9 Tales Told in the Dark 7

by 9 Tales Told in the Dark

  “Yes?”

  “Many pardons, Lord Justice. Guardsman Sahir has an urgent message for you from the wizard.”

  Ton nodded, turned and listened.

  He bounded to his feet the instant the man finished.

  “Has that Annamite sorcerer gone mad?” the lieutenant blurted. “To suggest we bring—”

  One icy glare from the Lord Justice cut him short.

  Chu Lanh-Sang’s reading lesson having been interrupted, she and Ton’s scribe had drifted over from the other side of the room. The Lord Justice looked her in the eye.

  “We’ll need a suitable wagon, two strong buffalo and a pair of men, both brave and capable—the animals will require firm and familiar hands. Assure all concerned that I shall pay any fair price, Lanh-Sang—there’s no time to haggle, Understood? Good. Into town with you!”

  She rushed off as Ton next focused on his scribe.

  “Suvanni, find my valet, stable master and healer. I need to dress for riding and possible combat. My horse must be readied likewise and the healer prepared to accompany me.”

  “Right away, Lord Justice!”

  Ton turned sharply on the lieutenant. “Turn out all our remaining guardsmen in full travel armor and riding weapons. We’ll pay the Lord Governor a brief visit, borrow his best mounts then depart immediately.”

  “But, sir? What if Governor Kumar won’t—”

  “I won’t be asking, this time! Your men must be ready to fight, even before we ride out!”

  “Sir! The Lord Governor has a full company of guardsmen. We—”

  “Will just have to hope the old fool can be made to see reason, won’t we?”

  “Uh, we could wait for those guardsmen who accompanied the wizard?”

  “They’re coming on foot, Lieutenant. And two more swords won’t mean much, one way or the other. No, we have to go with what we have—and we go now!”

  “Yes, Lord Justice,” the young officer murmured weakly and departed.

  Behind him, Sahir Ravi dared give Ton an impish grin before spinning on his heels to follow.

  The Lord Justice responded in kind.

  9

  Striding purposefully, the Lord Justice and his wizard crossed the courtyard. Ton chewed a bit of dried fruit as he walked.

  “I see your appetite has returned,” Demon Fighter said.

  “Yes, somewhat. Getting the Incus where you wanted with no further losses helped. But I doubt I’ll feel totally myself till the creature is finally dead. You say you’ve found a way?”

  “I believe so. Even before I got back here and had a chance to consult my scrolls, I suspected incineration was the most likely method. Five combined with a certain degree of concentrated, explosive force. But it’s like I told Nguyen last week, there are quite a variety of demonic creatures. Never having faced an Incus, I needed to study it then experiment.”

  “Fire accompanied by explosive force?” Ton paused to reach into his robes for more fruit. “Sounds like your Wizard’s Fire.”

  “I tried that, as you’ll see. But the self-healing properties of the thing mean it must be totally incinerated, all at once. A single wizard’s energies are insufficient—even those of one as powerful as myself.”

  The Lord Justice made a face. “Was that the fabled Demon Fighter admitting that even he has limits?”

  The wizard grunted. He watched Ton chew and swallow. “That wasn’t your last piece, I trust?”

  Ton smiled, flipped his friend a measure of dried apricot.

  They passed through one of the gaps in the curtain wall of pounded earth fortifications that surrounded the Government Compound.

  “I realized the solution was to use my Wizard’s Fire in concert with a certain chemical mixture with similar properties. Packed abundantly around the Incus in a tightly enclosed location to concentrate the explosive and incendiary properties of both this substance and the ball of Wizard’s Fire I’ll use to set it off, we should be successful.”

  They approached the great rock and the captive demon, chained upright to it by an extravagant combination of physical and magical means.

  Halting just behind and to one side of a marker he’d placed directly in front and a bit more than five arm-lengths from the Incus, Demon Fighter gestured like a tour guide, pointing out items of interest.

  “Note the scarring, the patches of burned-off fur.”

