At last the tunnel opened to a massive, dome-shaped cavern. The floor was twenty feet lower than the tunnel, and a staircase led down to it. Iniru, Turesobei, and Onudaka paused and crouched down into the shadows at the top of the staircase.
“The vault is open,” whispered Turesobei.
Opposite them, at the top of another staircase, was an arched portal with a massive stone door that had been pushed part of the way open. Zaboko runes decorated the top of the arch. Carved into the door was an imprint where a thin triangle of the appropriate material and bearing certain runes could be placed to make the door open.
In between this second staircase and the first milled two dozen cultists. The scarves they wore to cover their faces in battle hung loosely from their necks. Leather breastplates, thigh guards, and vambraces served as their armor. Broadswords hung from their belts, and a few carried spears.
Iniru sighed. “We can't take out that many on our own, and I don't see any way past them. Perhaps we can wait and steal the heart from them later.”
“No,” Turesobei said, “we must get it now. If we wait, they might learn how to use it. We don’t really know how it works. Might not take long for them to figure it out.”
“What if they already know, lad?”
“Then we're in trouble.”
Turesobei steeled his nerves and drew his sword. He fumbled his other hand into his spell-pouch. Iniru placed a hand on his cheek and pulled his face around so that she could look him in the eyes. “We cannot fight them all. Are you insane?”
“I'm a wizard.”
“So? What can you do against so many?”
“Blind them.” He drew a spell-strip from the pouch at his belt.
“What about their wizard?”
“He's not out here, so he must be in the vault.”
“Well, how are you going to stop him?”
Turesobei shrugged. “I'll figure something out. No, don't argue. I'm going on with or without you. Now, shield your eyes and get ready to charge them. We'll make a break for the vault and get the heart. We're going to have to face the guards no matter how we do it, so we might as well face them now.”
“How long will the blinding last?” Onudaka asked.
“Maybe a minute, depending on how it strikes them.”
Iniru groaned and looked to Onudaka. “First we take out any missed by it, then the rest.”
“Keep your eyes closed until my signal.”
Turesobei stood and walked down the stairs toward the cultists. A few spotted him and murmurs arose.
“I am afraid,” he announced, “that you all must die.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Get him,” snarled a cultist.
Swords rasped as they slid from their sheathes. The men surged forward.
Turesobei continued down the steps, and when the men were all looking at him and were only a dozen paces away, he held out his hand and shouted the activation command.
A blazing white light burst out and blinded nearly all of them. Only a few blinked as it went off. As soon as the burst ended, he sprinted toward the opposite staircase.
Tears streamed from the cultists’ eyes. Some backed away, while others grasped at their eyes and stumbled about. Only a half-dozen or so had the sense to hold their weapons up and listen for attackers.
“Attack now!” Turesobei yelled to his companions.
As Turesobei shouldered through the mass of cultists, knocking some aside, he slashed left and right with his sword, scoring a number of light wounds. He attacked just to get them out of the way.
One of the cultists who hadn’t been blinded rushed toward him and tried to block his way. But two of Iniru's steel throwing spikes thudded into the man's chest and he dropped his sword. Turesobei shoved him down and crossed the chamber.
He glanced back to his companions as he reached the staircase. Onudaka barreled into three cultists, knocking them down with his staff. Iniru moved in, deftly slashing with her sickle, spilling blood everywhere she went. A cold shudder ran down Turesobei's spine as he realized how deadly she was. And killing, as far as he could tell, didn't seem to bother her. Turesobei actually worried about the men he had just cut.
He raced up the steps to the landing and saw a flash like lightning in the darkness ahead. Turesobei entered a chamber less than half the size of the last, noting the old zaboko runes that adorned the rust-colored walls throughout, runes that had held enough power to keep Grandfather Kahenan from forcing his way into the chamber.
Turesobei glanced at the partially open door and saw the same runes on its inside. If Sotenda and his wizard had left the key in place, he could have simply closed the door and locked them within, but they hadn't been that foolish.
