CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 2
-
I
-
Everyone saw the man who’d identified himself as D stop. But then he didn’t move another muscle. He simply stood still, like a gorgeous piece of sculpture. In spite of themselves, they too halted.
“Something ain’t right,” Jan said, tilting his head to one side. His right hand was going for the broadsword on his belt. “Don’t move. I’m just gonna ask him a few questions,” he said, taking a couple of steps.
“You stay here,” the sheriff said, clapping a hand on the mobster’s shoulder as he stepped forward. “This is myjob. Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
The sheriff seemed to be fighting the wind as he dragged his massive form up behind D.
“Hey, is there something—”
Right in front of him, D turned. The sheriff’s eyes bulged in their sockets.
D didn’t have a face. Beneath his traveler’s hat was a gaping hole; not even his hair could be seen. A heartbeat later, the sheriff saw some sort of purplish mass shoot out of the hole. The thing split into countless purple tentacles that assailed the group behind him. There was no time to run or even to dodge them, so great was their speed. Wrapping around everyone’s torsos, they pulled tight with a strength that threatened to tear them apart. Maria’s face quickly turned blue from cyanosis. Weizmann groaned, and Jan found his arm crushed against his torso just as he was about to raise his sword.
Overhead, a black shape soaked up the sunlight as it zipped along. One of the tentacles coiled, trying to catch hold of it. It was rebuffed instead. A second and third entered the fray. Deftly averting them, an arrow of black iron flew with supersonic speed at D’s face, piercing the center of the writhing mass of tentacles. Reeling back without a sound, D tried to extricate the arrow with both hands, but it wouldn’t budge. The tentacles had already released the people. It was obvious that they danced in the throes of death at the bidding of their host.
When D finally fell over, one of the men avoided the still-twitching tentacles and went over to him. It was Bierce. Obviously the deadly arrows that had pierced D had been unleashed by him in midair. Like the others, he’d had both arms tied up by the tentacles, which now twitched on the ground in numerous pieces. They’d been torn apart. The question was, how?
The warrior looked down sternly at D in his death throes.
Just then, Jan came over clutching his throat and cursed, “That son of a bitch was lying when he said he was a Vampire Hunter. Damned if he wasn’t one of the monsters!”
“No, it’s not him.”
“What?” Jan exclaimed, and he wasn’t the only one with the wrathful look of a demon on his face.
“He was different somehow. Somewhere along the line we got duped. By more of these things, I guess.”
“These things? What the hell are they?”
“Things is the only way I can describe them. Looks like those aerial photos didn’t catch all the strange stuff on the ground. Are all of you okay?” Bierce said to the group behind Jan.
“Yeah. I’ll survive.”
“Keep the Stows and the kid back there,” the warrior told them.
“Why—”
“Looks like this guy isn’t all right.”
Following Bierce’s gaze, Jan flinched, and then immediately let out a gagging sound.
The massive form of the sheriff lay on the ground. Rather than strangling him, their foe had chosen to do something else. His head, ripped from his broad shoulders, sat on the ground about a foot and a half closer to the two men than the lawman’s body. It was facing them.
“Wish we could bury him, but we don’t have the time. We can have a funeral for him later. If we make it, that is.”
“You’ll jinx us with talk like that,” Jan said, his body seeming to quiver with a sort of helplessness.
“You scared?”
“Hell, yeah. I can take care of myself against humans, but I’m no good when it comes to monsters.”
The warrior grinned wryly. “Well, at least you’re honest.”
“That’s my best point. We’re counting on you now, you old warrior. You’re our only hope.” When the mobster looked back at the rest of the party, his face was indeed pale. “At any rate, let’s get going.”
The two men began to walk back to the rest of the party. Everyone was facing them. Weizmann, the Stows, Maria—their expressions all changed suddenly. The instant he recognized it as a look of fear, Bierce twisted his upper body around. He raised the arrow he still held in his left hand. But he didn’t get a chance to throw it.
