THE BLUE DAUNTLESS!  The Man Who Helps!

      Story & Characters © 2010 by Peter W. Mitsopoulos  

                Illustrations by Jana Pivkova

                      Chapter Six of Ten

               The Viper Woman Revealed

     The shots came faster now, bullets scorching the air as they bounced off the stone walls.  The Dauntless shoved Linda and her sister toward a door at the rear of the chamber.  “Through there!  Everyone!”

     The Dauntless came last, carrying the crate as he ran.  Watching the bullets dance around him like flies, Linda was amazed that he wasn’t hit.  As though some mysterious power were with him.  She remembered Hanover’s tale of the Dauntless and the Blue Being.

     When he reached the door, he handed the crate to the two young men who had been carrying it.  Linda then saw that several other men on Dr. Fletcher’s expedition had suddenly produced rifles.

     The Dauntless turned to the professor and pointed toward the chamber’s outer door.  “I suggest a few shots through there into the courtyard.  Let them know we’re not defenseless.”

     The professor looked at the men with the rifles and nodded.  Firing in unison, they unleashed three rapid volleys.  The hostile fire from outside stopped immediately and a man’s voice screamed in pain.  A moment later, this was followed by one more shot from without.

     “Now they know we’re armed,” said the professor.  “But who fired that shot just now?  It wasn’t directed in here.”

     “You wounded one of her men,” said the Dauntless.  “She finished him off.”

     “She?”

     “We’re facing an enemy of mine known as the Viper Woman of Calais.  She and her thugs have been watching your expedition probably since you arrived.”