Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “That won’t help you,” he said.

  “You mean it won’t help you,” I said as I ran toward him.

  I slammed my jo down, intending to crush his skull. He brought up his sword in time to stop my attack, but left himself open to my secondary and real attack. With our weapons locked, I flicked open Mariko’s fan and sliced across his neck. Its razor sharp edge cut through him with ease. He fell back, grabbing his neck, but I saw no blood. He fell to the ground and disappeared along with my weapon as I found myself in the library again. Two books sat on the table before me.

  “Choose wisely, warrior. Even now your companions face death,” said Raja as he materialized beside me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You can save them by removing the weapon, thus rendering you a non-threat and allowing another to shoulder the burden.”

  “Or?”

  “You can choose that book,” —he pointed at the master syllabist text— “ensuring that one or all of you may die in these halls.”

  I grabbed the master syllabist text. It felt heavy, given the choice.

  “Very well, the choice has been made,” said Raja. As he slowly faded away, his voice drifted over to me. “Prepare yourself ,warrior.”

  The library filled with a fog and in a few moments all I could see was the nebulous white all around me. Several feet in front of me I thought I saw the outline of a door. I headed in that direction and found myself before the same door that led me here. I turned the handle and felt that same pulling sensation. Then everything went black.

  SIX

  I FELT LIKE I was being stretched in every direction. Then in a moment every sense felt heightened and I snapped back, finding myself in the hallway. Sylk, sword drawn and surrounded by flying orbs, was squaring off with a swordsman with two blades. The swordsman looked experienced. I could see in his movements and posture that fighting was a way of life for him. There was an edge to his voice, sharper than any sword.

  “Dante, so good of you to join us,” he said, never taking his eyes off Sylk.

  “Do I know you?”

  “I am the Harbinger. You have something that belongs to my master. I need it back,” he said.

  The next moment Maelstrom was in my hands, gleaming white and golden.

  “No!” yelled Sylk as Rael turned and signaled to the Gyrevex.

  “Get the weapon. Kill everyone. Sorry, old man, orders are orders.”

  Sylk sent the orbs flying at Rael as the three giants headed my way.

  “Don’t let them get that weapon,” yelled Sylk. “Keep Dante safe. Go!”

  The rest of the group ran behind the giants as Sylk faced the Harbinger. I felt the vibration travel along the floor as they approached. In their hands, large kettle bells attached to thick chains swung with each step.

  Do not allow the bells to touch you-, Owl whispered in my mind.

  That was the plan. Can I face these things? I thought as I headed toward the trio. Maelstrom pulsed in my hands.

  Not alone, do not take the Gyrevex lightly.

  The Gyrevex started spinning their bells as they drew closer. The whirr of displaced air held a quiet menace. I realized that the group would be too late to intervene in the first attack. So much for not taking them on alone, I thought as the first bell came at me. I held up Maelstrom half expecting the bell to shatter it on impact. As the bell hit, the buildup of energy was immediate. I could feel the surge within Maelstrom as it absorbed the blow. Those are chi weapons? I looked around for the others but couldn’t see past my attacker. Another bell sailed past me, just missing my head as the second Gyrevex converged on me. Things were getting bad in a hurry.

  “I got your back, Dante,” said a familiar voice behind me—Zen.

  “I can’t take these things on alone, Zen,” I said.

  I didn’t know how he got behind me, but I was glad he was there.

  “You don’t have to,” he said.

  He concentrated a moment and I saw his halberd materialize in his hands. Meja and Kal managed to intercept the third Gyrevex, which left two for me and Zen. All around me all I could sense was motion.

  You must see without your eyes, Owl whispered.

  I took a deep breath and deliberately sent my chi inward, slowing everything down. In the space of a breath I could see what I needed to do.

  “Back me up here,” I told Zen as I stepped closer to the Gyrevex nearest me.

