“Uh… my lord, I don’t think we have armor that’ll fit them.” Eeluk stared up at the two dozen giants standing behind me. He’d met us outside the walls of Karakhorum when our scouts saw what they described as ‘a golden horde’, which I assumed referred to the giants’ off-yellow skin tone. When they noticed me on top of Chair-Wax, the archers on the wall set down their bows.
I hadn’t seen this many giants gathered in one place before, and were it not for their size one might not think they were of the same race. Some were short and stocky, their fists dragging along the ground when they walked. Others were tall and… uneven, like Chair-Wax, with one eye or nostril or ear bigger. The tallest ones had scars on their foreheads in the shape of plowed farmland.
“Have you ever seen a giant get hurt?” I said.
“Well, no, but that was against arrows and swords. Not…” Eeluk glanced at one of the holes in Karakhorum’s main street. A crate had been placed on top of it, but the hole seemed to have expanded since then and the crate was threatening to slip in at any moment. “Not this kind of enemy.”
“Then our armor won’t help them.” I waved Chair-Wax over. “Chair-Wax, do giants wear armor?”
“Armor?” Chair-Wax squinted with his larger eye. His smaller eye just shivered slightly.
I knocked on Eeluk’s breastplate with my knuckle. “Armor.”
“Oh. Metal. Skin. Giants? No.” He pointed at his chest and laughed. “Armor. Is for. Men who. Want to. Be like. Us. Strong like. Us.”
“See? Besides, it doesn’t matter if they’re dressed or not. We need all the hands we can get.”
“I’m not saying they aren’t useful, but… their race isn’t known for following orders—”
“Sit!” I shouted.
The ground shuddered as twenty-four giants dropped down.
“Stand!” I shouted.
They shot up faster than one might expect they could.
Eeluk’s mouth hung open for a moment, but he collected himself with a soft grunt. “Consider my concerns… addressed.”
The nearest hole expanded, and the crate on top of it slid down with a clunk.
I nodded at the hole. “Any other movements?”
“That’s happening all over the city. Someone fell in when one of the holes tore through an alleyway, but nothing’s come out.”
“Next time, we’re using the map.” Batu jumped off the giant he’d been riding, groaning with every stretch. He put his hand on his gut. “On second thought, never mind. I forgot how—”
The ground rumbled, and a sound like paper tearing reverberated through Karakhorum. I felt it in my chest. The giants stumbled and fell. Eeluk’s armor clinked with the vibrations. My eyes shot to the hole. Rays of violet light streamed through the gaps in the crate. Everything returned to normal after a few seconds.
“Sounds like we don’t have much time,” I said. “Are the men ready?”
“As ready as they’ll ever be,” Eeluk said. “Most of the able men came forward to help, so we have more men than expected.”
“And the women and children?”
“Secured in the war-chambers under the courthouse,” Eeluk said.
“War-chambers?” Batu asked. “Chamber where the wars happen, or…”
“Chambers where the lords of the First Empire went to take cover from dragon fire in the event of the entire city burning down,” Eeluk said to Batu, then turned back to me. “It’s safe. Safer than anywhere else. All the women and children went willingly… except one.”
“Khulan?” I smirked slightly. “No, I don’t think she’s the type to hide in these circumstances.”
“She said she’d stab me.”
“Did she?”
Eeluk shook his head. “I dodged the knife.”
“Where did she—”
Boots crunched through the dirt. I glanced over Eeluk’s shoulder.
Khulan strode towards us, staring up at the giants behind me. “What’s this?”
I smiled. “Our distraction.”
Erhi scurried behind her, trying to keep up. “Why do you have to walk so quickly?”
“You’d walk faster if you put on some shoes,” Khulan said.
“I need to be barefoot,” Erhi said. “In case something happens.”
Khulan looked back. “Why?”
Erhi squatted and waved her fingers over the ground, as if playing an invisible harp. The flowers in her hair scrunched up. A vine sprouted from a little crack in the dirt.
