“I did not mean the soldiers,” Lee-Nin said. “I meant the one hunting you.”
“I do not know. Possibly days as well.” Sha-Kutan returned his attention to the fire and the rabbit. She had not yet been so direct in her questions, nor her stated assumptions for why he accompanied her and the girl.
“You said a woman hunts you.” Lee-Nin’s voice barely rose above the crackling of the fire.
Why does she speak of this now?
Because she knows to fear what comes for us.
“Yes,” Sha-Kutan replied.
“What did you do?” Lee-Nin had stopped stirring the beans, the spoon held in her hand.
“She does not hunt me for what I have done; she hunts me for what I am.”
More truth than need be spoken.
She may see more truth than that soon.
“What are you?” Lee-Nin looked into his eyes, seeming to search for an answer to her question.
“That is not important unless she finds me.” Sha-Kutan lifted the side of the spit axle and removed the pot of beans with a twig.
“Did you kill people?” Lee-Nin stared at him.
“Many people.” Sha-Kutan stared back at her.
“Why didn’t you kill us?” Her eyes did not leave him.
So many questions now and not before.
She has carried these questions for a considerable distance.
“I am trying to be something other than what I have been,” Sha-Kutan said.
“That is no easy thing.” Lee-Nin looked at the fire, seeming to lose herself in thought.
“No, it is not,” Sha-Kutan said.
It comes too close.
It might pass on.
And then who would stop it?
True.
“Someone approaches.” Sha-Kutan stood to his feet, looking at Lee-Nin. “Tend the rabbit. Do not follow no matter what you hear.”
“What? I don’t hear anything.” Lee-Nin stared into the darkness between the trees beyond the fire.
Sha-Kutan said nothing as he stepped into the forest and walked toward the road. He left his sword behind at the fire. It would be of no use to him. He did not worry about making noise. The one he approached knew of his presence. It likely explained its own.
Followed from the village?
Or the farm we passed.
He knew what he would find, but not what he would do. Offer a choice? The same choice that had been put to him years ago?
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
BUTTERFLIES SKIMMED the tops of flowers along the roadside, riding warm breezes beneath the shadowed tree branches arching over the lane. Sha-Kutan walked the narrow road, staff in one hand, the other thumbing a chain of lapis prayer stones. With each step, he imagined the Eternal Light of All Existence flowing down into his heart, eating up all the darkness there and consuming it to breathe out an ever brighter light into the world, blessing all beings, from the butterflies and horseflies to the trees and flowers, even to the man he knew lay in wait not far along the path.
May all beings bathe in the light of peace — may their fears and sorrows be washed from them.
He recognized the bend of the high grass near the darkest shadows of the road. He’d seen grass affected the same way many times before he took up the robes of a monk. Always from the dark shadows, rather than the road itself.
“Manasto, friend,” Sha-Kutan called out as he placed the staff down firmly on the road. He only leaned on it a little. He’d been traveling all day, and his feet ached, but he had not reached the point where the walking staff became more than ornamental.
A man stepped from behind a tree trunk and onto the road to stand five paces from him. Sha-Kutan maintained his breathing, imagining the light filling him up, but the recitation of his prayer ceased as he saw the man’s eyes. A head and a half shorter than Sha-Kutan, his clothes worn, his face and arms scarred, he looked and smelled, even from upwind, as though he had not bathed in weeks. Sha-Kutan had no doubt the man could kill him, but wondered if he would be so lucky.
“I have little to offer you.” Sha-Kutan spread his arms wide. “Pashist monks carry only their staff, their beads, and The Golden Book of Great Fortune.” Sha-Kutan patted the satchel hanging from his shoulder. “I have some stale rice cakes I can share, though.”
“What about your body?” The man’s voice sounded rough, as though he had been eating smoke and gravel for days. He spoke the Juparti language of the dominion they stood in, but with a slight slur.
