Clash of Alliances

by Pierre Dimaculangan

  ​“Many secrets have been lost over time. They ancients knew things we did not. They forged blades that were even superior to our own, which probably explains the sword,” said Wen Ping.

  ​“We will make camp amongst the ruins,” Xin said with a sigh.

  ​He and the crew continued to scour the area out of sheer curiosity, though, making sure to keep one eye and ear open to anything out of the ordinary. Wen Ping was visibly most apprehensive in the group, and became restless as the sky grew darker in the late afternoon. When night had fallen, the crackling of the fire was all that could be heard, save for the snorts and whinnies of the horses. Xin and his company fell silent, pensive from the journey, or from the depressing place where they had set up camp. Sun Xin stared blankly into the darkening sky, questioning whether he had made the right decision to cut through this pass. Then again, had they taken the main trade routes, they would have surely have encountered complications. The roads were becoming more dangerous day by day. Travel time would have been extended for no less than two more days. The group sat quietly by the fire. A few hours passed peacefully, and the team fell into a slumber while Xin kept watch. The silence of the night was, all of a sudden, disturbed by the faint sounds of shifting feet, and the distant hammering of falling stones. The noises persisted and Sun Xin stood to investigate. He drew his sword and quietly drifted into the darkness where the light of the campfire could not reveal his position.

  ​As he walked away from the reach of the campfire’s light, he heightened the sensitivity of his ears… and his instincts. His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he approached the source of the noises. Wen Ping sat apprehensively, waiting for the worst to occur. Zuo Shilong crouched as if ready to pounce, and had one hand touching the iron rod strapped to his back.

  ​“Something is not right,” Zuo Shilong whispered to himself. Buff Baby immediately reached for his Guan Dao while the others stood at the ready. Even the horses were startled by the commotion.

  ​The distinct sound of steel and several slashes burst from the darkness, and bone-chilling screams echoed from it. Several moments of silence had passed before Sun Xin came rushing back toward the camp site, his sword stained with something that was not blood.

  ​“We’re surrounded. We must go now!” he shouted to them. In a scramble, the team gathered their belongings and mounted their horses. Xin grasped a torch and flung it into the darkness where it landed amongst a grotesque horde. The Academicians gazed at them as the flames of the torch simmered down and died. When the darkness resumed, the creatures unleashed an ear-piercing cry.

  ​“Come at me, you sniveling little runts! I’ll blow you all to Hell!” shouted Big Bang as he lit a match and fired his hand cannon into the darkness. The thunderous sound echoed across the valley’s pass as the slug shattered chunks of dirt and stone. With one hand, Buff Baby grabbed him by the collar and tossed him onto his horse.

  ​“Get out of here, you crazy little runt! Leave this to me!” he said, still grasping his oversized glaive.

  ​“So they finally make their appearance,” whispered Wen Ping.

  ​“I knew it! I knew we shouldn’t have come here,” Jirgal cried as he scrambled to mount up.

  ​“Go, go, go!” Sun Xin shouted to the team.

  ​“Let them come! I dare them to come! Raaah!” Buff Baby stood to confront them like a bear before a pack of wolves. He became excited in the face of danger but Zuo Shilong grabbed him by the shoulder.

  ​“This is no time for foolish bravado, Bao!”

  ​“Mount up, Bao. That’s an order!” Xin commanded. Buff Baby growled and spat at the direction of the incoming horde before mounting up.

