torg 02 - The Dark Realm by Douglas Kaufman Read Free Book Online

companion Teagle. The blade that had killed the Carredon.
    From the far end of the hangar, Colonel McCall approached the four companions. He greeted them with a nod. "Are you sure I can't assign some men to you, Father Bryce?" he asked.
    The priest shook his head. "You heard what happened to the men that started out with Congressman Decker. None of us want more deaths on our consciences. I really won't feel comfortable until we've been dropped off and your pilots are safely on their way back here. Besides, with the edeinos army marching toward you from the north, you'll need every able body you can find."
    The Colonel agreed. "These are damn strange times, Father. There hasn't been any change in Decker, and I wish the doctors could figure out how to remove those daggers."
    "Do not attempt to remove them, Colonel," Kurst explained. "To do so would immediately kill Decker, as well as the person performing the operation."
    "You really feel that Congressman Decker's mission is best served by going to Australia?"
    "Yes, Colonel," Bryce said, uncomfortable with his slight stretching of the truth. "The last information we came across pointed us to occurrences in the South Pacific."
    "President Wells asked me to comply with Decker's associates, and that's what I've done. Good luck, Father, Kurst, ladies." Colonel McCall shook hands with the four, then stepped back to watch the plane exit.
    Tolwyn removed the heart-shaped stone from her pack and handed it to Bryce. "You will carry this, Christopher." Then she entered the aircraft, followed by Mara and Kurst.
    Bryce slipped the blue and red stone into his pocket and started up the steps. A familiar voice halted his progress, however, and he turned to see Tal Tu and the boys entering the hangar.
    "Be careful, Father Bryce," Rat called.
    "Take care of yourself, man," Coyote added. "And keep the women safe."
    Bryce smiled, touched that the three had come to see them off. He raised his hand in farewell, then boarded the airplane.
     
    16
     
    Thratchen cautiously approached the great hall of Illmound Keep, responding to the Gaunt Man's summons as soon as he arrived back in Orrorsh realm. Thratchen was from the cosm of Tharkold, and once served as chief lieutenant to the High Lord of that techno-horror realm. But Tharkold suffered two recent defeats: one to Kadandra and the brat Mara, and one to the Soviet Union of Earth. Subsequently, the Tharkold realm was never attached to Earth. It could take his old master decades to regain the power necessary for another
     
    cosm raid.
    but Thratchen was on Kadandra when that world destroyed the maelstrom bridges connecting the two . cosms together. The Kadandrans used every bit of their cybernetic knowledge to build weapons of war to defeat the remaining Tharkold invaders—who the Kadandrans .. called Sims. Thratchen discovered that the reason for his master's defeat was that the Kadandrans were ready for their arrival. A young scientist — a child prodigy! — named Dr. Hachi Mara-Two had discovered the existence ol the cosmverse, and her studies revealed the approach of the Sims.
    Stranded alone on the hostile world, Thratchen I racked down the young woman, killing her friends and associates along the way. But Mara eluded him by actually stepping into the cosmverse and disappearing from Kadandra. She had gained this power of transportation by using the energy of stormers, and while Thratchen was enraged by her escape he was also intrigued by the possibility of gaining this new power for himself.
    Using her own transference cylinder, Thratchen followed Mara to another cosm. And then came the cruelest turn of all. Mara had discovered their plan to raid Earth as well, and she sent herself to this cosm to aid its people. While that enraged Thratchen even more, it also made him more anxious to catch up with the stormer and pry her secrets from her. Once on Earth, however, she teamed up with other stormers and suddenly the possibilities stretched