Chapter 33 — They Keep Finding Us
The hand dropped, and every hidden fighter moved at once.
Roku didn't wait to see how many there were. "Run!"
Solara was already moving.
They broke toward the southern end of the ruined settlement just as the first attackers came down from the rooftops. Others rushed from windows and alleys, closing the gaps between the buildings before Roku and Solara could reach them. Roku kept one arm tight against the sealed case beneath his coat while his other hand pulled a dagger free.
A man dropped from a rooftop directly in front of them. Roku's shadow shot across the dirt and caught beneath the man's foot. With one sharp pull, Roku ripped his balance away and sent him shoulder-first into the stone wall.
Roku didn't stop to finish him. "Keep moving!"
Solara slipped past, only for another attacker to come out of an alley with a blade already swinging. She caught his wrist, stepped inside the attack and turned with his momentum. The blade passed harmlessly beside her shoulder before her palm struck his chest. A short burst of Qi threw him backward into another attacker.
They kept running.
They weren't here to win. They didn't even know who these people were. The package was the mission, and every fight they avoided meant more Qi for whatever waited farther down the road.
They reached the final row of buildings, but more attackers were already moving to intercept them. Roku glanced left and saw three. There were two to the right.
"Right!"
Solara trusted him.
They cut between the buildings before the gap could close. Someone grabbed for Roku's coat as he passed, but he twisted away. For half a second, the case beneath his coat shifted against his ribs, and his heart jumped. Roku immediately pressed his arm against it.
Still there. Still secure.
They cleared the settlement and disappeared into the Badlands without looking back.
For the first hour, their plan worked. Roku abandoned the main road and led them into a dried riverbed winding southeast between walls of cracked earth. They changed direction twice, crossed long stretches of exposed stone where footprints couldn't remain, then passed through shallow water beneath an old irrigation bridge. Solara even suggested doubling back before turning south again.
Anyone tracking them normally should have lost them.
Eventually Roku slowed. "Anything?"
Solara closed her eyes and allowed a thin layer of Soul Qi to spread outward. She felt insects beneath the ground, small animals hiding among rocks and a few distant travelers. Nothing threatening.
She opened her eyes. "Clear."
Roku nodded, and they continued.
Ten minutes passed before Solara glanced behind them. There was nothing. Twenty minutes passed, and the riverbed remained empty.
"I think we lost them."
Roku looked at her. "Don't say that."
"What?"
"You know what happens when people say that."
Solara stared at him. "That's not how reality works."
"Reality's been having a bad week."
Despite herself, Solara smiled.
A pebble rolled down the riverbank.
The smile disappeared.
Both stopped immediately. Roku's hand found his dagger while Solara looked toward the top of the ridge. Nothing was there.
Another pebble fell.
Then a human face appeared over the ridge.
It disappeared almost immediately.
Roku's stomach tightened. "Move."
They ran.
Three bodies dropped into the riverbed behind them. They were human, at least physically. Their clothing was torn and covered in dust, and there was nothing strange about their bodies. Their eyes were what made Solara's stomach turn.
They were empty.
One landed farther ahead.
Then another.
Solara stared at them. "How?"
They had changed direction, covered their tracks and crossed stone and water. There was no way anyone from the settlement should have known where they were.
Roku drew his second dagger. "Doesn't matter."
The first infected rushed him. Roku stepped aside and struck the man's temple with the flat of his dagger hard enough to drop most people.
The infected stumbled.
Then it turned.
There was no pain on its face. No hesitation. Not even anger. It simply came at Roku again.
Roku's expression changed.
Solara reached deeper with her Soul Qi and immediately wished she hadn't. There was no human Soul inside that body. No fear, pain or consciousness she could reach. Only that cold, foreign presence occupying the space where a person should have been.
"Same as the others."
The infected charged again. Roku reversed his dagger and drove the blade beneath its jaw in one movement. The body dropped, but three more were already coming.
Roku looked toward the riverbank. "Up!"
Solara jumped, reinforcing her legs with just enough Qi to reach the top. Roku sent his shadow climbing the wall beside him and used it to pull himself upward.
Something grabbed his ankle.
Roku's stomach dropped.
He looked down and found one of the infected staring up at him without expression. Roku kicked it in the face once, then again, but its grip didn't loosen.
"Roku!"
Solara dropped onto her stomach and caught his wrist.
Roku drove his dagger downward. The infected finally released him, allowing Solara to pull him over the edge. They hit the ground together.
"Run!"
They didn't stop until the riverbed disappeared behind them.
By midday, they reached another settlement. Caravans crowded its main road, merchants shouted over one another, and children ran between wagons while travelers lined up around the wells.
Normal life.
For the first time since morning, Solara felt herself relax.
Roku didn't.
His eyes constantly moved from the roofs to the windows, then the alleys, the crowd and back to the rooftops.
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Looking at everyone like they're about to kill us."
"One of them might."
"You're making me nervous."
Roku glanced at her. "I'm making you nervous?"
"You know what I mean."
They entered separately. Roku went first while Solara waited before following with another group of travelers. They didn't speak, walk together or even look at each other. If someone was tracking two travelers, they weren't going to make it easy.
Roku bought water while Solara changed the cloth around her shoulders.
Fifteen minutes.
That was all they needed.
Then Solara felt it.
Her steps slowed as hundreds of human Souls surrounded her. She could feel annoyed merchants, tired travelers, hungry children, people arguing and people laughing. Normal emotions from normal people.
Then something cold moved among them.
Solara stopped.
One.
Another.
A third.
Human bodies, but no human Souls.
