by Ryan Kirk
With a roar, Delun thrust out his arms and released the attack.
Bai, expecting it, leaped high into the air, higher than any human should.
Delun’s attack passed underneath, launched straight at the group of monks.
Caught by surprise and their own sense of superiority, the monks never had time to react. Delun grimaced as his attack struck true.
The blast of energy caved in ribs, slammed heads and bodies back against walls. Three monks dropped without a fight.
For the second time in his life, Delun had turned against his brothers.
He had no time for regrets.
Before his brothers could react, he readied two more attacks, one in each hand. He searched for Chao, but the man had already melted into shadows. Delun settled for two random monks, the first in his sights.
The monks fell easily, but they would be the last. Surprise had worn off, leaving only the anger of betrayal.
Delun formed a shield and released it as several attacks were launched at him. His shield held, but barely.
Beside him, Bai paused for a moment, giving him a glance that thanked him for all that he had done.
To be understood by her was gift enough for him.
She passed him, heading for the warehouse. He yelled after her. “She’s in the back!”
Bai nodded and disappeared into the building.
Delun turned to his own battle. He focused more power into his shield while forming another attack with his other hand. His shield took another two hits, but Delun knocked a monk from a nearby building in response.
Then any advantage his betrayal gave him completely vanished. Half a dozen attacks struck in quick succession. He poured all his energy into his shield. There was nothing else he could do. The strength of the attacks brought him to his knees, a heartbeat or two away from crushing him beneath their combined power.
In that moment he finally found peace, elusive after all this time. Perhaps he had done well, or perhaps not. But he had remained true to his beliefs, and that was enough for him. It wasn’t pride, exactly, but a contentment at his actions.
Just as his shield began to fail, another power blossomed beside him.
In all his years as a monk, Delun had never felt anything like it. The power of an individual always had a flavor to it, a hint of personality that a sensitive warrior could identify.
It was missing here.
This power felt pure, like a clear mountain stream high above any civilization. Like the trickles of water that formed every summer near his home monastery of Two Bridges.
The power expanded, swallowing all sense and reason. The giant hemisphere grew, immune to every attack launched at it, and steadily approaching Delun.
He closed his eyes. One way or the other, his end was here.
Then the shield was above him, a trick of control he didn’t understand. The crushing blows he had resisted simply vanished, unraveling and dispersing like dust on the wind.
Instead, Delun felt a tremendous lightness, a pleasant tingling over his skin.
Delun opened his eyes, expecting the darkness of his final moments.
Instead, he was inside a dome of energy, crouched in the intersection, the world calm and peaceful.
Lei stood in the center of the dome. His eyes glowed as he stepped toward Delun. When he neared, he reached out his hand.
What was happening? Delun could only figure Lei was at the heart of this, but how?
He looked up, and he sensed the battle happening outside the dome. Over a dozen attacks lashed at them, but Lei stood calmly.
It was a shield.
But it made no sense.
No monk, no matter how strong, could last against the blasts Lei’s shield now easily stopped. Delun was one of the strongest monks alive, and he had almost collapsed in just a few moments under the onslaught.
He took a deep breath, focusing himself. He took Lei’s outstretched hand and was pulled gently to his feet.
As he held Lei’s hand, he felt the power flowing within.
Once his senses opened, he learned more. The power wasn’t within Lei, but passing through him.
“You begin to understand,” Lei said.
Delun wasn’t sure that was true, but he took a few moments to take in everything, to understand what he was feeling. When he did, he noticed the attacks against Lei’s shield weren’t being blocked so much as they were being absorbed.
“Amazing.”
Then he remembered it was Lei standing next to him. The man he had drugged and sent away. The man whose location he had given to Chao without a second thought.
“Lei, I’m…”
Lei held up a hand. “None is necessary, Delun. I understand.”
Lei understood him, as did Bai. To be understood, to have the respect of warriors like this, eased the burdens Delun had carried. He had never been alone. He saw that now.
The gesture seemed foolish, standing underneath as many attacks as they were, but Delun didn’t feel afraid anymore. He bowed, deeply, to Lei. “Thank you.”
Lei answered with a smile. “It is we who should thank you. Your path has not been an easy one.” He glanced to the warehouse. “And it is not ended yet.”
Delun’s strength slowly returned to him. He followed Lei’s glance. “The princess must be saved.”
“And Chao must be stopped.”
Delun brushed off his robes. “You should go in. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
“You know you won’t last more than a few seconds. I will stay here. I can give you time and space.”
Lei was right, of course. Delun prepared to leave, finally finding the courage to ask. “How have you done all of this?”
Lei only answered with another smile. “Someday you will know.”
Delun shook his head at the cryptic response, and he walked with Lei back toward the entrance of the warehouse. Lei provided cover almost all the way to the door.
The attacks against Lei were coming more sporadically now, but still often enough to destroy even a strong monk. Delun looked at the mysterious man one more time. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to ask.
But it would have to wait. He had a greater task in front of him.
For now, they had an understanding. It was enough.
