torg 03- The Nightmare Dream (24 page)

Once he was secured, the shocktrooper stepped away and Guardian could see his true captors. Besides the Green Shroud, there was the armored villain called Tank and the twin dynamos, the Rage Brothers. Four super-powered criminals and a few squads of shocktroopers had been able to bring down six Mystery

Men. It was a sad day, the Guardian thought.

"You are probably wondering what will become of you, Guardian," the Green Shroud said. "Alas, I cannot give you any firm answers. But I do know that Dr. Mobius has asked me to detain you until he can come deal with you personally. I don't think you'll like what he has in store for you, though." The Green Shroud laughed, leading his associates out of the building.

The Guardian heard the heavy door close and bolt, locking automatically. The sound had a terrible ring of finality to it.

85

Tom landed the plane where the flying woman directed him, placing it down in the desert sand as gently as he was able. It wasn't his smoothest landing, but it was far from his roughest.

"Is every one all right?" Tom asked, unstrapping his safety restraints.

"You did a wonderful job, Tom," Mara said. "Now let's go find out who the flying woman is."

"Mara," Father Bryce called softly, "you attached the hand."

She looked down at the metal appendage that Thratchen had given her. "Yes," she said. "I need two hands to finish some delicate work I am doing."

Before there were any additional questions or comments, something tapped on the airplane's hatch. It was an insistent rapping, like a salesman who knows you are home and won't leave until you've heard his sales pitch.

"I'll get it!" Toolpin yelled delightedly.

"No, I will get it," Tolwyn said, pulling the young dwarf away from the hatch.

Djil moved to stand beside Tolwyn, but by his smile it appeared that he sensed no danger from the knocker. Tolwyn opened the hatch.

The flying woman — now standing on the ground — stood below the hatch with hands on hips and a scowl on her face. "What took you people so long?" she asked. "Do you think I've got all day?"

"Who are you?" Tolwyn asked cautiously, her hand going to the hilt of the sword she had taken from the Victorian soldier.

"I'm Raven Wing," the woman said, "one of the Mystery Men. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

The companions were all in the hatchway now, and they looked at each other to see if anyone knew what the woman was taking about. They all shook their heads in a negative gesture.

"I see," Raven Wing said sternly. "No matter. Are you of good or evil inclinations?"

Again the companions gave each other puzzled looks. Tolwyn drew her sword and pointed it at the stranger.

"Are you questioning my honor, woman?" Tolwyn demanded. "Tolwyn of House Tancred has never followed any path other than the lighted one."

"I have no doubt, my lady," Raven Wing agreed, backing away from the sword point, "but one cannot be too careful in the Nile."

"The Nile?" Father Bryce asked. "Are we in Egypt?"

"You are in the Nile Empire," Raven Wing explained. "I take it by your looks that you are not from this area of the world. That explains your strange vehicle. How does it fly without propellers?"

"It uses jet engines," Tom O'Malley explained. "You don't know what jet engines are?"

"I have little understanding of weird science," Raven

Wing admitted, "but since I did see you flying, I guess these 'jet engines' work."

"Speaking of flying ..." Mara began, but Tolwyn cut her off.

"Enough questions!" Tolwyn shouted. "We need transportation to Aysle and we need it now!"

Raven Wing smiled broadly, like a cat about to catch a canary. "Then I guess we're both in luck."

"Explain yourself," Tolwyn demanded.

"That base happens to have a seaplane that I'm willing to let you and your friends have," Raven Wing said, "if you help me with one little problem."

"What might that be?" Mara asked cautiously.

"It seems my companions have gotten themselves ... captured by the nasty gentlemen who run that base. If you help me free them, then the plane is yours."

"Now hold on," Bryce said. "We've got enough problems of our own without getting mixed up in ..."

"Very well," Tolwyn stated.

"Good," Raven Wing clapped. "Now that that's settled, here's my plan."

"Settled? Is something settled? I don't think it's settled!" Father Bryce shouted. "She was flying, for goodness sake!"

Djil quietly took the priest's arm and lead him beneath the airplane, into a patch of shade. The others, meanwhile, listened to the rest of what the mysterious woman who called herself Raven Wing had to say.

86

The gospog stood guard in the tower beside the main gate of the airbase, staring blankly into the desert through cold, dark eyes. It was of the second planting, not as primitive as the plantlike first planting variety. Instead,

the gospog of the second planting resembled regular shocktroops, even wearing a uniform over their undead flesh. But the gospog was also mummylike, and it smelled of fetid graves.

Its orders were to watch for humans, and to be especially alert for costumed Mystery Men. It was not told to concern itself with deep shadows that moved along the fence, so it ignored the anomaly and continued to stare toward the horizon.

When the commotion began at the other end of the base, the gospog stood still. If it was needed, it would be summoned. Otherwise, it had other orders to occupy its time. It watched as the shadow extended itself, reaching dark tendrils up to the base of the tower, but it made no move to raise the alarm. Shadows were not threats. Shadows were ... insubstantial. When the metal spike flew out of the shadow and buried itself in the gospog's chest, it felt some small surprise, but no pain. It started to raise its Nile Schmeisser, ready to defend itself against this unexpected attack, when another attack ended its undead existence.

The sword flashed out of the shadow, slicing three times in quick succession before the gospog could react. In the wake of the attack, its head bounced once on the tower platform before rolling off the side toward the ground below. The body fell to its knees as the shadow receded to reveal Tolwyn, sword in hand, and Pluppa. The dwarf retrieved her battle spike as Tolwyn leaned over the side of the tower and yelled down to Raven Wing that the way was clear.

"Then let's go get them out of there," Raven Wing said as she ran toward building with the heavy metal door.

