An Account of Days Gone By

Chapter 3

It was around noon the next day that trouble broke out.

There was a tiny village called Machitez about three miles from Duke Van Doren’s castle, and to the east of that village was a sparsely grassed plain that was about a dozen miles square. Once every five years or so a market was set up there, and aside from that it was used as an emergency landing strip. Though it lacked hangars or maintenance facilities, a dilapidated cargo plane from the Capital landed there, depositing a dozen humans and some fairly enormous earth-moving equipment before leaving again.

They got into a truck they had to assemble themselves from a resilient kind of paper and headed off for the castle home of the duke. And when there was only about a thousand yards left to go, they ran into General Kiniski’s forces. In response to a soldier’s challenge, a man and a woman got out of the truck, the latter a blonde who introduced herself as Valerie Cozuf. Explaining that they were a survey party from the Capital examining Noble ruins and that they had permission from the duke, she then produced a certificate from the Archeology Bureau.

“It says here you arrive tomorrow,” the soldier said, eyeing them with suspicion.

“We were supposed to, but the Archeology Bureau screwed up and the Frontier-bound cargo plane we’d reserved opened up a day early, so we made use of it. And they’d moved everything up already, so tomorrow was booked by somebody else,” Valerie replied.

Once the soldier had relayed this information, General Kiniski appeared before the couple.

“The agreed-upon plan stipulated tomorrow, so you must adhere to that. Today, you may rest in the village of Machitez. Your return will be according to schedule,” he informed them.

“Can’t you do anything? This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” entreated the man—Professor Izumo Lovick—but the general wouldn’t hear of it, and the group was forced stay a night in Machitez.

“This is a colossal headache,” the professor grumbled.

“Still, we got permission to dig from surviving Nobles, and that in itself should be enough,” Dr. Valerie told him soothingly. They were lovers.

“You’ve got a point there. I hear this Duke Van Doren is the man they called ‘the Tiger’ and feared until a century ago, when he suddenly settled down. One theory has it that a new maidservant reformed him, but a bold, tough Nobleman doesn’t become a sissy just like that. I’m almost tempted to make finding out what happened another goal of this survey.”

“The next time you call anyone a sissy, I’m leaving you,” Valerie said, the smile never leaving her face. “But the man we ran into earlier, the one they called the General—he’s going to be a tough one to deal with, isn’t he?” Her lovely brow crinkled.

Though they were lovers, Valerie addressed the professor with a certain deference, as she was only twenty-four while he was forty-six.

“Guys like him really can’t be bribed, but I suppose we could try pumping the soldiers for info and see where his soft spot is—”

“Unfortunately, he’s an android,” said a youthful voice from behind them, causing the pair to turn and look.

They were in the professor’s room.

“Pardon my intrusion. I’ve been watching your movements ever since you arrived in Machitez,” said a man with something daring about his smile, and he touched a finger to the cloth of his turban. “I am Glantan. I lead a certain religious group,” he continued with a bow.

“And what might you want with us?” Valerie asked. Both she and the professor wore guarded looks. “We’re tired after a long journey from the Capital. If you’ve got something to discuss with us, could we trouble you to come back again after the sun goes down?”

“I suppose that really would be for the best, wouldn’t it? Only, neither you folks nor we have much time. I’ll put this frankly. I’d like you to add some of my compatriots to the dig you’re starting in the ruins tomorrow.”

The two of them looked at each other, then the professor rose from his chair and said, “Pardon me, but I’m supposed to do this for people from some religious group I know nothing about? Doesn’t that seem a tad presumptuous, to say nothing of being most irregular?”

“I respectfully ask that you accommodate us,” Glantan insisted.

Even after it became clear that the reason his people wanted to join the survey was because they wished to obtain papers and a statue of the founder of their religious movement that were somewhere in the ruins, the couple didn’t nod in understanding. While the man seemed personable enough, he didn’t quite look like an upstanding human being.

Twice his request had been flatly rejected, but as Glantan asked a third time, he took a leather pouch from his hip and dumped its contents on the floor. When the other two looked down at it, it cast a golden light on their faces. They were all thousand-dala coins. One was enough to buy a house, two would get a stagecoach, and three were enough to purchase an aircraft.

“There are five hundred of them. I’d be honored if they could aid your excavation in some small way.”

