[adamu]

Al had dozed through the early evening. When he awoke it was pitch black in the tree hollow, and sitting up he felt like Gulliver as his face tore through dozens of spider webs that hadn't been there when he'd gone to sleep. He ate a candy bar and smoked two cigarettes. Drank some water since he had no beer. Got an update from Alyce at eleven-thirty, and figured it was as good a time to get going as any.

<<Never fergit nothin', so don't fret none 'bout that. Goin' in now, so stick with me. Who ya got watchin' yer back while yer under with me? Hope it's one o' the trogs - no tellin' what Ling'll do he figures yer a threat.>>

He made his way carefully to the camp. The jungle was making jungle sounds, but they faded some as he approached where men had intruded on the virgin forest. And behind him in the canopy he could make out the faint, reassuring whir of fiberglass rotors.

The camp slept the sleep of men that had labored hard through the heat of the day. There were few sentries, all diagrammed on his map by Alyce. Easy to bypass. But the cave mouth, it had two men. Not sleepy conscripts, but well-rested miners with firearms. He wouldn't be able to take them both out silently. He waited and watched a long time, until he was as sure as he could be no one was watching.

Then he said: <<Alrighty, green light onna two cave sentries.>>

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce talks to Jiahui, explaining that she will be going into her VR world and that she will be vulnerable because her mind will not be with her body to protect it.  The missionary nods, not quite understanding, but knowing enough.  She promises to keep Alyce safe.  Smiling at her friend and lover, Alyce slips into the world of Hot Sim and goes out to control her part of the battle.  She checks on all of her eyes and moves the armed drones into a position to better support Al.  She has kept one on his back so knows exactly where he is while her other small drones keep her aware of what is happening.  She sends a message to Al to remind him to place the small satellite dish in the tunnel before he goes too far. 

The picture of the camp unfolds in front of her.  She is not a rigger and so does not have the same sort of control over her drones as one of them would have, but they do respond to her commands and operate well without her jumping into one.  Al is able to move past the outer sentries with her guidance and makes his way toward the tunnel entrance, where they find the first real opposition.  Two sentries stand at the entrance, alert and armed with rifles.  These must be some of the miners that Al had mentioned.  She receives the message from Al and sends orders to the armed drones.  Even alert, the two men do not expect the attack and are caught totally by surprise.........not that it would have made any real difference.  The silenced rifles spit messengers of death in a coordinated attack.  The miners have nothing resembling any sort of armor and the bullets tear through clothing and flesh to kill them.  Death is so quick that the men do not call out, falling in heaps as their rifles clatter to the ground.  Alyce has eyes watching the camps and no one seems to hear the noise.  She gathers three of her drones at the entrance and sends two of them in to scout for Al, leaving one behind to watch the entrance.  Her drone on Al follows him as he begins to move to the tunnel.

[adamu]

Al quickly moved the bodies out of sight. He checked for comms but found none. He went into the cave.

Light was not much of an issue, as torches were affixed at intervals that left the place abysmally gloomy, but not black.It was a natural cave, and as such the path was irregular, with varying grades and a ceiling that rose and dipped unpredictably in the shadows. Once in a short distance, he set up the dish as instructed and activated it. He thought of seceting it deep in a niche, but realized that might defeat the purpose. He placed it as out of the way as possible while still giving the parabolic access to the passage. Then used the point of his knife to gouge out the green LED that indicated it was working, leaving the device on but dark.

It was while squatting to do so that he heard approaching footsteps, and voices speaking Chong. The roto drones were outside, as their noise would have given him away. It was much too early to call them in, but if these two saw the guards absent it could mean trouble. They were around the bend and would come into sight in just a few moments. He listened as they approached.

They were talking about how glad they were to have left when they did...

They turned the corner and he put his shotgun butt into the first one's nose hard enough to send it into his brain pan. The other one pulled a long knife and got a boot in his testicles for his trouble. He doubled forward, bringing his face straight into Al's rising knee and that was that.

Why had they been so happy to have left right at that time?

He wondered if he'd gotten the dish set up in time...

<<Hey girl, how far did yer eyes git after I set up the relay? Did they pick up any more o' what those fellers was sayin'? Could ya play 'er back fer Al? Sounded like it might be important.>>

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce sends the two drones ahead into the tunnel even as Al sets the satellite receiver up.  They pass by two men coming the other way and she details one to keep tabs on them while keeping the other on its original task.  She sends an alert to Al and tries to listen in as they talk to each other.  They are speaking in Chong and she is only barely conversant in the language, but she does pick up some of the conversation.  Al is ready and makes short work of the two men.  >>Impressive Al.  Very nicely done.  I was not able to get more than part of their chat, but it seems the shaman is about to do something they call The Ceremony.  It seems the shaman needs to open the book to summon his demon and it is closed right now.  Apparently the ceremony calls for a human sacrifice and it is not a pretty sight, even for such people that would turn on their own.  And good job on the dish.  It helps.  My other eye out in front of you shows the way clear for quite a ways.  I will keep you informed."