Behind him stood the faceless D. His wounds hadn’t been fatal. However, his body was enveloped in white smoke, and the tentacles that spilled from the hole in his face rained down on the ground. The broken tentacles had started to dissolve. A stark, silvery tip protruded from the chest of his black coat.
When the body began to melt away and collapse as if it were hollow, the two of them saw the young man in black who stood there with naked steel in hand. This was the real one.
Such awe and terror coursed through Jan’s body that he literally shook. But he didn’t even know what sort of terror it was.
“We’re saved . . .” the mobster said, somehow managing to keep his knees from buckling.
“You came back?” Bierce asked, returning the arrow to his quiver and ignoring Jan.
“I kept right on going and ended up here,” D replied, sheathing his blade. And then, before Bierce could open his mouth again, the Hunter turned his back to him and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Transport Officer Weizmann called out shrilly as he ran over to block D’s path. He’d given Franz Stow the suckling’s rope and a pistol to cover him. “I’m responsible for this group. I can’t allow you to behave in such a self-centered manner.”
“I’m just passing through,” D said without halting.
With that, the officer from the Capital backed away, saying, “There’s no telling what’s out there. It’s too dangerous to move around haphazardly.”
“Then stay here.”
“Forget about him, officer,” Bierce said in a resigned tone. “He’s a whole different breed from us. Let him go. All we have to do is follow along behind him.”
“I can’t do that. I’m a public servant. And all your lives are my responsibility.”
“So that means we’re all supposed to take orders from you, Mr. High-and-Mighty?” Jan sneered.
“You got something to say, you son of a bitch?” the transport officer snarled, taking a big leap back. Covering more than ten feet, the jump even drew a small gasp from Bierce. And as Weizmann landed, he trained the threatening implement that had hung by his hip on D. Six thick barrels, each seemingly twenty millimeters in diameter, surrounded the center barrel of what appeared to be a .50 caliber gun. The ammo belt ran back into the cylinder on his back, which looked to hold an incredible fifty thousand rounds. The load that looked awkward on such a delicate man turned out to be a magazine.
As Bierce let out a gasp of admiration, beside him Jan’s face went pale.
“Hey, knock it off, man. I mean, delivery boy. Try talking this over, okay?”
Anyone who knew D would’ve closed his eyes at this point, easily able to imagine the scene that was going to play out. This gorgeous young man didn’t allow anyone to turn a weapon on him.
However, the situation took an unexpected turn.
D halted.
“Huh?” Jan exclaimed, his eyes going wide—apparently he’d pictured a deadly scene that was quite different.
D remained motionless.
The officer was perplexed. Though he had a terrible weapon leveled at the Hunter, the vision of beauty before him gave off such an eerie aura the officer forgot himself—he never would’ve thought the Hunter would face him empty handed. Weizmann’s fist was clenched, but he forgot to put enough power into his index finger to pull the trigger.
D then raised his right hand.
“What in the—” the transport officer cried, hugging his weapon close.
“Don’t!” Jan shouted. They were dealing with D here. But now he pictured the young man being torn to shreds by gunfire.
A black-gloved hand was slowly reaching for the hilt of his longsword.
“Don’t do it! I’ll shoot!” Weizmann shouted at him. His face was masked in sweat. His finger had the trigger squeezed back almost to the limit. The intensity of the unearthly air that linked him and D threatened to knock the officer unconscious.
D’s hand went for his weapon’s hilt. The ghastly air roiled from him like smoke from an explosion. Jan snorted and drew his broadsword, while the transport officer could only hang his head.
The bullets didn’t fly.
As D silently took his hand away from his sword’s hilt, everyone watched him as if frozen. The Hunter began to walk away. This time the transport officer didn’t stop him. He’d lost all desire to do so.
“That was pathetic. That’s why you’re just a snot-nosed kid,” Jan spat at the stiffened officer, managing to hide his own trembling.