Delun gave Lei a short bow and sprinted from the shield.
He left a place of peace and stepped directly into the realm of chaos.
The warehouse looked like a storm had passed through. Bodies of several monks littered the ground. Beds were thrown everywhere, and what furniture had been inside was shattered.
For a moment, Delun gaped at the scene before him. Bai was swinging a chair, launching it at a monk standing a dozen paces away from her. The monk only had an attack prepared, so he launched it at the chair.
The effect was not desirable. The wood shattered, sending splinters and debris raining down on the monk. He protected himself from the shards.
Bai took full advantage of the opportunity. She launched herself through the air, her foot connecting squarely with the monk’s jaw. None of the hesitation she had shown against Delun was present.
Bai was joined by the other woman, who, from a glance, seemed to have Bai’s powers as well. She danced around a wraith, stabbing him repeatedly with a dagger until he fell, covered in wounds.
Delun’s gaze wandered from Bai’s fight to the back of the warehouse. If the princess was here, she’d be back there. Delun saw a group of monks, led by a familiar figure, heading that way.
“Ping!” he yelled.
The other monk turned at the sound of his name. With a small wave, he turned and ran into the spaces near the rear of the warehouse.
Delun ignored the rest of the fight. Bai and the other woman could take care of themselves. The princess was the key to everything.
“Delun!” Bai called out. There was a warning in her voice, but Delun ignored it.
He shouldn’t have.
As he near
ed the individual rooms, a sudden blast of energy exploded outward, sending a wall of rock toward him. Delun covered himself with his hands, but the wave of stone and force knocked him back.
Once his vision cleared, Delun got a glance of Ping, leaving the room he had just destroyed.
Delun extricated himself from the rubble, grateful he hadn’t been seriously injured. He formed the signs for a shield but held it. This had the feeling of a trap. He ran to a corner that opened up to the hallway the rooms were connected to.
Three monks waited for him. With Lei’s energy so bright behind him, Delun hadn’t even noticed.
Their attacks came fast. If Delun hadn’t already had a shield prepared, he would have had no chance. He released it, blocking the three strikes.
The monks wasted no time moving in, forming signs with one hand even as they lashed out at him with their feet.
Delun stepped into the fight, the only safety being among the group.
One monk tried to kick his chest. Delun caught the kick and spun as a second monk launched a one-handed attack at him. The attack missed by inches, blasting into the wall behind Delun.
Still holding onto the first monk’s leg, Delun used his momentum to toss the monk into the second one, sending them both crashing against the wall behind them.
Before he could take advantage of the down monks, he was attacked by the third. Delun blocked a punch but couldn’t avoid a pushing kick to the chest. Delun bounced against the wall behind him, his head cracking against the stone.
Stars swam in his vision, but he still felt the third monk make the first two signs for the attack with his hand. The monk was fast. Delun couldn’t focus enough to create a shield. Instead, he slapped the hand aside.
The monk released the attack a moment too late. He hit one of his comrades instead of Delun.
Blinking away the stars, Delun stepped forward and kneed the man hard in the stomach. The monk’s eyes rolled in his head, and Delun caught the man’s head in his hand, slamming it hard against the stone wall.
The first two monks only took him a few moments more. One was disoriented from being attacked by his friend, and the other was still getting up.
Delun walked toward the princess’s room at the end of the hall.
He stopped before he got there, feeling Ping in the room next to him. Chao’s office.
Delun only hesitated for a moment. Sounds of the battle in the main hall were dying down, and Delun assumed that meant Bai was simply cleaning up. Delun had time. Perhaps there would be information there they could use, information that would reveal Chao’s plan.
Delun stepped into the room, ready to fight Ping.
But the room was empty.
He shook his head, trying to make sense of what he saw. He’d been certain Ping was in here. He’d felt the man’s energy, as clear as day. Delun closed his eyes, shunting away the myriad distractions.
There.
Underneath him, moving away.
Somewhere in this room there must be a trapdoor, a secret entrance.
Nothing came immediately to mind. However they’d hidden the door, they’d done a good job. Ping could wait.
Before he left the room, Delun looked around, searching for any clue that Chao might have left. Papers lay scattered about, but a map drew his eye. Delun approached it, recognizing it as a map of Jihan instantly. There were red lines and markings scribbled all over it. It looked like lines of escape from the warehouse.
Had Chao planned for a defeat here? Delun wished he possessed a window into that man’s mind.
Another flash of color caught his eye. A sealed letter, opened and on the table. Delun picked it up and glanced at the seal. It was from Lord Xun. Delun pocketed it. He could read the missive after the fight ended. For now, he needed to get the princess to safety. He could explore this room and its treasures in more detail later. He left Chao’s headquarters, then walked to the end of the hallway.
The princess’s room was locked from the outside. Delun unlocked it and threw open the door, finding the princess sitting composed within.
“Princess, we must leave.”
She nodded, as though she’d been waiting for him.
Delun checked the hallway. It was as empty as it had been a moment ago. They ran down the hallway, coming out into the main room a few moments later.
