Chasers of the Wind

by Alexey Pehov

  “Why so gloomy?” I asked him.

  He tore his gaze away from his hands and smirked.

  “I’m confused about a few things.”

  “What, if it’s not a secret?”

  The Healer leaned toward us so that none of those sitting at the nearby tables could hear and asked quietly, “How many of the dead can Layen raise?”

  “What are you driving at, Healer?” she responded coldly.

  “You know what I’m talking about. Not everyone can merge with a khilss, and you controlled Death easily. Why wouldn’t you possess the other skills as well?”

  Layen’s face expressed nothing. “You’re raving, boy.”

  “No. I just have a knack for drawing the right conclusions, that is all. I’d still be interested to know, who taught you?”

  “Oh,” I said, chuckling, having followed the discussion as it unfolded, “I see you’ve decided to turn back to that old subject.”

  “But surely someone taught you, right?” Shen paid me no attention. “Someone told you what the sorcerers call zombies. Kuks is a rare word. You also know what the necromancers are called in Sdis. No Walker would ever call them what you did. Elect.”

  “But you yourself know these words and you’ll notice that I do not ask you how. Why shouldn’t I know them as well?” Layen turned the accusation around on the Healer.

  “And so I shouldn’t ask either?”

  “I would appreciate it. To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember where I heard them. They came in handy today. There’s nothing more to it.”

  “I see,” he drawled. “Then allow me to ask that with which I began—how many of the dead can you raise?”

  “None,” she snapped.

  For some time they stared at each other. Finally Shen took a breath and leaned backward.

  “I believe you’re lying,” he said in a colorless voice. “And I also have an idea about what you would have done with that woman in the village if she hadn’t caught you unawares.”

  “You can have an idea about whatever you like. As for the Damned, my power wouldn’t have been enough to even cause her the slightest injury.”

  “Sure, sure. You already told me something to that effect about the necromancer who came to your house. I’m going to sleep.” And the Healer left.

  “So how many?” I couldn’t help myself.

  She wasn’t expecting such a question from me and she flinched.

  “Don’t start.”

  “Why not? I’m really curious to finally find out what you’re capable of.”

  Now she was avoiding looking into my eyes.

  “Like I told Shen…”

  “None. And you weren’t even lying. Until your spark flares up again, you can’t do anything. But how many could you raise before?”

  This conversation clearly displeased Layen. I was already expecting to hear that it was none of my business. It was all the more strange then that she answered, “Four.”

  Iron fingers encircled my throat; it became hard to breathe and a line of cold chills crawled up my spine. A completely childish terror of a person who could control the dead surged up in me. But I battled it down.

  I loved her. And I knew that she was not like the necromancers are usually depicted. Many years of life spent side by side had taught us to trust each other. Well … or almost taught us. Layen was looking at me in dismay. She was already regretting her excessive candor and was awaiting what I would say to her now.

  “Four.” I savored the word. “That’s not bad for someone who taught herself. Turns out, you’d give a few of the Whites a run for their money. Thank you for finally deciding to tell me.”

  “I’ve wanted to for a while, but I didn’t know how you’d take it,” she answered hurriedly.

  “I understand you completely.” The specter of the living dead still dangled before my eyes. Truth be told, it wasn’t a very pleasant sight. “Is there anything else I should know, my love?”

  “Did they leave?” Ga-Nor returned at a completely inopportune moment.

  “Yes. They went to their rooms.” Layen was happy that this unpleasant conversation had been put on hold for a while.

  “We should soon, too. Another round of shaf, Gray?”

  “If you like.”

  The northerner waved his hand, and the girl set down three mugs from her tray.

  “I wanted to ask what your game is, but I never got the chance.” The redhead dipped his mustache into the dark beverage.

  “I don’t really know what you mean.”

  “How do you earn your keep? Are you a Shot?”

  “No. I’m a carpenter.”

  The middle-aged war dog grinned. “I guess you must be the best carpenter in the world, to be carrying so much money on you.”

  “And you have sharp eyes.” My smile came out crooked.

  “No. I have keen ears. I heard how it jingled in Layen’s pack. And it’s quite a lot. I wouldn’t mistake the sound a mass of sorens gives out for anything else.”

  “It’s her inheritance.”

  “So I thought.” He smiled openly. “An inheritance, of course. A carpenter couldn’t amass that much in his whole life.”

  It was obvious that he didn’t believe us, but it didn’t matter to him who we were. This is why I love northerners—they never meddle in other people’s business.

  “I’m pleased that we could…”

  “Ness.” Layen called to me.

  “… clarify it for you.”

  “NESS!”

  I cut short my blather and looked at her petulantly.

  “An odd man.” A hint of alarm had slipped into her voice.

  I personally didn’t see anything odd about the stranger she pointed out. He was a man like any other man. True, he was wrapped from head to toe in a cloak and he was looking around. He was clearly not from around here. He’d just walked into the inn and was now standing in the center of the room, between the tables, apparently wondering what to do next. I couldn’t make out his face, as it was hidden by his hood, but when the man turned around a bit, his cloak fell open and I saw the dull flash of armor.

