---Chapter 13
The airship carried twelve new passengers when it lifted off again. The young translator, Sadao Nioko by name, had come aboard. He was to ride with them until the Power Core was defeated, both in his capacity as one who spoke the 'flat language’ and as a sort of hostage to insure the traveler’s safety. With him were eleven warriors, each armed with clunky, old-fashioned rifles (which had to be fired using a torch or piece of smoldering rope) a katana sword or long spear and at least one knife. These were to help the travelers if they ran into trouble as well as guide them across the land.
It was strange to see a group of armed warriors lounging around the deck, Lenny thought, and know that they were allies. The travelers had so often done things alone, without the aid or even knowledge of the dimension’s inhabitants, that it was a new experience to be so warmly supported.
Along with giving them the warriors, General Kunio had resupplied their airship with provisions and water, as well as a cask of wine for 'special occasions’. Raggsy and Patch were still down in the galley, rubbing their hands and cackling over this addition.
Sadao was a quiet, self-possessed man who only spoke when they said something to him, first. They pressed him for details about how Dansei had come to that world and where he was, but all the translator would say was, “Shinobi move in strange ways. I do not know the details, only what I was told. You have come through the heavens: you should know better than I.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to see him after our mission is finished?” Amber asked.
He shrugged. “You will see the emperor, if you wish, and can speak to him about it. I have no say in the matter.”
Altogether a polite, differential and frustrating young man.
“What do you think, Leaflow? You know more about dimension traveling than the rest of us.” Lenny looked to the cloaked one for the second time that day, feeling that he might always know some answer that the rest of them did not. But Leaflow also simply shrugged. “As he said, Ninja move in strange ways. Perhaps he knew more than we suspected him of and had a hidden jumping device. Either that, or he is a traitor manipulated directly by EX-2.”
While they were speaking, the airship was flying across the plains, ever closer to the city, at an angle that would put them on the far side of it from where they had started, a few miles off from the walls.
They were flying high now, trying to stay unseen by any enemy troops they passed over. And they did cross paths with a few, moving in small groups across the country. The effects of the purple corruption slowly got worse below them as well, the rot and pillage increasing. The indicator needle on the compass also got darker, shifting from tarnished gold to somber brown.
“So, here’s the plan,” Jax was explaining to Sadao, “we’ll come as close to the Power Core as possible with the ship without being under attack. If everything is still safe, we’ll start to come down to earth. Once they notice us or we start to get attacked, we’ll flip the hour glass. It’s a magical device, see, it makes it so that the Power Core can’t use his soldiers or anything. Blam! No problems with them for half an hour. Then we’ll all disembark and locate the Power Core exactly, after which your men or one of us will kill him. Easy, huh?”
“Your plan has the elegance of simplicity,” the translator agreed, “as long as we do not have problems. What happens if we do not find the Power Core before your magic device runs out?”
“Well.” Jax shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “Then we just have to fight it out and hope for the best.”
Off the starboard bow of the airship, Lenny had been noticing an odd formation of rock growing for some time. It seemed to be a sheer cliff rising up out of the ground, with a long, sloping hill covered in trees behind it. The cliff was made of pale rocks which gleamed almost white in the sunshine, standing in vertical columns and pillars all across the face. Dark spots and lines indicated caves or cracks across its face, some high in the air while others touched the ground. Lenny gazed at the cliff, looked down at his compass and then back up at the cliff again. The needle was pointing straight at it.
Looking closer, he also noted a group of soldiers parked in front of the largest cave entrance near the ground. Nodding to himself, he turned to look at the others. “I think the Power Core must be down there. In that cave, maybe. The compass is pointing right to it.”
“A strange place for someone to hide when he could have the whole city and its palace to sit in,” Jax commented, “but maybe he’s a real hermity sort of guy.”
“The Lord Kei is not a hermit,” Sadao put in, “but he is insane. He may have chosen this as his headquarters because of that.”
“Well, I guess we go down and find out.”
They began angling down towards the base of the cliff, keeping a careful eye on the soldiers ranged below. It was a large detachment of them, all camping around bonfires in a cleared area before the rocks as if they had been there for some days. Both the travelers and their ally warriors began to prepare themselves for the landing.