“The sage Wantarus asked that very question more than two thousand years ago.” Sha-Kutan watched the pronounced lean of the man’s body, as though he might charge at any moment. He knew he could not defeat the man, but it might be possible to outrun him. Another option might exist as well. “Sage Wantarus also said that we cannot own our body because neither we nor it exist in the manner we believe they do.”
“Then if you’re not using it, I’ll take it.” The man began to step forward, a hungry look on his face.
“How did you escape the Taksa Kranee for so long?” Sha-Kutan stood still as the man halted. He would not run. Running would only trigger the response of the hunter in the man. He understood the blood lust of the hunt. He did not need to present himself as prey.
“You know what I am?” The man slowed to a stop three paces from Sha-Kutan.
“I do.”
Sha-Kutan had seen the man’s kind five years previously, before meeting the Pashist monk Nukapan, who had become his teacher, guide, companion, and only friend, until his death three months prior. Tanshen Dominion soldiers had taken Sha-Kutan captive and were transporting him for trial when the sub-commander decided to take a less known path and cut through a small field to save time. Unfortunately, the field stood surrounded by more soldiers, the zhan’s elite wardens. They guarded a handful of priests in robes and a high tahn. From the color of the man’s garments, Sha-Kutan took the man to be a member of the royal family.
The wardens had turned the prison wagon around, telling the sub-commander to leave. They did leave, but not quickly enough. A light rent the night sky above the field. Sha-Kutan had gripped the bars of the prison wagon in awe, staring at the shifting light in wonder. What could it be? Did the priests create it? How? With The Sight? The Sight was forbidden in the Tanshen Dominion. Some natural event?
Sha-Kutan’s questions had ended when he saw what emerged from the fissure in the sky. Moving shadows so black they absorbed light as they descended upon the field, attacking the wardens and the priests. Hundreds poured forth from the blazing crack of light. Sha-Kutan had never known terror until then, trapped in a jail on wheels, the shadows spreading out — living tar pouring over the land. The creatures swarmed over the wardens and the soldiers around the field and those guarding Sha-Kutan.
He had moved to the center of the wagon, thankful to be safe inside its iron bars. The creatures killed swiftly, men’s swords having no effect on their wispy black bodies. They shook the wagon but could not enter. The iron of the bars thwarted their smoke-like forms. Sha-Kutan watched as one of them became as a viscous fog and entered the body of one of the dead men through his open mouth. A moment later, the dead man rose, his eyes obsidian dark, his gait uncertain as he stumbled into the field.
By chance, the sub-commander had been killed near the wagon cell. Sha-Kutan had reached his arm through the bars and pulled the body close, knowing he needed to get the man’s keys before one of the shadow creatures could inhabit the corpse. As he opened the cell door, he looked to the sky and saw beings of immaculate brilliance flood from the still-blazing opening in the air. Not as many as the shadows. Only a handful. But they chased and attacked the dark things, turning them to disintegrating vapor with a touch. Sha-Kutan had escaped into the fields, running for the woods.
He encountered the dark things several times over the following days, avoiding them in every instance. There were three kinds. The first and weakest existed only in their unnatural ephemeral form. The second, a little str
onger, could possess the bodies of the dead, willing them into motion and using them to kill more effectively. The last kind, the strongest, could enter and control the living, using their bodies like puppets as they overpowered their minds. These creatures conferred a strength to the host’s body that matched that of a dozen men.
Sha-Kutan knew which manner of shadow creature he faced and what it wanted. Whatever they were, and wherever they came from, those that possessed the living did not seem to care what happened to their stolen bodies. Why care for a pillaged house when you could easily find another? The man before him on the road looked as though he had been hosting the Kaya Kranee for more than a month.
“If you know what I am, why do you not run?” The man, the shadow creature, eyed Sha-Kutan with curiosity.
“Because I know what you desire, and I know that you can take it no matter what I do.” Sha-Kutan stared at the man, holding to the meditative inner light that filled him. “And I know that I can offer you something you have never had.”