“I’d be surprised if the creatures even came out of their holes,” Batu said. “After that fearsome display.”
Erhi rolled her eyes. “It’s more impressive when I push myself.”
“Not to mention all the ambient spiritual energy,” I said. “Erhi will only getting stronger.”
Erhi stood back up and smiled at me.
I looked at Eeluk. “All the women and children except two, you mean.”
“I couldn’t help from that place,” Erhi said.
“We need all the hands we can get,” Eeluk said, with a slight grin.
“You’ve really gotten a lot sassier, Captain,” Batu said.
The ground shook beneath us again, but this time chunks of Karakhorum’s wall broke free. Erhi and Khulan used my arms to steady themselves. Eeluk grabbed Batu, but Batu recoiled; both fell. The giants hadn’t gotten up from the last tremor.
Batu got back up when it was over. “That doesn’t seem…”
Violet light shot up from the other side of Karakhorum. Another beam from a nearer hole. Another. Then the crate from the one in Karakhorum’s main street crashed into the hole. A dark purple mist leaked out into Karakhorum, creeping over the stones like blood pooling on tile. A claw reached out of the hole, but the mist obscured it.
“…good,” Batu continued.
“Eeluk, go ready our men.”
Eeluk nodded. “As you command.”
I turned to the giants. “Chair-Wax, the giants are under your command.”
“My. Command.” He nodded, then the other giants nodded. “What is. Your. Order?”
“Did you see what just came out of the hole?”
Chair-Wax nodded. “Bad.”
“Smash the bad.”
“Smash the. Bad.” He stood and bounded over us, throwing his body against the half-open gate. Its iron hinges shattered and clanged as they hit the ground. The rest of the giants roared as they followed Chair-Wax into the mist.
“Batu,” I said, “keep them safe.”
Khulan guffawed. “He—”
“Khulan,” I said. “Keep Batu safe.”
“Where are you going?” Erhi asked.
“Where I’m needed.”
“We need you.”
I put my hands on her shoulders. “Karakhorum needs me more.”
Erhi looked at the scars on my arms. “Kublai, don’t use the map. It’ll kill you with this much ambient—”
A giant flew out of the mist, thrown over the wall like a broken toy, smoke trailing with her body. I pulled Erhi and Khulan out of her path. She crashed next to us. I felt the heat from three feet away. Her skin crackled like a pork belly. Something roared from deep within the mist.
The mist parted as I ran into it. It burned at first, but when I took my first breath, my skin felt tougher – as if I’d just left the Spirit Realm. The streets of Karakhorum were a mess of shapes. I couldn’t make out where the houses were, so I ran along the pathways. Screams roared from deep within the mist – some men, some giants… some entirely something different.
Silhouettes fought silhouettes. Half of the shadows were sharp and clear, but the other half seemed to crawl into a shape, like a swarm of insects than a single entity. A giant whooshed past me, but I dodged him. He glanced back, panting as he fled. I stopped. I’d have to confront whatever was chasing him eventually. May as well get in some practice. I dug my heels in and whistled.
The creature lumbered forward. Its body looked like Oktai’s, but more unstable, with black worm-like spirits writhing through what must have once been flesh. Its limbs fluctuated in size, like a heart swelling with a beat I couldn’t hear. Its mouth hung open, its eyes wide in constant alert, but it didn’t seem to see me.
I moved my hand, disturbing the mist. It snapped to attention.
“That’s right,” I said. “Over here!”
It screeched and tore through the mist, clawing wildly at the air. I ducked, then dodged left, right. I slipped its first few strikes, but the longer I was in battle with it, the closer and closer its misses got. I couldn’t let it swing until it hit me. I had to go on the offensive. I slipped its left swing and brought my right fist into its chin.
My hand went right through, and the black spirits just reformed its chin. I jumped back.
“They are. Soft like. Humans,” the giant said. “But they. Don’t get. Hurt like. Your kind.” He held up a hand. “They burn. Us.”
