The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul

by Jon F. Merz

  As he came abreast of the barracks room, the torches high up on the wall were barely generating any light whatsoever. But Ran didn’t mind. He could see very well in the darkness. Moreover, the lack of light in the magic torches told him that his presence hadn’t been detected yet. Had it been, they would have certainly flared into life.

  Still, he’d have to be careful. The torches were like an early warning system. And Ran couldn’t afford to have any alarms go off.

  He moved to the opposite wall in one slow fluid motion, adhering himself to the stones and willing himself to remain calm and relaxed. He again paused, listening for anything that might cause him to suspect that he was in danger.

  But he heard and sensed nothing.

  Creeping farther into the barracks, he saw rows of beds but no Chekhal warriors sleeping in them. Ran frowned. Had it been an illusion as he’d suspected earlier? Was Kan-Gul trying to make them think there was more going on here than there was? The deeper Ran got into the barracks, the larger it became. Rows upon rows of beds were here, and they seemed to stretch on forever.

  Ran paused. What was it that Kan-Gul had said earlier about the large army to the north? That they were coming to the fortress? He frowned. There was certainly plenty of room in the castle to accommodate them. And if Kan-Gul had the amount of magic at his disposal he believed he would with Jysal, then it was possible that this wasn’t an illusion after all, but preparation for a coming invasion.

  Not good, Ran decided. He needed to get word back to his superiors in Gakur about the potential invasion. It would probably be the first they’d heard of it. And if it was, then they would need to work their manipulations on the warlords in Nehon and convince them to band together to prepare for invasion.

  Ran knew what that would mean: he’d be assigned to scout out the potential threat posed by the army to the north.

  That meant there was an even greater reason for escaping from this place. He couldn’t delay. As he moved through the barracks, he saw a small room to the left. Was this what Kancho had noticed? Ran was impressed. The room was barely noticeable, and he himself had failed to spot it earlier. But when Ran looked inside, he was extremely glad Kancho had seen it.

  He was standing in an armory. There were racks filled with swords, including the two curved Nehon blades that belonged to Ran and Kancho. There were straight swords as well as other blades of types that Ran had never seen before. He wondered if this was where Kan-Gul stored all the weapons from the people he’d murdered. With a frown, Ran realized the sheer number of weapons in the armory meant that Kan-Gul must have murdered hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

  He took his sword and Kancho’s back with him to the cell. Neviah, Jysal and Malkyr would have to wait until they got out to arm themselves. Ran couldn’t risk carrying a bundle of blades back that might make noise or compromise his ability to stay undetected.

  Back in the passageway, he moved as quickly as he could and returned to the cell. He handed Kancho’s sword through the bars. Kancho’s eyes lit up when he grasped his treasured weapon. Ran motioned for him to stay quiet and then pulled the door to the cell open.

  Kancho came out and put his cupped hand over Ran’s ear. “Was it an armory?”

  Ran nodded. “We’ll need to go back so Neviah and the others can get weapons, too. I couldn’t take a chance on bringing back too much.”

  “Understood.” Kancho moved back into the cell and explained the situation to the others. They nodded in agreement, and then Kancho looked at Ran.

  With a nod, Ran waved them out into the passageway one at a time. Kancho came out first and went to one side so he could keep watch for the guards. As the others filed out, Ran positioned them near the stone wall and told them to stay still.

  Malkyr was the last to hobble out of the cell. His leg was still causing him to limp. Ran frowned. An injury like that could compromise the entire escape. But he couldn’t leave him behind. That wouldn’t be right.

  Slowly, the five of them moved down the passageway toward the barracks. Ran led them inside one at a time, figuring it would better that way so they could minimize the chances of being spotted. He took Neviah in first. After briefly searching for her own weapons amid the piles of gear, she finally shrugged and then outfitted herself with a slim sword and several daggers that she tucked into her belt. She smiled at Ran and exited. Malkyr came next and chose a thicker straight sword. Jysal came last and chose three daggers that she dutifully tucked into her belted dress.

