The Wrath Of the Forgotten (16 page)

The air vibrated with a sense of wrongness that made Nori’s stomach twirl about. His throat vibrated under a thick coat of acid and unease. As Nori stopped beside the others, he began to wonder if they were safer with the Tsuchigumos.

“IT’S JUST LIKE
my dream,” Flara said.

Her voice sounded louder with more energy behind her words. Flara’s attention darted between the buildings. The hint of a smile lingered on her lips.

Rayko swallowed loudly. Her grip on her reigns had become quite tight. “My word, this place is dreadful, isn’t it? Didn’t you say no one’s been here for hundreds of years?”

Apisa licked her lips continuously. “I bet you this place is haunted. My granny used to tell me stories about haunted places like this. They were full of angry vengeful spirits. Do you think we’ll encounter any here?”

“She did mention they studied dark lore here,” Rayko said. She shifted her attention between the buildings. “I would rather not have to spend the night in a place like this. Any chance we could be out of the forest before nightfall?”

Nori studied the sky. “The sun’s a little past noon. If we’re lucky and we ride hard, we may be able to make that happen.”

Flara pointed to one of the buildings. “That looks like a shrine. We could probably keep our horses there. Let’s go.” She whipped her reins and urged the horse to move ahead.

Nori motioned for Apisa, but kept his voice low. “Hey, is she okay? She seems …different than before.”

Apisa grinned. “Oh, she’s fine, relatively speaking. She always gets this way when she gets a chance to look at really rare scrolls and such.”

Rayko leaned in a little closer. “Yes, too bad she doesn’t approach social gatherings like she does her studies or lore hunts. If she did, there wouldn’t be anyone who could be as popular as her.”

“Including yourself?” Apisa asked.

Rayko placed a hand on her chest. “Even I can admit she would be simply wondrous if she applied herself. She would be without equal. Now enough of this pointless conversation. We had better catch up with her before she starts to explore this place by herself.”

Nori, Rayko, and Apisa made their way over to the shrine. A large statue of the honored Saito sat inside a lone building. The paint on the exterior of the shine had long been worn off. Despite the weather beaten outsides, the shrine still looked sturdy. The gold-plated statue of the great philosopher still looked as impressive as it would have in any other holy place in Korrine.

As Flara moved closer to the shrine, she bowed her head in reverence. She took small steps toward the building. When she got within the shrine, she tied the reins of her horse to one of the railings that ran around the statue.

As the other girls led their horses inside as well, Flara stood before the great statue. She closed her eyes and placed her hands together.

“Oh, great Saito, hear my prayer,” Flara said. “Please watch over our horses while we decipher the mystery of my dreams. Keep them calm so they don’t get scared. Please also guide us on our search. Thank you, wise Saito.”

Apisa, Nori, and Rayko all copied her movements. As Nori closed his eyes, he said a silent prayer.

“Oh great Saito, hear my prayer. Please help me to continue to live up to the mighty legacy of my people. Please don’t let my courage falter. Please bless me with the wisdom and sound of mind to serve Flara and the others well. Please give me the strength to do my duty, no matter where it leads, Thank you, wondrous Saito.”

Nori was the last one to leave the shrine.

Rayko beamed at him. “I didn’t know that Onistans believed in Saito. I thought you might have believed in primitive Oni gods or something. I mean no offense.”

Nori frowned at her. “The teachings of Saito are not lost on us, even though we’re battle born and battle ready. Besides, we don’t worship the Oni, we kill them.”

Flara stepped between them. “Please, let’s not fight, and let’s not focus on death at the moment either. The sooner we find out what’s here, the sooner we can be on our way to leaving this place. I don’t want to be here anymore than you do, but we have to be. Let’s make the best of it.”

“There are two buildings,” Apisa said. “Which one should we look into first?”

Flara clasped her hands together and studied both buildings. After giving them each several long seconds of inspection, she turned to Nori and the others. “In my dream, I always go for the left building. I know what I’m searching for must be in there, but I’m curious as to what’s in the right one.” She pointed to the building on the right. “Let’s go there first.”

Nori squeezed his tetsubo handle with both hands. He puffed out his chest as far as it would go, if only to mask his unease. “I’ll lead the way. If anything does jump out, you all can avenge my death.”

“Oh that’s comforting,” Rayko said. “Has anyone ever told you you’re so inspiring?”

“All the time,” Nori said. “You should hear me try and tell jokes.”

As he moved toward the entrance to right building, Apisa whispered a little too loudly, “I like sassy Nori.”

Rayko replied “Well I don’t. Let’s hope he resends back into his shell, shall we?”

Was it his imagination, or did Flara snicker?

Nori took several deep breaths as he finally stepped up to the entryway of the longer, more rectangular building. The front side of the structure had two rows of windows that spanned its length. One row was within arm’s reach while the other row extended thirty feet above the ground. The outside of the building appeared weathered and aged, yet surprisingly it lacked all signs of decay. It also lacked a door. The blackness within didn’t look too inviting.

“I wish I had a torch or something,” Nori said.

Rayko said, “Oh allow me.”

Her tattoo flashed briefly. Beside Nori, a nearly naked man dressed in a loin cloth stepped out of nothingness. The man’s physique appeared chiseled to perfection, or rather, what the lowlanders considered perfection. He carried a lantern that created vast amounts of illumination. The shadows peeled away like onion skin.

“Is there anything you can’t do with illusions?” Nori asked.

Rayko merely chuckled.

The illusionary man moved in first and pushed the darkness back further. Nori followed closely. Thick layers of dust covered the floorboards. Old furniture sat along the walls. A musty stagnant odor hung in the air. Nori entered a foyer which had a long corridor extending off of it. Slivers of daylight came in through open doors, presumably from windows.

