Mortal Kombat (14 page)

Rayden somersaulted from the tree, landed between Goro and Shang Tsung, and held up both hands. "
I will stand and fight,
" he said, "
but you must let the mortals go.
"

"But of course!" Shang Tsung exclaimed. "That's why I'm here. Had you left them alone, all of this would have been unnecessary."

Shang Tsung took a step toward him. "Kung Lao may return to the village. The rest go forward."

"
No!
" Rayden yelled.

"Too much talk!" Goro snarled.

Leaping at Rayden, the savage Outworlder managed to wrap all four arms around him before the Thunder God was able to act. Rayden pulled his arms forward and drove his elbows back hard, into the giant's side, but Goro didn't seem to feel it. He shifted his lower arms to Rayden's wrists and enclosed the Thunder God's hands within his massive paws.

"Try firing bolts now!" the brute laughed as he squeezed Rayden's fists into tiny balls, then executed his rib-crushing chest-thump on the Thunder God.

As the two otherworldly beings fought, Shang Tsung faced Kung Lao. The wizard held his hands at his sides, palms up, and smoke began to curl from them.

"Now, priest – continue on your way. East... toward the mountain."

"I will not," Kung Lao said.

Beside them, Rayden hooked his feet behind Goro's legs, leaned forward, then drove his head back hard while simultaneously pulling his feet toward him. Goro's head flew back while his legs went forward, dropping him flat on his back. The fall knocked the wind from him, and the unevenness of the terrain caused him to lose his grip on Rayden. The Thunder God was on his feet in an instant and backing away.

"You retreat, coward!" Goro said as he scrambled back to his feet.

"
Not retreating–
" Rayden said

As soon as Goro was standing, Rayden jumped forward, facedown, arms extended before him, legs stretched straight behind him. His fists struck Goro hard in the midsection; the giant bent in half and flew back. Instead of letting him get up, Rayden stood close to his attacker and grabbed him by two of his arms. Grimacing from the weight of the beast, Rayden distributed the load by putting a bended leg in front, another behind, lifting the snarling Goro above his head, and throwing him.

"
Just using a Torpedo and Throw combination,
" the Thunder God said.

Goro hit the ground with a crash, sending up a cloud of earth and foliage. But as he fell, his massive right hands landed on one of the fallen trees; hidden in the swirl of soil of leaves, he lifted the shattered tree and swung it outward, catching Rayden in the side and sending him flying.

"That, too, wasn't sporting," Shang Tsung observed, "but you deserved it, Thunder God."

Goro was on his feet before Rayden. Charging him, the Shokanite ducked the head-blow Rayden tried to throw from his back and pinned him with three hands while he tried to pummel him with the fourth. With lightning speed Rayden ducked and bobbed his head from side to side. Managing to curl his feet under the giant, the Thunder God threw him over his head, causing Kano and Schneider to scatter as the bronze beast landed in their midst.

"I still can't believe it," Kano said as he and his cohort ran behind a boulder. "That's the guy who came into my room. He's got
four
damn arms!"

Rayden and Goro both scrambled to their feet and faced each other. Rayden held his right hand edge out, at face level, his left arm fisted and cocked at his side. Goro stood with all four arms moving slowly, like a wrestler poised to attack.

"I imagine that this will take quite some time to complete," Shang Tsung said to Kung Lao, "time you don't have." By now, the columns of smoke rising from his palms were thick and gray. "Will you take Kano to the amulet?"

Kung Lao raised his chin. "I will not, Shang Tsung. What my ancestor hid to keep from evil, I will not unearth for evil."

The sorcerer smiled as the smoke began to coalesce and assume human form. "Oh yes you will," Shang Tsung said. "The only question is, will you do so willingly?"

When he saw the smoke begin to take shape, Rayden coiled his mighty legs to charge. But watchful Goro dove at the Thunder God, catching the head-smaller figure about the waist, spilling him to the ground and holding him there in a tangle of powerful, flailing limbs.

"Well done, Goro," Shang Tsung said as he continued to hold his open palms upright. He extended one toward Kung Lao and the other toward Kano: in each there now stood a tiny figure of smoke, one that resembled each man. "Before the eyes of Shao Kahn," he said, "there must be no knee unbended, no will but his. Against the might of Shao Kahn," he continued, bringing his hands nearer, "there can be no resistance."

