The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul (14 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The sight surprised him. Ran could see a small rivulet of water dribbling down the side of the tunnel rock and dripping into a small pool below. That would not have been a strange sound in and of itself, but what made the entire scene odd was that the water dripped onto a flat metal plate that reminded Ran of a shield. Where had that come from?

He crept ahead, scarcely able to believe their luck at finding a water source. He’d need to taste it and see if it was safe to drink, but if it had come through the rocks and mountain, then it certainly should be filtered by now. Ran slid out from behind the rock and crept down the tunnel. The dripping water was louder as he approached, and its rhythmic clanging sounded almost like someone beating their sword on a shield.

Ran knelt and put his hand into the dripping water. It was ice cold and clear. His mouth went bone dry and Ran smirked at how his body reacted to the sudden appearance of water. He waited until his palm was full and put it to his lips. As soon as the water touched his mouth, he tasted its sweet purity and marveled at how much it renewed his strength. Water was exactly what he’d needed, and here he had a ready source.

He checked the immediate vicinity and found nothing to suggest there was a threat. He dashed back up the tunnel and waved Jysal down. “There’s water down there you can drink. I tried it, and it’s fine. Slake your thirst, you’ll need it.”

Jysal rushed past him, and Ran moved to where Neviah waited.

“Are you sure it’s safe to drink?” she asked.

He nodded. “As sure as I can be. It tastes amazing. Probably came through the entire mountain above us. As it traveled, the ground would have acted like a natural filter.”

Neviah smiled. “I could do with a drink.”

“We all could.”

She pointed at Kancho’s body. “Even him?”

“Especially him. Help me get him down there, and I’ll see if I can wake him up long enough to try some of the water.”

Together, he and Neviah managed to get Kancho down the tunnel to where the water dripped out of the rocks. Jysal was lapping up as much as she could. Neviah joined her and after a few minutes, stepped back so Ran could drink his fill. As he did so, Ran marveled at the existence of the water here in the tunnel. It had shown up just as they were becoming acutely aware of their lack of drink.

Timing, he decided, was everything.

He glanced over at Neviah. “Do you have a waterskin?”

She drew out a small pouch from inside of her tunic. “This is all I have. Most of my gear went down aboard the
Aqaria
.”

“It will do,” said Ran. He leaned back into the stream of water and waited for the small skin to fill up. Once he had it mostly full, he scooted over to Kancho’s body and dribbled a small bit of water across the older warrior’s lips. Then he leaned back and waited.

“Will that waken him?”

“I don’t know,” said Ran. “It’s but one way to try to bring him out of his slumber. He really needs this water. No doubt it will help his body stave off the infection and replenish his blood loss.”

Kancho coughed suddenly, and Ran helped him to sit up. “You need to drink this water.”

Kancho’s eyes barely opened, but he seemed to understand what Ran was saying, and his mouth dropped. Ran tilted his head back a bit and let the water slide down his throat. Kancho gulped several mouthfuls and then collapsed back down to the ground.

Ran frowned. This was not what he was hoping to see. He’d been expecting some sort of good sign that Kancho was recovering. But he was still warm to the touch. His body certainly seemed to be in the grips of whatever toxin had poisoned him earlier.

Neviah came alongside of him. “He still suffers.”

Ran sighed. “I’ve done what I can. It is obviously beyond my skill to see him healed completely. Whatever happens next will depend on him. I hope his body is strong enough to fight off the poison. But there’s no guarantee, unfortunately.”

Neviah laid a hand on his shoulder. “No one could ask any more of you, Ran. You’ve done all you could and more. Kancho is lucky to have you here with him. I was able to do nothing.”

“You helped Malkyr back on the beach.”

“Do not remind me. I almost wish I hadn’t helped him at all.”

Ran grinned. “That he remained so annoying would seem to be fairly impressive testimony to your skills as a healer.”

Neviah waved her hand. “It was but a trifling matter once we located the necessary herbs. What you were able to do no doubt slowed the mortality of Kancho’s wound. There is much power in you.”