  Ton frowned, stepped closer. “Investigator Nguyen reported that wounds inflicted on the creature healed incredibly fast, not even leaving scars.”

  “Yes, at first. But it’s been denied food for a week. The healing mechanism has slowed, but is still enough to keep the beast alive indefinitely as it awaits the opportunity to escape and feed on more unlucky humans.”

  “The thing prefers human blood then?”

  “Strongly. That’s why it left the buffalo untouched in favor of running down those woodsmen.”

  Ton sighed. “A pity neither survived. I’ve sent word to their tribe and ruled to proceeds from selling the wood shall go to their widows. Chu Lanh-Sang is seeing to that.”

  “Very good, Lord Justice.”

  Fascinated by the captive Incus, Ton took another step. Now he stood mere inches behind the safety marker and glared directly into the demon’s murderous eyes.

  Demon Fighter started to make a remark then noticed a subtle, eager change in the creature’s expression. It occurred to him how much the arm-length of one man might vary from the next. With a warning yelp, he threw a hand hard against Ton’s shoulder.

  The Lord Justice fell to the left and the wizard to the right. They landed with twin grunts. In the same instant, the nose appendage of the Incus snapped out rigid in the air between them. It swayed futilely for a moment then retreated until only the sharp, hollow tip protruded sullenly the creature’s snout.

  “Apologies, Trong Duc.” Demon Fighter moved to the Lord Justice in a cautiously wide half-circle and helped him up. “It seems I underestimated the thing’s reach by a bit.”

  Ton brushed his robes off. “And you didn’t realize it till now?”

  Demon Fighter winced. “Well, I had immobilized its head, you know. And till this moment, no one has had the courage or—”

  “Or the stupidity to stand directly in the one angle of attack still available to it?”

  “Well—yes.”

  They stared at one another for another moment then laughed and shook their heads in relief.

  “The singed areas,” Ton said. “Wizard’s Fire?”

  “As you observed, I have limits. Of course we could try holding the Incus indefinitely, till we can assemble several additional wizards from throughout the kingdom and vassal states. That would take perhaps three months, but our combined power—”

  “I see your point. What is this substance anyway and where do we obtain enough of it?”

  “That could be a problem, considering the fuss the Lord Governor made over you temporarily ‘borrowing’ even a few horses.” Demon Fighter offered up a mischievous grin.

  The lord justice shrugged. “Fortunately, he wasn’t ready to order his guardsmen to turn their swords on me and mine.”

  “I’m sure it’s gratifying how well your bluff worked, Trong Duc.”

  “Was I bluffing? I half-wonder about that myself.” Ton began to chuckle, only to stop abruptly and frown. “But what does this plan of yours have to do with—oh, no?”

  “Yes, Trong Duc. Governor Kumar has the substance I need and in appropriately abundant quantities. He even has it stored in just such an enclosed location—that small room dug deep into the side of yonder hillside.”

  “Kumar’s precious Chinese Powder.”

  “Uh huh.”

  10

  “That damned tribesman has left me scarce enough to fill my pole-guns once each, plus maybe a dozen fire rockets!” Lord Governor Kumar shook his fat face and continued grumbling. “What are we to do if there’s another war and the damned Viets come, lay siege to us?”

  �
��Replenish your supply in the meantime?” Lord Justice Ton said semi-helpfully. “The Chinese may have invented it, but Demon Fighter says the ingredients aren’t at all mysterious—charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate. Just a matter of getting the right proportions, I understand.”

  “Who around here—?”

  “Demon Fighter knows and is willing to share the knowledge. Says you’ll have so much when he’s done, you might want to invest in a few of those new giant-sized guns—cannon, I believe they’re called.”

  Kumar sniffed. “I’m t put our fate in the hands of that, that—?”

  “Would you prefer to have a hungry Incus held walking distance from your front door till the next dry season, Lord Governor?”

  “Just be sure your pet Annamite does the job correctly!”

  “Of course, Lord Governor,” Ton said with a smile as Kumar stomped away.

