A Warrior's Path (The Castes and the OutCastes) (58 page)

Three of them then.  He could handle it.

The Tigons closed, and Rukh dropped his bow and drew his sword, wiping sweaty palms on his pants before engaging. 
He conducted
Jivatma
and moved in a blur.

His training took
over.  No thought to it but muscle memory.  He’d practiced these moves ten thousand times until they were as natural as breathing.  He attacked right, ducking a slow, reckless slash at his face.  A further slide to the right, and a kick crunched into the Tigon’s knee.  Something broke, and the cat went down, howling in pain.  He parried a disemboweling thrust. 
Step back, leap over the other two Chims, and surprise them
.  Their backs were to him, and he pithed one, slamming his sword-tip through the back of its skull and into its brain.  The other cat spun, and Rukh parried its thrust.  He edged inside, hammering the pommel of his sword into the Tigon’s chin.  It bit its tongue in half and gurgled in pain.  A kick to its gut brought it wheezing to its knees.  A slice to the throat and the Chim was done. Take care of the injured Tigon, and it was finished.

Rukh cleaned his sword on the corpse of a Tigon and gathered his arrows, feeling oddly satisfied.  Stupid Chims.  Let them come.  He’d kill any others he came across, too.  And if he died here, on this night,
he was determined to have it on his terms, doing what he’d trained all his life for.  He was a Kumma.  He was a warrior, and he had a mission to complete.

But f
irst, he had to clean up.  He stank.  His face, hands, and clothes were covered with blood and bits of Tigon meat, leaving him wet and sticky.  There were even chunks of flesh in his hair.  Luckily, one of the cats had a canteen full of water, and Rukh used it to rinse off as much gore and blood as possible from his hands and weapons.

He knelt on one knee, leaning on his sheathed sword, and prayed.  He wasn’t sure what he wanted.  All he knew was he was full of anger and terror, all alone in a cavern full of Chimeras.  He didn’t want to die
here, not like this.

He sighed.  Survive to
day and let tomorrow sort itself out.

For now, t
ime to get back to work.

Once more,
Rukh studied his map, trying to figure out where in the unholy hells he was.  Fruitless minutes later, he still had no idea.  Fragging hells.  He’d eventually figure it out, or he’d be dead.

He exited the cavern full of dead Tigons
, but in less than fifty yards, he almost ran headlong into a hooting herd of Balants.  They hadn’t caught sight of him yet.  He was about to turn and run, but instead he decided to Blend.

He
was hidden from sight – or so he hoped – as he hugged a corner of the passage, letting the Balants pass.  They never saw nor heard nor smelled him.  Except the last one, who turned and stared Rukh in the eyes.  How had the fragging Chim seen through his Blend?  Damn it.  The Balant hooted his discovery, drawing the attention of his fellows.

Rukh sliced the beast
’s throat for its troubles and raced away.  Fragging Balants.

The baboon-like beasts gave chase, but Rukh quickly lost them, taking a side passage easily missed in the gloom.  His choice proved to be fortuitous.  Good word, fortuitous.  Jessira liked using important sounding words like that.  He wondered where she was.  Wherever it was, it had to be a damn sight better than where
he
was.

He entered a cavern full of
what looked to be Balant breeders, judging by their size and appearance.  Rukh’s face scrunched up in disgust.  They looked like a grotesque and tortured mix of simian, elephant, and ox, with the worst features of all three.  The Balants he’d run into earlier were probably supposed to be here protecting them.  Their mistake.  He raced through the chamber like a wind of death.  The breeders hooted and hollered as he took their lives.  They didn’t have his mercy, but they did have his pity.  They looked to be nothing but dumb beasts.

He was about to leave the cavern when he noticed a small stack of barrels along one wall.  He smelled oil, and a grim smile lit his face.  He shucked the torches still on his back and grabbed a small barrel
, strapping it to where the torches had been.  It was hardly any weight at all, and it might prove very useful. For a moment he pondered how best to utilize the oil.  The sound of clawed, running feet ended his speculation.  By the howls, it was Ur-Fels.  Lots of them.

