Their presence soothed Abe. The heat of the water did not burn so terribly. The sulfurous taint in the lake did not choke him. They were lending him the strength of their spirits. The ghosts of those children had saved him.
He reached out, and his fingers passed through the little girl's hand, but the covenant was made. Abe would do whatever he could to aid them in return.
Chapter 13
Hellboy couldn't understand a word Dwenjue said, but he liked the grim little warrior. The dwarf monk had a deadly serious disposition, a disdain for everything but getting his job done, and yellow eyes that glowed in the dark. He carried his long, mystical sword over his shoulder because if he'd put it into a scabbard, it would have dragged on the ground. Dwenjue wouldn't have been any fun at a pub, but on a mission to kill a monster that burned and ate people and demanded the sacrifice of small children in exchange for mercy, he was just the kind of guy Hellboy wanted along.
They'd gone back to the monastery to find only ten people remaining, including Sarah and Meaney. Apparently evacuating the rest at night had been deemed too dangerous. A helicopter would return for the last group at first light. Meanwhile, they had to hunker down for the night in the monastery. Hellboy had suggested that Tenzin and Stasia stay there, but neither of them would hear of it. The suggestion pissed Stasia off. The guide, on the other hand, just knew he was needed and had a job to do.
The five of them had trekked down from the monastery and turned west. Now they could see Lake Tashi ahead. Not a single light gave away the presence of BPRD agents or Chinese government forces on the northern shore. Hellboy picked up his pace. He knew worrying made little sense. Professor Bruttenholm would have insisted they move in darkness to avoid drawing the dragon's attention if it came up after dark. The only illumination came from the lake itself, which seemed to have caught fire far below the surface.
"It's beautiful," Stasia said.
"That's one way to look at it," Hellboy replied.
"It's terrible, too."
He only nodded. Both descriptions were correct. Whatever happened in the next twenty-four hours or so, there was a kind of breathtaking magic to it, and a brutal ugliness as well.
Koh marched on his left and Dwenjue on his right, that sword over his shoulder. Tenzin and Stasia followed close behind them. Hellboy felt like he was trudging with cement blocks around his legs. He could endure just about anything, but that didn't stop him from getting tired. How Stasia and the guide were managing to keep walking was a mystery to him.
They followed the lakeshore to the right. Hellboy figured they had three-quarters of a mile or so before they'd get to the location of the original camp, just below the dig on the ridge.
Dwenjue muttered something.
"What'd he say?" Hellboy asked, glancing back at Tenzin.
"He smells dragon. And it isn't Koh."
From the look of the water, with that firelit mist swirling on the surface, Hellboy wasn't surprised.
"Something's going on down there," Stasia said, and he could hear uncharacteristic fear in her voice.
Koh picked up the pace, nearly breaking into a run. As he moved, his body changed again, his dragon features coming out, the fire starting in his eyes again. Hellboy made to shout after him, but then he saw the way the water had begun to churn.
"Stasia," he said.
"Run!" she shouted.
They sprinted along the shore toward the place where they knew the remainder of the camp lay. Hellboy heard shouting, then the roar of helicopters whirring to life.
The lake exploded with fire and a fountain of scalding water. The Dragon King snaked into the sky, and the helicopters were in pursuit. As he ran, leaving Stasia and Tenzin behind, only Koh and--amazingly--Dwenjue able to keep pace with him, he watched as the choppers flanked the dragon in the sky, watched them drop their nets.
When the dragon shrieked its pain, Koh cried out as well, though whether in triumph or sympathy, Hellboy could not tell. Gunfire and rocket fire came from the darkness ahead, and Hellboy followed the tracers back to their launch point. They trampled the spot where the original camp had been burned.
The dragon shrieked again. It writhed in the air, beginning to tear free of the nets, which crackled with electricity and smoked as it struggled against them. Shouts came from the ridge to the right, and Hellboy looked up to see the archaeologists who'd been stupid enough to stick around with Han Kyichu sliding and practically crashing down the rocky slope of the hill toward them.
"Go!" Stasia snapped. "I'll deal with them."
"Keep them quiet!" Hellboy barked at her.
He ran on, though he felt part of him tethered to Stasia as he left her behind, wondering if those were the last words they'd ever exchange. Dwenjue barreled along beside him, somehow fleet of foot in spite of his size and the massive sword. The yellow eyes weren't the only magic in the little monk. Koh had bent low to the ground and ran with a strange, reptilian smoothness.
Ahead, the commandos Lao had brought in were using both shoulder-launched rockets and others on portable stands. As Hellboy watched, one struck the red underbelly of the Dragon King and exploded, blowing a bloody wound in the thing's scaly hide. Another wound showed a previous strike. A second missile went off right at the serpent's neck as it thrashed in those electrified nets, the helicopters buzzing around it. That explosion didn't harm it at all.
"The red stripe!" Hellboy shouted as he thundered toward the commandos, forgetting that they could not understand him. As with so many other armored creatures, the dragon's belly was vulnerable.
Assault weapons fire punctured the night in staccato bursts. Hellboy ran, now leaving even Koh and Dwenjue behind. Up ahead, behind the commandos, exhorting them on, he saw his father and Lao. Professor Bruttenholm had some kind of war paint on his face. It took Hellboy a second to realize that Lao and the commandos had it as well, then another second to figure out that these were wards.
"Crap," he snarled. If the wards were working, keeping the dragon from seeing them, then his arrival and that of his companions would draw the big worm's attention right here.
Professor Bruttenholm shouted at Lao over the weapons fire. He gestured toward the helicopters, then to the commandos. Hellboy felt a spark of pride seeing the old man taking command in the field. Whatever danger they were in, Trevor Bruttenholm had it under control.
The dragon screamed.
Hellboy spun around just in time to see dragon fire strafe one of the helicopters. Men were set ablaze as the chopper was engulfed in flames. The fuel tank exploded, and Hellboy slid to a halt, staring in horror as the helicopter careened into the southern cliff face, leaving nothing but burning metal shrapnel to fall into the lake.
He sensed rather than saw Stasia, Tenzin, and the two expedition members who'd been with the absent Kyichu come up behind him, staggered by the sight. Koh hissed low in his throat. Dwenjue took a step toward the shore, those yellow eyes gleaming.