a trick. I simply reached and grabbed it out of the air before it struck me in the chest.”
The Mongolian leader looked at Will and realized that he was white and was speaking their language perfectly. There was a lot of murmuring between the Mongolians as they noticed this as well.
“Who are you, white devil, and what are you doing here? How do you know our tongue?”
“You will get no answers from me. If you wish to live, turn around, leave now and forget you ever saw me here,” Will replied. He stared at the men with the penetrating gaze of his hard, blue eyes.
At the utterance of Will’s threat all of the Mongolian bandits began laughing.
The leader said, “You are crazier than you look, white devil. We will kill you where you stand and feed your flesh and bones to the scavengers.”
The leader then nodded for one of his men to dismount and kill Will. The Mongolian was tall, muscular and battle-scarred; a long, dark beard covered his dirty face. As he dismounted, he removed a long sword from a sheath on his back and approached Will with a cold sneer on his face. From the way he carried the weapon it was obvious he was an expert in its use and would have no problem using it now. As he got closer, the Mongolian let out a blood curdling yell, raised the sword to his shoulders, and ran towards Will, who simply stood motionless.
As the Mongolian came within striking distance, he raised the sword above his head to deliver the fatal blow. At that precise moment, faster than the eye could follow, Will executed a perfect jump spinning back kick, and the knife-edge of his left foot caught the charging Mongolian in the throat, crushing his trachea and destroying his airway. The Mongolian flew back almost twenty feet and was dead before he hit the ground. His sword flew up in the air and buried itself in the ground an arm’s length in front of Will.
The other Mongolians could not believe their eyes. Their leader looked at Will, who was still simply standing in the same place as he was before he killed the Mongolian who had attacked him. His face was expressionless.
“Take your men and leave now!” Will ordered the Mongolian leader, in a low menacing tone.
This enraged the Mongolian, who then ordered three more of his men to dismount, and attack Will at the same time. Three of them did as ordered. They each pulled their swords and formed a semi-circle around Will, who remained in the same spot. After seeing what Will had done to their comrade, they were reluctant to approach the white devil, but fear of their leader overcame their fear of Will after a few seconds.
The bandit to Will’s immediate left was the first to attack. As he raised his sword to attack and stepped towards Will to deliver his blow, Will spun in towards the Mongolian, and as he spun he picked up the dead Mongolian’s sword that was sticking out of the ground in front of him. As he spun away from his attacker, he drove the pointed end of the sword through the Mongolian’s chest, slicing his heart in two. A look of fear and surprise mounted his face as he, too, died before his body hit the ground.
Upon seeing this, the other two Mongolians attacked simultaneously from opposite sides. Will parried the blow from the Mongolian in front of him, and immediately spun to parry the blow from the Mongolian behind him. Will effortlessly parried several more blows from the Mongolians. Both of the Mongolians were breathing hard from the exertion of the fight, while Will’s breathing remained unlabored. He appeared exhilarated by the combat.
Again and again the Mongolians positioned themselves so that one of them was behind Will and one was in front. As the one behind Will moved in with a vicious swing towards Will’s neck, Will spun and cut off the Mongolian’s hand which held the sword. As the man screamed, Will’s next blow removed his head. Will then spun back in the opposite direction and cut off the head of the Mongolian who had been in front of him and had tried to take advantage of the situation and strike at Will while his back was towards him.
As the Mongolian leader looked on in stunned disbelief at what he had just witnessed, he ordered four of his men to unleash a volley of arrows at Will. As they unleashed the arrows, Will spun and knocked all four of them out of the air with his sword. Will then took his sword and threw it at the Mongolian leader so fast that he could not react. The last memory the Mongolian leader would have was Will’s sword piercing his throat and burying itself almost to the hilt. His body fell off his mount and landed with a heavy thud on the cold, hard ground.
At the sight of their dead leader and the other dead Mongolians, the remaining Mongolians sat on their horses momentarily in shock; they were not sure what to do next. Will then spoke to them calmly in Mongolian, “Unless you wish to meet the same fate, I strongly suggest you bury your dead, leave this place now, and never return.”