I looked at my fist. I stung, but it wasn’t burning. “Just because they don’t bleed doesn’t mean they don’t get hurt.”
The creature searched through the mist, swinging at every gust of wind.
“I think they see with the mist,” I said. “Don’t move. Breathe shallow. What’s your name?”
“Mouse-Dew,” the giant said. “How do. We smash. Them?”
“We’re going to give it something to look at. Too much, and then we’re going to see just how much these things can take. On three…”
“Three?” The giant narrowed his eyes. “Oh. Number.”
“One,” I said.
“One,” the giant said.
“Two.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
We both dashed, sending the mist into a frenzy. The creature screeched at us, stuttering Mouse-Dew. I didn’t get flustered. I grabbed a rock and launched it through the mist. Its head followed the path of the stone for a moment, but that was all I needed. I spun, kicking through its mid-section, and Mouse-Dew clutched at the creature’s head and torso. Its top half evaporated, leaving two legs frozen.
“It is… dead?” Mouse-Dew said. “Hah! Silly—”
Mist swirled into the shape of a torso. The creature wasn’t even completely solid before it launched its next assault. I stopped moving, but Mouse-Dew turned and tried to run. The creature dashed after him, faster than before. Shit.
I dove for the creature, obstructing its path. It swiped at me, but this time it mixed in a few kicks. It was learning. I couldn’t afford to engage with this one forever. Dozens of these were probably in Karakhorum now. I needed a permanent solution, but first I had to get Mouse-Dew…
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
He’d already bolted off. That solved that problem, but not the one clawing at me. I had to stop moving, but if I did, it’d tear my chest open. I tried to move back further, but my foot hit something hard. I glanced back. A house.
Let’s see how much you can take. I threw my elbow back. A wall cracked, then gave in. I went as low as could. The creature leapt for the falling bricks, batting at them like flies. When a brick crashed into a cupboard, the creature tore through the cupboard, sending shards of wood into the air. I picked up a brick while it was distracted, then tossed it at the large pillar in the center of the house.
The creature fell for it, crashing itself into the pillar. The house shuddered. A crack trailed up the pillar, bits of paint trickling down. The house moaned, then the roof crashed down on top of the creature. That ought to keep it busy.
Running through the open streets was like sitting naked in the middle of a typhoon – it was asking for trouble. Then again, I was asking for it, but I needed time to think. I followed close to the line of houses.
The plan was to draw them away from the sources of spiritual energy, but that was before I knew about the mist. The source was everywhere now, and they seemed to be part of the mist, so I couldn’t draw them out of it. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen when the mists from every city connected.
Someone screamed. I stopped in my tracks. She screamed again. I recognized the sound. Erhi.
I ran in that direction. I could feel myself getting faster with each step, but I couldn’t tell if it was Erhi being in danger or the ambient spiritual energy. It didn’t matter. I still kept close to the houses, but I leapt over porches and slipped through blood-stained washing hung on lines. A trail of bodies was scattered between bits of debris. One of my guards had been ripped apart, and his body rested on an old chair. Another had been torn in two, his bottom half on the porch of a house and his top half hanging off the roof.
The scream got louder. I ducked underneath an archway. Louder. I ran down the alleyway. Louder.
A silhouette loomed over Erhi.
“Kublai!” She had her hands up, holding off a creature with a tangled mass of weeds. “Kublai, help! I can’t hold it… much longer.”
I waved my arms, disturbing as much mist as possible. The creature rolled its shoulders, like I was a flea on its back, but it didn’t look away from Erhi. This one looked more like Oktai had – it looked closer to a roaring fire than a mess of worms.
Roots burst out of the ground, wrapping around the creature’s legs. The creature shook its foot. Erhi’s plants recoiled and cowered back into the ground. She didn’t stop the creature, but she bought me enough time to get close.
I dove at the creature. It felt solid for a moment, but I fell through right after, landing hard in the dirt. The gap in its torso started healing immediately, the black worm-like spirits eating at the gap as soon as I landed.