Alyce's lead drone continues scouting the tunnel, finding nothing of interest until it gets to a chamber quite a ways in.  The pair of spear-armed guards at the entrance do not even notice the micro drone as it skims past them and scans the chamber.  The shaman is standing in front of a pit in the floor and chanting in a language Alyce does not know and she is pretty glad that she does not.  A naked woman is tied to a wooden post that has been driven into the rock near the hole.  Green strands of mist are coming from the open book in the shaman's hands and drifting over and into the pit as well as circling about the woman.  Alyce sends the drone to look into the hole and sees that it goes down, falling away into darkness.  A set of stairs has been carved into the wall of the pit, leading to a small landing about twenty feet down.  The woman is barely struggling against the ropes now as the strands of green mist coil about her.  She sends the update to Al and sends one of the roto drones into the cave to provide backup for Al if he needs it.

[adamu]

“Human….? Dadburn it.”

No time for being sneaky now, but he was far enough in that no amount of noise would be heard outside anyway. He hoped.

The flickering torchlight played tricks in the shadows of the uneven cave floor, and more than once he tripped and fell headlong into lime deposits. His knees and palms were skinned and his forehead was bleeding. A voice in his head asked him why he was throwing caution to the wind for the sake of one girl, when there were hundreds of other lives at stake. But the voice of his Pa was in his head - you can never do wrong, son, by doing right. They’d seemed like simple words at the time, but in a crazy world that kept squirming to be gray, those words had shown him the light from the dark on many a trying occasion, and he was glad for them now.

And if saving the girl meant cancelling the demon out of the equation, well, that’d be its own reward, wouldn’t it?

He was making enough noise that the two guards Alyce had warned him about were good and ready for him. But spears didn’t stack up well to a Defiance T-230 and he broke the first rapist in half from fifteen yards. The shotgun blast was deafening in the enclosed space. Al had his dampers, but the other guy lost a precious second to the shockwaves that pummelled his eardrums, and then if the shards of nasal cartilage being pushed back into his brain by Al’s shotgun butt didn’t kill him, the impact of the back of his skull against the cave wall did.

Al didn’t break stride, pouring into the ritual chamber and casting about for threats. He saw the naked Pearic girl secured to the post next to the pit. He saw the green tendrils of increasingly corporeal mist coalescing around the girl’s neck, and his eyes traced them back to their source - the open book. But it lay on the rock floor, no shaman in sight.

The mist was forming into something like hands, and the hands were sprouting something like claws, their tips hardening with each passing second against the girl’s throat. Al rushed over and kicked the book shut with the toe of a jungle-rotted Doc Marten and the mist snapped back into the closing tome like a toad’s tongue with a mayfly.

The girl was torn between hysteria, despair, and exhaustion. There was dried blood caked around her inner thighs that made Al wish he hadn’t just gone so easy on the two guards. Dropping his Defiance to let it catch on its sling, he pulled his knife and cut the girl’s bonds, catching her in his free arm as she collapsed. He had no idea what to do with her, but getting her out of here sounded like a good first step. They started moving toward the entrance when a new pack of guards ran into the chamber from another portal.

“Why can’t these sorts o’ things be easier?” Al muttered to himself as he dropped the girl unceremoniously, shouldered the shotgun, and drove the reinforcements back to where they’d come by turning the heads of the first two into fine red mists. But even as they fled, he knew they’d just been intended to distract him. Shifting his gaze a few degrees, there was his target. Hair festooned with bone fragments, feathers, and tree sap, face painted up like a cross between a street whore and a hippie on funny-dust, the shaman knelt at the now-open book. The green mist was rising again. And in front of the shaman knelt another one of the guards, terror in his eyes.

Al snickered. If that damned witch doctor thought keeping one of these turncoat molesters as a human shield was going to help him, he had another thing coming. He raised his weapon, and realised his second mistake when the shaman did his work for him, drawing a razor-sharp obsidian blade across the man’s throat. Blood splashed onto the pages of the old book and Al knew that was that.

He had just enough time to get the girl onto her feet and shove her towards the exit before the thing was fully formed. He shrugged off the sling, letting the shotgun clatter to the floor. It wouldn’t be worth shit, and Alyce’s gun drone when it arrived even less. He started his chant.

The thing stepped toward him with a malicious, hungry leer. At two-and-a-half meters it wasn’t as tall or heavy as, say, Milo Gaxxin, but it was still half again bigger than Al. There was something not quite there about its hide; depending on how the light hit it or how you screwed up your eyes, it was covered in either feathers or scales or greasy fur. All black as pitch. 

It kept coming and Al did not retreat. When it was close enough to slobber down on Al’s boots it spoke. It’s mouth, erupting with teeth like a shark’s, did not move. But Al heard it just the same.

I was promised honey, and received curds. An act of futility for I have her scent and will drink her soul ere dawn. But first I shall repay you this slight.

Al just kept up his chant.

Die in the comfort that with my kiss you shall never pass. Your flesh will tear and break, but I shall grant your puny soul immortality, another tortured slave to my will, powering my dark hungers until time ends.

And with the chant the power of the voodoo gods filled Al’s limbs. His whole frame started to shake. He thought of Hannibal and Rex. Of Rufus.

