The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul (21 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Ran’s head broke out of the water. He gasped, sucking in watery mouthfuls of air. His chest heaved, his lungs burning from having been underwater for so long. The towering wave had collapsed on them, shoving the raider ship free of the reef, toppling it end over end while Ran and his friends were all trapped on the rolling cylinder of water, unable to break through to surface until the wave finally receded.

In its wake, the raider ship was stranded in about six feet of water along a strip of sandbar about fifty yards from the beach.

Hands grabbed at Ran. “Come on, we’ve got to move!”

He blinked the salt water out of his eyes and felt for his sword at his side. It was still there, thankfully. He glanced around and saw Neviah struggling with Jysal through the water. Kancho was on one side of him and Yuki on the other. Incredibly, they’d all made it through the giant wave.

Ran shoved the memory of the wave out of his head. “Where are they?”

Kancho grunted. “They hit the reef, too. They’re about a hundred and fifty yards away, but Malkyr has already ordered men into the surf to chase us down.”

“Chekhal?”

“Not yet. Kan-Gul seems to be holding them back for now. Not sure what his plan is, but we’ve got to reach shore and get up those cliffs so we can hold Malkyr’s men back.”

Ran felt strength returning to his legs. “I’m fine. Let me go on my own. You can help your daughter.”

“She’s fine,” said Kancho. “I raised her to hold her own. It’s one reason why she’s held up as well as she has.” He smiled. “She’s made me a very proud man on this day.”

Ran surged ahead, wading through the water until he drew up out of the surf. He turned and saw a force of ten men trying their best to swim through the breakwater and reach shore. Ran couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw the triangular dorsal fins of roving sharks out there. He nodded. Maybe those fish could help whittle down the numbers Ran and the others would have to deal with. That would be fine with him.

Neviah and Jysal reached shore and started climbing the bank toward the foot of the cliff. “How do we get up there?” called Neviah. “I don’t see any sort of path.”

Kancho frowned. “I might be able to help them.”

Ran pushed him up the beach. “You go. I’ll stay back to deal with them.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ll make a note of how you get up there and follow along shortly. If I can cut a few of them down and make them nervous about following me, then so much the better.”

“All right. Good luck.”

Ran watched Kancho and Yuki head up the beach, with Neviah and Jysal following behind. Ran turned and watched as one of Malkyr’s men screamed as he was attacked by a shark. A spray of blood flew up into the rainy air, and then the man was gone. But the effect of seeing their comrade taken only energized the remaining men, and they swam even faster.

Ran waited until they were fifty yards from shore and then drew his sword. He knew they would be tired from the swim. That would work to his advantage.

One of the men swam faster than the others. Ran frowned. He’d made a big mistake. By surging ahead, he was now alone and without any of his friends close by. As he waded through the water, he unstrapped a battle axe and took a few practice swings.

Ran didn’t give him time to get out of the water. He knew about the battle-ax and its massive weight and strength. Ran also knew its weakness. What it had in strength, it gave up in speed and maneuverability. In the water, the man’s footing would be less sure. Ran would use that to his advantage.

The man swung the battle-ax in a wide arc, and Ran stepped back as he did. The ax blade whistled past, and Ran cut down, aiming his sword at one of the man’s hands. The sword nicked just above the wrist, and Ran saw the blood start to flow. It fell and mixed with the sand, staining it a deep red before the waves came in and diluted it.

The ax man flipped the blade back around and swung again. Ran hadn’t expected the move to be as fast as it was and had to jump to the side to avoid it. As he did so, he let his sword come down and cut into the man’s side. He heard the scream and followed through, plunging his blade deep into the man’s back before cutting right to left. The man grunted once and dropped. The battle-ax slipped from his grasp.

Ran turned and saw another man charging ahead out of the surf. He had a smaller sword in each hand. Ran frowned. Two blades were always more dangerous than one, especially if the person wielding them was lean and light on his feet. This man was. He grinned at Ran and licked his lips. “I see you dispatched Revor already.”

Ran said nothing. Talking was a waste of energy when there was killing to be done. He waited, and the man shrugged. Then he attacked.