“Thank you.” Ran handed her back the waterskin. “Fill it up again. We’ll need to get moving once we’ve all had our fill. I think it’s imperative that we keep moving. The more distance we put between ourselves and Kan-Gul, the better.”

“Agreed,” said Neviah. “Will Kancho require any more water?”

“Not right now. But I suspect when he finally wakes up—provided he does—he will definitely want some.”

“Then Neviah and I will drink our fill now and save the water in the skin for Kancho. Once we have drunk as much as we can, our bodies should be fine for another day or so. We have to be thankful for that, at least.”

Jysal wiped her mouth and moved away from the water so Neviah could drink her fill. She smiled at Ran. “This was a lucky find.”

Ran nodded. “Indeed. The timing of its discovery certainly makes me feel better. I’m actually refreshed now. The quality of the water is excellent.”

Neviah finally finished drinking and nodded at Kancho. “Let’s get back on the trail and keep moving. This tunnel must end somewhere, and wherever it is, it’s a fair bet it’s away from Kan-Gul and his hordes.”

Jysal turned then. “Did you hear that?”

Neviah smiled. “It’s the water falling on that shield.”

But Jysal shook her head. “No. There’s something else.” She put her hand into the stream and directed the water flow away from the shield. As soon as the dull tinging stopped, Ran could hear it, too.

Neviah stepped closer to Jysal and nodded at Ran. “Shuffling?”

“Definitely not natural,” said Ran. He slid his sword out of its scabbard and then nodded at Jysal. “Stay back with Kancho.”

Jysal moved to the rear while Neviah and Ran fanned out on either side of the tunnel. In the darkness, it was difficult to see much beyond the range of the torchlight. Shadows kept dancing along the rocky walls, and their movement left Ran unsure of anything. He took a breath and exhaled smoothly, willing his heart to slow down. Getting excited would only hurt his chances of being able to sense the attack when it came.

Neviah crouched and stayed close to the rock, trying to form her body into the rocky walls. “It must be the torch that is drawing them to us.”

“Drawing what to us?” asked Ran.

Neviah smiled. “I think we’ll find out soon enough.”

Something moved deeper in the darkness. Ran estimated that whatever was coming toward them was about ten yards away. He held his finger up to his lips, and Neviah nodded. Surprise was the best way to attack.

Ran wondered briefly if it might be Malkyr coming back, but quickly disregarded the notion. Malkyr would certainly have shouted some sort of greeting by now. He wouldn’t simply continue walking forward.

The sound of the shuffling footsteps was slow and methodical. There was no rush to them. They simply plodded on, almost as if they had no choice but to continue to move forward.

Ran’s nostrils caught a whiff of something now, and he winced. The stench of death hung heavy in the air. He wrinkled his nose in disgust but could do nothing about it. Whatever was coming toward them was getting closer with every step.

And then from the gloom, Ran saw it emerge.

It resembled one of Kan-Gul’s Chekhal warriors, but it was larger. It wore armor, but the leather was faded and cracked. The dull gray skin seemed to ooze with some sort of goo, and the eyes were as opaque as those of the undead warriors they’d already seen. In its hand, the creature gripped a long, slender sword. Worms fell from its mouth and squirmed away once they hit the ground.

The fetid stench surrounding this Chekhal made Ran want to vomit, but he choked back on the urge. He’d only just had water, and the last thing he needed was to purge all the good water he’d just ingested.

The Chekhal stopped ten feet from them and sniffed the air. It let out a long groan and then started lumbering toward them again.

Ran stepped out and held his sword aimed at the center point between the Chekhal’s eyes. As soon as he did so, the Chekhal focused on him and raised its own blade.

Ran feinted with a stab that made the Chekhal raise its blade to ward off the attack. Ran allowed his sword to be moved offline of the attack, rode the energy of the deflection, and then dipped under the Chekhal’s sword. Ran cut up and stepped to the right before arcing his blade back and around, cleaving off the Chekhal’s head from its shoulders. For a split second, the Chekhal stood motionless. Then it simply fell forward into the ground.