Her eyes widened.
She found Roku behind a stable.
"We have to go."
He saw her expression. "How many?"
"Three."
"Where?"
"Market."
Roku immediately moved.
They left through the southern side of town without fighting or drawing attention.
Exactly as planned.
Two hours later, they saw another one.
A young woman stood beside the road. She was barefoot, with dust covering her clothes. Her head tilted slightly when Roku and Solara approached.
Neither stopped.
The woman's eyes followed them.
Roku's hand moved toward his dagger, but Solara touched his arm.
"Don't."
They changed direction.
The woman followed.
They walked faster.
She walked faster.
Roku looked back.
Still there.
They started running.
So did she.
Then another infected appeared ahead.
Roku stopped while Solara turned toward the woman still coming from behind.
"How are they doing this?"
Roku looked east. There was nothing but open terrain.
"That way."
They changed direction again.
An hour later, they encountered four more.
They went west.
Seven appeared before sunset.
Different roads. Different directions. Different groups.
But they always appeared.
Solara finally stopped beside a rock formation. "This doesn't make sense."
"I know."
"We crossed stone."
"I know."
"We doubled back."
"I know."
"We changed direction four times."
"I know."
"Then stop saying you know!"
Roku looked at her.
Solara immediately regretted shouting and rubbed both hands over her face.
"Sorry."
Roku said nothing.
Her breathing was faster than it should have been. She looked toward the empty road behind them and finally said what she'd been trying not to admit.
"I'm scared."
Roku looked at her. For once, there was no sarcastic answer and no attempt to pretend everything was under control.
"So am I."
Solara stared at him.
Roku almost never admitted something like that.
He touched the case beneath his coat to make sure it was still secure. "Doesn't change the mission."
"No."
"We get this to Transmorra."
Solara nodded. "And then somebody else can deal with whatever this is."
Roku looked back at the empty road.
For now, at least.
"Best idea I've heard all day."
They never reached the next town.
The sun was nearly gone when figures appeared across the road. Roku counted twelve before realizing there were probably more.
He turned.
Five stood behind them.
Movement appeared among the rocks to the east.
Then west.
Solara's heartbeat quickened. "Roku."
"I see them."
"We can't go around."
"I know."
This time she didn't yell at him.
Roku drew both daggers. "We make an opening."
"Where?"
He counted quickly. "Left."
"Why?"
"Only six."
Solara almost laughed. "That's your plan?"
"You have a better one?"
"No."
"Then six."
They moved.
The first infected charged, but Roku slipped outside its reach and cut his dagger across its throat. He didn't stop. The second reached for him, only for a shadow to snap around its ankle. Roku pulled, and the body hit the ground.
Solara stepped over it as another infected attacked her. She caught its wrist, turned with the movement and redirected its momentum. Her elbow struck its shoulder before her palm followed. Soul Qi punched through the body, making the foreign presence inside recoil.
It dropped.
"Opening!" Roku shouted.
They ran.
An infected grabbed Roku's coat.
The case slammed painfully against his ribs.
Roku twisted, but the infected wouldn't release him.
"Roku!"
Solara turned back and struck its forehead with her palm. Soul Qi burst through the empty body, loosening its grip long enough for Roku to drive a dagger into its neck.
"Go!"
They broke through.
The others followed.
Night finally swallowed the Badlands.
Normally, Roku liked darkness. Shadow was everywhere beneath the rocks, across the hills and between abandoned buildings. His Soul Qi responded more easily than it did beneath the harsh Badlands sun.
Tonight, darkness felt different.
Anything could be standing inside it.
They found an abandoned stone house away from the road. It had one door and two windows. Roku searched every room while Solara checked for Souls.
Nothing.
They covered the windows, made no fire and kept their voices below a whisper.
For the first time in hours, they sat down.
Solara leaned against the wall. "I'm tired."
"Sleep."
She looked at Roku. "You first."
"I'm watching."
"You've been watching all day."
"So?"
"So your eyes are red."
Roku rubbed them. "They're fine."
"You're a terrible liar."
"So are you."
Solara looked down.
Her hands were trembling.
She closed them together, but Roku had already noticed. He didn't say anything, and somehow that made it worse.
"How much Qi?" she asked.
"Enough."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the one I'm giving."
"Roku."
He sighed. "More than half."
It wasn't.
Solara knew.
She didn't push because her own reserves weren't much better.
She rested her head against the wall. "What if they don't stop?"
"They will."
"You don't know that."
Roku didn't answer.
Solara looked down at her bruised hands. "What if we can't deliver it?"
That question sat between them.
For the first time since they'd left Welther, failure didn't feel impossible.
Roku looked at her. "We will."
Solara nodded.
Neither believed it as strongly as they wanted to.
Then someone knocked on the door.
Both froze.
Roku slowly turned his head toward it.
Another knock followed.
Soft.
Almost polite.
A man's voice came from outside.
"Hello?"
Human.
Afraid.
"Anyone in there?"
Solara looked at Roku.
He shook his head.
Don't answer.
"Please."
Solara leaned toward him. "He could need help."
"Or he could get us killed."
"Roku—"
The man screamed.
Once.
The sound stopped halfway through.
Something wet struck the other side of the door.
Solara covered her mouth.
Roku stood.
A shadow appeared beneath the doorway.
Then another.
Then three more.
The handle slowly moved.
Locked.
Roku backed toward the window. "Solara."
The door shook once.
Solara climbed through the rear window.
Roku followed.
The door shook again, harder this time.
Roku dropped outside, and Solara grabbed his arm.
The entire door exploded inward.
Something came through.