by Ray Torrens
But Jari nodded. “That’s good. Your technique is highly acceptable. More power will come in time too, as you practice each technique. Now, let me show you the move I’ll impart to you today.”
“The move? You’re only going to show me one?”
“Not by choice, trust me. Without the proper training facility, a protector can only teach their most powerful move, and only to another protector of the same order. However, as you are Eniten, the rules are different for you. Let’s thank our lucky stars that I can impart even one move. And trust me, you’re going to like what I have to share.”
Jari undid a set of buttons on the cloak he wore and flung it to the side. Mack stared at the body revealed beneath it. Jari was still short, but he had muscles on top of muscles despite his advanced age. The slightly hobbled stance he’d had while walking had straightened into a powerful fighting stance, feet shoulder-width apart and back straight.
What was most fascinating was the way he moved his arms in a large arc behind him and then brought his fists together in a sudden and abrupt movement. A ball of light exploded from his hands, travelling a good few feet ahead of him and smashing into a boulder at the far end of the room. The boulder crumbled pathetically under the force of the blow.
“Holy shit,” Mack breathed.
“You can never achieve something that powerful unless you work at it for ninety-three years like I have.” Jari laughed. “That is, unless you happen to be Eniten. For you it may come perhaps a few years sooner.” He gave Mack a toothy grin.
Mack had been lamenting his lack of a ranged move during his training, so this came at the perfect time. “That’s great,” he said eagerly.
He wasn’t sure how he would learn this move without a temple training facility. That had just automated the whole process and guided him effortlessly. He’d been half-convinced that there was kind of technological brainwave thing going on that imparted the knowledge to him. It turned out Jari was able to lead him through a similar process using old-school teaching methods just like Mack’s Muay Thai instructor Lance used to do back on Earth. Guiding him through the movements and explaining how his body should feel as he tried to manipulate his teho into producing the ball of pure energy.
He got it on his third try. A tiny ball of grey rather than white light and it only traveled a few inches, but Jari seemed impressed. “Good,” he said. “It really is true that you are Eniten! Now we just need to improve your range a little, if not your power too.”
Mack nodded in agreement and went straight back to producing the energy ball again and again until it was slightly bigger, more white, and traveled a bit farther.
Jari stopped him after a few more tries. “That’s as far as my teaching will get you, I’m afraid. You are welcome to remain here and continue practicing, but a real combat situation is required to truly harness teho powers.”
“Yes, of course,” Mack said. “Thank you, for teaching me. I will accept your offer and practice for a while.” He spent a good few hours trying to get it right, and finally was able to shoot a ball of energy like Jari had. Only, it wasn’t powerful enough to destroy a boulder. It could only just smash a fist sized rock. That was unlikely to be much use against the Lord.
When Mack went back out into the house part of the cave, Jari was waiting for him by the front door smoking a wooden pipe. He had a bundle that he gave to Mack. Now then, I think you need to be on your way. You have a dangerous task ahead of you if you are to go after that Lord. Take these rations with you.”
“Thank you. How can I repay you for your help?”
“Just pay me back by killing the Lord. I hope you cleanse the land of that bastard.” He laughed merrily and wrapped the cloak back around his body. The strong warrior Mack had been looking at for the past hours returned to the old hermit he’d seen when he first knocked on the door to the cave. It was a convincing disguise. “You should go back to Avalu and make your plans. Good luck.”
Mack was ushered out of the cave with some food supplies and fresh water. The door was slammed at his back, and he started his trek back to Avalu.
He’d had half a mind to ask Jari if he’d join the fight against the Lord, but the look he’d received as he was told to get back to Avalu told him all he needed to know. Jari’s days of being a protector were over.
It was Mack’s turn to pick up the torch now.
Chapter Eighteen
Back at the village, the people willing to fight had separated themselves from the group and were talking tactics by the time Mack returned.
There were ten of them, including Mack and Kaarina. Most were young fighters, but an older woman had agreed to come in order to help with the healing too.
“Our only option is to go to the Lord’s headquarters and see if we can see any holes in their defense,” Kaarina explained to him. “No one has been close enough in years to know what kind of defense they’re actually sporting.”
It wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear. He’d been hoping for some kind of blueprint showing the layout and details of how they defended themselves.
They were essentially going in blind.
But he was going to go in there anyway. It was high time someone put a stop to this guy. “Then let’s get going.”
A ripple of hesitation was immediate spread throughout the group of volunteers before the began to move. No one wanted to be risking their lives for this mission. It might have been total suicide. People said goodbye to the family members they were leaving behind, and then they were began walking as a group toward the Lord’s headquarters.
Kaarina walked beside Mack, and as soon as they were out of sight of the village, she laced her fingers through his. “Let’s just keep you and me a secret for now, huh? I don’t want my dad to go back to hating you this quickly.”
Mack had to laugh at that.