“I have taken men and woman and children,” the man said, sneering. “What can you possibly offer?”
“A willing host.” Sha-Kutan smiled as he spoke, but his throat tightened with his words. There would be no coming back from them. He felt his fearlessness dissipating and continued before it could wholly evaporate. “And I can offer you a change in your nature you did not even know you yearned for.”
“I only need your body.” The man stepped forward again.
“That is not true, and you know it.” Sha-Kutan resisted the powerful urge to turn and flee. The man the creature possessed needed his help, as did the creature itself. “How long can you continue to run, hopping from body to body before the Taksa Kranee find you? You do not belong here, but I can help you find a way to exist here.”
“How?” The man halted, his eyes shifting constantly as he examined Sha-Kutan.
“Do you not weary of the constant killing?” Sha-Kutan touched his own chest. “Has your time in these bodies not taught you something about the importance of life?”
“Yes.” The man made no indication which question he answered.
“I can show you how to abandon the craving to kill. I can teach you how to worship life in its every form and every moment.” Sha-Kutan could not send the creature back where it came from, but he could potentially keep it from killing or possessing anyone else.
“Why should I care for such things?” The man stepped forward once more.
“Because we are not defined by what we are, or what we have been, or what we have done, or what has been done to us. We are defined by what we seek to be. How we seek to live. What we seek to do.” Sha-Kutan smiled again. “Where you come from, you may have no choice in what to be, but here, in this world, you can choose your path. I am offering you a different path.”
“How?” The man stopped just before Sha-Kutan.
“Free the man you inhabit and possess me.” Sha-Kutan spread his arms wide again. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of the man, but kept his smile. He silently prayed that he would be strong enough for what came next.
The air fell chill as darkness came to life, wisps of black vapor reaching from the man, wings of shadow spreading out to encompass Sha-Kutan. The creature poured from the man’s chest, pressing open Sha-Kutan’s mouth, and entering him. The man before him fell to the ground.
Sha-Kutan’s body went rigid as the creature possessed him. He felt it within his mind, pressing to take control of him, of his limbs, of his thoughts, of his personhood.
Submit.
I agreed to become your host. I did not agree to submit.
Submit.
Sha-Kutan focused his mind on the light, the Eternal Light of All Existence, imagining it drawing down into his body, filling his every fiber with luminescence, purifying his mind.
What is that?
It is the light that will transform and purify you.
How can you resist me?
I have trained my mind. As I will teach you to train yours.
I do not understand.
You will in time. Now we must take this man to a village or he will die.
Why should I care if he dies?
Because we are all manifestations of The Light.
I will leave.
You will not.
How do you restrain me?
I told you. A wise man taught me to control my mind.
I will kill you.
You will not. You will harm no one again.
Sha-Kutan picked up the body of the unconscious man and slung it over his shoulder. No longer of one mind, possessed of two competing intellects, he found the act challenging — two drivers urging a horse in separate directions. The part of him that had been a man imposed his will upon his body, overriding the part of him composed of living shadow. Sha-Kutan carried the unconscious man down the road, a silent conversation playing out in his head, two voices competing for dominance, a dialogue that would last for years.
THE PRESENT
IF WE destroy it, She will sense us clearly.
If we leave it alone, it will kill others.
How has it escaped her notice?
Maybe it, maybe they, are like us.
Sha-Kutan stepped into the road, seeing the man who approached in the moonlight come to a halt. They stared at each other a moment, both knowing the other for what they truly were.
“Evening, brother,” the man said.
Sha-Kutan noted the state of the man’s body and clothes, both clean and well kept. Either the shadow creature had recently possessed the man’s body, or he had been living in it for years, passing as human.
“She is close,” Sha-Kutan said. He did not bother with pleasantries.
“I know,” the man said. “But She believes I am dead. She follows you. And that disturbance. Was that you as well?”
“No.” Sha-Kutan tried to judge the strength of the creature inhabiting the man. It must be considerable for it to have lasted so long in one form.