The single action had taken a mere second or two. Neviah came out from her spot on the wall and looked at the Chekhal on the ground. “You didn’t leave me much to clean up.”

“It was surprisingly easy to handle,” said Ran. “Not sure if this is the same caliber of warrior that we dealt with back at the castle.”

“It does not seem to be similar,” said Neviah. She knelt and examined the armor. “This is old. Much older than that worn by the newer warriors at Kan-Gul’s fortress.”

“Do you think this was some sort of early creation of his?”

“Perhaps,” said Neviah. “But it’s disconcerting in its own right.”

“How do you mean?”

Neviah gestured to the tunnel. “We thought we’d found a place where we could escape from Kan-Gul. But no sooner do we enter this tunnel than we find one of Kan-Gul’s undead wandering around. And while he wasn’t a threat to us, the fact he’s even here means that Kan-Gul must know about this place. And if he does, then we are decidedly less safe than we originally thought.”

Ran frowned. “Malkyr might have already stumbled into one of these things.”

“He might also have bypassed them. It moved slowly enough to be avoided. But what worries me even more is what Malkyr might find when he finally does find a way out of here. It’s conceivable that Kan-Gul knows exactly where this empties out. If that’s so, then we are not running away from a trap, but heading directly into one.”

“What choice do we have?” asked Ran. “If we stayed back in the cave, we would have been cornered. And while this still might lead us into danger, we at least control one key element.”

“Which is?”

“Timing. Kan-Gul has no idea when we might arrive at the exit. That’s somewhat valuable to us since it allows us to dictate when we engage.”

Neviah smiled. “It’s a bit of a stretch, but I agree. Kan-Gul could always surprise us, though, and choose to come in from the other end of this tunnel if he feels we’re taking too long.”

Ran nodded. “Impatience is something we can also exploit.”

“I like the way you think,” said Neviah. “Now we’ll see if you’re right.”

“Behind you!” shouted Jysal just then.

Neviah wheeled around and cut out with her sword. Another of the Chekhal stopped its forward motion as Neviah’s sword bit into its armor. But the old leather armor caught the blade and held it fast. Neviah jerked it back and forth as the Chekhal brought its own sword up.

Ran didn’t hesitate. He launched himself at the Chekhal, bringing his sword up high and cutting down at the back of its exposed neck. His sword easily cut right through, and the Chekhal’s head toppled free, bouncing off the tunnel wall as it did so.

“Two more!” called Jysal.

Neviah wrenched her sword free and turned to meet the new attackers. They moved as slowly as their comrades, and Neviah wasted no time launching a series of attacks with her sword. With her free hand, she drew a dagger and plunged it into the eye of the first attacker while she simultaneously deflected its sword strike. It groaned and fell to one side before finally going still.

Neviah kept moving and swept her sword down on the arm of the next Chekhal warrior, cutting it free near the elbow. Its sword dropped to the ground, and Neviah kept moving around to its rear. The Chekhal groaned and tried to grab at Neviah
 
with its one free hand . She danced out of range and then waited as the Chekhal launched itself at her. Sidestepping, Neviah drew her sword up high and then cut down at the Chekhal’s neck, chopping right through the leather armor of its helmet and through the dull gray oozing skin. The Chekhal dropped, and a fresh wave of rancid stench flooded the tunnel.

Ran bit back on the wave of bile at the back of his throat, willing himself to keep control over his desire to vomit. Jysal paled at the smell but managed to keep her gut in check.

Neviah waved a hand in front of her nose. “We need to get out of here. The smell is almost worse than the physical threat these things posed to us.”

Ran looked at Jysal. “Do you sense any more of them?”

“No.”

Ran resheathed his sword. “Let’s grab Kancho and get away from here.”

Neviah hastily wiped and sheathed her blades and then resumed her position by Kancho’s arms. “Ready.”

They lifted together and then moved forward. Ran nearly tripped over a stone in his rush to get away from the undead Chekhal but managed to keep his balance. The sooner they were farther down the tunnel, the better he would like it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“So Kan-Gul made some mistakes, apparently,” said Ran as they continued down the tunnel. Jysal still led the way forward, her torch now dying and offering very little in the form of illumination. For Ran, the darkness wasn’t much of a problem. Jysal also seemed unaffected by it, but Neviah struggled to make sense of where she was heading and kept telling Ran to slow down.