It was meant to be an hour’s walk to the headquarters as long as they didn’t run into disruptions, and for a change they didn’t. The path had changed since the last time one of the villagers had dared to travel that way. It now took them through a series of overgrown thorn bushes that slowed them down just by virtue of the terrain. They all took their share of pricks from the thorns as they carefully navigated the lengthy patches of bush. It was excellent to have healers with them, even for minor cuts and scrapes that would have otherwise become itchy and possibly infected, or just plain annoying. That added about half an hour added to their journey, and they arrived while the sun was just barely in the sky.
Mack almost gasped when he saw the headquarters through a gap in the trees. It was so different to anything that he’d seen so far on Hauta that it was staggering.
The building was a tall rectangle of pure steel, reflecting the setting sun in with walls. It looked futuristic, rather than the wooden houses that reminded Mack more of the middle ages.
“That’s so strange,” he said.
“Having access to power crystals gives you access to tech,” Kaarina said. “And being in charge gives you the ability to confiscate every bit of tech anyone has ever owned too. It’s amazing what can be built with powered machinery.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” said Mack. “Where I’m from, uh, well I’ve seen some impressive tech.”
Kaarina eyed him suspiciously like there was a mutually understood secret hanging between them. Then she tilted her head and looked back to the headquarters.
They gathered at the edge of the forest and tried to figure out a good plan of assault. There were what appeared to be automated sentry turrets at the main entrance, which was indicated by a modern-looking road leading up to a square of steel that was a different color to the rest of the building. There were also security cameras pointing at the cleared grass that surrounded the building. They wouldn’t be able to get close to it without being spotted. This place was so strange after spending all his days on Hauta living in wooden huts and walking through ruins.
“We’re never going to get in there,” he said. “There’
s no way to get past those turrets.”
“Those will kill us the moment we get close,” the older woman confirmed. “I saw something similar when I was a girl … and it did not end well.”
So, they stayed to the forest but moved around the edge of the outskirts of the building’s perimeter to try and find somewhere to infiltrate.
“It looks like that door is the only way into the place,” Mack said. They were at the back of the building when they paused to take stock of their options.
“We could tunnel and see what we find,” someone suggested.
“We find a way to kill the sentry turrets,” someone else put forward.
Mack stayed quiet while his brain worked on overdrive.
His thinking was interrupted by something clunking him on the side of the head. He started, clenching his hands into fists and looking around wildly.
“What’s wrong?” Kaarina asked.
“Something just his my head. Everyone, take cover now.”
“What?”
The next thing, a small stone flew by Mack’s head and hit one of the villagers. They let out a terrified gasp as though they expected to be blown up.
Then Kaarina spotted something. “Vekku,” she whisper-yelled gleefully. “Look.” The little gruk was hanging out of a small window a few floors up.
“How the fuck?” Mack was dumbfounded. “That little guy has a surprisingly good throw. That’s got to be fifty yards. Do you think he changed sides on us?”
“No way” Kaarina clasped her hands together. “How did he get there, do you think?”
“We can ask him when we get up there,” Mack shrugged.
“You know that … thing?” Okko asked with a curled lip.
They quickly explained to the others why they trusted the gruk with their lives. It didn’t take much persuading, since this was the break they’d been looking for.
“He’s above the security camera there,” Mack said. “If we can just get to him, then there’s no way they’d see us.” The only problem was, they were too far away to sneak up without being spotted.
“I can solve that one for you,” the older woman said. “Climb into the trees and I can manipulate them into weaving bridge from the forest to the window without the camera spotting you.”
“We’re not going to find another way,” Mack said.
There was a murmur of agreement and then people were climbing into the trees near the edge of the forest while the older woman took her stance and closed her eyes.
Mack was skeptical about her using her magic with her eyes closed when one wrong move would get them spotted by the security camera and attacked, but she obviously had some ability to sense what she was doing because the trees extended in a perfect arc across the gap between the forest and the building, while never dipping low enough to fall into the security cameras range. Vines and branches weaved together to create a bridge just wide enough to walk on.
Only, as the path extended across the space, red dots fixed onto them. Vekku jumped to the roots the second they were close enough, and that was when the sentry guns started to fire. They tore apart the vines and only just missed Vekku.
“Shit,” Mack hissed as Vekku scampered back down the tree and straight onto Kaarina’s shoulder.
She hugged the gruk and everyone murmured as they tried to figure out what they were going to do now.
The sentry turrets had stopped firing when Vekku had gotten about halfway across the bridge. That must have been the end of their range.
And they hadn’t attacked the bridge when it had just been the plants moving. The turrets must have been programmed to only attack living targets.
“What now?” Kaarina asked.
“Someone inside is sure to know we’re here now,” Mack said irately.
“You go then, while we run interference,” a warrior said. “Everyone, let’s run interference while Mack gets across the bridge. It’s the only option.”
“That’s too dangerous,” Mack argued.
