The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul (10 page)

He again checked the bars and the passageway as best he could. But he saw nothing and sensed nothing out there that might compromise him. He glanced back at Kancho. “I’ll need you to stay by the bars here with me. Let me know if you see anyone coming, all right?”

Kancho nodded and moved to the door. “Good luck.”

“Luck is exactly what we’re going to need,” said Ran. “But it’s not the only thing that might get us out of here.”

“I think you’re clear,” said Kancho after a moment.

Then Ran slid the wire out of the cell toward the lock.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ran maneuvered the wire into the lock and felt the end of it bite into the pins. This was where it would get tricky. From his position, he could only exert so much pressure on the lock and trying to do it from an obtuse angle meant the wire might bend in the wrong way and not rake the pins properly. Ran took his time, just as he had been taught over the years, and kept working the wire back and forth, trying to find the optimal position for it to work.

He thought back to just before his final exams at the school—a series of missions that would stretch over three months. His lockpicking teacher, Nakadai, had taken him aside after Ran had failed a practice exercise designed to simulate sneaking through a castle. Ran had nearly breached the door but rushed the final step and dropped his pick. The sound echoed through the room, and Nakadai had called a halt to the exercise. “Just remember, picking a lock is a skill that is usually done under great haste, but you must act like you have all the time in the world when you do it. Otherwise, in your rush to do it quickly, you will fail to open the lock. This failure will lead to more delays and more anxiety on your part. So as tough as it is to do so, force yourself to slow down and do it right the first time.”

Ran hadn’t believed in the advice at the time. And one of the missions he was sent on involved picking several locks. Ran rushed through all of them and had to pick the lock several times to get it open. Each time, he swore that he would slow down and do it properly, but the stress of the assignment made him hurry. And inevitably, he made mistakes.

He felt the wire rake another pin, and put it into the proper position. A deft touch helped him feel the slightest push back from the pins. He would have liked to be able to hear a bit more of the clicking that was happening several feet away from him, but the sound was muffled by the thick door. Ran would have to settle for doing it by touch alone.

“How’s it going?” Kancho’s voice was quiet but anxious.

Ran didn’t move his head, knowing that doing so might cause the wire to slip out of the lock, and he’d have to begin again. “Give me a few minutes, will you? I haven’t done this in a long time.”

“Sorry.”

Ran grinned as another pin clicked into position. By his reckoning, there would only be a few more of them to rake. But then, as he pushed the wire deeper in, he felt it stop. Something was blocking the wire.

“Damn.”

“What?”

Ran sighed. “I need to adjust the wire. It’s not properly formed and ran into the side of the lock.” He withdrew the wire, sank down to the floor to relieve the strain on his legs, and examined the tip. The lead portion was bent just a fractional increment away from where it should have been.

Kancho squatted beside him. “Are you going to be able to do this?”

Ran eyed him. “Like I said, it’s been a while.”

“We may not have much longer. Kan-Gul doesn’t strike me as someone who has a great amount of patience.”

“I agree,” said Ran. “But rushing this is only going to screw things up. I’ve got to take my time and do it properly. It’s extremely difficult working the lock from behind a closed door, standing up and unable to see or hear what’s going on.”

Kancho held up his hands. “Sorry. I know you are doing your best.”

“Thanks.” Ran finished bending the wire back into position. “There. This should work.” He stood back up and checked the passageway again. “Ready?”

Kancho moved into position. “Do it.”

Ran slid the wire back out of the cell and once again worked it into position. The tip scraped the outside of the lock, and Ran cursed himself for speeding up the process. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willed himself to slow way down, and then exhaled smoothly as he opened his eyes with renewed focus. “Here we go.”

He felt the wire enter the lock. Keeping his breathing steady, Ran tried to avoid knocking any of the pins he’d already raked out of position. But the tip of the wire seemed to slide right past them and kept going until Ran could feel pushback. He was at the next pin. He let his mind reach out, trying to visualize how the interior of the lock would look. In his mind’s eye, Ran could see the pins magnified and the tip of the wire nudging them out of the way ever so slightly. The pressure released, and he was past the first pin.

“One down.”

Ran continued working on the lock, and with each new pin that he successfully raked, he increased the pressure just so to make his way deeper into the lock. The trickiest part would be after he was through all of the pins. He’d have to turn the locking mechanism using the wire. Ordinarily, he would have two tools for this purpose, but here he only had the one. If he’d been closer, he could have bent the wire in on itself and used both ends to do the work. But if he did that here, he never would have been able to reach the lock in the first place.

He felt the wire slip past another pin and nodded to himself. Almost there. He felt the pressure of the last pin and worked it into the proper position. Then he was through the lock.

Ran allowed himself a moment to take a deep breath. “I think I’ve got all the pins moved. Now I’ve got to turn the entire lock assembly without knocking any of them out of alignment.”

