Chapter One hundred-seven (Patreon)

The symbols on the baskets to his left changed twice more, and a quick glance inside them revealed first raw diamonds, and then small pieces of some black metal. It was only when he attempted to pick this up and it clung together in a clump  that he realized they must be lodestones, which Kaz had heard mentioned before, but never seen. The urns on his other side continued on, row after row of them, extending into the shadows.

He was beginning to believe that in spite of the glittering trail he followed and his own sense of the mountain, he was somehow running in circles, when the path ended again. This time, there were only two possibilities: wend his way through the tidy rows of pots, or turn back. Kaz, of course, continued on, though he was forced to expand his light slightly so he could be sure he didn’t trip over any of the hundreds of jars in his way.

Just as he thought that perhaps he had imagined the earlier sound, it came again, much closer this time. Instinctively, he crouched, reducing his light to a flicker no brighter than a glow-worm. He pushed more ki into his eyes, but there was neither mana nor ki anywhere nearby, which was something of a relief at least.

He needed to find a wall, if nothing else, and he was beginning to regret not following one when he first entered. He had assumed that a path had to lead somewhere, but apparently it only served to allow easy access to the items stored here.

Another squeal echoed through the vast space, but it came from his right, while the others had come from his left. Were there now two creatures making that noise, or had the first one passed behind him and reached the other side. If so, it was moving faster than he was, which was worrisome in itself.

Kaz found that his pace had slowed significantly, since he was afraid to even brush against one of the stone urns, for fear of knocking it over. He also had far less light by which to navigate, and not even his special sight was helping.

Two more squeals, one practically overlapping the other, revealed that there were, indeed, at least two beings pursuing him. They were both closer, as well, so it seemed increasingly likely they were sniffing him out.

Kaz came to a halt as the cord binding him to Li became perfectly straight up and down. He was directly beneath the dragon. If there was only a way to simply travel straight up, they would be reunited in minutes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible, and now he didn’t know which way to go, other than ‘not toward the sounds’.

Taking in a breath, he leaned over and silently plucked the lid from one of the jars. Balancing it in his hand, he poured ki into his muscles, then threw the lid as hard as he could. It flew away into the darkness, and it seemed a very long time before it clattered to the floor again.

Immediately, three squeals rang out of the darkness. The third one was far too close behind him, and Kaz knew his time was up. Something clicked and hissed in the darkness, followed by more squealing, as Kaz began to run.

Giving his light orb more power, Kaz wound through the stone jugs, thankful that they were arranged so neatly. There was a pattern to them, and thus a pattern to his steps, and he wound through the darkness at a speed that would have been impossible if even a single container had been out of place.

The wall was stone, and it hurt when his extended paw slammed into it. He didn’t care, though, because he’d caught a glimpse of something glowing to his right. There was a red crystal there, its ki nearly gone, and if there had been any other source of power nearby, he never would have noticed it. He did, though, and turned that way, fingers trailing against the stone.

It was further away than he’d initially thought, his eyes tricked by the darkness and the dim glow of its power. Squeals still sounded around him, and though at first they had been drawn away by the lid he threw, they were now closing in on him again. He reached the crystal before his hunters reached him, however, and felt his heart rise in his throat as he saw that it was nestled in the center of yet another map.

Without even bothering to look at the carving properly, Kaz pushed against the stone, feeding it a tiny spark of ki. The wall swiveled, but there were more stone pots in the way. The opening door bumped into them, pushing two aside, but the third tumbled over, spilling its contents on the ground. Kaz danced back from the spreading black pool, the sharp scent of the liquid making him sneeze uncontrollably.

Behind him, squeals sounded, and there was a definite note of triumph this time. They advanced toward him at a horrifying rate, but Kaz was already through the door and setting paw to the steps. Which went down. Down, not up, and the thought of returning to the yumi fields, or, worse, having to confront the things in the darkness on the stairs made him want to howl.

He was cornered at last. He couldn’t go down, and he couldn’t go back. Turning, Kaz drew out his knife, pushing more power into his light and crouching as he waited to see what was approaching.

