Chapter Seven
At the sight of them Davy tried a low attack, his eyes fixed on the escape just beyond them.
His foot was firmly pinned between a strong arm and a ribcage, and the elbow that slammed into his thigh sent pain shooting up and down his leg.
He let out a yell and struggled to stay conscious.
Mike dropped back as the other one lunged, ducking a punch and turning, trying to catch the man with a backspin kick, but the beating he’d endured slowed his movements, and the man was able to catch him around the neck, slamming him face first into the wall.
His arm was twisted around his back. “How dare you?” Chang hissed in his ear.
Mike growled and tried to rear back, but Chang’s fingers suddenly dug into the burn wound on his side and he crumpled against the wall with a cry.
“Enough,” Dragonman growled. “Put them back in the room.”
This time he took no chances. They were thrown back in and chained with at least six feet between them. A deep, closed scowl lined Dragonman’s pinched features as Davy was hung upside down from his ankles. His eyes were slitted as Mike’s arms were bound over his head, stretching his body taut.
Mike glared at him. “What’s that look for? You’re torturin’ us!”
“More torture, Master?” Toto asked hopefully.
“No,” Dragonman said, circling Mike. Mike twisted his neck, trying to keep his eyes on him. Dragonman’s eyes roamed over Mike’s thin, muscled form. “You are not what you seem to be, Nesmith.” His fingers brushed against the freely bleeding burn. “Men stronger than you have withstood less.”
“Yeah, blame it on the South Wind’s stubbornness,” Mike snarled.
“Wind?” Dragonman tilted his head to the side. “Explain yourself, American.”
Mike struggled against his bonds. “Explain this, Dragonman!” And once again he spat in his face.
Chang lunged to strike Mike, but Dragonman reached him first. Mike gagged as Dragonman’s powerful fingers seized his throat and squeezed, shutting off his air completely.
“Stop it!” Davy roared.
“What shall it be?” Dragonman snarled. “Hot irons, knives, or perhaps electricity? Or maybe we’ll cut off your friend’s fingers and toes while you watch him scream? Or . . . you will explain yourself.” He released Mike’s throat with a violent shoving motion.
Mike gagged a bit longer, then glared at Dragonman while he got his breath back. The man was no longer the greedy, ambitious spy leader he’d once been. The insane, raging fire dancing in the almond eyes proved his lost grip on sanity. Mike shook his head a few times, trying to clear his head and figure out an alternate plan—taunting an unhinged man was more dangerous than the torture.
It was then that Chang saw it. Without warning, he grabbed Mike’s hair and jerked his head forward so he could get a better gaze. “Master!” he gasped as his hand parted the sweaty black waves on the young man’s neck with an almost reverential touch. “Master, look! Ngo!”
There was dead silence in the room as Dragonman looked. “It . . . “ He turned to Davy. “Check him!”
Toto turned Davy right side up and re-shackled him in one swift motion. Then he jerked Davy’s head forward and let out a yell as he pulled the straight hair off Davy’s neck. “Dan!” he reported.
“It can’t be!” Dragonman roared. “They are not warriors! They are fools!”
“Let me out of here,” Davy snarled, “and we’ll see who the fool is.”
“Shut up, please!” Dragonman howled, clutching his head. “They cannot be the Winds! This is a trick!”
“You’re right, we’re not the Winds,” Mike said coldly. “We’re half the Winds.”
“Master, that means there are . . . ” Toto paused, counting on his fingers.
“Two!” Chang snapped.
Despite their situations, that made Davy and Mike smile. “I see prison hasn’t made him any smarter,” Davy quipped.
“Chang,” Dragonman said, his voice dangerously soft, “bring in your assistants. I am going to my room—but I would like their screams to sing me to sleep.”
Chang bowed and left the room to fetch his assistants.
“We are the Winds!” Mike howled. “And if you’re familiar with the prophecy then you know you can’t win against us!”
Davy looked from Mike to Dragonman, startled by that outburst.
Dragonman half turned in the doorway. “Then prove it. Escape your chains and defeat me . . . if you can.” The assistants and Chang arrived and Dragonman left, Toto following close on his heels.
“I don’t think he believes us, Mike.” Davy tested his bonds.
Mike watched in horror as Chang’s two pajama’d assistants removed the plate from the wall’s light switch, connecting long wires to the socket inside. Chang smiled slowly. “Have you ever gotten a shock, Ngo?” he said, the word purred mockingly.
“Quite a few,” Mike said, staring at the wires. “None like that, though.”
“Then this is your lucky day.”
“Somehow, I seriously doubt that.”
Chang smiled as the wires were attached to a long prod. He took it from his assistants, careful to grasp it by the insulated handle. “Now . . . if you tell us everything you know, this won’t hurt as much.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Who told you the legend of the Winds?”
“We didn’t know it till we found ourselves living it.”
The prod met Mike’s side with a hum and a sharp crackle.
“Stop that!” Davy roared. “He’s telling you the truth!”
Chang withdrew it. “I didn’t ask him how, I asked who. Who told you!?” he shouted into Mike’s ear, trying to startle the Horse into answering.
“Why?” Mike roared at him. “so you can hurt them? I don’t think so!”
This time the prod’s sharp tip drove into the soft skin of Mike’s lower back, near his kidney. This time he did scream, arching back.
~~~~~
Dragonman paced in the small corner room he’d claimed for himself, listening the screams echoing down the hall and trying to ignore the omnipresent smell of fish. It was impossible. Those . . . American fools could not be the Four Winds. They were lying, and he’d make them pay for lying to him.
The screams stopped.
“Toto. Go and see why Chang has stopped the music.”
As Toto opened the door, he found Chang reaching for the knob. The smaller man blinked up at him.
“Master wants to know why you have stopped,” Toto said.
Chang bowed at Dragonman. “They have lost consciousness, Master.”
Dragonman nodded. “Did they tell you anything?”
“Something about enchanted tea and being made the Winds against their will. Never who did it.”
Dragonman frowned. “That would explain . . . we need to know who. As soon as they wake, we have to find out who gave it to them.”
“I can shock them no more, Master,” Chang said apologetically. “To do so would harm them to an extent medicine would have to be used—questions would be asked.”
“Then use something else!” the former spy ringleader snarled. “Fists, whips, chains, break their bones! I must know!”
“Yes, Master.” Chang bowed, and yawned as he straightened up.
“Go. Rest. Tomorrow will be difficult.”
On to Chapter Eight
Back to Chapter Six
Back to Secrets and Lies Index