I have lived and drank through the ages, long before the dawn of this Sixth, but never heard this child’s tongue you babble. What, pray tell…

Al chanted more quietly. It leaned in. He jumped up high and wrapped his left arm around its head, bent his knees and let his weight drop, pulling it into his right haymaker. Teeth flew into the shadows and he kept striking, over and over, pounding the thing’s face and when it staggered a little lower he fixed his teeth on a black pointed ear. It bellowed and fell, squirming but unable to shake the little man. It’s claws raked at his back, scoring the old leather but not penetrating as he slammed his right fist repeatedly into its head, feeling bones crack even as their fall to the floor knocked the wind out of him.

He was so busy killing the thing, congratulating himself on his badassery, and trying to think of a way to make a clever hangman’s wisecrack with his mouth full of demon ear that he clean forgot about the shaman.

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce watches through her drone as Al dispatches the two guards with ruthless efficiency and moves on to the nearly empty chamber to shut the book and free the girl.  The arriving reinforcements come in behind the drone and she does not see them in time to warn Al, but he apparently needs little warning, killing two and driving the other two back down their corridor where they seek cover from the human killing machine.  She moves the drones around so that she can watch the other corridor as well as Al.  The shaman has appeared from yet a third passage and has a guard with him that he uses in place of the girl to complete the summoning.  The appearance of the demon does not seem to shake Al as he attacks it.

The battle seems to go against the demon at first, with Al proving that he can actually deal out damage to the thing.  Even the shaman stands stunned at the display of strength, not able to react until the reappearance of the two guards stirs him.  He sweeps his arms forward in a command to his men to assist the demon.  From her position back with the others waiting, she realizes that the roto-drone will not get to the room in time to assist Al and sends a message and a command.  >>Close your eyes, Al.<<  The two guards hesitate at doing anything that will get them any closer to the demon and the shaman curses at them and promises eternal damnation if they do not obey him.  As the shaman turns his attention back to the fight, Alyce flies one of her micro Noizquito drones straight at the eye of the shaman.  The drone cannot get much speed up in the confines of the chamber but it is enough to distract them man and he cries out in surprise, causing his two men to look at him.  Alyce initiates part two of the plan and her drone flashes its strobes directly into the eyes of the three men, stunning them momentarily and then turning off, bringing a darkness that is just as confusing as the bright lights were.

The surprise maneuver gives Alyce all the time she needs, as the roro-drone finally enters the room.  The sniper rifle cannot miss at this range and the shaman's head disintegrates into red mist from a tight shot group from the powerful rifle.  The guards do not have a chance as they are cut down in turn, barely even aware that death was stalking them from far outside the cavern chamber.  Almost simultaneously, Alyce's 'link agent informs her that the drone left outside the tunnel is reporting several rifle-armed guards approaching the tunnel entrance.  Alyce's avatar smiles grimly as she sets the second roto-drone to work, winnowing the approaching men.  Their number is decreased by two before they even know they are under attack.  The range is such that the silenced rifle is invisible to its targets.  Alyce spares a bit of time to reorient the drone to a secondary hide and takes the group as it tries to reform under cover, killing two more before most race back to the relative safety of their camp.  Two throw their rifles to the ground and raise their arms in the air in surrender.  In the time it takes Alyce to whisper to herself that she is not in the mood to take prisoners both men are dead.

Back in the chamber, the death of the shaman seems to give the demon increased power and it throws Al off as it grows to nearly a half again larger than it already is.  For a millisecond, human and demon gauge each other, but only for that split second of time.  Alyce calls out, >>The word, Al.  Quit having fun and say the fucking word.<<

[adamu]

Al heard Alyce's warning and slammed his eyes shut without stopping his right fist's jackhammering the demon's skull. The blast was loud, but his dampers took the brunt of it. And then there was the whir of the rotors and the report of the drone-mounted weapon. The demon was weakening but still struggling, and with its ear in his teeth Al couldn't look around at all. But he trusted Alyce to handle his mortal foes with her usual unassailable precision. Another few seconds and his work here would...

The demon grabbed the back of his neck and tossed him five yards against a wall. Al opened his eyes and one demon had become four, which he didn't know could happen with cybereyes. He blinked twice and it was back to just one, but now it was bigger, a lot bigger than before. And he was pretty sure this part was not merely the product of a mild concussion.

His boots scrabbling on the limestone floor, he worked his back up the wall until he was standing again. If there was any doubt in his mind about how the thing had gotten bigger and stronger, it was dispelled by the beast taking the time to spit scornfully on the shaman's corpse. Then it turned to Al.

<<The word, Al.  Quit having fun and say the fucking word.>>

Al sized the thing up from across the chamber. <<Woman, jist cuz this sumbitch done et his spinach don't mean Al can't...>>

How was it so fast? Like it hadn't moved, it had fucking teleported. And backhanded him across the jaw, tossing him to his hands and knees. It picked Al up by the neck, claws cutting into flesh. Boots left the floor, legs dangling. The hand squeezed, cutting off his air supply. He shifted to his internal supply. The thing used its other hand to trace a razor claw lovingly down Al's stubbly left cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood. The the drone rose into view over the thing's right shoulder and fired point blank. Until it was empty. The claw never even paused in its tender marking of his other cheek. The word, yeah, good idea. Al opened his mouth and nothing came out - his blood might have been getting plenty of oxygen, but nothing was getting past his windpipe with that big paw clenched around his throat. Alyce crashed the rotodrone into the thing's back. The fiberglass rotor blades splintered and she at least got the thing to look. Al seized the moment to bring both feet up and kick with all he had at its chest. It staggered back a step and he dropped to the floor.

