Shadow of the Arisen: An Epic Dark Fantasy Novel (Lands of Wanderlust Book 1)

by Paul Yoder

  “If Elendium had not wanted me here to help in fulfilling this mission, he would not have called me to sainthood at this moment, asking me to forsake my friends the night before completing our objective. Let’s carry out our mission as planned. Afterwards, I’ll report to the council for guidance.”

  “Have you considered—” Reza started, pausing to consider if she wanted to finish her thought, “that perhaps this sign is your god warning you against this mission?”

  Bede shook her head and answered, “No. I know you well enough to know regardless of my leaving or warning against carrying through with this mission that you would still press on. Elendium would know your heart on the matter too. He wouldn’t ask me to forsake you and the others.

  “I think that what is more likely is that our mission is more vital than we think it is. Perhaps the evil within those walls—” Bede said, pointing in the direction of Brigganden, “may play into a larger scheme in the fight against evil. Maybe this is bigger than just a sacked city. Why else would he call me to such an honored position on the eve of us infiltrating the city of the unknown enemy?”

  Reza sat on the bed next to Bede and sighed, “I don’t know, but the timing doesn’t set well with me. We’ll have to be extra careful tomorrow. Who knows what we’re going to find within the walls of that graveyard of a city.”

  Bede leaned shoulder to shoulder with Reza, looking blankly at a framed oil painting on the wall in front of them and agreed, saying, “I know. Hope those boys can keep out of trouble. Finian is sneaky enough and Hiro is wise enough for them to both keep well hidden and safe, but that big lug Cavok fancies himself invincible. And Jadu—” Bede laughed, “well that one’s a piece of work. Clueless. Smart, but clueless when it comes to the big wide world.”

  Reza looked over to Bede and said in a questioning tone, “Hiro?”

  “Oh, yes. Nomad’s real name is Kazuhiro Kasa-something-or-other. He told me his loved ones back home call him Hiro,” Bede replied.

  “Hiro,” Reza whispered, looking off at the same oil painting that Bede had been staring at for the past little bit, then added with a chuckle, “Bede, a saint.”

  Bede broke her stare at the painting and looked playfully at Reza, gently shoving her arm.

  “Well don’t act too surprised,” Bede said in mock offense.

  “As you command, your Saintliness,” Reza replied whimsically with sweeping hand motions, a grin poorly concealed on both of their faces.

  15

  Eyes in the Dark

  Fin and Nomad slid across a sandy granite slab, landing on a cobblestone walkway. Pushing back against the granite wall, both held still as they huffed quietly, slightly out of breath.

  “Think they saw us?” Fin asked, looking to Nomad.

  Nomad slinked around the granite wall to the steps that led up to the raised archway they had been rushed across. He slowly poked his head up high enough to get a view of the watchtower that they had seen man-shaped figures moving around in. Finding that the movement had now settled, the figures appearing to be looking out over the farmland, Nomad let out a sigh.

  Scooting back over to Fin, Nomad said in a quiet voice, “I don’t think so. Seems they’re looking out over the farmlands.”

  At the news, Fin let out a heavy breath and pushed off from the granite wall, with Nomad close behind, moving to the shadows of a side alley leading them closer to the city walls, which stood towering over them thirty feet tall, with the towers along the wall reaching another twenty feet above that.

  The night before, Reza had briefed the group on the details of their mission and everyone’s roles the following day. The first move of the plan was for Nomad and Fin to scout a trail and find a way for the group to enter the city. The task was proving more difficult than Fin had expected, finding shambling figures donned in armor posted at every main city gate leading into the city. They had looped back around and looked for smaller, concealed entrances with no luck so far.

  Though it had been many years, Fin had visited Brigganden a few times in the past and had heard of underground passages from the outside of the wall leading in, and though he knew the tunnels were for military use, he didn’t know much beyond the thin rumors he had gleaned fraternizing with off-duty military.