Every one of Nori’s muscles felt tighter. Nori listened carefully, and the absence of noise grated on him. Along the hallway were rows of doors, and each of the doors had been bashed open. The long forgotten broken shards of wood remained where they lay.

“Maybe the monastery was attacked,” Nori said. Or perhaps robbed.”

Flara peeked around him. “Why would anyone attack a monastery? Granted, they were studying dark lore here, but it was only lore.”

“Are we certain it was just lore?” Apisa said. “If Nori’s right, there must have been something worth taking from here.”

Rayko said, “The fact that you’ve been having reoccurring dreams about it only reinforces that notion. Whatever was here must be either long gone, or its well hidden.”

“Something must be here,” Flara said. “Why would I have dreams about a monastery I’ve never heard of or been to if it were empty?”

Nori moved down the hallway, his tetsubo held at the ready. “Let’s explore this place a little more. Even after hundreds of years, there may be some clues.”

He peeked into one of the rooms. It looked bare, aside from a little cot and a little end table. The room across the hall from the first also had meager accommodations.

Flara said “These rooms must be where the monks lived.”

“I could never be a monk, or a nun for that matter.” Rayko ran the fabric of her clothes between her pointer finger and her thumb. “I love having nice things way too much.”

Apisa sighed. “I have to agree with Rayko. This life style is far too simple for even my tastes. That’s saying something.”

Nori moved to the next set of rooms and looked within. Like the first pair, these chambers were empty. He stopped when he came to the third set of rooms.

Skeletal remains covered the pillow and bed, but a blanket covered the long dead figure’s body. The individual bones laid in a series of piles, like dice left at a gambling hall upon its closing. Nori slowly approached the bed. He drew back the blanket with a free hand and gazed underneath it. A long, flowing, time worn and faded robe clung to beds surface. Nori patted the center of the robes. Lumps at various parts of the fabrics only confirmed Nori’s suspicion.

The girls crept up behind him and gazed down at the body as well.

“I wonder what killed him,” Apisa said. “He doesn’t have a lick on him.”

“Judging from the way that he was laying, I’d say he died in his sleep.” Rayko bent down and glanced over the bed closely. “There aren’t any stains on the mattress. The bones look uncompromised too. How strange.”

The rest of the first floor either had skeletal remains in their beds, or they were completely empty. All of the beds in the empty rooms looked untouched. Nori led the way to the second floor. He stopped once he saw the skeletal remains in the middle of the hallway. The pile of bones laid halfway down the corridor, and the garments looked torn apart from the front.

“Hold on,” Nori said. “Something’s different about this floor.”

Despite his request, Flara still maneuvered so she could see. “That one isn’t in the bed like the others. There might be clues!”

Flara moved around him and ran down the corridor. Nori winced as he followed her. He quickly glanced into each of the rooms. Within each of them, the signs of carnage were revealed in the placements of the bones and clothes. These remains didn’t lie in the beds like the others. The rooms contained torn or slashed robes and broken or chipped bones.

Nori positioned himself beside Flara while Apisa and Rayko took their time coming down the hallway. As they came to each door, both women studied the room with piqued interest.

“This paints a whole different story,” Apisa said.

Rayko stood over Flara and studied the body in the center of the floor. “His rib bones were pulled off of the ribcage. See how the bones along the chest cavity are jagged? This man died in great anguish.”

“The bodies in the other rooms also looked butchered,” Apisa said.

Flara’s voice sounded almost bubbly. “I wonder what happened here. How come the monks on the first floor died in their sleep, but these monks encountered something bizarre?”

“I guess our answers will be found in the other building.” Nori moved past Flara and Rayko. “You two stay here. I’ll check the rest of the floor, and then we’ll leave.”

As Nori moved down the hallway, he kept taking notes of how the rest of the bodies were laid. He grimaced as he noted each of the bodies. Just imagining not being able to fight against the thing that killed you sent awful tremors through him. Each of the consecutive rooms had a mangled pile of bones in them.

In the last room, a pile of bones and clothes sat against the wall. A knife rested between the legs of the robe.

A message was carved into the wood floor.

Beware the shadows. Beware the night.
They are watching you!

Nori slowly whirled around and peered into the corners. His spine tried to burrow its way out of his back.

“Get down here,” Nori said. “You need to see this!”

Flara beat the other two women down the corridor. She hopped past him and scanned the room. After a moment, she read the message aloud. “Beware the shadows. Beware the night. They are watching you. That definitely sounds ominous. I wonder if the danger in the darkness is still here.”

Rayko swallowed hard and shifted in her stance. “Given your dreams, I’d say we’re in grave danger. I mentioned it before, but I would not like to linger here after sunset.”

Rayko clapped her hands together twice, and her tattoo flashed. Three more men identical to the first lantern carrier appeared in the room. Nori squinted his eyes from the increase in illumination. He studied his weapon with a longing expression.

“I doubt I’ll be of any use against magic shadows,” Nori said.

Apisa placed her hand on her hips. “The same goes for me. Unless it’s solid, I’m going to be nothing more than bait.”

Flara looked out through the window. “I doubt any of us will be able to content with whatever destroyed this wondrous center of learning, especially at night. We have to hurry, and then we have to be gone.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Rayko said. “I’ll keep the shadows at bay; you worry about discovering the meaning of your dreams.”

Nori led the girls out of the first building and across the courtyard. They approached the last structure with more than a bit of caution. Although it was square in nature, it was the biggest of the three buildings. A pair of large ornate doors stood broken open. They sat slightly ajar, leaning toward the outside. Within the expanse of the building, the blackest shadow awaited them.