The Peregrine Omnibus, Volume Two (94 page)

“Will do. Be careful, Max.”

“Always.” After an exchange of ‘I love yous,’ The Peregrine disconnected. He was mentally preparing himself for a confrontation with the Heir of Atlantis, hoping that all of his training would even the playing field.

* * *

Alaska-Jim tore into the food given him, particularly enjoying the strips of meat jerky the girls had brought with them. His whiskers were dripping with saliva and his eyes were wide, giving him the look of a madman.

Imelda, sitting closest to him, was the first to verbally prod him. “You promised us answers,” she reminded him.

Jim sighed, lowering his hands away from his mouth. “We managed to find this place with one of Jan’s atomic planes but Sun Koh immediately realized that there things that weren’t right. There were signs of habitation here but not nearly enough to coincide with Koh’s stories.” Jim wiped his lips with the back of a furred sleeve. “But Sun Koh knew a spell that would transport us into the Hollow Earth. He’d come to believe that an Aryan offshoot from Atlantis had holed up in there but that they’d forgotten their way. We were going to whip them into shape and then restore Thule. And we did, too.” Jim smiled at the memory. “We reminded them of the reasons why the Aryans are the greatest race of people ever to walk this world.” His eyes flickered over to Akemi and for a moment, he almost looked chagrined for having unwittingly insulted her for being non-Aryan. But then he looked back at Käthe and his doubts seemed to vanish. “Once we’d won, Sun Koh offered to send us back home, saying he’d follow soon after. He did the spell again… but this time, something went wrong. Some of us were killed on the spot… Hell, I think all of them were, except for me. I ended up back here… and discovered just how awful this place really was.”

Käthe glanced around. They had set up a small campsite near the well and the sky was clear. There didn’t appear to be anything hellish about the island at present, though every now and again the volcano in the distance would spew out a noxious cloud of smoke. “How long have you been here, Jim? And what’s so awful about this island?”

“I believe been two years. Honestly, I have no idea. Time begins to run together… if not for my experience in the wilds, I never would have been able to survive.” He tossed aside the last of his food, seemingly having lost his appetite. “As for what makes this place so awful… well, you will see. They only come out on certain nights, usually after a heavy rainfall. They scavenge the island, looking for any birds of monkeys that might be foolish enough to fall into their grasp. I’ve seen boats come to these shores, too, their crews filling the bellies of the beasts here. And, of course, they’d love to sink their teeth into me. And you.”

Akemi—The lethal Fury from Japan

A crunch of leaves caused Akemi to spring up, sword drawn. “What sort of beasts are they?”

The answer came when seven of the creatures shambled into view. They were froglike things, with green skin and large, wet-looking eyes. They walked upright like men but their webbed fingers and toes were ample evidence that they never sprang forth from a woman’s womb. Pink tongues flicked out, tasting the air like they were snakes. They brandished no weapons but at the tip of each webbed finger was a sharp claw that gleamed in the moonlight. The creatures were all male, their sexual organs hanging heavily between their legs. Each of the monsters walked with stooped backs making it hard to gauge their true height but Käthe estimated that they were slightly shorter than an average human being.

“They live in the deep waters and only come up on land to feed… and to look for human women to fornicate with.” Alaska-Jim stood up and drew forth a large knife. “Ladies, perhaps you should step back and allow me to—?”

Akemi was already in action. She sprang forward, her blade whirling through the air. The katana dug deep into the neck of the nearest creature, decapitating it in one stroke. She then spun about and jabbed at another but this one grabbed hold of the blade and gave it a good yank. Blood spurted from the creature’s injured palms but its strength allowed it to divest Akemi of her weapon.

Imelda came to Akemi’s aid, discharging her pistols. The bullets ripped through the monster’s skull and sent it tumbling to the ground. Akemi shot her fellow Fury a look of gratitude as she plucked up her katana.

Käthe joined the fray, unrolling her whip and flicking towards one of the monsters. It wrapped around its neck but it fought back with amazing strength, using it to pull Käthe towards it. She resisted at first but realized she lacked the power to win a tug-of-war with the beast. Instead, she allowed herself to be yanked closer, using a spring-activated dagger strapped to the underside of her arm. It popped out into her hand and she brought it up into the underside of the creature’s throat. Warm red blood gushed from the wound and the monster roared in agony, its strangled cry ending suddenly as Käthe yanked the blade to the side. The motion freed it from the creature’s throat and also ended its life.

The clearing was now a mass of bodies as the other beasts streamed forward, eager to avenge their fallen comrades. Akemi found herself backed up against one of the stone buildings, two of the monsters swiping at her with their claws. One of them raked two long crimson lines across her upper chest, ripping through her clothing. She responded with a warrior’s cry, baring her teeth and slashing back with her own weapon. She disemboweled one and then cut the open from groin to neck.

Alaska-Jim joined the fray at this point, moving to stand beside Käthe. The two of them used their daggers like extensions of their own bodies, carving up the amphibians with relative ease.

Imelda remained out of the main battleground, reloading twice as she emptied the chambers of her guns. Her aim was sharp—and it had to be, to avoid hitting her allies in the melee.

When The Furies and Alaska-Jim realized that there were no more of the beasts to slay, all of them stood in place, panting from exertion.

“There will be more of them,” Jim muttered. “Kill one and it somehow sends a message to the others. It somehow sends them all into a frenzy. They’ll stop by sunrise, though. They can’t abide the light of day.”

Käthe glanced at the ruins around them and decided that they didn’t offer enough protection. “Gather your belongings,” she told the other Furies. “We’re going to resume our march upwards.”

“Towards the volcano?” Jim asked.

“Unless you have a better idea?”