The heart called to him. This was how his father must have felt. Was his father's blood sigil giving him this desire to seize the heart, or had the heart decided to call to him as well? And why did the vision come to some and not others?
In the chamber, two men stood beside a pedestal. One was a nazaboko, a man of half-baojendari and half-zaboko parentage. He had pale skin of a slight grey cast and a medium body frame. Turesobei knew this was Onudaka’s brother, because Sotenda resembled Onudaka, only he was much younger. The other man was a baojendari in his late teens. Turesobei recognized him immediately, having seen him at a festival at Noda Blossom Shrine once before.
Gawo Haisero, his counterpart in the rival Gawo Clan.
Both of them looked straight at him. Sotenda held a curved dagger in one hand, a short sword in the other. Yomifano in its scabbard hung from Haisero's waist, but in his hands he held the pulsing heart of Naruwakiru. Their eyes met for the second time since Turesobei has arrived in Wakaro. Haisero was the one he'd seen disguised in Nijona.
Haisero sneered at him and lifted the orb. Turesobei ran forward as Haisero's brow furrowed in concentration. With a crackling burst followed by a boom that shook the whole mountain, a jagged bolt of lightning flew from the orb.
Instinctively, Turesobei struck out with the white-steel sword. The lightning bolt struck the blade, forked in two, and blasted the wall to each side of the vault door.
As the lightning diverted around Turesobei, some of the current on one side smashed into his body and flung him aside. For a moment he blacked out, but then he pulled himself together and tried to stand. His limbs wouldn't obey him. His skin was blistered, and a solid ache dug deep into his bones.
Haisero stalked toward him, but Sotenda grabbed him by the shoulder. “Let's get out of here, Sero!”
“What do we have to fear now that we've got the heart?”
“Much,” Sotenda said desperately. Horror gripped his face. “Look at your hand!”
Turesobei followed their gaze and saw the wizard’s blistered hand. The energies around the heart were beginning to flicker and surge randomly. Haisero didn't have a firm control of it.
Haisero yelled, “I can't even feel the burns!”
“Your nerves must have been numbed by it,” said Sotenda. “We need to study the orb more before we use it. It's one thing to read the sacred texts, another to actually use the techniques.”
Haisero glanced back to Turesobei, but Sotenda kept pulling him. “He's not worth it. I promise. I don't even think he can move.”
Haisero grinned wickedly and waved to Turesobei. He and Sotenda approached the stairs.
“I could lock him in,” Haisero said.
“The door's too heavy to—” Sotenda paused a moment then yelled, “Onudaka! I knew you'd try to ruin my life again!”
The old medic's voice boomed within the other chamber. “You'll pay for what you've done, Sotenda!”
“Not today, brother. Not today!”
A glittering spark struck Haisero in the shoulder. “Ugh!” He stumbled backward. A steel spike was glistening amidst the blood pouring from his shoulder.
Sotenda pulled Haisero away from the doorway. A desperate look gleamed in his eyes. “They've taken out most of our warriors and we
can't fight a qengai right now. Summon a small thundercloud. Nothing more. Don’t overdo it!”
The young wizard looked dazed as he plucked the steel spike from his shoulder. Nevertheless, he held up the jade heart and chanted. From out of nowhere gale force winds appeared and howled within the larger chamber. Lightning flashed along the ceiling, and moisture condensed from the air and rained down. Cultists screamed and Iniru called Turesobei's name.
With feeling and strength returning to his limbs, Turesobei climbed to his feet, intending to sneak up behind Haisero, but he had to lean against the wall just to walk. Turesobei reached the steps and could see his enemies advancing through the chamber. Onudaka was fighting the winds to reach Sotenda, only he could barely move forward. Iniru was plastered against a wall, face first, struggling to turn around. Sotenda and the sorcerer walked through unaffected. The storm swirled around them, and everywhere they stepped, the storm disappeared. It was as if a miniature hurricane occupied the chamber, and its empty eye followed those who had summoned it.
