Chapter 20

  Dark Horizon

  A heavy fist slammed into Michael’s belly, again. He groaned in pain and fell forward, his arms caught him and held him up, as they were still chained to the wall above his head. The iron cuffs around his wrist dug into his skin. I wish I had eaten one of those trail bars. Michael thought, his stomach rumbling with pain and emptiness.

  “Had enough yet?” A dark voice asked, “No? Good.” He drove a heavy knee into Michael’s groin, causing a sharp burst of pain. The man laughed, “Pathetic. How are you worth so much more than me?”

  The man grabbed Michael by the chin and forced him to look up. He was a Feral, Michael could tell from the man’s furred hand and the clawed fingernails that pressed into him. He had short auburn fur on his hand, matching the hair that poked out from underneath his horned metal helm. The man was grinning, but the torchlight from behind him cast the rest of his face in darkness. “I am the Bandit! King!” he said, enunciating his title. “And you? Just some empty eyed freak! Why does Myrrh think you’re so dangerous, huh? Pathetic.”

  The Bandit King slammed his left hand to Michael’s chest and pressed him back against the cold stone wall of the dungeon. Small cuts on Michael’s back stung as the dust and grit got into them. He panted, no strength left to resist. “You might not even be the right guy. The drawing on that poster was pretty shitty. The guy in the other cell might just be our man. It’s one of you, not many empty eyed scum wandering around.” Michael glanced towards the cell across the way. There was someone in there, slumped against the other wall. The light didn’t illuminate him either.

  “You’re getting boring.” The Bandit King said. “No fight in you. And your damn stomach is making me hungry, I’m gonna go have a feast, fuck one of my girls, and go to sleep.” He took a few steps away from Michael, then turned back. “Don’t die, you’re only worth anything alive.”

  “What?” Michael asked, “What do you mean? What poster?” The Bandit King’s words were only just registering.

  “Gah haha! You don’t even know?” The Bandit King stepped out of the cell, past heavy iron bars, and returned a moment later with a piece of paper and glowing stick that had no flame. He thrust the poster before Michael.

  A simple drawing that kind of looked like Michael, on a piece of paper. It read, ‘Wanted, Capture Alive’ at the top. Below the image it showed a value of 100 Million Gil, and a stamp in the bottom right corner of a green crown surrounded by a purple circle. Michael looked over the wanted poster, then up at the Bandit King. “I’m only worth 28 Million. What kind of crap did you pull for that price? I’ve robbed dozens of merchants in my day, and have the biggest clan since the Broken Times.”

  Michael lurched forth, rage on his face as he tried to reach the Bandit King, his vigor surging for a moment. The Bandit King chuckled and pulled away, “That got you riled up? You stupid freak. Enjoy this rotten cell until I find a proxy to turn you in.” He turned and left the cell.

  The Bandit King passed a stone faced jailer and put his arms around two leather clad women who were waiting for him before strutting out of the dungeon. The jailer closed the cell and locked it. “Don’t bother trying to escape. Those shackles are Iron, and the floor is lined in Drahze.” The jailer left after locking the cell, but Michael wasn’t paying attention.

  Hung in his cell, Michael seethed. That man, the Bandit King, had those eyes! Crimson iris, golden sclera. It was the Revenant! Something must have happened, but the Revenant had a new host now. Michael tried to pull free from the wall, but the shackles held true. He didn’t have that kind of power.

  With a sigh, Michael slumped back against the wall. His anger faded, it would do him no good now. He was reduced to wearing rags over his crotch and nothing else, alone in a dungeon somewhere. I shouldn't have dropped in on Yan like that. Then she wouldn’t hate me. And maybe I wouldn’t be down here. This is all my fault. “I’m a failure.” Michael said, slumping more. The shackles prevented him from sitting all the way down, so he dangled in discomfort.

  “Don’t give up.”

  Michael looked up, and saw the man in the other cell stir. He spoke again, “It’s still too soon to give up. You’re alive, aren’t you?”

  Storm winds carry with them ominous tidings. For the valleys and lowlands the storm carries water, for ridges and caves the storm carries death. The men of the mountains do not venture in the storm, for it’s ill wind tells a gruesome tale.

  Yan perched on a branch and studied the way ahead for a long moment, before dropping down to the others. “Those storm clouds won’t reach the mountains until tonight.” She said.

