The Cagliostro Chronicles (6 page)

“
My God!” Shouted Eddie, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that incredible before.”

“At least not that brutal.” Ariel replied, disgusted.

“That was…interesting to say the least.” Dan added.

Mark shook his head with a slight smile, “Mmm-hhmm.”

“There are no rules here,” Endorf began, joining the conversation, “Short of killing, which is not allowed. It is a brutal sport, but the people like it.” He shrugged as he finished his comment.

“Yes we like it, we even fight sometimes ourselves.” Credom added.

“You don’t look any worse for the wear of it.” Red noticed.

Endorf smiled
and leaned forward at this, displaying a tightly packed row of small, sharp teeth, “That is because we win.”

‘
Watch it; I’m getting all kinds of thoughts from both of them, images of them brutally beating opponents.
’ Ariel’s mental voice sang.

“Well
, why doesn’t one of you fight the winner here, and give us newcomers a show?” Mark asked with a genial smile.

“What do we get when we win?” Credom asked.

“I’ll wager a few gold pieces on you.” Mark replied, leaning in.

“Not enough, we want your ship.” Endorf sneered. “We win, we get your ship.”

“That’s crazy.” Eddie replied, leaning back in his chair.

“Not gonna happen.”
Dan answered, grim faced, Red nodded in agreement, as both stared menacingly at the two aliens seated with them.

“What’s in it for us?” Mark prodded, with his eyes slit, and his lips set grimly.

“We have much information you might want.” Endorf smiled again in answer.

‘
Watch it, he’s baiting you Mark. I can’t get a clear read on his alien mind but there is something there. Something he feels we’d want to know.
’ Ariel mentally informed the crew.

“It had better be
very
important information if you think I’m willing to lose the only means we have of getting off this sandbar,” Mark answered in a hiss.

“It’s very
big; you would want to know what we know.”

“You’re asking a lot to expect me to trust your word about some nameless information and wager it against my ship.”

“What I have you want, I promise.” Endorf replied, almost greasily.

‘
Mark, you can’t seriously be thinking of taking this guy at his word can you?
’ Ariel hissed mentally.

‘
Relax,
’ He replied through her mind-link, ‘
Worse comes to worse the Cag comes and gets us all after a few days, I have no intention of letting the Stargrazer fall into anyone’s hands. Let alone these two morons.
’

He turned
back towards Endorf, “You have to give me something up front so I know your information is worthwhile. If it’s not worth my time, I’m not going to be bothered.”

Endorf smiled then and leaned towards Mark to whisper something to him. Mark
’s face shifted almost imperceptibly at the red brute’s words, then he sat back in his chair, his brow furrowed in thought. Next to Mark, Ariel did her best to hide what she had mentally heard, as she shifted her head towards the arena once again, her blonde hair trailing after her turned face in one quick motion. Her face, now hidden from the rest of the table showed immediate concern.

Mark faced Endorf, and his face was unreadable, merely set
, as he began to speak. “All right your terms are fine, but hear me and understand what I’m saying here; if you try to cheat us, well, it will not be a good move on your part. That’s something to think about before we enter into this little wager, and be assured we
will
know if there’s any deception on your part.”

The big alien nodded slowly and grinned, relaxing back in his chair, as the ring announcer continued to call out for challengers to the reptilian who had just beaten the bear-like creature.

Endorf raised his hand and whistled so that he drew the announcers’ attention, “Credom will battle the Zrigg. He will challenge him.”

‘
Mark, this is bad, terribly bad.
’ Ariel warned through the mind link, ‘
The crowd is already getting worked up at Credom’s name alone.
’

Credom stood up and grinned at the group seated with him, it was not a pleasa
nt site. It bespoke more of “I got you” then anything pleasant.

Ariel again broke into their thoughts,
‘
Mark…
’

‘
Ssshhh.
’ He replied in a mental hiss the team all heard.

The red skinned brute walked up to the ring and pulled the ropes down
, stepping over them. The Zrigg, if that was his name or race, no one among them but the two strangers knew, merely snorted contemptuously at his new enemy.

Both alien creatures circled each other menacingly, and then Credom charged, right into the right fist of the Zrigg, who knocked him over like a bowling pin. Credom shook his head and fought to his knees as the Zrigg suddenly streaked up to him and kicked him in the gut, sending him sprawling again.

