Ghosts of Korath

by Jake Stone

  “Goddamnit, Xander,” he says, “what the hell are doing?”

  I glance around, checking to see if any of the other women have noticed him. But to my utter astonishment, they ignore me, each of them seeming lost in their own worlds. I blink as I look for the shadow again.

  “Are you okay?” I hear Tora ask.

  “Yeah,” I answer, shaking my head again. “I just…I thought…nothing.”

  We walk in silence for the next hour. I can’t shake the fact that I just heard my father’s voice only a while ago. It sounded so close, so real. Is it the ghosts? Are they truly real?

  I look as I see Petronelous waving a hand around her face. She’s fighting something, batting it away as if struggling with a swarm of attacking bees. She looks frantic in her movements, and I turn to Atia to see if she’s noticed. But she appears to be just as distracted, her gaze roaming around her knees as if there’s somebody there.

  “Forget about those bitches,” my father says. His voice is so familiar, so eerily calming that I forget my fear of him and fall back into my old self. “They’re just holding you back, getting in the way. Think of yourself, think of getting ahead of everyone and don’t look back.”

  “No,” I mutter to myself. “I’m not listening to you. You don’t care about me.”

  “I don’t care about you?” my father repeats in disbelief. “I’m the only one who ever cared about you. You think your mother gave a shit about you when she was lying up in her hospital bed fighting for her life? Or Rachel when she was fucking everyone else but you?”

  “Shut up!” I say through gritted teeth. “Shut up!”

  I shut my eyes, forcing him from my mind, horrified to express my fear to the other women. I’m finally crossing the bridge when I hear another voice close to me.

  Tora is standing at my side pointing to Zorel. The elemental is sweating beyond belief, flinching as she mumbles angrily at the world around her.

  “It’s the ghosts,” Tora says in fear. “They’re making her go crazy. We need to help her.”

  “I can’t,” I say. I feel the sting of sweat in my eyes. Between the heat of the cavern and my father’s voice, I’m becoming disoriented, lost.

  “She’s a piece of ass,” my father says. “You should fuck her.”

  “Shut up!” I scream back.

  “Xander,” Tora says. “It’s the ghosts, fight it!”

  “I can’t,” I say, holstering my gun and palming my eyes. The voice keeps coming back, pelting me with disgusting orders. It isn’t until Tora turns my face to hers that I begin to snap out of it.

  “Look at me,” she says, her dark eyes boring into mine. “Stay with me, concentrate on the feeling of your armor, on the touch of my skin.”

  I do what she says, but I’m struggling, fighting under the weight of my father’s voice. Around me, I hear the voices of the women, Atia pleading for a young girl’s life, Petronelous calling out for the love she lost, Zorel threatening to kill the other children with her powers if they don’t stop teasing her.

  Although I can’t hear Chun Hei’s pleas, I know that she’s fighting her own battle as well. She holds out her pulser and aims it at the surrounding walls, tears streaming from her eyes as if something is coming to take her away. It’s the slavers, I realize, the ones who abducted her from her family and made her serve in their harems.

  “Forget about them,” my father says. “Let them die. Glory only comes to those still standing.”

  “I don’t care about glory,” I say.

  “And that’s why you’ll never fulfill your destiny,” he chides.

  It’s then, just as I’m about to lose my shit that Tora frames my face in her hands and forces me to stare into her eyes. Before I know it, she’s pressing her lips against mine, giving me a light, but precious kiss that awakens me to her touch. I feel the soft caress of her skin. The feeling is calming, and within seconds my fear bleeds out like poison from a wound, and I’m gratefully free of my father’s clutches.

  Blinking, I look at her, amazed. “How is all of this possible?” I say, looking around.

  “It’s the ghosts,” Tora says. “Only the dead can harm you.”

  “No,” I say. “If that were true, then it would mean…” I pause as the realization dawns on me: my father never made it out of the experiment. Everything was destroyed, as well as him. I gasp as tears fill my eyes. “No…”

  “Hurry!” Tora says, pulling me by the wrist. “The cavern is less than a mile away.”

