Coming Too Late (Chapter 1 of the Deadhorse Guardians)

Haikato’s first glimpse of the city that would determine his fate revealed a city he’d arrived too late to save.

On the bright side, the Aura said, its voice emanating from Haikato’s own throat yet inaudible to any ears other than his own, we’ll have the city to ourselves.

Haikato knelt on the cliff’s edge, overlooking the smoke rising from the ruins of Baon City. Black, writhing smoke that contorted in the air as if trying to strangle the sun’s rays. Smoke that Haikato had seen coalesce into the monsters known as shadowspawn. Smoke that he could’ve stopped from ever being here, if only–

Well, minus the beings of pure darkness that want to kill us, the Aura continued. But if you overlook that part, it’s a good vacation spot.

“We should’ve gotten here sooner,” Haikato said.

The Aura went silent for a moment– then spoke in a serious tone. Haikato, the shadowspawn were attacking when I escaped. The city may have fallen before you even set out.

Haikato nodded, surprised to hear an actually helpful insight from the Aura. Ever since it had passed to him from that horse, its contributions had consisted of composing irreverent ditties, falling asleep whenever Haikato asked for its advice on the main quest, and dragging him into useless side quests.

The Aura gave a self-satisfied hum, at peace with the world now that Haikato had admitted it was right.

Of course, the Aura said. The downside of the city being abandoned means that no one will appreciate how stylish I am.

Haikato rolled his eyes. The Aura’s physical manifestation– a bow tie aglow with a faint mystic light– may have been stylish in a different context, but paired with Haikato’s dusty, travel-worn robes, it just looked weird.

I need a plan. Haikato took shelter behind a rock overlooking the city. Baon may have fallen, but he still had the mission given by the Aura– seal the breach to stop any more shadowspawn from coming through. If he moved quickly, he could end the invasion here and earn his place on the Guardian Council. But hesitating risked letting the shadowspan grow in strength to the point where only a long, bloody war would stop them from wiping out humanity– and failing in his mission meant Haikato himself would go back to being a mere stable boy.

“Are we close enough to tell if Master Zaru is alive?” Haikato asked.

I sense some human presence in the city, the Aura said. I can’t say for certain how many, but I recognize my old master among them.

Haikato’s heart leapt. Ever since Zaru’s Aura had passed on to him, bearing news of the breach in Baon, Haikato had feared for his mentor’s life. As the Guardian assigned to Baon, Zaru would fight to the death rather than abandon his city.

“Let’s find him,” Haikato said. Zaru would know where the attack had originated and thus be able to point Haikato toward the breach.

Of course, going into the city meant Mina would need to stay behind. He’d set up camp on the clifftop and have her stay with his tent and rations. With luck, he’d find Zaru and be back by sundown.

Haikato looked in his pack. I need to think through my assets. Three days’ rations. Flint and tinder. Rope. A climbing harness. His weapons– a shield and wakizashi, the short blade he’d convinced Master Zaru to let him keep when he’d graduated and polished every night after he finished in the stables. His geometer’s compass, straightedge, and– his spellbook was missing.

Oh, right. Mina wanted to look at the pictures.

“Guardian Haikato?”

And a twelve-year old girl. Although that was more of a liability.

“You don’t have to call me that,” Haikato said. Although he’d graduated Guardian School, he wasn’t a Guardian– not until he sealed that breach.

“Do you think anyone survived?”

“Lots of people,” Haikato said. “We met them on the road.”

“Anyone who stayed in the city, I mean.”

Haikato glanced up at Mina. The girl had been separated from her family during the mad rush of refugees fleeing rumors of the shadowspawn. Her sun-browned skin and calloused palms marked her as the daughter of a labor-class family– banana farmers, she’d told him. She’d stumbled upon Haikato while wandering between empty towns, trying to find her parents, and Haikato– unable to spare the time to take her back to the capital, where she’d be safe– reluctantly agreed to let her accompany him.

And now– her tone was hopeful. Did she know someone in Baon?

“Few, if any,” Haikato said. Best not get her hopes up.

