by Davis Ashura
Two more down. Three more inside. Another two. Even more. It was a mad mob of fur, teeth, claws, and furious growls.
Rukh drew his sword. “Fall back,” he ordered. His Martial Masters spoke of how to make correct decisions in the heat of battle: when to defend and when to retreat. But when no choices were left, the wise warrior did the unexpected: he attacked. Rukh Shielded and prepared to step forward and meet the wolves.
The wolves stood at the base of the stairs, teeth bared, snapping, red-eyed with fury. But they didn’t close. They growled their rage, staring upward, but refusing to ascend. Eventually, their anger seemed to play out. Their snarls slowly trailed off and they glanced about, confusion evident in their expressions. A whimper. Two. More. One left, then others. Without another sound, they exited the building, silent but for the scrabbling of their claws on the wooden floor. Once outside, they yipped to one another before racing off into the night.
“It’s over,” Rukh said, confused by what had just happened.
*****
The Tigon slept the rest of the night, while Rukh and the Bael filled Jessira in on what had really happened in the caverns. She hadn’t been entirely happy to learn that Rukh had aided the Baels. While she understood the Chim commanders had done their best to protect Humanity ever since Hammer’s Fall, she couldn’t make the leap between understanding their actions and forgiving them.
Rukh had. It was part of why she liked him so much: his capacity for forgiveness.
“How much longer will he slumber?” Choke asked, interrupting her thoughts when the Tigon stirred briefly but didn’t awaken.
Dawn was near.
Jessira shrugged. “It wasn’t an easy Healing,” she said. “For a Human, it would take most of the day for them to awake. Who knows how long it will take for a Tigon.”
“You’ll have to carry him out of here,” Rukh said. “Can you manage it?”
Choke nodded. “It won’t be a problem unless the animals attack us.”
“I still don’t understand what happened last night,” Rukh said. “When they burst into the building, I was sure they would swarm up the stairs. They looked rabid.”
“Perhaps a portion of the Queen’s madness has infected the beasts of Hammer after She destroyed the city,” Choke said.
“Then why did they leave so suddenly?” Jessira asked, doubtfully. It was an obvious hole in Choke’s logic. She wondered if the Bael was trying to hide something from them.
“I don’t know,” Choke said with a shrug. “All we know is that the animals here hate Chimeras.”
“We never had trouble with them,” Rukh said, his lips pursed in thought. “Maybe they don’t hate Humans.”
“Perhaps so,” Choke said with a grunt. “What are your plans here?” he asked, changing the subject.
“We could ask the same of you,” Jessira said, eyeing the Bael in distrust.
Choke grimaced. “Mother made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” he answered, going on to explain the death of the surviving Baels from the caverns. “Your great work was wasted,” he said to Rukh.
Rukh’s head drooped. “That is a shame,” he replied. “But maybe we can still salvage something from this disaster.”
“My brethren are all dead,” Choke answered. “What more can we do?”
“The western Baels still live, as do you. Your brothers need to learn what the two of us tried to accomplish. And they shouldn’t forget Li-Dirge. It was his words and actions — yours as well — that led me to do what I did in the caverns. The Baels aren’t dead yet.”
“They will be,” Choke replied softly. “Mother told me if I didn’t carry out this task, She would kill every one of them.”
Jessira waited a moment for Choke to explain what he meant by his last statement, but the Bael fell silent. Jessira rolled her eyes in irritation. “Just like the other one, Dirge — always wanting us to ask a question to find out the rest of the story,” she muttered. “Just tell us what happened,” she said to Choke. “And no more dramatic pauses.”
Choke blinked, nonplussed, before a sheepish grin spread across his face. “Did you happen to kill a nest of Ur-Fels and a claw of Tigons in the Privation Mountains four or five months ago?” he asked.
Jessira shared a look with Rukh. “We did,” she said. “Well, mostly Rukh,” she amended, shooting him a glare.
“What about it?” Rukh asked Choke, wisely refusing to meet Jessira’s eyes.