“What do you mean, mistakes?” asked Jysal.

“Those Chekhal back there. They weren’t nearly as adept as what we faced at the castle. That tells me that Kan-Gul isn’t the most powerful mage in the world, no matter how much he might wish it so.”

“That might be another reason why he wants Jysal for himself,” said Neviah. “If his magic isn’t strong enough, then binding it with Jysal’s power would certainly make him much more formidable.”

“I’m not especially excited about the idea of binding anything with that lunatic,” said Jysal. “And he cannot have my power. Or me, for that matter. If he’s not as powerful as he wants us to believe, we can use that to our advantage. Hopefully it means we can kill him.”

Ran looked back at Neviah. “Did you notice a bad smell when we killed the Chekhal at the castle?”

“No.”

“Nor I,” said Ran. “Perhaps those Chekhal we just dispatched were an experiment that went awry. Rather than destroy them, Kan-Gul placed them down here. Maybe they were the guardians of the water. I do not know for sure, but clearly Kan-Gul suffers from failures like anyone else.”

“That doesn’t really change our situation,” said Neviah. “We still need to find a way out of this tunnel and find refuge from Kan-Gul. If the Chekhal we just killed are the easiest foes we face, then we’d be fools to assume that all of our encounters will be the same. I expect Kan-Gul has more in store for us than we know. Our escape from the castle felt almost too easy, looking back on it now.”

Ran frowned. Neviah had a good point. Despite the combat, the Chekhal were handled easily enough. And Kan-Gul knew that Ran was intelligent enough to have noticed how to gain entrance to the castle. The same technique would work to get out. Were they simply going through the motions of an elaborate trap that Kan-Gul had devised for them? Or was that giving Kan-Gul too much credit?

“We’ve been walking for hours now,” said Neviah. “When do we take some time to rest? My arms are aching from carrying Kancho like this.”

Ran stopped. “I can still smell the Chekhal. Let’s at least keep moving until that stench is far enough behind us. I’d love a good rest myself, but we can’t stop right now. I want to put some distance between us and anyone who might be tracking us.”

“I can’t even see,” said Neviah. “And now I’m starting to sound like that fool Malkyr. Let’s walk for another three hundred steps and then stop. Jysal needs her rest as well.”

“Fair enough,” said Ran.

“It doesn’t help that we can’t see a thing in this darkness,” said Neviah.

Jysal called out from the front of the line. “I can make it so we can see.”

Neviah grunted. “No using magic.”

Jysal sighed. “It’s the easiest spell in the world, Neviah. And we really need it. I can see fine but you and Ran are practically blind. Let me help us out a little bit, would you? You’ve both done all the fighting and carrying today, and I’m honestly feeling a bit useless.”

Neviah sighed. “Fine. But nothing more extreme than that.”

“Unless you can manage to conjure up a hearty meal,” said Ran. “In which case I’d vote for that.”

“Don’t tempt her,” said Neviah. “Jysal loves a good challenge like that, and her magic is probably potent enough to make it work.”

“Really?”

Jysal shrugged. “I won’t really know what I’m capable of until I reach the temple. Only they can tell me what my boundaries are.”

“Is there such a thing as magic without boundaries?”

“An all-powerful mage?” Jysal shook her head. “I don’t know, actually. If you believe what Kan-Gul says, then he’s one. But I don’t believe that for a moment.”

“Why not?”

“Think about it,” said Jysal. “If Kan-Gul was omnipotent, then this mountain would offer us no shelter or refuge. Kan-Gul would simply tear it apart until he got to us. The fact that we are still alive tells me that he can’t do much to us while we’re in here.”

“Unless he’s got some greater scheme we don’t understand yet.”

Jysal fell silent and then sighed. “That’s true.”