“You seem keenly aware of our financial situation. The Capital doesn’t take an active interest in archeological pursuits. They say the Nobility’s past can’t be unearthed without dredging up memories of the dark days when we were under their control. To be honest, I’d take a little kid’s pocket change to help fund this.”

“In that case—” Glantan looked at the professor, his eyes agleam.

“I have to ask you to take your money and go. Every last coin, if you please,” the professor told him flatly.

Apparently Glantan hadn’t expected this kind of opposition.

“Now, just a minute, Izumo—I mean, Professor Lovick. Don’t you think we should give his offer some consideration?”

“Doctor Valerie, while I realize you’re more practical than anyone, this survey isn’t the end of anything. For we were able to get permission from the Nobility. Should it prove successful, or really, even if it’s not terribly fruitful, so long as it concludes without incident, the next survey will be markedly easier. I can’t turn a blind eye to the slightest misstep when it could sour Duke Van Doren’s mood.”

“But—”

“I’ll remind you that a limit has been set on the number of personnel allowed. Each and every one of them is eager to see the history of the Nobility firsthand, and it’s that enthusiasm alone that’s brought our colleagues this far. You understand that for every person we added, we’d have to take someone else off. Would you like to be one of them?”

Valerie could only nod.

“And that’s the way it stands, Mr. Glantan. Though I’m sorely tempted by your offer, I’m afraid I cannot take you up on it.”

“That’s truly unfortunate,” the outsider said, a faint smile rising on his lips.

At that point, someone knocked at the door. Before Valerie could get up, the door opened. And before she had a chance to see that he, too, had a cloth wrapped around his head, Glantan was leaping for the window.

The crescent-shaped throwing knife the man had raised in his right hand had a bluish gleam. Limning a beautiful arc, it sank into the throat of the newest visitor, who fell to the floor without a struggle.

The windowpane shattered. As Glantan sailed through the air, a black sphere followed after him. His body twisted, and the stunned pair of scientists watched dumbfounded as he was crushed down to nothing in the blink of an eye.

“My apologies. I came as soon as a lookout told me he was in here, and luckily it seems I was in time.”

“Who was he? And who are you?” Valerie asked, not yet able to organize her thoughts.

“He was Glantan Doskis. He’s a member of the bandits known as the Pitch Black Gang. As for me—”

The two scientists focused their eyes on his rough face and body.

“—I am Gilshark. I’m a member of the rebel army. And I’ve come here with a request for the two of you.”

“A request?”

The two of them looked at each other.

Gilshark said, “I’d like you to let a member of the rebel army join your team.”

The recent visitors from outside, D included, couldn’t help but cause a storm of unrest in the castle ruled by the slumbering Tiger.

“I have nothing to say regarding the survey team. However, the bandits have closed to a day or two’s travel from here, and I can’t stand to sit back and do nothing,” said General Kiniski. “They have invaded this sacred domain effortlessly, assaulting the very residents we should be protecting and taking their valuables, then putting their villages to the torch before they go. I simply cannot stand idly by while impudent blackguards like these are allowed to close on us.”

To this, the Tiger responded, “In truth, this is the first time in ten millennia I’ve ever heard you speak with concern for the residents of this domain. I will not stop you. Have I even once allowed any trespass into my domain to go unpunished? General, I know full well that your anger isn’t directed at the bandits. However, you are mistaken. I believe I’ve entrusted you with sweeping away any and all invaders.”

The general ran his eyes over the portraits and assorted weapons that hung on the walls.

“I need not tell you to look at these. But they all hang here as a testimony to the pride, the glory, and the bravery of the one we call the Tiger. My soldiers and I take great pride in the days when we rode into battle with you to crush our enemies. The picture on the east wall is ‘Annihilation at the Veniston River.’ You smashed the dam and drowned an enemy force of ten thousand strong with a mere three hundred soldiers under you—time and again they assailed us, and just when we were ready to meet our end, you struck the enemy from behind and took them unaware, and after we caught them in our pincer movement, we managed to slay them all. Never have I seen such remarkable fighting. And you with but a hundred men in your command.”

His strong face turned.