&n
bsp; All five of the remaining Mongolians then slid off of their horses and dropped to their faces in front of Will, begging him not to kill them.
“I will give you enough time to bury them and not a moment longer. Move, now!”
With that, the petrified Mongolians gathered the remains of their dead and buried them under loose rocks. As soon as this was done, they mounted their horses and rode back the way they came as fast as they could, leaving the dead men‘s horses where they were. Will stood watching them until they were out of sight to make sure they didn’t return. Without turning around, Will said, “You can come out now, old man.”
Immediately the old sherpa, who had watched the entire battle from a hidden spot in the rocks, came out and dropped to his knees in front of Will, his arms outstretched and his face to the ground.
“White Warrior, spare an old man, please.”
Will rolled his eyes, and in a soft voice said, “Get up, old man, you’re embarrassing yourself.” Will extended his hand to help the old man up.
The old man looked up and saw Will’s hand and the calm look on his face, which bore a hint of a smile. The old man then allowed Will to help him up.
“Let’s quickly gather whatever supplies from their horses we need and be on our way. We need to be well away from this place before they return with reinforcements,” Will said to the old man.
The old man eyed the fleeing bandits as they rode away quickly and said, “I wouldn’t be too worried about that. They probably won’t stop until they get to Kathmandu to change their soiled undergarments.”
After quickly retrieving the supplies, Will smacked one of the horses on its hindquarters and it took off running. The others quickly followed. Will and Surya remounted their steeds and continued on their way.
***
The rest of their journey was uneventful. Although it was getting colder the higher they went, with the elevation being more than 12,000 feet already, Will’s body seemed to adapt and acclimate to both the cold and elevation very quickly.
Seven days after their encounter with the Mongolians, they had finally arrived at their destination mid-morning. Will marveled at the sight of the mountain that lay before him. As they neared the base of the mountain, a strange sensation came over Will. It lead Will to the obelisk that marked the place he was to begin his ascent.
“Have you ever climbed all the way to the top, old man?”
The old man nodded as he spoke, “Yes. When I was a young man I went to the top four different times. Each time Sagarmatha almost killed me.” The old man looked deep in thought, as if remembering each time he had climbed the looming mountain in front of him. “The climb itself is treacherous enough, but you must also be aware that the winds can go from being calm to being so strong that they can blow you right off of the mountain in the blink of an eye. The air itself comes to life and tries to take yours. Keep all of your skin covered at all times. As you near the top, the snow can become so thick you can’t see more than the length of your arm in front of you and as deep as you are tall. Are you sure you want to do this, young one?”
Will simply nodded and replied, “Yes.”
Will dismounted his horse and took the gear he would need for his climb: hemp rope, snowshoes made of hardwood and rawhide, gloves made of sheepskin, food, water, and a metal hook that was attached to the rope. He put it all in a large leather pack and hoisted it on his back.
As Surya turned to leave, he said, “I will leave your horse so you may return to my village after you finish and tell me of your journey to the top.”
Will said, “Thank you my friend, but I’m afraid I won’t be coming back. Take care of yourself.” Will gave the rest of his money to Surya, steepled his fingers, placed the tips to his forehead, and bowed respectfully to the old sherpa. The old man returned the gesture, took the reins of Will’s horse, and without another word, rode away.
Will watched the old man until he had ridden out of sight, and he then began his ascent up the mountain.
Chapter 17
Krelian Research Vessel
August 1942
At the point of impact, the life support systems were designed to perform several functions simultaneously. However, due to the partial corruption of the system, some of them did, while some of them did not. The emergency life support system functioned as designed for the most part, but not exactly as intended. Although none of the crew was killed upon impact, several of them were injured - some with minor scrapes and bruises, and some with broken bones.
During impact, the entire crew was immediately enveloped in a cocoon-like object that was supposed to protect them during a crash, but it activated a second or two too late. Although it prevented death and absorbed the brunt of the impact, it did not completely prevent major injuries in some of the crew. In some cases, some injuries occurred and then placed the crew member inside of the cocoon in a state of suspended animation until his or her body was able to heal on its own.
The ship’s fire suppression equipment had functioned for the most part as well. When it sensed fire in the engine compartment, it doused it with a fire suppression gas that snuffed it out very quickly, but not quickly enough to make the engine operable without major repairs.
