by Dan Decker
Chapter 19
Jorad hadn’t seen Adar or the Hunwei for half an hour. He hadn’t been able to keep up, the pain in his back made it tough to run. If it weren’t for the mountain towering above him, he wouldn’t have had any idea which direction the road lay. He stopped, planted the tip of his sword into the ground and leaned against a nearby tree as he tried to catch his breath. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up at the sky, trying to guess what time it was. It had cleared up for a bit earlier, but now the clouds had returned, more ominous than before. It had been hours since they’d first come across the Hunwei, and he figured it was late in the afternoon.
Did some of the Hunwei break off to go back for the others? Was Soret even still alive?
Jorad took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the matters at hand, and was startled by the sound of a blast. Melyah, those things were loud. He gripped his sword and moved in the direction of the blast.
In moments, he faced a small clearing. Jorad crouched. Crossing it was out of the question, but maybe one of the Hunwei would. They didn’t take much care to hide. Why would they? Human weapons bounced off them with no harm. Melyah, they were in trouble.
Jorad listened, hoping for more sound to indicate which direction he should move. After several minutes of observation failed to reveal anything, Jorad moved to the right and circled around the small meadow. He was almost to the other side, when a Hunwei walked into the opening. Jorad froze but it was too late, he’d been seen.
The Hunwei pointed his weapon in Jorad's direction and fired. Jorad dove to the ground, rolled, turned to run and found himself face to face with the Hunwei they’d disarmed earlier. He was glad to see that the Hunwei still hadn’t retrieved the blaster as he burst into a sprint. That meant that Adar was still alive. The Hunwei grabbed for Jorad but he twisted away, lost his footing and fell. His sword slid out of reach.
Jorad crawled towards his sword but there was a flash of pain in his side as the Hunwei kicked him. The air went out of his lungs and he struggled to breathe. The Hunwei kicked him again, this time hitting the burn on his back. The scream that erupted from his throat caused the Hunwei to gurgle with laughter.
Jorad charged into the cackling Hunwei’s legs, taking them both to the ground. He could smell the creature. It was the same stink from the night they followed the shadows outside of Neberan. It was strange that he'd only now smelled it again, but perhaps that was because his mind had been so wrapped up in other things. He grabbed one of his daggers and stabbed down into the face of the Hunwei, refusing to die without a fight, no matter how futile his efforts.
To his surprise, the dagger plunged into the Hunwei’s eye, causing him to scream. Jorad pulled it out and stabbed the other eye, as the creature convulsed beneath him. Wrenching the dagger with both hands, he twisted and pushed it into the hilt. The Hunwei screamed again and wriggled beneath his legs. He pushed it in as deep as he could, pulled it out and stabbed into the neck repeatedly. Blue blood covered his hands when he stopped. He stood; shocked that he'd been able to kill a Hunwei.
The dead creature's body continued to move with spasms as he examined the Ou Qui dagger in his hand. The dagger shouldn’t have worked. It didn't even have an edge.
Footsteps crunched from behind and he turned to see the other Hunwei aiming a blaster at him. Jorad lifted his blood-covered dagger, preparing to throw it. A bloody blue hole appeared in the Hunwei’s chest and his face went blank just before he collapsed. Adar stood behind, baring his teeth, smoke curling from the end of his blaster. Another blaster hung from his shoulder.
“That makes two,” Adar said. “Two to go.”
“Don’t you mean three and one?” Jorad motioned to the Hunwei he’d killed. The fact that he’d survived was still dawning on him. He couldn't believe it. The gods were smiling on him today.
“Ou Qui dagger?” Adar kicked the Hunwei, as if to make sure it was dead. “It worked?”
Jorad held up the dagger. “Maybe the Ou Qui have a chance of rescuing their people after all.” He turned the weapon over in his hands. He pulled up a wad of grass and used it to clean the dagger. The black residue remained. “Think this black stuff is what allowed me to kill him?”
“Probably. They aren’t immune to their own weapons and the Ou Qui have figured out how to kill them.” Adar kicked Jorad’s kill again. “Not much left of his face.”
“He’s dead isn’t he?”
Adar nodded toward the other Hunwei corpse. “Not criticizing you, dead is dead. Pick up his blaster.”
“How do you use it?” Jorad retrieved the weapon.
“There are two levers.” Adar pointed to a button that was above where he was holding the front of the weapon with his left hand. “If you cover this button and then pull the other lever it fires. See for yourself.”
Jorad pointed the weapon toward the Hunwei corpse, pulling the lever while holding down the button and he blasted a hole into the Hunwei’s body. The blast was much louder this close up and his ears rang afterward.
“Nice weapon.” Jorad felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe there was a chance they could survive.
It was almost dark by the time they returned to where they'd left the notch on the tree. The area looked undisturbed. It seemed like it had been days ago when Adar had put the carving into the tree, not hours. Adar stepped out of the forest onto the road while Jorad covered him with his blaster. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees and the chill in the air was getting colder.