  Tom watched the mountain wizard emerge from the underground room, which he’d informed the Lord Justice was more properly called a powder magazine or bunker.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes,” Demon Fighter huffed. “The Incus is tied securely, Chinese powder crammed around it on all sides. Now all I have to do is summon the largest and most powerful ball of Wizard’s Fire in my entire life. I see the Lord Governor has decided against staying to watch?”

  “Think he’ll be missed?”

  “Oh, desperately.”

  Ton Trong Duc laughed and retreated to the thick curtain wall. Behind it, he joined Investigator Nguyen, Nguyen’s wife, the rest of his staff including his entire contingent of Royal Guardsmen and assorted other onlookers.

  The foreign wizard nodded, closed his eyes and summoned every last spark of magical power he possessed. He gathered it into a huge, searing ball of white-hot flame and flung it at the subterranean, gunpowder-filled chamber’s narrow entrance.

  Then he ran like hell.

  THE END

  NOS by Kenneth O’Brien

  ‘Get a move on,’ Camille Bourdais whispered.

  Tony Cavendish lay on the damp grass and did his best to ignore the stabbing throb in his abdomen. He had never been able to handle pain. The wave of nausea that followed was even harder to deal with but somehow he managed it, took a deep breath of the cool night air and focussed on his task. He attached the crocodile clips and cable, careful to avoid touching the high voltage fencing. A menacing hum emanated from the obstacle but it didn’t seem to bother Charles Belfour, who produced a pair of insulated cutters from his haversack and began snipping a large hole in the barrier. His actions seemed relaxed but Cavendish noticed a slight tremble in his hand as he cut away the section linked out by Tony’s clips and cable. Perhaps not as relaxed as it would first appear after all, thought Tony.

  During this work, Camille and Blake Whiting acted as lookouts. The French woman glanced at her watch and Cavendish noted the impatience etched on her face.

  ‘We’ve still got a few minutes before the guard comes around again,’ he whispered to her.

  ‘I know,’ Bourdais answered. ‘But we don’t want to cut it too fine. It’s my responsibility as team leader to make sure everything goes to plan.’

  Cavendish allowed himself a wry smile. It was a stressful time for the whole group and nobody wanted to be the one to fuck things up. That went double for Camille. Everybody in the cell knew that she had been earmarked to move up the ranks ever since she began attending the nightly meetings. It was no surprise when she was picked to lead the group tasked with breaking into Immortech. Tony saw himself as the complete opposite of Camille. He was a self-acknowledged coward who would have baled at the first sign of trouble a year ago. What a difference some bad news can make to a person’s outlook, he decided. Nevertheless, he still couldn’t believe he had been picked for the team. It was a stroke of luck and could give him the opportunity he was looking for. He had only joined the cell a few months back and here he was on the most significant mission to date. If they were successful in their endeavors, the consequences would impact on the whole world. The committee had called it a potentially great day for all of Mankind but Tony Cavendish had much more selfish reasons for wishing to see the action brought to a victorious conclusion and he felt no shame about it.

  ‘Done,’ Belfour announced and stuffed the wire cutters back into his haversack.

  Once through the fence, each member of the group covered themselves with heat-reflecting blankets and crawled across the perfectly manicured grass towards the dark edifice a hundred metres away. The shielding these items provided allowed the infiltrators to get right up to the complex without the telltale sign of their body heat activating the infrared detection system and swinging every camera within the vicinity to their position. They made it to the cover of the building just before the guard appeared to carry out his regular walk of the grounds. The feeling of relief within the team was palpable. The reconnaissance had been worthwhile and the timing of the operation had been perfect so far.

  Cavendish and the rest of the team hunched against the outer wall of the structure and waited. He could feel the pulse throb in his neck and thought of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tell Tale Heart. Could the others hear his own relentless heartbeat? Maybe there were detectors around the ground just to listen for the pulse of an intruder? Was he about to give away their position? He shook his head angrily. Get a grip. The last thing that he required right now was a bout of paranoia but, however much he tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew was out of his depth. He shouldn’t be here because, despite everything, he was still a coward and he knew it.