“Chak-Soon … ” he pointed to the Tigon, “ … was the ordinate, the commander in charge. He witnessed the battle and told Mother what he saw. When She learned a single Human had destroyed so many Chimeras, in Her lunacy, She decided only Hume was skilled enough to carry out such an attack.”
“She knows of Hume?” Jessira asked in confusion. “How?”
“I don’t know, but She does, and She ordered me west, to join up with Soon and his Chimeras. We were instructed to journey to Hammer in order to find and kill Hume — who is apparently you.”
The room fell silent again, as Jessira and Rukh digested Choke’s words.
“And what about you?” the Bael asked, breaking the quiet. “What is your purpose in Hammer?”
Jessira waited for Rukh to take the lead. After all, coming here had been his decision.
“I’m looking for The Book of First Movement. It was supposedly written by the First Father,” Rukh said.
“Why would you travel all the way from Ashoka for one book?” Choke asked, appearing puzzled.
Rukh shifted, looking uncomfortable. “I have my reasons,” he said, not bothering to correct the Bael’s mistaken assumption regarding from where they had started their journey.
Choke’s lips twitched. “Is this a dramatic pause?” he asked.
“My nanna suggested it,” Rukh said with a shrug. “So here we are.”
“And did your nanna tell you where you might find this book?” Choke asked. He gestured outside. “Hammer is a large city.”
“It’s supposed to be in the City Library,” Rukh answered.
“And if we — the Baels — had moved it? What then?”
Jessira smirked at Rukh. “He hadn’t planned that far in advance.”
Choke nodded. “Then it is fortunate I found you. The book was entombed with Hume. It remains within the City Library of Hammer, but underneath a simple unmarked plinth in the center of the main atrium. I would hazard to guess that neither of you would have thought to search there.”
“No we wouldn’t. We’d have had to return home with nothing to show for our troubles.” Jessira glanced at Rukh. “Aren’t you glad you took my advice and saved the Bael?”
“Your advice?” Rukh said. “If I’d followed your advice, he’d have — ”
Jessira laughed. “Your cheeks turn so red when you think someone’s wronged you,” she said, enjoying the further blush taking hold of Rukh’s face. Sometimes he made it too easy.
Choke nodded gravely. “She is correct. Your blush is quite red.”
The Bael’s quiet, studious observation set Jessira laughing again, and Choke’s lips twitched at her amusement.
Rukh muttered something unintelligible before chuckling with them.
Li-Choke looked between them before breaking out into an expansive smile. “When I first met the two of you, I would have sworn the two of you would forever remain mortal enemies. You shared a distrust for one another rivaling your hatred for the Fan Lor Kum. Yet here you are, laughing together. It’s good to see how well the spirit of fraternity has grown between the two of you.”
“You think we think of one another as brothers?” Jessira asked.
“Not literally, but figuratively. Metaphorically if you will,” Choke said. “Is that not true?” he asked sounding confused.
Jessira’s peal of laughter had the Bael’s ears wilting in embarrassment. It didn’t help that Rukh was laughing just as heartily. Jessira felt a surprising twinge of sympathy for the Chim.
“What is so funny?” Choke asked, loo
king affronted.
Rukh shook his head. “I don’t think of Jessira as a brother or a sister,” he said.
“Then in what way do you think of one another,” Choke asked, glancing between the two of them. Insight suddenly lit his eyes. “Oh.”
*****
Choke led the packhorse, which had somehow survived last night’s attack and now had the unfortunate task of carrying the burden of the still slumbering Chak-Soon. Ahead of them walked Rukh Shektan. The Ashokan maintained point as they travelled a wide road through the heart of Hammer, toward the City Library.
The day was warm. Spring was in the air and melting snow was turning much of the ground into a slushy, muddy mess. A brackish, unpleasant smell seemed to seep from the very pores of the city as the marsh south and east of Hammer had also begun to thaw. However, in the shadows, beneath doorways and along the sides of buildings where the sun rarely reached, it remained cold. There, ice and frost bitterly clung to the eaves. The distant cry of a falcon came to them, but otherwise the city was silent. For his part, Choke was grateful the fearful howl of wolves on the hunt didn’t fill the air.
