Lucy released her grip on the dead man she was straddling, and he sailed away, out to join his brethren in a long, final plunge to oblivion in the wild waters of the Bering Sea.
Lucy turned, grinned rather insanely, and gave me a double thumbs-up.
For my part, I grinned insanely back at her, wondering what I"d gotten myself into with this crazy, but obviously brave and impressive, human woman.
Book ThreeTHE EUROPEAN TOUR
Chapter 57 57.
THE INSANE GRINS and double thumbs-ups between Lucy and me were long gone and almost forgotten now. Unfortunately, and as promised, flying in a Deathwish Suit was no joyride. I had to fight my way through the fierce air currents that tossed me around like a snowflake, and my body took a relentless, terrible pounding.
But the more serious problem was that our jetpack charges were running low. Lucy and I conserved some fuel by dropping into nearly heart-stopping free falls-then gave the jets a blast to lunge our bodies forward again.
But by the time we sighted land, still far away, we were running on empty.
I saw Lucy straighten her body like a high diver leaping off a cliff, cut in her jets for a final burst of juice, and shoot forward in a long, arcing glide.
Now what? Follow the kamikaze, of course.
I did the same as Lucy, staying a few yards behind her. Wherever Wherever we hit, it was going to be together. Matching grave sites? That seemed a likely possibility. we hit, it was going to be together. Matching grave sites? That seemed a likely possibility.
Gravity sucked us downward with dizzying speed, hurling us straight toward frothing coastal breakers. At the last possible second, Lucy popped her parachute. So did I.
My chute engaged with a jolt that yanked me full around, but I still plunged the last couple hundred feet with the speed of a supercharged Mercedes on an open highway. I hit the sh.o.r.eline in a tumbling roll that sent a white-hot shock through my blood and bones.
Then I bounced and skittered for a good ten to fifteen seconds before I finally skidded to a stop, face to face with an unresponsive boulder.
At least the earth earth was solid underneath me. I"d had more than enough was solid underneath me. I"d had more than enough sky. sky.
Lucy was about fifty yards away, just getting to her feet.
I walked to join her, taking in the surroundings. Wherever we were, this place was d.a.m.ned cold; cold; it might have been summer back in New Lake City, but here, the ground was half-frozen tundra. It stretched unbroken to the horizon, fading into the misted-over gray light of early morning. it might have been summer back in New Lake City, but here, the ground was half-frozen tundra. It stretched unbroken to the horizon, fading into the misted-over gray light of early morning.
All of a sudden I spotted a small blur moving in the distance-which quickly turned out to be a scene from an earlier century scene from an earlier century.
Unbelievable!
Two dozen fierce-looking men mounted on s.h.a.ggy horses and wearing animal skins were riding toward us with astonishing speed. They were black-haired and golden-skinned, not very tall but powerfully built. They sat on their ponies with a confidence and ease that suggested they"d grown up on them.
I got the feeling that the grins on their faces would stay there even if their heads were being cut off-and probably had had stayed on while they were cutting off other people"s heads. stayed on while they were cutting off other people"s heads.
As they got close, the wings of their V-formation pulled ahead to form a circle, completely surrounding Lucy and me.
They"d done this before, hadn"t they?
"Oh no," I said quietly.
The leader leaped off his still-moving horse, landing as nimbly and as well balanced as a cat would, and strode toward us, rifle in hand.
He completely ignored me, throwing open his arms and bellowing a word that sounded like "Mehkween!" "Mehkween!"
"Tazh Khan!" Lucy cried back, and then she hurried past me into his waiting embrace. The two of them hugged like long-lost lovers, then they talked excitedly and very rapidly in a language that was like nothing I"d ever heard or read.
Hoo boy! So these were the "friends" she"d contacted to help us save the human race from extinction? So these were the "friends" she"d contacted to help us save the human race from extinction?
Things didn"t look too good for us skunks.