He brought the two blades up, one higher than the other, and charged in, cutting down. If he’d expected Ran to try to deflect the blades, he was momentarily surprised when Ran merely avoided the cuts and then cut in with his own blade. This forced the man to retreat and parry Ran’s sword. He backed up to the water’s edge and then tried another attack. But Ran simply avoided the double strike by sidestepping and then arced a single diagonal cut down at the man’s neck, cutting him open before leaping away. The look of shock on the man’s face was the last expression he would ever wear. He slipped forward and then fell face-first into the waves that instantly sought to drag him back out to the reef, where the sharks could have him.

Good thing he wasn’t better trained,
thought Ran. The remainder of Malkyr’s men were coming in together, slowly and already armed. Facing them as one would be foolhardy. Ran dashed up the beach and found the tracks of Kancho and the others. He followed these up and around until he came across a game trail that led upward.

He heard shouts behind him and knew that Malkyr’s men would be giving chase. Seeing two of their comrades cut down would no doubt fuel their desire for revenge. Ran sprinted until he came to a corner where the trail banked around. Ran reached down, grabbed a handful of sand, and waited.

Less than thirty seconds later, he cut out from the corner horizontally and low. His blade impacted the thighs of the lead man and cut deep. Ran stepped out and threw the handful of sand in a wide arc aimed at the eyes of the men behind the lead man. As they struggled to deal with the eye-clouding sand, Ran finished off the lead man by dragging his blade up into his belly and finishing with a downward cut to the back of his neck.

Another man lunged forward. Ran stepped back, letting the man’s momentum carry him forward onto Ran’s blade.

Then he turned and bolted farther up the trail. As he ran, his lungs heaved. The ascent was tough on his legs and lungs, but Ran pushed on. He’d managed to take out four of the men. A shark had taken another. That left five more on his tail. Reasonable odds, he figured. And certainly manageable for Kancho and Neviah when they reached the top of the cliff.

Two hundred yards farther on, he reached the top of the cliff and saw Kancho and Neviah, armed and waiting. Behind them stood Yuki and Jysal. And beyond them, the sprawling Dark Sea glistened as more waves pummeled the coast. Ran thumbed over his shoulder.

“Five coming.”

“You only left us five?” Kancho grinned. “Hardly worth the effort.”

Neviah smirked. “He’s so greedy.”

Ran fell behind them and took several seconds to grab some air into his lungs. He looked out over the cliff and saw Malkyr’s transport vessel lying on the reef. More men were coming ashore. And worse, so were Chekhal. He wondered why they didn’t attack Malkyr’s men and figured Kan-Gul’s magic must have made them obedient.

But they would be here soon.

Ran’s attention was drawn back to the top of the cliff. Malkyr’s lead men had reached the summit and fanned out in front of Kancho and Neviah.

Kancho smiled at Neviah. “Would you mind if I took the lead?”

“Be my guest.”

Kancho stepped out ahead of her. Ran knew the technique. Kancho would handle the first attacker and funnel them toward Neviah as he cut them first and she finished them off. A more experienced group of fighters would hold back and seek one-on-one combat with Kancho, aware of the trick, but these men didn’t look all that experienced. Judging by his first two foes, these men were used to facing the weak and the panicked. They had all the technique of mindless butchers.

Two men rushed Kancho almost immediately. Kancho raised his sword high and brought it screaming down on the lead man’s arms, then stepped to the side and shoved the man toward Neviah, who simply stabbed him in the heart and let him drop at her feet. Kancho engaged the second man with a reverse upswing cut that impaled him under the right armpit. Kancho drove in deep, severing the vital arteries there, before yanking his blade free and wheeling around to meet the next attack.

Another man stepped forward, holding a similar curved blade. Kancho paused, his eyebrows raised. The man might have held a Murai blade, but he was anything but Murai. Still, if nothing else, Kancho gave the blade more respect than the man.

“Where did you get that sword?”

“From an old man in Nehon who died by my hand. As will you.”

Kancho frowned. “We hold our blades in high regard. That one deserves better treatment than at the hands of someone like you.”

“We’ll see.”

Kancho nodded. “Yes. We will.”