  “Good.” Mien said, “Then we should leave soon.” He took a bite out of the ration. Everyone had stopped to eat and recover a bit after the battle with the Hobgib. Yan accepted one of the rations that Pierre passed out.

  Pierre handed a ration to Sebastian, “Hey, what are some of the other skills you learned?” He asked.

  Sebastian took the ration and ate it while looking at Pierre. “Why?”

  “Just curious,” Pierre said.

  “You should focus on maintaining your own secret, instead of trying to learn mine.” Sebastian said.

  Pierre laughed, turning away. “Okay, if you say so. I’m going to make sure everyone has food.” He said, walking away. Sebastian finished his ration, and soon everyone had eaten.

  Mien led the temporary allies along the mountain road after the bandits. The distant storm rumbled once, threatening lightning along the horizon. The group made their way to the top of a hill, and across a wide flat canyon they could see large walls and parapets, an old Broken Times fortress. “The path is heading straight there.” Mien said. “That fortress is very likely their base.”

  “That’s not good.” Sebastian said. “It’s in decent condition. Those walls have held off armies before. There’s no way we are just striding in.”

  “I’ll sneak in.” Yan said. “I can find and rescue Michael.”

  “But if you get caught, then how will we know? Or if you get him out and we think you took too long and go in to get caught ourselves when trying to rescue you.” Kris said. “That’s a bad plan.”

  “We could all try to sneak in.” Hyato suggested.

  “It only takes one noisy person to fail a stealth mission.” Mien said. “We can’t all sneak in.”

  Yan threw her arms up in frustration and started walking. “I’ll just survey the place from closer first.”

  An echo of thunder drowned out sound for a moment, and two people appeared on the path ahead. “You aren’t going anywhere.” The man said.

  Mien, Hyato, and Kris all took combat stances as the new people appeared. The man was tall, and his hair was swept back behind him, brown hair that hid his ears. He wore clothing that was too well made to not be some form of armor or stealth guise. Next to him was a woman, a bit shorter but still taller than Yan, who had her brown hair in large ringlets, with short hair otherwise. The hairstyle was close to Yan’s medium length hair and small curly ringlets. The woman had no expression on her face. She wore similar athletic stealth clothing.

  “Not now, Aeroth.” Yan said, letting out an impatient growl.

  “I’m taking you home, Yan.” Aeroth said, “This has gone on long enough.”

  “I said!” Yan repeated, “Not. Now.”

  “Or what?” Aeroth said, folding his arms in front of him.

  “Or I’ll kill you.” Yan said, her voice and eyes going cold. Aeroth took a step back, fear on his face.

  “What’s wrong?” The woman asked, stepping closer to Yan, a look of worry on her face. Sebastian and Hyato stepped up behind Yan.

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  Yan’s eyes remained cold, and she didn’t speak, so Hyato did. “We’re in a hurry.” Hyato said, “Our friend was kidnapped, and he is being held in that fortress.”

  The woman looked at Hyato, then to Yan. “How can I help?” She asked.

  “Nayo!” Aeroth said, “I thought you said you wouldn’t intervene!”

  “Can it!” Nayo snapped at Aeroth. “Stop being mean to Yan.”

  “Nayo...” Yan said.

  “Nope!” Nayo said, cutting her off. “I’ve made up my mind.” She took a step to the side so everyone could see her. “I’m Nayo. That’s my older brother Aeroth, and Yan is our Elder Sister. We are going to help.” Nayo gave a bow. Sebastian and Kris bowed in return.

  “Then let’s keep our introductions brief.” Mien said. “I’m Mien. These two are Kris and Pierre.” He said. Then he looked to Sebastian, who looked to Yan.

  “And these are Sebastian and Hyato. My..." Yan paused, "Our friend that was kidnapped is Michael. Mien agreed to aid us for now.”

  “Fine!” Aeroth said, vitriol in his voice. “There is a good overlook we can use to scout the place. Our people have been watching the bandits for a while. We’ll help for now, Yan, but I haven’t given up.” Aeroth spun on his heel and began to head along the wide battlefield to the right, showing everyone where to go. Everyone started to follow.

  Nayo walked over to Mien and walked at his side. “So, you’re Mien, huh.” She said, giving him a wide smile. “I’m Nayo, wanna be friends?” She leaned at the waist to look up at him while walking.

