Kel barely rolled clear as the knee came down where his body had been a heartbeat earlier and smashed into the street.
BOOM!
Stone exploded outward. Broken pieces tore through the air as the shockwave caught Kel before he could regain his footing and threw him across the road. He crashed through a pile of burned boards, rolled through ash and stopped hard against the remains of a market stall.
Pain lit up his ribs.
For several seconds, Kel heard nothing but ringing. His vision blurred around the edges, but he forced himself onto one elbow anyway.
Across the street, Drako stood where the knee had landed. One leg remained slightly bent, his balance centered beneath him as though the attack had required no effort at all. Then he straightened, completely relaxed.
Kel coughed and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"You're really starting to piss me off."
Drako began walking toward him.
"Good."
Kel forced himself upright.
"Anger gives you energy."
Drako rolled one shoulder until it popped.
"It also makes stupid fighters easier to kill."
Kel raised his fists again, though his arms already felt heavier than they had a minute ago.
Drako kept coming, his Abyssal Qi drifting close around his body in slow dark waves. After feeling the full weight of it moments earlier, Kel understood something he hadn't before.
Drako wasn't releasing all of that pressure because he needed it.
He was doing it because he wanted Kel to feel it.
"You've got power," Drako said. "More than you know what to do with."
Kel shifted his lead foot.
Drako noticed immediately.
"But you're young. Your body reacts fast. Your Qi reacts even faster now."
Kel said nothing.
Drako's crimson eyes remained fixed on him.
"But experience?"
The smile disappeared from his face.
"Experience teaches you what somebody is going to do before they decide to do it."
Kel felt his stomach tighten.
Drako tapped his own chest once.
"I've got two hundred years of fighting behind every strike I throw."
Kel's eyes widened despite himself.
"Two hundred?"
Drako smiled again.
"That distracted you."
Kel realized his mistake too late.
Drako moved.
Kel's jab fired automatically, but Drako brushed it aside with the back of his hand. Kel threw the cross and Drako didn't retreat. He stepped inside it.
A knee buried itself in Kel's ribs.
Air exploded from Kel's lungs. Before he could fold completely, an elbow cut across his cheek and snapped his head sideways.
Blood sprayed across the dirt.
Kel stumbled backward, but Drako remained on him. A low kick slammed into Kel's thigh, and his leg nearly disappeared beneath him.
Kel crashed against a broken wall, caught himself and tried to reset his stance.
Drako was already there.
Kel threw another jab.
Parried.
Cross.
Deflected.
Hook.
Drako leaned outside it.
Kel tried to pivot, but Drako's shin struck the outside of his leg and ruined the turn before it started. Kel stumbled, and a palm shoved against his forehead.
Not hard.
Just disrespectful enough to throw off his balance.
Drako stepped away.
Kel stared at him.
That was when he understood.
Drako could have hit him.
Instead, he'd pushed him.
He was demonstrating something.
Teaching.
Kel hated that almost more than the pain.
Drako gestured toward his feet.
"You looked down."
Kel frowned.
"What?"
"When I kicked you."
Kel tried to steady his breathing.
Drako tapped his own shoulder.
"Watch the body. The leg doesn't move by itself."
Kel wiped blood from his cheek.
"Why are you teaching me?"
Drako shrugged.
"Because beating somebody who learns nothing is boring."
Kel rushed him.
Drako's grin widened.
Kel jabbed twice. Drako parried the first and slipped the second. Kel changed levels and went to the body, but Drako turned his hip enough to take the punch against his side instead of letting it land cleanly.
Kel stepped outside.
Drako's elbow was waiting.
This time Kel saw the shoulder move first.
He ducked.
The elbow passed over his head.
Kel's eyes sharpened.
Drako noticed.
"There you go."
Kel planted and fired a right hand toward the ribs. Drako blocked it, but Kel immediately pivoted away before the counter.
For half a second, he felt proud of himself.
Then Drako's foot swept his lead leg.
Kel hit the ground hard.
Drako looked down at him.
"Better."
Kel groaned.
"You're enjoying this way too much."
"Absolutely."
Kel rolled away just as Drako stomped where his stomach had been. The street cracked beneath the strike, and Kel scrambled back to his feet.
Drako followed.
This time there was no pause.