The man advanced slowly and then launched a searing downward cut at Kancho’s head. He was fast, this man, but Kancho was faster. As the man launched the attack, Kancho simply stepped in and drove the point of his sword into the base of the man’s throat, stabbed straight through and kept going. There was the briefest pause as the sword cut and then the man’s head fell from his shoulders.

Kancho spun and faced the remaining two men. “Which of you is next?”

Neither man seemed ready to advance and meet the Murai warrior in front of them. Ran got back to his feet and watched the action unfold on the beach. More of Malkyr’s men were streaming ashore, and the lead Chekhal had now made it to the sand as well. While the march up the cliff might exhaust Malkyr’s men, the Chekhal wouldn’t tire out. And the fact that they were now coming made Ran anxious.

“We’re going to have a lot more visitors soon,” he said. “Chekhal visitors.”

Kancho let his sword blade dip toward the ground and that was the incentive the remaining men needed. They attacked from either side of Kancho. But the old warrior stepped back and simultaneously brought his sword up and over the first attacker’s blade, cut down on his arms, and then flipped the edge toward the man’s neck and cut through horizontally. The movement was so precise and fast the attacker never saw it happen. As his head and body fell in two different directions, the second attacker tried to correct his position, but by then it was too late. Kancho stepped around and delivered two sweeping cuts to the back of his legs and then back down into his chest. The second attacker went down almost as fast.

Kancho stepped back, barely breathing hard.

Neviah frowned. “Thanks for giving me so much work.”

“I gave you one. Don’t complain.”

“He was basically dead when you handed him off.”

Kancho flipped his blade and hit the back of the blade with the edge of his hand to clear the blood off of it. “Let’s not fight over body counts. Ran tells us there will shortly be many more than we can both possibly wish for.”

“Interesting choice of words,” said Neviah. “Let’s see how we do this time.”

Ran came over. “They’re going to keep throwing men at us until they overwhelm us.”

“Most likely,” said Neviah.

“In which case, we are dead,” said Ran.

Kancho grunted. “But not until we cost them many lives. A good day’s work, I’d say.”

Ran frowned. “I don’t want to die here on some lonely cliff. There’s got to be another way.”

Neviah eyed him. “I will not ask her to use magic. Jysal knows the risks.”

“And what if she wants to help out anyway? What then?”

“She will not,” said Neviah. “The danger is too great.”

“If she doesn’t help, then we are all dead and the point is moot anyway. But if her magic is able to help us, what’s wrong with that? We need help or we’ll be killed.”

Neviah frowned and then nodded slowly. “Very well. Ask her while Kancho and I deal with our uninvited guests.”

Ran moved back to Jysal. “You know what’s happening.”

“We are in a very bad situation.”

“Malkyr is sending more men, and Kan-Gul has a unit of Chekhal proceeding up the hill toward us even now. We are only five and effectively only three. Unless you choose to help us.”

“Neviah has told me it’s too dangerous to use magic if I am untrained.”

“But you did it in the tunnel. Remember?”

“That was only to light the area.”

The first of Malkyr’s reinforcements came around the corner at the top of the game trail. They engaged Kancho and Neviah immediately. And these men looked more like hardened veterans. Ran could already see that Kancho was moving more carefully than he had been before. Neviah was also taking her time instead of rushing. Ran resisted the urge to rush to their side and join the fray. Too many men were coming up the hillside for their blades to defeat.

“If you don’t help us, we are all dead.”

Jysal closed her eyes. “I’m afraid, Ran.”

“You should be. If they manage to subdue us, we’re all dead . . . worse than dead.”

Jysal opened her eyes. “What would you have me do?”

“Whatever you can. I don’t know any magic. So I trust you to do what’s best. But if you can defeat these men, then I suggest you do so immediately. We need Kancho and Neviah for when the Chekhal arrive. And that will be soon.”

Jysal took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Very well. I will try.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

“Stand back.”

Jysal said the words almost as if she were whispering, but Ran heard them loud and clear. He waved Kancho and Neviah back. Neviah wore an expression of alarm on her face, but Ran simply shook his head and she stayed quiet.

Jysal’s entire body seemed to pulse for a moment. Then as Ran watched, a yellow aura broke out around her, sizzling and crackling in the air. He blinked and nearly missed the orb that shot from her outstretched hands directly at the men rushing onto the top of the cliff. It struck them and exploded, sending them all flying back down the trail, their bodies scattered like so many grains of sand.