Rukh turned and ran, planning
to lead the dog-like Chimeras on a merry chase until he could figure out how to kill them.  He took a side tunnel and briefly lost them.  One of them must have had had his scent, though, finding him even through the Blend.  Soon enough, he heard the Ur-Fels pursuing him once more.

Fine.  Let them come.

He had an idea, and the Ur-Fels wouldn’t like it.

He stopped where the tunnel narrowed
and broke the cask of oil, quickly emptying it all over the ground, walls, and even the ceiling.  The Ur-Fels were close, and Rukh sprinted for cover around a nearby bend.  He peered around the corner, Blended, nearly invisible, and waiting.

The Ur-Fels didn’t disappoint.  They spilled into the tunnel, a howling mob of a hundred or so.

Rukh threw a Fireball.  It screamed along the passage and ignited the spilled oil.

The tunnel went up like an inferno.  The Ur-Fels screamed in pain, and their column disintegrated.  Rukh Shielded
.  Protected from the heat and fire, he attacked, leaping into the midst of the confused Ur-Fels.  His sword ripped across throats and stomachs and into torsos.  Blood and meat hissed and sizzled in the fire.  Greasy smoke filled the air, and it became hard to see or breathe.

Rukh
killed a dozen or more of the Ur-Fels before the rest got themselves free of the still burning oil and launched their counterattack.  They attacked a ghost.

Rukh was already long gone.

He raced far ahead of the dog-like Chims, but this time he was unable to shake them, even Blended as he was.  The Ur-Fels had his scent, and they weren’t about to let him go.  They kept after him.  Rukh’s lungs burned, and he took a different tunnel, this one wide and tall.

He should have realized why because a moment later, he stood in another Balant breeder cavern, this one occupied with Balants on guard, although a few were sleeping.
  They hadn’t seen him yet, but they soon would, even with his Blend.  He only had a few seconds before he would be discovered, and he put those seconds to good use.

He killed two breeders before the others knew what had happened.  A Balant tried to corner him, and the dull creature reached to crush him in its massive paw.  It hooted in pain when
Rukh cut its hand off at the wrist.  It swung a club.  So slow.  Rukh ducked the blow and stepped forward, thrusting up through the creature’s slack-jawed mouth, piercing its brain.

The room was in an uproar.

Perfect.

The other Balants were enraged and pounded after him, trampling a few Ur-Fels, who had just emerged into the chamber.  As Rukh had hoped, the baboon
-like Chims ended up blocking in the quicker dog-like Chims.

Rukh ran
, trying to ignore the stitch in his side. He needed speed and distance.  He could lie down when it was time to die.

The tunnel narrowed further, and the Balants couldn’t pass.  Rukh glanced back, seeing
one of them eyeing him hungrily as it hooted in anger.  The thick-headed creature had the entire tunnel blocked and nothing could get past it.  Rukh ran back, meaning to kill the stupid Chim.  Somehow, the fragging creature blocked his blow with its club.  A backswing smashed into his Shield, hurling him away as it almost crunched through his defenses.  Rukh smashed into a wall, hitting his head hard.  He stumbled to his feet and immediately fell to a knee.  His vision blurred and his balance was off.  He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. 

Suwraith’s spit that hurt
.  His whole body ached, but at least nothing seemed to be broken.

Rukh
glanced at the Balant, who was hooting in glee.

Laugh now, jackhole
.

Rukh hurled a Fireball.  The force of it punched clear through the creature, taking the Balant directly behind
it as well.

He felt a momentary triumph but quickly realized maybe the Fireball hadn’t been so wise.  His
Jivatma
was growing thin.  Blending took a lot out of him, and that Fireball…he should have just run.  Worse, with his momentary distraction, he no longer knew where the fragging Ur-Fels were.  He couldn’t hear them.  They must have taken a different route, and if he didn’t get out of here, they would have him trapped against the corpse of the Balant filling the passageway.

Unless…

He slithered past the dead Balant and the one directly behind it.  The tunnel beyond was empty, all the way back to the breeder’s cavern.