Eyes flashing in anger, it closed the space again and reached down for the little man. But Al's mouth twisted into a cocky half-grin and he said it: "Nyzzzgrrfwyx."

And not a damn thing happened.

[adamu]

Alyce watches both battles at once.  After the fight is over at the tunnel entrance, she moves the roto-drone to a third location and puts her deck agent in control of it.  Inside the chamber, the fight takes an ominous turn.  Apparently, being controlled by the shaman had somehow kept the demon in check.  Now that the shaman is dead, the being has grown in size and strength and has tossed Al aside like a rag doll.  Alyce watches as Al claims to still be in control of the situation and the demon clearly proves that the balance of power has shifted.  She looks on helplessly as the creature lifts Al by the throat as if playing with a toy and realizes that even if Al wanted to say the word he could not.  Trying to give the man a chance to break away, she maneuvers the sniper rifle-armed drone to point blank range and empties it into the back of the summoned spirit.  No.  Effect.  At.  All.  She remembers that the thing had been damaged by a physical attack and sends the drone into the rear of the demon, shattering its whirling blades, but getting its attention.  Al takes the opportunity to break free and mumbles the word through a throat still raw from the demon’s grip.  The demon laughs and slaps Al, knocking him clear across the room and dangerously close to the open pit.
The spirit roars in triumph as it looks on Al’s crumpled form, almost laughing as the human struggles to stand.  From her memory, Alyce’s mind pulls up the word she had heard days ago.  She realizes that Al has mispronounced it and calls out to him, >>Al.  the correct pronunciation is Nyzzgrfwyx.  You held the z and the r too long.  Try again.<<  Al shakes his head to clear the cobwebs and the demon moves in to attack him again, throwing him back across the room to smash into the wall.  It appears that Al is unconscious but Alyce refuses to panic and calm settles upon her.  She will not let the man she loves die alone in some fucking cave.  She sends a message out.  >>Milo.  Xander.  Al is in deep drek.  Take me into the tunnel.  I need to be there ten minutes ago.<<

The large Troll does not hesitate, putting down his huge auto cannon to scoop up the unconscious Keeb and calling out to his brother for back up.  Milo breaks free of the underbrush, heedless of the slight damage the snapping twigs and thorns are doing to him or his cargo as he runs out of the tree line and heads to the tunnel entrance.  Xander is right behind him, but is brought up short when Jiahui calls out for him to wait.  The missionary has been monitoring the special channel Alyce has established for the Trolls and her and grabs up the medkit before running over to the huge man.  Without questioning her, Xander grabs her up as gently as possible and takes off after his brother.  He might have tried leaving her behind, but he has watched the battle unfold and knows that the roto-drone doing overwatch at the tunnel entrance has made sure that no one is in the area.  That, and he knows that he is probably completely unable to refuse this short woman anything she asks at this time.  Ling Tse Tau has not been privy to the exchange between Alyce and the Trolls and is taken completely by surprise at the departure of his guards.  He jumps up and starts screaming for them to return, threatening to have them fired and blacklisted.  He only quiets down when Yao Lung slaps him across the face and says, “Ling Tse Tau.  Are you insane? Do you really want to threaten Trolls, especially ones with weapons like that, when you are out in a wilderness like this?  You could disappear out here and no one would ever find your bones.  They could lie and say the natives or some form of awakened fauna killed you.  They would not even be questioned.  Your words are ill-chosen and worse spoken.  Shut up and let these professionals do their job.”  The expedition leader, shaken by the actions and words of his lieutenant, shuts up and sits back down, his face a mixture of hate, anger, and fear.

As the Trolls and Jiahui race across the open ground towards the tunnel entrance, the battle inside has not gone very well for Al.  He has proven almost superhuman and managed to say the word twice more between being tossed about.  Unfortunately, he does not have Alyce’s ability to call up the word from a perfect memory and the damage he is undergoing is enough to make a lesser man forget the name of his mother, much less remember how to pronounce some foreign word that is mostly unpronounceable in the first place.  She is forming another text to him but cancels it, realizing that he is in no state to receive the message.  She watches as if in slow motion as the immense demon moves in for the kill, mentally urging Milo to greater speed.  Suddenly, two guards race into the chamber from the other tunnel and the demon leaves the prone Al to leap on the new targets.  One is grabbed in a giant hand and lifted up, his screams cut short as his head is bitten clean off and swallowed whole.  The other is slapped sideways, skidding along the floor and over the lip of the pit.  His screams seem to go on and on as the spirit turns to finish Al off.  The indomitable human has regained his wits while the demon took care of the hapless guards and calls out to Alyce, >>So, darlin’ wha’ was that pronunciation agin?<<
Alyce has been waiting and immediately sends the correct pronunciation to him.  Al’s injuries prevent him from rising from the floor, but he does not need to.  He chokes out the word as the demon turns from eating the guard, but again no effect.  Alyce makes a slight correction for him and he tries to get it out but is stopped as a massive hand squeezes his chest as he is lifted up.  The maw of the demon opens to savor the taste of this human who has at least proven to be a worthwhile foe.  Al, again unable to breathe or talk, takes an opportunity to jam his left hand into one of the creature’s eyes as it leers at him, causing the demon to roar in pain and drop Al.  Looking up at the monster from his place on the cavern floor, Al utters the word yet again.