“Are we going down?” Mina asked.

“I’m going down,” Haikato said. “The Guardian assigned to this city may still be alive. I’ll search for him. You’ll wait.”

“I–” Mina hesitated. “I want to go with you. My brother’s down there. He was a student at Baon University when…”

Haikato bit his lip. He ought to say your brother is dead but found himself unwilling to quench the hope flickering in Mina’s eyes.

“The streets will be crawling with shadowspawn,” he said. “But I promise you that if I find your brother, I’ll bring him back safely.”

“His name’s Nanto.”

“Nanto. I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

Mina bit her lip, then nodded.

Haikato reached into his pack for his climbing gear– then froze as a shriek split the sky. He looked up to see the smoke curling overhead, thickening into a winged shape. A batlike creature with glistening fangs formed, then dove toward Mina.

Haikato whipped out his wakizashi and stood in front Mina. The motion came instinctively, the fruit of years of practice, so that as he took action his mind was free for spellcasting.

Air to fire. As the bat-shadow dove, Haikato entered Shapesense, becoming aware of the molecules of air around him, each one in the microscopic shape of the eight-faced equilateral solid– the octahedron. His mind raced through the proofs showing how these shapes could be transmuted, without change in volume, into the four-faced solid corresponding to fire– the tetrahedron. And knowing that he had mathematical proof that such change was possible, he willed it to become reality, and fire burst from the space between his hands and streaked toward the descending monster.

The bat-shadow shrieked in pain and veered to the side as the flames struck it. It crashed to the rocky ground, smoldering, then stumbled to its feet. Haikato darted forward, striking with his wakizashi, not at where the beast was, but where he knew it would be– or would’ve been, if it had behaved with the same reckless ferocity he’d observed in previous Shadowspawn. But instead of attacking head-on, the beast dodged to the side. Haikato spun, and the beast lunged with claws extended– not at him, but at Mina.

Mina stumbled back, the beast’s claws swiping the air inches from her neck. Haikato leapt, his blade slicing the beast’s neck. As soon as he slashed the creature’s leathery skin, it deflated like a popped pig bladder, smoke pouring out and dissipating.

Mina panted, wide-eyed. Haikato whirled, scanning the sky for more threats, but none came.

The Aura yawned. That sounded exciting. Did you win?

Haikato slammed his wakizashi back into his sheath. Dizziness washed over him, and he sank to one knee for a moment. Sloppy. He’d spent too much energy on the transformation. A more experienced geometer would’ve only changed the air directly in front of the Shadowspawn.

But if the breach had widened enough that the Shadowspawn could take winged form–

Haikato crouched in front of Mina.”There’ll be more of those things once we go down. Are you sure you want to come with me?”

Mina nodded. “I can be brave.”

“Good.” Because if you couldn’t, I’d have to turn around to take you back– you to your parents, and myself to the stables. Haikato pulled the rope from his pack and tossed it at Mina. “Hold on tight. You’re coming with me after all.”

***

Three out of four. The climbing rule Master Zaru had taught Haikato during his first year in Guardian School– always make sure three of your hands and/or feet were secure before moving the fourth. If he’d had use of his rope, this rule would be unnecessary. As it was, Mina carefully let out the length of rope knotted about her waist, the other end secured to the top of the cliff, whereas for Haikato a single misstep meant a hundred-foot drop and a grisly end.

Of course, the Aura chimed in. You’re infiltrating a city full of Shadowspawn, so even if you do reach the bottom, there’s a good chance you die anyway.

“Real encouraging,” Haikato muttered. It didn’t help that he still felt woozy from the spell he’d cast earlier. The Aura should help with that– it was supposed to enhance innate geometrical ability. But then, Haikato had finished last in his class in geometry even as he’d finished first in swordplay. Perhaps his innate ability was so small that even the Aura’s force modifier could hardly make a difference.

Sweat trickled down Haikato’s forehead. Morning was wearing onto afternoon, and normally Haikato would stop traveling during the hottest part of the day and push on again once evening fell. But Master Zaru could be in danger, and every second of delay meant more time for the shadowspawn to come through the breach.