  ​The creatures charged with great brutish intensity, flailing their arms and hurling rocks blindly into the darkness, narrowly missing the heads and backs of Sun Xin and his team. They pushed their horses into a gallop and raced into the canyon which glowed with a cool gentle gray beneath the moonlight. Strangely enough, the creatures did not sprint, but leaped distances too great for any human to accomplish. Like a massive swarm of locusts, they bounded very quickly, pushing off against the overhead rock faces and cliffs that surrounded the pass, easily able to match the pace of the galloping horses. They closed in from all sides, narrowing the team’s escape through the canyon. They were very quick and relentless, and it seemed that no matter how hard they pushed the horses to gallop, the devils closed the distance. They rode hard and fast, pushing deeper and deeper into the canyon. Jirgal held tightly to a large torch in his left hand, which Wen Ping used to light a trio of arrows. He fired them far ahead to illuminate the rugged path that cut through the rock formations. Wen Xiao and Jirgal drew their bows and fired into the leaping horde pursuing close behind. Though every arrow had found its mark, it did nothing to discourage the creatures’ tireless onslaught. Thundering hooves battered the rugged trail, kicking up plumes of dust and dirt. Solid ground quickly turned to mud and when the horses attempted to leap over it, they landed in a broad pit of muck that swallowed their legs. Sun Xin and the team jumped from their saddles and waded through the muck to get to the other side. They cast ropes onto the horses in an attempt to harness them out of the pit but the freaks on the other side were rapidly closing in.

  ​They were tenacious and primitively intelligent, successfully bypassing the mud pit by hugging the canyon rock face that meandered over their heads. They traversed the canyon walls by the handfuls even as Jirgal and the Academicians loosed arrow after arrow and while Big Bang fired his multi-barreled hand cannons into the wave of creatures.

  ​“Save your shots, it will do little to hurt their numbers,” said Xin. He drew his sword and viciously cut them down as they leaped from the canyon walls and unto the ground as the company still attempted to pull out their mounts. When he cut down one, two would take its place. When he cut down three, four others would leap out to attack him. There were too many even for Sun Xin.

  ​“Leave them or we will become routed!” ordered Xin. The relentless horde continued to pursue them as the team was forced to flee through the rest of the canyon on foot. They passed yet another monumental ancient stone archway.

  ​“Hand me your torch, Menggu man!” shouted Big Bang.

  ​“Don’t call me that,” said Jirgal with a frown. Big Bang unclipped two grenades dangling from his belt, lit the fuses, and tossed them at the base of the archway. They detonated with tremendous force and a deafening boom that could be heard echoing for many leagues. The archway collapsed upon the pursuing creatures just as they passed beneath it. Dozens were instantly dispatched by the shrapnel and concussive blasts while many more were crushed beneath the rubble. Boulders resting upon the edge of the canyons were also shaken loose then rolled down the steep rock faces, crashing onto the incoming horde. It was no time to celebrate, however. The devils leaped over the mountain pile of rubble and debris like frogs, evidently unfazed by the deaths of the others. Under the illumination of full moon, the creatures’ appearance was clarified. Gray skin and a face with the appearance of death was enough to startle even Buff Baby. Some had rotting flesh dangling loosely from their bones, had missing jaws, or had eyeballs dangling from their sockets. What was most astonishing of all was that many of them were clad in armor or brandished swords and dagger-axe halberds crafted in the style of the Warring States era. Some of the armors were rusted out and crumbling, testifying to their age of two thousand years. They continued to leap and hop with their arms reaching out for the warriors, eager to dig their vile fingers into living flesh. They were by all appearances, an army of undead.

  ​“Oh crap, I think these guys already dead! I’m so outta here!” cried Jirgal, hanging on to his furry hat as he turned to run.

  ​“Dead!? Well here’s a present that’ll make you feel aliveeee!” shouted Big Bang as he tossed another grenade into their midst. The fiery blast incinerated several more, sending chunks of rotted flesh and bone splattering in every direction.

  ​“Do no
t stop running! We need to keep pushing until we find a tactical advantage,” barked Sun Xin. He was the fastest sprinter and pulled ahead of the group with ease.

  ​“We cannot outrun them for long. We must make our stand against them,” cried Wen Ping.

  ​“Hasten your pace until we find a clearing!” Xin ordered.

  ​ It was not long until the end of the canyon narrowed then widened abruptly into a clearing. Sun Xin unhooked the crossbow from his back strap and the rest of the team took up positions outside the narrow mouth of the canyon with weapons at the ready. As soon as the devils came within range, Xin, Jirgal, Big Bang, and the Academicians unleashed a barrage of arrows and iron rounds. Shot after shot, the team utilized their weapons with expert accuracy and a swift rate of fire. Dozens upon dozens of the creatures fell before them, many being merely an arm’s reach from where they stood. The narrow exit of the canyon funneled the incoming horde to near single file, making it easy to control their assault. Those who managed to evade the projectiles were immediately cut down or smashed by Buff Baby and Zuo Shilong.