It feels no different than all the other times.

The air doesn't crackle with eldar energies or hum with forbidden power.

Al licks broken lips in preparation to try to spit the damned juju word out one last time, but then the demon backs away, obviously in some sort of pain.  It waves arms that seem to have taken on a green hue as wisps of mist form at its fingers.  It roars in defiance and takes a step closer to Al, but is unable to do more as it begins to dissipate into the mist more quickly.  Soon it is all gone and the mist vanishes, leaving Al alone in the chamber with the bodies of the shaman and some of his guards as his only company.

Milo carries Alyce into the tunnel, using her maps to guide him.  The pair bounce off the walls several times, leaving human and Troll blood behind.  Xander lets Jiahui down at the entrance and takes up a position to secure the tunnel as the woman races into the tunnel after Milo.  Alyce slips back into real space in time to catch another knock to the arm and cries out in pain even as she urges the Troll to go faster.  Awake, she is better able to guide Milo with her ultrasound sensor and there are no further crashes.  He sets her down at the entrance to the chamber and she rushes over to where Al is barely holding onto consciousness.  She puts her hands on Al, feeling for the tell-tales of broken bones and feels the sticky warmth of blood on almost every part of him.  She puts herself in physician mode and begins diagnosing his injuries.  Jiahui arrives soon after with the medkit and Alyce begins hooking Al up.  She places a hand on his lips and another on his chest and in a soft voice, she says, “You are the bravest man I know, Al Guthrie.  I love you, but now let me do my job, please.  Others will keep us safe until you are back on your feet.”  Alyce’s face goes a bit pale at the readout from the monitor and she sets to work fixing the man she loves.  Jiahui does the best she can to stem the flow of blood from a couple of wounds Alyce has received from the tunnel walls then assists Alyce.  Milo toes the nearly headless body of the shaman and says, “Al, I cannot believe you almost let that little guy kick your ass.”

His laugh is loud in the chamber and even Alyce smiles.  “Careful, Milo.  My man will be up and walking in a bit and he might just kick your ass for that comment.”

“Hey, no offense meant, Doc.  That was one hell of a fight, Al.  I am glad you are on our side, but I wish I could have been here to help.”

Al feels the warmth of emotions around him……………….or maybe it is just the meds that Alyce is pumping into his body.  “Your body is pretty fragged, Al.  I want to put you under so I can work on some broken bones.  Is that alright?”

[adamu]

Everything was starting to really hurt. But his optics weren't damaged, and the sight of Alyce hovering over him was a better shot in the arm than any of her drugs.

He didn't answer her question right away. Seeing the trolls there, he asked, "The villagers?"

"I am pretty sure we've only killed the collaborators. The main body of workers was just starting to gather in response to the noise when we came in."

Al thought of the girl he'd rescued, and how pointless it would be if Ling showed up and had Lok and Yao turn their automatic weapons on the tribesmen in some sort of panicked response to their numbers.

She'd said something about broken bones, and the way his whole body was screaming he didn't doubt it. But his legs felt okay. He saw her prepping whatever would knock him out and shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Gimme somethin'll keep me on my feet fer another few minutes, then ya can drug me up an' have yer way with me."

She started to argue, but he put a bloody finger to her lips. "The dark, the confusion, they's jist too many ways things can go south until we get the situation out there under control. Shoot me full o' pep-juice, an' don't fer a second gimme something else thinkin' ya know what's best fer Al."

She changed drugs and within seconds he felt just enough like a bulldozed dungheap to still be able to stand up. He went over to the shaman, took out his knife, and sawed at what the drone had left of his neck. Staggering toward the exit with the man's head hanging by the hair, he said, "Secure the book, let Yao know ya have it, an' follow me. But stay outta sight fer a few minutes." Then he disappeared down the torchlit corridor, the severed neck dripping a trail of blood behind him.

It wasn't a long walk back, but it seemed to take a hell of a long time. He'd always been pretty sure he couldn't die, but he'd almost had his doubts back in the chamber with the demon. Almost. And now he had none.

But not dying didn't mean not hurting like a son of a bitch.

As he approached the cave mouth, he could see a glow from without. The noise of a confused crowd. He glanced behind to see that his companions were hanging back just out of view from the entrance. He didn't want the sight of the trolls and their arsenals to trigger any sort of panic.

Then he stepped out into the light of dozens of torches.

He looked over the heads of hundreds of men. Off behind them, he saw a small group of maybe a dozen men, some in native attire, some in miners' clothes, slipping away into the jungle. Hundreds of faces looked up at the blood-smeard stranger swaying in the shadows.

He held the head aloft.

As one, they knelt.

[Mercy Merchant]

The aftermath of the battle was a bit anti-climactic, just as it should be.  After holding the head aloft, Al produced his own huge "demons" in the form of Milo and Xander, causing a stir among the natives, but he told them that these demons were here to help and protect them, that the days of slavery and sacrifices are over.  He orders an immediate cessation of work on the tower and asks that any of the guards that remain be brought forward for judgement.  At Alyce's hissing from behind him, he tells the tribesmen that they should hold the guards prisoner until he could deal with them and that messengers should be sent to the villages to pass on the news.  He then steps back a bit into the cavern, almost collapsing before Alyce could steady him.  "Nice speech, Al.  I rather imagine that you could be the big chief out here if you want the job.  Now, however, I need to take care of you."