As Delun had predicted, Bai was just finishing her fight against the monks in the room. Delun looked around, wondering if Chao could be found. He didn’t see the leader of the wraiths among Bai’s defeated.
Delun stepped toward Bai, eager to be out of this building. He saw Bai’s eyes widen even as she dove to the side.
Acting on instinct, Delun formed the sign for a shield. He made to release it, but was too late.
He felt two punches to his lower back.
When he looked down he saw two arrowheads extruding from his stomach. In surprise, he turned around, seeing movement in the hallway he’d just come from.
Delun managed to make the second sign for the shield, casting it around him and the princess just as another wave of arrows thunked off it. Beside him, the princess bled from a wound in her thigh. It didn’t look deep, fortunately.
Beyond him, Bai had an arrow through her arm. She was running to hide behind his shield as cover.
Delun took a breath, feeling the piercing agony spread through his body. He would need to get his injuries looked at soon. “Come on,” he said to the princess, stumbling toward the exit.
Streaks of flame shot over his head, arcing toward barrels placed in the corners of the building. Delun stared dumbly at the sight for a moment. Behind him, he heard the slamming of a heavy door.
Then Bai was beside them. “Sign a shield!”
Her shout brought him out of his daze. His fingers slid through the signs, acting on a level below conscious thought. Bai wrapped an arm around him and one around the princess.
Delun felt another stabbing wound. The arrow in Bai’s arm dug into his back. The pain blended in with that he already felt, causing him to grind his teeth together as he focused on his hand moving through the sign.
This close to Bai, he could feel the enormous amount of energy she was drawing, unsure of what she had planned. Then he was in the air, higher than he had ever been before. The ground flew beneath him as he arced toward the enormous ceiling and then back down to solid ground.
“Release your shield!” Bai yelled.
He did, just as there was a flash from below.
It all became chaos then.
Delun’s world became filled with fire and stone. Waves of pressure buffeted his shield, and then the ground came up to meet them.
The impact was softer than he expected. Bai had landed first, had taken most of it. But she couldn’t take it all. They fell, Delun and the princess crashing on top of Bai.
The stone caved in around them, and still Delun held onto his shield.
When Delun breathed, he felt as though he was coating the inside of his lungs with dust. All was dark and gray. Beside him, he could sense movement, another gathering of power.
Bai had kept her senses about her. She shouted and a stone crumbled to dust, broken under the power of her enhanced fists. Another shout and another stone cracked into pieces.
Daylight shone through now, the dust settling around them.
Delun couldn’t hear, could only make out the dull vibrations of shouted words near him. His torso burned with agony, worsening with every breath he took.
Hands reached through the hole and the princess was pulled through. Delun breathed a sigh of relief. She, at least, would be safe.
Bai turned to him next. She said something he couldn’t make out. She reached behind him and suddenly his insides were vibrating as though they were trying to escape. When she was done, she looked at him with concern in her eyes. He felt different.
As she helped him up, he saw that she had broken the shafts that stuck out of his back.
Hands reached in again. Groaning, Del
un grabbed onto them, his own hands slick with blood. They pulled. He could feel his torso tearing as the arrowheads and shafts still protruding caught on pieces of stone.
Then he was out in the light, surrounded by concerned faces. The princess was there, as was Lei.
Sometime later, Bai joined them. Delun saw that she had broken the arrow in her own arm. She was pale with pain, but on her feet.
Delun tried to stand but couldn’t.
He saw the concern in their eyes.
The sorrow.
And that was when he finally realized he wasn’t going to stand again.
He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to keep a lid on his emotions. He had trained for this. But he had always imagined it would be quick and relatively painless.
Not like this.
A hand grabbed his own. Smaller, but strong, with calloused palms. His eyes followed the hand up the arm to Bai’s face. “Thank you,” she said.
He wanted to tell her there was no need for thanks. That he had always done his duty. But he found his jaw didn’t work anymore.
On his other side, another hand clasped his, this one larger and softer.
Lei bowed to the monk, saying nothing.
As he held onto their hands, Delun felt… everything. He felt the tremendous powers they drew on, the connection they had made to an energy far deeper and more mysterious than the monasteries could ever imagine.
He tried to bow, inclining his head just the slightest amount. Passing through in the presence of these warriors would be an honor.
And at his end, he wasn’t alone.
39
Lei felt the life slip away from the man who lay at his feet. The body, once so full of energy and life, became nothing more than a hollow reminder of who the man had been.
Lei stood up, his own recollection throwing him back to a past that was thirty years dead. Delun had been a believer, and Lei had watched him die. It reminded him uncomfortably of Fang, another devout believer who had died on the streets of Jihan. The beliefs of the two men could not have been more different, but they had both held onto those beliefs through the end of their lives.
Lei respected them both.
There was no time for mourning. As in the past, the warehouse had been destroyed by tremendous energies, and once again, there was no safety nearby. Lei had held back the wraiths, but they still hovered around the rubble, surrounding Lei, the princess, Rong, and Bai.