Jim opened his mouth to speak but a large rock crashed into the back of his skull and his eyes rolled upward. Blood was already flowing freely down his back as he fell forward, his face landing hard in the dirt. Käthe looked up to see another half-dozen of the frog monsters moving towards them. This time, several of them brandished clubs and large stones.

“Leave everything that’s not essential!” she barked, bending down to grab a pack filled with food. “Let’s go!”

The Furies set a quick pace and the frog-like men were unable to keep up. Twenty minutes after they had abandoned the campsite, the women were far enough up the mountain that they no longer heard sounds of pursuit. Käthe called their march to a halt when they came to another structure, this one resembling an old-fashioned schoolhouse. She pulled free a set of binoculars from her pack and looked down the hill, while Imelda and Akemi sat on the steps of the building and caught their breath.

Far down below, she caught sight of the frog people. They were swarming around the campsite, ripping open anything they’d left behind and strewing it across the ground, even on top of their fallen people. Alaska-Jim was being ripped apart for food, a sight that nauseated Käthe. She tossed the binoculars away and sighed.

“We’re going to stay up here the rest of the night,” she said. “One of us will keep watch at all times.”

Imelda leaned back, stretching out her long legs. “And tomorrow? What’s the plan then?”

Käthe smiled at her friend. “We’ll plant a flag on top of that volcano and claim Atlantis in the name of the Axis powers.”

Both Imelda and Akemi laughed at that. They knew she was joking—though all three were loyal to the nations that had spawned them, they had forged closer ties with one another.

Käthe put her hands on her hips. “We’re going to do what we were told to do—examine every inch of this island and then see if we can prove or disprove that it’s Atlantis.”

“Or die trying,” Imelda added under her breath.

Käthe nodded. “Or die trying.”

* * *

Sun Koh was not the sort of man to be nervous, no matter what the time or place. But his breath was somewhat quicker than normal and his attention to detail strangely off-kilter as he entered Shani’s hotel room. The suite was dimly lit and there was a peculiar odor in the air. It smelled of medicine and disinfectant, not scents that he normally associated with his lover.

“Shani?” he asked, though his ears picked her up before she’d come into view. The squeaking of the wheels immediately froze the blood in his veins and he had to stop himself from looking away. He didn’t want to see her like this, though he knew that he could not insult her by giving her less than his full attention.

Ashanti Garuda pushed herself towards him, navigating her way around the table in the center of the room. Her face was still as lovely as he remembered and the diamond stud in her left nostril caught the light in a most attractive manner. She wore gossamer thin robes, the duskiness of her nipples clearly visible. But Sun Koh found his gaze sliding downwards, to her legs. They ended in stubs just above where her knees should have been. A woman who had moved with such incredible grace was now a cripple, bound to a chair for her mobility.

“My Prince,” she said, speaking in perfect Atlantean. “You have no idea how pleased I am to see you again.”

Sun Koh knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. “What happened to you? Who did this?”

Something halfway between a smile and a frown touched her lips. “After you vanished, I waited for you as long as I could. And then I returned to doing what I do best. Killing Englishmen. Unfortunately, one of them held a grenade in his hand. I survived, but without my legs.”

“And the man you were fighting?”

“He did not survive at all.”

“Good. But why are you still in this country?”

“The British have good doctors and I have the money to pay for them. I have suffered through many infections.”

“I will fix you. Somehow… I will find a way to give you back your legs.”

Shani laughed, a rare sound from her and one that she only allowed herself when alone with Sun Koh. “You have given me back my heart, my prince. That’s a far greater gift than my legs would be.”

Sun Koh leaned forward and kissed her, their tongues connecting in a most sensual manner. He lifted her out of her chair then and carried her without preamble to her bed. After laying her on her back, he stripped himself completely before doing the same to her. Throughout, her eyes smoldered with passion.

They made love for several hours before Sun Koh allowed himself release. They shuddered simultaneously and then lay gasping against one another. He remained inside of her as he breathlessly recounted all that had happened since he’d last seen her.

When they were at last lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling, it was Shani who broke the silence. “Your people need you, Sun Koh. The war is not going well.”

Sun Koh turned his head to look at her. He had read up on the war that was spreading across the globe like wildfire. “The Axis Powers are winning,” he said.

“Only for now. The entrance of the Americans into the battle is the beginning of the end. And Hitler is mishandling everything involving the Russians.” Shani spoke with obvious distaste for the man. Sun Koh knew that she agreed with most of Germany’s eugenics program… but her trust in Hitler’s military strategy seemed to outweigh that.

“What would you have me do? Hitler seems to have no use for me. I was en route to Berlin when I received word that I should come see you instead.”

“Yes, Hitler contacted me when you arrived. He wants me to distract you here. He even asked me what it would take for me to poison you.”

Sun Koh’s eyes opened wide. “But why? The man trusted me implicitly before I left!”

“He is more paranoid now. And he is afraid that people will rally around you, threatening his own control of the masses. That’s why he didn’t want you going to Berlin.”

“But he authorized The Furies to look for me.”

“No. The OFP did that. Besides, no one expected it to work. It was just a training mission for the girls and something to placate Käthe. She had been demanding this opportunity for ages.”

“You know so much about the workings of The Reich.”

“I may be crippled but my ears still work just as well as ever.”

“Still amazing as ever,” Sun Koh said, meaning every word. Shani was the closest thing he’d found to a highborn woman of his own time. “So he plans to do away with me.”

“Eventually. But he knows how dangerous you are. He won’t do it directly, lest you figure him out.”

Sun Koh slid from the bed, his sweat-slickened body glistening. His every feature was perfection, like the chiseled depiction of an Aryan god. “I think I may not be real.”