“Are you okay?” I shielded her, in case the creature took the opportunity to strike. “Can you walk?”
She nodded.
I pulled her to her feet. The creature didn’t like that. It screeched, slashing wildly at us. I ducked its arm and followed up with an uppercut aimed at its chin. My fist tore through its skull. The creature froze while it repaired the wound. The damage wouldn’t be permanent, but it gave us time.
“Run to that house by the river.” I pointed. “I’ll distract it.”
“But I—”
“Go!”
The creature didn’t take long to heal. By the time Erhi had scampered off, it was back on me like a rabid dog. I went for the same move as before, but this time, the creature saw my fist coming. It slipped its chin back, just enough to avoid my blow. I stepped back, keeping as much distance as the creature would allow.
The creature brought both its arms down over me, but I guarded with mine. My skin stung, but I’d survive. I rolled back. The river was a few feet behind me. The creatures looked like living fires; it was time I saw how they dealt with water.
“Come on.” I waved at the creature.
It roared and charged at me. That’s it. I slipped my hand into my satchel. Just a little closer. I pulled out the map. Little more…
I pressed the map a little further down the river. The blue light enveloped me, trailing along my scars as if to re-open the same wounds. Some violet mist followed me, but the blue light seemed to tear it apart. The stone beneath me shattered when I landed.
The creature hissed as it sunk below the water. It almost sounded like it was saying something. It almost sounded like “it has begun” – Oktai’s last words. I had to be imagining it.
I relaxed and put the map back in my satchel. “So they can’t swim after all. Good to know.”
Erhi peeked out from a house’s shutters. “Is it… dead?”
“Looks like it.” I stepped onto the house’s porch.
Erhi cracked open the door, waving her hand at the mist as if to try and keep it out. She froze when she noticed my arms. “You used the map.”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“It wouldn’t,” she said. “Especially with all this ambient spiritual energy. It’s like a drug. Can you hurry up and get inside before another one of those things shows up?”
I went inside. Erhi slammed the door and dragged a table across it. She’d plugged as many cracks in the house as she could. Torn blankets had been stuffed into crevices between the windows and the frames. The only light in the house came from Erhi’s flowers. The house didn’t look like it had been vacant long. Plates, adorned with a cut of salmon, still rested on the table.
“They’re stronger in the mist,” she said, tucking a silk dress under the door. “This’ll keep enough out to keep them away.”
“You did this in a few minutes?”
She nodded, flashing a small grin.
“Where’re Batu and Khulan?”
She poked at a few other cracks, smothering as much outside light as she could, then stepped back and let out a breath. “We got separated.”
I reached for the door handle.
She slapped my hand.
“Worth a shot,” I said.
“You can’t just walk out there.” She sat down in front of the door. “I don’t think our plan is going to work.”
“Which plan?”
“Khulan told me about your plan to draw the creatures away from the holes… but this mist—”
“Oh. That plan.” I leaned against the windowsill. “That one’s antiquated.”
“What’s the latest plan?”
“They don’t seem to deal with water well.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That sounds too easy.”
I shrugged. “That’s why it isn’t the whole plan.”
“What’s the rest?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet.”
She gave me a flat look. “Then that isn’t a plan.”
“I rounded up.” I chuckled, but my laughter petered off quickly. “What do we know about them so far?”
“They need the mist.” Erhi held up a finger. “They don’t get hurt from physical attacks, but it gives them pause at least.” Another finger. “The mist heals them.” A third finger. “And they don’t like water allegedly.”
I held up my pinky. “They use the mist to see.”
“What do you mean?”
“They track things moving in the mist. If you stand still, they won’t sense you.”
“I didn’t do much standing still when one of them chased me.” She shuffled away from the door slightly. “Neither did Batu. Khulan was a bit more stubborn.”
I reached for the door again.
Erhi shook her head. “At least let me heal your wounds first.”
“My wounds?”
She pointed at my arms. “You’re… smoking.”
I smirked. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“This isn’t the time for that. Be serious.” She tugged at my hands. “Sit down. It won’t take long.”
