by Davis Ashura
As they walked down a rubble-strewn street, Chak-Soon sniffed the air. “Humans.”
Chak-Tine lifted his snout as well. “Near. Kill them?”
Li-Choke wondered who the Humans were. Were they planning on reclaiming the city? The Chims avoided the Bone Place, but that didn’t mean it was safe for Humanity. Hammer still lacked an Oasis, and without one, Mother could kill them without any effort.
His musings ended when a wolf rounded a corner. The animal howled, calling its pack to the hunt.
“Run!” Choke shouted.
They sprinted along a wide boulevard, dodging rocks, refuse, fallen tree limbs, and ivy thick as rope. All the while, Choke scanned for a defensible spot. “There,” he said, pointing to a nearby building. It was nearly intact. The front door was in place. They might be able to defend it.
Tine, the first to tumble inside, was immediately cut down by an arrow through the throat. He gurgled out his death. Chak-Soon, close behind on Tine’s heels, took a sword thrust to the chest. He slumped to the ground, keening in anguish. Choke stared at his dead and dying Tigons, trying to figure out what was going on.
Before he could, a hammer-blow to his wrist forced him to drop his trident. His whip was ripped from his waist. A vice-like grip squeezed his throat and slammed him against a wall.
“You should have chosen a different building,” a hard voice growled.
Choke grasped the hand, trying to overcome his shock. He knew that voice. “Rukh Shektan?”
An electric jolt went through Rukh. That voice. It was impossible. He should be in the Hunters Flats. “Li-Choke?” A garbled answer sounding like a ‘yes’ was his only response. Rukh dropped the Bael. “What are you doing here?”
The Bael rose shakily to his feet, rubbing his throat. “I am hunting Hume,” he said with a quavering laugh.
“You know this Bael?” Jessira asked, stepping out from behind a large chunk of the fallen ceiling. She had been the one to fire the arrow that had cut down one of the Tigons. The other one still lived, curled up in a ball and gasping out his life.
“You know him, too,” Rukh said. “Li-Choke. The Bael who carried you away after the Kesarin attack in the Hunters Flats.” He walked over to the still-living Tigon. Blood pooled beneath and around the Chim, freezing quickly in the cold air. The creature lay on his side, curdled around the ruin of his torn chest and mewling in pain. Tigons were filthy brutes, but no creature deserved such torture. It was time to end this one’s suffering.
“Don’t kill him,” Li-Choke cried out.
Rukh withheld the lethal blow. He turned to the Bael. “Why?”
“He is not what you think,” Li-Choke said.
Wolves howled outside, sounding as if they were closing in on their building.
Rukh glanced to the open door. “Better explain quickly,” he said. “Sounds like the wolves are hungry.”
“They aren’t hungry,” Choke said with a grimace.
Rukh quirked an eyebrow.
“Since Hume’s death, the animals around Hammer make life dangerous for Chimeras,” Choke said. “We call it the Bone Place.”
“And what about the Tigon? Why’s he so special?” Rukh asked.
“Can you Heal him?” Choke asked, sounding desperate.
“Why should we?” Jessira challenged.
“He understands the truth about Mother. He is the first Tigon to do so. He needs to live.”
Rukh considered Choke’s request and shared a questioning glance with Jessira. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “My initial judgment about the Chims, or at least the Baels, may no longer be trustworthy.”
Rukh stared down at the Tigon. “He’s not even Human,” he said after a moment of thought. “Who knows whether Healing him would even work?”
“Please,” Choke pleaded. “My brothers, the ones you saved in the caverns, were all murdered by the Queen. Afterward, I wondered at my purpose in this world; but Devesh took my tragedy and gave me an opportunity: teach the Tigons. It can be done. They can become as the Baels, great leaders like Li-Dirge. Please, Rukh Shektan. Save this one if you can.”
It was the ‘please’ that convinced Rukh. It was important to the young Bael. Besides, even if Choke was wrong, they could always kill the Tigon later. “Can you Heal him?” Rukh asked Jessira.
