Their Spirit Unbroken (Relentless Book 3)

by Ryan Kirk

  The food and company lulled her into complacency.

  They all sensed the monks. As gifted warriors inside Jihan, there was no mistaking the waves of power reaching into the sky. The whole city suddenly came alive with power. Bai tensed up, her body as taut as a bowstring. She couldn’t even count how many attacks she felt.

  None had felt particularly close, but that did little to ease Bai’s concern. The attacks could only have come from the wraiths. They had spread throughout the city. To what purpose?

  Rong gave voice to everyone’s fear. “What was that?”

  As one, the group turned to Shu. Bai still felt like a guest among the group, so she preferred to remain outside decisions whenever possible. Shu looked stunned, no answer coming from her lips. Her eyes darted from person to person, as though searching for answers on their faces.

  Then Bai’s blood turned to ice.

  She sensed four monks encircling their house.

  Bai cursed. From the looks on the others’ faces, they sensed the impending danger, too.

  Shu should have noticed them earlier, but she must not have been paying attention to her surroundings.

  The monks approached closer, but Shu still didn’t give commands.

  Bai refused to wait any longer. Somehow, the monks had found them. There was no point in questioning how, not now. Survival was all that mattered.

  She turned to Rong. “Come with me. Everyone else, pack up what you can and be prepared to run. You have five minutes.”

  She didn’t have time to see if the others followed her orders. The monks were close now, their powers building as they prepared attacks.

  Rong followed Bai to the entrance. Bai looked over her shoulder as she slammed open the front door. “Kill them. I’ll go left.”

  Rong nodded. Bai thought she saw a grin on the woman’s face.

  Bai had fought Rong before. She knew the woman’s strengths and knew most monks wouldn’t stand a chance against her. They were the students’ best hope of surviving the evening.

  The two women sprinted out of the house. Bai turned left and Rong went right.

  They were just a few seconds too late.

  Blasts came from every direction. Bai leaped in front of one, absorbing the energy meant for the safehouse. On another side of the house, she felt Rong do the same. Two of the walls cracked as power crashed against them, but the house stood.

  Barely.

  Bai threw herself at the first monk, the man whose attack she’d just absorbed, pummeling him with fists filled with power. He fell to her assault in only a moment, surprising Bai. She imagined the ambush had been specifically targeted for Yang’s students. Why hadn’t the wraiths sent their best?

  Bai continued around the house, searching for the next monk. She was surprised to find Rong already there, a long knife in her hand. Bai had never seen the weapon before. Rong slid the blade into the monk’s vitals, demonstrating a deadly competence. As they stood across from one another, Rong wiped the blade off and returned it to a hidden sheath. She looked unarmed once again.

  Bai was grateful Rong hadn’t used the blade when they had fought.

  Their eyes met, Rong’s searching Bai’s for judgment. She had none to offer. The monks liked to speak endlessly about honor and the use of power, but when it came to a fight, all that mattered was winning. If a blade helped with that, Bai had no complaints. The two women turned to the house.

  After being buried underneath a building once already this week, Bai had no desire to enter one that was crumbling. She looked to Rong. “Get them.”

  The young warrior nodded and stepped inside the building. Bai wondered if Rong had any fear at all.

  Soon the whole group was gathered again, safely outside the house with everything they needed. Yang’s students looked to Shu for guidance, but she stared off into the distance. Bai wondered if something inside the woman had finally broken.

  Bai looked around. Powers still rumbled throughout the city. The wraiths’ work, whatever it was, seemed far from over. She turned to the group in front of her. They were young and unprepared for the storm that raged around them. She was exhausted from the small effort she’d just exerted. Her body needed more time to recover.

  They were in no state to fight. They needed protection.

  Lei.

  He was in Jihan, and Bai had some inkling of the power he could access. They would be in the Heron tonight. She was certain.

  Bai called the group close. “We’re going to the Heron, a nice inn across the city. Lei is there. He will keep us safe tonight.”

  The students all nodded, except for Shu, who continued to stare off into the distance. That was a shame. They could have made good use of her ability tonight. Bai just hoped she hadn’t lied to the students.

  Lei would be in the Heron. He must.

  They made their way through the streets of Jihan. If not for the flickering of flame reflected against the undersides of the clouds, it might have been any other night. Thanks to the curfew established by the city watch, no one walked the streets. The timing of the curfew seemed too unlikely to be coincidence, but Bai didn’t have time to think about that.

  She focused on her sense as she began the long walk from their safehouse to the Heron. Avoiding enemies took precedence over speed. Whenever she felt another power she altered their course until they were safe.

  She lost track of time. The moon went behind the clouds. They might have walked for minutes or hours. She did not know.

  They were over halfway to the Heron when Bai felt another power, greater than any other. It overwhelmed her sense, causing her step to falter. But at the same time, it brought a smile to her face.

  Lei had joined the fight. And he was close.

  Bai directed them toward Lei. The others didn’t need any encouragement. Once she told them that power could protect them this evening, they followed her like cubs.

  As quickly as Lei’s power appeared, it vanished.

