An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (18 page)

“No problem.” I tell him.

“Say, I know that this is a bad time to ask, but I could use some help.” Murugan says.

“
With what?” I inquire.

“It seems that some dragons are plotting to use my people again to try and take over Lanka, modern day Sri Lanka. It hasn’t even been a decade since the end of their last attempt, which
lasted thirty years. The tigers currently control Lanka after I gave them my backing and got the Sri Lankan government behind them to defeat the dragons nearly a decade ago. It took me quite some time to trust the tigers because the faction that the dragons started had ‘tiger’ in the name, so I naturally thought that they were the ones deceiving my people. I’d like your help in stopping them to ensure that the tigers stay in power in Lanka. While Lanka should technically belong to the Naga, there simply aren’t enough of them to hold power and they play nice together with the tigers so it works out.” Murugan explains.

“What a coincidence, I’m actually on my way to speak with the tigers to get backing to help me rescue my friend. He was kidnapped by the Dragon Kings to be put in place as a figurehead so that they can get the support they need for the war to take over, presumably, Sri Lanka.” I reply.

“Great! Looks like we can solve both our problems with a single blow! The Dragon Kings won’t let you just walk out with the key component of their plan, so you kill them to rescue your friend and the plot to manipulate my followers falls through! Everybody wins except the Dragon Kings!” Murugan chuckles and then snaps his fingers. A letter appears in his hand, which he then holds out to me.

“Here; give this to the
leader of the tigers and you’ll have their full support.” Murugan tells me.

“Alright, thanks…” I reply, unsure of the mess I just got myself into.

“Well, the girls are waiting for me so how do I get back?” I ask.

“Oh, just open that door and it will take you back. Ganesha and I created direct links
between the girls’ quarters and ours so they could easily make their reports.” Murugan answers.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll see you around, brother.” I reply and open the door behind me.

The ground shifts beneath my feet and I find myself facing the door in the right foyer of Kanta and Nagi’s house. The girls have left the foyer and I hear voices coming from the general direction of the kitchen. I head down the left hall towards the hallway in the center of the house that Kanta said leads to the kitchen.

“No offense intended, but Lord Cole seems a little dense. I think telling him outright would be best.” I hear Kanta say.

“I agree with my sister, Chezarei. Cole will never get it if you use obscure analogies and metaphors.” Nagi says.

“I know, but it’s so hard… I don’t know how he’ll react… especially after how he reacted a few years ago when I simply brought up the idea of having a baby…” Cheza replies.

I halt mid-step in the hallway, my lungs no longer taking in air. Is that what she’s been trying to say this whole time? The vague analogies that didn’t make sense, the puking, people’s reactions… did everyone know but me? Every fiber in my body is telling me to run, get the hell out of here, and never stop running, but this isn’t a problem that I can run from.

I’ll protect her… I swear to the Void, I’ll protect her… I’ll slaughter anyone that threatens her or our child.

(Master, calm down!)

This won’t end like last time. This won’t end like last time. T
his won’t end like last time. This—

Cheza suddenly tackles me and slaps me in the face. The
prickling in my left arm, which I wasn’t aware of until just now, fades.

“Cole?” Cheza asks with concern.

“I’m alright; it was probably something my brother said… thanks. Did Nagi find the picture?” I ask, changing the subject because I’m not quite ready to tell her that I know.

“Yeah, I did.” Nagi replies
.

Cheza gets off of me and
gives me a hand up. Nagi hands me a picture of her, Kanta, and Jeremy as kids standing in front of a wooden pagoda-type structure. Even though it’s been four years since I’ve seen him and he’s only about seven years old in this picture, it’s obviously the Fogquartz University Fight Club’s president.

“Alright, let’s get going.”
I say as I hand the picture back.

“Do you mind if I tag along?” Kanta asks.

“Sure.” I reply and snap my fingers, porting the four of us to Mount Kailash’s gate.

“Just hang on.” I say while holding out my left arm
as I grab Cheza’s hand with my right. Nagi and Kanta grab my arm, I focus on the four of us standing in front of the pagoda from the picture, and we port away.

Chapter 17: Tigers and Trains

We port to the pagoda and I hear guns cock behind us.
I turn away from the pagoda and find a platoon of thirty weretigers standing in a grassy field with Heckler & Koch G3 assault rifles, all pointed at the four of us. ‘The four of us’ includes Cheza, doesn’t it? I step in front of her as my left arm starts prickling.