None of them moved again.

Kancho glanced back at Jysal. “Impressive, young one.”

Neviah sheathed her blades and rushed to Jysal’s side even as Jysal started to slump. “I told you not to try it.”

“I had to. You and Kancho would have been overwhelmed by the reinforcements. I couldn’t let that happen. Not after all you’ve done for me.”

Neviah cradled Jysal’s head and looked at Ran. “You did this. You pressured her to use magic when she shouldn’t have. If she dies, I will kill you.”

Ran held up his hand. “You’re not being rational, Neviah. There were too many of them. Jysal made the decision to try to help you—to help all of us. She knew we could never handle the enemy without her. And when Kan-Gul arrives with his Chekhal, you can bet it’s going to get a lot worse around here. We’d be dead within seconds.”

“If that’s what is supposed to happen, then so be it.”

“You’re very cavalier when you say that,” said Ran. “How would you reconcile that sentiment with the fact that Jysal would be forced into a life of pain and suffering? If you’re dead, you certainly can’t protect her.”

Neviah frowned. “She still shouldn’t have done anything.”

Kancho walked to where the dead bodies of Malkyr’s men lay. While Kan-Gul’s magic storm had subsided, a persistent drizzle continued to soak the ground. Kancho glanced around the corner and then came rushing back. “You two are going to have to put this aside. Kan-Gul and his Chekhal are heading this way. Malkyr is with him as well.”

Jysal stirred and looked up at Neviah. Her voice was a faint whisper. “I did what I wanted to do. Don’t be mad at Ran. Without him, we wouldn’t have made it this far. I just need some time to rest. That’s all.” Her head slumped against Neviah’s chest and was still.

Tears streamed down Neviah’s face as she laid Jysal down on the grass. Turning, she eyed Ran. “We’re not done yet.”

Was Jysal dead? Ran swallowed and hoped that she wasn’t. There wasn’t time to mourn her passing now. Not with so many enemies still to deal with. Ran nodded. “Fine.”

Neviah drew her weapons. “It’s time to finish this.”

The lead Chekhal came around the corner of the trail and charged onto the cliff wielding a barbed spear. It wore leather armor studded with steel bolts, and its opaque eyes swept around surveying the scene. Neviah walked forward to meet it.

Brandishing two short swords, Neviah looked every bit as intimidating as the Chekhal she faced. The undead warrior spun the spear and thrust it three times before Ran even registered the first attack. These Chekhal were much faster and more adept with their weapons than the ones they’d dealt with back at the castle.

But Neviah was running on rage and her reflexes were even faster than the Chekhal. She twisted and leapt and dodged each attack, coming down on the balls of her feet before stabbing both blades into the midsection of the Chekhal. It grunted and staggered back, trying to free itself from being impaled. Neviah moved with it, wrenching her blades free before spinning and neatly severing the undead’s head.

Another Chekhal rushed on to the scene. Ran drew his sword but Neviah moved faster, engaging and driving low with a sweeping cut to its unprotected legs. Her blades severed one leg, and the Chekhal toppled over. Neviah stepped behind it and drove the tip of one sword directly into its brain. It convulsed once and then lay still.

“Let’s join the fray,” said Kancho, drawing his sword. He and Ran moved to opposite sides of the cliff as more Chekhal reached the cliff and started fighting with them. In the middle of the cliff, Neviah was a whirlwind of cutting action. She showed no signs of fatigue as she cut down three more Chekhal before Kancho had dispatched his first opponent.

Ran caught sight of Kan-Gul striding up the game trail. Malkyr hustled to follow, but he still walked with a bit of a limp. Ran smiled. It was good to know that his injury would slow him down. That would make him easier to kill.

The number of bodies around Neviah grew with each passing minute. As much as Ran and Kancho cut down more Chekhal, their numbers never seemed to wane. More and more of them were streaming up the game trail. Slowly, all three of them were pushed back, closer toward the edge of the cliff overlooking the tempestuous sea.