Tere and Tarner appeared on the other side of the road as Karn came out of a bush several feet ahead of where Jorad crouched. He was followed by Soret, Xarda, Leron and Wes. Jorad hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath, but when he saw Soret, he exhaled. Her hair was pulled back behind her head and she was covered from head to toe in dirt. There was a determination on her face that hadn't been there this morning. Something had changed. Was she past her period of mourning for her parents or was it something else?
“About time,” Tere said. “We’ve been waiting for hours. We about left you for dead.”
Jorad joined them, walking up to Soret and looking into her eyes. She still looked afraid. There was still sorrow on her face, but she looked a little more confident.
“And would’ve if I hadn’t stopped him,” Xarda said.
“Where did you get those?” Karn pointed at the blasters.
“Took them off some Hunwei we killed.” Jorad smiled at the astonished gasps from the others. Soret gave him a fleeting smile, but he could tell something was wrong. “Where’s Lous?”
“The Hunwei got him,” Tere said. “Well, he was killed by a blaster.”
Adar looked at Tere, expecting an accusation, if not an attack. Jorad tensed. After spending the afternoon being chased by Hunwei, almost dying multiple times, and suffering a burned back, he wasn’t in the mood to put up with Tere’s unfounded accusation.
“What are you suggesting?” Jorad aimed his blaster at Tere, while at the same time stepping away from Soret. “You stupid enough to think that while we were being chased by Hunwei we somehow found time to come back and start firing on our own group? The first speck of hope we’ve found, and you manage to twist it into a forsaken accusation? I’m done watching you continue to mutter under your breath while you cast your hateful looks at Adar. If you want to finish this, let’s finish it.”
Adar put his hand on Jorad’s shoulder. “This isn’t your fight. Back down. You can’t afford his blood.”
“You going to shoot me?” Tere made no move to defend himself. “In cold blood? A fine Ghar you’ll make.”
“Watch your step; I’ve had enough of you.” Jorad shouldered the blaster and walked to the edge of the forest. Hunwei are out there still and we’re fighting. It bothered him that Adar continued to let this fester; it was unlike him. Jorad turned back to the group, but didn’t approach.
“I saw it happen, uncle,” Xarda said. “I saw the Hunwei that shot him. It happen
ed quickly, one moment we were walking down the road, the next Lous was down and we were all running.”
Adar cleared his throat as if he was about to say something, but he remained silent. Jorad figured he’d been about to chastise them for the ruckus they’d been making, but as Xarda had just defended him, he’d probably figured it wasn’t the wisest thing to do. Adar would speak to them. It needed to be done, but now wasn’t the time. Instead, he handed one of his blasters to Karn.
“They can be killed with their own weapons. Push this button and grab the lever to use it,” Adar said as Tere eyed Karn’s new weapon.
“I always warned Lous to be more careful.” Tarner shifted, struggling for words. “He’d get lost in his thoughts.”
It happened quickly. The shadow materialized behind Tarner and by size alone, it was a Hunwei. Jorad raised his blaster shouting, but Adar beat him and fired first. Jorad’s shot went high, and into the forest. In the distance, he could see the blast hit a rock and explode in flames. Tarner dove to the ground, rolled, and then sprung to his feet. He looked between Jorad and Adar, uncertain what to do.
“What are you doing?” Tarner reached for his sword. “Tere’s the one accusing you, not me.”
“Behind you.” Tere stepped in front of Tarner who looked back and saw the body of the Hunwei that Adar had killed. Tarner turned pale.
“There may be more,” Jorad said. A colder wind blew down from the mountain, but it was nothing compared to the icy chill in his heart as he thought about traveling tonight with shadows moving all around them and Tere watching Adar’s every step.
Adar wouldn’t allow them to stop to rest and as soon as they could find a good place, they'd have to leave the road. Nobody said anything as Tere walked over to the dead Hunwei, picked up the blaster, and slung it onto his shoulder. Tarner gave Adar an angry look. Adar shook his head, his look promising never to save Tarner’s life again.
“Let’s go.” Adar eyed Tere with his blaster. “If there are other Hunwei around, it won’t be long before they come to investigate. Jorad and I will take the lead. Tere and Karn bring up the back. If there’s any trouble, let us handle it since we have the blasters.”
“Karn, if you want to rotate, I’m sure I could handle the blaster,” Wes said. Karn just grunted.
A fat drop of rain hit Jorad’s face and a second later there was a flash of lightning. The storm had come. The shower broke and a wall of water broke free from the sky above. Thunder boomed.
It was going to be a long night.
Nobody spoke as Adar set off down the road, blaster ready if needed. Soret moved closer to Jorad. Between the dark and the water in his eyes, he could just make out the fear on her face.
As they shuffled after Adar, Jorad looked back at the dead Hunwei. He wished that he’d never have to fight the Hunwei again. The stress of the day, his burned back, his fear for Soret, Tere’s hatred for Adar, and on top of everything his responsibility to Rarbon was enough to crush a man. Stubbornly, he resolved to never let anything happen to Soret. Now he had a way to fight. The Hunwei could be killed and he intended to kill as many as possible.
