The Edge of Temptation: Gods of the Undead 2 A Post-Apocalyptic Epic by Peter Meredith Page B

swing this time but brought it down full force on the man’s shoulder. There was a hardy smack ; it was completely unsatisfying. He wanted blood. A second blow was a little better and a third broke all the fingers on the man’s right hand as he tried to block the blows raining down on him.
    Cyn grabbed Jack’s arm and anchor or not, it was a near thing to hold back the fury in him.
    “Maybe everyone should leave,” Jack said through gritted teeth. “Me and this evil piece of filth need to have a talk...a real talk.” As the others glanced around, not knowing what to do, the two sorcerers eyed each other. The man’s face bent in disgust, twisted in impotent fury and then sagged as he finally realized that he had been beaten and that there were only a few minutes left to him.
    He nodded at Jack and there came an understanding between them. Then he bowed his head and said: “My name is Truong. I sought out you cousin in hope for exchange of ideas or knowledge. I search for wisdom.”
    Father Timmons surprised Jack by saying: “You mean you were after more power.”
    Truong gazed at him blandly. “It two sides of same coin. One is equal to other, but, yes, I seek power. You cousin is now strong. His dead sorcery is very strong. His knowledge is very great.”
    “You found him then,” Metzger said. “Where is he?”
    “A land of Sudan. There is much death in this land and many bodies for him. No one notices if they go missing. No one talks of this. The people is much very afraid. I do not know what he was doing in this land, but he was north of Khartoum in desert land.”
    Jack glanced back at Cyn. “The Pyramids of Meroe. It has to be.” She nodded, a little crease working above the bridge of her nose. Jack addressed Truong once more. “How did you find him? He’s become an expert at covering his tracks, so how did you do it?”
    Truong became guarded; Jack saw it in his eyes. “I am from a secret peoples. Only Chinese. Only sorcerer. None can know of them. My tongue would rot out of my mouth before name is spoken. It no can be spoken. They have knowledge of much thing in world, even the whispers of dark things; of secret things. They know you cousin.”
    “A secret society of sorcerers?” Jack asked, trying to understand what Truong was saying. When the man nodded, Jack followed up, stating as fact: “You will tell me how I can find them.”
    “I can not. Is no possible.”
    “He’s not lying,” Father Jordan said as Jack began to bristle.
    “Of course I no lie. Why would I lie?” Truong asked. “My life is no longer mine.”
    Cyn looked into Jack’s face. “What’s he mean by that?”
    Jack flicked his empty eyes at Truong; they were two soulless creatures, but at least Jack had an excuse. Without a hint of remorse, Jack explained: “He’s going to tell us everything and then I’m going to kill him. I’ll make it quick, though. That’s our deal.”
    There was a general uproar around the two sorcerers, but neither moved or took their eyes off the other. Jack couldn’t take the chance, there was no telling how quickly Truong would recover his strength.
    “You can’t do this, Jack!” Father Timmons warned. He was angry and thrust himself forward, but he wasn’t stupid. Jack’s eyes were flat grey and Timmons didn’t dare get too close to him. He squeezed to the right of Cyn, partially using her as a shield and added, “We are supposed to be the good guys, here.”
    Good? With his inner core so empty, Jack simply couldn’t understand the term. With a shrug of indifference, he said: “He would kill me.”
    “We don’t stoop to their level,” Cyn said. “Remember your trial when dealing with Robert’s army. You would’ve become Robert if you had failed. Don’t fail now!”
    A grunt escaped Jack. These were all fine platitudes and he supposed he didn’t want to be a “bad guy,” however, that was defined, but he did want to be a “live guy” and that wouldn’t happen if he