“The painting on the north wall is you crossing the skies of Venus. At the time, we were locked in battle with the OSB, the outer space beings. They built outposts on one planet after another in our solar system, then launched an attack on Earth. Believing that merely fighting them off was a losing strategy, you proposed that we strike at them out among the stars. However, each and every ship we launched was shot down, and you were left with only five hundred survivors to stage an attack. Two armored vehicles are depicted—the one to the rear was yours, and with few officers and enlisted men to support you, you struck at the enemy space fortress, while the other was the cherished tank of Greylancer, the ‘Noble among Nobles’ who battled in space all alone. Catching the OSB off guard, your sudden attack was a major success, and following it all of the enemy’s advanced outposts were destroyed in what was a turning point in the war.”

The man turned in another direction.

“Finally, the picture on the west wall—which remains down, even now. Though I realize this may draw your ire, it was a scene of serfs being executed some twenty-five hundred years ago.”

“Kiniski,” the duke called out to him, his tone dark and severe, and on hearing it the general’s expression grew even more doleful.

“What need you fear? What is there to regret? Is it not the duty of the liege to exterminate traitors? The fact that you personally swung the axe that chopped the heads from the traitors, that lopped off their arms and legs, that is what makes you the Tiger King. On that night when you executed a thousand miserable humans, I looked to you as I would to a god,” the general said, his eyes gleaming.

As soon as he shut his mouth, that glow swiftly faded, and he walked toward the north wall. It was decorated with spears, javelins, hatchets, and laser cannons, but he grabbed hold of a long axe and pulled it down.

“In keeping with your instructions, I shall use this to execute the bandit scum.”

“Do as you like.”

“Then we shall set off for the lake region to the east posthaste. You may relax here knowing all is well, my liege. I expect to be back two days hence.”

After the caped figure had disappeared through the doorway to the sound of sharp footfalls, the duke heaved a sigh and took a seat in an armchair.

He took a glass from the small table beside it. The bowl of it was made of crystal, while the stem was fashioned from gold. Filling it almost to the brim with alcohol, he was just about to drain the glass when a servant came in and informed him that the survey group was paying a visit.

“There’s no need to see me. I believe I’ve already granted them permission to conduct their survey.”

“They wish to discuss measures to prevent any interference with their work.”

“There shall be no such interference. Not after receiving my permission.”

“I was given another message in the event you should say that.”

Flames of rage and scorn billowed from the duke’s eyes. The silence’s voice seemed to say, Damned humans.

The servant continued, “They said they wished to discuss the matter of Master Sebastian. What is your will?”

Suddenly, the servant became the object of his rage. The duke raised his right hand and made a horizontal sweep with it. Though nothing could be seen in the space between the servant and the Nobleman, the servant’s head was cleanly taken off, with waves of pale blue electromagnetism snaking from either opening.

“See them in,” the duke commanded.

“Understood,” the servant’s head replied, and its body walked over and picked it up, leaving with it under one arm.

II

The duke wondered how pale his face was now. He would have no choice but to ask someone else to tell him. For the Nobility—as vampires—cast no reflection in mirrors or water.

He looked at the walls. East, north, west. Each was out of balance. The duke’s eyes came to rest on the west one. Turning toward the wall, which was adorned with paintings and matchlock rifles, he murmured, “Sebastian . . . Why did you choose now to come back?”

His visitor was an archeologist who introduced herself as Valerie Cozuf. In the reception hall, the young woman told him of her unexpected encounter with General Kiniski, mentioned the possibility of further interference, and requested that the duke give orders that would put a stop to that.

“You may rest easy. If it had been Kiniski’s intent, you’d all have been dead before you ever glimpsed his face.”

The woman said that was a relief, putting her hand over her heart.

The duke waited.

Quickly noticing as much, the woman said, “The one I mentioned was your third son, wasn’t he?”

The duke didn’t answer at first, but after a few seconds had passed he took a golden bell from the little table and shook it to summon a servant.

“Send for D. If he won’t come, tell him I’ll leave the castle.”

The instant the young man in black entered the room, the woman—Valerie—let out a low groan and shut her eyes.

Explaining her position, the duke said that he wanted the Hunter to hear his story along with her. “If you won’t, I’ll leave here. Would you let Sirene’s plans be spoiled like that?”

“I’ll finish the job if I have to follow you to the ends of the earth,” D said, and more than the duke, it was Valerie, her eyes still closed, who felt ice running down her spine. However, D made no attempt to leave, but leaned back against the wall behind the duke. If he hadn’t wanted to come, no power on earth could’ve brought the young man there in the first place.

“This woman says she has information pertaining to my third son. His name is Sebastian. Fifty years ago he left home, and I’ve not seen him since.”

