by Ripley, Ron
Tom’s head snapped up.
He’d fallen asleep sitting on the floor with Turk’s head on his lap and a pillow between his back and the cupboard.
He’d been dreaming of something screaming. Something terrible happening.
Tom looked around the kitchen and found Henry and Israel both standing by the door, looking out at the barnyard.
Then Tom realized he hadn’t been dreaming of screaming. Something was screaming. Tom started to stand up, but Israel looked over and shook his head.
“My cows,” the farmer said. “The bastard’s killing them.”
Tom sat back down, wincing at the sound of the cows being butchered. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the sound of the cows dying.
***
Ka-Riu took his time killing the animals.
All of them.
Cows, chickens, a few pigs, a pair of sheep, and a trio of goats.
He slew them one by one by one. With great care and attention to those things which would cause the animals, and thus the farmer, to suffer the most.
Then he started to eat them.
True, he had no one to cook for him, hadn’t since before he was dragged to this wretched place, but the meat was fresh. And it tasted so good compared to the men and women he’d been eating.
Far too many of them were fatty, the taste too rich for him.
But still, it was a fine taste at times too. It made eating the people an exciting proposition. Each was a surprise. He never knew what they would taste like from one to the next.
Regardless of what the three in the house tasted like, though, Ka-Riu would savor every bite.
***
Kyle stumbled into her house, dropping her keys on the kitchen counter and falling into a chair at the table.
She was exhausted.
She felt worse than she had after finishing the Boston Marathon the year before.
Something had drained her. The hours of prayer perhaps. She hadn’t even noticed the time going by until she suddenly realized it was dark in the forest. The path had been lit by soft lights, leading her back safely to the parking lot.
Dazed, Kyle had found her car, gotten into it, and then promptly fell asleep for nearly two hours.
Now she was home.
Home and unsure whether anything was going to happen.
With a sigh, Kyle forced herself to stand up and walk to the kitchen sink. She ran the water, splashed a little on her face, and yawned. Turning off the water, she turned to start the tea kettle and froze in place.
Her heart raced, and stars exploded around the edges of her vision.
She looked at the thing beside her kettle.
The thing which had taken her breath away and kept her eyes locked on it.
With a shaking hand, Kyle reached out and touched what stood before her, a finely carved, miniature idol shaped exactly like the Benzaiten she had seen in the shrine behind the hotel on New Castle.
Beneath her questioning fingers, the wood was smooth and warm, and suddenly Kyle realized there were tears running slowly down her own cheeks.
There is a cost, a firm, feminine voice said in Kyle’s mind. There is a cost for all things. For you, it is a lesson in impermanence. Nothing is important.
Nothing.
This is a difficult lesson, the voice said kindly, but the learning of this lesson is what you must pay. Your friends, I am afraid, will pay a much greater price.
And then the voice was gone.
The smoke detector started its powerful shriek and adrenaline pushed Kyle to her feet. Looking around, she saw smoke drifting out of the hallway. And instead of running outside to safety, Kyle ran to the hall.
She stopped and stared in horror as bright blue flames surged out of her study and her library.
Her books. Her books were burning.
Is it worth your life to watch your books burn? Is this too much of a sacrifice to save a town?
Coughing as the smoke attacked her lungs, Kyle raced for the back door with fresh tears of rage in her eyes. She staggered out into the fresh air, gasping for breath and looked at her house. The entire thing was burning, bright flames leaping out of windows and setting the roof ablaze.
My books, Kyle thought numbly. My books.
Twenty years of collecting the finest and rarest volumes on Eastern mythology. First Editions and rare printings. Signed works and illustrations. Copies of books not to be found outside of mainland China.
Twenty years of skimping on meals as an undergrad, forgoing cars and clothes as a grad. And as a doctoral student. All for her books. All for the study of the mythos.
And all of it ash, Kyle though. And all of it ash.
***
The screams of the animals had stopped hours before, but the silence was as unnerving as the screams had been frightening.
Tom knew Ka-Riu was waiting in the darkness.
Tom’s phone buzzed, and he took it out and looked at it.
A text from Dr. Bennett.
She’s coming.
Tom looked up, surprised at the message. A moment later, he realized Henry and Israel were watching him.
“From Dr. Bennett,” Tom managed to say. “She said, ‘She’s coming.’”
“She is?” Henry asked. “The professor?”
“No,” Israel said softly, looking back out into the barnyard. “The goddess is coming. Benzaiten.”
“Good,” Henry said fiercely. “Good.”
***
Ka-Riu lay in a patch of heather, enjoying the smell of it when something happened.
The air changed.
It was cooler, and it smelled of the sea. A strong smell. Powerful. One which reminded him of home and made him long for it suddenly. He wanted to look out over the waves. He wanted to be feared and respected.
Yes, he thought, that is what I need once more. When I am done here tonight, then I will return to the land of Cherry Blossoms and listen to the sea. But first--first I must avenge myself.
Ka-Riu stood up and made his way to the side of the farmer’s home. He came to a small window and shattered the glass easily, pushing past the shards and the broken wood. Bits of the foundation broke off as he made his way through, but Ka-Riu paid it no mind.