  Back in the passageway, Ran eyed them all. They had weapons. They were out of the cell.

  Now they needed to get out of the castle.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ran took the lead and Kancho brought up the rear. Neviah came after him, then Jysal, then Malkyr. Ran figured this was the best way to maximize their fighting ability. He motioned Neviah over for a quick hushed chat. He realized he wasn’t fully aware of her capabilities.

  She squatted next to him while the others kept a lookout. “Yes?”

  “Can you wield magic?”

  She smiled. “Unfortunately, no. My job has always been to protect the sorcerers, not to actually cast spells. It’s beyond my ken, frankly.”

  Ran nodded. “All right, I wanted to be sure before we moved out. It occurred to me I’d never asked.”

  She touched his arm. “Do not worry yourself about such things. You’ve already done more than any of us had a right to ask you to do.”

  “What—breaking us out? How could I leave you all behind?”

  “Yes, the escape, but also the leadership you’ve shown. You might try casting yourself as a wandering blade for hire, but I think there’s more to you than meets the eye.” She smiled. “But do not fear. If you have secrets that you wish kept, I will not say a thing.”

  “Thank you.” Ran glanced around. “Now let’s get moving.” He stood and nodded to the others, and they got into position. He took a moment to say one last thing to them all. “I will scout ahead first.” He looked at Neviah. “If I signal for you to stop, make sure you pass it down the line. I don’t want anyone bumping into each other. Metal swords and daggers tend to make a lot of noise when that happens.”

  “That’s the last thing we need,” said Neviah. “I will keep watch for your cues, Ran.”

  “All right then, let’s get moving.” Ran resumed his place at the front and led them out of the barracks area and back down the passageway toward the staircase they’d used when the Chekhal initially brought Ran and Jysal to the cell. Ran slid his sword forward and across his front, put his back against the wall, signaled for Neviah to hold where she was, and then used the same cross-stepping technique he’d used previously to ascend the stairs with his back to the wall. In this way, Ran could see what was happening in both directions. With his hands outstretched again, he could easily feel for any problems before he bumped into them.

  Keeping his breathing even, Ran climbed the steps. He allowed his focus to soften in the dim light and listened for any noises up ahead of him. As he did, something registered in his subconscious, and he froze.

  Listening.

  Smelling.

  There. He heard a shift. It was a tiny sound, but it was out of the flow of other noises he’d become accustomed to. Someone or something was up ahead of him on the staircase.

  But what?

  Ran eased up another step. From his position on the winding staircase, he could see back down to Neviah and in the direction above him as well, but not enough to register what might be making the sound.

  Rather than risk it, Ran descended again. As he came to Neviah, he removed his sword and gave it to her. “Hold this for me and give me one of your daggers.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s someone or something up there at the top of the staircase. I’ll need to get a lot closer before I can determine what it is. My sword might scrape against the wall at the wrong time. I don’t want to risk it.”

  Neviah took out one of her daggers and gav
e it to Ran. He tested what it took to pull it free of its scabbard and then tucked it away in his belt; he needed both hands free to negotiate the stairs. “I’ll be back as soon as I see what the threat is. Pass it down the line quietly.”

  As she moved off, Ran began his slow, careful ascent of the steps again. As he moved, Ran eased his body forward in a rolling motion that brought his weight down evenly and never compromised his balance. If the steps had been wooden, they would have presented even more of a challenge because they might creak at the worst possible time. Ran had methods for dealing with that eventuality, but a big part of him was grateful the steps were made of stone. Wood took a lot longer to cross without making any noise.

  But even though they weren’t made of wood, Ran still needed to exercise the utmost care and focus now that he knew there was someone at the top of the stairs. He figured it might be a guard, stationed there in case of escape. But what if there were two of them? Taking them both out without anyone raising the alarm would prove nearly impossible.

