by Ino Lee
He released the trigger to conserve his fuel, a short but potent supply of dragon spit.
The hallways were quieter now than before, or so it seemed in the afterglow of dragon rage. Soldiers were probably being drawn to defend against invaders below, others escaping to the rooftops since the building would surely be overrun, those hunting them either burnt or poisoned.
Wong finally spotted an open doorway with stairs. They ran up it, winding through and hoping for escape through the roof.
“There are ninjas in the staircase,” Kai yelled, looking down.
“Take the lead,” Wong said to Riyon. “I’ll buy time.”
He jumped over the railing.
Riyon continued up the stairs to the next level, which was the base of the headquarter’s rooftop watchtower. A couple of straggling Biyan security guards were there, but they held up their hands upon being seen, startled just as they were. When it became apparent neither party was interested in fighting, the guards grabbed a couple hooks from a nearby wall and ran out the tower, more concerned with escaping than capturing them.
The elder looked around warily, then grabbed a hook from the same wall.
“Take one,” he instructed.
He ran out the door and tried to determine the safest exit route. There were cables leading to other rooftops at three of the building’s corners, so he ran to the one nearest the street where the city guards and Shaolin warriors stormed.
The two security guards seen earlier took the same exit and could be seen sliding down the cable, then skipping to another roof and disappearing. Riyon wondered how many more had taken the same path.
“Panyin and I will go first to secure the landing,” he said. “Kai and Hojin guard the rear. Shadow and Ting in between.”
He hooked onto the cable and slid to the connecting building. Below he could see commotion in the streets. The new rooftop looked clear upon landing, with no guards or ninjas waiting to ambush them. For the first time, he began to feel a sense of relief. Panyin soon followed, and he waved on the others.
Ting waited for Shadow to slide past the halfway mark when she hooked on, but was distracted by movement on another rooftop. She froze. A black figure with a red face and trident slunk away from the tower, followed by an unan with a white mask. Their gangly forms were unmistakable.
“What’s wrong?” Hojin said.
Ting pointed. “Raikahn. We have to get him.”
Hojin hesitated. “Ting, you have to stay—”
She knew what he was going to say and ran to another corner of the building where a similar cable line was anchored.
“Ting!” Hojin yelled, chasing.
Kai looked out over the ledge and sent Riyon a psychic message.
“Sorry master. Get them to safety. We’re going after Raikahn.”
The elder’s arms waved angrily, but there was no turning back. He went after Hojin and Ting.
When Wong jumped over the railing, he landed in the rear and contemplated what he could do to slow down the pursuing ninjas. He wished he still had satchels of stinging powder and caltrops, the perfect combination to sabotage the ninjas and cause them to step on unseen barbs, but all he had left was a satchel of monkey dust and a havoc ball filled with needles. He thought to light the staircase on fire, but didn’t actually want to burn the place down. He’d caused enough damage below.
He looked at the bodies winding up the stairs and held out his last havoc ball. He twisted a dial and then dropped it, watching the ball bounce slowly down the steps before detonating. Wong snickered. He tossed the satchel of dust in the air over the railing, then hacked hard with his sword so the satchel split in half and showered its toxic contents down the staircase. The spores would at least make it difficult to climb up. He wanted to keep all the inhabitants inside and prevent them from escaping into the city, but what more could he do? He exited the building and closed the watchtower door, then jammed a knife underneath as a final measure.
He ran to the side of the roof facing the street and over to the cable line, guessing the escape path after recalling Riyon’s earlier instructions. When he looked over to check where his friends were, he saw Riyon, Panyin, and Shadow, but none of the others. Riyon waved his arms wildly and pointed.
Wong heard something being yelled, but it was hard to make out, until he finally understood.
Raikahn.
41
TING LANDED ON the rooftop and adjusted her belt, twisting her supply from back to front, and readying two throwing bolts in hand. She had five left in total, having already used three. All things considered, she was doing well on inventory and even had a good scattering of victims.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Hojin said, catching up to her.