He barely felt the debris as he slid down into the darkness of the basement. He moved easily, smelling and feeling his way along, knocking strange things down as he made his way to the kitchen, where he could smell them all. The three men. The dog.
The dog was barking.
Of course it was.
Ka-Riu opened his mouth and spat at the beams and boards above him. His acid coated the wood and began eating into it. Acrid smoke filled the air and seeped into the room above him. Ka-Riu opened his mouth and spat again, and again, and again.
Chapter Nine
The Last Stand
Israel heard the glass break and turned to look at Tom and Henry, both sitting silently at the table.
Turk, who had returned to his favored placed by the refrigerator, sat up, growling low and deep from his throat.
“He’s in the house,” Israel said, turning away from the back door.
There was a thump from below.
Israel closed his eyes and sighed. “The basement.”
Turk started barking.
Tom and Henry stood up, backing away from the table, getting their shotguns up and ready.
Israel did the same, and a moment later he could smell something foul. As though something was burning slowly. The stench brought bile up to his mouth and Israel spat in the sink.
“Can he get in?” Henry asked.
“Sure,” Israel answered. “Basement door opens on the other side of the hall.”
Smoke started curling up from the linoleum.
“But,” Israel said, “that’s not what he’s doing.”
“Damn,” Tom said softly, looking at the floor. “He’s going to burn us out.”
“Acid,” Israel said, correcting the man gently. “Acid. He won�
��t burn us out.”
“He’ll smoke us out,” Henry said.
“Something worse I think,” Israel said. “We should probably get outside while we can.”
“What?” Henry asked. “What do you mean?”
“We need to leave,” Israel said. “We need to leave the house now. Turk.”
The dog instantly stopped his barking and trotted over to Israel. Tom and Henry remained where they were as Israel opened the back door and stepped out of the kitchen and down into the barnyard.
Turk followed.
***
Tom watched Israel leave the safety of the house. “Henry,” Tom said, “he’s probably right.”
“Tom, seriously,” Henry said, “I don’t want to leave. What if this is a feint?”
The smoke increased, and Tom coughed, his eyes watering. “Doesn’t matter if it is or isn’t at this point, Henry. We need to get out.”
Henry opened his mouth to reply, but something beneath their feet groaned and then cracked. Then the floor was gone, crumbling away. Long strips of linoleum pulled away, and Tom found himself yelling as he fell, smashing into the basement floor.
Henry’s voice called out in surprise, then fear, as he landed beside Tom.
Ka-Riu came lashing out of the darkness of the basement, whipping like an angry snake through the smoke and light from the kitchen.
Somehow Tom had managed to hold onto his shotgun, and he sat up, trying to bring it to bear on the dragon, yet even before he could manage that, Ka-Riu was on Henry. The dragon’s jaws and teeth closed upon Henry’s head, and there was an audible crack and pop as Ka-Riu squeezed.
Something struck Tom in the face even as he fired both barrels of the shotgun into the dragon, who continued to tear at Henry. Looking down at the weapon to reload it Tom saw what had hit him.
An eye was on the floor between his legs.
One of Henry’s eyes.
***
When Israel looked back into the kitchen to see if the men were following him, Israel saw both Henry and Tom disappear through the floor.
Israel ran back into the house, and as he reached the hole in the floor, he heard the double barrels of a shotgun go off. A quick look over the side showed the dragon finishing off Henry as Tom tried to reload the shotgun.
Bringing his own up to his shoulder Israel fired first one barrel, and then the other, into the dragon’s back.
It let go of Henry’s head, the dead man collapsing limply to the floor. The dragon’s snout was dripping with blood and brains.
Farmer! Ka-Riu said. I am so glad to see you, old man. Be not afraid. I shall be with you shortly.
Israel started to reload as he saw Tom get off another two shots.
But then Ka-Riu was upon the man, ripping into the police officer’s stomach. Israel saw Tom’s eyes widen in surprise and pain.
Israel snapped the shotgun closed with only one round in and fired, taking Tom’s head off at the neck.
Ka-Riu’s scream sent Israel staggering backward. He dropped his shotgun, clutched his head and fell out of the house.
Chapter Ten
Israel Porter Meets His Destiny
You shall not deny me! Ka-Riu howled, ripping his head out of the dead man’s stomach. He shook off the man’s innards and scrambled up and out of the basement, through the kitchen, and out into the barnyard. The old farmer was unconscious on the ground, the dog standing over him protectively.
Dragon, a feminine voice said, and Ka-Riu froze. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned and looked to his left.
In the shadows cast by the barn’s light, a figure stood. Then she advanced slowly.
The eight armed manifestation of Benzaiten.
No, Ka-Riu said.
The bare steel of weapons flashed in the hands of the goddess. Yes, Ka-Riu. You were not meant to be free. Not after what you did upon the seas to both friend and foe alike.
You cannot judge me, he spat.
I can. I will, the goddess said. I watched you in your madness, feasting upon those who had called upon you for assistance. Devouring innocent and guilty alike. When those ships sank, Ka-Riu, you were to save those who were marked for salvation. Her arms flickered in and out of the light. Power. Strength. Divinity. Come crush and punish him.