“I can try,” she said. “I only hope you know what you’re doing,” she muttered softly, low enough so only he could hear her. “Hold him down,” she ordered Choke. “Once I’ve got him Healed, I don’t want him roaring to his feet trying to kill us.”
Choke helped roll the Tigon over, kneeling at the ordinate’s head and pinning down his hands and arms. “I have him.”
A single thrust had been all Rukh had needed, straight into the right side of the Tigon’s chest. Blood bubbled as it pumped out of the scalpel-straight incision.
Jessira’s hands glowed golden as her eyes narrowed in concentration. “Hemothorax,” she said. “Blood is filling up the space between his chest wall and his collapsed lung. It won’t be easy to fix.” Once more, from beyond the building came the howl of wolves, closer than before. Jessira glanced outside. “And I don’t have time to be gentle.” The light from her hands flowed down into the Tigon, eliciting a harsh growl.
Another howl came from outside, even closer. Rukh rose to his feet, unlimbering his bow as he paced to the front door. He stared out into the night, searching. The wolves were coming. That much was obvious. He set an arrow to string. “Hurry,” Rukh urged, sensing movement in the street.
“Almost done.” Jessira said. More light poured from her hands.
The Tigon drew a shuddering breath even as the large gash knitted shut. His eyes snapped open in terror and briefly, he lifted his head off the ground before it thumped back down. His tongue lolled out.
“What happened?” Choke asked.
“He’s asleep,” Jessira said, looking nearly done for.
“Get him upstairs. I’ll cover.” Rukh said. “We’ll have a better chance holding them off if they only have one way to reach us,” Rukh said.
Choke loaded the unconscious Tigon onto his shoulders and made for the single set of stairs to the left.
“Jessira goes first,” Rukh ordered. He knew how much Healing took out of a person, and as tired as Jessira probably was right now, she wouldn’t even be able to lift her sword. Besides, he wanted as many warriors as possible between her and the wolves.
Choke started up the stairs after Jessira. Rukh readied his bow and followed, walking backward. He’d probably be able to get off two shots, and then it would be his sword. Fireballs couldn’t be used here. It looked like a single spark might set the entire building ablaze.
Rukh conducted Jivatma, strengthening his bones, muscles, and sinews.
“Do you require assistance?” It was Li-Choke.
“No,” Rukh answered. “Just see to your Tigon and make sure Jessira is safe.”
“I’m not made of porcelain,” Jessira said. “And my place should be at your shoulder. Two bows are better than one.”
“You sure you’re up to it?”
His answer was unhappy stomps down the stairs followed by a thump to his head.
“I think you should keep your hands to yourself,” Rukh said with a grimace. It had been a hard thump. “Didn’t anyone teach you OutCastes proper manners?”
Another thump, softer followed by a gentle kiss against his cheek.
Rukh glanced up at her, wishing they could have….He shook off the thoughts. “Just a few hours,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Rukh said. He had heard movement just outside the front door. “Here they come.”
A wolf barreled through an open window. Jessira’s arrow took it through the chest, slamming the beast into a wall. Three more followed. Two were quickly felled but not before another four were inside. They raced for the stairs.
Two more down. Three more inside. Another two. Even m
ore. It was a mad mob of fur, teeth, claws, and furious growls.
Rukh drew his sword. “Fall back,” he ordered. His Martial Masters spoke of how to make correct decisions in the heat of battle: when to defend and when to retreat. But when no choices were left, the wise warrior did the unexpected: he attacked. Rukh Shielded and prepared to step forward and meet the wolves.
The wolves stood at the base of the stairs, teeth bared, snapping, red-eyed with fury. But they didn’t close. They growled their rage, staring upward, but refusing to ascend. Eventually, their anger seemed to play out. Their snarls slowly trailed off and they glanced about, confusion evident in their expressions. A whimper. Two. More. One left, then others. Without another sound, they exited the building, silent but for the scrabbling of their claws on the wooden floor. Once outside, they yipped to one another before racing off into the night.
“It’s over,” Rukh said, confused by what had just happened.
The Tigon slept the rest of the night, while Rukh and the Bael filled Jessira in on what had really happened in the caverns. She hadn’t been entirely happy to learn that Rukh had aided the Baels. While she understood the Chim commanders had done their best to protect Humanity ever since Hammer’s Fall, she couldn’t make the leap between understanding their actions and forgiving them.