Raggsy held the sand clock upright in both his paws, waiting for the signal. They were only a few hundred feet above the ground when the soldiers finally took notice of them. Then they began to scramble around and there was a sound of orders being shouted.
“They’re about to fire on us!” Jax called, leaning over the rail. “Flip it, Raggsy!”
The Ratperson’s agile claws turned the hourglass quickly over. The sand began to slide down the polished glass with a soft hissing sound. Suddenly, there were no soldiers down below.
“Your device is efficient.” Sadao nodded in approval.
“It has to be.” Lenny gave a wry smile, joining Jackal by the rolled-up ladder in preparation for throwing it down. Moments later the balloon was drifting a few yards above the ground beside the cliff, just over the trampled, empty encampment. They threw the ladder over and quickly disembarked, the emperor’s warriors coming with them. Two travelers were detailed to stay behind in case they were not successful and the airship had to be raised again. The lot fell to Leaflow and Amber, one to guard the ship and the other to pilot it.
Lenny hit the ground and stood aside for the others to follow, scanning the area with his sharp eyes. The cave was large at the mouth, narrowing as it went back inside. He could not see far into it because of the shadows, but he did not activate his night vision to look further. They would be going there soon enough. It was not worth using his last bit of energy just to see a few feet more right away.
There was a path worn into the entrance of this cavern, as well as a large space trampled free of grass directly outside. A few horses were tied to some trees at a little distance, stamping and snorting uneasily. Any other mounts had been created by the Power Core and were not now active.
“Well, I guess we search for him in there.” Jax pointed at the cave mouth. “As long as your compass still shows it being that way?”
Lenny nodded once, sharply. The indicator needle was aimed directly at the cave. Sadao joined them in the lead and they began to march towards the cave, all senses alert for any sign of movement. Though the Power Core’s creations were limited, he could still be dangerous himself. Or even have some real warriors under his command. A bullet in the head or sword through the ribs could kill any one of the travelers just as well as magic. At the mouth of the cave five of the emperor’s warriors were detailed to stand guard. The rest pressed inwards.
Soon the walkway became too narrow for more than two men to walk abreast. Lenny and Jackal took the lead, the younger man carrying a lit torch Sadao handed him. The others came behind in ranks of two, each with their weapons ready. The darkness began to press around them, flames flickering to keep it back. A heavy feeling of stone above him made Lenny start to feel a little claustrophobic, especially when the cavern took a bend and they could not see the entrance any longer.
They had been advancing for about a hundred feet beyond this point when they came to a division in the trail. One cavern arm split off to the left, narrow and angled upwards awkwardly. The other went to the right, wider and easier to travel. The compass only pointed straight ahead, not giving any clue as to which way they should go. But the floor was slightly sandy and showed footsteps leading to the right, so they decided on going that way. So as not to get lost, they left a smoke-smudge on the wall pointing back at the entrance.
The dozen people walking in the cave together made an odd, mixed sound of breathing, footsteps and weapons clinking. Lenny kept stopping, thinking that he heard someone moving ahead of them, but it was only their own troops behind. Jackal gave him a reassuring glance after the fifth time, nodding down the cavern. “Only one way he can come at us. Just keep your eyes fixed ahead and we’ll be alright.”
“Thanks.” Lenny tried to be calmer after that, but the darkness and closeness of the place spooked him, though he would not have admitted it. They passed a few more divisions in the cave, winding off in other directions, after which the warriors at the back were warned to watch for an ambush from behind. But always, the footprints showed a way that was more worn than any other.
The hourglass showed almost half their time gone when Lenny began to pick up another strange sound, this one ahead of them. His companions did not seem to hear it at first, but that was because his hearing was cybernetically enhanced. It was an eerie sound, almost a gasping or panting mixed with deeper notes. Eventually, his companions began to hear it as well, by which time the compass needle had turned just about black. But no one could decide what the noise was. Raggsy suggested that there was a crack in the wall with wind going over it, making the noise, while Jax was sure that he had heard a sort of anguished cry mixed in. Patch suggested grimly that they were coming upon the Power Core’s torture chamber, in which he was presently amusing himself.