At least he had his robes– light, airy clothing that kept his skin from burning while also allowing it to breathe. Mina, for her part, never seemed bothered by the noonday sun. Haikato supposed having worked under its glare her whole life made her used to it.

“Water?”

Haikato glanced at Mina to see her holding out her canteen. He shook his head. “Save it.”

“We have plenty. I just refilled it.”

Haikato furrowed his brow. “What?”

“I refilled it from the earth. It’s written on the cliff. See?”

Haikato craned his neck, scanning the rough cliff face and realizing that the markings on the rock weren’t random weather patterns– they were carvings. Carvings showing a simple geometric proposition. Earth to water.

“I think people used to climb this route to get in and out of the city,” Mina said. “Someone wanted to make sure they didn’t get thirsty on their way.”

Haikato remembered hearing something about that in history class. Before Baon City carved the Great Stair leading in and out of its valley, any commerce had to be carried straight up the cliff face. The elaborate system of pulleys and ropes that had once enabled transportation was gone, but a few traces of old ways remained.

If they’d arrived during peacetime they could’ve just gone down the stairs– but the stairs would now be watched by the Shadowspawn.

More unusual than Baon’s history, though, was that Mina had recognized the proof at all.

“You know geometry?” Haikato asked.

Mina shrugged. “It was all in your book.”

Right. She’d read his spell book every afternoon as they camped during the heat of the day. Haikato had assumed she was just looking at the pictures– after all, how would a family of banana farmers have the education to understand the basic tenets of geometry?

Come to think of it, how did a family of banana farmers scrape together the funds to send their son to Baon University?

Well, at least this meant Mina would be of some use on this journey. Haikato made sure his left hand and both feet were secure, then unhitched his own flask from his belt and handed it to her. “Here– fill this one too.”

The written proposition wasn’t necessary for spellcasting– a skilled geometer could hold the proof in his mind, as Haikato had done earlier. But looking at the proof in written form decreased the amount of energy expended in simple transformations. Plus, having Mina cast the spell meant he could preserve as much of his own energy as possible. If another one of those bat-things came after them as they climbed, spellcasting would be their only defense.

Mina pressed Haikato’s flask against the cliff face– then cried out in alarm as she accidentally transmuted her foothold into water and fell. The rope in her other hand jerked tight, knocking her against the cliff, winded but otherwise unhurt.

Haikato chuckled. “Careful there.”

Mina flushed. “I think there was more iron in there than I guessed.”

Iron?

Haikato dipped into Shapesense. Most of the cliff was earth, with cube-shaped molecules. But mingled in with the cubes were more complex elements, including the non-equilateral polysolids that made up various metals. A large vein of iron ore ran through the portion Mina had transmuted.

Haikato frowned. Earth-to-water was easy enough. But proofs with complex elements?

He didn’t have any of those spells in his book.

“Have you studied geometry before?” Haikato asked.

“Aunt and Uncle sent us some books.” Mina shrugged. “I’d read them after I’d finished working the plantation for the day.”

“Are your aunt and uncle geometers?”

Mina blushed and looked away. “Yeah. They live in the capital. They’re pretty rich.”

Strange. Class distinctions weren’t as strong as they’d been in the days before the Arastian reforms, but still, geometers related to banana farmers?

That was a question for another day. They reached the ground, and Haikato looked over the ruins of Baon City. The rows of towering stone houses– ripped from the earth with some of the most advanced geometrical techniques in the kingdom– still stood, but their windows were shattered, and their doors hung on busted hinges. Wisps of black smoke floated from entryways like the dying gasps of a wounded man.

“Can you sense any shadowspawn nearby?” Haikato whispered.

In the city, but none close. Head toward the center. That’s where I sense Zaru.

“If it looks like I’ll have to fight any, give me enough warning that I can get Mina out of the way,” Haikato said. “I may be crazy to bring a kid here, but I won’t endanger her more than necessary.”

