“Very well, perhaps I will have Mr. Elmsmore examine the device before we ship it off,” she said. “Leave the suitcase in the room, and I will have Septimus pick it up shortly. It may well be time for a new accord with the Lord of the Forge, if for no other reason than to keep an eye on him.” Then she hung up.
A moment later Duma came into my room. “Let’s go. Ab is waiting for us.”
We emerged from the Ways into a cold pastoral landscape where a paved road intersected with a dirt path near a massive, old, but well-built wooden building. I guessed we were outside a small town in Russia, based on the Cyrillic writing on the signs at the intersection. We had exited at some point along a Pathway rather than at a nexus or terminus—something only fae or someone with intimate knowledge of the specific path could do with any certainty.
The building appeared to be some sort of long-abandoned military facility in the middle of farmland. We headed straight for the rear of the building and entered through an old, decaying door that was about to fall off its hinges. Inside, the old structure actually covered a much smaller ultramodern repository with a broad, heavy blast door that required both Ab and Duma to unlock simultaneously. Inside that structure, the incredibly brightly lit room stored half a dozen vehicles under tarps, a few unusual motorcycles on special jacks, and row upon row of racks of weaponry of every description. What else would I expect from the Battle Brothers? There were also explosive charges rigged in series around the room at the junction where the cement tarmac floor met the thick, reinforced walls. Helluva security system.
Completely opposite his brother in almost every way except complexion and their unusual fae failing of showing humanlike emotions, Ab met us as we entered. His normally close-cropped pale-blond hair was a tad longer than I remembered, but still high and tight. Dark circles under his eyes suggested something was weighing on him. Regardless, the moment he saw us, he smiled and gave me his usual bear-hug greeting. Duma and he acknowledged each other with a slight bob of their heads.
“Musclehead,” Duma said without inflection.
“Runt,” Ab replied.
Duma disappeared down the aisles between the weapon racks toward a small work area at the rear of the building. He went straight past the racks of clothing on the back wall to a black cabinet similar to a massive mechanic’s tool chest and began opening drawer after drawer—removing bladed weapons of every description.
“Get what you need. I’ve got to make a few calls, and then we’re done here,” Duma said as he worked.
“That works for me,” I replied, getting an idea of how the place was laid out. “The longer we have down range to gather intel, the better off we’ll be. One last thing… where in the hell will we be landing in North Korea?”
“Baekdusan. Southeast face,” he shouted back.
I began scouring through my pile of charts and maps. I found that Baekdusan was an active volcano along North Korea’s border with China. Yet another freakin’ volcano. Unfortunately, the most direct route to Kilju Town—the town nearest the military and nuclear testing sites and a likely area for a presidential train station in the region—from there passed too close to several major cities, including the provincial administrative center. It also passed over two mountain ranges. One way or another, we would get down the volcano and then follow a river south to the rail line, which we could then follow east to Kilju Town. If all went well, our exit path would be back up that same valley and back to Baekdusan. Knowing that, I felt loads better about our plan.
All I have to worry about now is everything else.
When I was finished prepping my gear, I pulled the cloak out of its case and threw it around me while I sat against the wall next to the table where all my gear was and waited. After about twenty minutes, Duma returned, shouting for me. Twice he walked within inches of me without as much as a flinch in my direction. He screamed to Ab, who joined in the search, defending his ignorance as to my whereabouts. I was going to let it go for a few minutes longer, but Duma stopped in front of the open case on the workbench.
“Very funny, D,” he said, hands on his hips as he quickly glanced around. “We don’t have time for this crap.”
I began to shift my position to see if I could sneak out from in front of him.
“Not so fast,” Duma said, stepping in front of me. “It worked great until you started to move. I could hear the thing jingle like a bag of broken glass, then the area around you went wonky. I still couldn’t see you, but what I did see kept shifting ever so slightly. I suppose if they aren’t staring directly at it or it was dark, people might not notice it, but the sound was still evident.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I threw it off my head. Being able to hide like that was every kid’s dream.