“At ease men; it’s just Nagi and Kanta.” One of the soldiers says and they lower their weapons as Cheza grabs my left hand and the
prickling fades.

“Hi boys!” Kanta greets.

“Hi!” The majority of the soldiers call back from their positions in the field. From what I can see, the field expands out until it reaches a beach.

“Chief in the house?” Nagi asks.

“Last I saw.” A soldier answers.

“Thanks.” Nagi replies and
starts heading off to the left, towards a dirt path that leads into a tropical forest; Cheza, Kanta, and I follow her.

“Do you always have to act like such a whore every time we come here?” Nagi asks her sister
.

“I’m not acting like a whore! I’m just being nice!” Kanta expounds.

“Offering to let them run a train on you isn’t called being nice, it’s called being a whore.” Nagi replies as we clear the forest and see a large one-story house across an expansive grass lawn.

“
I wasn’t offering to let them run a train on me! You just came in at the wrong time!” Kanta exclaims.

“Of course! How could I forget the ever-popular innocent conversation about trains! I’m sorry
for calling you a whore, Kanta!” Nagi says, the epitome of sarcasm.

“What
are they talking about trains for?” Cheza thinks.

“No, they’re talking about ‘running a train,’ where in this case, the train is a line of naked guys.” I reply.

“That are connected!?” Cheza exclaims.

“No! Not like that
! All they would all be connected in the fact that they would become Eskimo brothers…” I think.

“Eskimo brothers
?” Cheza asks.

“You should know this; it’s what you call the guys that a singular woman has slept with. I think it’s from
The League
.” I answer.

“I know
, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the guys in the gay train that are all having sex.” Cheza replies.

“No, you are misunderstanding the concept of this train. The only one that is getting fucked in this train is the girl… singular.” I explain.

“Oooooh, got it.” Cheza thinks as we approach the house.

Nagi
and Kanta stride through the sliding back door like they own the place. We follow them in, finding ourselves in a sitting room as Nagi and Kanta take a seat; Cheza and I follow suit.

“Chief! We’re home!”
Kanta shouts.

“You really need to stop calling me that; it feels weird with our history.” Jeremy says as he rounds the corner into the room.

“Feros, it’s been a while.” Jeremy adds, looking indifferent to see me.

“We need to meet with grandpa.” Nagi reports.

“Grandpa?” I question.

“You know how people sometimes call the grandparents of their good friends
, grandpa and grandma?” Nagi answers.

“Is this one of those occasions?” I ask, seeing something in Nagi’s eyes that makes me doubt the statement.

“Not exactly…” Kanta quietly replies.

“He’s pretty busy with the impending war.” Jeremy responds.

“That’s what we’re here about. I have a letter from Lord Murugan.” I interrupt.

“I see… follow me.” Jeremy says.

I stand up and follow Jeremy down the hall. Jeremy turns left, knocks on a set of doors, and waits.

“Come in.” a gravelly voice
calls out from beyond the doors.

“Commander, a messenger
of Lord Murugan’s has arrived for you.” Jeremy announces as he opens the doors.

“Is that so?” the white haired Indian man says while
inspecting me over the rim of his glasses, still holding the report that he was reading.

I remove the
letter from my jacket pocket, walk across the room, and hand it to him over his desk. After setting the report down and taking the letter, he flicks out the index finger on his right hand, morphing it into a claw to cut open the letter with. He removes the letter, unfolds it, and reads while I stand there.

“I’ll just be leaving now.” Jeremy says.

“Wait a moment, boy. Since you will be taking over for me soon, perhaps you should stay.” The commander says.

“Nagi and Kanta are waiting in the sitting room and I don’t wish to be rude.” Jeremy replies and shuts the door as he leaves.

“Stubborn boy… he always has that face on when it comes to those girls, even the first time.” The commander says while wistfully looking away.

“I still remember that stubborn determination on his face when he asked me to take in
those two girls when the war claimed both of their parents, in much the same way they had claimed his… and now it’s restarting all over again after less than a decade…” the commander recollects.

“But this time there’s an opportunity to stop it before it truly begins.” I interrupt.

“That there is… you have my full support, Lord Cole.” The commander replies.

“Please, just Cole; and I was thinking that it would be better if I didn’t have your support at all… at least not officially.” I inform him.

