by D. N. Leo
Kan suddenly flicked his fingers at him. A curved dagger from one of the mercenaries flew through the air at him. If he hadn’t reacted quickly and ducked, his throat would have been sliced open. Although it missed his throat, the sharp blade of the knife cut into his arm. Blood spurted out.
“If you want to kill me,” said Gale, “tell them to go all in. I assume you don’t want to fight me yourself.” That was all he got out before he felt his body spinning through the air. It smashed down onto the wet grass of the meadow.
Kan approached and thrust a knife at him. Gale grabbed the sharp blade with his bare hands and watched his blood as it seeped out between his fingers.
“You and your friends are talkers. I won’t let you manipulate your way out of a game that I won,” Kan growled.
Gale slammed a kick to Kan’s abdomen, sending him skidding away.
“You won’t kill me, Kan. You could use that bunch of money-hungry mercenaries to do it for you. But you won’t, because what my game partners and I killed was your ego. That is what you want to win back…”
His world started to waver, and his knees buckled. Gale reached for his shoulder wound, and his hand came back covered with black blood.
Kan charged several blows on him using his supernatural power. He felt as if his body was going to disintegrate.
“You’re right. Killing you would be too easy after all the years I’ve had to suffer from that loss. The poison you have in you now is a stimulant. It will bring back your memory of when you cheated me out of my trophy, and when it does, you’ll take down your game partners, your life, your family, and your entire world. And you’ll hand them over to me, Gale Brody.”
Gale scrambled up from the floor and looked at his shaky hands. Did I just pass out? he wondered. Bloody hell! Feeling a tingling sensation on his shoulder, he peeled his sleeve up to inspect. There was a faint mark there like a bruise. He must have hit it on something when he fell.
When he looked at his equipment on the desk, he recalled how he had dived deep into the water of the stream and reached the other side. After that, he’d come home, packed his stuff, and created an emergency Pass for a portal ticket to Earth. That was how he’d ended up here in this hotel room. Now, though, he needed to find Lyla and Michael to let them know he couldn’t monitor their gateway back from the Daimon Gate.
But he’d find another way to get them back.
He went to the window and looked down to the street. If his information was correct, this was an area on Earth called Vietnam, and that was exactly where he had sent Lyla and Michael.
Chapter Fourteen
Michael woke in the morning and felt Lyla curled against his back, shivering from the cold that penetrated the hardwood floor. He tucked her in with whatever scraps of fabric he could find—and even some hay—and went out to survey their surroundings.
The village was busy. People went about their business. Animals and children were everywhere, and he assumed they knew what they were doing and where they were going. A couple of kids walked among mountain goats, keeping the animals on the path that led to the upper hills to feed.
Aren’t they supposed to be in school? he wondered but quickly shook his head to brush the thought away because that was the first question Ciaran had asked him in that tunnel after picking him up out of the blood and gore of his stepfather’s body.
People smiled at him. None of them spoke English, so he gave up the idea of asking for information. A couple of men observed him from a distance. He saw them watching but ignored them. He meandered around the village, drawing a mental map and looking for a possible way of escape.
He was sure they were on the Highland, as Lyla had said, but where exactly, he had no clue. Climbing up to a lookout tower, he tried to locate a nearby town. But all he saw were rolling mountains and thick tropical jungles.
On his way back to the wooden house where Lyla slept, a small cottage caught his attention. It was at the far end of the village, out of sight, and there was nothing about it that stood out. He didn’t know why he even noticed it. He wouldn’t normally go out of his way like this, especially when his mind was set on getting back to Lyla, but he was drawn to the cottage.
Standing in front of the small house, he noted that it was locked from the outside.
Something inside him urged him to pick the lock. The hut was out of sight of the main village square. He glanced around, resisting the impulse for as long as he could. But he figured nobody would see him, and his urge won. Picking the lock was child’s play for him, and he had it open in a couple of seconds.
He pushed the door open. A blast of cold wind rushed out, and he was sucked inside. The door slammed shut behind him. The inside of the cottage was very dimly lit. In the darkness, he saw the shadow of a lizard standing on two legs. Its arms reached out, its claws threatening a woman who sat on the floor, shaking, with a man’s body in her arms.
Michael drew his knife and, in a flash, stabbed the lizard in the head. The animal’s body fell to the ground and melted instantly into a puddle of swimming worms. As fast as it had formed, the puddle evaporated into thin air.
“Xiilok creature!” Michael muttered. They were here. That meant the mercenaries would soon track Lyla. They had to get out of here.
He was turning to leave when he heard the sobs of the woman.
He approached her and crouched down next to her. It was dark, but he could see she was Caucasian. And there was something eerily familiar about her eyes. She was shaking with fear, and tears streamed down her face.
“You’ll be okay,” he said. “I killed the creature. It evaporated. Nobody will blame you for anything.” Then he placed his fingers on the wrist of the man she clutched in her arms, checking for a pulse. “He’s dead. I’m sorry. There’s no point in you staying here, holding him. They locked you in here for a reason I don’t need to know. But you’re free to leave now.”
Tears streamed down her beautiful face.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Michael asked gently.