Valerie felt the gazes of the two of them prickling her from head to toe.

“Two years ago,” she began, “I was surveying some ruins in the eastern Frontier sectors from about three thousand years ago. At that time, I discovered what appeared to be the remnants of a bandit hideout within the ruins.”

Based on the state of preservation, the hideout was rather old—seemingly from thirty or forty years earlier—and it undoubtedly belonged to the Evil Slayers, who had assaulted scattered Frontier communities and perpetrated brutal crimes from those days down to the present.

“As you are probably well aware, there were rumors that this bandit gang was led by a Noble. A number of the prominent members took direct hits from the mortars and missiles the army used and were blown to pieces, only to regenerate back to perfect health in a matter of seconds. And because they were in the habit of identifying themselves as they perpetrated their slaughters, their names became known across a portion of the Frontier. Those names could be found etched into the stone walls of their hideout.”

And there—

“The name Sebastian Van Doren was among them.”

“And you mean to say those are the same bandits that will be attacking us two days hence?”

“After that, the Evil Slayers disbanded, splitting into a number of smaller gangs. The Pitch Black Gang that’s currently scheming to invade this region is said to have the largest concentration of core members from the Evil Slayers.”

“Hmm. Is Sebastian among them?” the duke asked, taking another drink.

The next words seemed to come from terribly far away. “If Sebastian was the leader of the Evil Slayers, then he’s already gone.”

The Nobleman’s focus shifted to D.

“I slayed them. Quite a while ago, in the eastern Frontier sectors.”

Valerie gasped, and the duke set his glass down on the little table. As soon as the bottom of it touched the table, there were a number of little sounds.

“You destroyed him?”

Valerie brought her fist up to her forehead, trying very hard not to look over at the duke. “Your grace, I will have you know this man has no connection whatsoever with our group. I sincerely hope that this won’t change your mind about our survey.”

“I believe I promised you’d be able to do as you like. And that promise being made, no one is about to break it. Not even I myself.”

“That’s a relief,” she said with a smile that faded as soon as she looked at D. She was worried about a rift between the Hunter and the duke.

“Be at ease. This man is here because he’s supposed to slay me. Should I decide to fight him, it would be exactly what he desires. For he would no longer need to waste time tarrying here. And I am in no particular hurry to be destroyed, for that matter.”

“Again, that’s a relief to me,” the woman said, surveying her surroundings. “Pardon my asking, but are there any ladies in this castle?”

“If you wish to meet some, I’ll summon a hundred.”

“No, it’s just that in the Capital, there were rumors that Duke Van Doren was well served by a human lady-in-waiting. That the brave and decisive Nobleman known as the Tiger should have such a person in his employ comes as a true revelation.”

“She died,” said the duke. Because he said it so matter-of-factly, as if it were something that’d happened long ago, Valerie couldn’t really assess his reaction.

“And there you have it.”

The woman was stunned. She looked at D’s left hand while still trying not to see the Hunter. “I heard that hoarse voice,” she said. “But does that mean—you’re responsible for her death, too?”

“Nope. It was suicide,” the hoarse voice replied.

“That’s enough,” D said, and Valerie’s expression softened at the sound of his voice.

“I’ll be going, then,” she said. “Our survey will begin early tomorrow morning, as scheduled.” Looking out the window, she added, “Oh, it’s dark out already. D, would you be so kind as to accompany me? Please?”

It was a rash request.

“I didn’t think you’d actually come,” Valerie said to D, who galloped alongside her on the left.

The light truck made of heavy paper had pulled out of the castle grounds and was driving back toward the village of Machitez. The resilient cardboard varied in thickness from a fraction of an inch to more than an inch thick, and it was so tough and, more importantly, weighed so little that it was often used for collapsible trucks or aircraft. And this one had a gasoline engine.

Valerie was quite an accomplished driver.

“I owed you,” D replied from atop his saddle.

“Oh, that? I just saw a guy pointing a rifle at you and shouted to you. Even if you’d taken that lead slug, it wouldn’t have done much to you.”

“A debt is a debt.”

“That was like ten years ago. I’m just happy that you remembered me.”

The moon was halfway across the sky. It was a waxing crescent.

Little shapes frightened by the wheels and hooves scurried off to either side of them. The horse and the truck raced across a barren landscape of nothing but dirt. But the fact that they could still see lights in farmhouses was a testimony to how safe the night was. Humans who feared the Nobility were in fact being protected by a Noble.