I sat and she took my arms in her hands. She grunted. “Come on…” She tensed her hands, groaning as if that might push something out of them. “It’s not working. Give me a second.” She breathed deeply and shut her eyes. Blue light flickered, tiny spirits trailing over the re-opened scars. The shutters of the house jostled as if they were being tugged at. Strands of violet mist streamed in where they could and spiraled between Erhi’s palms, mingling with the blue spirits, then right into my wounds. It felt like it tunneled up my veins.
“Huh,” Erhi said. “This spiritual energy feels different, but it works just like the First Capital or the Forest.”
“I presume it’s even more liable to kill me, though.”
She gave me a flat look. “I know I sound like a nagging wife, but you can’t keep using the map like this. It’ll kill you.”
“I know, I know—”
“No, you don’t.” She glared at me. “You wouldn’t have used it just now if you did. You keep running up to the limit of what’s possible and scratching at it.” She looked down. “But I understand… you might not have a choice anymore.”
“I always have a choice,” I said. “If I have to use the map to save Karakhorum, I’ll choose to. I have to save Karakhorum, no matter what happens to my body. I’m choosing to finish what I started, no matter the cost.”
A tear dripped down her cheek. “I… I understand.”
I wiped her cheek. “For what it’s worth—”
An earthquake rocked the house. The roof creaked. Metal fittings on the shutters rattled. I got on top of Erhi. Dust fell from the ceiling. I was expecting the house to collapse, but after a moment, everything subsided. After another, it happened again. Silence. Again. Silence. Again.
“What’s happening?” Erhi cried.
“They’re footsteps.”
“Footsteps?!”
It went quiet, then I started hearing something softer. It sounded like the trickling of a stream over stone. Then it sounded like it went over dirt. Then wood. I felt something on my hand. I lifted it up to the light of Erhi’s flowers. Water pooled beneath Erhi and me.
“Water?” Erhi said. “Why is there—”
The water latched onto us. It tugged out of the house, shattering the door and threatening to pull us into the mist. Erhi grabbed my left hand, and I reached for the doorframe with my right. I held on by my fingertips. The water’s pull got stronger, curling itself around my ankles and creeping up my back. The doorframe moaned with the strain.
“Kublai!” Erhi screamed, the water now reaching over her shoulders in a thin web-like pattern.
The doorframe gave in, but I wouldn’t. I spun immediately, pulling Erhi closer to my chest. I looked out into the mist, but all I could make out was the three streams of water splitting into hundreds of tiny strings to form a net around us. I let it pull us off the porch and into the dirt, but then I dug my heels in, hoping to jerk ourselves free.
It worked. The net broke, but I only had a moment before it struck again.
“Stay still,” I shouted to Erhi. I dashed, trying to get it to focus on me. Water jetted out from above, coming at me like whips. I shifted from left to right, leaping over the ones that came at my feet and slipping under the ones that came at my head. The ones coming for my chest were more difficult to dodge. I slipped one, but the other caught me in the shoulder. The tendrils slunk back into the mist.
I tried to keep as still as possible. I was closer to the river, or where the river was. It was dry, as if all the water had, well, got up and walked away. The creature I’d thrown into the river must have made it part of its body somehow.
Its shadow loomed over me, getting more and more defined as it lumbered forward. All that water had been condensed into a solid form which towered over Karakhorum. Its feet had become featureless pillars bubbling up from the ground like geysers; its arms hung at its side, liquid the texture of spit drooping down and being absorbed by its heels. It looked like it was slumped forward, its head pressed down by an invisible barrier. That must be how high the mist’s gotten, I realized.
It stepped out of the mist. The water had been stained with black algae and writhed around the creature’s mass like blood in translucent veins. It dragged its feet through houses, splashing its acidic liquid with every step. A droplet fell on my cheek and hissed. The pain didn’t shake me.