He shook his head in disbelief at hi
s luck.  Dead-tired as he was, there was still one last thing he could do.

The
Balant breeder’s cavern was unprotected, and the beasts within were quickly silenced.

There.  One more cavern cleared.

Afterward, he sheathed his sword and squatted, taking great gulps of air.  His arms and legs were noodle-weak.  Fighting, running, and conducting
Jivatma
non-stop took its toll.

Eventually some strength returned, and
Rukh levered himself back to his feet.  He leaned against a wall, resting as long as possible.

An arrow sliced across his right biceps, ripping open the skin.  He Shielded.  The next two arrows bounced harmlessly away.  He looked for the source of the attack.  The fragging Ur-Fels.  They’d doubled back.  They must have heard the Balant breeders
’ cries while Rukh was killing them.

Time to run again.  This time, he couldn’t risk drawing
Jivatma
to quicken his pace
. 
He could maintain a Shield or increase his speed but not both.  Not anymore.  There wasn’t enough
Jivatma
left in his Well.

He ran with only the speed of his weary legs to carry him forward.  It felt like
he was running in sand, like he’d been fighting for hours.  Who knew?  Maybe he had.  He was tired, maybe too tired to win this race.  The Ur-Fels pounded after him.  They wouldn’t give up.  Not this time.  Not after what he’d done to them.  They wouldn’t stop until either he was dead or they were.

He heard growls and hisses from up ahead.

Unholy hells.

Tigons and Braids.

Rukh took an adjoining passageway.  This one was different.  The walls were more roughly hewn, and it was dimmer.  There were only a few lanterns mounted here, barely providing any light at all.  The darkness might actually work to his advantage.

The Ur-Fels
didn’t need to see him to hunt him down.  They had his scent, but the Tigons and Braids…they relied on their vision.  They might overlook him in the dark passage.  Maybe he’d even find a way to lose the Ur-Fels down here, too.

Rukh made his way down the tunnel
as fast as he could.  The sound of pursuit slowly faded.  It was replaced by muttered growls and barks of fury.  It sounded like the Tigons and the Ur-Fels were arguing about something.

Whatever it was, Rukh hoped it kept them occupied long enough for him to escape.  Oth
erwise, he was well and truly fragged.  He followed the rough tunnel, moving as quickly as he could given the gloom within it.

A large hand reached out from an unseen passage and grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall.  “You should not have delved so deep,
foul creature,” it growled.

Rukh grabbed the gripping arm, ready to break it…but…wait.  He knew that voice.  “Choke?  Li-Choke?  Is that you?”

He was abruptly dropped.  “Devesh
does
have a sense of humor.  Rukh Shektan?”

Rukh couldn’t see in the dimness until several torches were lit.  He stood in a cavern, much like the ones in which the breeders were housed, and standing before him was Li-Choke and dozen or so Baels, ranging in age from a white hair to a young one barely up to Rukh’s chest.

Rukh would have been afraid if he wasn’t so damn tired.  Choke might be a friend.  He didn’t know, but even if he was, the others didn’t look particularly friendly.  He couldn’t take them all, and he couldn’t run, not with his legs as rubbery as they were.

“It is a
Human, covered in the blood of Tigons and Balants,” said the old one.  He sniffed again.  “And Ur-Fels.”  He fixed Rukh with a glare.  “What is your purpose here?”

“Surely you alone aren’t the cause of all the noise and uproar taking place in the caverns?” another one asked.

Rukh had actually been hoping for just this particular moment, and with Aia’s promise, he didn’t intend to waste this opportunity.

“
Ashoka has learned of the caverns here.  We mean to disrupt Suwraith’s plans for the spring by killing all the breeders,” Rukh said.  “It was, Li-Dirge who told me of this place, and he named me his brother.” While he had no real fraternal affection for the deceased SarpanKum, he had
respected the commander.  And more importantly, the Baels seemed to have a special love for the word ‘brother’.  Maybe they’d give him a chance to explain himself before gutting him.