"
No!
" Rayden shouted a the figures of smoke neared. Though Goro's quartet of arms made it difficult to move, the Thunder God managed to free his left arm, stretch out his splayed hand, and fire a bolt at Shang Tsung.

The lightning struck the wizard's hands and sent him tripping back against the boulder where Kano and Schneider had taken refuge. As he fell, he shouted words in Fengah, an arcane form of Cantonese.

Even before the flash and explosive rumble had faded, Shang Tsung's laughter could be heard echoing through the plain. "Great and powerful Rayden," the wizard practically shrieked with delight, "most
heroic
deity – a god among gods, one who is truly immortal in body and spirit, though sadly wanting in mind. Cretin! That is precisely what I expected you to do. I needed your lightning... needed it to complete my spell!"

As the darkness returned, and an eerie silence fell over the plain, Rayden's eyes went from white to gold as they beheld in the glow of Kung Lao's fallen flashlight what Shang Tsung's magic had wrought.

"
Kung Lao,
" Rayden said as he looked at the vague shape standing before him.

"No," said Shang Tsung, with more than a trace of satisfaction, "it is not exactly Kung Lao. What you see would more accurately be called
Kano
Lao."

The smoky, humanoid shape looked at its hands. The being had one flame red eye and one normal one; despite its rippling, gray countenance, the face was definitely Kano's, while the wispy, robed form was clearly more Kung Lao than the criminal.

"What'dya do?" Schneider asked, frozen behind the boulder, mouth agape.

"Why," said Shang Tsung, "I simply did some basic mathematics. One mind of Kano – if I may use that term to describe what's in his head – plus one mind of Kung Lao equals one devoted follower of Shang Tsung
with
the knowledge of how to find the amulet." The mage looked at Rayden. "Are you pleased with what you've helped to create, my impetuous Thunder God?"

Rayden looked on, his eyes pale gold, expression dolorous.

"But wait," Shang Tsung hissed. "There's more. They are smoke, you see... held together by
my
will. If you try and interfere with them, Rayden, I will allow the smoke to dissipate. When it does, Kano's soul will go straight to the Outworld, dragging Kung Lao's with it. Do you know what means?" Shang Tsung grinned. "It means that Shao Kahn will have enough souls to cross over."

"
You will let him have them anyway.
"

"Not necessarily," Shang Tsung said. He motioned for Goro to rise, and the brute rose, releasing Rayden. "To tell you the truth, Thunder God, there's a great deal I wish to do before Shao Kahn arrives. You see, I have no illusions about my standing with the Lord. When he crosses over, I'll be just another humble servant in his army of slavish servants." He shrugged. "Oh, I'll be better off than the rest of you, who will roast and toast in eternal flame. But I don't want to by anyone's lackey... not even Shao Kahn's. And you stand to benefit as well, Rayden. Do you know how?"

Rayden stood. Some of the glow was beginning to return to his eyes as he regarded the sorcerer.

"I won't be so overbearing as to demand that you get the amulet for me. I know that coming into contact with it will rob you of your godhood, the touch of mere humans having made it impure and all that. And you can take comfort from the fact that by your forbearance, both of the men will be restored when I'm through with them, little worse for having been joined." The sorcerer's bushy white brows arched. "But if you interfere, Rayden, my Kano-Kung creation
will
die, their souls
will
go to Shao Kahn, and this world
will
become one with the Outworld. At least this way, I get to carve out my own little kingdom... and you have time to figure out where to hide the monks and priests of the Order of Light before the Lord arrives and orders their eternal damnation." Shang Tsung came closer and looked up into the eyes of the imposing Thunder God. "Yes, I'll allow you to do that. Because one never knows, Rayden. There may come a time when Shao Kahn turns on me and I'll need allies."

Rayden continued to stare at the sorcerer. "
I appear to have no choice.
"

"That is correct," said Shang Tsung.

"
If I do not leave here, do you give me your promise that no harm will come to the monks or priests?
"

"No harm will befall them," said Shang Tsung, "nor will I or any of my agents move against your temples or your books and scrolls."