  Zen, who towered above me, was dwarfed by these giants. I could take it all in. Sylk was facing the Harbinger. Mara was drawing closer to Sylk. Meja and Kal were dodging the bell from the third Gyrevex, looking for an opening. Samir and Raja stood off to the side away from the deadly exchanges. A bell came at my chest. I could sense the displaced air as it rushed toward me. At the last second I slid to the side, exposing Zen who stood behind me. As the bell reached the end of its chain, Zen let it wrap itself around his weapon and then tugged using the momentum of the bell. The Gyrevex was larger, but Zen had leverage on his side as he pulled. The Gyrevex lost his footing and stumbled forward.

  “Devolver,” I whispered and touched the bell with Maelstrom. It was instantly absorbed into my weapon. I half expected another bell to form in the Gyrevex’s hands but it fell forward, landing on all fours, a surprised look on its face. Zen sent his halberd through its back, dispatching it. The second Gyrevex caught me with a back hand that sent me sailing as the world exploded in a bright light. I turned in time to see Zen take a bell to the leg and heard the sickening crunch of metal on flesh. I was still off balance when I heard the whirr of the bell. I wasn’t going to be able to dodge this next attack. I couldn’t even see where the bell was.

  As long as I hear that whirr it means it’s not coming at me, I thought. It was a small consolation. Behind me and to the side I could hear Zen grunt in pain as he tried to move into position for an attack. I took a few steps and the floor tilted. Everyone is going to die here unless I can get it together. The word came to me then. It was the word I had used when I last fought Owl. If I used it I could eliminate the Gyrevex. I didn’t know what it would do to Rael. He seemed almost as powerful as Sylk. There was only one downside: if I used it, it would kill everyone around me. The Gyrevex were after me, after Maelstrom. I let my anger take over and slowly the weapon turned from white and gold to black and crimson.

  “This is what you want. Come and get it,” I said. The remaining two Gyrevex shifted and ran toward me.

  “Meja, get them safe!” I yelled. The word was already forming on my lips when Samir covered my mouth.

  “Please, warrior, do not say something you will regret,” he whispered. “In this place every word of power you use is magnified.” He placed a hand on Maelstrom as the Gyrevex bore down on us. “Tempus repit,” he said as everything crawled to a standstill.

  “What did you do?” I said.

  “I have bought us seconds only, long enough for us to be away,” said Samir.

  I was stunned. Samir had slowed time. “How? How did you manage this?”

  “If you could do this why not do it from the beginning?” I said.

  “This is not my doing alone. He helped,” Samir said as he looked at Raja.

  I turned to see that Raja had not been affected by the words of power. He gave me a slight nod as if to say, Remember our agreement. Samir shook me by the shoulder, fear clear in his eyes.

  “Focus, warrior! Fix us in your mind. You will only be able to take three with you. Say with me: regreseo.”

  It meant I would have to leave three of them behind. I needed to take Zen since he was injured. Meja could get us back, I hoped, and Samir knew the words I needed. It would mean leaving Sylk, Mara and Kalysta. I couldn’t do this. He must have seen the reluctance on my face.

  “You must do this, warrior. If they get you and the weapon, all is lost,” he said.

  I knew he was right. I closed my eyes as time began to resume its normal flow. I could feel Samir’s hand clench my arm. The vibrations of the Gyrev
ex resumed as they closed on us.

  “Warrior…” Samir’s voice rose with fear.

  “Regreseo,” I said and the world faded away.

  SEVEN

  SYLK SENSED THEIR absence the next moment and smiled. He could see Mara going to assist Kal with the Gyrevex she was now facing alone. Avoiding a slash and stepping back from a lunge, he put distance between himself and Rael. He needed to know how they were followed.

  “Give it up, Harbinger,” said Sylk. “He is gone. Even I don’t know where they are.”

  “How did you think I found him here, of all places?” said Rael.

  Sylk remained silent a moment and then it hit him.