“Shhh. They went this way.”
She trotted off.
Hojin shook his head and thought to stop her, but wanted to go after the unan just as badly as she did. Kai arrived and he waved him on.
“Slow down, Ting,” he said. “If you come along, you’re not going to lead. Get behind us.”
“I saw them kill Mom.”
“I know, but you’re not going to fight them head-on. Get behind us.”
Ting slowed. “I forgot to tell you. I saw Lafay, too.”
“Lafay and Raikahn?” Kai said, contemplating the prospect of taking on two of the Koon Gee’s most notorious unan.
Hojin guessed his thoughts. “You’re going to say wait for Wong, aren’t you?”
Kai sounded resolute. “No. We might lose them and we can’t. Not those two. My echo brought us here for a reason. It brought us here to deal with them. I want Lafay.”
“Good.”
They crossed another rooftop and came upon a wall of windows at the third building.
“I think they went inside,” Ting whispered.
Hojin held a hand up to slow them. “There could be more ninjas inside.”
“No,” Kai said, concentrating. “It’s mostly empty, but there may be something there.”
“Unan?”
“Probably.”
They crept through the center window and climbed down a stack of crates, into a large warehouse filled with packing material. Hojin wondered if it was the same warehouse where they were chased by the Blood Ninjas on the first night of their Biyan surveillance, but then realized it was a different location and much larger.
They searched the aisles. The more they explored, the more it felt like they had either lost the unan or walked into a trap.
A high-pitched giggle told them it was the latter.
“Shaolin babies, come here to visit Lafay. Oh, how nice for me.”
More eerie giggles.
“Shut up, Lafay,” Kai yelled. “I’ll fry you.”
He sparked a light orb and moved it around, but saw nothing. There were hiding places everywhere—shadows and nooks, pockets of space between the aisles of inventory piled high.
“This is bad,” Hojin said.
The high-pitched voice continued. “Oh, how violent you sound, dear Kai. What happened to the sweet boy I once knew? Don’t you remember how close we were? Must I teach you a lesson for being naughty?”
“Ignore him, Kai,” Hojin said. “He’s just trying to get in your head.”
Both unan suddenly came into view, sitting calmly atop a high stack of crates. Somehow Lafay threw its voice across the room.
“I remember some things about when we last met,” Kai said. “I remember setting Raikahn’s head on fire.”
Raikahn grabbed its pitchfork angrily and stood. Lafay laughed.
“Enough talk,” Hojin said. “You’re mine, devil!”
He threw a butterfly sword at Raikahn, but the demon swept it aside with a trident stroke, then leapt, its lengthy frame bridging the gap between them in no time. It tried to skewer him, bu
t he was able to catch the trident with the guard of his other sword, the two struggling for control. Hojin backpedalled, too weak to withstand its strength head-on, when Ting buried a bolt in its gut.
The demon thought nothing of the weapon until a burning sensation spread from its abdomen, causing it to scream. It pulled the bolt out of its stomach.
“Nasty little children,” Raikahn said, examining the bolt.
“Lesson one,” Ting said. “Use sembu slime.”
Lafay jumped onto the adjacent aisle and started knocking crates off the top row. Kai smashed a crate with his monk staff to divert it, then dove past more falling debris as an entire column came down. He soon realized Lafay was trying to separate them, and attempted to run back, but the demon jumped onto the newly fallen debris and slashed at him with its rapier.
“Aha!”
The white mask’s rapier came quick. Kai knew he wouldn’t be able to hold up against the unan’s speed and length in an outright duel, especially with his clumsier staff, so he retreated, curving around the aisle of stock.
Lafay stalked from above and giggled. “Where you are going, Kai?”