  “Friends? Maybe. I’ll be an ally for now.” Mien said, glancing down at Nayo for only a few moments.

  “Okay. Friends for now.” Nayo said. “So, tell me about yourself.”

  Mien gave her another look, then shook his head. “We should focus on the mission.”

  Nayo puffed her cheeks in a pout, “No fun!” She proclaimed, then skipped over to catch up with Yan. “Sis, Sis! What’s this Michael like?”

  “Michael? Well he’s nice, he... why do you care Nayo?” Yan asked.

  “I’m just curious.” Nayo said. “I wanna know about your friend that you are willing to go so far to save.”

  “I see.” Yan said. “Well. He’s really interesting, you know? At first he was just a guy that didn’t know anything. He had amnesia, and didn’t know about ordinary things like Zori and stuff. But as soon as he found out about a possible threat to the world, he decided he needed to do something about it.” Yan said.

  “I was just along for the ride at first, but he is so earnest. I want to see this through, to help him achieve his goal. And the enemy we are chasing is bad news, it needs to be stopped.”

  “Wow.” Nayo said. “Okay, I wasn’t expecting that much detail.”

  Yan rolled her eyes and looked at her sister. “Then why did you ask?”

  “I was just a little curious.” Nayo said, smiling. Then in a hushed voice she said, “Hey, there’s a storm coming. You know what that means.”

  Yan responded, speaking with even greater stealth, “Don’t say anything. It’s part of my plan.” Nayo nodded, and started talking about this guy she liked. Yan arched an eyebrow at first, but realized she was just making something up to hide their conversation. “Oh yeah, so tell me more.” Yan said, going along with it.

  The path Aeroth led everyone to required scaling a boulder and ducking beneath a bush, then climbing a narrow steep hill. It would not have been easy to stumble upon. At the top of the hill Aeroth led everyone to an overlook surrounded by standing stones, a place above the fortress that was concealed. “You can scout from here.” He said, his voice empty of enthusiasm.

  “This is great!” Yan said. “Good job.” She and Sebastian walked to the edge to peer out at the fortress.

  Ahead was a large stone structure. The tall walls that rose from the rough stone slopes seemed challenging to climb, with a lip at the top to prevent such invasion. The place was set up like a castle, with large open areas inside the walls, or perhaps the ancient roofs had weathered away to nothing. Only three roofs remained, and otherwise there was a decent view into the place. It was clearly inhabited, there were tents and wagons and Yan could even see a few people, bandits, from the distant overlook.

  “So, what’s the plan of attack?” Yan asked.

  “Not that simple.” Sebastian said. “I need to observe and think. Rest for now.”

  “But... We need to hurry.” Yan said, flexing her hands and tapping one foot.

  “No.” Sebastian said. “We found them, now we need to plan an attack.”

  Yan opened her mouth to protest, but shut it. She tried again, then sighed. “Okay. One hour.” She said. Sebastian nodded.

  Beneath the large standing stones Yan sat, frowning. After a moment Hyato sat nearby, arms folded and leaning against one of the standing stones. He closed his eyes and began to snooze. Nayo also joined Yan, but said nothing.

  Mien held a conversation with Kris and Pierre for a few minutes, then approached Sebastian. “Anything I can do to make this go faster?”

  Sebastian glanced over at him, then returned to a sketch he was making of the fortress. “No. Milord.”

  “Oh stop it with that.” Mien said. “Is there really nothing I can do?”

  “Give me a bit.” Sebastian said. “Then I will tell you what I noticed.”

  “Oh very well.” Mien returned to the others and sat against the lone tree the hill sported. The uneasy tension on the overlook seemed to affect everyone. Except Nayo.

  Flames erupted from the doorway, and with it a tall looming figure. The swing of a sword brought more fire, and people began to fall all around, burning and screaming for mercy. The windows melted, the skies darkened, the buildings crumbled.

  Coughing and sputtering, Michael woke. There was no fire, no destruction, only pain. He was still in the dungeon, still bound in iron. Sore arms with cuts that scabbed over with dried blood were still pulsing with lingering pain. Michael coughed until his throat cleared, and had to spit up something to breathe again.

  “You dozing off again?” The man in the other cell asked. “You need to conserve your energy.”