“What did you have in mind?” the commander asks.

“Well, my name, or rather my nickname, is well known in the supernatural community. If anyone finds out that you’re working with me when I kill the Dragon Kings and rescue my friend, the war will continue.” I start to explain.

“If this war gets going again, it won’t matter; the dragons and the tigers have always had a rivalry.” The commander interrupts.

“Then we won’t give it a chance to get going. There’s an idea that I’ve been toying with, but it has certain parameters. First, what is the dragon
’s naval force like?” I ask.

“Unprecedented. It would be suicidal to face them in naval combat so we avoid it all together.” The commander answers.

“Perfect. That leads to my next question: do you have any way to get to the dragon’s base, their palace, at the bottom of the sea?” I inquire.

“No, we don’t. We know the location, but we lack a submarine vehicle and even if we had one, it ties in to the naval combat situation. We tried dropping depth charges on top of the base, but the dome covering it detonated the charges; this resulted in no casualties on their part, but a boat and three lives lost on our side. The dragons are masters over water; anything in their domain doesn’t stand a chance.” The commander replies.

“I don’t know about all that…” I reply with a smug smile. “They know this fact though? They know that you have no means to reach their base?”

“Most likely.
” The commander says.

“So they
will most likely send their full force out to fight…” I say as the parameters of my plan come together, but then I realize something important: if I start a fight up here, Cheza is going to want to help since she can’t come with me to the palace… I can’t put her in danger like that…

“W
ait a second, you said that they fight underwater, and guns don’t fire underwater or they end up with ruptured barrels, but water is super conductive… do you have any napalm? My original plan was to sneak in back once the main force leaves the base to fight, and then kill the Dragon Kings, but I think I’ll just kill them all myself and save you the hassle. Alright, all I need are the coordinates and some napalm; a couple gallons should do.” I tell him and he gives me a quizzical look, but doesn’t ask any questions. I pull out my phone and type in the coordinates as the commander gives them to me.

“Ask the boy about the
napalm. Are you sure that you don’t require anything else?” the commander asks.

“Yeah, I should be able to take care of this; thanks.” I tell him and exit the office.

I head back down the hall and into the sitting room where the girls and Jeremy waiting.

“Hey Jeremy, the commander asked me to tell you to get me some napalm.
” I announce.

“Why do you need napalm?” Jeremy asks.

“To initiate a one man naval battle with the dragons.” I reply.

“But that’s suicide!” Jeremy exclaims.

“For normal people, yes; however, I am far from normal.” I respond.

“Cole, what’s going on?” Cheza asks
, concerned by the whole ‘suicide’ comment.

“I’m going with an option that doesn’t cost the tigers dozens of lives; I’m going in alone.” I reply.

“Cole!” Cheza exclaims.

“Don’t worry, Cheza; they think that they’re unbeatable in water so I’ll simply prove them wrong using water’s weakness.” I tell her, but she still looks
worried.

“Just trust me.” I add with a smile.

“Okay, Cole…” Cheza reluctantly replies.

“Waiting on that napalm.” I tell Jeremy.

“Follow me.” Jeremy says and heads outside.

I follow him around the
left side of the house and over to a secondary building that is about the size of a tool shed. He opens the door to the shed and all I see is a set of stairs leading down. I follow Jeremy down the concrete stairs and into an underground armory.

“I need to requisition some napalm
on the commander’s orders.” Jeremy tells the man on the other side of the window that is presumably made of bulletproof glass.

“How much?” the man asks Jeremy.

“How much?” Jeremy asks me.

“I don’t know; three gallons worth?” I reply.

“A ten liter tank.” Jeremy tells the man.

The man stands up, walks around a corner, and comes back holding a metal canister
that is about two feet tall and a foot wide in both hands. He opens the reinforced door to the left of the window and I take the canister from him with my left hand.

“Thanks.” I say.

“Yep.” The man replies and shuts the door. Jeremy and I head back up the stairs.

“Thanks, JJ.” I tell him as I take my phone out and see that I’m a little over twenty
miles from the palace coordinates.

“Good luck, Cole.” Jeremy says
as I unzip my sleeve, unwind the bandage from my arm, and slip them both into my pocket.

“I don’t need luck when I’ve got skill.” I smugly reply as my arm flushes black and I take to the skies.