Turning, he continued frankly, “Okay, let’s get going. We can leave our fearless leader here.”
And with that, he started to walk away.
Fingers like steel sank into Jan’s shoulder. The pain was so great he couldn’t even cry out.
“What’ll we do, officer?” Bierce inquired.
As if these words had broken the spell over him, Weizmann lowered his weapon and reeled a little.
“Here I thought you were just a young fella with a short fuse. I’m glad you didn’t shoot,” Bierce said with a smile.
“Of course I didn’t. I’m a police officer.”
“You only shoot when you’re gonna be shot, then? So, what do we do?”
Wiping the sweat from his face, Weizmann looked up at the sky. The blue was deepening. Night would probably set upon them without any twilight.
“Let’s keep going like we were. For the time being, we’ll follow after him.”
“For the time being, eh?”
“Yes, for the time being. It’s my opinion that he’s headed in the same direction we are.”
“I’ll second that,” the warrior said with a nod, and Jan spat on the ground.
-
II
-
At some point, the wasteland had become a valley. They hadn’t noticed it because of the fog that had sprung up some time ago. Though they all exchanged nervous glances, D melted into the milky whiteness as he advanced ahead of them confidently, and it was all they could do just to keep from losing sight of him. Suspicions that he might transform into a monster like that thing they saw earlier flitted through their minds, but they couldn’t think of anything else to do, so they just kept following along after the vision of beauty.
The next thing they knew they were going down a gentle slope, and when they reached the bottom, all they could see was sheer cliffs. To their left ran a broad, silvery flow. The stream through the valley coursed rather swiftly, baring foamy tusks when it struck the rocks along its banks. When walking close to it, the members of the group found not only their legs dampened by the droplets of spray but their faces as well.
“Come on, let’s take a little break already,” Maria called up to Weizmann, who was at the forefront of the party. “Mr. Stow can’t keep this up, and the kid’s not doing so well, either.”
She was actually helping the old woman by lending her a shoulder to lean on. For the last hour, the elderly man and the boy had also been showing signs of exhaustion.
Jan, who’d been covering the rear, ran over and caught Toto by the shoulder as the boy began to wobble then dropped down into a squat.
“Damned kid. That’s what you get for playing tough. Okay, climb up here,” he said, presenting his back to the boy.
Turning his face away in a snit, the boy started to walk off. Time and again Jan had offered to help, and each time the boy had refused with the same attitude. After two or three steps, he fell.
Racing over, Jan scooped him up and said, “You should’ve said something. Look, I know you don’t like me, but having you falling all over the place will just slow us down. We’re bringing you along, whether you like it or not. Now climb up here.”
No sooner had he forced the boy onto his back than Franz, who was standing right in front of him, collapsed.
“This ain’t good. Hey, delivery boy!” he yelled to the officer, but Weizmann was in charge of the suckling. He was in no position to lend a shoulder to the elderly man.
Merely glaring back at the mobster, he shouted to the blurry figure up ahead, “Hey, D—I need to talk to you!”
This accomplished nothing. The figure of unearthly beauty grew fainter, dwindling in the fog.
“Officer, do you have any money?” Bierce asked.
“Money? I’ve got some to cover expenses while I bring this clown in.”
“How much?”
“A good five thousand dalas.”
“I can’t say that it’ll be enough, but it’s better than losing our guide. Hey, D!” the warrior called into the mysterious fog. “It seems Officer Weizmann wants to hire you.”
The man in question, shocked, was about to say something when the warrior told him, “Well, you don’t want that suckling to get away, do you?
“Your pay will be four thousand dalas. We want you to take care of a Noble lady in waiting who’s after the transport officer. Apparently she’s gonna try to bump him off.”
The warrior finished saying this before Weizmann could interrupt him, and then focused his gaze up ahead. Apparently the others had heard as well, because they all had the same intent look in their eyes.
