Kiai! by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony [Anthony, Piers]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00KLOXYT4
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Copyright (c) 1974, by

All rights reserved

CHAPTER 1

RAID

The door crashed open and they poured in: hell's own collection of deadly freaks. I knew in a moment they were doped, high on "Kill13"; their eyes blazed orange.

"Class dismissed!" I bawled. "You kids get out of herefast!"

But this was my karate class. It was a wilder bunch than my judo group, and less disciplined. A number of them had the notion that one kiai yell and a swift punch would overcome all threats.

They had never had firsthand experience with hardcore martialdrug addicts. Startled but unalarmed, my boys halted their practice and stared at the intruders.

There were eight, demons with wild long hair and bright orange cloaks. The color of their clothing chillingly augmented the pigmentation of their eyeballs. They spread out from the door, forming a glowering line.

"Don't try to fight!" I yelled to my students. "Move out the side doors. Avoid contact!"

The leader of the demons took one step forward. "Do as the coward teacher says," he cried. "There isn't one of you sniveling bastards who could stand up to a real man!"

That stung. I saw half a dozen of my students stiffen. I felt like 222

going up and pasting the insolent demon myself. But that would have been playing into their hands. They had come to disrupt my class and turn it into a brawl, at the very least. What might happen in such a freeforall I dreaded to contemplate.

"You there, with the chickenyellow hair!" the demon said, gesturing to my blackbelt assistant Tom Sellers. "You must be color blind! Where's your white belt?"

Tom bristled. Conventions vary, but a white belt normally indicates the lowest level of competence, while the black belt is the highest. Ordinarily Tom had good control over his temper, but he was being challenged in front of the class. That made him sensitive. "Why don't you druggies go home and sleep off your fit?" he asked pointedly.

I started forward, ready to haul my students individually out of the hail. Avoidance of a fight in these circumstances was not cowardice, it was excellent sense. A man doped on Kill13 is dangerous to himself and others. Safer to go after a rabid dog.

Then I saw, the other demons: two more for each door. There was no way out without a fight. And my students hardly knew what they were in for.

"The Kung Fu Temple would reject this child," the demon said. And spat at Tom.

Tom glanced at me. Now we knew where this bunch had come from. The Kung Fu Temple was a new establishment that had wasted no time in establishing a singularly bad reputation in the neighborhood. Little but the name connected it to any genuine kung fu school. I had suspected it of traffic in the violent new drugs, but had not had proofuntil now.

I began to hope that the intruders would move on, once they saw how little effect their insults had on us. Any student of the martial arts knows that the best selfdefense is to avoid a fight.

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