  “Fish!” Ga-Nor barked so loudly that I nearly jumped from shock.

  The next moment the northerner tipped the heavy table over on its side like it was a feather, and the plates and mugs fell to the floor with a crash.

  “Come here!”

  The redhead’s face was so intent that I followed his order without thinking. Layen did the same. The startled faces of the miners flashed past my eyes and then something boomed deafeningly. It hit my ears so hard that I screamed in pain. Darkness swam before my eyes and my nose started to bleed.

  When I regained the ability to think, I found myself lying on the floor. Ga-Nor was next to me on his hands and knees. He tossed his head and for some reason reminded me of a big red dog.

  “Layen!”

  I couldn’t hear my own voice. The shrieks and groans of the wounded drowned out all other sounds.

  “Layen!”

  Tossing someone’s severed hand to the side, I crawled across the blood-soaked floor toward a table that had been split in two.

  “Layen!”

  Strong hands grabbed me by the shoulders, and I was pulled to my feet with a sharp jerk. Of course, it was the northerner. He had recovered much faster than I had from the incident.

  “There she is!”

  Layen was getting to her feet. She had her hand pressed to her mouth, and her eyes were dilated with horror as she looked around the room, which was a scene of immense slaughter. There were so many dead, it was like one of the legendary battles of the War of the Necromancers had just been fought. Several body parts were even hanging from the huge circular chandelier. This was not to mention the blood, which was not only on the walls, but on the ceiling as well. And everywhere there was the dull gleam of small scales, no bigger than silver coins, which had seemed like chain mail to me. They were embedded in all the wooden surfaces and in those unfortunate
souls who had been unlucky enough to be standing close to the stranger.

  “Layen, are you all right?” I ran over to her.

  “Let’s get out of here. Please,” she whispered.

  I grabbed my wife by the elbow and led her toward the stairs.

  “Ga-Nor, grab my bow and quiver.”

  “Already done,” the redhead replied behind my back.

  “What happened?” An agitated Luk ran out from the second-floor corridor. Then he froze, speechless.

  “Don’t just stand there!” Ga-Nor roared at him. “Take the woman to her room! Help him, man.”

  These last words were directed at Shen.

  “Luk can handle it,” said the Healer. “I have to help the wounded.”

  “And what are we going to do?” I frowned. I didn’t want to leave Layen.

  “We’re going to go out and find out where the Fish came from.” Ga-Nor handed me my bow. “Get ready.”

  “I’m always ready. Layen, I’ll be back soon. Come on.”

  Stepping over the bodies and avoiding the injured, around whom the survivors were already fussing, we went outside. It was already dark, but no thought had been given to lighting torches. It’s always this way in small towns—no one wants to spend money on nonsense like streetlights. All six of the Damned could hide in such thick darkness, and you would see absolutely nothing until it was too late.

  “What was that?” I asked Ga-Nor as he sniffed the air.

  “A Fish.”

  “I didn’t notice that he had either fins or tails.”

  “We don’t know what they’re really called. The creatures have been dubbed ‘Fish’ in the Borderlands. They’re a product of Sdisian magic. They’re corpses. They walk up to the living and then, bam! There’s a bunch of dead people.”

  “Is it always like that?”

  “Unfortunately. They have thousands of steel scales. Each cuts through flesh and bone like butter. When the creature explodes, the scales fly in all directions. It’s best to hide before that happens.”

  “Hey, kid!” I cried out to a pale boy who was standing by the entrance to the inn, staring at all the blood and corpses in horror. “Did you see it, the thing that exploded, before?”

  He didn’t immediately understand what was wanted of him. Then he nodded frantically.

  “It was Shkan. The local drunk. He died three days ago.” It seemed like the boy was about to burst into tears. “He was buried yesterday.”

  There you go! Luk had spoken evil and now the dead were crawling out of the cemetery. Just great!

  “Head home,” I said to him. “You can’t do anything here. Quick!”

  The small boy ran so fast that his heels were on fire.

  “He might not be the only one.” The tracker was staring intently into the darkness.

  “I’m not going searching,” I said sharply.

  “No one asked you to.”

  Suddenly two booms, muffled by distance, rang out into the night.

  “We’re leaving.” I decided. “Right now. I’m taking Layen and getting the hell out of here. It’s getting dangerous.”

  At the opposite end of the street a pair of green lights flashed. Then another. And another. And another. A startled cry rang out, but was immediately muffled.

  “Into the inn! Now!” Ga-Nor, unlike me, knew what kind of attack this was. “The dead!”

  My heart grew cold, and I sped back behind the precarious cover of the walls. Again, the screams of terror. A warning alarm began ringing.

  “Close the doors!” bellowed the redhead.

  “What? Have you gone mad?” The landlord jumped up. “We’ve sent for the healers. Stand back!”

  “Idiot! It’s full of the living dead out there!”

  “Don’t spout bullshit! Back, I said! Or else…”

  He didn’t have to finish because five wide-shouldered, gloomy men had stood up behind his back. The surviving miners stood behind their friend.

  “Up!” I snapped. It’s stupid to try and save those who don’t want to be saved. They will drown and take you with them when they go.