  “If I recall, the military district inside the city is somewhere on the other side of this stretch of wall. Now we just need to find a portal or building that might house a tunnel that leads into the city,” Fin whispered to Nomad as he brushed his hand up against the cool stone wall’s base.

  “So we are looking for a military building?” Nomad asked, looking off down the lane.

  “Maybe—not sure. I don’t even know for sure if the officer that told me of the secret entrance was telling the truth,” Fin replied, turning to look at Nomad who was pointing at a building down the street that stood only a story tall, but took up a quarter of the shanty street.

  “Now that’s a building a bit out of place. No slum shack owner has coin enough to own that much land, and no investor would care to invest so much into an estate out in the slums. Good catch,” Fin said, moving past Nomad towards the building.

  The building was of simple make, but as opposed to the surrounding adobe two-to-three-story shanty buildings, which seemed to tower above it, it was constructed of hewn sandstone.

  Traveling along the side of the building, Fin and Nomad didn’t notice any windows or side entrances along the perimeter. It seemed like a large block of stone rather than an inhabitable building save for the minimalist line designs that stretched along the walls and the rooftop canopies.

  Tiptoeing along the front of the building, Fin quickly made his way to the front door, which was thick oak—iron strips reinforcing the planks with a latch and keyhole to the side.

  Testing the door, pulling the latch, finding it locked, Fin pulled out his chain of lock-picking tools, quickly going through and testing different sized wedges and picks in the lock.

  Nomad turned his head, then looked down the street, hearing some faint commotion a few blocks away.

  “Better hurry. Sounds like footsteps approaching,” Nomad whispered, keeping an eye on the direction of the marching that continued to become more recognizable.

  “Tough lock—and I don’t say that often,” Fin mumbled as he fidgeted with another pair of tools on the chain.

  A loud metal click brought Nomad’s attention back to the door with Fin swinging open the heavy door just wide enough for the two to slink in before shutting it behind them.

  “They weren’t around the corner when we entered, right?” Fin asked, to which Nomad shook his head.

  That seemed to temporarily ease Fin’s mind, but after a few moments, they began to hear the marching of a troop, perhaps ten or so pairs of boots, march up to the squat building, and thankfully for Nomad and Fin, continue past.

  “Thank the gods,” Fin sighed, standing up, turning his attention to the large, dark room.

  Nomad followed suit, walking around with limited light coming in through vents in the ceiling that appeared to lead to the roof.

  Seeing that Fin had already moved ahead down the hall, Nomad hurried to keep up, shielding his face from an unexpected burst of flame from a chemical striker Fin struck. Putting the flame to a candle, Fin led on past doorways opening to rooms with beds, tables, files, bookshelves and other furnishings that were not even worth a second glance to Fin.

  Stopping dead in his tracks, Fin held an arm out, stopping a bewildered Nomad, Fin’s gaze locked on a glint dimly shining in one of the side rooms.

  “I’d know that hue of metal even if I was born blind straight from the womb,” Fin said in a reverent tone.

  Moving into the room, Fin shown the candle’s flame across a few strips of gold laying on a table behind a stack of parchment.

  “How did you…” Nomad started to say, not sure how Fin had been able to perceive the small bits of gold amidst such clutter.

 
“Have you heard of that saying, ‘You know when a loved one is near by the tug of the heart?’” Fin said with a mockingly tender look.

  “No. I have not heard of this saying,” Nomad admitted.

  “Well,” Fin murmured as he plucked up the five strips of gold, “you should get out more.”

  Reaching over the desk to get the last strip, Fin let out a stifled chuckle.

  “Hellooo,” he exclaimed, a wide smile etching across his face.

  “What?”

  “Have you heard of this other saying, ‘Where there is a little gold, there is always more nearby?’” Fin asked, stepping behind the desk, pulling open a cracked drawer, revealing three large gold bars with a few bags full of gold strips along the drawer walls.