Rukh had. It was part of why she liked him so much: his capacity for forgiveness.
“How much longer will he slumber?” Choke asked, interrupting her thoughts when the Tigon stirred briefly but didn’t awaken.
Dawn was near.
Jessira shrugged. “It wasn’t an easy Healing,” she said. “For a Human, it would take most of the day for them to awake. Who knows how long it will take for a Tigon.”
“You’ll have to carry him out of here,” Rukh said. “Can you manage it?”
Choke nodded. “It won’t be a problem unless the animals attack us.”
“I still don’t understand what happened last night,” Rukh said. “When they burst into the building, I was sure they would swarm up the stairs. They looked rabid.”
“Perhaps a portion of the Queen’s madness infected the beasts of Hammer after She destroyed the city,” Choke said.
“Then why did they leave so suddenly?” Jessira asked doubtfully. It was an obvious hole in Choke’s logic. She wondered if the Bael was trying to hide something from them.
“I don’t know,” Choke said with a shrug. “All we know is that the animals here hate Chimeras.”
“We never had trouble with them,” Rukh said, his lips pursed in thought. “Maybe they don’t hate Humans.”
“Perhaps so,” Choke said with a grunt. “What are your plans here?” he asked, changing the subject.
“We could ask the same of you,” Jessira said, eyeing the Bael in distrust.
Choke grimaced. “Mother made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” he answered, going on to explain the death of the surviving Baels from the caverns. “Your great work was wasted,” he said to Rukh.
Rukh’s head drooped. “That is a shame,” he replied. “But maybe we can still salvage something from this disaster.”
“My brethren are all dead,” Choke answered. “What more can we do?”
“The western Baels still live, as do you. Your brothers need to learn what the two of us tried to accomplish. And they shouldn’t forget Li-Dirge. It was his words and actions—yours as well—that led me to do what I did in the caverns. The Baels aren’t dead yet.”
“They will be,” Choke replied softly. “Mother told me if I didn’t carry out this task, She would kill every one of them.”
Jessira waited a moment for Choke to explain what he meant by his last statement, but the Bael fell silent. Jessira rolled her eyes in irritation. “Just like the other one, Dirge—always wanting us to ask a question to find out the rest of the story,” she muttered. “Just tell us what happened,” she said to Choke. “And no more dramatic pauses.”
Choke blinked, nonplussed, before a sheepish grin spread across his face. “Did you happen to kill a nest of Ur-Fels and a claw of Tigons in the Privation Mountains four or five months ago?” he asked.
Jessira shared a look with Rukh. “We did,” she said. “Well, mostly Rukh,” she amended, shooting him a glare.
“What about it?” Rukh asked Choke, wisely refusing to meet Jessira’s eyes.
“Chak-Soon—” he pointed to the Tigon, “—was the ordinate, the commander in charge. He witnessed the battle and told Mother what he saw. When She learned a single Human had destroyed so many Chimeras, in Her lunacy, She decided only Hume was skilled enough to carry out such an attack.”
“She knows of Hume?” Jessira asked in confusion. “How?”
“I don’t know, but She does; and She ordered me west, to join up with Soon and his Chimeras. We were instructed to journey to Hammer in order to find and kill Hume—who is apparently you.”
The room fell silent again, as Jessira and Rukh digested Choke’s words.
“And what about you?” the Bael asked, breaking the quiet. “What is your purpose in Hammer?”
Jessira waited for Rukh to take the lead. After all, coming here had been his decision.
“I’m looking for The Book of First Movement. It was supposedly written by the First Father,” Rukh said.
“Why would you travel all the way from Ashoka for one book?” Choke asked, appearing puzzled.
Rukh shifted, looking uncomfortable. “I have my reasons,” he said, not bothering to correct the Bael’s mistaken assumption regarding from where they had started their journey.
Choke’s lips twitched. “Is this a dramatic pause?” he asked.
“My nanna suggested it,” Rukh said with a shrug. “So here we are.”