Overhead, the clouds still pummeled them with sheets of rain. The ground underfoot grew steadily more muddy and slippery. Ran was forced to widen his base of support and sink lower to avoid falling. Kancho adjusted easily enough, neatly cutting one of the Chekhal in two pieces. The Chekhal continued to move until Kancho cut his head off.

Neviah went airborne again, driving a flying kick into the chest of one Chekhal armed with a curved sword. The impact drove the undead warrior back into three other Chekhal. Neviah landed and ran directly at the four of them, her swords a whirl of mayhem that severed limbs and eventually heads. But as many as she continued to slay, more rushed in to fill the void left by their slain comrades.

Ran was growing tired, and he could see the toll on Kancho as well. Kan-Gul and Malkyr hadn’t come up onto the cliff top yet, apparently preferring to wait until the Chekhal had worn down their opponents. Behind him, Jysal’s body lay still. Ran felt his heart drop. If she was truly dead, then this was not going to end well.

Not one bit.

Kancho was closer to Ran now. “We can’t maintain this pace. There are too many of them.”

Ran cleaved the head of another Chekhal off and watched it fall over the side of the cliff into the sea below. “What do you suggest?”

“We have but two options, really. One: keep fighting until we die. Two: jump over the side of the cliff and take our chances in the sea below.”

Ran smirked. “I like how surrender wasn’t on that list.”

“Surrender would be suicide. We’re dead anyway.” He deflected another attacking Chekhal and cut it down with a low-high cut. He nodded at Neviah. “She’s still going strong.”

Ran shook his head. “It can’t last. She’s fueled by rage right now—or sorrow—at the thought that Jysal has died. Sooner or later, they’ll overwhelm her.”

Kancho smirked. “Youth. I miss it. Time was I would have had the energy to do what she’s doing now.”

“Regardless, it can’t last.” Ran dodged another attacking Chekhal and then cut it down with a backslash that severed its spinal cord. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do here.”

A trio of Chekhal rushed Neviah simultaneously. She couldn’t handle them and they fell upon her. Ran rushed in, cutting two of them down while Neviah speared the third through its eye socket. She shoved the dead Chekhal off of her and glared at Ran. “This changes nothing.”

“We’re going to be overwhelmed here in a moment.”

“We fight!” shouted Neviah. “We cannot leave her behind.”

It was fruitless to argue with her. She rushed another pair of Chekhal and cut them down in seconds. But Ran could see she was beginning to tire. Her movements were slowing. It was impossible to tell if she was sweating given how much rain was falling on them, but Ran felt sure she was soaked as much by sweat as by precipitation.

More Chekhal strode into the fray. Neviah backed up, doing her best to ward them off, but there were more right behind them. Kan-Gul must have held some back and now threw everything at the trio on top of the cliff. Ran still hadn’t glimpsed the evil sorcerer, but he felt his presence close by.

He glanced back, aware that he was being pushed perilously close to the edge of the cliff. He ducked under another attack and cut the Chekhal down. Then he moved ahead, trying to carve out an area where he could fight without fear of going over the side. Two more Chekhal came at him, and Ran struggled to maintain his breathing. Without it, fatigue would claim him more quickly. He ducked and dodged and sidestepped and then killed them both. His lungs heaved. The ground sucked at his feet. The corpses were piling up and starting to limit their mobility.

Kancho stepped over the corpse of one Chekhal and nearly tripped on another one. He frowned and cut down another attacker. “It’s getting too crowded up here.”

At that moment, the Chekhal stopped charging forward.

Neviah, Kancho, and Ran all paused, looking around for a new foe to dispatch. The Chekhal atop the cliff shrank back toward the game trail and then stood there. From behind them, Ran saw movement. The Chekhal parted and allowed Kan-Gul to pass through.

The evil sorcerer wore a big smile as he surveyed the scene. The smile faded when he saw Jysal’s limp body on the ground.

“Is she dead?”

The look on Neviah’s face could have made steel melt, Ran decided. But it had little effect on Kan-Gul. “She used magic before her body was properly prepared for it. It killed her.”

“Where are my men?” asked Malkyr as he came onto the cliff.

Neviah nodded at Jysal. “They were her first and only victims.”