  Fin couldn’t contain a giggle this time, and he was only humored more when he looked at Nomad’s expression of surprise.

  “Now this is what I signed up for,” he said, hefting the large bar of gold in his hand, stuffing it in his carry sack.

  Nomad didn’t know what to say to the man who seemed beside himself with delight.

  Two jangling coin pouches were tossed Nomad’s way, which he snatched up reflexively. Fin had cleaned out the desk in no time and picked up the candle again from the table and headed back out into the hallway, smile still comfortably on his face.

  “I like going on reconnaissance with you, Nomad. For once I’ve got a partner as discreet and quick as me who doesn’t turn down a bit o’ gold when it’s there for the taking,” Fin said, taking a look back at Nomad, who still looked slightly confused with two sacks of gold in each hand.

  Fin started back down the hallway, talking quietly over his shoulder to Nomad as they continued.

  “Cavok would have had the whole enemy forces bearing down on us by now because of how loud he is, and Reza would have said something that don’t make any sense, like, that belongs to someone else, even if it’s gold left behind in an abandoned city like this.”

  Fin had been casually inspecting opened doors as they passed rooms along the hallway, but halted once more, leading with the candle into a large side room.

  The room was filled with all sorts of armaments lining the walls and mounted on shelves and frame mounts.

  “Looks like a military armory,” Fin said, picking up a dented, poorly constructed breastplate. “Only the military would keep such a mass quantity of shoddy equipment like this lying around.”

  “This is a good sign then. If we were looking for a military compound outside of the city walls, then this must be it,” Nomad suggested.

  “Yes,” Fin said, placing the breastplate back on its stand, “Perhaps that rumored tunnel does exist. We’ll see. Let’s keep moving.”

  The hallway passed two more sets of doorways before coming to a stairway leading down into a basement with a few boxes and storage crates lining the room. The faintest light from the wavering candle did little to illuminate the mid-sized room, playing tricks amongst the clutter, casting shadows sporadically across the cold stone walls.

  The path leading down another flight of stairs led them to an iron-barred gate, blocking their way to a long, dark tunnel.

  “I do believe we have found what we were looking for. Better head back and let Reza know we’ve got our way into the city,” Fin whispered, and it seemed to Nomad that his voice carried much farther down the long, dark tunnel than it naturally should have.

  Fin was quick to sprint back up the stairs, having completed his objective, but Nomad was slow to follow.

  As the dim light of the candle ascended the steps, Nomad kept his uneasy gaze hesitantly fixed on the deep tunnel that lay past the gates.

  Just before the light was almost completely withdrawn, he thought he saw two moving glimmers in the dark a few paces past the bars.

  Resting a hand on his sword hilt, he backed away from the gate, back-treading up the stairs.

  Something was there—close and silent—at home and lurking in the pure darkness.

  16

  Face of the Enemy

  “Bede, feeling alright my dear? I haven’t known you for too long, but even I think you’ve been quite subdued this morning,” Jadu said, breaking the, what was supposed to be, tactical silence Reza had ordered during their travel from the farmhouse to the military compound outside the city walls Fin and Nomad had discovered.

  “Jadu. Quiet!” Reza whispered sternly, to which Jadu momentarily complied with, but even Reza noted a worrying look from Cavok at the comment, Jadu seeming to give voice to the large man’s inner thoughts as well.

  Reza, looking to Bede, could see the strain clearly on the mature woman’s face, and she could only guess the cause of her unusual solemnity to be her previous day’s divine calling that so far, only Bede and her had knowledge of.

  The group kept moving in silence towards the wall.

  “Cheer up! It’s not every day that one gets to study the presumably walking deceased go about their daily routine! Exciting, isn’t it!”

  “Jadu, shut up!” Reza scolded through clenched teeth, lightly slapping him on the back of the head to drill her point into the little, oblivious praven’s head.

  Fin, at the head of the line, halted, holding up a hand of warning to everyone. With everyone’s attention on Fin, he held up a finger over his lips momentarily, then pointed to a building’s side door that was slightly ajar.