As it struck the Earth, the construction of the ship was such that major damage to the ship itself did not occur, but the amount of minor damage would also have to be repaired for them to be able to fly again. The repairs themselves would take no more than a couple of days - if they were on their home planet with a crew of engineers who knew what they were doing and had the appropriate tools and replacement parts.
Of course there were some replacement parts available for minor repairs that the two highly qualified onboard engineers, Sal’chan and Kor’lok, could perform easily. But the repairs were too extensive to complete without the additional parts and a docking bay to moor the ship in while the repairs were being conducted. The fact that they were stranded on a less advanced, and potentially hostile, alien planet didn‘t exactly help matters either. They might as well have been trying to perform brain surgery with a pair of pliers and a hammer.
During impact, one of the starboard side panels hit a hardwood tree, which left a seven foot by seven foot gash on the right side of the ship. Within a few minutes of the crash, the five crew members that had not been seriously injured, the captain, Jae’nol, Tah’soon, Kaltor, and the communications officer, Veetok, were freed automatically from their cocoons, after the diagnostic components of the life support system determined the extent of their injuries to be negligible.
As the captain was having the awakened crew members assessing the damage, he heard the sound of Terran vehicles approaching through the hole in the side of the ship, and he went to see how close they were. They were approaching fast from the southeast in three large Terran transport vehicles. He could not tell exactly how many of the Terrans were onboard the vehicles, but he estimated there were at least fifteen to twenty of them, and they would arrive at their location very soon.
Kaltor was the first to speak after the captain advised him what he had seen.
“Captain, we cannot allow this ship to fall into the Terran’s hands!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” the captain retorted more harshly than he intended. He weighed his options quickly.
“Lieutenant Jae’nol, activate the self-destruct mechanism. Set it for two minutes. We cannot allow ourselves or this ship to be captured by the Terrans.”
Jae’nol looked somewhat stricken by this command as he knew that it meant the death of him and the entire crew. However, he had known the inherent dangers involved with this mission when he volunteered, and set about nervously to carry out what would be the captain’s last order.
“Aye, Captain,” he said as he returned to his console to set the self-destruct mechanism as the captain had ordered.
Tal’pun felt like a failure to his crew and to himself. However, he knew that in two minutes his ship would be vaporized and no evidence w
ould be left behind to indicate that an alien life form had crash landed on this miserable planet. He was not ready to die, but as captain of a starship he had a duty to perform. He wished his crew, at least, could survive, but they were as familiar with the strict edict of non-contact with the humans as well as he was.
At that moment, Lieutenant Jae’nol broke Tal’pun’s commiseration with an announcement he did not want to hear.
“Captain, the self-destruct sequencer is not functioning! It must have been damaged as well, sir!”
“Damn!” Thinking quickly, the captain turned to Kaltor and said, “Kaltor, get to the weapons room and get four of the thermite detonators. There is more than one way to destroy this ship.”
“Aye, Captain.”
However, just as Kaltor turned to carry out that order, four figures appeared in the hole of the side of the ship, after placing a ladder against the outside of the ship to get inside. They were all armed with some type of shoulder weapon that Tal’pun knew could easily kill him and his crew. They were shouting in a language that he did not understand. However, their intent was clear enough - they wanted them to be still, raise their hands, and not make any sudden or furtive movements.
To protect his crew, the captain was the first to raise his hands to his shoulders to indicate that he was not armed and meant them no harm.
The captain asked the linguist, Tah’soon, if she could understand him.
“Yes. He is telling us to get our hands up and not to move or he will kill us.”
“Then tell him we mean them no harm and will comply with his commands.”
Tah’soon did as the captain had ordered and told the German soldier that they meant them no harm and would comply with his demands.
***
Upon hearing the alien female speaking German, Captain Goerner was just as dumbstruck as his men, and for a few seconds, he was at a loss for words. However, he gained control of himself quickly and told the alien female that if she and her comrades complied with his commands, no one would be hurt. Tah’soon relayed this information to the captain, who then ordered the crew members who were awake to comply.
Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant Page 7