A low kick came first. Kel checked it, and pain shot through his shin.
Then came the elbow.
Kel slipped.
The knee followed.
Kel twisted away, but the edge of it still caught his side and sent him staggering.
Drako grabbed the back of his head.
Kel's stomach dropped.
He knew what was coming.
The knee drove upward.
Kel shoved both forearms between them and reinforced them with Internal Qi.
The impact lifted him off his feet anyway.
Drako released him, and Kel crashed backward. He rolled once before stopping on his stomach.
For a moment, he stayed there.
His body was beginning to stop listening.
The heat he'd been drawing from the burning settlement still fed that strange strength inside him, but it couldn't erase the damage. His ribs hurt. His thigh throbbed. His forearms were swollen, and every breath dragged across something sharp inside his side.
Drako walked closer.
"You've learned one path."
Kel raised his head.
"Internal Qi."
Drako pointed toward Kel's chest.
"Your body is beginning to understand it. Good."
Kel pushed himself onto one knee.
"But your Soul?"
Drako stopped.
"Sleeping."
Kel frowned.
Drako continued.
"And you don't have an element."
Kel's expression hardened.
He had heard versions of that his entire life. Other people could bend fire, water, wind, lightning or earth.
Kel couldn't.
Drako tilted his head.
"So tell me something."
Kel slowly stood.
"How do you plan to beat somebody who can do more than you?"
Kel raised his guard again.
"I haven't figured that part out yet."
Drako chuckled.
"At least you're honest."
Kel stepped forward.
He knew it was stupid.
His body knew it was stupid.
But he couldn't stand there and let Drako explain why he should lose.
Kel jabbed.
Drako parried.
Kel crossed.
Drako slipped inside.
Kel tried to angle out before the knee came. He made it halfway, but the strike still caught his ribs.
Kel grunted.
An elbow followed.
He ducked.
Better.
Drako kicked low.
Kel lifted his shin.
Too slow.
The strike landed and his leg buckled.
Kel threw a desperate right hand on the way down.
Drako caught his wrist.
Kel froze.
Drako looked at the fist in his hand, then slowly raised his eyes toward Kel.
For the briefest moment, the amusement disappeared from his face.
There was something else behind his eyes now.
Thought.
Interest.
Not because Kel had landed the punch. He hadn't.
It was because even now, half beaten and running on instinct, his Internal Qi had reinforced the fist perfectly before Drako caught it.
Drako had seen fighters spend decades trying to make Qi move that naturally.
This kid had stumbled into it during one night.
Raw. Undisciplined. Reckless.
But rare.
Very rare.
Drako released Kel's wrist.
Kel stumbled backward.
"You're entertaining."
Kel barely got his guard up before Drako spun.
The heel struck him across the ribs.
Kel left the ground and crashed through the remains of a burning cart, disappearing beneath splintered wood.
Drako lowered his leg.
"Don't die too fast."
Inside the damaged building, Solara flinched at the impact. Dust fell from the ceiling as her Soul Qi cloak trembled around herself, Roku and the sealed case.
Roku looked toward the wall.
"That sounded bad."
Solara said nothing.
She could feel Kel.
Not clearly. She couldn't risk reaching through the cloak again, but she no longer needed to.
Every time Kel's Qi surged, it was followed by another brutal impact.
Her hands tightened.
Roku noticed.
"Solara."
"This is because of us."
"No."
"We brought that package here."
"We didn't know what it was doing."
"And Kel doesn't even know why they're here."
Another impact shook the building.
Solara closed her eyes.
She pictured Kel outside, bleeding and trying to protect people who had nothing to do with him. He was fighting someone Roku and Solara themselves had spent the night trying to avoid.
Her hands started shaking.
"We dragged him into this."
Roku shifted closer.
"Breaking the cloak gets all of them back on the case."
"I know."
"If you go out there, they'll find us."
"I know."
Roku stared at her.
The fact that she kept saying it made him understand before she spoke.
"No."
Solara looked at him.
"Roku."
"No."
"Take the case."
His expression hardened.
"Absolutely not."
"You can move faster without me."
"I'm not leaving you here."
"You don't have enough Qi for another fight."
"Neither do you."
Solara looked toward the wall.
"I have enough for one thing."
Roku followed her gaze.