  No longer paying any attention to the locals, we rushed to the stairs. On the way, Ga-Nor scooped up the Healer, who was trying to staunch the flow of blood from one of the wounded. The lad began to fight back.

  “Leave him! He’s already a goner. Save your own skin!” I snarled.

  Shen wanted to rebel, but my face, distorted by terror, made him stop playing the fool. No longer arguing, the Healer rushed behind us. We were flying up the stairs when the first of the creatures, apparently drawn by the thick scent of blood, burst into the room and, without delay, sunk its teeth into the neck of the nearest person.

  The people didn’t understand what was happening and rushed to help the unlucky fellow. Before they could do anything, death entered into the room once more. I was the first to see the creatures, and the impression they made was terrible. However, there’s no point in staring. With every second, new “guests” arrived, and for now they were occupied with the living people by the door, but soon they would turn their attention to us. So, skipping over a few steps, we ran upstairs. There was still a chance for us to escape. But the growling behind our backs spoke to the fact that those who hadn’t found enough food downstairs had decided to visit the upper stories.

  The first room along the corridor belonged to Luk, Ga-Nor, and Shen. The Healer flew there, and I had to follow him because I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to make it to my room. We tumbled in and slammed the door shut. Almost immediately something heavy struck it from the other side.

  As I expected, neither Luk nor Layen was here.

  Excellent!

  The panting Healer slid down the wall and began to mutter a prayer.

  Why not? He had nothing better to do.

  “The stubborn bastard,” I said, listening as the corpse frantically tried to get into our room.

  This had been going on for an hour, but the creature didn’t calm down for a minute.

  “Will the door hold?” asked Shen for the millionth time.

  “I really hope so.”

  There were three of us in the room. But neither Luk nor Layen was there and the uncertainty was terrifying me. I didn’t know if my sun was alive, but I very much hoped that she had locked herself in her room and that she was all right. If it was so, we were now separated by an entire hallway. Twenty-five short and extremely long steps.

  Ga-Nor had leaned his sword against the wall and was now standing by the window and looking out onto the street. I knew what he was seeing there. Ambling shadows and the green lights of dead eyes. Far more than two hundred of the dead were crammed into Bald Hollow. From what we could see, they had flooded the entire city. I wondered if anyone was alive but us. Someone had to have had time to slam a door, to hide in a basement or an attic.

  The alarm had been silent for a long time. There were no longer any screams to be heard either. No one was rushing to put out the fire that had flared up on the opposite end of the street. Several houses had already burned down and all we could do was pray that the fire would not spread farther and engulf the inn.

  “We can’t stay here forever. They’ll get us sooner or later.”

  “You said yourself that the door would hold.” Shen frowned.

  “I said I hope it will. Even if it does hold, we’ll die of starvation. After all, they’re not afraid of sunlight, right?”

  “Right. But if you kill the necromancer—”

  “To Ug with your necromancer!” I used one of Ga-Nor’s few curses. “Didn’t you hear what Layen said? You’d need five of the very best sorcerers to raise two hundred of the dead. But there are far more than five hundred of them. And it’s not just the idlers from the cemetery that came out. Now those who they ate for dinner are running about as well. Just think how many Whites you would need to manage such a horde?”

  “I won’t think anything. I’ll tell you one thing—I’ve no desire to go running around with t
hem.”

  “What do you suggest?” asked the northerner calmly.

  “First, we need to break through to my room.”

  “What a fool!” spat Shen. “I’m not planning to risk my head for the sake of your better half.”

  “We have a window that looks out onto the inner courtyard.” Letting his words slip past my ears, I turned to Ga-Nor. “If we can break through to the stables, we have a chance of reaching our old age.”

  “And if the innkeeper left the gates open?” He rubbed his forehead.

  “We’ll never find out if we stay sitting here in this doghouse.”

  He thought a moment, weighing the options. Then he nodded decisively.

  “You’re right. I’m with you.”

  “Idiots!” Shen did not want to take a step out of this seemingly secure room. “Are you sure they’ll open up for you? You won’t be able to come back.”

  “You can stay here. No one’s asking you to come with us.”

  He shut up, stood up off the floor, and grabbed his skeem.

  “Can you help us?”

  The Healer understood that I was asking about his Gift, and he shook his head no.

  “I’m not sure that it will work.”

  Too bad. I’d actually been counting on his abilities.

  “Does everyone recall that they need to be hit on the head?” the northerner asked us again.

  We nodded.

  “Then Ug help us. Let’s begin.”

  “Don’t get in the way of my arrows,” I warned the Healer.

  “Three. Two. One. Go!”

  The Healer flung open the door and a stinking corpse immediately stumbled into the room. It didn’t keep its balance, fell, and Ga-Nor chopped its head off. Another stiff, who I recognized as the landlord of the Supreme Witch, appeared in the doorway. I punched an arrow in his green eye. The northerner sliced through the creature’s legs.

  “Dead?” I asked just in case.

  “He’s long dead,” said the redhead and, like a whirlwind with a head, he spun out into the hallway.

  Everything turned out far better than we expected. There were only two of the dead remaining and they took no notice of us because they were trying to break through a door on the opposite end of the hallway.