“I see you have also taken to wearing a single body.” The man gestured to Sha-Kutan.
“You must release the man.” Sha-Kutan raised his hands, a gesture of truce that placed them nearer for defense.
“I have worn this body for many years.” The man’s voice filled with anger. “Why should you keep yours and I surrender mine?”
“This host is willing.” Sha-Kutan put one hand on his chest. “We are partners.”
“And how do you know I do not partner with my host?” The man’s smile curled tightly at the corners of his mouth.
“I know.” Sha-Kutan gave no further explanation.
“I see.” The man’s smile faded. “And how do you propose to force me out? A battle will only bring her more swiftly.”
“I know this as well.” Sha-Kutan’s sadness colored his words.
“And you think yourself strong enough to the task?” the man asked.
“There is another way.” Sha-Kutan allowed hope to kindle in his heart, even though he knew it to be a hopeless situation. “Leave willingly. Join us in this body.”
“No.” The man shook his head. “However, I may take the body after I kill you.”
“Sha-Kutan?”
Sha-Kutan glanced to the side to see Lee-Nin emerging from the trees, a dagger blade in one hand, his sword and belt slung over her shoulder.
“I told you to tend the rabbit.” Sha-Kutan frowned at Lee-Nin.
“You have a woman. Interesting.” The man leered at Lee-Nin. “I’ll examine her more closely when you are dead.”
Sha-Kutan had barely enough time to note the emergence of Sao-Tauna from the forest before the shadow creature attacked. Coal black wings of intangible mist spread out as the creature leapt from the man’s chest. Sha-Kutan responded in kind, expanding the shadow nature of his being out from his human body, clashing with the dark creature, battling for dominance in the middle of the road, moonlight giving the two entities an inky, pearlescent sheen.
T
he body of the formerly possessed man fell to the ground, his eyes fluttering, hands grasping at his chest. Sha-Kutan, the human portion of him, held himself upright, watching as the shadow aspect of himself fought for its life. The other shadow creature proved more powerful than expected. Claws of obsidian energy tore at near formless limbs of onyx vapor. The shadow facet of Sha-Kutan, the side that had come to this world by accident, the side that had spent years killing and hiding before meeting the human monk who taught him self-mastery, that part of him raged at the beast he battled. The anger and hatred he had once dissolved reformed in a wave of destructive power aimed at the creature who sought to kill him and Lee-Nin and Sao-Tauna.
A ribbon of light cracked open in the night air above the road. The human part of Sha-Kutan raised his hand to shield his eyes, even as the shadow aspects reeled back from the brilliance. The shadow creature that had possessed the man tried to flee the expanding fissure of light but proved too slow. As the rent of light engulfed the shadow creature, another world became visible through its luminescent walls — a land of slate-gray clouds and black fires burning across ashen desert sands. The shadow creature’s wail ended abruptly as the cleft of brilliant light collapsed and disappeared.
Sha-Kutan turned as his shadow-self reunited with his human body. Sao-Tauna stood beside Lee-Nin, her small hand raised, slender index finger extended. She smiled at him but said nothing.
Lee-Nin stood stunned, eyes wide, her face filled with fear, her hands trembling. Sha-Kutan felt sorry for her, only just now realizing who she protected and who protected her in their mutual flight.
“What are you?” Lee-Nin looked between Sao-Tauna and Sha-Kutan. “What are you both?”
“We are what you have seen.” Sha-Kutan crossed the road to take Sao-Tauna’s hand. “This is why we are hunted.”
“I … I don’t understand.” Tears welled in Lee-Nin’s eyes as she stared at Sao-Tauna.
“I will explain.” Sha-Kutan looked back to the man collapsed on the road, his arms twitching uncontrollably. “First, we must tend that man. After a meal, we will need to find a safe place to leave him. Then we will need to flee swiftly. The one who hunts me will hunt her as well.”
The Dragon Star (Realms of Shadow and Grace: Volume 1) Page 62