‘
He’s desperate.
’ Red said, through the mind link.

‘
Who? Credom?
’ Eddie replied mentally.

‘
No, the Zrigg. He’s trying to end this as fast as possible.

They said nothing verbally
, but sat stone still watching as Endorf merely grinned.

Credom was on one knee now as th
e Zrigg continued to pound at him, raining blows continuously on the red skinned powerhouse, and changing his position every few seconds, just staying out of reach as his downed foe tried and failed repeatedly to get to his feet.

The Zrigg reached in to punch Credom in the head once again, when suddenly the kneeling red skinned alien caught the hand before it could descend upon him once more
, and he grinned. A heartbeat later he twisted the hand ruthlessly, and stood up, shoving the bewildered Zrigg away from himself, as if he were but a child.

Then
, with a maddened howl, Credom charged forward and attacked the Zrigg, who ran to meet the charge head on, literally. The two smashed heads together with a loud bang. The lizard man stumbled feeling his forehead, as he woozily backed away. Credom merely laughed as he leapt atop the wounded Zrigg and hammered him with powerful, unrelenting blows that literally shook the arena with their thunder.

The Zrigg tried to spit his venom into Credom’s face, but the red skinned brute merely lowered his head so that the venom splashed across his ridged
skull.

Credom had the Zrigg pinned on the mat floor when he raised both hands together above his head in twin fists
. He brought them down atop the defenseless Zrigg with such explosive fury that the ring they were standing in collapsed from the power of the blow. Dust and sand filled the bar, obscuring the vision of everyone. The ventilation system quickly kicked into high gear, fighting to clear the air.

Finally
, from within the cloud of dust a shadowed figure could be seen holding another in one hand above its head triumphantly. As the fans sucked the dust and sand from the air, Credom contemptuously tossed the prone form of the Zrigg to what was left of the arena mat, like so much garbage.

Endorf turned towards Mark with his hand extended and a smile f
rom ear hole to ear hole,

“Your ship, please?”

Ariel, Eddie, Red and Dan sat there tensely, as if they were controlled by a hair trigger. Each was ready to spring to the attack in their own manner. Mark merely smiled at the big red skinned alien before him who continued to hold his hand out before him.

“What? You expect
me to just hand you the keys to the ship without us having a chance to win it back first?”

“You made a deal.” Endorf grunted angrily through grit
ted teeth.

“Yes and we’ll abide by it, but you are going to at least give us a chance to go double or nothing, right?
”

“What else have you got to wager?”

“What else do you want?” Mark replied with a slight grin.

Endorf thought a second
, then with a twisted grin replied, “The Female. She will bring good credits in the slave market.”

Ariel leaped up from her chair,
almost at the same time as Red and Dan, “Are you kidding me? I’m not even going to listen to this garbage,” she barked.

“Relax
, Ariel. Sit down.” Mark ordered, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

‘
You’re okay with this?
’ She asked him incredulously with her telepathic voice.

‘
Trust me, I’ve never let you down, I won’t now. This creep is not getting his greasy paws on you, I promise you. Trust me.’
He replied through the same mind link.

‘
Why do I always dread those words?
’

“So you want Ariel, eh?”

Endorf nodded slowly, “As humans go, she is comely. Not to my eyes, of course but as far your species, she is…adequate.” He grinned now.

“
I don’t like this, but very well. So how do we go about this then?” Mark asked. Eyeing the red skinned mountain of muscle before him warily.

“How else? You fight! Credom awaits!” Endorf spread his right arm and aim
ed it wide at Credom who stood by the ring as it was being repaired, and the unconscious Zrigg carried off.

“You want me, to fight him?” Mark asked
, wide eyed.

“What other way is there
, little human?” Endorf laughed hysterically, his voice sounding like granite plates grinding together loudly. Spittle dripped from his jaws uncontrollably as his big red shoulders bounced up and down with joy.

“Okay, fine you want a fight, you got one. But I’m not going to do the fighting here.
” The big alien began to protest as Mark raised a hand stopping him. “You want Ariel as your winning piece; I’m totally against that, where we come from slavery is not tolerated in any way shape or form. One sentient creature owning another is barbaric and absolutely deplorable.”

“And yet it is your only bargaining chip
that I will accept.”

Ariel looked at Mark cautiously, in his mind he said
‘
Relax, I’ve got this.
’

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” She answered for all to hear, verbally.