She nodded.
He slowly eased the dead body out of her arms and placed the man on the floor. “I’m Michael. What’s your name?”
“Jaxper.”
“You understand English very well.”
“I can speak five languages—English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.”
“English works for me. Now, we’re going to have to leave your boyfriend here…”
“I understand. I’m very sad he died. I could have saved him if weren’t for you, Michael.”
“Excuse me?”
“The village burned my aunt when they found out she was a witch. But her spirit remains. She was just right there, next to you.”
Michael jumped aside at her words. “Okay, Jaxper, this is no joke. A man has died. And I just killed a Xiilok creature for you. Let’s leave it at that. If you don’t want to leave here, please yourself. But I have to get back to my friend.”
“I came to visit my aunt and found she had been murdered. They locked me in here and poisoned my friend, trying to force me to use witchcraft to save him. They want to confirm their suspicion that I’m a witch like my aunt.”
“Are you?”
“I am. And I am more powerful than my aunt and my mother. I could have saved him and walked out of here intact. But the spirit of my aunt told me you were coming. And if you are the One, I knew you would come to me. I had to wait here as a human and not use my magic.”
“Well, that’s a very interesting story, Jaxper. But I’m getting out of here.” Michael turned to the door.
“The three of us have lived on the mountain for years with one mission, and that is to bring the One to the peak. The true One. We never even knew who or what the One is. My aunt wasn’t convinced that the One was coming, and that’s why she lived in the village. And it got her killed. My mother was the true believer.”
“And you?”
“I believe in my abilities. And I loved my aunt. If her sp
irit is now convinced that you’re real and are coming, I am now a believer.”
Michael shrugged. “I’m sorry to say you’ve got the wrong person.”
The door swung open. A group of the village men walked in, headed by a formidable man with striking dark eyes who wore a fur hat so tall it almost hit the ceiling.
The man spoke in English. “You shouldn’t be in here. She’s a witch.”
Michael looked over at Jaxper and saw that she had tied herself to a pole. The man’s dead body still lay on the floor. “I heard her cry,” he said, “so I came in to see if she was in trouble.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. As I said, she’s a witch. She can make you believe what she says. You should be more worried about your friend. We just checked. Lyla’s missing.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lyla stared at the small glass of filthy water on the stool in front of her. She didn’t know where she was, but the place looked abandoned and rusty. It reeked of mold and something rotten.
A large human sat on the floor, resting his back against a wooden pillar. Although he was a distance away from her, the stench of alcohol from his breath drifted over and engulfed her.
“I asked for water,” Lyla said, discreetly jiggling her hands that were tied behind her back around a column.
“That’s what I got you.”
“How am I supposed to drink it?”
“Oh, you’re right. Let me help you.”
He approached and picked up the glass of water. Lyla stared at the dirty water as it moved closer and closer to her mouth.
“I’m not thirsty anymore.”
“But you asked for it. I worked to get it for you. Now you’re going to have to drink it.”
She kicked the glass. It slipped from the man’s hand and shattered on the floor. He growled and reached for her. She threw a kick at his abdomen. He staggered back.
“Bitch!” he roared and charged at her again. She kicked his groin as hard as she could. This time, his eyes crossed, and his knees buckled.
The door opened, and three men walked in. The tallest man in the group laughed. “Look, Bannie can’t even handle a girl.”
The other two men helped Bannie up. “The bitch asked for water,” he grumbled. I only tried to help. If we let her dry up and die, we won’t get our money.”
The tall man approached Lyla. “He’s right, Lyla. My brother tried to help you. We promised to deliver you alive. But…we didn’t promise we won’t hurt you.” He slapped her across the face.
She saw stars. All she needed was for them to untie her. Then she could hit them with the fire beams from her fingertips, just like she’d done at the car crash site. But doing so in a place like this while she was tied to a wooden column wasn’t a good idea.
“Of course your brother couldn’t handle a girl like me. You’re all scared of me. Otherwise you wouldn’t snatch me when I was sleeping. Not only that, but you have to sedate a girl so you can kidnap her without having to fight.”
The tall man laughed. “You’re good. But you’re not that good. The sort of merchandise Xiilok pays for isn’t the ordinary kind. Xiilok can easily send creatures to do it themselves, but when they hire humans like us to do the job, it means they want to keep it quiet. Xiilok creatures are multiversal outlaws. They fear no one. For them to want to be careful means you’re one hell of a woman. And I haven’t even mentioned the amount of money they paid.”
He came so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face. “I’ve seen the person—no, the thing—that hired us to get you. You won’t be pleased. It will rape you, consume you alive until you have nothing left and kill yourself. It isn’t into flesh. It’s into innocent souls. I’ve seen the women it’s finished with. Soulless. Lifeless. They couldn’t even kill themselves. It’s much worse than being dead.”
She kicked at the man, but he grabbed her leg and twisted her ankle. He slapped her again. She couldn’t stop a tear from rolling down her face.