  ​Zuo Shilong maneuvered through the horde with the renowned agility of a Shaolin monk, spinning and twirling his iron rod at the creatures. He utilized his weapon to maximum effect with blows powerful enough to shatter rock. With efficiency, the warrior monk reduced heads to pulp, and bodies into twisted deformities.

  ​ Buff Baby charged at them full speed, using the heavy bulk of his large frame to crush, trample, and smash into them. One pounced at him but was cut completely in half with one swing of the Guan Dao glaive. He unleashed a thunderous roar as he grabbed another by the head and slammed it against the wall with its limbs flailing like a stuffed dummy’s. He proceeded to rip off its arm then used it to beat the creature down. He ripped off its head with the spinal column still attached, just for good measure. With his strength, it was as easy as plucking a radish from the ground. He spun around to confront another with an uppercut so powerful that his arm tore right through its abdomen and caused the creature to be thrown to the other side of the pass.

  ​As the horde drew closer and closer, Xin and the Academicians holstered their ranged weapons and unsheathed their blades.

  ​“Now this is getting more and more interesting!” roared Buff Baby with his war face.

  ​“No, this is when I think I’m going to puke,” cried Jirgal as he holstered his bow and struggled to unsheathe his old saber. Big Bang maniacally laughed to himself as he methodically fired each barrel of his hand cannons. “You want to be everywhere at once, do ya? Well let me help you with that!” He lobbed another bomb into the midst of the undead, and it detonated with satisfying force, sending countless limbs and body parts in every direction.

  “Go scatter, you ugly, smelly bastards!” Big Bang shouted.

  ​ The next wave of creatures pushed through the bodies that had piled at the canyon’s narrow entrance and charged at the squad. The narrow passage did much to control the outpour and helped prevent the team from becoming overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Nevertheless, they charged by the handfuls with mindless determination, and engaged them in close quarters combat. The creatures relied solely on their savagery and tirelessness to overwhelm their prey. However, they fell to the combined efforts of the team and to Sun Xin’s swordsmanship. With grace and fluidity, he combined kicks, sweeps, and throws with the deadly efficiency of his sword style. The heads of the creatures were pierced, sliced, or sent rolling down the hill. Wen Ping and Wen Xiao viciously cut down each devil with their Academician blades, and connected each solid stroke with precise technique and grace. Even Jirgal found himself making a few ‘kills’. His old saber still managed to chop and hack its way through rotting flesh.

  ​“I think I can get used to this!” he exclaimed. One of the undead, snarling and gagging, pounced right at Jirgal. It grabbed him by the collar and tossed him like he was a small child. Jirgal shrieked as he flew toward Buff Baby. “Oh, crap!” he screamed with a high-pitched tone. Slamming into Buff Baby was like hitting a brick wall, and Jirgal hit the ground with a thud. Buff Baby charged at the undead creature that threw Jirgal, and swung the blunt side of his glaive into its body. It flew high over their heads and smashed against the rocky cliff face with such force that its body splattered like rotted fruit.

  ​Despite the team’s valiant efforts, the horde continued to pour out from the canyon pass forcing the team to slowly retreat as they fought. They would tire out before they could dispatch the last of them, however. They just kept coming, making the most unnatural sounds akin to choking, gasping, growling, and wheezing. “Come on!” roared Buff Baby, openly challenging them to take him on as he continued to violently swing at the horde. His glaive dispatched handfuls of them at once with each swing. He continued to chop and hack at the undead, severing limbs and heads and splitting entire bodies in half like they were firewood. Soon the smell of rotting flesh became so pervasive that it made even Sun Xin gag. It became altogether worse when Big Bang fired an explosive round from his cannon into their midst and smoldering flesh rained down upon all of them.

  ​“Gee, that suuure was a great idea, Bang!!” gagged Jirgal. He nearly vomited in his own mouth. Big Bang laughed maniacally at the reaction.