  Bai didn’t worry. Although Lei could access powers she couldn’t even imagine, when he stopped he was difficult to sense. She refused to believe he’d been defeated. No doubt he had accomplished whatever small task had stood in his way.

  The wraiths seemed to feel the same way. Bai felt at least one group approaching the place where Lei had unleashed his attack. She urged Yang’s students on, picking up the pace. They were close. They just needed to reach him first.

  Three blocks later they found him. He was walking down the street toward the Heron. He saw Bai and her entourage. She didn’t need to tell him why she was there. He gave her a small nod and she waved the students toward him.

  They were just in time.

  Less than a minute later another familiar power came around the corner. Delun led the group of wraiths closing in on Lei, the one Bai had sensed earlier. The two groups stopped in the street, less than a hundred paces separating them. Bai felt Lei prepare himself. His energy wasn’t blinding, yet, but he could access it in a moment. Though she knew she would regret it come morning, Bai summoned her own strength.

  Bai stepped forward, ready to attack. Lei held a hand out, stopping her. She looked up and saw his eyes were locked with Delun’s.

  “I’m disappointed in you, Delun. I thought you a better man than this.”

  If Lei’s words had any effect on Delun, Bai didn’t see them. The wraiths gathered attacks in their hands. Delun traveled with strong company, Bai noticed. The fight ahead would be difficult unless Lei stepped in.

  After a few tense moments, Delun motioned for the others to drop their attacks. He snarled and turned around. The other wraiths, not sure what had just happened, took a moment to follow.

  Bai gradually released her power, holding on to just enough to get her to the Heron.

  Lei looked as though he’d just killed a friend, but when he glanced down at Bai he seemed to snap himself out of his depression.

  Together, they walked to the Heron to take shelter for the rest of the night.

&
nbsp; 26

  Delun wandered the deserted streets as the sun came up over a new day. The turbulent feelings gripping his heart were not those he had expected when the sun had fallen last night.

  The Order of the Serpent was no more. Delun did not doubt that some members had escaped the wrath of the wraiths, but the leadership had been killed and the structure of the organization burned to the ground. The lucky few that survived wouldn’t be able to reorganize. Those that tried knew the consequences.

  The work he’d spent so long on, the desire that had drove him, was done. The man who had planned the death of so many had suffered the same fate himself.

  Delun felt no sense of satisfaction.

  In the pale pink light of the early morning Delun could see several plumes of smoke rising into the now clear sky. Several small cells had decided blowing up the powder was the best course of action. They sacrificed themselves for any opportunity to kill a monk. Still, for the amount of fighting that had taken place last night, Jihan seemed surprisingly intact. The wraiths had struck at their targets and struck true.

  His gaze traveled down to the bloody dagger clutched in his hand. He and Ping had engaged in no fewer than half a dozen battles throughout the evening. The Order had been larger than anyone expected, but the work was done and the monastery remained safe from further attack.

  But if the night had been such a success, why did he feel like a failure?

  He knew the answer. He just didn’t like contemplating it.

  Bai and Lei had been together, and they loomed large in his memory. He supposed he was glad Bai had survived his attack.

  He remembered walking up the steep path that led to Lei’s village, bowing on his knees before those same two warriors to ask for their assistance in fighting against a rogue abbot. That act led to him and Bai fighting together, a short-lived alliance.

  Ten years ago they had fought Guanyu and his rebel monks because of the violence the monks had committed against citizens. Delun had watched, helpless, as the monks massacred the citizens of Kulat.

  Tonight he had been part of a group of monks. His dagger and robes were evidence enough of the work he had done. Was he different?

  These citizens were guilty of their own crimes, perhaps, but questions plagued his mind.

  Lei’s words echoed in his head, cutting deeper than any dagger could have.

  He respected Lei and he respected Bai. Neither understood what drove him. Was that their fault or his?

  He was different than those monks from a decade ago. The Order of the Serpent had committed heinous crimes against the monasteries. Delun and his fellow wraiths had not committed murder, they had executed traitors. There was a world of difference between those two acts.

  Wasn’t there?

  Delun’s certainty from the night before eroded away, replaced by frustrating doubt and questions that had no answers. Lei and Bai both detested him. He’d seen it on their faces. What did they see in him that he did not see in himself?

  Ping had been disappointed in him, too. He’d argued against Delun’s decision, insisting they could fight Lei and the warriors he protected. The younger monk had been flushed with the glory of his easy victories against the Order.

  Delun had saved him from himself, but it would take some time before Ping realized that, if he ever did.

  Not long after that incident, Delun had split from the rest of the group. He’d wanted privacy and they weren’t interested much in his company. Since then he’d meandered through the streets, searching for answers in the quiet morning.

  His wanderings eventually led him back to the large warehouse where the various wraiths now returned from their evening’s work.

  As he approached, Delun first noticed the sentries standing guard on the buildings that surrounded the warehouse. They were like guards on a castle wall, just removed and placed in a commercial district of the empire’s largest city. They allowed Delun to pass without issue, no doubt sensing him the same way that he sensed them.

