Deep Sea Wars 8.1

8.

The Surface

Lady Jan’s instruction was clear; they were to stop the train and terminate the threat. Leader Bian Feng flexed the stiffness on his body after having spent the last hour in the cramped crew quarters. The quarter could house no more than eight sailors but the Far Eastern warriors were polite to squeeze thirteen of them. The squat muscled warrior was dressed in his usual dark tunic and straight cut pants with the wooden sandals. A red sash was tied around his waist with a three pronged hook on the end. On his back was the butterfly ‘dao’ which was the length of his forearms. It was sheathed inside the special cloth holding holster. In his hands was the long handle wooden ‘bo’. He had one a white bandanna over his forehead with the imprint of the fierce Dragon. He had a heavy silver chain on his neck with the dragon emblem.

Bian Feng was the leader of the Tiger Warriors of the High Heavenly Gods Clan. He commands a pack of twelve warriors.

Unlike the leader, the warriors does not carry the ‘bo’ but held the bow with the quiver of arrows.

“The metal carriage is below us. We will lower ourselves by using the rope.” Bian Feng briefed his warriors. “Once you on the train you will make your way inside the carriage. We will not hold any prisoners.”

The twelve warriors stood there expressionless at their leader for they cared for nothing except to perform their task. The leader gave the order and the warriors rushed to the dirigible where the rope ladders were hanging from. They went down like monkeys on the branches. Once they reached the carriage top they moved out in single formation towards the engines. Their objective was to remove the engineers, and disable the engines. The warriors moved with ease despite the moving train. They have trained on the tree logs floating on the river for such tasks.

 Three warriors climbed onto the coal wagon to tackle the engineers, while the others went for the first of the seven coaches. The three warriors stood on the heap of coals and fired their arrows. The train engineer and his aide went down with the arrows embedded in the back of their neck. The warrior trio climbed down from the coal and then took over the train controls.

Kwan Lin was the leader there, and took action to stop the train. He pulled at the lever to release the build-up steam in the boiler. He then pulled on the brakes to gradually slow the train. Once the steam is fully released, it will stop turning the turbine to move the train, and with the brake applied the train will slow down. The warrior was not an expert at it but he did stop the train although it was hasty and caused a series of sudden slowed down speed before it stopped.

“Stupid sow!” (It will be damnable to translate it …ha-ha. I may lose my appetite for pork chops.). The young warrior then asked the other two to stand guard on the rails.

Inside the coach, the young warrior named Cheng Tou had his arrow notched on the bow. The first coach was the dining one. It held eight tables with the fine cutleries laid out. Of the eight tables four were occupied. The nearest table sat the young couple. The man stood up to voice his protest on being intruded but when he saw the arrow, he reached for his young wife. The warrior shot at the man in the back of the neck with the arrow reaching past it into the ladies’ face. He soon had his second arrow shot at the other occupants. The other warriors have leap frogged and were using their hand to do the kill. The warriors used their bare hands to kill those in the coach. Their methods were swift with the deadly chops or punches to crack the air passages bones. They hopped from one seat to the next with their deadly moves. The waiter put up a fight with his basic punches learned from the street gangs.

“Come at me, you yellow curs.” The waiter landed a left hook on the warrior who was in front of him. The warrior caught off guard by the swift punch. The waiter had his fists up but then Bian Feng had stepped up to challenge the waiter. The later threw a right jab and was to follow with the swinging left hook but he never got to complete it. Bian Feng moved in inside the jab with left hand to chop at the right arm of the waiter before he moved in with the right chop on the side of the neck. The waiter screamed out but Bian Feng turned his body to deliver the series of double punches at the chest. The punches were swift and short in the flow of the arms but each blow broke or ruptured some internal organs. The waiter soon slumped down to his knees.

Lau Ding, the youngest was ever keen to prove himself rushed to the next coach. He rushed in through after he opened the door. He was taken aback by the sight of the long barrel rifle aimed at him. He had seen such weapons on the dirigible. They are deadly and caused an instant death.

“Die, you yellow bellied cur.” The Sergeant Major cursed when he fired the rifle. The stunned warrior was blown back from the impact. The Sergeant Major had then reloaded the rifle while Jones rushed forth with his Whitworth rifle cocked for firing.

“Stay easy, Sergeant Major.” His Lordship told the other. “We are fighting a war here. There is nothing personal.”

“Aye my Lord.” The Sergeant Major replied. “It won’t be.”

The Sergeant Major had lost his only son to these killers when he was posted to the Far Eastern Post some years back. They recovered the body but not the head.  Jones meanwhile had fired on the others in the next coach.

Jones had then rushed back to close the coach door. He was breathing in hard.

“They are bloody more in numbers than us.” Jones spoke out in a hoarse voice. Across in the other coach the Leader Bian Feng had commanded his warriors to attack.

“You two go up on the top. You three move to the door. The rest prepare to sneak up on the side.” By the train had come to a full stop. The warriors jumped to their assignment. The two which went up the top took the open window in a leap and then was seen climbing up to the top. They did it with the ease of the monkeys in the jungle. The three warriors kicked open the door and took their firing stance. The other four had also used the windows as exit and ran to the clearing on the left side of the coach. There they took position to fire at the other coach.

The shot came from the third window. It shattered the glass there and impacted on the bowmen. One went down while the other three shot back at the coach. It was followed by the three others who were in the doorway. There was one issue; the arrows could break the glass windows but it lost out on its impact.

“I’ll be darned!’ The Sergeant Major let off the shot but he missed the bowmen. The three have taken cover behind the bushes there. It was his Lordship who opened the door for Jones to fire. He brought down one warrior before his Lordship slammed the door shut.