“Three hundred,” said Neviah. “We’re stopping. And Jysal, do us a favor and cast some light around here. Softly though. We don’t want something incredibly bright bouncing off of walls and alerting anything else in this tunnel that we’re around.”

Ran lowered Kancho’s body to the ground. As he did so, a pale blue light lit up their immediate vicinity. Ran blinked twice, but the light was easy enough on his eyes that he quickly adjusted. The tunnel came into stark relief, showing rough walls that had been worn smooth in some areas. Most likely due to water, Ran reasoned.

Neviah slumped against a nearby wall. “I thought my arms were going to drop off.”

“I’m sure Kancho appreciates you hauling him around,” said Ran. “And if it helps, his legs are even heavier.”

Neviah grinned. “Thanks for taking that part.”

Ran nodded and then glanced at Jysal. “Do you sense anything about our surroundings?”

“Like what? Enemies?”

“That would be a good place to start.”

“Nothing,” said Jysal after a quite moment. “It’s possible there are other things lurking out there, but right now, they don’t seem to be anywhere around us.”

“Good,” said Ran. “I’d like to close my eyes for a bit and try to get some rest.”

Neviah eyed Jysal. “Can you take first watch?”

“Certainly. But what should I do if I sense trouble?”

Neviah smiled. “Wake us, but do so quietly. And extinguish your light. If we fight something used to the darkness, a sudden burst of illumination might stun them temporarily and enable us to kill them faster.”

Ran leaned back against the wall closest to Kancho. As he waited for sleep to overtake him, he looked at the older warrior’s body and wondered if he’d done enough. Kancho showed no signs of getting better, although he didn’t look worse, either.
At best
, thought Ran,
I may have only halted the advance.
If they could find a way out of the tunnel and manage to locate someone more skilled then him, there was a chance they could save him.

And what of Kancho’s mission to rescue his daughter? He’d forsaken his code of honor and everything that the Murai held dear in order to find his child. Ran couldn’t fathom it. He had no children of his own, and he’d never known his parents. For as long as he could remember, the compound deep within the fog-enshrouded peaks of Gakur had been his home, and the students and teachers his family. What must it be like, he wondered, to hold a baby and know it was your creation? Then to watch it grow and become its own person, only to have it yanked out of your life so suddenly?

Ran frowned. No wonder Kancho had gone against his clan. Ran would have probably done the same thing.

His eyes drooped, and he heard Neviah breathing deeply nearby. She was already asleep.

But as tired as Ran was, he couldn’t drop off to sleep. Jysal sat motionless nearby, watching. Even from his position, she still buzzed with a faint energy. Ever since their initial encounter with Kan-Gul, it had been unmistakable Kan-Gul had awoken her power somehow. And now she wore it like an aura that surrounded her entire body, curving just so around her hips and breasts. Jysal was as beautiful as she was powerful. Ran smiled to himself. A woman like Jysal probably didn’t even know how much power she could wield. He hoped the temple she was heading to could teach her to use it responsibly.

Ran’s time in Gakur had taught him the same thing. Shinobujin were incredibly potent fighters, but his teachers stressed that sometimes the most powerful technique was doing nothing at all. Knowing when restraint and inaction were the appropriate techniques was at once the easiest and most demanding of all. Everyone wanted to be seen as the ultimate warrior—ego played havoc with perspective and rationale—so the teachers often set up assignments that would deliberately force the students to do nothing. Unlike more physically demanding assignments, these tests were mentally grueling and forced the students to confront the reality of their own ego and potential weakness.

Ran had hated those missions. But he’d managed to pass them all.

One of the toughest had been when he was sent into a local village to observe and report about a certain warlord’s troops in the area. Ran had set himself up as a merchant selling tea at a stand near the center of town. On the second day, as the sun unfolded itself from the rain clouds that had bloated the sky for the past several days, Ran spotted a father beating his child in public. The boy had spilled a sack of rice, and his father had started berating the child. Ran watched as the man’s rage increased to a fever pitch and he started beating his boy, pounding him with fists and kicks. Ran feared the young boy might die, and he wanted nothing more than to rush into the fray and defend the child. But the mission came first, and Ran was only supposed to observe the happenings in the town.