“A spot like this is a treasure trove to us,” Valerie remarked, letting her eyes speed across the ground to either side. “Dig down a thousand yards and you’ll find all the Noble ruins you could ever want. And there’d be the kind of Noble tech and sorcery that humans still don’t understand, though we know if we get some of the stuff from their early days we can basically manage to figure it out.”

“So, you ain’t after proof of the wisdom of the antiquity, just some doo-dads that’ll make you stinkin’ rich?”

“Where are you hiding, you bastard?” Valerie snarled with a glare in the direction of D’s left hand, but she quickly gave up. “So I heard you were here to slay the duke,” she said. “Is that true?”

“Yeah,” D replied in his own voice.

“I feel like I just got let into Heaven. In that case, you’d be willing to take on another job, wouldn’t you? Would you hire on with us as a guard?”

“I’m a Hunter,” the hoarse voice replied.

“And there I go, straight down to Hell!” Drawing a pistol from her belt, Valerie pointed it at the Hunter’s left hand.

“Shoot me and you’ll have all the little beasties down on you.”

“I don’t know who you are or where you’re hiding, but that’d be better than having to hear your voice again after D’s.”

“The hell it would, you wannabe scholar.”

“What’d you just call me?!”

“The fact that you’d come out here to a Noble’s domain without any real protection just proves you’re soft in the head. You’re supposed to be a scholar, lady? Surveying ruins? Oh, don’t make me laughUGHH—?!”

“I’d tell you not to let it bother you, but it’s probably no use, so fire if it’ll make you feel better,” D said, taking his left hand off the reins, spreading the fingers, and turning the palm toward Valerie.

“Not a chance. Truth be told, I regret even having a gun pointed at you. It scares me.”

Nothing from the Hunter.

“Long ago, there was a massive war between Nobles in these parts, you know?”

“Hmph, any idiot knows that,” the hoarse voice snorted.

“I’ll shoot you.”

“What of it?” asked D.

“Well, this time we didn’t get permission for the site, but the duke had a battle out in this wasteland with some other Nobles who didn’t like the way he was running things. The duke prevailed despite an inferior force. They didn’t have the numbers. Now, if he’d been up against humans or weak Nobility, that would be one thing, but his foes were all formidable opponents. The duke used a certain weapon, though, and met them head-on, eliminating all of them. After deciding that the weapon should never be used again, he’s said to have either burned it or buried it deep in the earth.”

“A weapon a Noble used, but that should never be used? Ain’t that a strange thing to bring up.”

“You again?” Valerie said, cocking her pistol’s hammer.

“Plus, I could see them saying he burned it, but why bury it deep in the earth? If you’re getting rid of a weapon as bad as all that, why would you choose a way that took so much time and effort?”

“Some say the Sacred Ancestor was involved in it.”

“That he gave the weapon to the duke?”

“That remains a mystery, D. However, according to data at the Capital’s Bureau of Record Storage, there are indeed records of the Sacred Ancestor stepping in to end a dispute between rival Nobles. The part about rival Nobles more or less fits events, but it somehow seems off when it comes to the Sacred Ancestor coming out here. You know, I sometimes wonder if he wasn’t all that concerned about the Nobility.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Just a hunch.”

“We’ll be in Machitez soon,” D said. He said it curtly, as if none of the previous conversation had taken place.

“I know, I know. Thank you for seeing me this far.”

In less than a minute, they came to the curve in the road that led to the village.

“See you.”

She slowed down so she could say thank you, but the black horse and rider raced right by her and down the road. The speed of his departure and the utter rejection projected by his back as he dwindled in the moonlight let Valerie know that she’d been completely forgotten.

III

No one had any idea what the young man was thinking or feeling when he went into action like this. There was, in fact, only one thing on which everyone could agree. It was because he was too beautiful.

Now, as D galloped along, white fog assailed him from behind, becoming monstrosities with long nails and sharp fangs that pulled up alongside him. Yet for some reason, they were surprised. Why did they fall into a stupor and pull back? And why did they leave again?