“That’s freakin’ awesome!” Ab said, grinning like a kid at a carnival.
“I guess it works,” I said. “Maybe with the noises of a train under way, the sound won’t be so obvious. I’ll definitely have to limit my movements under this thing just in case.” I asked Duma, “Did you get in touch with Gracen?”
“Yeah. He said they’d do it on one condition,” he replied in a tone that implied frustration.
“What?”
Duma sighed. “Help finding and building a new place.”
“Aw man, that’s nothing. I’ll help,” I said.
“Wait…” Ab said. “Gracen? You mean cousin Gracen?” His voice rose in pitch as he said it. “Are you kidding me? That guy is helping us?” Ab threw his hands up. “Great. We’re all dead.”
At first, I was surprised at Ab’s attitude, but families could be funny. “Well, he’s not coming with us; he’s only helping from afar,” I replied, holding one hand up in an attempt to calm him down.
“Oh, well, maybe he’ll only get himself killed then. Duma, you know better than to involve that guy in anything more complicated than carrying water. He’s… he’s… he’s… weird,” Ab said, shaking his head with a dismissive wave. “I still have nightmares from the time you tried to teach him to use a bow and arrow. And that was almost seven thousand years ago!”
“That’s not even the worst part,” Duma said, closely examining the edge of a particularly wicked knife.
“Lemme guess. Grandma’s coming, too,” Ab said from halfway up one row of racks. “She’s dead, but we’re going to go dig her up and drag her corpse along.”
“Close. I had to contact Elegast for D,” Duma said, staring at his knife.
“Wait, that pompous windbag is coming with us? Forget it. I’m out. No offense, D, but I’ll kill the prick if he comes along.” He turned from Duma to me, pointing at the ground in defiance.
“No, he’s not coming,” Duma said sternly, finally facing Ab. “We are meeting Seelie allies on Baekdusan, but it turns out that… Elegast took over Basilicata.”
“What the fuck?” Ab dragged it out as if he’d been hit in the stomach.
“What the hell are you two talking about?” I asked.
“Basilicata is… was… the center of our family’s holdings at one time. Our ancestors are interred in the catacombs below the Calanchi. It’s not bad enough you humans destroyed it by mining and drilling all over the hills, but now Elegast controls it,” Duma said quietly.
I frowned. The Calanchi were the Italian badlands in a dirt-poor area that was almost devoid of people. I didn’t know they were Ab and Duma’s ancestral lands. I was finding out a lot about those two I didn’t know. At first, I was a little ticked off, but then it dawned on me that as old I was, they had been around for eons before I was even born.
“Hey, don’t feel too bad,” I said. “My old kingdom of Argos is now basically one big ruin dotted with olive and lemon trees. And goats.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m tellin’ you, if he’s done anything to disturb the catacombs, I’ll start the whole damn Sch
ism over—even if it’s just me against all a’ them!” Ab said, contempt dripping from his words as he stormed off up the row of weapons.
“He’ll be okay. It’s got nothing to do with you or even this mess with the Hanner Brid,” Duma said, turning toward me with a flat, unreadable expression. “He’s mad at himself for the screwed-up op. Eleven of our guys died. I doubt he’d care if someone dug up our elders and put them on display in a museum as freaks. Gracen, however, is a different story.” He let out a low whistle then went back to working on his knives.
“Ah. Maybe we should get going as soon as we can. Sitting around will only allow things to fester. Besides, we got a lot of ground to cover once we get there,” I said.
Chapter 35
I could sense the cold, isolated, and forbidding nature of our destination long before we emerged from the Ways onto the mountain. We exited at midday into a full-on gale-force wind blowing snow and ice right in our faces. I had to squint hard to see at all. We were on a small cliff overhanging a hundred-foot drop to a steep, snow-covered slope that appeared to stretch forever. Ab’s poncho whipped in the wind as he dropped his heavy gear bag and started to pull out climbing gear.