Rukh didn’t seem to notice any of this. His eyes were focused and intense as he continually scanned before them, to their sides, and even behind. An arrow lay upon the rest of his bow, ready to be aimed and released in an instant’s notice. Choke knew the weapon was merely one of the means by which Rukh could deal death. His Fireballs were another, but perhaps his deadliest tool lay at his hip: his matte-black, spidergrass sword. Choke had rarely faced Humans in battle, and he was glad he would never have to face this one.
Then there was Jessira Grey who followed a few paces to the rear of their small group, equally alert and ready. What she lacked in Rukh’s consummate skills, she made up for with sheer fearlessness. She knew Rukh was the superior warrior, but she refused to hide behind him. She insisted on doing for herself; carrying her own weight.
She had little use for Li-Choke; that much was obvious. She hadn’t entirely believed his reason for being in Hammer, always regarding the Bael through measuring, close slit eyes. It was a minor miracle Rukh had managed to persuade the woman to Heal Chak-Soon. She would surely have preferred to simply slit the young Tigon’s throat and be done with it. In her eyes, doing so would have carried no burden of sin since according to her view, all members of the Fan Lor Kum were enemies who deserved to die.
Choke couldn’t find fault with her reasoning. It was essentially true. But perhaps with Chak-Soon’s survival thanks to the work of a distrusting Human, the Baels could more easily teach the meaning of fraternity to others of the Fan Lor Kum.
“Wolves nearby,” Jessira said, breaking Li-Choke out of his thoughts. “Right now, they’re just prowling.”
Rukh glanced back. “Is the Tigon showing any signs of waking up?”
Li-Choke shook his head. “He’s still asleep as far as I can tell.”
“Healing must take a lot out of his kind,” Rukh noted.
Li-Choke grunted agreement. “We’re nearly there,” he said. “Only a few more blocks. Then the packhorse can take a rest from Chak-Soon’s weight.”
Soon enough, the City Library of Hammer came into view. Li-Choke had never seen the building before, but he’d heard it described and even read about it often enough to recognize it on first sight. The library soared four stories into the air with needle-thin towers rising even higher. History spoke of how the main vessel of the library had been designed to mimic the appearance of a boat. The entrance, which they faced, was said to be the wide, flat stern, while the opposite side of the building was a narrow prow, aimed like an arrow and meant to cleave the waters of the nearby River Mastery. Twin arcades lined the length of the main edifice, huddling beneath flying buttresses, which swept out like oars down to the transept. The cruciform shape had also been intentional, with the four arms of the building each projecting in a different cardinal direction. Clad outside by heavy gray granite, the inside of the library would have been as lifeless and grim as an underground cavern if not for the tall lancet windows of the clerestory.
As with the rest of Hammer, time and nature had robbed the building of much of its historical elegance and grandeur. Gaping holes punctured the line of the steeply pitched slate roof, and many windows peered out with an empty gaze, only shards remaining where lovely stained glass had once brought in colored light. There were also the vines, thick and root-like. They had clawed out footholds along the walls, swathing many parts of the building in green. Despite the decay, enough of the structure remained to imagine its glory before Mother and the Fan Lor Kum had destroyed Hammer.
Rukh entered first.
The packhorse balked at going inside, so Choke hauled Chak-Soon off the animal. He lumbered the Tigon onto his shoulder, carrying the ordinate like a bale of hay. Jessira had remained outside with them, likely not willing to give her back to him. After Choke had Soon settled on his shoulder, he ascended the front stairs with Jessira a few paces behind.
The main entrance consisted of ironwood doors, intricately carved with symbols, leaves, and figures from Hammer’s past. They had once stood over twelve feet in height, each broad enough for a Balant to pass through without difficulty. Now, they barely hung on their hinges, cracked and rotted. Inside, it wasn’t much better. Trees and large weeds split the stone flooring, while the vines from outside had managed to breach the walls, spreading throughout the interior. From the visible scat and smell, it was clear animals had made the building their home. Stealthy sounds — rustling, clicking noises — heralded their arrival within.