The two men were laughing. “We can kill them easily,” Haisero said, moving toward Onudaka. “They can't fight the winds.”
Sotenda stared at his half-brother with a mixture of anger and fear.
Chanting, Turesobei gathered as much of the loose storm energy scattered throughout the room as he could. Using this immense amount of available power, he was able to easily summon a small globe of dark-fire. He flung it out toward Haisero, and the black-flamed globe pierced the storm with no difficulty. Haisero was unprepared to defend himself from the attack. The globe struck him on the side of his face and splattered. The flames went out instantly, but their damage was done. Haisero collapsed, wailing and clutching at his ruined face.
The Storm Dragon's Heart fell from his hand and thunked onto the floor. The storm surged instead of ceasing as Turesobei had hoped. Sotenda grabbed the orb before it could roll away and grimaced as it blistered his hands. The storm's eye began to shrink. Sotenda chanted desperately but couldn't bring the storm under control.
He reached down and lifted Haisero by the arm. The wizard was crying pitifully, muttering, “I'll kill him for that. I'll make him pay!”
Haisero took the orb, turned his remaining, unharmed eye toward Turesobei, and glared. He lifted the orb, but then staggered and nearly collapsed again.
Sotenda drew him by the arm, yelling, “We've got to get out of here! We can kill them later.”
Haisero and Sotenda fled up the stairs and out of the temple. The storm slowly faded. As soon as possible, Iniru was on her feet running toward the stairs after them, but then she spotted Turesobei slumped back against the vault door, unable to move on.
“Go on!” he yelled.
She glanced to Onudaka. The old man had sat up, clutching at his head. He was bleeding profusely.
The five remaining cultists began to stand and retrieve their weapons. Iniru had no choice but to stay and defend her injured companions. Turesobei watched in a haze as she downed three of the cultists before the last two fled.
Sotenda probably had a ten-minute lead by now, if he wasn't lying in wait for them. Turesobei doubted that he was. His injury was pretty bad. If anything, he was resting. Unfortunately, Iniru was the only one in any condition to pursue them.
Iniru checked on Onudaka and helped him tear a strip of cloth from the pants leg of a cultist to use as a bandage. His injury wasn’t bad, just a scalp wound from where he had struck his head on a rock when the stronger winds had cast him down.
“Not sure I can walk, busted ankle, but I'm all right. Check on the lad.”
Iniru bounded up the stairs and crouched beside Turesobei. “You look terrible. What happened to you?”
“Struck by lightning…they know how to use the orb.”
“Really? I hadn't noticed.”
He tried to rise. “They're getting away.”
She placed a hand on his chest and shoved him back down. “You're scorched and battered. Onudaka is bleeding and can't walk. I have two small cuts and a dozen bruises of my own. We have to rest.”
“I've got to get Yomifano and the heart. Haisero's wounded.”
“Who?”
“The sorcerer. I know who he is.”
“He may be wounded, but he's still conscious and he has the orb. Sotenda isn't hurt and Onudaka claims his brother is quite a swordsman.”
“But—”
“We'll get them later.”
Turesobei looked into her eyes and prepared his argument. But before he could speak she grabbed his hand and looked deep into his eyes. “We'll get the heart and the sword. I swear I'll do everything I can to help you. But we can't go after them now. They'd just use the orb against us. You know that.”
Her eyes melted his resolve. He gave in and slumped back against the wall.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Turesobei awoke with a start and saw Iniru bandaging Onudaka's ankle. He stumbled over and sat beside them. Iniru tried to smile.
“It's a good thing we didn't follow them. I interrogated one of the men that we'd only knocked out—”
“Wait,” he said in confusion. “How long was I asleep?”
Onudaka grinned. “About two hours, lad.”
“No wonder I'm so stiff. Go on.”
“Well, I found out that they had twelve of their best woodsmen stationed along the trail most people would have taken to get up here. Sotenda and Haisero almost certainly rode straight to them for help.”