  “The weapon, you are tracking the weapon.”

  “There is nowhere, no plane where your warrior goes that I can’t find him, eventually,” Rael said as the energy coursed through his swords.

  Sylk surrounded himself with orbs as Rael attacked. The orbs coalesced to form a shield, stopping one of the swords as he parried the other with his own sword.

  “You’ve grown stronger, old man. It’s good to see you haven’t wasted your time all these years,” said Rael, sidestepping the shield and lunging at Sylk. As Sylk turned, allowing the lunge to go past, he traced symbols with his right arm, leaving a silver trail behind him.

  “All the pretty symbols in the world aren’t going to save you now.”

  “I don’t need them to save me, I just need them to hold you in place,” said Sylk. In moments the marble beneath Rael liquefied and he sank into the floor. Sylk took advantage of the distraction to press his attack, getting past Rael’s defense and driving his sword through his midsection. Rael doubled over, grasping the wound. Sylk backed up slowly as the ground solidified around Rael. Then Rael began laughing, chilling Sylk to the bone.

  “You still don’t understand, Blood Sylk,” said Rael. “I am the Harbinger. You are going to have to do more than stab me with your sword, if you plan on stopping me.”

  Rael thrust both swords into the marble around his feet and began channeling energy downwards. In moments he would be free of the trap Sylk set.

  “I didn’t think that would end you. I just needed you to be still while I did this,” said Sylk as he ran over and grabbed Rael with his right hand. Energy began siphoning into Sylk.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure you can’t follow us for some time. It takes a large amount of energy to enter this place. It takes even more to leave. I’m guessing you have quite a bit of chi stored within you if you can keep those two going,” said Sylk as he looked at the Gyrevex. As he said these words, Rael dropped to his knees.

  “Clever, but that won’t help you. I will find the warrior and take the weapon back.”

  “I may not be able to stop you, but I think he can. By the time you find us again I will make sure he is ready.”

  Sylk siphoned more energy as the lines in his arm began to grow bright. He stepped back, not daring to take any more. Rael looked at him with a sad smile. Behind them, the Gyrevex stopped moving and fell forward, immobile.

  “You can’t kill me—no one can. Do you know how many times I have wished it? Each time I thought it was the end, he brought me back. This is the price of my betrayal,” said Rael.

  “That was the path you chose, Rael,” said Sylk.

  Mara and Kal came up behind Sylk. Rael began to grow incorporeal.

  “Enjoy this small victory, since when we meet next I can assure you the outcome will be different,” said Rael, and he disappeared.

  “Did you—?” began Mara.

  “No, he isn’t that easy to kill. I just made it very hard for him to remain in that form,” said Sylk.

  Mara and Kal were both bruised from their fight with the Gyrevex.

  “Can you kill him? He looked like one of those ‘make sure you kill and scatter the ashes’ types,” said Kal.

  “I don’t think I can. With all the energy I siphoned from him, he was still present. It would have been enough to end anyone else.”

  Sylk looked down at his arm and the energy coursing through it. “I have to expend this energy before it does more damage than good.”

  “Where did they go?” asked Mara.

  “I don’t know, but I do have an idea who does,” said Sylk as he looked at Raja.

  EIGHT

  ZEN GRUNTED IN pain when we arrived. His leg was broken.

  “What did you do, Dante?” asked Meja.

  “I got us out of danger,” I said.

  “No, you gave them a death sentence. Did you stop to think what would happen to them?” She let the words hang in the air. “Rael will kill them without mercy.”

  “You know him?” I said.

  “I knew him, before—before he became what he is now.”

  “And what is he now? What is the Harbinger?” I said, anger creeping into my voice.

  “He serves Lucius now. He used to be a good man, a good monitor and a friend…” She didn’t elaborate further, but I could tell there was something else—something more.

  “And now?”

  “And now it doesn’t matter. He is an enemy and will be dealt with as such,” she said, her words clipped.