As if to bear this out, they came to a place where a carpet had been thrown down on the floor and a door built blocking the cave any further. It was a thin door of bamboo and the sound was coming from the other side of it. Now it could be made out to be a sort of sobbing and wailing, definitely coming from a human throat.
Lenny exchanged a look with Jackal, who signaled him silently to shove the door open. Jackal held his rifle pointed at the door, while the rest of their companions spread out as much as possible in the tight space afforded them. Taking a breath to steady himself, Lenny stepped forward and grasped the door’s handle. It was built to slid out of the way to the side, so he gave a nod to his friends and then jerked it out of the way, stepping with it.
Beyond was a large, sandy cavern with carpets and cushions tossed about on the floor. In one corner was a large, wooden chest with dragons painted on it. Other than that there was little furnishings, though a crack in the wall high up allowed both air and a little light to enter. Caught in the spill of sunlight, sitting curled up at the back of the cave, was a man dressed in a ragged red robe. His long, dark hair fell over his hands, which clasped at his forehead as if in great pain. He was weeping wildly into his hands, tears rolling down his arms into a wet patch on the ground.
The travelers and warriors looked at each other in surprise, then moved into the room. Lenny advanced on the stranger, holding out his compass. The needle got so dark that it seemed to be sucking the light in rather than reflecting it.
“Is this the Power Core?” Jax exclaimed, looking down at him with wide eyes.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“It must be.” Dumbfounded, Lenny tried to turn the indicator in a different direction, but the needle always settled out towards the weeping man.
Stepping up to the man, Jackal poked at his shoulder with the butt of his rifle. “Hey, you. Look at me. Who are you?”
The man slowly removed his hands and brushed his hair back, gazing up at them with a face twisted by anguish and lined with tears. He must have been handsome once, with haughty, highborn features. But now he was ruined. Not only that, but his eyes had turned a glimmering purple color.
“Douzo korosu shousei,” he whispered in a strained voice.
“What does he say?”
Sadao’s expression was grave. “He says; please, kill me.”
The travelers looked at each other and blinked. Jax turned to the translator. “Are you sure? He did say that?”
Sadao nodded, leaning down to look in the Power Core’s face. He spoke gently for a moment, but Kei shook his head vehemently, repeating the sentence he had spoke before.
“He says again; please kill me.”
The younger travelers were nonplussed. They had come expecting a fight, someone waiting to kill them ruthlessly if he could. Seeing the pillage and destruction outside, they had been sure that this would be one of their most difficult to defeat enemies. But now they found a broken man sitting before them, begging for the release of death.
“Well, if that’s what he wants...” Jackal drew his pistol and put it to the man’s head.
“No, wait!” Jax shouted, jumping forwards. But it was too late. The pistol boomed in the enclosed area, there was a splattering noise and the Power Core lay dead. As the world tore apart and reformed itself, Jackal calmly holstered his weapon.
Lenny blinked, shaking his head as he looked around. The cave was just the same, but he could feel the difference in the air. “You killed him.”
“Of course.” Jackal looked at him with his deep, smoldering eyes. “That’s what we came for.”
“But...but...he wasn’t even fighting!” Jax looked down at the body, then away, sickened.
“That made it all the easier.” With these words, Jackal turned and strode out of the room.
Jax was about to go after him, but Patch put a hand to his shoulder and said kindly, “now, lad, you know we had to stop the Power Core. Jackal may seem cold-hearted to ye now, but if you stop and think about it you’ll see that he did what he had to. That man did not want to live any longer. Even freed of this awful energy he would not have wanted to. Jackal’s hard, but not cruel. I’ve seen a lot worse at sea and know what I’m speakin’ of.”
Jax still looked shocked and angry, but did not move away when Patch let go of him. Sadao and the soldiers looked solemn or grim, but did not condemn Jackal’s action either.
The translator simply turned to Lenny and said, “he is dead. Let us see what the world is like outside. I’m afraid there will still be much trouble with his soldiers and fixing what they have done.”
“You won’t have any more trouble with his troops.” Lenny shook his head. “I can promise that. But you will have to rebuild your villages and reassure the people.”
Patch was checking the contents of the chest, which was not locked, but the rest of them began to file out of the cavern and down the passages to the outside world.
At the entrance to the cavern system they met Jackal, standing looking up at the sky in his bare feet, without his hat. When they came out he turned and nodded to them firmly, but did not say a thing.