He heard them coming before he saw them. Their wingbeats were quiet, more quiet even than the janjio they resembled, but his enhanced ears picked them out of the near-constant screeching. Still, he wasn’t ready when the first of them emerged into his light.

It had three sets of wings, and its tooth-filled maw seemed to occupy the entire front of its body. A single long claw tipped each wing, as well as each of the four toes on its two feet. Its fur and skin were black, the nostrils of the flat nose its only feature other than the mouth. So far as Kaz could tell, it had no eyes or ears, though they could be hidden beneath the fine coating of fur.

It screamed, something moist throbbing deep in its gaping mouth, behind double rows of fangs, and Kaz almost staggered as the wave of sound hit him. Like janjio, this thing used sound as a weapon, but Kaz was no longer the puppy who had cowered at the feet of the humans as they fought oncoming swarms of the creatures.

Tightening his fingers on the hilt of his knife, Kaz ducked beneath a swipe of clawed feet and struck out, slicing easily through one toe. It dropped to the ground, spinning through the slick pool of black liquid that had spilled from the jar.

The not-janjio screamed, a wholly different sound from the ones it had been making, and spun in midair, its wings twisting unnaturally. Kaz danced backwards, realizing too late that he should have moved before the thing reached him. Now, he was caught between the yawning staircase, the still-spreading pool, and the beast itself.

As Kaz dodged one blow after another, trying to maneuver so he could jump over the fluid and reach a safer place to fight, the second creature appeared. This one was similar to the first, but it only had two pairs of wings, and its dense fur was brown instead of black. It attacked in the same way, though, using flexible wings to twist and come at him from entirely unexpected directions.

Kaz stabbed at the first creature, which seemed the most dangerous, if only because its third set of wings made it more agile. It screeched as he sliced through the skin of one wing, dropping momentarily before it managed to catch itself and lifted high overhead.

The first winged monster wobbled unsteadily as the second launched itself directly at Kaz. His knife was ready, and stabbed deep into the thing’s side, sending a gout of blood onto the floor. It fell into the pool at Kaz’s feet and swirled, crimson and black circling, but never mingling.

Desperately, Kaz slashed with his blade, slicing down and through the beast’s flesh, releasing a further flood of sanguine fluid, and the monster fell with a strangely disconsolate cry, flopping to the ground.

As it fell, the first creature dove down at Kaz’s head, its claws brushing and catching at his pointed ears until he ducked and spun. His paw slipped in the slimy puddle as he tried to come back up behind the swooping creature, and he fell, sliding across the floor and bumping into one jar after another.

Some tottered but remained upright, but several more fell, expanding the spill until it seemed like the entire floor was covered in the stuff. Kaz himself certainly was, and it felt greasy and unpleasant as it soaked him to the skin. When he glanced down, only his brown fuulong silk loincloth seemed to be clean, and his paws slipped and slid, dropping him back to the floor each time he tried to stand. The only good thing about his situation was that the screaming monster flapping overhead was as unable to predict his movements as he was.

And then the mosui arrived. It waddled out of the darkness, and its short legs and round body should have rendered it entirely non threatening. This one, however, wasn’t wearing the all-concealing robes affected by all the other mosui. No, this one wore only a loincloth, not unlike Kaz’s own, and the long claws on hands and feet were on full display. One of the wide, flat hands held a red crystal, but the other was empty of anything save its own natural weapons. Small, sharp teeth were bared at Kaz, and the tendrils writhing around its nose made it seem like something out of a nightmare.

It paused just outside Kaz’s sphere of light, its small eyes gleaming eerily. Holding up the crystal, it pointed it at Kaz, and he saw the dense mana in its body funnel into the stone, changing to pure red ki, which spread out in a wave ahead of it.

Kaz felt nothing but the faintest wave of warmth as it washed over him. He had finally managed to slither to the edge of the puddle, and used the wall to climb back to his paws. They tried to slide out from under him again and again, but he dug his ki-infused claws into the stone floor and remained upright.

The mosui looked from its crystal to Kaz, then shook the crystal. It would have been amusing if it weren’t for the flying thing which continued to dive toward Kaz, forcing him to stab at it wildly in order to fend it off.