  I thought back to what had happened at the Records. At the time I hadn’t stopped to think. I only wanted to get everyone out of danger. Except I didn’t get everyone out.

  “If they got my weapon it would be a death sentence for all of us,” I said as the edge of anger rose. Would a simple ‘thank you’ be too much to ask?

  She stepped close to me then. “My weapon? Since when is it your weapon? That abomination you call a weapon belongs to Lucius and will end up getting us all killed,” she said.

  Samir came between us, his presence a calming influence. Meja made her way over to Zen and began working on his leg.

  “Where are we?” I asked Samir, anxious to change the subject of my weapon’s ownership.

  “The last place we were before we entered the Records. That is what that word of power does,” said Samir.

  I took in the courtyard and the black obelisk at its center. It was covered in symbols and I could feel the energy it was giving off.

  “We are back…” I began.

  “In the South Watch,” said a voice. We all turned to face the Keeper. Beside him stood one of the Rah Ven, a Watch guardian. Dwarfing most wolves by several feet, it padded over silently to a spot and sat, its deep yellow eyes fixed on us.

  The Keeper stepped over to where Zen lay and placed a hand on his leg. A soft light travelled from his hand to the leg. Zen lost consciousness the next moment as several young men came and carried him off.

  “His leg will heal. He just needs some time,” said the Keeper.

  Meja looked at me as they carried Zen away. “Why are we here?”

  Samir spoke before I could answer. “It was I who gave him the word to speak. That word— do you remember it, warrior?” I nodded in response. “That word will return you to the last place you have been. Remember it but use it wisely. It only works once a day,” he said.

  The Keeper sat on a bench that materialized under him.

  “My old bones need rest. I see some of your group is missing?” said the Keeper as he rested his staff beside him. A small smile played on his lips.

  “We were in danger and had to leave. Someone called the ‘Harbinger’ attacked us while in the Records,” said Samir.

  “The Harbinger, did you say? Did you manage to get the text?” asked the Keeper.

  Everyone looked at me as I checked the inside of my cloak and pulled out the small book the size of a paperback. The cover was dark leather and the pages were edged in gold. Each page felt fragile, as if the book would disintegrate if handled too much. I gave the book to Samir.

  “The master text. I did not think I would see this in my lifetime,” he said as he held the book in his open hands. “We must begin your training at once.”

  “What about the others?” I said.

  “Yes,
Samir, what about the others? Who are most likely dead by now,” said Meja as she looked at me.

  “You have my sympathies, monitor, but my purpose is to prepare the warrior. He must be ready when he faces the Harbinger again. We are all secondary to that purpose,” Samir said, his voice low.

  “Sylk and his thrall mean nothing to me, but Kal was one of mine,” she said as she continued looking at me.

  “The syllabist is right. There is nothing to be done in this moment. The Records will have shifted location and will not be accessible from this doorway for several days. It would be best to use that time in rest and training,” said the Keeper.

  Meja clenched her jaw and squeezed her hand closed until the knuckles popped.

  “You can stay here and train. As soon as that doorway is open I have a monitor to find. With or without you,” she said as she stalked off.

  “We do not have much time, warrior,” said Samir. “Let us begin.” He gripped my shoulder for a moment and then headed off to another part of the Watch.

  I looked back over my shoulder to see Meja heading out of the Watch into the desert.

  “You do well to be concerned, warrior. Anger is a great weapon and a great weakness,” said the Keeper.

  I followed Samir, not knowing if those words were for Meja or for me.

  NINE

  “WHERE DID THEY go?” said Mara.

  Raja stood still as if accessing some information, his gaze blank and out of focus. He returned and focused his gaze on them.

  “They are currently in the South Watch, which is inaccessible from here at this moment.”

  “What do you mean ‘inaccessible’?” said Kal.

  “I apologize, was I unclear? You cannot return to the South Watch from this location until the planes align again,” said Raja.