From the road leading to Machitez, he galloped nearly sixty miles nonstop. Up ahead, there was the thunder of approaching hooves. And not just ten or twenty mounts. There had to be a hundred or even a thousand riders headed his way. When the forefront of that shadowy horde came into view, D pulled off to the left side of the road and halted his cyborg steed. A strange, unearthly miasma flowed down the night highway. It was a host of knights. Not only were there cyborg horses, but some of them also rode android steeds, and all of the riders were garbed in Noble armor or combat uniforms. As evidence that the battle was over, the spears they held upright were broken, their armor dented and warped, and both their chainmail and the bodies beneath it had been rent wide. The thorns sticking out of their necks and backs were actually iron arrows. By the look of it, it’d been a losing battle, as all of them were now headless. Nevertheless, they sat high in the saddle as if this were a triumphal parade, reins gripped back by their chests as they proceeded in perfect unison.

Before long the tail end of that lengthy, lengthy ghost procession had vanished into the darkness, at which point the hoarse voice flowed out over the plain, saying, “That looked like General Kiniski riding in the vanguard. Doesn’t have a head, but you can tell by the outfit. What the hell were those guys doing out here at a time like this, though?”

“They finished a battle.”

“Against who?”

“Bandits, probably.”

“Impossible—they beat Kiniski?”

“If he’d won, he’d still have a head.”

It was rare for D to make a joke, even a black one.

“Well, I suppose you’ve got something there.”

“That type of android isn’t just a machine serving in place of a person. The mind of a Noble is housed in its artificial brain, determining its actions. And now that they’ve lost their heads—”

“The real Kiniski’s destroyed, too?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Where are they going, then?” asked the hoarse voice.

“Home.”

“Van Doren’s castle? Why?”

“We’d have to ask the one who sent them there.”

For a moment, the source of the hoarse voice seemed taken aback. However, it soon said in a strangely forceful tone, “I suppose so. You’ve come all this way, after all.”

It wasn’t speaking to D.

The Hunter returned to the road. About ten yards ahead, a figure astride a bizarre horse was bathed in moonlight. He was completely shrouded by a gray hooded cape. And his face couldn’t be seen. He hadn’t just arrived. After the parade of the dead had gone, he’d waited there all this time for D.

“You one of the former Evil Slayers?” D asked.

“Leave it to the man known as D. I’m surprised you figured that out,” a voice responded from the darkness.

“You know me, do you?”

“A face as handsome as that I can see even with my eyes shut.”

“You’re a Noble, aren’t you?” said D. And then he added, “You part of Sebastian Van Doren’s clan?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” the hooded figure said with a faint laugh. “My name’s Vulcan Lura. I’m in charge of the Pitch Black Gang.”

“Why did you let the duke’s soldiers return?”

“So that he’d know what we’re capable of. The damned duke will be trembling tomorrow.”

“He’s the Tiger King,” D said, his voice carrying a rare bit of emotion.

“I come out this way hoping to see the look of surprise on his face, but run into someone incredible. That’s perfect. I know you’re staying in his castle. I’d like you to walk away from the job.”

“I’m not guarding the duke.”

“Then what’s your reason for being in the castle?”

“To slay the duke.”

The hooded figure didn’t know what to say.

“After the duke has disposed of the lot of you, that is.”

Vulcan’s body seemed to pull taut. “I’m not the one who’s going to be disposed of.”

Suddenly, Vulcan’s horse started to walk. His horse? No, though equine in shape, its entire body was covered with black hair, and the arrow-like spiraling horn that grew a good six feet from its brow would’ve made anyone think of a legendary beast. It was a unicorn. Actually, a black unicorn. As it walked, the horn jutting from its head at a forty-five-degree angle made a strange grinding noise and took aim at D’s heart.

“White unicorns may be the embodiment of peace, but black unicorns are battle personified. And nobody it aims for can escape its horn.”

D wheeled his horse around to the right. The horn followed suit. He turned left—and the same thing happened. Not wavering in the slightest, the tip of it remained aimed straight at D’s heart.

“You’ll never escape now. And a death from a unicorn’s horn prevents any kind of resurrection. D, if you value your life at all, leave now.”

“Stab me, then.” The Hunter’s soft reply seemed to come from the very moonlight.

There was just over twenty feet remaining.

“What?!”

“There’s murderous intent radiating from every inch of you. Yet you don’t stab me, because you know the same thing I do. That is, if it stabs anyone, the unicorn’s horn falls off on the spot, and it takes a year to grow another one. Can you wait that long to attack the duke?”

There was no reply from the hooded rider.