Choke glanced around, studying the famed building he’d read so much about. He never thought he’d actually enter this place. A large gallery ran the length of the library with an oculus — empty now — bringing in light from the domed ceiling above. Given the massive size of the space, it had the look and feel of a cloister — or what Li-Choke imagined how a cloister might look and feel. He’d never actually seen one. And upon each floor, running about the entire perimeter of the central vault, were open-sided arcades leading further into the library. Large chandeliers, once filled with hundreds of firefly lamps would have lit the place to noontime brightness, but all of them were gone now, burned out and leaving the library in solitude and darkness.
“There.” Li-Choke pointed to a tall, thick plinth, centered in the gallery. It was about man-height and had once been white as ivory, but time and decay had dulled it to the same drab gray as the library’s exterior. It would take a Bael’s strength to move it. Or a Kumma’s. “We buried the Master there,” he said, easing Chak-Soon off his shoulder and laying the Tigon next to the plinth.
“Help me move the stone,” Rukh said, setting aside his bow and shucking off his quiver of arrows.
Jessira stood nearby, peering into the darkness, alert and ready while they worked. With the two of them, it didn’t take long to rock the plinth out of place, exposing a shallow, square hole underneath. Within it was a simple urn made of priceless copper and a blue, leather bound book. There was nothing else.
“The Master’s ashes,” Li-Choke said in a reverent tone.
“The Book of First Movement,” Rukh added, sounding just as reverential. The Human had already reached inside and withdrawn The Book, thumbing through to the first page. “The first line is right here,” he said excitedly. “I can read it. It’s right there. Jessira, look.”
“I’ll look when we’re outside,” she replied. “There’s animals in here moving around, and they sound … ” She glanced back at them, an expression of worry on her face. “Let’s get going.”
Just then, Chak-Soon sat up with a groan. He levered himself to his feet and blinked owlishly. “What happen?” he asked, his gaze focused on Li-Choke. However, upon seeing Rukh and Jessira, he tried to surge to his feet, growling in fury.
Li-Choke was by his side in an instant, holding him down. “This one … ” he gestured to Rukh, “ … was protecting himself. He stabbed you through the chest. You were dyi
ng. This one … ” he pointed to Jessira, “ … Healed you and saved your life. Do you remember?”
Chak-Soon’s bared fangs receded and his face held a look of bewilderment. “They Sil Lor Kum?”
Choke shook his head. “No.”
“Then why Heal me?”
“Because I asked,” Choke replied. “Life is not as you have been taught. You must trust me on this.” He gestured to the plinth. “We’ll talk more after I put this back in place.” Choke sighed with relief when the Master’s urn was sheltered once again. He hadn’t liked the idea of disturbing Hume’s place of rest, but the Humans had been insistent upon recovering The Book of First Movement.
“We have to go,” Rukh said. He motioned to the darkness. “Jessira’s right. Something’s going on out there.”
Chak-Soon growled.
Rukh turned his gaze to the young Tigon. “You wouldn’t last a second against me. You know it’s true, but I’ve let you live. We even Healed you. And Li-Choke is correct: I am not Sil Lor Kum. Consider what this might mean — brother.”
Choke couldn’t have been more surprised if Rukh had sprouted wings and flown away. Brother?
“Rats,” Jessira said.
“What’s wrong now?” Rukh asked.
“No. Rats. Lots of them. Coming this way.” She pointed.
Choke looked in the direction she indicated. From the darkness, chittering noises broke the quiet as hundreds of beady-red eyes moved as one, surging toward them.
“Suwraith’s spit. Pick him up.” Rukh gestured to the still weak-appearing Tigon. “Move.”
Now, it was Jessira who took point, sprinting for the front entrance. For now, it was free of rats, but Choke could see a swarm of the vermin moving to cut off their escape. A roaring sound came from behind him. Choke glanced back, seeing Rukh throw Fireballs, lighting up the darkness and revealing an army of brown-furred rats converging rapidly toward them.
“Mother save!” Chak-Soon intoned fearfully.
Choke understood the Tigon’s sentiments. The rats would eat them alive.