The fog continued to eddy, and there was no response from D. It looked as if the fog had swallowed the warrior’s words up, and weariness and discouragement spread across the faces of all.
Just then, D appeared less than five yards from Bierce. A stir went through the group.
“Okay, time to talk business. Make this work,” Bierce said, giving the officer’s back a push. “I’ll take this guy from you.”
Though the warrior reached for the suckling’s rope, Weizmann knocked his hand away. He didn’t want anyone else doing his job.
“The state of affairs is just as he described. Will you take the job?”
“On two conditions,” D said.
“What?”
“I have work up ahead. That gets taken care of first.”
“I suppose that’s okay,” the transport officer replied with an unenthusiastic nod.
“One other thing—payment in advance,” D said.
An expression of relief skimmed across the officer’s face. Still gripping the suckling’s rope, he took a purse from his pocket and put four of the thousand-dala coins in D’s left hand. “Wha—” the officer exclaimed, eyes bulging.
“What is it?” Bierce asked, an inquisitive look on his face, but the officer replied that it was nothing and put his change purse away.
Letting out a breath, he said, “The sun will be going down soon. We’ll have to camp out. Watch over all of us.”
“I signed on to slay a Noble maidservant out to get you,” D replied.
“Yes, but she said she’d kill everyone around me. They’re all in danger.”
Bierce had to fight the urge to grin. He found it a very clever plan.
“The deal’s off,” D said, putting his hand into his coat pocket. Four thousand dalas wasn’t nearly enough.
“Wait! If you get us safely to the Capital, you’ll be paid more. From the state treasury. Guaranteed.”
D held his arm out, and glittering bits fell to the ground with a mellifluous sound. Gold coins. He turned his back to them without another word.
“Wait!” Weizmann called out to him, but there was nothing more he could do.
“Excuse me . . .”
Though the voice sounded as if it might’ve been obliterated by the wind, it seemed to have reached D’s ears.
The Hunter halted and turned.
“Hey, now!”
“Now, just a—”
Jan and Maria had called out in surprise. Squatting, Jan let the boy Toto climb down. He’d started squirming on the mobster’s back. His frail legs still seemed exhausted, and they looked terribly unreliable as he began to walk. The boy went a step closer to D than the transport officer.
“Here—add this to the payment,” Toto said, raising his little fist.
Gorgeous dark eyes of unfathomable depth caught the copper coin that rested on the boy’s soft palm.
“Sheesh! Ten dalas!” Jan remarked with disgust, but his words became a cry of pain. Maria had driven her elbow into his solar plexus. Her face was tinged with strong emotion.
The black-gloved hand overlapped with the small, pale one. When it came away again, the copper coin was gone.
“And for that—take care of everybody,” the boy mumbled. He was a little tongue tied. He hadn’t opened his mouth enough.
“You have a deal,” D replied.
None of them understood the miracle that had just occurred.
“Kid . . .” Maria muttered in a low voice. A silvery-haired figure left her side and gave Toto a hug. It was Mrs. Stow.
“This child . . . asked him to look out for us . . .”
Tears streamed from the old woman’s eyes, dampening the boy’s hair. Quickly touching his hand to the spot, their little savior looked up into this strange rain with an expression that suggested he was about to break down and cry. The old woman hugged him again.
D said, “This path doesn’t lead to the road to the Capital.”
It was a surprising remark.
“Th—then why the hell are we headed this way?” Jan sputtered, but there was really no point in complaining, since they’d taken it upon themselves to follow D.
“I thought I made it clear I had business out here. If you have a problem with that, we can call this off.”
“Okay, okay, you’ve made your point.”
“Can I ask you something?” Bierce inquired, raising one hand. “What’s out there?”
“An old fortress.”
“A fortress?”
Apparently this was news to Bierce, who cocked his head to one side. The rest of the group exchanged glances, but of course they didn’t know anything either.