---
The rest of the day passed in a surprising blur for the travelers. First they returned with the troops to the encampment by the village, where they were greeted as heros. There was no point in trying to explain that they had done little and fought no great war. Especially when almost everyone spoke a different language. There was simply cheers, slaps on the back and a great feast, all with great enthusiasm from the givers and a feeling of bewilderment from the receivers.
Raggsy and Jax both took it in stride the best. The Ratperson ate and cheered along with the soldiers, returning their slaps on the back and grinning at them through his furry snout. Jax gabbled at them all evening, even when they could not understand a word he was saying. They did not seem to mind. As long as the guests were pleased, they were happy.
Lenny felt he was truly in another dimension. It was strange to be receiving applause for something they had been doing on their own resolution for weeks. It was stranger yet to be surrounded by people all cheering and applauding, partially for him. But all through it he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. The grass was back to green, the sky was clear of all except for the gray mist of clouds that had covered it during the later half of the day and the Power Core had been defeated. But at the back of his mind he was not only aghast at what EX-2 had done, and forced them to do, to the Lord Kei. He felt that this world still held something malignant in it.
Later that night, as they straggled back to the airship, Amber muttered sleepily, “I wonder if the emperor and Dansei will let us see them tomorrow?”
And Lenny felt an odd tightening in his chest as he wondered, not for the first time, how Dansei had come back to this world.
In the morning they were summoned by Sadao, who told them that the emperor Takai Onmeru, ruler and guiding spirit of the empire, did indeed wish to see them and thank them himself. Sadao knew nothing of Dansei or if he would be at the meeting.
The village was called Ci’tanmo and was made up of about two dozen houses and huts built around a large, central well. There was a few buildingd with stone walls around them and stonework in their makeup, but most were simple structures of bamboo and thatch. Their farmlands lay around them on all sides except for the one towards the river, where the army was encamped. But, Lenny found, there was a secret about this particular village. It was built on the slope of a gentle hill, which was actually man-made. Underneath it was a warren of nicely appointed rooms, all with wooden doors and soft carpets on the floor. In the lowest and most carefully guarded of these rooms the emperor was waiting for them. He sat on a gilded chair with a handful of his officers and servants of high rank grouped behind him, each holding a gift in their hands. Takai Onmeru was a well-built man with piercing eyes and the look of a warrior about him. His robes were gold and crimson with black accents, folded precisely across his chest and legs.
The travelers bowed to him politely and he spoke in their own language, praising them for their brave work in many dimensions and thanking them for helping his people. Then he gave them each at least one gift, passed forward by the men behind him.
There were new boots for Jackal and Patch (someone had brought word of their plight from General Kunio, apparently, or else Dansei had told him) made of good leather and tooled with dragon patterns. All the other menfolk, including Raggsy, were given short capes lined with sheep’s wool. Amber had a robe of such bright, shiny peacock shades that she blinked, though she fingered the silk with interest. There was also a gold armband for each member and a long knife set with semi-precious stones on the pommel.
When the gift giving and speech making were finally over, and everything was properly appreciated, Lenny dared to ask, “but what about our companion, Dansei, sir? We thought that he was dead and still do not understand how he came to be here. May we speak to him?”
The emperor’s face darkened and he gestured for most of the assembled courtiers to leave. Once they were gone, all except for the chamberlain and General Kunio, he spoke slowly, “my Shinobi No Mono, whom you call Dansei, does not wish to be seen by anyone. When he returned so suddenly, which was as much a surprise to me as anyone, I questioned him about where he had been and what he had been doing. He told me of you and your endeavors, but he would not speak much of how he had come from the far heavens to this dimension. Which is strange, as he usually withholds nothing from me in his reports. All he would say is that he had been touched by evil and knew that it was coming for him.”
A chill ran through the travelers. The only evil they were running from was EX-2 and when he touched a person, it was because he wanted them. They looked uneasily at each other, before Amber said, “if that’s so, there is even more reason for us to talk to him. Could we please see him, just once? And if he wants us to leave, we will.”
