Week 38.4 – Coup

Previously: Ghost Dragon attacked the Cobalt Czar, attempting to keep him occupied long enough for Metalord to return with the Mask of El Coco. And now…

The Ghost snarled, his long white locks whipping in the ghostly winds that surrounded him. That hair lashed out to snare the Czar’s wrists while the Ghost’s giant gnarled hand clawed the Czar’s face. “Go!’ the Ghost snarled at Twain. “Into the cave.”

“We’ll be trapped in there,” Twain said.

“I have a plan,” the Ghost answered, backing toward the cave entrance as the Czar advanced against the Ghost’s strength, step by step. “Trust me. Go!”

Twain and Digger retreated down the dark tunnel with the Ghost just a step behind them. Twenty feet into the cave, the Ghost clawed at the walls and ceiling, causing a rain of debris which clogged the tunnel.

“What are you doing?” Twain yelled. “You’ll trap us in here.”

“We have to slow him down until your friend returns with the mask,” the Ghost said.

“He’s no friend of mine,” Twain said. “I don’t even know the guy.”

“That’s not…” A beam of blue carved through the rockfall, disintegrating a portion of the ceiling and dissolving a large portion of the Ghost’s head. The spirit wailed as the remains of its head swirled and eddied in a frantic ectoplasmic gush, and Yi Fan–her head blessedly untouched since she was so much shorter than the Ghost–screamed as well. She fell to the ground, caught in a beam of dusty sunlight stabbing down through a hole in the ceiling as more debris fell around her, bouncing off the maelstrom that was all that was left of the Ghost.

***

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”left”]A beam of blue carved through the rockfall, disintegrating a portion of the ceiling and dissolving a large portion of the Ghost’s head. The spirit wailed as the remains of its head swirled and eddied in a frantic ectoplasmic gush…[/blockquote]Cole floated into the enormous restaurant-size palace kitchen, where a group of cooks sat around eating bowls of meat broth, laughing together in low voices. The laughter stopped as they all turned wide-eyed stares on Cole. One of the cooks stood and took a step toward him. “You can’t be in here,” the man said.

“I’m worried about you people,” Cole replied. “You seem to have stunted imaginations. Do you have any beer?”

The cooks shared a baffled look, and then the one in charge turned to him. “Uh, what?”

“I’m thirsty,” Cole said. “Give me a beer, and I’ll leave.”

Anxious words were exchanged among the cooks in Mongolian, and then the one in charged turned and crossed the room to a huge stainless steel refrigerator. He opened the door and pulled out a plastic gallon jug of amber fluid.

“That doesn’t look like beer,” Cole said.

The man poured out a glass and held it out toward Cole. “It’s good,” he said. “Please drink and go.”

Cole took the glass and sniffed at it. It smelled sweet–some kind of juice–but there was an almost floral scent to it, as well as another smell he couldn’t identify that reminded him of flying along the coast near San Francisco with storms coming in, smelling the ozone and feeling the lightning in the approaching clouds like a tingle on the back of his tongue.

He took a sip and was almost overwhelmed by the rush.

What will happen to Yi Fan? Will Cole get back in time, or will he pause to have a wine tasting? Don’t miss the next action-packed episode!

 To read from the beginning, click here…