  The women are unrestrained in their delirium. They fall to their knees drenched in sweat, blabbering incoherently at the ghosts who play with their minds.

  “Are you sure it’ll help them?” I ask.

  “Yes,” Tora says, nodding. “But we must get them there soon; otherwise they’re minds will be too damaged to come back.”

  “Okay,” I say, hurrying to Chun Hei, who’s only a few feet away. Of all the women, she’s probably the weakest physically. But she’s armed and angry—not a good combination considering she’s the best shot.

  She whirls on me with her pulser. But I hold out my hands in caution, able to halt her as I begin to approach her with slow and careful steps. Her eyes narrow, hand trembling as she tries to discern whether I’m friend or foe.

  “It’s me,” I sign to her. “Xander.”

  She blinks, shakes her head, unconvinced that I am who I say I am. Struggling, her fingers tighten around the handle of her pulser and she begins to sign to me with trembling fingers, “I’m not a slave.”

  “Nor will you ever be again,” I promise.

  Her brow pinches as she’s overcome by a wave of pain, and I see a bead of sweat sliding down her face.

  “Remember the training,” I sign to her. “The battle meditations from the monastery. The months of practice. You and me.”

  She grimaces as she fights the voices in her head, eyes shutting tight as she battles to retake herself.

  “I won’t hurt you,” I promise, drawing closer. “You’re safe. You’re safe.”

  Within arms reach of her, I knock the pistol to the side and pull her into my arms, holding her as hard as I can. She’s sobbing, but okay. When I pull back, I quickly sign to her, “It’s the ghosts. Don’t listen to them. Focus on me—no one else. Okay?”

  She nods, wiping the tears from her face.

  “Good. Now help me with the others. We need to get them to the end of the bridge. Tora says we’ll be safe there.”

  Chun Hei’s tears are instantly replaced by a look of determination, and we quickly set off to help the others.

  I head toward Petronelous, leaving Chun Hei to deal with Atia, who appears more repentant than dangerous. She, like an old lady with dementia, trudges up the bridge with stunted steps, mumbling words of regret for the young girl she was forced to leave behind. “I did what I had to,” she tells Chun Hei, who links an arm into hers as she carefully escorts her away like a nurse. “But I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t ….”

  Petronelous, unfortunately, is another matter.

  I duck as the master swordsman swings one of her blades in my direction, nearly chopping off my head. Her movements are quick, blinding. But I keep my distance, careful not to get too close.

  “Petro!” I call out.

  “Leave me alone!” she says, leaping out at me.

  I gasp as I’m kicked in the stomach, the air rushing from my lungs as I fly across the bridge. Slamming onto my back, I look up, watching as she charges at me with her blades. I roll to the side, able to avoid the tip of her blade as she plunges it down at me.

  “Petro, it’s me!” I scream, rising to my feet and staggering backwards.

  It’s not enough. She comes at me again, pressing me back until I’m leaning over the parapets of the bridge.

  “I will not let you take him again,” she seethes, holding her sword at my neck.

  “It’s me, Petro,” I say. “It’s me!”

  She stops, confused. “Harson?” Her lips quive
r as she backs away, her blades falling limply at her sides. “Harson, is that … you?”

  She thinks I’m Harson, her beloved who was abducted and killed by slavers. If she thinks I’m him, maybe I can convince her to come with me peacefully.

  Reaching out a hand, I wave her forward. She sobs, letting go of her blades, and falls to her knees, appearing wholly destroyed. Crawling, she’s as dangerous as a baby looking for its mother.

  Quickly, I grab her blades, strapping them to the magnetic strip on my back, and help her up, holding her firmly as I help her toward the exit.

  She’s barely awake now, her head hanging between her shoulders, her eyes resting shut, her breath slow and shallow. Chun Hei quickly takes her from me, wincing as she bears the brunt of her weight.

  “I’ll be back,” I sign to her.

  Chun Hei turns to the bridge, her face marked by fear as she watches the storm of electricity begin to build.

  Zorel.

  “Be careful,” she signs to me.

  I nod.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amongst us, Zorel is the most explosive.