Chapter 58 58.
"THERE ARE MANY tribes-and nations-out here in the real world," Lucy explained to me a few minutes later. We were riding horses-side by side. In Russia. Siberia, I believe.
"Is he a former boyfriend?" I asked.
"Certainly preferable to your wife," she answered. "But no, Tazh Khan is just a good friend. We"ve fought the Elites together and kicked some b.u.t.t."
"Why do they call you Mehkween? Mehkween?" I asked next, half shouting over the swirling wind that was blowing down like a twister from the frozen north.
"It"s Megwin," she answered. "That"s what my parents originally named me, and that"s how some resistance people know me. Lucy"s just for the straight world. You You can call me Lucy." can call me Lucy."
"Thanks much, Mehkween."
I let it go at that; it wasn"t really much of a surprise compared to everything else that had happened. It turned out that Lucy/Megwin had worked with Tazh Khan and his men for years. Despite their savage appearance, they had not only modern weapons but modern communications technology-and this was was the rendezvous she"d arranged for while we were in the plane. the rendezvous she"d arranged for while we were in the plane.
Now the Mongols were taking us to a place where we"d get safe transport across Russia-to England, which, according to Lucy, remained quite civilized. As did France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia.
There was another reason besides the strong winds that made talking difficult. Jouncing along on the ponies that they"d provided had my teeth hopelessly clacking together. Horseback riding had not been included in Agent of Change training; I"d never even been near a horse before.
I found out fast that it wasn"t nearly as easy as these Mongol warriors made it look. Sitting astride the bony little beast was like getting kicked squarely in the a.s.s with every single step. It didn"t help that I was close to a foot taller than everybody except Lucy.
It didn"t help, either, that while the Mongols adored Lucy/Megwin, they didn"t seem to like me one bit-especially Tazh Khan. They didn"t try to hide their mockery of my clumsy horsemanship. Perhaps to drive the point home, one of them would occasionally gallop away from the group to chase one of the large hares that popped up out of the ground and dashed away. In a blur of erratic, side-blitzing speed, the pony would hunt it down while the rider leaned out parallel to the ground with his bow and arrow and skewered it.
Hitting a target like that was roughly like shooting a snowflake in a blizzard. But they never seemed to miss.
"Ey!" Tazh Khan said, trotting up beside me. He might have been thirty years old, or sixty, and looked like he was made completely of leather and bone, like he had existed forever.
"Ey!" he repeated and rubbed his belly, then jerked his thumb toward his mouth-apparently asking if I was hungry.
I waited warily. I was was hungry, but I had a hard enough time with ordinary human food and seriously doubted that whatever this barbarian horde ate was any improvement on, say, the human frankfurter. hungry, but I had a hard enough time with ordinary human food and seriously doubted that whatever this barbarian horde ate was any improvement on, say, the human frankfurter.
A long knife suddenly appeared in his hand, its edge worn thin, almost to invisibility, by what had to have been thousands of honings.
He leaned forward to whisper in his mount"s ear, gave it a couple of soothing pats, then touched the blade to one of the pulsing veins that ran along its neck. h.e.l.l-he"d just cut his own horse!
As blood welled out, Tazh Khan clasped his mouth over the open cut and sucked in a long, leisurely drink.
The pony never even flinched. Its vein was crisscrossed with neat scars, I now saw. These horses weren"t just transportation, they were movable snack bars.
When he finished, he smeared some kind of ointment around the nicked flap of the animal"s skin and closed the wound. Quite the humanitarian, Quite the humanitarian, I was thinking. I was thinking.
Then he surprised me with an offer of his knife.
I did nothing but shake my head.
Tazh Khan spat contemptuously. Then he reined away from me and gave his knife to Lucy.
She flashed me a grin that was as fierce as the men"s-then, without hesitation, she helped herself to a quaff of blood from the neck of her own mount.
What a girl.
Chapter 59 59.