Mina broke into the conversation with a sharp laugh. “If you think you’re crazy, what does that say about me? I’m putting my life into the hands of a man who keeps talking to his bow tie!”

Haikato raised his eyebrows. Mina smirked, finished coiling the rope, and handed it to Haikato.

“It’s not a bow tie,” Haikato said as he put the rope in his pack. “It’s one half of the symbiotic relationship that keeps the whole world from ending up like this city.”

“Doesn’t mean you don’t look silly when you talk to it.”

“It’s helping me find Master Zaru.”

Mina’s face grew somber. “Does it know how to find my brother? His name is Nanto.”

The Aura hummed. Nanto? The name rings a bell. He was– he was– oh no, I’ve lost it. Maybe it was one of the memories I lost when I was a horse. But anyway, I can’t recognize any individuals in the city other than Zaru.

Haikato shook his head. “Once we find Zaru, he can help me find the breach. Once I seal it, the city will be safe, and we can search for your brother without worrying about the shadowspawn attacking us. Sounds good?”

Mina nodded.

“Then stay close,” Haikato said. He took up his shield and wakizashi and crept down the street.

As they entered the city, Haikato stopped to inspect one of the ruined homes, hoping to find a hiding place where survivors of the shadowspawn’s purge might be lingering. He stepped through a busted doorway, Mina following in his shadow. Cool air washed over him, courtesy of the twenty-foot vaunted ceiling.

This would be the wealthy quarter. Toward the center of the city, near the mines that had formed the backbone of Baon’s economy, the laborers would dwell in short, squat homes. But the Shadowspawn, it seemed, had shown no distinction. Haikato found a hidden door to a cellar– a safe space built into the home for wars and other disasters. The hidden door was ripped open, and only black smoke remained in the nook beyond.

If even the wealthiest and most prepared couldn’t survive, then those who did must be few indeed.

“Let’s go, kid,” Haikato said. But Mina didn’t answer, instead standing still with her head bowed and one hand resting against the cool stone wall.

“Mina?”

Mina shook herself as if waking from slumber. “I’m coming.”

“Hey.” Haikato took her shoulder, compassion welling in his throat. “I know it looks bad, but we don’t know your brother didn’t make it. We’ll keep looking for him– we just have to seal the breach first.”

Mina looked up and smiled.

They returned to the streets, staying in the shadows as Haikato followed the Aura’s directions. After about an hour, the Aura cried out, we’re close!

That was when they found the Chasm.

Haikato swore softly. He’d known about Baon’s Chasm, of course– the hundred-foot wide gorge, rumoured to be bottomless, that slashed the city in two and provided the ore and precious gems that had made Baon wealthy. He’d just forgotten to consider that they’d need to cross it.

The pulley systems along the edge that lowered miners into the chasm had all been destroyed. And although there were bridges, they’d be guarded. As Haikato knelt beside the chasm, he felt the blackness of it threaten to swallow him up. Although the sun was at its zenith, the gorge seemed to consume its rays and still hunger for more.

Well, we would be close, the Aura said. If we could fly.

Mina got down on her belly and crawled until her head poked over the precipice. “Wow. It’s beautiful. I can see the gemstones sparkling like stars.”

“Yeah,” Haikato said. “Something like that.” A morbid fear sprang upon him– what if this was the breach, immune to ever being closed, and ready to devour any who tried?

He dipped into Shapesense to shake off that fear. The chasm was huge, yes, but it was made of familiar, stable materials– cubes and metallic polysolids. Nothing like the shifting, writhing molecules that made up Shadow.

“Ok,” Haikato said. “It’s a big hole in the ground. We have to cross it.” He glanced to the right, and saw an arched bridge in the distance– but as he feared, two hulking, spider-like shadowspawn slept on top of it.

“We need a bridge,” Mina said. She pulled out Haikato’s spellbook, opened it to a blank page in the back, and began sketching.

That darn horse, the Aura said.

“Horse?” Haikato asked.

Master Zaru and I lived in this city. If I hadn’t had to spend time in a horse’s brain, I would remember a way to get across this.