“So who do you propose to fight in your stead, human?”

Red began to stand
, cracking his knuckles as a wicked smile cracked across his lips.

Mark grabbed his arm and sat him back down. “Not you Red, and no buts.” Mark turned to Dan Sledge and nodded with a wicked grin of his own.

Dan stood and nodded once to his friends, then turned and walked towards the fighting ring.

‘
I gotta tell you Mark, I’m against this.
’ Red growled over the mental link, ‘
This is my job, not Dan’s.
’

‘
I need you here, Red. There’s a reason.
’

‘
You mean besides the fact that he’s a hundred times stronger than me, or anyone else that we know of?
’

‘
Well, there is that, mostly.
’ Mark admitted.

‘
Even so I’m the better fighter, you know that.
’

‘
Yes you are, but with his strength he doesn’t have to be. Now let’s watch the show, this should be interesting, and keep an eye on our pal here, in case he tries to bolt out of here.
’ Mark answered mentally.

Dan Sledge entered the newly repaired ring, stepping over the ropes and facing his fo
e.

Credom sneered at him, “Little human, I will try not to hurt you, much. I know how delicate your species is.”

Then, like lightning, the alien struck at Sledge, its bright red fist slashing forward and smacking Dan across the jaw.

But Dan Sledge’s reaction was not what Credom expected, not by half. Dan stood his ground and smirked, rubbing his jaw with the back of his hand. Credom quickly threw a right cross at
Dan, who blocked it with his left arm, and then retaliated with a lightning fast attack of his own. His right fist shot out, as if from a cannon, and struck Credom’s jaw with such force that the red skinned brute shot across the ring and collided with the cables on the opposite side, and then fell to the mat like a puppet with its strings cut.

Credom was stunned. He was
lying on the mat and slowly got to all fours unsteadily as Dan stood back, giving him room. The alien stood shakily, and shook his head one time then charged Dan, ramming into his mid-section head first with his bony skull.

But where this would normally have guaranteed Credom a victory against anyone else, against Dan Sledge it was like running into a mountain
. Credom rolled over, out cold before he hit the mat.

A
deafening cheer went up all through the bar as the patrons celebrated in disbelief.

Slowly, surreptitiously, Endorf made his way to his feet and looked side to side, before turning and
quickly, especially for someone so large, headed toward the exit.

Sledge exited the arena and walked back towards the table. What he saw made him run the last few feet towards his friends.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Red shouted as he held Endorf by the collar, and forced back against the wall. Eddie stood across from Endorf with his pistol trained on him while the bartender shouted “No Blasters!”

“Uhh, Best out of three?” Endorf replied with a sheepish grin.

“I think not.” Mark replied. Now it was his turn to smile like the fox in a hen house. “I want that information you promised. No more games.”

“A-all right.” The defeated alien replied while looking at the humans before him, their weapons held at the ready.

“You Earth men are tougher then you look.”

“Who ever said we were from Earth? We didn’t.”
Red growled.

Endorf gulp
ed hard at this and looked around for some avenue of escape, but he’d run out of options.

“Sit back down and let’s talk.” Mark nod
ded at the table and the burly alien took his seat again. He looked visibly uncomfortable as his companion was carried away from the arena in front of their table on a stretcher. Dan took a seat on one side of Endorf and Red on the other. Both smiled at the alien, but their smiles were without mirth.

“Now as we were saying. What do you know about Earth?”

“Uh, I know that a ship came here a while back. A few months, by how we count time on this world. There was a man who looked like you people, an Earthman. He was taken out of the spaceport quietly, and under guard. No one asked questions. There were a lot of credits passed around to make sure of that. Very few saw him come and go. Credom and I did because we were working maintenance on a ship that had to be repaired by the following morning.”

“So you saw the whole thing? Why weren’t you made to shut up about it? How’d you escape notice?” Red asked, face to face with the big alien.

Endorf snorted, “Heh. You’re not as stupid as you look, are you? They never saw us. We were back in the repair bay of the spaceport and they brought him through there to avoid crowds. It was long past work hours were over. We shouldn’t have been there at all.  But Credom saw them coming and it just looked wrong. No one ever comes through the repair center, especially at night, at least not that late. So we both hid inside the ship we were working on, and watched silently. We saw them hustling this guy through here. I think he was old as you people go. His fur was white, an’ he had a patch of fur over his mouth.”