Kai ran for more open space where he could better see Lafay coming, knowing that the crates were stacked lower toward the center of the floor. A shadow flashed on the ground from the light coming through the windows, and he looked back to see the maniacal grinning mask flying through the air, arms and legs fully splayed, having leapt from high.
Kai suppressed his panic, tilted back his staff, then slid to his knees, touching down the butt-end of his staff and detonating a chi burst to repulse Lafay. The demon fell back into a pile and laughed hysterically.
He ran again and looked for an advantage. Barrels and crates appeared in open space. He frantically tried to look inside to see what could be used, but the barrel lids were difficult to get open and the crates only contained thousand-year eggs, which might be useful if unan were actually sensitive to smell. Finally, he found a sack full of tea leaves and gathered a few handfuls on a crate lid atop a barrel.
A playful hum echoed, like a child singing a nursery rhyme on the way to school. Lafay strolled up casually, then slashed out with its rapier in a ready stance.
“Ha! Is it time to play?”
Kai looked defiant and intensified his gemstone to a burning glow.
Lafay’s voice deepened, then went high again, as if two separate personalities were talking.
“Oh, he looks so mad . . . how cute.”
Kai touched his staff down on the pile of leaves, the dried tinder instantly taking flame, and batted the lid at Lafay.
The demon dropped its rapier and jumped back in a frenzy, cupping both hands forward and focusing on the energy of the burning embers to snuff them out. The bright orange glow of the debris turned dark just as it was about to touch its tar-like skin.
The distraction was all Kai needed and he went in slashing with his staff. Lafay dodged with its body, bending like a rubber band out of the way. When the monk had pushed Lafay back a few steps, he turned and grabbed the dropped rapier off the floor, then tossed it behind a heap where it would be hard to retrieve.
Lafay clapped giddily. “Oh, how smart you are!”
Raikahn’s heavy hand came down, separating Hojin and Ting with its trident. It snapped out with a foot and quickly throttled Ting, wanting to rid itself of her pesky stinging shuriken while concentrating on the other.
Hojin retaliated and slashed its arm, then tore through the tar on its torso and threw at its mask. Raikahn’s head snapped sideways to avoid the deadly strike, then returned to position. It noted Hojin’s line as the butterfly sword was reeled back in.
It swept back up with the trident, but Hojin was ready, catching the polearm with a foot to stop its momentum. He followed up with another shot of the butterfly sword. Raikahn bobbed and weaved, stepping aside for distance.
Ting felt the wind get knocked out of her. They had hardly begun to fight and she was already on the ground. She watched Hojin block a strike by crossing swords and tried to get back to her feet since he would not last long in a battle of strength.
She launched another bolt, but this time Raikahn slapped it aside.
“Stupid devil,” she yelled. “You killed our mom and now we’ll kill you.”
The unan shook the sting of collateral slime from its hand.
“Ting—hide,” Hojin said. “I can’t maneuver if I have to worry about you.”
Ting looked defiant, unwilling to leave his side.
“Hit them from the shadows,” he said.
She understood and started climbing crates, with the notion that one of Wong’s lessons had something to do with fighting like a ninja. The tactic made sense. She had two bolts left with sembu slime on them, the lone one on her back coated with paralytic toxin, which would be less effective against the unan. With limited supply, she had to pick the right moment and make the most out of each shot, which was best delivered with the element of surprise.
Hojin kept his attention on Raikahn. For a fleeting moment, he wished he had a heftier sword to go up against the unan’s lengthy weapon, but then thought better of it. The thick guards on the dual butterfly swords allowed him to block with both arms against the forceful trident strikes, while the lines attached to his wrists enabled him to reach its vulnerable mask. They were actually the perfect weapons to combat the unan and now was the time to take them to the next level.
He retreated and let out some line on a sword, but instead of reeling it back in, held on and spun it rapidly in hand.