“Quite a ghastly aura you’ve got there. But that alone won’t be enough to slay the duke—the Tiger. Or me, for that matter.”

The wind groaned. It was D who charged forward, kicking off the ground. Pale blue sparks flew as iron-shod hooves struck stones. Having pointed a weapon at the Hunter, that made him the enemy. That was the way it was with D. If you drew on him, he’d cut you down. That was also D’s way.

Closing five yards in no time, he swept by Vulcan’s right flank, and in his hand he gripped his blade.

“Oh my,” the hoarse voice groaned.

The blade definitely should’ve decapitated Vulcan. However, his head didn’t fall off, nor was his hood even cut, and the bandit leader swayed impassively on the back of his unicorn.

“A unicorn rider is guaranteed immortality,” said the hoarse voice.

Vulcan bent over. He’d pulled a rifle from a leather case attached to his saddle. Four barrels turned their black muzzles at D and belched fire. Paths of light seemed to link the weapon to D’s head and eyes.

Estimating Vulcan’s timing in pulling the trigger off the tension of his arm and the average trigger pull weight, as well as inferring the highest possible velocity for a range of projectiles, the Hunter had bent his upper half over a split second before the flash of light. The bullets singed his hair.

D was just about to pounce when a blistering pain made him groan. The four bullets that’d whizzed by had changed direction and buried themselves in the Hunter’s back. Two of them went clean through him, while the other two remained in his body. Upper body shaking, D spat blood onto the back of his horse.

“You simply cannot evade an attack by a unicorn rider,” Vulcan laughed loudly. He’d undoubtedly laughed like this many times before. As he sat high in the saddle, he seemed brimming with confidence.

What would each of them do next?

There was no answer to that. The air rang with the metallic buzz of something in flight. It was a compact missile with a conventional warhead that exploded.

Vulcan and his horse had taken a direct hit. The impact and flames tore them limb from limb and roasted their innards, respectively. To anyone, they would’ve looked like nothing but mangled corpses.

However, the hoarse voice said in an almost crushed tone, “Look.”

By the light of the moon, something was moving on the ground. A finger. Part of his head. His right arm from the elbow down. His heart and lungs. In unison, the parts began moving in the same direction as if drawn on strings.

“They—they’re coming back!”

Fingers rejoined hands, legs fused to torso, entrails were pulled back into the body, chunks of head stuck to other chunks, and eyes returned to sockets. And looming from the flames—a horn. The unicorn seemed to twist its pelvis as it got to its feet, on its back a saddle—and Vulcan. Flames burned in spots on the man’s chest and shoulders like will-o-the-wisps, making Vulcan look ghostly.

“They’re both immortal,” said the hoarse voice. “So long as they’re touching.”

A pair of glowing eyes were coming down the road toward them. The headlights of the light truck. Most likely the missile had been fired by its driver—Valerie.

“Stupid scholar. Well, the honeymoon’s over now.”

Groaning that, Vulcan wheeled his unicorn around completely.

“Let’s get together again when you’ve come up with a plan for killing me,” Vulcan spat. “And give the duke a message for me. Tell him I’m going to take everything from him.”

And then he galloped off down the road.

It was about two minutes later that Valerie raced over. “He got you pretty bad. Who was it?” she asked on seeing D’s condition, but her pained expression was soon to become a look of resentment.

“You’re more cut out for being a warrior than a bookworm!” the hoarse voice remarked.

“Shut up!” she shouted, her mouth going wide. But then she said, “There are medical facilities in Machitez. Hurry up and get in the truck.”

“No need,” the Hunter replied, his voice like chill night air.

“Huh?”

Raising his right hand, D brought his thumb and forefinger to a gash near his solar plexus and pressed their tips into the bloody opening.

“Hold it right there!” Valerie exclaimed, her eyes open wide.

As she watched, the Hunter’s fingers sank into his wound up to the knuckles, and from the way his arm moved she could tell he was looking for something. Inside of two seconds, he pulled his fingers out again. Between them he held a pair of bloody slugs.

“I think I might faint,” Valerie said, staggering. Her head really was spinning. Through a hazy world, she saw D turning his horse around. “What the hell are you dhampirs, anyway?”

There was no reply.

“Another debt I’ll repay,” the young man told her, but that was his way of saying thanks. Giving a kick to his cyborg steed, he disappeared down the road.