  He gulped in some air and fought the oncoming sensation of hyperventilation. With the threatened panic attack receding, he understood that he needed to take his mind off the immediate stress of the situation and decided to focus his attention on the building. Immortech was a very impressive looking establishment. Of course, he’d seen images of it before in the planning stage of the operation. He’d even scoped it out once or twice from the copse of trees just beyond the perimeter fence. For a while, he’d even worked inside as a cleaner on the nightshift. It gave him the opportunity to learn the room and corridor layout. He never saw much of anything else however. He’d walk through the security gates, up the path and straight into the building. He never had the chance to get this close to the externals of the imposing edifice before. He understood now that viewing it at a distance or on vid didn’t do it justice. It was a giant complex of black marble and glass and the way it dominated the landscape – even in the dead of night – took his breath away. It squatted like some obsidian monolith – an unashamed monument to the excesses of Man - and with the cash that Nos generated for Immortech, he wasn’t a bit surprised.

  ‘Impressive,’ Blake Whiting whispered as he pointed to the building.

  Tony was about to answer but saw Camille Bourdais signal for quiet with a raised hand. She was frowning, listening intently to the comms device in her ear. She touched her throat mike. ‘Oui,’ she said as she acknowledged an incoming message.

  ‘It’s done,’ she announced. ‘The hacking team has disabled all internal defence and detection mechanisms. We’re free to proceed. Charles?’

  Charles Belfour nodded and brought a diamond cutting tool and frame from his knapsack. He unfolded the mount and set it against the glass wall with suction cups. With the cutter in place, he had created an entrance in less than two minutes.

  Tony watched as Whiting slipped through the newly fashioned entry. He was the project tech expert and he’d know what files and formulae to look for once they reached their objective. Tony was the tour guide. His knowledge of the floor plan would help lead the team to their goal. During his time at Immortech, he’d memorised the layout and taken notes of specific potential obstacles. This information, he relayed back to the cadre. Now, he was here just in case the detailed plans of the building he had acquired proved to be misleading. Belfour followed. His job had been to get them into the building and now he’d be reduced to fetching and carrying.
At least, Tony thought with an ironic smile, he wouldn’t be alone in the gopher role.

  Taking a deep breath, Tony climbed into the dark hole and wondered how he could be doing this and still feel as much of a coward as he had always done. He was, he admitted to himself, absolutely terrified. Camille would give him a hard slap to the jaws if she knew how close he was to crumbling into a gibbering fool. Camille! He looked behind him to see her still crouched outside Belfour’s new entrance. She bit her lip and frowned when she saw him turn.

  ‘Come on,’ he whispered and waved her in. Could it be that the ice-lady herself wasn’t as cool as she appeared? Perhaps she had a nervous system after all, Cavendish thought.

  ‘Where?’ Bourdais demanded once inside. She had appeared to have recovered her nerve.

  Tony pointed towards a set of fire doors. ‘Through there,’ he whispered.

  He knew where the data storage centre was and began guiding the group towards them, passing through an atrium decorated with exotic plants and sculptures. It never failed to impress him. The atrium floor carried the Immortech logo set in the stone next to the bottom of a large, twisting marble stair with Brazilian Rosewood banisters. They turned off through smoked-glass doors and he paused halfway along a narrow, dimly lit corridor lined with a series of large photographs. Cavendish recognised most of the subjects on display: movie stars, sports heroes, media personalities and industry moguls - all smiling, glowing with youthful exuberance. He knew that all of those pictures had been taken after Immortech put its prized product on the market, and yet some of those people were now over one hundred years old. The society magazines were full of glowing testimonies about Nos from the rich and famous. There were a few rumours of strange side effects but Immortech vehemently denied these. Apart from a slight sensitivity to light, the company declared that no other adverse effects existed. Nos, they said, was perfectly safe.