As we waited for Ab to ready the ropes and pass out the climbing harnesses, a brief rain of snow and ice pelted us from above like a small-scale avalanche. The first time it happened, I figured it was simply a natural occurrence, but when it happened the second time, a shadow crept across our small ledge. I dropped to one knee and pulled the Glock from my hip, aiming along the ridge above us.
Duma put his hand on the gun and pushed down. “Relax, Dirty Harry. It’s only the help Elegast arranged for us.”
While I had no idea what type of help Elegast might provide us with, the creatures above us weren’t even in the ballpark next to the ballpark I was thinking in. The four horned figures, one far larger than the others, crawled down the side of the mountain like spiders. They stopped less than fifty feet from us, and we began an uneasy standoff. Though they ranged greatly in size, each had a hideous conglomeration of facial features that would have given any child nightmares: horns, fangs, giant eyes, pug noses, massive lips, and ears stood out on their russet and mostly hairless heads. Finally, after a tense minute, the largest figure shifted its hand, sending a cascade of rocks, snow, ice, and debris down at us. Duma and I ducked in close to the rock wall, but Ab, still hunched over the gear bag, took the brunt of the snow and ice to his back. He roared, and the four figures above us laughed almost as loudly.
“What the…” Ab bellowed, shaking himself off.
In a blur of motion, Duma shot across the cliff, grabbed Ab’s shoulder to stop him from going off, and glared back at me reproachfully, as if I’d done something to provoke the incident.
The four creatures scrambled down the slope until they were directly above us. The largest creature, closest to us on the mountainside above, jumped down and landed surefootedly without a sound in the snow and ice before standing upright to its full height. The imposing figure transitioned effortlessly from bulky quadruped to gargantuan biped.
Standing, it was humanoid in form, easily eight feet tall, and over five hundred pounds. It was dressed only in a ratty pair of black shorts with a bloodred sash tied around its waist. A dense growth of black hair started halfway back on its head, reaching the full length of its torso. Its face resembled a Japanese Hannya mask, including the fangs and horns, although its skin color was a dull ruddy brown, about the tone of dull copper.
The creature bowed its head and kept it ducked for a good ten seconds before assessing us. It finally settled on Ab and began to speak in a rapid, guttural language, very Asian-like in its nonstop flow and speed, but unlike any language with which I was familiar. Ab nodded along at several points. Finally, the creature stopped speaking, and Ab spoke—thankfully in English.
“I am Abraxos, and this is my brother, Duma. This is the human Guardian, Diomedes,” he said, pointing from Duma to me. He then spoke quietly to me. “His name is Gun-jin, and he is the chieftain of the Sanbaek tribe of Dokkaebi. He apologized for dumping snow on us, but he found it funny at the time. He wishes to make it up to us by showing us an easier and faster way down the mountain.”
“He didn’t say anything about easier,” Duma said, smirking. “Just faster.”
Dokkaebi. Sure, why not.
“Gun-jin, thank you for your help. If the way is easier as well as faster, we’d be grateful. Your apology is accepted,” I said to the chieftain.
He bowed his head curtly. “It is easy enough you will not require ropes and climbing equipment. Lord Elegast has said to afford you every courtesy in your efforts here, and so we shall, Lord Diomedes,” Gun-jin said with an oddly soft voice that carried easily through the howling winds. Because he was fae, I knew he would be able to speak English if he wanted to. I could only guess that he hadn’t because of his misunderstanding of our leadership and not because he meant to insult me. Fae were peculiar beings, and I wasn’t about to take any offer of help for granted.
Gun-jin spoke to the three other Dokkaebi still peering down at us, and each creature extended an arm to help us up to the ridge above. Gun-jin hopped up the fifteen-foot icy cliff face to join us.
“Please, follow us exactly, lest you lose your footing,” Gun-jin said then took off, once again on all fours, loping across the terrain like a cross between a gorilla and a horse. The other three, each dressed similarly to Gun-jin except for the color of the sash they wore, fell in line and followed.