As the father continued to beat his son, Ran’s own temper flared, and he found it harder and harder to restrain himself. Just as he thought the poor boy could stand no more abuse, one of the Murai stationed with the warlord’s troops came striding out of a wine house. As Ran watched, the Murai drew his sword and cut down the father right then and there. Then he helped the boy up and carried him off to a local doctor.

The father’s corpse lay where it was until one of the undesirables came by and collected it later.

Ran stayed another day and then returned to Gakur.

A trio of teachers awaited his report. “What did you see?” asked Noguchi.

Ran told them about all the troop movements he’d noted. He also told them about the father who beat his child.

“Did you want to help the boy?” asked another teacher named Muramatsu.

“More than anything,” Ran had said. “I could hardly hold myself back.”

“But you did. And that is admirable.”

Ran had frowned. “But the boy suffered. I could have helped him.”

“No,” said the final teacher, Oguri. “You would have helped him and saved a single life. But by waiting, you instead now have information that can save many more lives. Had you waded into that conflict, the Murai that killed the father would have noticed you, and the mission would have been compromised. At the very least you would have been noticed. At worst, you might have ended up fighting that Murai. Neither outcome would have given us the desired result.

“But instead of giving in to your ego and the desire to mete out justice, you held yourself in check. And as a result, we now know that a certain Murai warrior is in that town. We’ve been tracking him for some time. And because you kept yourself from getting involved, we know his exact location.”

It had taken Ran a long time to reason out that line of thinking. In the end, he came to an uncertain peace that while he might have acted properly in the eyes of his teachers, he wasn’t so sure he was pleased with himself. Had it truly been ego that made him want to get involved? Or was it some long-forgotten memory of abuse at the hands of his own father that had made him so angered?

If the same situation happened again, Ran made a promise that he would carefully weigh the mission’s importance with the well-being of the child. He had no love for anyone who harmed a child and could see no reason why such people should be allowed to walk the earth. He sighed, realizing that the sense of loyalty he felt toward his clan would often conflict with what he desired to do, or what he thought was the right path. He felt a small tinge of guilt for not leaving the others behind in order to more easily make his escape. He knew he’d done the right thing—he simply couldn’t have abandoned them to have their souls devoured—but he had put them above the needs of his clan. He wondered how many more times in his life such a dilemma would arise? And how he would deal them? Would it always be so easy a decision to make? He doubted it.

“What troubles you?”

He opened his eyes and saw Jysal looking deeply into them. He smiled. “I wasn’t aware you could also read minds.”

She shrugged. “Some things are easier to see.”

Ran stretched and placed one hand on her face. “Your tattoo, where does it come from?”

Jysal covered his hand with hers. “All the women in my clan wear one. Ours is a proud heritage. I was marked from an early age. I’ve never enjoyed it, however.”

“It’s exquisite,” said Ran. “And it only enhances your beauty.”

Jysal smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Thank you. But you’re dodging my question again.”

Ran smirked. “I was remembering an old lesson. One I never felt comfortable with, but understood at the same time. If that makes any sense at all.”

“It does.” Jysal continued to look into his eyes. “It still plagues your conscience?”

Ran shrugged. “Not really. Although I worry about the consequences of rejecting the lesson.”

“You never divulge details, do you?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Whoever trained you has done an admirable job. You are incredibly opaque and yet simultaneously very apparent in your role as a warrior.”

Ran smiled again. “I’m not even sure I know what you mean by that.”

“It’s a compliment.” Jysal kissed him again. “You should sleep. Our time here will be over soon, and we will be moving on down the tunnel. And we may all find that sleep is a forgotten luxury soon enough.”

“You’re making predictions now?”

Jysal shrugged and moved away. “One never knows what the future holds. I only see what I see. Nothing more. At least not yet.”

“I’m not the only one being vague,” said Ran. He settled himself back against the cave wall and closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled it long, fully emptying his lungs before taking another breath. Just as he was about to drop off to sleep, he heard Kancho’s weakened voice.

“Does she kiss well?”