The mosui let out a frustrated screech, tossing the crystal aside. It pointed at Kaz, squeaking furiously. The winged beast spun, clearly wary of Kaz’s knife, but also driven to attack by the mosui’s command. Kaz slashed, again and again, sometimes managing to cut the creature, but never badly enough to bring it down.

Mosui and monster screeched at Kaz, making his head spin, and momentarily bringing him out of the focus he’d had on the battle. Something tickled at his mind, and he realized it had been there for almost the entire time. The tip of his blade dipped as he blinked, and a flood of images poured into his brain, coming from a very frustrated dragon.

The ki bolts used by female kobolds, Lianhua’s arrows, Gaoda’s ki-orbs, the ball of ki Kaz had so casually thrown at the door. Why was Kaz using a knife when he could attack his enemies with ki?

He didn’t have time to feel embarrassed, or make excuses. Kaz simply gathered his ki, creating a second ball of power in front of him. It flared, and the mosui fell back, moist tentacles rippling as it raised an arm to protect its sensitive eyes.

Kaz swept his knife-wielding hand out, pointing at the flying monster, and the ball of ki flew toward it, vanishing into the gaping mouth with a wet, popping sound. All six wings came forward, too late, and the creature dropped, spasming, to splash down beside its fallen companion. Black slime rippled out, away from the body, and the mosui looked down, seeming to notice the fluid for the first time, though Kaz didn’t know how it could have missed the terrible, biting smell.

The mosui squalled, a sound so high-pitched that it scratched at Kaz’s ears, making him flatten them and wish he could cover them with his hands. The mosui staggered backwards, stumbling over its own wide feet, desperate to get further away from the pool, which Kaz could now see surrounded the still-open stairwell for a good twenty feet. He had knocked over more jars than he thought, and the thrashing of the six-winged monster had sent several more spinning to the ground.

Kaz looked down at his own body, which was already covered in the slimy goo, wondering what about it had frightened the mosui so badly. It didn’t burn, and he didn’t think it was poisoning him, or if it was, it was such a slow poison that he hadn’t yet started feeling ill.

The mosui spun, obviously no longer paying any attention to Kaz. Instead, it was looking around it frantically, emitting short, sharp barks that echoed strangely through the cavern. It stopped, looking to its right, toward an area of floor that was still clear of muck, and then it started moving in that direction, its small stature allowing it to move between the upright containers without bumping into them. After a few feet, it stopped, bent down, and picked up the red crystal it had thrown away, nose tendrils going nearly limp with relief.

One thing Kaz knew was that anything good for the mosui was bad for him. Lifting his knife, he summoned another ball of ki, and this time he had enough attention to spare to note that his blue ki, which was usually little more than a single thread among many, was now a broad ribbon. More than that, the knife in his hand also gleamed a deep, sapphire blue.

Then he swept the blade through the air, trailing blue ki like a cloud visible only to him, and the ball of power flew through the air. It struck the mosui’s arm, causing the creature to scream and drop the crystal.

This time, the red stone landed in the pool of black, and a spark jumped. With a strange, hollow foomp, the black liquid ignited, and the mosui screamed again as its fur caught fire. It slapped at its body with its wide hands, spinning as it tried to put itself out, but in the process, it stepped into the slippery liquid, sliding and falling, spreading the flames to a new section of the fluid.

The fire spread. It seemed to hover over the dark surface of the liquid, not quite touching, yet somehow still feeding on it. Urns popped, tipping over as their contents heated and began to rock. Kaz stared in horrified fascination until Li’s terror managed to break through the mesmerizing advance of the flames.

Turning, he looked around. There were baskets to his left, and he remembered Nogz telling him that they burned the dried yumi reeds, which meant the expanding conflagration would follow him if he went that way. Of course, hundreds of urns full of the flammable liquid were in every other direction.

Which left the stairs, which went down, but he would even take that over death, except that the fire was between him and the door, and even with ki, he couldn’t jump over twenty feet of flames. Plus, he was covered in the goo, which meant the slightest flicker would send him after the unfortunate mosui, who had finally stopped screaming.

Hand on the wall, Kaz headed left, hoping against hope that he could outrun the flames.