Al sees movement from the corner of his tired eyes as the small silver gun is raised to his arm then a blessed darkness overwhelms him.  Alyce again hooks him up to the kit and goes to work on him.  She sends a message to Yao Lung, telling him that they have the book, but that Al is badly injured.  She sends Milo back to lead get his weapon and lead the others to the tunnel.  In a short time, Ling Tse Tau arrives and demands the book, which Alyce presents to him.  The man looks at Al with undisguised contempt.  "He would have failed without our help.  If I had not condoned sending the others to help.  He looks like hell, will he live?"

"Yes, Ling Tse Tau, he will live.  And he would have prevailed even without our help, but it might have killed him in the process."

The team leader gives her a look that implies that he would not have minded that outcome.  "Yes.  Well, it is finished now.  Will we need to stay here long?  I need to get this back."

"It might be a couple of days before Al is ready to move well on his own, Ling Tse Tau."

The man shakes his head.  "I do not want to wait that long.  This needs to be back to Wuxing as soon as possible."  Alyce translates his meaning to be that he wants out of the jungle as soon as possible.  Something bothers her and she shifts her main attention from Al to the Wuxing boss and her sensors detect changes in his breathing and a very slight change in his voice.  It could be the excitement of the win, but she notes that he is carrying the book close to his chest, as a mother would carry an infant. 

Representatives of the natives approach the tunnel and ask for an audience with the great warrior that has saved them.  Alyce uses the bearers to help her translate for her and tells the former captives that the great warrior is meditating with the gods on his victory and may be away in sprit for a couple of days.  She asks for food and water to be brought to the cave and warns of the presence of the metal warrior that is being summoned.  There is a great cry among the gathered natives when they are told of these things and the bearers tell Alyce that the people outside are happy to be free and want to know what to do.  Alyce says that she will confer with the great warrior by spirit and will bring them an answer.  She disappears back into the tunnel, returning a short while later.  She continues using the bearers to tell them that the great warrior asks that they remain here to make sure that such an evil place is cleaned. 

Over the next two days, the villagers provide food and water to the team as Alyce supervises Al's recovery.  She also goes out into the camps to see what help she can be, her Latin coming in useful again as she passes herself off as the team's shaman.  She uses the small idol Al carved for her as her totem and it seems to give a certain legitimacy to her efforts.  It certainly helps that she can actually help these people, passing off her technology as magic through the use of lots of hand waving and repeating several Latin phrases.  The villagers manage to take four of their former guards prisoner and bring them to the great warrior for justice.  Alyce has seen the horrible things these men have done and her degree of mercy is non-existent.  After pretending to confer with the great warrior by spirit, she tells the leaders of the tribesmen that these four have been found guilty of horrible crimes against their own villages and are turned over to the people for justice. 

In the morning, the men are lead out to where four pairs of poles have been pushed into the ground to form the shape of Xes.  The men are stripped and fastened upside down to the poles before a group of villagers steps forward and uses small knives to open a number of cuts on each of them.  None of the wounds is enough to be more than a nuisance, but the blood dripping from forty cuts begins pooling beneath each prisoner, slowly bleeding them out.  Alyce knows that it might take several days for the men to die in this fashion, but she suspects that they will not live long enough for the full torture to take effect.  During the day, the doomed men begin crying out for water, but all are ignored.  The pooling blood brings hordes of small flying insects to feast, some landing on the cuts, bringing screams and moans from the men.  The insects move away at nightfall and the men go quiet but for an occasional moan as the blood continues to drip from them.  The otherwise peaceful night is shattered by screams as other, larger predators are drawn to the blood and flesh.  By morning, all four prisoners are dead.  Two of the bodies have been dragged away by something large.  The few body parts remaining behind are left to rot or be taken by other scavengers.

By the end of the second day, the monitor tells Alyce that Al is doing much better.  His broken bones are setting well and should heal entirely with another two or three days of rest.  She keeps him sedated to avoid him undoing the good she had done.  Ling Tse Tau is disturbed to find out that she wants to stay here longer.  He flies into a rage, threatening to have her blacklisted before remembering what Yao Lung had told him earlier.  In anger, he storms off instead of finishing his sentence.  Yao Lung sends Lok after him to see that he does not hurt himself.  It is clear to see that the team leader's antics are weighing on everyone, even his lieutenant.  An hour later, Lok runs into the tunnel, panting out that Ling Tse Tau is causing an incident.  He has taken one of the camp women and is raping her in one of the smaller caves.  Worse, he has shot and killed a man who tried to reason with him.  Alyce races from the tunnel after grabbing one of the bearers, followed by Xander, Jiahui, Lok, and Yao Lung.  As the small group makes its way to where this is playing out, they hear a shot ring out, then another.  The crowd parts for the Keeb shaman and her demon and they arrive to see two natives unmoving on the ground in front of a small cave and a third trying to control the bleeding from a wound to his upper left arm.