The god turned his eyes toward the ghostly gray figure that was once two different men. "
Kung Lao – can you hear me?
"

Shang Tsung said to the shifting figure, "Kano, let him speak."

Kano's mouth opened wide, then wider, and Kung Lao's head appeared inside of it. Like a newborn baby, the priest appeared head-first, shedding Kano's startled visage like a hood.

"I hear you, Rayden," said Kung Lao, his voice unheard yet heard, like the sound of reading.

"
Go with Kano
," said Rayden. "
Take him to the amulet.
"

"I will do it," Kung Lao said.

As soon as the priest had spoken, Kano's tortured features once again swallowed up those of the priest. While the god and wizard, Outworlder and humans watched, the wraithlike being began to drift across the dark plain, its legs moving but not touching the ground, wide eyes looking ahead but not settling on anything in particular.

When the figure was swallowed up by the night, Shang Tsung said, "There is one thing, though, Rayden. You
did
dare to oppose me. Such impertinence cannot go unpunished."

The Thunder God fired a bright white look at the sorcerer. "
Does the word of Shang Tsung mean nothing to him?
"

"Actually, it doesn't," the wizard admitted, "though I want to retain your good will so I'll stick by the letter of what I promised. That doesn't mean there will not be retribution outside the letter. Mr. Woo?"

At the start of the battle between Rayden and Goro, Jim Woo and Sonya Blade had dropped to their bellies in a gully. They were still lying there when Shang Tsung called.

"Sir?" Woo said, poking his head over the lip of the ditch.

"My demon servant told me you have a radio."

"It's a TAC-SAT telephone, sir, which enables us to communicate via–"

"Don't trouble me with your gibberish," Shang Tsung said. "Take it out."

Jim Woo slid off his backpack and removed the telephone, which was the size of a fat hardback book. He raised a cylinder and pushed a button on the side; a satellite dish unfolded from inside. Woo punched coordinates on a keypad, the dish turned and locked on the satellite, and he scooped up the telephone.

"Ready, sir," he said.

Shang Tsung's eyes burned. "You have someone on the other end."

"Moriarty, sir."

"He has someone with him."

Under cover of darkness, Sonya snaked her hand toward the jack that connected the receiver to the dish.

"A shepherd, sir."

Shang Tsung regarded Sonya. "My dear woman – if you move another inch, I will have Goro step on you."

Sonya stopped moving. She looked at the implacable Rayden, her own eyes imploring.

The wizard snickered as he followed her gaze. "And Rayden," the wizard said to the god, "if you are brash enough to try and leave us, Goro will follow you back to the village, whose destruction, I assure you, will be absolute. You must learn, Thunder God, that defiance cannot go entirely unpunished."

Shang Tsung's eyes shifted to Woo. "Mr. Woo – raise your accomplice on the other end."

Woo put the telephone to his mouth. "Moriarty, it's Jim Woo. Are you there?"

The voice on the other end answered affirmative.

"He's raised," said Woo.

Shang Tsung smiled. "Very good. Tell him to turn his gun on the boy and return his modest little soul to T'ien."

When he was a child, growing up in the Honan Province of China, Liu Kang used to play a game with his year-older brother, Chow. One of them would sneak up on the other and pounce when he least expected it. The only time and place this was forbidden was when they were mending their father Lee's fishing nets. Everything else was fair game: when one of them was asleep, when one was courting, even when one was using the chamber pot.

To make it more interesting, the brothers kept score: each surprise and take-down was worth two points for the attacker; each surprise followed by a take-down by the defender was worth three points for the defender, none for the attacker. The boys recorded the score in a notebook, and at the end of ten years, when Liu left home to visit the United States, the score was 18,250 for Liu, 18,283 for Chow.

Liu had insisted that the decade's worth of scores be retotalled, and for all he knew Chow had done it. But shortly after he reached the United States, his parents died in a plague and his brother disappeared – to where, why, and how he never learned, though one day he vowed he would.

As he approached the village of Wuhu, Liu had experienced feelings like those of long ago when he used to sneak up on Chow. It was the middle of the night, so he had expected most of the lanterns in the village to be off. But usually there was some movement, even at this hour: farmers delivering eggs, water carriers filling jars from the well, someone staggering home or sleeping in the street after a night of merriment.