“Do you think they'll come back here with them?”
“I doubt it, though we'll have to watch out just in case. I think they'll head back to their citadel. Once they find it in ruins, who knows? They may decide to flee elsewhere.”
“You sure they aren’t waiting right outside with the orb?”
“They’re not. I checked. I think their injuries are bad enough that they don’t want to risk facing us or using the orb again until they’ve mastered it.”
“So you know this wizard, lad?”
“I do,” said Turesobei. He told them all he knew about Gawo Haisero, which wasn't a lot. “He's arrogant. And obviously he's talented. But I don't know why he'd be in this cult and not at home, unless he's securing the heart for the Gawo.”
“I can understand how it would help the Gawo,” Iniru said, “but how would the Storm Cult benefit from them in return?”
“Sotenda is a visionary and a leader,” Onudaka said, “but he has always lacked resources for his plans. So maybe that's it. But I really can't begin to guess exactly what his ultimate plans may be. They might not have anything to do with his professed religion.”
“You didn't tell us your brother was a nazaboko,” said Turesobei. “I'm starting to think that the heart only calls to baojendari blood, though I don't know why it would, since we came here long after Naruwakiru.”
“I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my brother,” Onudaka said. “Yes, his mother was baojendari.”
Turesobei raised his eyebrows. Normally, nazaboko were created specifically to be servants to their baojendari masters and were placed above all zaboko. It was a practice many clans like the Gawo used. The Chonda had never used nor condoned the practice.
“His mother ran off with my much older father. It was quite a scandal. Sotenda grew up hating them both and blaming them for all the problems in his life. That's why he killed them.”
“What?!” Turesobei and Iniru both exclaimed.
“Afterward I put him into a special home for disturbed people, run by Shogakami priests in a rural, outlaw village. He was addle-witted at the time. I had hoped he could get over his problems. But he still holds my sending him there against me. He was a teenager then and stayed there for nearly ten years. It didn't fix him, though. I mean, he's more stable now, but he has greater delusions.
“He started reading ancient histories and fell in love with Naruwakiru. That's what got this all started. I knew when he got out that he was organizing a rebirth of the Storm Cult, but I thought as l
ong as he just dug up old sites and worshiped the Storm Dragon he couldn't really hurt anyone. Then he did start hurting people. His cult is nothing but a band of thugs, thieves, and out-of-work soldiers. I suppose some may be true believers in this nonsense, but who knows, eh?”
Iniru took some rations out of her pack and passed them around. She had also retrieved their canteens. “Our denekon are well,” she said. “Those two didn't waste much time getting away.”
“Well, Haisero can't control the heart yet, and it's hurting him. We both injured him, too. Pretty badly. Maybe that will keep them off us for a while. Of course, he could come back for revenge.”
“Well, Sotenda's scared of me at least,” said Onudaka. “He always has been. I'm sure he could beat me in a fair fight, but I don't think he knows it deep down. Somehow he still thinks of me as his much older, much bigger brother.”
Onudaka shook his head. “I wish I could've helped my father more in raising him, but he and his new wife had to flee up into the mountains to escape the baojendari authorities…and to escape zaboko persecution, as well. I knew how to get there, but I rarely had enough leave time to make the trip, and when I did have leave, I wasn't supposed to go anywhere but my home ward in Nobashiki.”
After they finished eating, Turesobei remembered something Iniru had said. “What did you do with the soldiers you interrogated? I don’t see them anywhere.” He thought of the bodies in the chamber, of how coldly she could kill in battle. “You didn't kill them did you?”
Her eyes paled and she looked away.
“I-I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything, but…I just didn't know. And when you're fighting….”
“What?”
“Well, how can you kill people like that? You're so efficient and it doesn't seem to bother you at all. I worry about every sword strike I make.”
“First of all, worrying about killing someone with every attack is ludicrous and will just get you killed. I promise you that your enemy isn't worried about hurting you.
Storm Phase Series: Books 1-3 Page 19