A RIPPLE OF cruel laughter broke from the riders, along with a chain of jeering comments, obviously at my expense. It grated worse than the jolting I was receiving from the pony. My patience was wearing as thin as the razor-sharp edge of Tazh Khan"s knife.
"What are they saying?" I asked Lucy, who now rode beside me, possibly to keep an eye on me. "Translate for me, please."
"Let"s just say-in the kindest way-that you remind them of the scared rabbits they hunt." She seemed somewhat sympathetic, but mostly amused herself. That That set me off even more. set me off even more.
"All right," I said. "Then I"m the rabbit. Keep your eye on this rabbit!"
I swung my leg over the pony"s back and slid down to the ground. What a relief it was to have solid earth under my feet again.
Lucy"s face turned puzzled, as well as concerned. "What are you doing, Hays? Don"t get yourself trampled now."
"Tell them to hunt hunt me," I said. "All of them at once. For real. No holding back. Catch me if they can!" me," I said. "All of them at once. For real. No holding back. Catch me if they can!"
Her eyes widened and actually showed some fear. "Hays, no. They don"t mean it personally-it"s a cultural thing."
But I cut her short with an upraised palm. "Cultural thing, my a.s.s-it"s a guy guy thing. They"re questioning my... you know..." thing. They"re questioning my... you know..."
Reluctantly, she spoke a few rushed sentences to the nomadic band, now watching me curiously. When she finished, their laughter chorused again, this time even louder and harsher. Tazh Khan answered her back in his piggish language.
"He says you must be smarter than he thought," Lucy translated, "to take refuge in the knowledge that their tribal law forbids them from killing a crazy man."
I smiled tightly. "Tell him that if any of them can hit me, then I won"t won"t take away their cute little bows and arrows and break them over my knee." take away their cute little bows and arrows and break them over my knee."
Lucy raised her eyes heavenward, but she swung back around to them and delivered the challenge.
That really p.i.s.sed them off.
As their laughter turned to brutish scowls, I bounced around in a few goofy bunny hops, waggling my fingers above my head like ears.
Then I took off-moving extremely fast in long leaps but staying low to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, I had a thundering herd of agile horses and murder-bent wild men hot on my little, cotton bunny tail.
The first several riders came in swiftly and close to the ground, and so did their arrows, registering on my vision as dark particles that instantaneously grew in length as they approached.
I danced about a foot or so above them, letting them whir past under my feet.
The Mongol hors.e.m.e.n slowed to a trot and dropped their bows in utter amazement-but also chagrin.
Bunny Rabbit, one; Mongolians, zip.
The rest of the band tried a different tack, galloping around me in a half circle and firing their arrows all at once in a pattern-a grid several feet high and wide, with the shots s.p.a.ced carefully inside it. If their plan worked, I would look like a frog that crash-landed into a thornbush.
This time I leaped straight up into a somersault, twisting upside down and plucking a few of the arrows out of the air as they shot underneath me. Coming down, I hurled them back, whistling the darts right past the hors.e.m.e.n"s ears.
With exclamations of despair, they tossed their bows onto the refuse pile already started by their comrades. I"d nearly won them all over.
Now only one rider was left facing me: Tazh Khan himself.
For a few long seconds, we locked gazes. Then, without haste, he nocked an arrow, took careful aim, and unleashed it straight at my throat.
I shifted aside just enough to take it in the hollow of my left shoulder. It punched clear through, protruding out my back.
It also hurt like a sonofab.i.t.c.h. Lord, it stung.
I sagged to my knees as Lucy came running up and put her arm around me. "Oh, Hays, you fool. fool. You complete idiot." You complete idiot."
"I"m fine-just like at the lake, I let them win."
"Tazh Khan"s right-you"re crazy," she then whispered angrily.
"Tell them they won," I said. "And if they"ll get this d.a.m.n arrow out of me, they can drink as much of my blood as they want."