  Nomad led the group into the door with Fin entering last, quietly closing the door behind them, motioning for everyone to get down or hide behind something once they were inside.

  The building seemed to be an inn or apartment establishment, with the room they had entered being the main lobby. The windows of the lobby faced the streets, giving them a good view of the surrounding area.

  Just as Reza was about to ask Fin what this was all about, the sound of a sloppily coordinated march began to come clearly discernable in the distance.

  The marching came closer, and the group knew that the march was on their street and headed their direction.

  It wasn’t long before the leader of the march came into view, followed by the leader’s division, passing by on the street outside of the abandoned building Reza’s group had hid in.

  The sight was almost unbelievable, and everyone’s mood, except Jadu, had shifted to grim, now realizing the horribly twisted nature of the enemy they faced.

  It was a parade of the dead. Male or female once in life could no longer be discerned as such due to all the dead now donning the same, leveling aspect of corruption. Flesh molting and sagging, tugging at the bone, stubbornly refused to completely decay.

  The division of the walking dead seemed to follow the leader of the band, taking a lazy right at a street corner, turning out of sight, their unbelievably tired march slowly dying off, leaving the hidden group quiet and still, each processing the sight they had just taken in.

  “It seems the preliminary reports were true. Our unknown enemy does appear to be an arisen force.” Reza whispered, everyone remaining still in their hiding spots, listening to her talk, hesitant to respond even though the arisen troop was far out of sight now.

  Standing up, Reza announced, “Alright, let’s get back on the trail. Fin, how far till we reach the military building?”

  “Just down the street. Here, I’ll lead. Everyone keep close to the buildings closest to the city wall. There are guards posted above. Stay silent till we get in the building,” Fin ordered, then led the group out of the broken building across the street, keeping within the buildings’ shadows until they arrived at the garrison.

  The last of them in, closing the large door behind them, Nomad approached Reza and whispered something into her ear, the rest of the group waiting for Reza’s commands.

  “What did it look like?” Reza asked quietly back, garnering attention from everyone else in the room who stood awaiting orders.

  Nomad replied openly, seeing that Fin was about to ask what it was they were discussing, “
I did not get a good look at it, but I am sure there is something lurking beyond the gate down in the tunnel system we are about to enter. I suggest caution. And we will need light. It’s pitch black down there.”

  “I didn’t see anything down there. When did you spot it?” Fin asked, coming back to the group from across the room.

  “You were half way up the stairs when I noticed its eyes shimmer in the dark,” Nomad replied

  “Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Fin asked with his head tilted slightly.

  “It was behind bars. It didn’t pose a threat to us and I didn’t know what it was. I bring it up now to advise everyone to be on guard since we will be traveling in that tunnel with it—be it a real threat, or harmless.”

  Reza stepped into the forming circle and stated, “We face unknown threats either way we go, but we know the other entrances to the city are much more public. This seems to be our best way in, so just have your weapons out and be on your toes. Those who have light sources, light them up now.

  “Fin, you’ll lead, followed by Nomad and myself. Bede and Jadu will follow behind. Cavok, you’re rearguard. Everyone clear of their roles?”

  With understanding nods from the group, Bede lit up her lantern, Fin lit a candle, Nomad lit his small torch, and Jadu dug from his robes a turquoise cylinder that shown a faint white glow.

  Taking the lead again, Fin started them down the hallway, then down the stairs that led to the iron-barred gate.

  Testing the gate, finding it locked, Fin placed his candle on the flat of the gate’s horizontal support bar and pulled out his lock-pick chain.

  Laying a finger on the rim of the keyhole, Fin inspected the small opening. Sliding two slender picks in, he felt the light tug and pull of the delicate device’s inner parts, holding his breath to keep a steady hand as he manipulated it.

  A few moments of fiddling with the lock and a mechanical click later, the door creaked ajar slightly.