“So tell us about it,” Officer Weizmann said, leaning forward. Essentially, he was the Hunter’s employer, and that accounted for his arrogant tone.
“Once, this whole region was a ‘playground’ for the Nobility,” D began to explain. The name had survived into the present day, but all who knew how it’d actually been in antiquity had since turned to dust. All that remained of the original Playground was part of a research facility that was also a shrine. Ten thousand years earlier, the Sacred Ancestor’s troops had come down on the Nobles who controlled the region. They smashed through the net of defenses, until about three hundred surviving Nobles were left holed up in some ruins. Though they were outnumbered and outgunned, they had something else on their side: faith.
“Don’t imagine that the Sacred Ancestor was the only god the Nobles worshiped,” D told his rapt audience. “They believed in their own personal deities. But the ones who sought shelter out here worshiped a god that was unlike anything else. Against these three hundred or so Nobles was a force of thirty thousand—yet it took them thirteen months to take the fortress, thanks to that god. The Sacred Ancestor’s army destroyed all who’d found refuge there and, it is said, laid utter waste to these lands and the fortress, but for some reason it seems the fortress remains.”
“And that god—was it destroyed along with the Nobles?” Mr. Stow inquired with great trepidation. His face, covered with wrinkles and age spots, wore an earnest expression. When a person was this close to the end of his days, he became interested in any kind of god.
“I don’t know,” D replied. “But part of the Playground that was supposedly annihilated remains operational.”
“Would that be that thing—the thing that made itself look like you?” Jan asked, snarling like a beast.
In a hopeful tone, the complete opposite of Jan’s growl, the old man said, “Then, the Nobles’ god is still . . .” His body quivered.
Jan didn’t seem to like this one bit. “What are you sounding so happy about, old-timer? You saw that last monster, didn’t you? The god is that thing’s boss. Something like that might still be around. It’d gobble us up in a second.”
“Even with that god on their side, the besieged Nobles couldn’t win?” Bierce asked while rewinding his crimson scarf.
“Not in the end,” D said.
“So, what are you going to do there?”
Not responding to Maria’s question, the Hunter said, “The sun will be going down soon. I know you’re tired, but we have to set up camp.”
-
Setting up camp consisted of lighting the portable atomic lamp they’d taken from the aircraft and staying huddled around it; that was all they could manage. The fog lifted, and they could see each other clearly. Fortunately, the atomic lamp generated sufficient heat in a fifty-yard radius.
Noticing Bierce sitting against a rock with his eyes closed as she came back from washing her face at the riverbank, Maria walked over, stealing a glance at D standing in the distance.
“Say, you know something about that Hunter, don’t you?”
Without looking up at her, Bierce replied, “There’s nobody in my line of work who doesn’t know about him.”
“He’s that famous?”
“He’s a dhampir, with human and Noble blood—so he’s both human and Noble, yet neither human nor Noble.”
Maria looked surprised. She said, “That sounds pretty deep.”
Her tone was rather pensive, and she quickly donned an unsettled look and asked, “When he came out of the fog earlier, did you notice something? The fog parted right down the middle.”
“He’s that sort of man. Even the fog would want to do what she could for him.”
Maria gave the warrior a look that seemed to ask, What are you talking about, you idiot? as she said, “I never thought of the fog as being a woman.”
“I saw something weird, too.”
“Oh?”
“Weizmann must’ve seen it as well. When he gave him his advance, D took it with his left hand.”
“You’re right—does that mean he’s a southpaw?”
“He keeps his right hand free so if anything comes up, he can go for his weapon fast,” the warrior said, giving Maria a cold glance before he crinkled his brow. “But it looked like the palm of D’s hand smiled.”
“What?”
“A human face formed in it and grinned—I’m certain of it.”
-
III
-
The elderly couple, Toto, and Maria nodded off, in that order. Jan and Transport Officer Weizmann were fast asleep. The suckling’s head drooped—D alone stood some distance from the glow of the atomic lamp, but down by his feet someone called out to him.