  And I don’t mean that as a joke. With the slightest touch of her finger, she can alight the particles of my body like a firecracker. And that’s something I want to avoid at all costs. Thankfully, I have my armor. But who’s to say how much protection that will provide me?

  When I reach her, I find her doubled over on the floor. She’s not crying, but her eyes are red. She’s angry, furious. Her fingers spark with electricity, and I know it’s only seconds before someone gets fried.

  “Stop it!” she screams out, her fingers crackling with electricity as she raises her hands. “I’m not a broken plug!”

  “Oh, shit…” I mutter as I see a shock of electricity shooting straight for me. I jump to the side at the last moment, and the parapets behind me explode into dust.

  “Don’t listen to them, Zorel!” I yell out. “They’re not real.”

  “Yes they are,” she says. “Monsters who hate me because they’re scared.”

  “I’m not scared of you,” I assure her. “You’re not dangerous to me. Your friends aren’t scared of you either. We care for you. I promise.”

  “Liar!” she screams again.

  She throws a couple of electric balls at me, but I’m able to duck to the side. There’s something wrong. If she wanted to, she could light this entire bridge up. She must be resisting it.

  Taking a leap of faith, I lunge for her, grabbing her by the wrists and holding her in place. She grimaces from the pressure, her eyes squinting as electricity crackles from behind her eyelids.

  I watch as the electric charge of her fingers builds along my gauntlets and up my vambraces, threatening to reach my shoulders.

  “Prove them wrong,” I tell her through clenched teeth.

  It takes everything she has to keep her hatred at bay. But after a while, the electricity begins to subside, and I see the tension of her face start to relax.

  “I’m not dangerous,” she says softly. “I’m not a freak.”

  “Never,” I say, lifting her chin.

  Her anguish suddenly flees, and she’s able to grant me a smile through the fog of her mind. “Thank you, Xander,” she whispers.

  “Any time,” I say.

  “Where are the others?” she asks.

  “Up ahead.” I grab her by the elbow as I lead her away, and she takes a deep breath, straightening. We walk together slowly, the brightness of her gray eyes returning as she lets out a weak laugh. “I hated being a kid,” she says.

  “I hate being an adult,” I reply.

  When we arrive at the exit, I’m astonished to find what looks to be an expansive underground lake that’s as big as an Olympic-size swimming pool. Beneath the surface, specks of light sparkle as they swim through the water, drawing my attention.

  Tora has already led the other women to the bank where she’s trying to help take off their armor. But the metal plates are too heavy for her, and she quickly throws her arms up in defeat.

  I stroll past them down to the water, wanting to get a better view of the lights streaking back and forth beneath the surface. They’re the color of azure, a magnificent shade of blue that pulsates with a soft energy that is both calming and fascinating at the same time. Whatever trembling I felt, whatever fear I had, suddenly dwindles away, leaving me strangely at ease. It’s beautiful.

  “They’re called seraphine,” Tora says as she joins me in my view. “Glowing fish that light up the dark, a delicacy amongst my tribe, for they can only be found here in the mountain.”

  “So they’re not poisonous?” I ask.

  She laughs softly at the question, and I can tell that she finds my ignorance adorable. “Serphine are the only living things in this wretched mountain that aren’t dangerous. But to answer your question, no, they’re not poisonous.”

  “Good,” I say. “It’ll be nice to eat something fresh for a change.”

  Since the campaign began almost a year ago, the girls and I have only eaten military rations of protein bars and electrolytes. Maybe I can use the rocks to set up a grill, where I can then roast one of the fish. We don’t have any spices, but I’m fine with that. I just want something as close to a cooked meal as possible.

  Glancing at the cavern, I try to make sense of the place. There’s only one entrance and one exit. Other than that, I don’t see any holes or cracks where a demon can burrow out of and attack us. For all intents and purposes, it feels like we’re safe—at least, for the moment.

  “We should keep going,” Atia says as she rises to her feet. Her skin is flushed and sweaty, and her eyes look dazed from heat exhaustion.

  “Wait,” Petronelous says, panting, her face ruddy with pulsing blood, “please, just a few minutes.”