The demon grabbed its trident halfway for better blocking leverage, and charged, striking out several times. Hojin parried with his other sword and unleashed a wild slash, slicing across the air in a far- reaching stroke, making Raikahn’s entire body bend to avoid it. He hopped on a barrel and spun, bringing the butterfly sword around again, causing Raikahn to flinch and narrowly block by the prongs of its trident.
“Impressive technique, but flawed,” Raikahn said.
The demon stabbed out repeatedly to disrupt his flow, finally catching and tangling the line by the spearhead. Once the butterfly sword stopped moving, it yanked the line to pull him off his feet, then stabbed downward.
“Say hello to your mother.”
Hojin spun away.
Suddenly, a shuriken sped toward its face, but the demon somehow flinched to avoid being hit. A second struck it directly in the torso, causing it to scream before pulling it out and lunging at Ting atop the pile, grabbing her leg. It tried to skewer her with its trident, but came up short, the tangled line of Hojin’s weapon tethering it as the boy pulled back.
Hojin was up again and dug his sword deep into the unan’s flesh before tearing wide. The unan flinched with discomfort, then thrust the butt of its trident into Hojin’s ribs, doubling him over. It untangled the boy’s butterfly sword from its weapon, then impaled the blade deep into a high barrel to prevent it from moving, anchoring him.
“Which of you brats wants to go first?”
It set its sights on Hojin, but Ting threw a crate lid at the back of its head.
“You then!”
The devil slammed its trident on top of the stack. Ting dove out of the way. It lunged for a stab and managed to catch flesh, but she rolled away from the brunt of the attack and tumbled down the other side of the pile.
Hojin managed to find one of Ting’s misdirected bolts and buried it in the middle of Raikahn’s back. The demon screeched and inverted its knee to kick out with a leg as if it faced forward, thumping him. It removed the bolt angrily, enraged at its repeated stabbings.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
It grabbed its trident, determined to put the boy down for good.
Hojin tried to pull his line free to escape and was about to cut it loose when it suddenly came back to him. The barrel also dislo
dged and tumbled down the stack, knocking into the back of Raikahn’s leg.
The unan stumbled and Hojin did not waste the moment. He threw a sword at its mask, then picked up a loose crate lid and sent it airborne in the same direction. The demon shifted its head to avoid the sword, then swatted away the lid with a hand, but was off balance, and had little leverage to dodge the follow-up strike by Hojin’s second butterfly sword.
The blade notched a line across the surface of its mask, causing smoke to spew out from the gap. The demon was injured. It tried to run down the aisle to escape, but Hojin followed with another sword through its calf, and it fell to its knees.
When it looked up, Ting was there, her eyes full of tears.
“This is for Mom.”
She stabbed her last bolt through its face.
Kai slashed and lunged, trying to land a blow on Lafay, but the wily demon was too quick. It laughed and egged him on. He should have known better than to get frustrated and over-pursue, but the demon seemed vulnerable without a weapon and he didn’t want lose his advantage.
Lafay found a moment to grab his staff and pull him to the ground, then pin him. It punched him in the face and laughed.
Kai sneered. “You punch like a stuffed doll with your tar-flesh.”
Lafay snapped its fist three more times.
Kai’s lip cracked and his nose bled. “Like I said. Just like Mooji.”
Lafay giggled at first, then screamed in pain and reached behind its back, pulling out a bolt coated with sembu slime. Kai shocked Lafay back with a spark from his staff.
The demon squirmed and its voice changed.
“Filthy children. I’ll carve up your bones.”
It looked for its rapier, but Kai was already charging. They went another round, with Kai scorching its flesh before the demon managed to land a strike and twist the staff from Kai’s grip. Instead of attacking, the demon looked up, distracted, and then ran around the aisle toward Hojin and Ting.
Kai pursued instinctively. “Watch out!”
Hojin turned and slashed ineffectively, Lafay raising its knee to knock him over. It saw the black puddle of tar that was once Raikahn and screamed. Ting’s face went blank and she backed up until there was no more room.