“And did your nanna tell you where you might find this book?” Choke asked. He gestured outside. “Hammer is a large city.”
“It’s supposed to be in the City Library,” Rukh answered.
“And if we—the Baels—had moved it? What then?”
Jessira smirked at Rukh. “He hadn’t planned that far in advance.”
Choke nodded. “Then it is fortunate I found you. The book was entombed with Hume. It remains within the City Library of Hammer, but underneath a simple unmarked plinth in the center of the main atrium. I would hazard to guess that neither of you would have thought to search there.”
“No we wouldn’t. We’d have had to return home with nothing to show for our troubles.” Jessira glanced at Rukh. “Aren’t you glad you took my advice and saved the Bael?”
“Your advice?” Rukh said. “If I’d followed your advice, he’d have—”
Jessira laughed. “Your cheeks turn so red when you think someone’s wronged you,” she said, enjoying the further blush taking hold of Rukh’s face. Sometimes he made it too easy.
Choke nodded gravely. “She is correct. Your blush is quite red.”
The Bael’s quiet, studious observation set Jessira laughing again; and Choke’s lips twitched at her amusement.
Rukh muttered something unintelligible before chuckling with them.
Li-Choke looked between them before breaking out into an expansive smile. “When I first met the two of you, I would have sworn the two of you would forever remain mortal enemies. You shared a distrust for one another rivaling your hatred for the Fan Lor Kum. Yet here you are, laughing together. It’s good to see how well the spirit of fraternity has grown between the two of you.”
“You think we think of one another as brothers?” Jessira asked.
“Not literally, but figuratively. Metaphorically if you will,” Choke said. “Is that not true?” he asked sounding confused.
Jessira’s peal of laughter had the Bael’s ears wilting in embarrassment. It didn’t help that Rukh was laughing just as heartily. Jessira felt a surprising twinge of sympathy for the Chim.
“What is so funny?” Choke asked, looking affronted.
Rukh shook his head. “I don’t think of Jessira as a brother or a sister,” he sai
d.
“Then in what way do you think of one another,” Choke asked, glancing between the two of them. Insight suddenly lit his eyes. “Oh.”
Choke led the packhorse, which had somehow survived last night’s attack and now had the unfortunate task of carrying the burden of the still slumbering Chak-Soon. Ahead of them walked Rukh Shektan. The Ashokan maintained point as they travelled a wide road through the heart of Hammer, toward the City Library.
The day was warm. Spring was in the air and melting snow was turning much of the ground into a slushy, muddy mess. A brackish, unpleasant smell seemed to seep from the very pores of the city as the marsh south and east of Hammer had also begun to thaw. However, in the shadows, beneath doorways and along the sides of buildings where the sun rarely reached, it remained cold. There, ice and frost bitterly clung to the eaves. The distant cry of a falcon came to them, but otherwise the city was silent. For his part, Choke was grateful the fearful howl of wolves on the hunt didn’t fill the air.
Rukh didn’t seem to notice any of this. His eyes were focused and intense as he continually scanned before them, to their sides, and even behind. An arrow lay upon the rest of his bow, ready to be aimed and released in an instant’s notice. Choke knew the weapon was merely one of the means by which Rukh could deal death. His Fireballs were another, but perhaps his deadliest tool lay at his hip: his matte-black, spidergrass sword. Choke had rarely faced Humans in battle, and he was glad he would never have to face this one.
Then there was Jessira Grey who followed a few paces to the rear of their small group, equally alert and ready. What she lacked in Rukh’s consummate skills, she made up for with sheer fearlessness. She knew Rukh was the superior warrior, but she refused to hide behind him. She insisted on doing for herself; carrying her own weight.
She had little use for Li-Choke; that much was obvious. She hadn’t entirely believed his reason for being in Hammer, always regarding the Bael through measuring, close slit eyes. It was a minor miracle Rukh had managed to persuade the woman to Heal Chak-Soon. She would surely have preferred to simply slit the young Tigon’s throat and be done with it. In her eyes, doing so would have carried no burden of sin since according to her view, all members of the Fan Lor Kum were enemies who deserved to die.