I dragged my foot along the ground, trying to inch away, but every movement made the creature paused and crane its head over the street. As soon as I made my move, it’d be on me. It looked slow, but the thin vines trailing from its feet were faster. Another spray of acid flung into the air.
“Ah!” Erhi cried behind me. She batted at the dark patch on her leg where the acid had landed.
“Erhi!” I shouted.
She froze. “Kublai, I—”
The creature snapped to attention, leaning forward as it screeched with the effort of pulling its leg over a house. Stones sunk as the acidic vines cut through them, racing toward Erhi. She raised her hands and tried to summon her plants, but nothing happened.
I spun, darting to her. I jumped over the veins of acid trailing along the floor. The creature wasn’t focusing on me. That was a mistake. I reached down, grabbed a rock and flung it at the creature’s head – not enough to kill it, but enough to buy us some time. A tendril reached out for Erhi, but I kicked it just in time. She tried to get to her feet, but her leg had been burned.
I picked her up. She put her arms around my neck. The creature roared as the stone took out half its cheek. I raced over the bridge and slipped into an alleyway. Coins jingled as I leapt over an abandoned card game. We still weren’t in the clear, and getting inside wouldn’t help with this creature. Distance would.
I turned the corner back into a street, but I didn’t stay on it for long. Erhi gripped me more tightly. I cut through a linen merchant’s stall, each piece of hanging cloth giving way with a whoosh. Next, I slipped between the shoe-shine’s stall and a smith’s forge, an unfinished sword still glowing half inside the forge. I paused, took one of the swords on the counter and gave it to Erhi.
“What’s this for?” Erhi asked.
“Could be useful.”
I kept going, into alleyways one moment and out them the next. I’d put an entire district between the creature and us, but I could still make out its silhouette lumbering over Karakhorum from here.
We were far from that creature, but not from others. A window shattered as another creature burst out of a nearby house. It looked like scowling goblin. I glared at it, waiting for it to make a move. When it did, I’d—
“There you are!” Batu screamed.
The creature searched the mist frantically – as if it couldn’t sense him. Batu’s footsteps echoed through the streets, louder as approached. The creature didn’t wait for him to show up. It scurried off.
Batu noticed us, then turned around and shouted in the mist. His body clinked when he moved, and he’d found a coatthat looked like it had been stuffed with something. “I found Erhi.”
“And Kublai.” Khulan approached, slower than Batu had.
“Were you… chasing that one?” Erhi said, shifting herself out of my arms.
Batu smiled. “Her idea. You know, you aren’t as much of a downer as you look, it turns out.”
Khulan pulled Batu’s coat open, revealing jars hung on strings. “It’s crude. We were just testing it with that smaller spirit.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“We filled jars with the mist,” Khulan said. “I was observing how the creatures moved. They don’t see the movements of the mist. That’d make them chase after every soft breeze. No, they seem to sense the changes in spiritual energy.” She squatted down and drew a circle in the dirt. “Imagine this is Karakhorum.” She scratched inside the circle. “That’s the ambient spiritual energy. Now, here’s a person with less spiritual energy than the surroundings. They see the gap. When the gap is still, that means it’s a building, but when that gap moves…”
“It means prey,” I said.
She nodded and stood back up. “The jars help make it less obvious. Batu probably looks like a floating head right now.”
“I don’t blame them for running away,” I said. “Batu’s head floating around? Terrifying.”
“How’d you figure this out?” Erhi said.
“I noticed that they can’t see one another. Then I saw one of them heal itself by absorbing the mist. It was just a hunch. I filled one jar with mist and threw it past a creature.” She tapped one of the jars. “Naturally, I was immediately ready to test it on a human subject.”
“This human subject,” Batu said. “She held me down and tied them to me. I could have died!”
“That was a risk I was willing to take,” Khulan said.
Erhi bent down and peered into a jar. “This won’t work for all of us.”
“No,” I said. “But I think I have an idea, and we won’t be needing any more jars.”
“What will we be needing?” Khulan said.
“That’s where it gets tricky,” I said. “Batu, I need you to stab me.”