The Nightmare Dream

87

Mara, Grim, Toolpin, and Tom were doing there best to attract the attention of the airbase. They were on the opposite end of the base, far from the tower that was the other group's objective. Bryce, Djil, and Gutterby were back with the airplane, standing guard in case something went wrong with Raven Wing's plan. Frankly, Mara couldn't see how anything could go right with it.

She used her laser to blast away part of the wire fence. Tom fired his pistol into the air, adding to the noise. Grim, meanwhile, wove an intricate illusion of a dragon attacking the base. Toolpin did his part by making fierce dragon calls from behind a sand dune.

Nile shocktroopers came running, followed closely by a handful of second planting gospog. The dragon had the desired effect, causing the human soldiers to back away in fear. Only the gospog stood their ground, firing at the illusion with their machineguns.

"Cease fire!" a man in a green hooded cloak shouted. "It is some kind of trick!"

With him were two costumed men and a robot of huge size. They forced their way to the front of the fence, pushing past shocktroopers and gospog alike.

"My radar doesn't pick up anything, Shroud," the robot said. "There's nothing there. It must be a visual illusion."

"Rage, circle the area," the one called Shroud ordered. "Find the cause of this image and destroy it."

The two costumed men flew into the air. They looked like mirror-images of the same man, one wearing a costume with a angry pattern of color on the right side, the other with the same design on the left.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," Mara grumbled. Using the illusion to hide her, she sprinted

toward the fence. When she was close enough, she sprang onto the barbed wire and leaped into the air. Her boots protected her feet from the cutting wire, and the leap gave her just enough height to catch hold of one of the men called Rage.

She emerged from out of the image of the dragon, surprising the costumed villain. Her metal hand grasped the front of his uniform, dragging him back to the ground as she fell. Before he could catch his balance and fight back, Mara struck him with a deadly chop to the side of his neck. She followed that blow with a knee to his stomach, and he crumbled without protest.

The other man had a trick of his own, however. He fired a wave of concentrated energy from his hands. The wave slapped into Mara, knocking her backwards. Rage spun in the air to take another shot, but the crack of a pistol sounded and a red stain spread across the villain's chest. He plummeted to the ground like a wounded bird, landing hard. Tom, his pistol smoking, ran to examine Mara.

"Tank, go help the brothers," the Green Shroud ordered.

"Oh, Tank," came a chorus of voices from behind the armored warrior. "Could we have a word with you?"

Tank turned to see the Golem and Rocket Blue standing behind him, their arms pulled back to deliver crushing punches. The duo struck the armored villain as one, sending him crashing into the fence, shattering parts of his armor. They were on him before he could right himself, pounding away with unrestrained fury. Tank's suit, as powerful as it was, could not withstand the strength of the two heroes.

"I'd say it's your turn, Shroud," the Guardian declared. Beside him were Raven Wing, Tolwyn, and the dwarf Pluppa.

Even with the shocktroops and gospog to help him, the Green Shroud could not stand against the Mystery Men and the companions. The fight was over before the Shroud could think of anything to say.

88

Angus Cage awoke with a splitting headache and a mouth as dry as the Empire's deserts. He found himself on his back, lying on a cot, locked within a damp, dark cell. The last thing he remembered was grabbing a machinegun away from one of the shocktroopers and blasting away at the others. He was sure he got five or six of them before the lights went out. He tried to touch his head and discovered that his hands were manacled behind his back. They were taking no chances with Cage.

How had they discovered him, he wondered. Had he slipped up in his act as a slave? Had he been overheard during one of his meetings with the Guardian? Or had Clemeta betrayed him? He didn't want to consider that possibility, but it made the most sense. She was, after all, the power-hungry mistress of the Pharaoh of the Nile Empire. Why should he think she would change because of some meaningless fling with an aging adventurer? He had to stop being a romantic. He was beginning to think the same way that the pulp writers portrayed him and the other Mystery Men.

Cage looked up when he heard the bolt on his cell door get thrown back. It opened with a loud creak, revealing a hooded priest of Khem, the religious fanatics that did Mobius' warped bidding without question.

"Hi," Cage said, surprised by the way his voice cracked when he spoke. "Come here often?"

The priest did not respond. Instead, he walked over to the cot and grabbed Cage by the arm. He helped the adventurer stand, then motioned for him to walk out of the cell.

"Oh good," Cage said sarcastically, "we're going for a tour of the facilities. Once around the park, then take me home, James."

The priest shoved him hard, and Cage almost fell. He was still fairly weak, and the smash to the head left him dizzy. He stumbled through the cell door, into the waiting arms of another priest. He steadied Cage, then indicated that he wanted him to walk forward with a stern wave of his hand.

The two priests led him to a pair of sliding stone doors. Intricate hieroglyphics covered the doors, forming a striking design. As they approached, the doors parted to reveal a small chamber.

"An elevator!" Cage declared as they ushered him into its padded interior. "Next floor, torture devices, animal pits and sacrificial altars. Going up!"

The doors slid closed. One of the priests pressed a button, and Cage felt the elevator begin to move. He was still too disoriented to tell if it was descending or ascending, but he knew that it was going somewhere. The priests, positioned on each side of him, remained silent for the length of the trip. He examined them as best he could without being too obvious, but he could spot no weapons. The priests of Khem, however, were said to have terrible powers, needing no weapons to protect themselves. The way he felt, Cage was sure that even if they didn't have powers they would have no trouble keeping him in line.

The elevator came to a jarring stop and the doors opened on a large, open chamber. If they were still in the palace, they were in a section that Cage had never seen.

The center of the chamber was dominated by a circle of seven stone platforms. Resting on each platform was an open sarcophagus, tilted so that you could see into its stone interior. Richly dressed mummies occupied each of the sarcophagi. The amount of gold and finery suggested that these could be nothing but the remains of past pharaohs. The seventh sarcophagi was empty.