“Well, that’s a dhampir for you. The night’s your element,” said Bierce the warrior, his upper body propped up against a smallish boulder. “I haven’t thanked you yet for saving us today, have I?”
D was silent. Perhaps that was his way of saying such pleasantries were unnecessary.
“Well, I’m saying it now. Thank you.”
Staring at the man as he bowed his head a bit, the Hunter remarked, “You’re ready to call it quits, aren’t you?”
After his stunned look, a wry grin surfaced on Bierce’s face. “You mean because it’s not like a warrior to go thanking people left, right, and center? Yeah, you’re right.”
Bierce chopped at the back of his neck with the edge of his hand.
“I’ll be forty this year. A cyborg horse is more my style, but I got on that skybus because I’d taken a job as a guard in the Capital. It’s nice having your freedom, but that’s a young man’s game. When you get older, it’s best to settle down to some quiet pasture. Hmm . . . I don’t suppose a dhampir like you could understand that, though.”
“There are old people and a child,” D said. “They’re asleep now, exhausted. But they’ve all been depending on you, haven’t they?”
Bierce said nothing.
“Because they thought you were a warrior. And that you’d be a lifeline, there to save them if they needed you.”
The old woman had leaned on Maria’s shoulder, and the boy had ridden on Jan’s back. Even though Bierce had to be tougher than any of them, he hadn’t been asked to help.
“Sorry. Their lifeline is a piece of junk,” Bierce said in a self-deprecating manner. “When they wake up, I’ll carry the kid.”
“If you call yourself a warrior, you’ve got better things to do.”
When D said this, Bierce leapt to his feet.
“Finally time for the real deal?”
Slinging the quiver of arrows that rested by his right arm across his back, he put his longsword on his hip. His movements were quick, without the slightest pause.
In the meantime, D woke those who were sleeping. It wasn’t clear just how he did it; he merely had to lay one hand on the shoulder of each and they were wide awake.
“What is it?” the transport officer asked.
“The enemy. Take cover behind that rock.”
As soon as D spoke, the officer raced over to the suckling and coiled the rope that had been tied to a rock around his hand instead.
On seeing Bierce with iron arrows between the fingers of his right hand, Jan shuddered. It was fighter’s nerves.
“So, the fuckers are coming? I want a piece of ’em, too,” the mobster said, tucking his broadsword through his belt.
“The enemy numbers five,” Bierce said. His eyes were closed. He must’ve listened for their footsteps.
“I’ll take them.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on a spot where nothing but those words remained. D was already headed for the water’s edge. Without hesitating, he stepped into the depths. Knowing that running water was the nemesis of those with Noble blood, Bierce got a gleam in his eyes.
Though fairly swift, the current didn’t budge the Hunter an inch as he went out into the middle and turned upstream. The water rose to his waist.
Out of the fog and darkness, five figures came gliding across the water’s surface. They halted five yards from D. Apparently they, too, were unaffected by the current. This was thanks to the gold disks their boots rested on. About a foot in diameter, they allowed their rider to move like a whirligig beetle, and as they now demonstrated, they also gave a person total control even in the fiercest current. The five halted only for an instant, and then glided across the water’s surface to form a ring around D. All of them wore golden armor and helmets. Four were armed with long spears, while the fifth held a laser gun.
“So, someone to play with after all this time?” the armored figure facing D said with relish. His golden cape swayed in the night breeze. “I’m sure you must know what this place is—so you’re either very unlucky or very stupid.” Staring at the people by the shore, he said, “There are a few more over there, I see. We’ll have to round them up and get them to join us in some mermaid hunting. Like so!”
