James Axler Deathlands 028 Emerald Fire

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A twist of fuse stuck out the top, and J.B. knelt again, holding a pack of
self-lights in his hand. "Ready or not," he said. "Here we go."
Everyone backed away, keeping about thirty yards between themselves and the
small thermite bomb.
Beyond them was a hesitant circle of watching natives, led by the tall figure
of Itzcoatl, wearing his ceremonial green robe, and most of his senior
councilors.
The self-light flared, its tiny red-and-gold flame almost invisible in the
strong morning sunlight. A wisp of smoke came curling from the top of the
fuse, and J.B. ran, crouching, to join the others.
"How long?" Ryan asked.
"Ten seconds," the Armorer replied. "Off goes the igniter and then the
thermite itself."
The white serpent of powder smoke grew stronger for a moment, and everyone
started to duck, when it went out. Went out and stayed out.
There was an audible hissing sound, then silence.
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Deathlands 28 - Emerald Fire
"That it?" Jak said.
J.B. bit his lip in annoyance. "Yeah, Jak. Looks like that's it."
"Know what went wrong, John?" Mildred asked.
"I have a feeling that I'm not sure. Don't want to make myself look a fool a
second time."
"Back to the drawing board," Doc added.
Ryan slapped J.B. on the back. "Never mind. Leave it a while now. Plenty for
us all to do in the village to get ready to receive our guests."
THAT HAD BEEN at the center of Ryan's plan.
"They'll expect to more or less take us by surprise," Ryan had said at the
breakfast meeting. "Probably won't know we're here. Probably won't worry even
if they know we're here. Just look to come in like always."
"But they might suspect we could stage an early deterrent strike," J.B. said.
"One thing they won't expect is for us to try and trap them here. Actually
here in the village, the honey pot they think they're walking in to raid."
Ryan pointed slowly around the table. "We'll turn this place into a fortress.
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Not to keep them out. To let them in and keep them in." He banged his fist
into his palm. "That's the heart of the plan."
RYAN HAD CALLED his private council of war with his own six friends.
"Time's the problem. I don't know how long before they make the move against
us here."
"Us?" Jak said. "Village is us?"
Ryan nodded. "Sure. For the time being, the village is us. Unless anyone here
wants to break and run?"
Nobody spoke. "Fine. So, we are us."
"Main thing is to work fast," J.B. said. "My guess is that they'll take a
couple of days to regroup. Spend some time in their camp. Clean their
blasters. Sharpen their knives. Rest. And they'll have to make contact with
their own masters at the silver mine. Confirm orders. Yeah, three days."
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Deathlands 28 - Emerald Fire
J.B. WAS IN CHARGE of the conversion of the village into a sophisticated
mantrap. It was vital that everything should look like it always did. Nothing
should arouse the suspicion of the slavers.
Itzcoatl said that in big raids the Anglos generally came in on horseback,
which pleased the Armorer. "We can hit animals more easily with pits and nets.
Build some internal walls. They don't have to be high to block off freaked
horses. Give shelter for us to do some shooting."
The actual armory of the natives was disappointing, consisting only of a
couple of old Portuguese Savage pistols and three Mauser-Vergueiro rifles,
with virtually no ammunition.
J.B. checked them and dismissed them out of hand. "Been neglected for a
hundred years. Breeches worn and every part's looser than a sow's tits. Good
chance that they'll blow out and take a hand and half the face off anyone
using them."
He explained to Itzcoatl that it would be more efficient if everyone used
their bows and their blowpipes, used the time to make plenty more arrows.
"And more poison," the chief added.
"Poison?"
Mildred was with J.B. at that moment. "You mean, like curare?" she asked.
Itzcoatl looked puzzled. "I do not know that name," he said. "Never known it.
The poison comes from a mix of the blood of a secret plant."
"Sap," Mildred said.
"I do not know that word, too. What bleeds when you cut into this plant. It is
fed to a dog. Dog goes" He pulled out his hands wide like a straight stick.
"Stiff," J.B. suggested.
"Stiff," Itzcoatl agreed. "Dies with eyes open and bloody and jaw wide. We
keep body until it has gone rotten. Very quick. Quicker than ordinary dying.
Boil body and keep boiled until only little sticky water is left. Use that
wiped on points of arrows and darts from blowpipes." He rubbed his hands
together, grinning, showing his filed teeth. "Is very good."
Ryan agreed with his old friend's judgment, and the men of the village busied
themselves with making dozens more arrows while the priests and older women
brewed up vile-smelling cauldrons of the poisonous gruel.
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Deathlands 28 - Emerald Fire
And there was endless practicing, as J.B. sought to improve the already
impressive marksmanship of the warriors.
The younger men and most of the women were set to digging traps and trenches,
stringing up nets across the two main trails into the village, rigging them
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under Jak's supervision so that they could be pulled by hidden ropes at a
moment's notice.
And in his spare time, J.B. worked with Doc on getting the recipe right for
the thermite.
The fourth demonstration came toward the evening of the second day since Ryan
and Krysty's safe return to the village. Like the other attempts, it was held
a short distance from the perimeter fence, on a strip of level ground between
lake and forest. Another of the small metal tubes was buried for
three-quarters of its length in the dirt, with the curling end of the fuse
protruding an inch from its top.
The second and third tries had both been total failures, with nothing more
than the wisp of white smoke from the fuse, followed by stillness.
This time, only Ryan and Dean bothered to come and watch, the rest of the
friends busy with the work of readying the settlement for the slavers' attack.
A couple of the older women had also wandered by, stopping to watch the four
mad Anglos at their incomprehensible games.
J.B. scratched the self-light, and the wavering flame was applied to the fuse. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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