Ab and Duma glanced at each other, smiled, then bowed at the waist in unison. “After you, your lordship,” Duma said to me in a pinched, nasally twang with an elaborate flourish of his hand. “Elegast sent them to help you. Don’t mean I trust them at all.”
“You big baby.” Shaking my head, I took off after them as fast as I was comfortable, taking care to stay within their pathway.
I didn’t know much about Dokkaebi other than their appearance was the stuff of nightmares, although they were said to be benevolent. They reminded me a bit of goblins, though some human legends mistakenly said they were the transformed spirits of abandoned household objects. Their reputation as thieves and packrats who took anything they felt was abandoned was legendary. After they’d dumped snow on us, it was clear the stories of their penchant for pulling pranks was true, as well. I also remembered hearing they love ssireum—the Korean form of wrestling—and were all but unbeatable. Unfortunately, they smelled like sweaty kimchi. Yummy.
We traveled quickly and steadily down the mountain for about an hour until we finally got down to the tree line, where we stopped. The forest consisted mostly of a dense stand of pines and birch trees that mercifully blocked the biting wind and whirling snow. By my calculations, we were easily a full day’s travel from Kilju Town.
“From here, travel is effortless. We have spoken to the leopardess that claims these hunting grounds, and she will bid us safe passage if we do not tarry. To proceed beyond these trees, I must inquire, however, as to our destination,” Gun-jin said without even breathing heavily from our jaunt down the icy mountainside.
“Ultimately, we need to head toward Kilju Town then track along the railway between there and Hyesan,” I said, trying not to huff and puff. “I also need to find the presidential rail station nearest to Kilju.”
Gun-jin blinked his massive, heavily browed eyes exaggeratedly at me as I spoke. It was a little like being watched by a house cat. I couldn’t tell if he found me to be an idiot or if he was simply thinking about the best route.
“Based on the only maps I have, my impression was that we should head toward Chinsadorigi Township and then follow the Sŏda-su River south…” I said, hoping he might say something and stop staring at me like he was trying to figure out if I was serious or not.
“The river lies more than thirteen leagues from here in that direction.” Gun-jin point
ed east. “Your course is reasonable, given that you are only human.”
Duma and Ab laughed behind me. I reached around my shoulder as if to scratch an itch and flipped them off instead.
“Uh, yeah. Then I guess we’ll follow you.” I waved one hand at him, hanging my head as I tried to steady my breathing.
Gun-jin spoke briefly to his three companions before turning back to me. “I will send two to gather those that will aid us and meet us at the river’s terminus if that is acceptable.”
The pair, both roughly my size, though much more gangly, took off through the trees to the north at a full gallop.
I walked back to Duma and Ab, hands on my hips, still a little winded, and knelt as if checking my boots. “If he says anything other than what he tells me, let me know,” I whispered through the side of my mouth.
They both nodded faintly.
“Shall we go?” Gun-jin asked politely, motioning quickly with one hand toward the east as he watched us. The air of distrust in the group was thick—we didn’t trust them, and something about the way Gun-Jin watched us suggested he didn’t trust us. Maybe it wasn’t distrust, but rather my instincts reminding me that I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me. And there was one more wrinkle I couldn’t smooth out in my head: I was traveling with two notorious traitorous Fae wanted by both Courts. Under the circumstances, I thought it better to be friendly but cautious.
We followed the Dokkaebi through forests and over forbidding terrain for hours until we came to a river. There, we waited until nightfall to make the rest of the journey to avoid issues with the small farming villages along the river. The terrain went from harsh to completely wild again as we headed back into the mountains. As soon as we crested the small range, the moonlight revealed a large valley stretching mostly east to west in front of us, and while I couldn’t see it, I could hear running water below. The Paektusan Ch’ŏngnyŏn rail line would be down there, as well. It was nearly midnight, and I guessed we still had sixty or so more miles to cover before we got to Kilju Town. I needed another break—badly.
Chaos Unbound (The Metis Files Book 2) Page 30