  “Agreed,” Zorel says, unlatching her shoulder plates and tossing them aside. She doesn’t wait for Atia’s permission. She’s hot and sweaty and quickly begins removing the rest of her armor, stripping down to her black bodysuit, which she unashamedly peels off herself as well. “I’ve got to cool down.”

  She dives into the lake without caution, and I feel my pulse jump as I catch a glimpse of her bare ass in the process. The water splashes against her body as she disappears, and we wait, anxious, for her to reappear. When she does, we all breathe a sigh of relief.

  “By the corfew,” Zorel says, brushing back her long blond hair and spitting out a mouthful of water. “This feels great!”

  With a sigh, Atia nods her ascent to the other women, and they quickly begin to detach their armor as well, all of them desperate to sink their overheated bodies into the cool, calming pool.

  It’s hard not to look at them, I admit, especially when they’re unzipping the backs of their bodysuits, revealing their naked, toned bodies, which are akin to warrior goddesses.

  My breath hitches when I see each of them on full display, admiring the physical assets that make them so wonderfully special. Zorel’s amazing breasts. Chun Hei’s svelte body. Petronelous’s muscled ass. And of course, there’s Atia.

  The blond beauty is shy as she wanders into a more shaded part of the cavern. She glances around, making sure that she’s alone. It’s dark enough. But with the help of the glowing fish—those wonderful animals that I’ll forever be grateful to for this moment—I’m able to glimpse through the darkness her amazing appearance.

  With shoulder-length blond hair and square-framed shoulders, she’s a vision to look at. My breath hitches when I get a glimpse of her long toned legs and trimmed pussy that’s as dark as her eyebrows. This woman is straight out of heaven.

  Chun Hei squats at the bank of the lake where she dips the tips of her fingers into the water, a smile touching her face when one of the fish begins to nibble at her skin.

  “We’re safe here,” Tora assures me.

  Her eyes glimmer against the glow of the fish, a comforting smile stretching across her face that makes her look both assuring and mischievous at the same ti
me. It’s then that I’m reminded of our kiss, how soft her lips were, how sweet the taste of her mouth was. Amidst the confusion of my mind, I hadn’t had the chance to enjoy it. Now, as I look at her standing next to me, I hope I get another chance.

  “Safe?” I ask. “How can you be so sure?”

  “Demons are not fans of water,” she says. “Besides, according to the elders, all the lakes were blessed by the corfew and as such are dangerous to the beings of hell.”

  I glance down at the illustrious water, suddenly desperate to feel its coolness against my heated skin. If what she says is true, then that would mean that this lake would be one of the safest places in the mountain. But what if she’s wrong?

  Glancing at my friends, watching as they relax into the water, I realize that a quick dip in the pool is exactly what we needed to renew our morale.

  “Okay,” I say with a nod. “We’ll camp out here for a while. Just enough to cook some fish and let my friends cool down. But that’s it. Afterward, we’ll head out.”

  “Ah,” Tora says teasingly, “You are very wise for your age. I see why you are a Battle Saint.”

  Shooting her a wink, I draw my blade and aim it at one of the fish swimming by the shore. I plunge the tip of it into its back, catching it instantly, then pull it out, eyeing it carefully as I grip it in my hand and draw out the blade. It looks normal, healthy. Sinking my blade into the soft rock, I turn back to stare at Tora.

  She smiles.

  “Dinner is served.”

  I sit at the edge of the bank with Tora at my side, where I plop one of the seraphim that I caught onto a large rock which I’m hoping Zorel can use to heat with her energy.

  The fish flops violently against the surface of the rock as I hold it down, its blue scales still glowing against the dry air. But after a while, it begins to suffocate and whatever magnificent glow its skin once held slowly fades away.

  “Thank you,” Tora says to the dead fish, bowing her head in reverence and drawing the corfew with her finger. “With your body, we will sustain our souls.”

  Her actions catch me off guard, and I wonder whether I should join her in her prayer of thanks. Bowing my head, I draw the image of the corfew, as it was taught to me in the monastery, and, in a somber voice, whisper a few words of appreciation.