“Wait a minute,” Eddie interjected, “Was this guy kinda heavy? Like round around the middle?”

“He was.”

“Did you hear a name? Did they talk to him at all? Did they call him anything?” Mark pressed.

“They called him, like I told you before, the General.”

“Did you see where they went when they left the spaceport? What’d they leave in?”

“You losers really aren’t too bright are ya?” The alien laughed gruffly. “He was their prisoner. They were laughin’ at him. His hands were tied in front of him. They pushed him into a hover car an’ took off.”

“And you have no idea where they went, do you?” Red grunted.

“Up north. To the mountainous regions a few hundred clicks that way.” He waved his hand in a direction behind his head.

“Let’s all take a walk back to the spaceport.” Mark commanded
and everyone stood at once. “Endorf, pay the bill.”

Endorf sneered as he laid the credits on the table for the waitress. “Make sure you tip her good.” Red growled. The alien started to
protest as Dan placed his hand on the red skinned brutes shoulder and squeezed, just enough to make his point.

The entire group walked back out into the street and headed towards the spaceport a few blocks away.

“What are you?” Endorf asked Dan as they walked.

“It’s complicated
. Leave it at that.” Dan replied gruffly.

“I ain’t never seen anything like you. No one ‘round here can m
atch Credom an’ me in strength. Yet you’re stronger than we are. How’s that even possible?”

“You better learn pal, that no matter how bad you are
, there’s always someone badder.” Dan replied.

“So where we goin’ now?” Endorf continued talking.

“Now you are coming with us aboard our ship and we’re going to fly up into those mountains and find that man you saw.”

Endorf stopped in his tracks. “No. I can’t do that. I’m not authorized to travel out of this area, and you can’t take a ship out of here and fly that way. All space fairing vessels have to stay here within the spaceport. Them’s the rules. Plus I ain’t allowed anywhere outta the commercial zone.”

“Why not? Were you a bad boy?” Eddie grinned sarcastically.

“I’m a worker here, on a work visa. I live nearby. Credom an’ I stay here for six months at a time then go
home to our planet. Then we come back for another six months. The credits are good.” He shrugged.

“So are
all the goodies you and your pal lie, cheat and steal people out of, I’d wager.” Mark replied sardonically.

Again the big alien shrugged, but this time with a smirk.

“Uh guys…” Ariel stopped them with a hand raised. ‘
I’m getting thoughts aimed at us and our ship from within the hangar.
’ She told them mentally.

Eddie, being the smallest member of the crew
—besides Ariel—slunk around the nearest corner and peered over at their ship through the shadows. “Sunova…” He began.

“What is it?” Mark pushed.

“The Stargrazer, it’s surrounded, by guys in uniforms. The purple skinned, salad heads.” He turned back and looked at Mark, “The ship’s cordoned off.”

“What’s
going on here Endorf? I want answers now.” Mark hissed.

“Uhh, security has surrounded your ship?”

“That much I can tell. Why, though? What set them off?”

‘
They knew we were coming.
’ Ariel’s voice sang across their minds once again.

‘
How?
’ Mark replied mentally.

‘
The plant or traitor or whatever he is. That’s the only explanation.
’ Red offered.

‘
So they’ve been waiting for us. Then those ships that attacked us on the way here were not pirates or thieves or some other random act.
’

‘
Are you Earthmen that naïve that you believe those were random attacks?
’ a new mental voice forced its way into their mind link. Immediately, Ariel fell to her knees holding her head with both hands and moaned piteously. Mark ran to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

Behind the group a creature appeared that lay an aura of dread upon everyone there. Even Endorf began to babble an
d mutter as he backed away from the thing, wide eyed and fear filled.

The
creature stood eight feet tall, but it was gaunt. Thin as a whisper at sunset. Its skin was a burnt brown color. Its scalp was three sharp boned rows running front to back. The thing then stretched a questing hand towards Endorf. Even as it did so the length of that impossibly long hand and fingers were the first thing one noticed. They were twice the length of a tall man’s hand and had four joints instead of two. It wore a black uniform with white frilled cuffs and collar. Endorf backed away fearfully. Immediately Red positioned himself between the nightmarish horror and Endorf, even as Ariel continued to squirm upon the ground.