  Then there was the inevitable question of what it would take to kill a Chekhal warrior. Kan-Gul had mentioned they were reanimated dead warriors. But were they still vulnerable to attack in the same way that humans were? Ran had an idea of how he would attack, and felt fairly confident it would be enough, but he still had to keep his breathing under control, because the butterflies in his stomach were fluttering like mad.

  Ran realized at that moment that it wasn’t so much the idea of fighting that had him nervous. It was the thought that he might end up like Vargul if he wasn’t careful. Ran had never formulated much of a belief system about the afterlife and the whims of the gods and goddesses. He was usually too focused on the real world and learning how to be a shadow warrior. But he liked to think there might be something after all of this.

  If he was caught and his soul devoured, however, it wouldn’t matter if there was an afterlife.

  Failure, he decided, was simply not an option.

  He paused again at the spot where he’d heard the sound a few minutes earlier. Waiting, Ran closed his eyes and opened his mouth to allow his ear canals to better grab at sounds floating in the air. And sure enough, he heard something again. This time it was a bit more substantial: the sound of metal scraping against the wall. Ran pictured the scene in his mind and saw a guard leaning back against the wall. He waited to see if there was any conversation and heard none. Then again, he cautioned himself, the only time he’d seen Chekhal talk was when they were addressing the prisoners. Ran had no idea if they spoke to themselves or shared some sort of hive communication.

  He hoped they didn’t have the ability to send their thoughts over distances. If that was the case, they would all be in a big heap of trouble.

  Ran took another step up and stopped again, trying to see if he’d been detected. He was now out of sight of Neviah at the bottom of the stairs, but he was growing ever closer to the top of the staircase. Any moment now and he expected to be able to see the threat.

  As such, he sank even lower, hugging the wall with his arms and keeping his knees deeply bent. Each cross-step brought him ever closer to the top. Then, as he rounded the next turn, he saw it.

  A lone Chekhal warrior stood at the entrance of the stairway with his back to Ran but turned just enough so that if Ran wasn’t careful, the Chekhal might notice movement in his peripheral vision. Ran watched to see if the Chekhal had any sort of pattern to his movement, but after ten minutes, he guessed the Chekhal would stand there until the end of time without much movement.

  So be it.

  Ran sank back down the staircase a few steps and moved to its inner wall. Then he reascended. In this way, he would come out at the top and be farther behind the sentry, hopefully more in his blind spot.

  Ran sank as low as he possibly could and moved into position about ten feet behind the sentry. Looking around the body of the Chekhal, he tried to view the hall they had passed through before descending the stairs. Torches flickered and cast enough light to see across the room, but Ran saw no other guards. Perhaps Kan-Gul felt secure enough in his layout of the fortress that he didn’t think he needed to put more guards around.

  Satisfied that the guard was seemingly all alone, Ran shrank back and slowly pulled Neviah’s dagger from its sheath. The blade was about eight inches long and single-edged, which meant he would have make sure he cut in the right direction. It would have to be quick and as quiet as he could manage.

  Ran came up in one fluid motion, covering the distance between him and the sentry in the space of a mere second. He aimed the dagger at a spot just to left of the spinal cord at the base of the sentry’s head and then stabbed straight in and cut to the right, severing the cord and brain stem in one single slash.

  Dark, viscous blood dribbled all over him, but there was nothing he could do about that now. As Ran had made the cut, his other hand had come up under the Chekhal’s left arm and across his chest to get better leverage for his cut while pulling the Chekhal back and down the staircase, using the shadows within to conceal the kill.

  Surprisingly, the Chekhal immediately went limp. Ran let the body down as quietly as possible, making sure that his sword didn’t bang into the floor. Then he raced back down the stairs and got Neviah to help him move the body down to the barracks, where he asked her to move one of the Chekhal’s arms out to the side.

  “What for?” she asked.

  Ran unsheathed his sword. “I need something.” And he made a quick cut, cleaving the Chekhal’s hand off at the wrist. He grimaced, but scooped up the grisly trophy and stowed it in his tunic.