  “You...” Michael said, feeling dizzy. “You said you were... Wolf, right?”

  “That’s my name.” the other prisoner said. “You never told me yours.”

  “I’m Michael.” Michael said. “I’d offer my hand...”

  Wolf chuckled, wheezing. “Good one. So, Michael. Can you fight?”

  “I can.” Michael said. “I’m alright.”

  “Good enough for me.” Wolf said. “When I bust out of these irons, I’ll free you and we can storm out of here.”

  “You can break iron?” Michael asked. “Some kind of spell?”

  “What are you dense? Must be rattled from the beating he gave you.” Wolf said.

  “Why? What?”

  “Iron negates magic.” Wolf said. “And the Drahze in the floor is designed to absorb energy before we can use a Tech. No spells, no techs. The old fashion way. Must be a Broken Times cell.”

  “Oh...” Michael said. “Gotcha.”

  Rattling echoed from Wolf’s cell, he was trying to break out of the iron shackles that kept him against the wall. “They aren’t rusted. They keep their stuff in shape. Too bad.” Wolf said. “If I was at full strength I could break them. Or if there wasn’t so much iron.”

  Michael tested his arm against his shackle. The thing was sturdy, and too tight on his wrist to slip out. “I wonder if energy form could break out of this.” He said.

  “Maybe.” Wolf said. “You might just get lethargic ‘cause of the floor, but you can try.”

  “I can’t try.” Michael said, sighing. “I’m mostly Valon but I can’t use energy form.”

  “Really? That’s pretty unusual. Why not?” Wolf asked.

  Michael tried to change form, thinking really hard about it. It didn’t work. “I’m an amnesiac, so I don’t know.”

  “Oh. I know the feeling.” Wolf said, chuckling. “But hey, maybe you can do it, and just forgot. Give it a shot!”

  “Can you go energy form?” Michael asked.

  “No, I’m a Phanokai.” Wolf said. “I can infuse my muscles with Dragon Energy, but that’s not enough to bust outta this.”

  “Dragon Energy?” Michael said.

  “Yeah, you know. Phanokai are like, cousins to Dragons. We can both use Dragon Energy to amp up our muscles and stuff.”

  “Oh, wow.” Michael said. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Eh, it's useful.” Wolf said. “Just not in this situation. Try Energy Form again.”

  “Okay.” Michael took a deep breath and pulled against the chains. He imagined flexing energy from all around, from inside, turning into energy. How did Hyato and Yan do it? It seemed like the most natural thing for them. Michael started breathing out hard, and then growling as he tried to change forms. The energy of the surges kept flowing down his body, seeping into the ground. But still, Michael tried.

  “You can do it!” Wolf cheered. “Keep going!” And Michael kept trying, rattling against the chains. A distant annoyed voice slammed on a door and told Michael to shut up, but Michael ignored that. He remembered how Yan moved, how Hyato changed. What it looked like. He could picture it like he was there.

  Yan was still angry at him. What did the others think? Michael had gotten himself kidnapped. Would they care, would they even be able to find him? It felt hopeless.

  Michael slumped down, his stomach rumbling in pain, hunger eating at him. Yan hated him, the others couldn’t find him. He was going to die alone in a cell. Or get turned over to Myrrh for money. All because of his damn eyes.

  “Good effort.” Wolf said. “Rest a bit before you try again.”

  “It’s hopeless.” Michael said, slumping further. “I can’t do it.”

  “Hey, Michael.” Wolf said. Michael didn’t move. “Hey, Michael, look at me.”

  Michael looked up, and saw Wolf had moved forth, his arms bent backwards by the chains. He haid dusty tan hair and a strong face. His eyes... they were empty. No pupils, just strong amber irises. “Michael.” Wolf said. “I believe in you. You can do it. Just rest some more, okay?”

  “Why?” Michael said.

  “So you can bust out and free us!” Wolf said, grinning, “Why else?”

  “No, not that.” Michael said. “Why do you believe in me?”

  “Oh that? I believe in you because I do. No special reason. Even if you can’t believe in yourself right now, it doesn’t matter.” Wolf said. “I’ll believe in you for you.”

  “Oh.” Michael said, looking down again.

  “Rest.” Wolf said. “We can try again when you have a little more strength.

  “Yeah... okay.” Michael closed his eyes.