  ​“We cannot keep fighting. They will overwhelm us at this rate,” yelled Xin as he shredded through three more without even looking. “Everyone retreat!” Just as the team turned to flee, a large downpour of acidic liquid showered all around the incoming hordes, melting and vaporizing flesh upon contact. The smell was immediately familiar to the team—vinegar. To their relief, it quickly overpowered the stench of death and decay.

  ​“Fall back to the cave in the cliff to the west! It’s atop the hill. Go!” shouted a new voice from above the nearby rock formations. “Hurry! I do not have much vinegar left!” The man tossed and overturned barrels worth of vinegar between the retreating team and the incoming horde. It prevented the undead from proceeding any further without causing themselves to disintegrate. Sun Xin lagged behind to watch the rear as the rest of the group made a beeline toward the steep hills that led to the caverns some distance away. The man tossed the last bucket of vinegar at the horde and made his way toward the team by bounding and striding over boulders and large rocks. He grabbed on to a rope attached to a log delicately holding back large stones. He heaved with all his might until the logs gave way, causing the stones to fall and trigger a chain reaction that created a massive pile up of rocks that even the devils could not leap over. Nearly a hundred had been instantly crushed by the rubble. All became suddenly silent.

  ​After the dust had settled, Sun Xin, the team, and their apparent savior gathered at the cave’s entrance. They fell to their knees gasping for air and breathing sighs of relief. Sweat dripped from Sun Xin’s chin but he otherwise seemed unaffected by the physical strain. He remained standing as he swiped away the filth from his blade and casually slid it back to the scabbard hanging from his hip’s rear. He unfastened his broad-brimmed hat and let it hang behind his neck before directing his gaze toward the man who rescued them. The man chuckled and shook his head.

  ​“Should have known it was you causing that entire ruckus in this gods-forsaken place, Sun Xin,” the man said as he removed his hood.

  ​“Only you could have pulled off that sketchy rescue, Bai Lang,” replied Xin. The two exchanged salutes and a quick brotherly embrace. “It is very good to see you, old friend.” Bai Lang was a rugged, hairy man of above-average height. He wore robes of thick cloth and leather and boots lined with fur. A bulky satchel was slung around his chest, and two belts lined with compartments large and small hung loosely over the red sash wrapped around his waist. Two large hunting knives were sheathed around his hips, and what looked like a blow pipe was snugly slipped underneath his belt. He was, in his own way, quite mysterious for an outdoorsman.

  ​“We made it! I can’t believe we actually made it!” expressed Jirgal. He unfastened his heavy back pack and flopped to the ground an
d lay on his back still trying to catch his breath. Big Bang immediately proceeded to reload and rearm his weapons as if he was still in combat.

  ​“We owe you our lives. Without you we would have surely perished,” said Zuo Shilong is in his usual formal fashion. He bowed deeply before Bai Lang.

  ​“Gah, I could have slain a thousand more of those disgusting freaks. I would have done it all day for seven days!” exclaimed Buff Baby with clenched fists. He bared and grinded his teeth. Large veins throbbed beneath the thick skin of his massive biceps and forearms.

  ​“You’re all fortunate that I happened to be in the area when I saw you fighting. That rubble should keep them at bay for some time, but I cannot guarantee that they won’t try to come at us again,” said Bai Lang.

  ​“What were they?” asked Xin as he stared at the rubble.

  ​“They were horrifying, I tell you! They were like living corpses. I’ve never been so terrified in my life!” Jirgal sat up in a curled position and hugged his knees as he rocked back and forth.

  ​“That’s because they are corpses brought back to life,” Bai Lang replied. The rest of the team froze in shock at Lang’s confirmation and were not sure how to accept such a fact, except for Sun Xin who simply lowered his gaze and crossed his arms.

  ​“How is such a thing possible?” he asked.

  ​“Ever since those foreigners arrived, many unnatural things have been occurring in the Middle Kingdom. Yes, I really mean the supernatural. What is not supposed to happen is, well, happening,” said Bai Lang. “Much has been put into motion these days, and I am trying to witness it all unfold… like… a part of me wants to participate in all of it.” Bai Lang was speaking with what was perhaps a hint of childlike wonder and fascination that did not go unnoticed by Sun Xin.