  Neviah frowned at him. “I never figured you for being that sort of man.”

  “I’m not,” said Ran. “You’ll see when we get there.” He shoved the rest of the Chekhal under one of the bunks. “Hopefully, by the time they notice he’s missing, we’ll be long gone.”

  Neviah had taken her dagger back. “I hope you’re right.”

  “So do I,” said Ran. They went back, and Ran led them up the staircase. At the top, he sniffed the air. The stench of blood was apparent, and there was a lot of it on the stone floor and parts of the steps. He frowned. Ordinarily, he might have tried for a bloodless kill by breaking the neck of a target. But given that the Chekhal were a different breed, he’d felt that severing the spinal cord was the only way to go. Apparently, he’d been right. But there was still evidence of the kill on the floor. And it was evidence he wished he could erase.

  Speed now became essential. Once the guard was noticed missing, the alarms would no doubt sound. Kan-Gul would bring his full power to bear on them, and he doubted they’d have much of a chance at escape if that happened. But outside the fortress, with their wits about them and steel in their hands, there might be a better chance.

  Provided they could make it out.

  In his mind, Ran knew the route they would take. They would try to go out the same way they’d come in: through the secret entrance.

  He sighed. Thinking about the situation he was in, Ran would have had a better chance of success if he left his companions behind. Duty dictated that he escape and get word back to the Nine Daggers about the potential invasion. And without any of the other travelers hindering his progress, Ran could escape and reach friendly territory much faster than he would otherwise. No doubt his old instructor Senno, who had taught all of them the principles of escape and evasion, would yell at him for dragging along the others.

  Ran smirked. Senno would have suggested killing them all and then leaving. But that wasn’t feasible. While Jysal and Malkyr would be easy enough to dispatch, Kancho and Neviah were another matter.

  And then there was the fact that Ran didn’t think he could simply kill them in cold blood. Even if it would be more merciful than leaving them to a fate Kan-Gul had in store for them.

  Ran looked back at the column of escapees and nodded. It was time to go.

  They moved quickly across the open area of the hall, and then beyond they passed through t
he throne room. At each point, Ran checked ahead to make sure they were not about to run into a horde of guards or Kan-Gul himself. But thus far they had seen little activity in the fortress.

  Perhaps Kan-Gul was elsewhere? Ran had little doubt he could probably use all sorts of magic to make that happen. Still, it had been a while since the sorcerer had checked on them. At any moment he might decide to come see if they had made a decision. Ran didn’t want to wait around for that to happen.

  From the throne room, they moved back down the hallway and finally Ran felt his spirits lift when he saw the room ahead of them where he and Jysal had initially come into the fortress itself. He motioned for Neviah to wait and then stalked ahead, his feet barely brushing the floor as he did so. At the entrance to the room, he stopped. Then he sank down to the floor and eased his head around the entrance ever so slowly.

  The sight that greeted him made his heart sink.

  A dozen Chekhal warriors stood along the walls with their arms crossed over their chests. Ran watched them for several minutes, but he could detect nothing about their state of readiness. Were they awake or asleep? Or were they in some sort of suspended animation until Kan-Gul called upon them?

  It was risky. If he assumed incorrectly, they would walk right into the sort of battle they were trying hard to avoid in the first place. But they couldn’t stay here. Once the guard was found missing or Kan-Gul detected that his precious trophy had managed to escape, these Chekhal would probably be the first ones to respond. And they would blunder right into the escape party.

  Ran licked his lips and slinked back to where the others waited. He motioned Kancho up to where he stood with Neviah.

  “There are twelve Chekhal in the room. I don’t know if they’re awake or asleep or what. But they are in there. And the problem is, we can’t stay here. Nor do I know the way to the main entrance.”

  Neviah shrugged. “I think this is our best bet anyway. Who knows how many more guards might be waiting by the main gate?”