Alyce can hear the sounds of a man groaning in excitement and a woman in pain.  Most of the villagers have gathered by now and many ugly words are being spoken.  Alyce has the bearer tell them that this crime is not the desire of the great warrior, but that one of his followers has done this evil thing.  She has him add that the shaman will take control of the man.  In the time it takes the tribal leaders to calm most of their people down, Alyce reaches out and finds Ling Tse Tau's gun.  She already has a mark on it from when she put it into her PAN.  Smiling grimly, she takes control of the gun, making it inoperable then steps into the cave.  The small space is dark, but she does not need to see to know where to go.  Ling Tse Tau has the girl bent over against a wall of the cave, pounding into her from behind.  He is holding the book against his chest with one arm and has a pistol in his other hand.  Alyce is silhouetted against the cave mouth and the man inside raises his pistol to shoot her and finds that his pistol is no longer his to command.  He curses in Chinese and throws the pistol at her while continuing his rape of the girl in front of him.

Alyce deftly dodges the poorly thrown weapon and moves quickly to where Ling Tse Tau is standing, bringing her own pistol up and shooting the man full of enough sedative to fell an ox.  The man drops to the ground and Alyce tells the girl to leave and walks back out to the entrance, where she has the bearer tell the people that all is over and that the great warrior will pass judgement on his follower and mete out a punishment to fit the crime.  There is some rumbling in the crowd, but the mention of the great warrior is enough to settle people down.  Lok and Yao Lung carry the unconscious Ling Tse Tau back to the tunnel, followed by Alyce and the others.  The team leader is kept sedated while Alyce confers with Yao Lung.  "Our team lead has proven to be a large problem, Yao Lung."

The man nods.  "Yes, Doctor Krait, I know this.  But he is still the grandson of the Assistant Director and the son of my direct superior at Wuxing."

"He has broken faith with his team by ordering the deaths of Al and myself."  At Yao Lung's look, she nods.  "I am blind, Yao Lung, not deaf.  I have heard him give the orders.  I know the disquiet this has brought to you.  You are a professional and would be troubled by this, even if we had not worked together before.  I have much respect for you."

"Thank you, Doctor.  I find that I am of like opinion with you.  I also suspect that you have already secured the loyalty of the large mercenaries and that they are no longer the tools of Ling Tse Tau.  What are we to do with Lok?  I would rather see that he is not harmed, if possible."

Alyce smiles, "Yes, the Gaxxins are in my employ.  They, too, dislike the tactics employed by Ling Tse Tau against members of his own team.  They will support my decision in this.  All we need is your and Lok's corroboration that Ling Tse Tau died in the jungle.  Can you convince Lok to support you?"

Yao Lung nods and goes to talk with Lok.  Alyce looks over to where Al is still unconscious and makes a decision in his name.  She leaves the tunnel and faces the growing crowd.  "The great warrior has decided that his follower is guilty of serious crimes against the valley people.  This man will be turned over to you in the morning for justice."

The tribal leaders nod and disperse their followers back to their camps.  In the morning, a new set of poles is set into the ground in preparation for carrying out the sentence.  Ling Tse Tau cannot believe that he is tied up and orders Yao Lung to let him free.  He turns to the Trolls when that does not work, but they do not move to help him either.  Lok looks like he might move, but Yao Lung puts a hand on his arm before turning to his former boss.  "Ling Tse Tau, I am to inform you that you have been a great disappointment to your grandfather.  You have frittered away your position to take advantage of many others, often to include having them killed.  This has proved enough to your grandfather, but he wished to give you a chance to redeem yourself in his eyes.   My orders are to have you killed out here if I feel you are not worthy of returning to Wuxing.  It is my judgement that you have failed in this.  Your actions of greed and excess have threatened the success of the mission several times.  I will sadly explain all of this to your grandfather and mother and suffer their judgement."

Ling Tse Tau looks surprised and angry, railing against everyone.  He struggles as he is carried out of the cave and handed over to the tribal leaders gathered outside.  Screaming, he is taken to the poles and suffers the same treatment the other men had gone through.  His screams and curses are heard throughout the day, especially after the insects settle on him.  Like the others, he did not live through the night.  Two days later, Alyce allows Al to wake up, confident that he will not do more damage to himself.  She explains what she has done and tells him that she has secured the book in the mule and is not letting anyone touch it.  "I think we are ready to go, Al.  I am tracking Senor and he is still about three days away from us, but on the direct route that we would need to take back.  Do you wish to confront him directly or try to bypass him?  And you may want to speak to your fans.  You are their great warrior and their savior.  You could live the rest of your life in relative luxury out here if you want.  But you should say something to them."

[adamu]

"Woman, I am gonna live the rest o' my life in luxury anyway. Jist as soon as I git ta Tinseltown. Gon' do what I want an' I'm gon' git paid. But yeah, reckon I can talk at 'em a spell. Manage they expectations, if ya will." He tried to stand and almost fell, head spinning. "Shee-it, girl, how long I been out?"

When Alyce told him five days his eyes went wide. "Heh heh, feel like a reg'lar Rumplestiltskin." He steadied himself and tested his limbs and joints a bit. Some spots were a bit tender, and she showed him several places where he'd suffered fractures. The bone-knitters were doing their job, but pronation and supination on some joints would be limited for a couple more days. He could live with that.