  When he opened the warehouse doors, he was surprised by the wave of sound that buffeted him. He stepped inside a downright jovial scene. Throughout the large space, monks ate and drank together. Some were in small groups, others gathered into large circles. Most of the wraiths looked like they had seen combat that evening. Robes were dirty and torn, and more than a few still wore the blood of their enemies.

  Despite the long night, the room buzzed with enthusiasm. Some of it came from the mere presence of so many other monks. The effect was well-documented in some of the larger monasteries. Simply being around other gifted gave one a sense of euphoria. Monks within some of the larger monasteries needed to be careful to ensure they got enough rest. Their bodies and feelings misled them.

  But that wasn’t the sole explanation. As Delun watched the crowd he saw a deep sense of satisfaction, of a job well done, of a community being built around the events of the evening. It jarred against his own doubts.

  Delun’s felt like a stranger moving through a foreign land. These were his peers, yet he was no part of this. He walked like a ghost, wondering if they even saw him.

  As he worked his way through the crowd, Delun noticed that many of the younger monks weren’t just drinking water. They were actually drinking. Some of the barrels stacked along the walls of the warehouse were apparently filled with wine, and several of the monks imbibed freely.

  Delun drank. Learning how to do so had not been an easy task for him. The prohibitions against intoxication were strong, and it had taken Delun months simply to reach the point where he could drink alcohol with the same enthusiasm as the average tavern goer. His attention to such details was one of the reasons why he was good at his work. But he had always considered it a sacrifice. He broke the guidelines of the monasteries so that he could better protect them.

  This was not the same. Many of these young monks drank with ease, giving away the fact that this behavior was not unusual. Delun made his way to a quiet corner of the building, searching for time and space to think.

  He sat there, head held in his hands. Nothing was as it seemed.

  They had killed this night.

  It felt as though they celebrated at a funeral.

  After a while, Chao found him. Their eyes met and Delun was grateful that Chao, at least, hadn’t drank. His gaze was sharp and clear. Chao took one glance at his face and saw that something bothered him. “What troubles you?”

  He couldn’t admit his doubts. Among these men, such a choice lacked wisdom. His mind searched for an appropriate answer and found one quickly enough. “I ran into Bai again tonight. She survived my attack. And there is something worse. She has met with Lei. I believe they are working together.”

  Delun wondered if he needed to explain Lei’s history. Most abbots, at least, were aware of the man’s history, but Delun still didn’t know where Chao had come from and didn’t know how much he knew.

  From the reaction on his face, he knew enough. “So that is who you ran into. That explains why you held Ping back. A wise choice, if what I’ve heard is true.”

  Chao considered Delun’s information for a moment longer, but then a smile returned to his face. “That is serious news, and we will have to figure that problem out. But try to let those concerns go. We won a great victory today, and more are coming. You are one of us now.”

  Chao bowed deeply to Delun.

  Had the same lines been said a day ago, Delun might have felt differently. He had sought the trust of Chao for weeks now, and it looked like he had finally earned it.

  Delun just wasn’t sure how much he wanted it anymore.

  27

  Lei sat in the skywell of the Heron, sipping at tea and wondering at the events of the past few weeks. The princess was missing, the wraiths were active, and he and Yang’s students seemed caught in the middle of events they didn’t understand.

  As the sun rose in the sky, Lei’s thoughts turned in a familiar direction. Today was another day he had with Daiyu, a gift he need
ed to treasure.

  Even if it allowed the empire to burn.

  Bai slept until the sun was high in the sky. Given her ragged appearance the night before, Lei assumed she had driven herself to the edge of her abilities. She would catch up on rest, knowing Lei would protect her.

  He smiled at the memory of their argument with the innkeeper last night. He hadn’t been pleased to have so many uninvited guests arriving late in the night, but some persuasion from Daiyu was all that was needed. The innkeeper had eventually relented.

  It was just another reminder of what he would lose when Daiyu passed on. She had always been better with people than him. She knew how they worked and what motivated them. With a few words she could often accomplish more than he could with all his strength.

  His dark thoughts ended when he felt Bai up and moving in her room. Before long, she came out and joined him in the skywell. She still looked tired, but much better than the night before. She needed a few days to recover completely.

  Lei hoped she found the time.

  Bai practically crashed into the chair across from him. She eyed his plate the same way a predator eyes helpless prey.

  Lei chuckled and pushed his plate towards her. Bai gave him a quick bow of thanks and then dug in with surprising hunger. While she ate, Lei reported the most recent news from the attacks the night before. Most of it had been provided to him by the harried innkeeper. “Word of the attacks last night has spread. The city is frightened but no one is quite sure what to do. The watch is in disarray. Apparently, no small number were members of the Order. Citizens aren’t sure if the worst has passed or if last night was only a prelude to something worse. The most disturbing new rumor, though, is that an army is on the march toward Jihan.” He shrugged. “I cannot tell truth from rumor anymore.”

  Bai couldn’t either. He could see the confusion on her face, the questions she wanted to ask. He suspected the only problem that held her back was the knowledge he didn’t have any of the answers.