"Don't."
Another crash came from outside.
Solara flinched.
Then she reached for the sealed case and placed it against Roku's chest.
The cloak shifted with it.
Roku grabbed the case automatically.
"Solara."
"Go to Transmorra."
"No."
"Roku."
"I'm not leaving you with Drako."
"I'm not asking you to fight him."
"You're asking me to leave while you do!"
Solara's eyes hardened.
"I'm asking you to finish the mission."
That stopped him.
She hated using those words.
Roku hated hearing them even more.
For most of their lives, he had been the one reminding her that the mission came first.
Now she was using his own rule against him.
"The package is why they came," Solara said. "If you get it out of this town, most of them follow you or keep searching for you. That gives everyone else a chance."
Roku stared at her.
"And you?"
Solara looked toward the street.
"I get Kel out."
Roku's jaw tightened.
"Then you both catch up."
Solara nodded.
Neither of them believed it would be that simple.
Roku strapped the dark-metal case beneath his coat. Solara placed one hand against it and concentrated, tightening the last of her cloak around Roku and the package.
Her own body slowly slipped outside of it.
Roku felt the difference immediately.
"Solara."
She smiled faintly.
"Now they won't see it until you're far enough away."
"And you?"
"I'm already staying."
He stared at her for another second before reaching for her wrist.
"Don't try to beat him."
Solara looked at him.
"Get Kel and run."
"I know."
"That's not a promise."
"Neither were half of yours."
Roku almost laughed.
Almost.
Then he pulled his hood lower.
"Transmorra."
Solara nodded.
"Transmorra."
Roku moved through the rear opening. His shadow stretched beneath him, and a moment later he disappeared into the smoke.
Solara remained alone.
For one second, fear almost stopped her.
Then another impact shook the street.
She ran.
Outside, Kel pushed himself free from the burning cart. One knee hit the ground, then the other. He caught himself with one hand before falling completely.
Drako approached slowly.
The fight had changed.
Kel could feel it.
Drako had stopped smiling.
Abyssal Qi began collecting around his right elbow. It wasn't wild or overflowing. It compressed tightly around the joint, becoming so dense that the air beside it seemed to bend.
Kel tried lifting his arms.
His body refused.
He forced them higher.
They dropped again.
Drako stopped in front of him.
"This one will break your spine."
Kel looked up.
Drako wasn't bragging.
That made it worse.
"Quick."
He shifted his weight.
"Clean."
Kel tried moving his legs.
Nothing.
Drako raised the elbow.
"A mercy."
Kel's heart slammed once.
Ba-dum.
Something answered.
Kel's eyes widened.
The pain didn't disappear.
Neither did the fear.
Instead, both suddenly felt farther away.
Kel heard his own breathing. The crackle of flames behind him. Drako's foot scraping against the ground. Somewhere farther away, a child was crying.
His awareness expanded for a fraction of a second.
It wasn't like Luno's insects.
It wasn't like sensing Internal Qi.
This was something else.
Something deeper.
Kel felt Drako's intent before the elbow moved.
Kill.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Decision.
Kel's body reacted.
A pressure stirred behind his ribs.
Drako's eyes narrowed.
The elbow paused for the smallest instant.
"Again?"
Kel didn't understand.
Drako leaned closer.
For the first time all night, genuine surprise entered his face.
"Soul Qi."
Kel's eyes flickered.
"What?"
Drako's grin slowly returned.
"You really don't know what you're doing."
The elbow dropped.
Kel tried to move.
Too late.
A figure entered between them.
Solara's hand met Drako's forearm.
She didn't try to stop the strike directly. That would have broken her.
Her arm curved with it as her hips turned. One foot slid backward while the other rooted into the street.
Foss Flow Wing Chun.
The elbow was redirected past Kel's shoulder.
Drako's eyes widened.
Solara continued the motion, allowing his power to flow past her instead of through her.
Then her palm snapped forward.
Soul Qi burst from the heel of her hand.
CRACK!
Drako slid backward.
Not far.
But enough.
His feet carved two lines through ash and dirt before he stopped.
Solara immediately dropped beside Kel.
"Kel!"
Kel blinked at her.
For a second, he looked genuinely confused.
Then recognition hit.
"Solara?"
She grabbed his shoulders.