From a pouch at the waist of his armor he pulled out something like a minnow and threw the thrashing little thing into the water. Suddenly it became a giant, six-foot-long fish that tried to swim away. A stark flash of light from his armored right hand tied him and the water together. Perhaps D alone saw the thrust he’d made with ungodly speed. Kicking up a tremendous spray, the gigantic fish and the long spear that pierced it were raised high.
“It hurts! It hurts so much!” said a human voice.
Maria and Mrs. Stow screamed. But they hadn’t seen the worst. As the armored figure turned the fish toward them with a little chuckle, they saw the face of a human girl writhing in the throes of death.
Raising the twitching body high, the armored figure laughed, “This is what we mean by ‘mermaid hunting.’ There’s ‘were-tiger hunting,’ as well. Tigers or fish—which will it be?” His laughter swelled into something louder and more malevolent.
But then another voice rang out, soft yet strong and cold, saying, “I know something else, too.”
The figure’s laughter stopped dead.
“What?”
“This.”
At that moment, the gorgeous figure in black pounced. Perhaps it was his beauty that mesmerized the armored man.
When a blade whizzed down and sliced through their compatriot’s helm, cleaving him down to the ribs, the others became masses of murderous intent and leveled their spears. The laser marksman who’d dropped back a pace raised his weapon to his shoulder. A crimson arrow penetrated his throat, going in through the left side and jabbing out from the right.
Not even glancing at their companion as he fell, the remaining three squared off against D, blasting rays of blistering heat into the sky all the while. They knew there was no way they could defeat their opponent if they flew off the handle. The way they adjusted their stance and lowered their center of gravity as they readied their spears was so skillful and precise, it left Bierce paralyzed as he prepared to loose a second arrow.
D sank down. His blade was horizontal, at eye level, the tip pointed ever so slightly down as the flowing water hid him up to the elbow. The stark blade then vanished from the trio’s view. As did the Hunter.
The four attackers halted in the river like four stones in human form.
Jan coughed, and Maria held Toto tight. Even the suckling was frozen.
The figure that came flying at the Hunter with fog trailing behind him was the opponent who’d been behind D and to his left. As it flew through the air, his spear was every bit as swift as the first man’s had been. The water parted by D’s hand. A sword blade appeared and batted away the long spear, then limned an arc overhead, following which the body of D’s foe hit the water some ten feet away, split open from the crotch all the way to the right lung as it sank. But before it did, the weapons with which the remaining two struck—one from behind the Hunter and to the right, the other head on—were easily knocked away, and as the attackers were left off balance, flashes of light ruthlessly carved through their chests.
Changing the spot where he stood ever so slightly, the young man was still poised for action, while behind him, five black streaks flowed away.
Sheathing his daunting blade without wiping it or flicking it clean, D climbed out of the water, where he was greeted not by cheers, but by a deathly silence. His battle, which was beyond human ken, had left the others chilled—but that wasn’t what their eyes or their faces said. They had seen D as he really was.
He told the people who were dazedly staring at him, “There’s no way to be certain more won’t be coming. We’re leaving.”
“That’s crazy!” Jan shouted in protest, pointing to the aged couple. “Look at them! Those two can’t make it another step. I’m beat, and so is everyone else. Before those clowns’ friends could get us, we’d die of fatigue.”
“He’s right,” Bierce said in the mobster’s support. “And it’s ten times harder walking at night than it is by day. Even if we carry the old folks and the kid, it’ll really slow us down.”
“I want the men to come with me.”
With this odd remark, D walked toward the cliff. Following him without a clue what was going on, Jan gasped. There was a small patch of cylindrical plants about six feet tall growing beneath the cliff.
“What, you thinking about making a raft?” Jan said, his eyes going wide. “These trees will float all right, but they’re so hard you couldn’t cut into ’em with an ax. Not that we even have an ax in the first place.”
Arms extended, he was shrugging his shoulders when a stark white flash blazed before him.
“Huh?”
There was just a single flash—and without a backward glance at the cylindrical stalks hitting the ground, D headed off toward the next source of building materials.