“Horse?” Mina looked up.

Haikato put a hand to the bow tie. “The Aura came to me on a horse. When Baon was attacked, Master Zaru didn’t have time to get out and pass the Aura on to a new Guardian personally. So he bequeathed it to a horse, and the horse carried it to me.”

“What happened to the horse?”

“It collapsed from exhaustion,” Haikato said, retelling the story the Aura had told him. “A shadowspawn tailed it and attacked when the horse couldn’t run anymore. That was when I found it. I slew the shadowspawn and bonded with the Aura moments before the horse died.”

And if he hadn’t been there, a stable boy working in that particular pasture, the horse would’ve died before passing on the Aura– which meant the Aura would’ve been gravely injured, and centuries would pass before it could bond again to a Guardian and seal breaches as they opened.

At first he’d feared it was a fluke. He’d waited night and day for an Aura to choose him, yes, but what if this one only ended up with him because it was desperate? What if he wasn’t the right person to seal the breach? Not a true Guardian, but an accidental Aura-bearer?

But Master Zaru’s teachings rang in his ears. A Guardian is never an accident. When an Aura comes to you, you may not feel ready, you may not even understand the true parameters of your mission, but trust what I’ve learned– you will succeed if you don’t give up. You may be surprised by what success looks like, but it will be waiting for you.

And so he’d made his decision– send a message to Master Baru, head of the Guardian Council, to let him know a breach had opened in Baon, and trek north without waiting for a reply.

“The horse died,” Mina said.

“Yes.”

“I don’t like that part.”

It was just a random horse, Haikato thought. But what he said was, “I didn’t either.”

“You should change it. If the bards ever write a song about you sealing the breach in Baon and saving the world, tell them the horse survived. Tell them it became your mighty steed that you rode against the darkness.”

“Right.” A grin played on the corners of Haikato’s lips. “I’ll use that to replace the part where I mucked horsecrap dawn to dusk every day for horses I didn’t own.”

“I thought picking bananas every day was bad,” Mina said. “But you’ve got me beat.” With that, she rested Haikato’s spellbook on her knee and continued sketching.

Haikato wiped sweat from his brow and sipped some water from his flask. Traveling during the hottest part of the day was exhausting, but it meant the shadowspawn would be at their weakest as well. Those two on the bridge– could he take them by surprise?

“Stay here, kid.” Haikato snuck toward the bridge. The stairs cut into the bridge rose so high that he couldn’t see the other side, but at their apex, the two bulbous beasts slept. Their bulk covered the entire bridge, so sneaking past them was out of the question, but if he could get them to leave the bridge…

Haikato jogged back to Mina, an idea forming. “I need my book.”

Mina handed him the spellbook. “We could cross the chasm with this.”

She’d sketched a bridge that spanned two pages. References to theorems filled the margins.

Haikato shook his head. “Not even the king’s engineers build bridges with pure geometry.”

“I could do it,” Mina said. “At least, I could try.”

“I have a better idea,” Haikato said. Even if Mina had the raw strength needed to perform the transmutation without falling into a coma, a single mistake could cause the bridge to crumble and send them both plummeting into endless darkness.

Haikato flipped through the book until he found the theorem. Air-to-air. Easy to cast even at great distances, this would allow him to rearrange the air on the opposite side of the bridge so as to create a loud but harmless boom. The shadowspawn would go to investigate the explosion, and he’d grab Mina, sprint across, and take refuge in one of the buildings before they returned.

Mina furrowed her brow as he explained the plan. “That might work.”

Haikato spent several minutes studying the theorem. Although he’d learned this spell in Guardian School, he needed a refresher. Once he’d rehearsed the spell in his mind and felt confident he could remember the whole theorem without having to reference the book, he beckoned to Mina.

Together, they snuck into the house closest to the bridge– a short, squat dwelling with one room and no windows. The shadowspawn kept sleeping.

“Can you sense any others?” Haikato whispered.

No, the Aura said. It’s strange– I expected to encounter more by now.