"Well, I thank ya kindly. When I asked ya back ta Phnom Penh if I could count on ya patchin' me up, was hopin' I'd never need ta find out. Now that i have, seems I bet onna right horse." Looking at her in the torchlit cave, he realized how indescribably beautiful she was to him. So much had happened over the past days in the jungle, some distracting, others confusing, that he had largely pushed aside the feelings that had grown in Andoung Tuek. Now in a moment of relative calm, he yearned for her. But Lok was just now wandering in, and off in the corner Jiahui was puttering about with some cooking. The first reminded him they still had to get the damned book back out of the jungle, and the second sent his brain into uncharted territory he wasn't awake enough to contemplate yet. So he turned the conversation to business.

"Reckon I'd say avoid Senor, if fer no other reason than I doubt we'd see eye ta eye on how ta handle a confrontation. My solution'd be a preemptive one from five-hundred yards. Snake's dead without a head. Anything else is jist playin'. But with Ling havin' met a well deserved end at the pronouncement o' the great warrior's self-appointed mouthpiece" - he grinned to make clear (if she could see grins) that he in no way disapproved - "then I reckon it's Yao's call, not mine."

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce cannot see the grin, but Al's tone and body language tell the story.  "Yes, well.......this way the villagers are kept in awe of you, Al.  The Great Warrior fights the battle to rid them of the shaman then goes to commune with the gods.  They will certainly be interested in hearing what you have to say.  Physically, you are mostly healed.  The rest I imposed upon you has helped a great deal, and has allowed me to do a lot of good among the villagers.  The shaman's first act in every village had been to kill any competing shaman types.  I have been working with a few people who seem able to fill that role for the survivors.  My language skills are improving daily."

She nods, "It will be up to Yao Lung, but he is willing to listen to your advice on the matter of how we exfiltrate from here."

[adamu]

"Well, won't suck workin' fer a feller ain't got his head up his ass. Let's look at the maps an' yer intel with 'im soon's I deliver my State o' the Union address." He started heading for the mouth of the cave.

He took a moment to shake hands with Lok on the way out. Just the fact that the guy was still with them showed he was a solid asset and a survivor. As he passed by Jiahui, he took in the petite curves under the young Chinese woman's thin T-shirt and trousers, remembering the images he'd been sent, and the show she'd put on as Alyce had shaved him. She blushed under his gaze, but instead of the shyness he'd seen in her a couple of weeks ago, her reaction had a coquettish, almost calculated quality. She licked her lips just a little even as she lowered her gaze demurely. Once they were out of earshot down the cave, Al remarked, "Young paduan's trainin' progresses well."

He kept his tone light, but cursed himself for even bringing the woman up as a topic of conversation. The fact that he could find her attractive while Alyce was standing right next to him was a sign her hippie thinking had penetrated some dark, reptilian recess of his brain, and that wouldn't do. So before she could answer, he asked another question. "So whadda we do, jist step outside an' start a'squawkin'? Or ya got some carny schtick ta git they attention?"

[adamu]

Twice during the short walk to the tunnel entrance, Alyce has to dig deeply into her voluminous memory to determine what Al might be referring to and makes a note to herself to update her catalogue of UCAS and CAS slang terms.  She chuckles a bit at the first, an apparent reference to some old science fiction movies that had grown into a media darling and generated at least fifteen of the older movies and the newer trideos, as well as a number of spin-offs.  She had almost missed the reference because she was not really into that type of escapism.  “Yes, Al, my padawan has indeed learned rather quickly.  She has told me that she would like to feel your hands on her body and I think it would be good for you and great for her.  If you take advantage of her offer, I would ask that you be somewhat gentle, as she has no experience with a man.”
The second reference is even more obscure and takes a few seconds to suss out but he also uses another phrase that gives her a hint about the meaning.  “No, Al.  No carny tricks here.  I told the chiefs yesterday that their Great Warrior would be back from his meditations with the gods this morning and would have words for them.  My drones monitoring the tunnel entrance show a rather large crowd of people waiting for you to appear.  You will have an audience from the moment you step from the tunnel.”
She stops him a few yards from the exit and faces Al, moving in close to kiss him with all of the passion she can muster.  “Al, no one, man or woman, will ever get that kiss from me.  Being apart from you was very hard on me and I hope to be showing you how much I appreciate you when we get to the penthouse suite in a few days.  Now, go out there and give those people  the words they need to hear to continue their lives.”

[adamu]

Al stopped short when she told him a crowd was already waiting. Continue their lives? "Well hell, I was jist gon' tell 'em it warn't no thing, so see ya later. Inspirational seminars ain't really my thing," he said. But then he remembered there was nothing he wasn't good at and shrugged. "Jist have ta lay it on a little thicker, I guess."

But glancing down at the reaction her kiss had caused, he added, "After I calm down a bit, I reckon."

He sat down and realized his jacket was back in the cave-camp. As if she'd read his mind she lit two cigarettes in her mouth and handed one to him. He watched her bosom swell as she inhaled. It did not help his current predicament. She was like a star pulling him into her orbit. Or a black hole sucking him into another dimension. Where he'd find himself someone completely different. And he was pretty happy with who he was. All this with the damned Chinese girl. Every time Alyce brought her up, he wanted to ask a million questions. But he wasn't sure he wanted the answers.

Time. He needed time to sort this puzzle of a female out. Bangkok.

"Remember what I ordered first time we ate together?"