Ka-Riu took a nervous step backward.
You cannot run from me, she said. I will hunt you. This you know. I know not how you escaped your bonds, nor do I care to know. You have sealed your fate, though, Dragon, and I must be your executioner.
Anger flared within Ka-Riu’s heart, and he screamed in rage before leaping towards her.
***
A horrendous scream forced Israel back into consciousness. He found himself face down in the dirt of his own barnyard, Turk barking furiously above him. Rolling over, Israel sat up and thought, for the briefest of moments, that he was dreaming.
But he couldn’t be, because everything was true.
Even the battle raging before him.
The dragon was fighting an eight armed woman who held a weapon in each of her hands. Her moves the epitome of grace, she drove the dragon effortlessly back, and the beast bled from at least a dozen wounds. She wore a peaceful expression, as though the task in which she was engaged was no more upsetting than taking out the trash.
Apparently it wasn’t even as difficult.
Israel couldn’t tell if the goddess—the woman had to be the goddess—was toying with the dragon, or if she was giving him a chance to surrender, a chance to stop doing what he was doing.
Ka-Riu did not surrender.
He kept fighting.
And the fighting was brutal.
The goddess moved with an ease and a grace that Israel had seen in dancers, but in little else. With each flick of her wrist, with every movement of her arm, a weapon drew blood. Not a single blow failed to find its mark.
And she seemed to be punishing the dragon.
Israel had not doubt that she could have finished Ka-Riu off easily, yet she didn’t.
He watched as a sword lashed out, catching the dragon’s left nostril and slicing through it easily, blood spraying out, drenching one half of the pure white hair on the dragon’s snout. An arm wielding what looked to be a war-hammer smashed into Ka-Riu’s right cheek and Israel heard the teeth break within.
The dragon staggered back, spitting out fragments of teeth and blood.
A whip lashed out and the dragon screamed, its right eye disappearing in a bloody mist.
Israel felt a surge of excitement in spite of the thundering headache occupying his skull.
Ka-Riu lunged forward, snapping at the goddess. She sidestepped his attack easily and used three blades to cut open a trio of parallel lines along his left side. His tail snapped around and she let go of a dagger to catch the dragon’s tail.
She twisted and pulled and Ka-Riu let out a scream of rage that made the world shake in front of Israel’s eyes.
The goddess dropped the tip of the tail to the earth and turned gently as Ka-Riu spun around to face her. The barnyard was a churned mass of bloody earth beneath their feet as the dragon seemed to eye the goddess warily.
The goddess, in turn, stood, all of her arms outstretched, each with a weapon in hand as she watched and waited.
The dragon leaped up and into the air, springing forward with a speed that Israel didn’t think was possible. And Ka-Riu came close to touching the goddess. Close, but nothing more.
As the dragon was swept by the goddess by its own momentum, she struck once more with the war-hammer. The blunt weapon crashed into the left side of Ka-Riu’s head, slamming the dragon to the ground with such force that the windows on the second floor shattered.
Ka-Riu rolled and twisted, regaining its feet, stumbling, and then getting up once more. It spat at the goddess. The acid struck her face and smoke rose up. Yet when it cleared, the goddess was merely smiling understandingly at the dragon.
Then she was racing forward.
Her arms and weapons w
ere blurs, the dragon being knocked onto its back. Blood sprang forth, flew through the air and seemed to be a veritable mist around the two combatants.
Then she was stepping away, Ka-Riu slowly getting to its feet. The dragon staggered away, tried to attack and missed. And again, and again Ka-Riu tried. The goddess continued to step aside, observing the efforts of the dragon and lashing out at it occasionally.
Soon the dragon was stumbling, unable to keep on its feet any longer.
For a moment the fighting paused, the goddess serenely looking at the dragon. The dragon breathed heavily, and bled profusely.
Foul thing! Ka-Riu screamed, the dragon’s voice punishing Israel’s brain for the first time during the battle.
Am I? the goddess asked, her voice gentle. I think not, Ka-Riu. You were a king once, magnificent and wise. That was why you were chosen to serve as the savior. When those sailors floundered, and when the innocents among them needed salvation, we chose you to save them. You denied them, Ka-Riu. You denied them salvation.
You brought them torment, you brought them pain. You devoured flesh and bone and souls. You proved to us that you are a coward and a fool.
Nothing more.
The howl of rage from Ka-Riu that burst within Israel’s brain made his eyes water and his teeth ache. Through blurred vision Israel watched as the dragon lunged once more at the goddess.
All sense of ease and peace vanished from her form and her face. She was a blur of arms, steel glinting in the light.
Ka-Riu’s head thudded to the barnyard. A moment later, the body followed, blood spilling freely into the ground.
Israel looked on, not quite sure what to do.
There is nothing for you to do, a gentle voice said. At least not in regards to the dragon. He is gone, traveling down a path of his own choosing.
“What is there to do?” Israel asked, and he was awed by the goddess. Her power, pure and beautiful washed over him.
The Lodge. The place where Ka-Riu was bound. Where he was supposed to remain until the end of days. It still stands.