At one point, the shadowspawn had been numerous enough to defeat the entire city guard. Where were they now?

“Haikato,” Mina hissed. “I see someone.”

There’s a human presence, the Aura said. But it’s not Zaru.

Haikato joined Mina in peeking out the doorway. Mina waved at a figure standing across the chasm. Haikato grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. “Don’t let him see us!”

“I think it might be Nanto,” Mina said. “He seems familiar. If I could just get closer–”

“It could be someone who’ll betray us to the shadowspawn as soon as he sees us.” Haikato peeked out again. The figure was gone.

Haikato dipped into Shapesense and focused on the air on the far side of the chasm. He had one chance to get across this bridge and find Zaru. No distractions.

“Get ready,” he whispered– and then devoted his mind wholly to the theorem.

The two shadowspawn shrieked as the sound of an explosion echoed across the chasm. They leapt to their feet, chittering, and skittered down the bridge away from Haikato.

Haikato grabbed Mina’s hand and burst into a sprint. His muscles burned as he hit the stairs, climbing up and up, chest heaving, sweat soaking into his robes. He couldn’t hear the shadowspawn, but had they truly left, or were they simply obscured by the thundering of his own heart? The top of the stairs seemed as far as the moon, but he had to keep running.

Mina tripped. Her head thunked against the stone, and she pushed herself up, a thin trickle of blood on her forehead. Haikato yanked her to her feet, and they kept running.

They reached the apex. The stairs went down from here– but one of the shadowspawn was coming back up the opposite way.

Haikato’s wakizashi flew into his hand. He left Mina and charged the shadowspawn. The spidery beast shrieked and leapt toward him. Haikato dove, ignoring the pain as he tumbled down stone steps, and slid underneath the shadowspawn. He drove his wakizashi into the beast’s underside. Sticky black fluid spurted from the gash, and Haikato carved deeper. The beast writhed, throwing its weight back and forth, and Haikato had to inch on his back, lying as flat as he could against the stairs to avoid being crushed. He slid out from under the beast, leapt up, and sprinted down the stairs.

The shadowspawn turned around, its legs wobbly as it continued bleeding from its stomach– bleeding black blood that Haikato knew was highly flammable.

The moment he was far enough away to avoid igniting himself, Haikato transmuted a single air molecule into a spark. The shadowspawn screeched and erupted into a bonfire, collapsing on the bridge. Haikato heaved in great gasps of air and tried to wipe the blood away from his face.

Then he glanced at the top of the bridge and saw Mina– and realized he’d just blocked her way with a flaming carcass.

Air to water. Haikato dipped into Shapesense and tried to remember the theorem. He should’ve practiced this one more– but instead, he’d relied on turning earth to water to supply his journey. And he didn’t dare transmute part of the bridge to douse the flames.

Chitin clicked against stone behind him. Haikato whirled to see the second shadowspawn at the base of the stairs. He raised his blade and advanced to meet it.

The shadowspawn charged, ascending with shocking speed for its bulk. But before it reached Haikato, it rose into the air with a screech of pain, impaled on a stone spike that rose from the stair.

Mina?

Haikato dipped into Shapesense. But the spell hadn’t been cast by Mina. Instead, the theorems came from a figure on the other side of the chasm, hands outstretched toward the bridge. In Shapesense, Haikato could see the geometer’s thoughts latching onto the air, commanding it to become stone, proving that this way was the best way, the only way.

Then the geometer crumpled to the ground.

Behind Haikato, another transmutation was happening, and this one did come from Mina. Water poured over the first shadowspawn, extinguishing the blaze and allowing Mina to run safely down the stairs. She edged her way past the impaled shadowspawn– the spike took up most of the bridge, and dismissing it would be impossible, since material that had already been transmuted was the hardest for a geometer to change. But once she squeezed past it, she raced past Haikato and to the stranger’s side.

“Nanto!”

Haikato jogged after her. Mina pushed back the stranger’s hood and cradled his head in her lap. She looked up at Haikato and said in a broken whisper, “it’s him.”

To be continued.