The emperor tilted his head to look up at the roof in thought, before turning his gaze back on them. “Normally, I would not grant this request. A Shinobi does not need to explain his actions to anyone except for the ruler he works for. But you have done much for my people and are a strange band from out of our time. Perhaps...if there is something wrong you could help him. I do not wish to lose Shinto’dansei. He is my best hidden warrior.”
Not all of the travelers decided to go. They thought that it would be best if only a few came at first, so as not to anger the Ninja unduly. Jax, Lenny, Amber and Leaflow would go to see him, while the other three would return to the airship and wait for them. They could not spend too much time in this world, but must go on to the next before long even if the Ninja refused to come.
Their escort led them through the tunnels of the well-furnished diggings and took them down a set of steps, passed a few guards to a hall with three doors leading off of it. Each of these doors was heavy, stoutly hung in its place and barred on the outside. “This is where Dansei is kept?” Amber turned a frown on Sadao, who was the one acting as escort. “But then...he is a prisoner!”
Sadao shook his head. “He requested to be put in a high security room. Otherwise, he would not be here.”
He unbarred the room at the end of the hall and bowed to them, before stepping back a few paces. The guards at the head of the hall had followed them and stood just behind the translator, each with a heavy saber drawn. Lenny made a wry face at his friends and stepped forward to knock at the door.
A familiar voice came through in the native language, apparently asking a question. Guessing at what it would be, Lenny returned, “it’s us, your friends. A few of us have come to see you.”
Dansei replied through the door, voice tinted with sorrow, “go away. I do not wish to see anyone.”
“Even your friends?” Amber asked him, moving up beside Lenny. “We’ve defeated the Power Core. There is nothing more to fear on this world.”
There was a sound like a sigh, then the Ninja spoke again, “come in if you must. But I will have to ask you to leave soon. I have duties to preform.”
They opened the door and found a very strongly constructed but not unpleasant space within. There were carpets on the floor, a painting of sunshine and water on the walls and a comfortable, though narrow, bed against one side. Dansei sat at the desk, once again wearing the simple, dark clothing of a farmer from his own land. He had paper before him on the desk and was writing fluid, graceful marks down it with an ink pen. He hardly looked up as they came in, but his face appeared pale and expression strained.
“Yes?” he said as if too preoccupied to be bothered.
Amber gave him a small smile. “Dansei. How glad we are to see you still alive. We thought, or at least I know I did, that we would never see you again after the wyvern knocked you off the ship. What happened? How did you come to be here again so soon?”
The Ninja gently ran a finger down the side of the page, reading off a list and checking it, then shook his head as if at a mistake. “That does not concern you.”
“What do you mean, doesn’t concern us?” Jax came forward and put a hand across the page, blocking it from their companion’s view. “It concerns us a great deal! Not only because you are one of our fellowship, but because anything to do with EX-2 and the corruption concerns us! Now, answer her question. How did you get here?”
Dansei laid his pen down with intricate care, aligning it perfectly with the edge of the desk. Then he turned his face up to look at Jax and the others for the first time. In the darkness of the iris, his eyes held a hint of purple.
“It does not concern you, because I wish to be left alone!”
He did not raise his voice, but there was an inflection in it that would have been shouting for another man. Jax started back, snatching his hand off of the paper as if it had been burned. Amber also drew away, while Lenny braced himself in case of trouble. Leaflow simply studied the Ninja with his perceptive, almost-mocking gaze.
Dansei stared at them for a moment, hands clenched into fists, before bowing his head and brushing a hand across it, ruffling his black hair. When he spoke again it was gently, “please, go. I do not wish to be bothered. I have affairs to settle, letters to write. I am sorry. You will have to go on without me.”
“We will go, if that is what you want.” It was Leaflow who spoke, for the first time. “Though I will remind you, first, that the computer can not make someone into a Power Core if they are not on their home world.”
Dansei said nothing but began writing again, so they turned to go. But before they left his voice came to them, just above a whisper, “why do you think I am here? He arranges as he wishes. Go, finish your mission, before it is too late for us all.”
They went out of the door, leaving him behind. In the room, he looked up at the shut door sadly, crumpling the paper into a wad in his empty hand without noticing it. When he did notice it, he stood up, threw it aside and took a long knife from a hidden compartment of the desk.
“Perhaps...there is one more way to win with all honor.”