He wiped her tear with his thumb. “See, now you’re crying like a girl. That’s a good sign. We won’t rape you ’cause our client paid for your innocence. But I’m thinking we might give our client a discount so he’ll let us watch him doing his business with you…”
There was a thud, and the door exploded inward. Gale stormed in with his laser gun and gunned down Bannie as he sat motionless, and then the man next to him. The tall man charged at Gale and in no time wrested the gun from him. He signaled, and the remaining man pounded on Gale.
Gale was a computer geek. Lyla didn’t know what he was doing here or how he got the gun, but she knew for sure he wouldn’t last long under the assault from these gangsters.
“Stop!” she said. “I’ll give you whatever you want. I have money. My family has a lot more money than whoever is paying you.”
“Don’t, Lyla. No one in the Daimon Gate is coming for you. Your family in the Daimon Gate isn’t coming.” Gale locked eyes with her, silently pleading with her not to reveal her identity.
The gangster continued to beat him.
“Stop!” she shouted at the tall man. “What do you want?”
The tall man smirked. “My client didn’t pay to see him alive. And I will be amused to see him dead.”
A knife flew through the air into the forehead of the gangster who was attacking Gale.
Michael ran through the doorway, heading right for the tall man. He threw the man to the ground then picked him up by the collar. He held the knife to his throat.
“Please don’t kill me. I just work for money. I’ll do whatever you what if you let me go.”
“Who hired you?”
“Someone from Xiilok. I don’t know his name.”
“He said he saw the man,” Lyla said.
“I was bluffing. She made me angry, so I bluffed. I’m sorry. He used an agent here, but I know the client is in Xiilok, for sure.”
“Then go back to the agent and tell him you had Lyla, but she fought you, and you accidentally killed her.”
“Yes…yes, I will.”
“What’s your name?”
“Len.”
“Tracker, please, Gale,” Michael called out, and Gale scurried over with a small needle.
Michael stuck the needle into Len’s jugular. “This is a liquid tracker. It’s in your blood now. As long as your blood is still circulating in your body, I’ll be able to find you. Now go to the agent.”
Michael shoved Len, and he rolled backward on the ground. Len scrambled up to his feet and ran away.
Michael went to Lyla. Gale had untied her, and she could now stand up by herself—albeit on one leg. His eyes zeroed in on her face, which she knew would be bruised, and a cut on her lips where Len had hit her. He noted she stood on one leg, her left foot tilted at a strange angle.
He said nothing, picked up Gale’s gun, turned around, and strode through the place where the door used to stand. “Len!” he called out.
In the distance, Len ran even faster. Michael aimed the gun and fired. Len was hit in the leg and went down. Michael raced over to him and dragged him back inside.
He threw Len down in front of Lyla.
“It’s not necessary, Michael,” she said, but she knew he wasn’t listening. Standing in front of her was a man full of rage.
Michael picked Len up by the collar. “Say you’re sorry.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Michael spoke no more. He pulled his knife and stabbed Len in the abdomen. “This is for hurting women.” He stabbed him again in the chest. “This is for killing people for money.” Then he slit Len’s throat. “And this is for profiting on defenseless people.”
He glanced around the room, looking at Gale and the tribal people who had just entered. “Let’s go,” he said. He picked Lyla up in his arms and carried her out.
Chapter Sixteen
“Ouch,” Gale moaned as the shaman pressed a poultice of herbs and god-knows-what other medicine on
his wounds. Lyla sat in the corner on a low stool. Another healer tended to her ankle. Michael paced the room. He hadn’t said anything for the last half hour.
“Ouch! I’m requesting another medical examiner!” Gale complained.
Lyla scowled. “Gale, you’re lucky to have even one. We’re in the Highlands of Vietnam, not your Daimon Gate. As soon as we’re fixed up, and the healers leave, you have a lot of questions to answer.” She stood up. “That’s all for now,” she said to the person taking care of her. “Thank you.”
“You’re not standing straight. You don’t look quite right,” Michael said.
“You don’t expect me to be jumping up and down right now, do you?”
“No, but…” he lowered his voice, “given that you have to let it heal naturally, the more they can fix now, the better.”
She understood what he meant. Her natural Eudaizian energy could heal her injuries quickly, but by doing that, she would send out more traceable signals.
“It’s all right, Michael.” She locked eyes with him, hoping he’d understand that she didn’t want him to be treating her like a princess.
He nodded then looked away, out the door.
As soon as the healers finished, they left the room. Michael kicked the door closed, grabbed a stool, sat down, and looked at Gale.
“I don’t know how I got here if that’s what you’re about to ask, Michael,” Gale muttered and raked his hands through his hair.
Something in Gale had changed. Lyla could see it in his eyes. It might be nothing. Perhaps he was being overly cautious. But it could be the changes she had been fearing. If it actually happened, she’d have to act, and act fast.
“Tell me what happened in the Daimon Gate, Gale. I assume nobody is monitoring our gateway back at this point. But we need to know much we’ve been exposed.”
Gale sat on the floor, leaned against a wooden column, and sighed. “As soon as I figured out I’d sent you to the wrong location, I tried to adjust it, but it didn’t work. Then the communication channel was cut off. Your travel isn’t official, so I couldn’t pull strings and call in for help. Instead, I used some data I usually can’t access, and it might have alerted the authorities.”