“It’s all too dangerous,” Okko fired back. “You’re in just as much danger in there as we are out here. Just get ready to run.”
Mack nodded. He wanted desperately to argue with Okko out of spite, but managed to swallow his pride for the greater good. “Okay. Just get to safety as soon as I’m through the window, and if I die trying to get there then run.”
Kaarina kissed him again, harder. “You’re not dying.”
It would be about ten paces to get to the window, and then he’d be home free. With his enhanced speed, he should have been able to do it in well under fifteen seconds, but he had no idea if that was quick enough to beat the sentry guns. He was relying on the villagers running interference and drawing fire to themselves.
The older woman remade the bridge, but Mack didn’t move just yet.
Four warriors were ready to run at the edge of the forest. They didn’t have their weapons drawn—there was no chance of them getting close enough to actually kill the turret, they just needed to be able to move as quickly as possible. Now that the bridge was complete, the older woman and other villagers focused their magic on healing and manipulating the plants in a way that might help the warriors who had volunteered to run.
Okko was among them, face set in fury. His hands were clenched into fists even though he had nothing in reach to fight against.
Mack held his breath and then asked, “Is everyone ready?”
He got confirmation from everyone.
“Three. Two. One. Go!”
Chaos broke out immediately. Mack had wanted to wait and see if their plan would actually work before he committed to risking his life, but that would mean putting people in danger for longer. Instead, he began to move across the bridge as fast as possible.
Turrets fired, but they didn’t fire at him. He covered most of the distance of the bridge in seconds, until at the last minute, a turret fire turned to him. His right leg was caught in the fire and he hissed in pain as multiple bullets pierced him. Most got the bridge that he was running over, and his support was falling out from under him immediately.
He couldn’t use his jump as his legs took more fire from the sentry guns.
He was going to fall and die.
Then his leg was powerful again, the wounds healing as though they’d never been there. He had to act immediately and used his jump to push off from the bit of bridge that remained and sending him flying through the window.
He regained his balance and turned to look out of the window. His eyes went straight to Kaarina, who was being dragged along the tree bridge back to the cover of the forest by branches controlled by the other keiju. He was glad they’d pulled her back in time, but it meant that he had a somewhat wounded leg that hadn’t been healed. That would cause him more trouble the longer he had to deal with them.
The space between the building and the forest was a bloodbath. Of the warriors who had run interference, one was lying dead and mangled on the ground, his head and body covered in bullet holes. On the edge of the forest he could see the healers working desperately to help their wounded.
He nodded his thanks to their sacrifice, and then turned to peer through the window Vekku had opened, trying to push away the sights of the villagers damaged bodies.
He had to find the Lord and kill him. Too many people had sacrificed too much for him to fail now.
Chapter Nineteen
A sudden burst of turret fire almost gave Mack a heart attack, but when he turned back to the window it was Vekku that came flying through it and straight into Mack’s chest.
“How did you get back up there?” Mack demanded.
“Climb,” Vekku said like it was the easiest thing in the world to do without being shot to shit. “I looked all around here before. I see where he is”
“You know where the Lord is?”
“Yes.” The gruk pointed up, indicating a higher floor. “Up, up, up. Top floor.”
“Okay, good. How do we get there?”
“
Follow.”
The building was nothing like Mack was expected after seeing it from the outside. The center of the floor they were on was mostly empty space. He could lean over and see that the upper floors were the same, just mostly walkways going around the edges of the building. Below was the same, and at the bottom was a courtyard with an indoor garden. There was a natural light source coming from upstairs, which was hidden from their view where they were.
“Interesting. This place must just be the Lord’s private living space, along with some barracks for his men. I’d been expecting a lot more rooms. Did you come across any bandits?”
“Yes, walk back and forth, look for trouble.”
“Sentries?”
The biggest question was whether they’d be able to get to the top floor. There were no hiding spots, and sneaking was going to be tough for Mack, despite how simply it apparently had been for the gruk.
There were footsteps from somewhere and a door opened up at the opposite end of the wall. Then another door opened at the other corner of the open-plan area, adjacent to where they stood. The guards that ran around the corner at both sides looked like they had every intention of stopping Mack getting anywhere.
Vekku immediately sprung from Mack’s shoulder and to the wall. He could scale it easily, and ran out of the guard’s range by fleeing to the next level where he hung there watching the action unfold.
Mack couldn’t afford to pay Vekku any more attention, because he was inundated by guards, all carrying short swords. He took the initiative this time, dashing forward with his jump and taking down the guard closest to him in a single move that snapped his neck. The maneuver knocked down the several guards behind him too. That was an advantage of fighting so many people in a narrow walking space.
Immediately back to his feet, Mack wasn’t given time to think before swords were being thrust in his direction. One scraped along his chest as he tried to dodge another. He would have to make quick work of the dozen or so guards, otherwise he’d be mobbed and taken down by sheer numbers.