“She used magic to kill them?” asked Kan-Gul. “Such a waste. But so much power. I can feel its residue even now.” He glanced at Malkyr. “I told you not to rush too many men up here. If you’d followed my commands, we could have captured them and managed to keep the girl alive. Instead, this is a slaughterhouse. Worse, the girl is dead. Her magic is gone.”

“We had to attack,” said Malkyr. “After what they did to my men, to my ship.”

“I don’t care about your men,” said Kan-Gul. “I only cared about the girl. That’s what you were paid for. You were supposed to bring her to me.”

“I did bring her to you, nearly at the cost of my leg, I might remind you.”

Kan-Gul frowned. “Pity the shark didn’t finish the job.” He looked at Neviah. “You do realize this man betrayed you, don’t you?”

Neviah nodded. “I do.”

“Then perhaps you should kill him.” Kan-Gul nodded, and the Chekhal behind Malkyr shoved him out away from their protection. Another Chekhal tossed a sword at Malkyr’s feet.

Malkyr looked back at Kan-Gul. “We had a deal!”

“Exactly,” said Kan-Gul. “We
had
a deal. You mucked things up by letting your ego make decisions for you. You’ve cost me the most precious thing I ever wanted. That girl’s power would have made me the most powerful sorcerer in the land. Because of that, you will now face the wrath of her protector.”

Malkyr snatched the sword up and wheeled to face Neviah.

Neviah took a breath and flexed her arms. She resheathed one of her swords and eyed Malkyr. “You’re not worth two.”

Malkyr screamed as he rushed in at her. The downward cut was off-balance and clumsy but still had a significant amount of force behind it. If he’d managed to connect, it certainly would have cut Neviah down.

Neviah sidestepped and smacked Malkyr on the back of the head with the flat of her blade. The solid clunk knocked Malkyr off his feet. He went sprawling and nearly impaled himself on his own sword as he did so. He slowly got to his feet and shook off some of the mud.

“Make this damned rain stop!”

Kan-Gul seemed ready to bark an order at Malkyr, then looked at Ran and his companions and shrugged. “I suppose I could grant you one final favor.” He snapped his fingers, and the rain simply stopped. No lingering drops or drizzle.

Ran sighed. He was certain Kan-Gul had meant to intimidate them with his show of power, but Ran didn’t care. The absence of pouring rain was a welcome change.

Malkyr circled Neviah, trying to gain an advantage. He attacked again, this time attempting to cut her in half at the waist. Neviah backed up and let his momentum carry him past her. This time she used the tip of the sword to cut him under his rib cage as he went by. Ran heard the cut and saw Malkyr wince as the razor edge drew blood for the first time.

He wheeled fast and tried to cut back at her, but Neviah had already moved away. Malkyr’s attack sailed through the air harmlessly. He doubled back and came at her with an overhead diagonal attack. Neviah leaned away and kicked Malkyr in the crotch.

Kan-Gul chuckled. “This is almost entertaining enough to make me forget about the loss of the girl.”

Malkyr sucked wind on the grass as he tried to get his legs back under him.

Neviah spat at him. “You’re pathetic.”

Malkyr eyed her with hatred smeared across his face. “I will kill you, bitch.”

Neviah backed up and used her free hand to wave him on. “Come on then and do your worst.”

Ran watched as she backed closer toward where Kan-Gul stood. The sorcerer’s face showed a mixture of glee and amusement. Ran frowned. If there was only a chance of killing him.

And then Neviah did the unthinkable. As she backed toward Kan-Gul, she abruptly changed direction and swung her sword horizontally right at Kan-Gul’s neck. Ran’s heart leapt into his throat.

Yes!

But it was as though Neviah’s sword hit a solid wall right in front of Kan-Gul. The force of the impact knocked her back, stumbling.

Kan-Gul held up one finger and tutted. “Now, now, that wasn’t very nice . . . ”

Ran started to shout for Neviah to be careful, but then Malkyr was already rushing in from behind. Even as Neviah started to register the threat and turn to face him, Malkyr’s blade plunged into her back, between her shoulder blades.

As Ran watched, horrified, the tip of Malkyr’s sword erupted from Neviah’s chest, spraying the ground with blood.

Neviah sank to the ground, her eyes already rolling white.

Silence descended over the cliff.