[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
bloodletting, anyway."
"Then I submit a variation to that same scenario— we simply ride into the night, leaving
Amicus and Hatcher to settle their scores their own way."
Ryan leaned against an outcropping and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I remember
one time Trader found a stockpile of nerve gas on an old military base. Nasty stuff, still
potent. A whole lot of it, too, since it didn't get used during the nuking. Trader had
customers for it, serious jack, but he disguised the site so no one, not even him, could
make a profit from it."
"The point being?" Doc inquired.
"Trader accepted the responsibility. He took the responsibility for uncovering it and he
took the responsibility for covering it up again. There were some things that even he felt
were too fucking foul to set loose on the world again, no matter how much jack he could
put in his pockets."
"And you feel we should take responsibility for leading the Cadre to Amicus."
"You don't agree?"
"Oh, no. I entirely agree. I was just interested in hearing you say it, since you are
normally so taciturn when your emotions are involved."
From the gloom came music, rising and falling notes, mournful and angry at the same
time. The bugler of the Red Cadre played a tune that carried a relentless savagery in it,
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Dlands 37- Demons of Eden
stirring, repetitious and a little nerve-racking.
"What're they doing?" Ryan asked. "Serenading us?"
Doc's lean body tensed. "No, they're sending us a message. That's the 'Deguello.' "
"The what?"
"The 'Deguello,' the throat-cutting song," Doc replied, "a perennial of Mexican army
regimental bands a few hundred years ago. Very old, dating back to the bloody wars
between Spain and the Moors. When Generalissimo Santa Anna had the Texans boxed up
within the Alamo, his bands played it on the night and morning preceding the final
assault."
Ryan nodded in comprehension. "No quarter. No mercy for the loser."
Suddenly Felicity ran swiftly toward them. "Rider coming in. Looks like Eli."
Hasslich and the guards joined them at the edge of the pass. A rider was coming across
the plain, but the horse was walking.
"What's wrong with the fool?" one of the guards demanded. "Why's he meanderin' like
that?"
The guards raised their voices in irritated mutterings at the horseman's leisurely pace. As
he drew nearer, they could see it was indeed Eli. "Perhaps he's hurt," Doc ventured. "Or
drunk," Hasslich growled. Ryan drew his blaster and, bidding a guard and Hasslich to
follow him, sprinted out of the gorge. All of them stopped dead in their tracks when they
came to within twenty feet of the mounted man. They walked the remaining distance.
There was no need to hurry.
Eli was bound to his saddle by a wooden A-frame that held him upright. His face, drained
of all color, save for a smear of blood, was twisted in a rictus of terror and pain. The
blood had streamed from the top of his head where his scalp had been before it had been
shorn away. His chest bore a narrow, gaping wound that had obviously been made by the
blade of a broad-headed hatchet.
Pinned to the front of his coat with a sharpened bone needle was a square of paper.
Scrawled on the paper, no doubt in Eli's own blood, was a single word: "Soon."
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Dlands 37- Demons of Eden
Ryan turned away from the corpse, his face expressionless. In a flat voice he said, "Well,
Mr. Hasslich, I hope your ass isn't too disappointed."
Chapter Eight
Ryan's plan was simple. There was no need to fancy it up, at least not at first.
Leaving the guards at their posts, despite their terror, he, Doc, Felicity and Hasslich ran
back to Amicus to rouse the citizens. They had freed Eli's corpse from the framework,
and Hasslich led his horse, the man's body draped over the saddle. The animal wasn't very
tall, and Eli's fingers and toes dragged the ground, the blood from his raw scalp leaving a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szamanka888.keep.pl
bloodletting, anyway."
"Then I submit a variation to that same scenario— we simply ride into the night, leaving
Amicus and Hatcher to settle their scores their own way."
Ryan leaned against an outcropping and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I remember
one time Trader found a stockpile of nerve gas on an old military base. Nasty stuff, still
potent. A whole lot of it, too, since it didn't get used during the nuking. Trader had
customers for it, serious jack, but he disguised the site so no one, not even him, could
make a profit from it."
"The point being?" Doc inquired.
"Trader accepted the responsibility. He took the responsibility for uncovering it and he
took the responsibility for covering it up again. There were some things that even he felt
were too fucking foul to set loose on the world again, no matter how much jack he could
put in his pockets."
"And you feel we should take responsibility for leading the Cadre to Amicus."
"You don't agree?"
"Oh, no. I entirely agree. I was just interested in hearing you say it, since you are
normally so taciturn when your emotions are involved."
From the gloom came music, rising and falling notes, mournful and angry at the same
time. The bugler of the Red Cadre played a tune that carried a relentless savagery in it,
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...athlands%20037%20-%20Demons%20of%20Eden.html (60 of 258) [12/30/2004 8:13:12 PM]
Dlands 37- Demons of Eden
stirring, repetitious and a little nerve-racking.
"What're they doing?" Ryan asked. "Serenading us?"
Doc's lean body tensed. "No, they're sending us a message. That's the 'Deguello.' "
"The what?"
"The 'Deguello,' the throat-cutting song," Doc replied, "a perennial of Mexican army
regimental bands a few hundred years ago. Very old, dating back to the bloody wars
between Spain and the Moors. When Generalissimo Santa Anna had the Texans boxed up
within the Alamo, his bands played it on the night and morning preceding the final
assault."
Ryan nodded in comprehension. "No quarter. No mercy for the loser."
Suddenly Felicity ran swiftly toward them. "Rider coming in. Looks like Eli."
Hasslich and the guards joined them at the edge of the pass. A rider was coming across
the plain, but the horse was walking.
"What's wrong with the fool?" one of the guards demanded. "Why's he meanderin' like
that?"
The guards raised their voices in irritated mutterings at the horseman's leisurely pace. As
he drew nearer, they could see it was indeed Eli. "Perhaps he's hurt," Doc ventured. "Or
drunk," Hasslich growled. Ryan drew his blaster and, bidding a guard and Hasslich to
follow him, sprinted out of the gorge. All of them stopped dead in their tracks when they
came to within twenty feet of the mounted man. They walked the remaining distance.
There was no need to hurry.
Eli was bound to his saddle by a wooden A-frame that held him upright. His face, drained
of all color, save for a smear of blood, was twisted in a rictus of terror and pain. The
blood had streamed from the top of his head where his scalp had been before it had been
shorn away. His chest bore a narrow, gaping wound that had obviously been made by the
blade of a broad-headed hatchet.
Pinned to the front of his coat with a sharpened bone needle was a square of paper.
Scrawled on the paper, no doubt in Eli's own blood, was a single word: "Soon."
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...athlands%20037%20-%20Demons%20of%20Eden.html (61 of 258) [12/30/2004 8:13:12 PM]
Dlands 37- Demons of Eden
Ryan turned away from the corpse, his face expressionless. In a flat voice he said, "Well,
Mr. Hasslich, I hope your ass isn't too disappointed."
Chapter Eight
Ryan's plan was simple. There was no need to fancy it up, at least not at first.
Leaving the guards at their posts, despite their terror, he, Doc, Felicity and Hasslich ran
back to Amicus to rouse the citizens. They had freed Eli's corpse from the framework,
and Hasslich led his horse, the man's body draped over the saddle. The animal wasn't very
tall, and Eli's fingers and toes dragged the ground, the blood from his raw scalp leaving a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]