"Look at me."
"I'm looking."
"Are you okay?"
Kel glanced down at himself.
Blood covered parts of his clothes and skin. Bruises were already forming, and one leg barely supported him.
He gave her a weak smile.
"Define okay."
Her eyes glistened.
Kel noticed immediately.
"Hey."
Her hands tightened against his shoulders.
"This is my fault."
Kel frowned.
"What?"
"You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you."
"We brought this here."
Kel tried to understand what she meant.
"The package?"
Solara's expression changed.
Kel realized he'd guessed correctly.
"That's what they were chasing?"
She nodded once.
Kel breathed out slowly.
"That explains a lot."
"I'm sorry."
Kel looked past her toward the road where Luno and the civilians had disappeared.
Then he looked back at her.
"I'd do it again."
Solara stared at him.
Kel's smile weakened.
"Those people still needed help."
She swallowed, then pulled one of his arms across her shoulders and helped him stand.
"Then we're surviving this together."
Kel grimaced as his weight settled onto his injured leg.
"You have a plan?"
"No."
"Great."
"I came here very quickly."
Kel almost laughed.
"That's becoming a problem with us."
Across the street, Drako slowly straightened. He looked down at the dirt covering his chest and brushed it away.
Then a laugh escaped him.
Solara and Kel looked over.
Drako's laugh grew.
Not angry.
Thrilled.
"This night keeps getting better."
Solara lowered into her stance while Kel pulled away from her enough to stand on his own.
Drako looked at Solara first.
"The girl."
Solara's expression hardened.
Then Drako glanced past her.
His eyes narrowed.
For half a second, Kel saw something change.
The package.
Drako couldn't feel it.
Not here.
Not anymore.
His gaze moved across the street and then toward the northern and eastern roads.
Solara noticed.
So did Kel.
Drako looked back at her.
"You sent it away."
Solara said nothing.
Drako's smile slowly returned.
"Smart."
Abyssal Qi rolled outward from him again.
Solara's stomach tightened.
Kel barely managed to raise his fists.
Drako spread his arms.
"Two on one."
Kel looked at Solara.
"He's happy about this."
"I noticed."
Drako settled into his stance. His knees bent slightly, elbows tightened close and his weight balanced perfectly beneath him.
Dark Abyssal Qi gathered around his fists, elbows, knees and shins.
Every limb became dangerous.
Solara lowered her center of gravity beside Kel, keeping her hands open instead of closed. Her Soul Qi remained faint. She had already spent too much tonight.
Kel's Internal Qi pulsed unevenly through his exhausted body.
Something else flickered beneath it now.
That brief awareness.
That strange pressure behind his ribs.
He still didn't know what Drako meant by Soul Qi.
But Solara did.
She felt it.
Weak.
Uncontrolled.
New.
Kel looked at her.
"You felt that?"
Solara nodded.
"What is it?"
"Later."
Drako grinned.
Kel sighed.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Drako's Abyssal pressure thickened.
"If the boy dies, girl..."
Solara's eyes sharpened.
Drako leaned forward.
"...it's because he wasn't strong enough."
Kel's jaw tightened.
Solara answered before he could.
"Then you'll have to get through me first."
Drako laughed.
"There it is."
The flames lining the street bent beneath his Qi as cracks spread through the ground around his feet.
Kel settled beside Solara.
His ribs screamed. His leg throbbed, his hands trembled and every breath hurt.
None of it stopped him from lifting his guard.
Solara glanced sideways.
"Kel."
"Yeah?"
"If I tell you to run..."
Kel looked at her.
She already knew the answer.
"Don't waste your breath."
Solara almost smiled.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
Across from them, Drako lowered his chin.
The amusement remained in his crimson eyes, but something beneath it had changed.
He had spent most of the fight teaching Kel.
Now Solara had arrived.
The package was moving away.
And Kel had shown the first signs of awakening another path of Qi in the middle of being beaten nearly unconscious.
Drako no longer looked bored.
For someone like him, that was dangerous.
He stepped forward.
Kel raised his fists.
Solara opened her hands.
Internal Qi and Soul Qi stirred beside one another while Drako's Abyssal pressure swallowed the street.
The lesson wasn't over.
It had only gained another student.
End of Chapter 40 — The Lesson of Monsters