“Is that difficult?” asked Kancho.

“Ordinarily? No. It would take but a second. But with only a flimsy piece of wire, it’s going to take a bit of a miracle to get it done.”

Kancho eyed him. “I think I speak for everyone when I say we have faith in your abilities.”

Ran grinned. “Thanks. But save your praises until I get this done. Otherwise, you might find your faith misplaced.” Ran took another breath and reset his position. “Okay, let’s get this done.”

He withdrew the wire ever so slightly, until he felt he had it in the right position. Sticking his other arm out as much as he could through the bars, Ran tried to get the necessary position and then, when he had it, started twisting the wire within the lock. The bolt was heavy, and it took a lot of energy to make sure he kept a steady pressure on the wire.

A little bit more
, he thought.
Just a bit more
.

Clunk.

Ran exhaled in a rush. Then he quickly withdrew the wire back through the bars and looked at Kancho. “We’re through.”

Kancho’s face broke into a wide grin. “That might be the best thing I’ve heard since we ran aground.”

“Agreed.” Ran slumped down the wall next to the door and gave himself a few moments to rest after getting the lock picked. In the meantime, Kancho let the others know that the cell was now open. When he was done rousing them and keeping their excitement in check by insisting they stay quiet, he moved back to where Ran was.

“Are you all right?”

Ran nodded. “Just needed a moment.”

Kancho eyed the door. “I think our first priority has to be getting our hands on weapons. Otherwise, any guards we meet will just hack us to pieces. And I don’t fancy the notion of taking on those Chekhal without my blade.”

“Nor I,” said Ran. “But we don’t have the slightest idea where Kan-Gul will have stowed our gear.”

Kancho smiled. “Actually, I might be able to help in that regard.”

“How so?”

“When they escorted us past the barracks, earlier, I saw a side room. Not sure what it was, but weapons are usually stored near barracks.”

“Or it could be empty . . . or full of Chekhal warriors.”

Kancho grinned. “I suppose it could. But it’s worth a look.”

Ran nodded and stood back up. “Let me go first and check it out.”

Kancho’s eyes narrowed. “Why you?”

“I can certainly move quietly alone than with the whole group.”

Kancho didn’t seem to buy it. “Is this another skill you were taught by your uncle the criminal?”

Ran shrugged. “Nah, I’ve always been comfortable skulking about in the shadows. Maybe that’s what drew my uncle to me and made him attempt to corrupt me with his thievish ways.”

He’d meant it as a joke, but the expression on Kancho’s face told Ran that the older Murai wasn’t deriving any mirth from the statement. Ran put a hand on Kancho’s shoulder. “Just give me two minutes, and I’ll be back.”

“Fine.”

Ran checked the passageway and then pushed the door of the cell open, praying it wouldn’t squeak as he did so. But fortunately, the hinges seemed well-oiled and they didn’t make a sound as the door opened. Ran exhaled and moved out into the corridor, closing the door behind him. He took a moment in the middle of the passage to acclimate his ears to the ambient noises that he could catalog. He sniffed the air but found nothing out of the ordinary. And there seemed to be no one around that might have presented a threat.

On deeply bent knees, Ran kept his back to the stone wall and his arms spread for balance and support, as well as for the sensory feedback they could provide. Using an ancient cross-stepping technique, he moved down the passageway, scanning with his eyes and making sure his feet didn’t accidentally brush anything that would make noise and potentially alert the guards.

As he came abreast of the barracks room, the torches high up on the wall were barely generating any light whatsoever. But Ran didn’t mind. He could see very well in the darkness. Moreover, the lack of light in the magic torches told him that his presence hadn’t been detected yet. Had it been, they would have certainly flared into life.

Still, he’d have to be careful. The torches were like an early warning system. And Ran couldn’t afford to have any alarms go off.

He moved to the opposite wall in one slow fluid motion, adhering himself to the stones and willing himself to remain calm and relaxed. He again paused, listening for anything that might cause him to suspect that he was in danger.

But he heard and sensed nothing.

Creeping farther into the barracks, he saw rows of beds but no Chekhal warriors sleeping in them. Ran frowned. Had it been an illusion as he’d suspected earlier? Was Kan-Gul trying to make them think there was more going on here than there was? The deeper Ran got into the barracks, the larger it became. Rows upon rows of beds were here, and they seemed to stretch on forever.

Ran paused. What was it that Kan-Gul had said earlier about the large army to the north? That they were coming to the fortress? He frowned. There was certainly plenty of room in the castle to accommodate them. And if Kan-Gul had the amount of magic at his disposal he believed he would with Jysal, then it was possible that this wasn’t an illusion after all, but preparation for a coming invasion.

Not good, Ran decided. He needed to get word back to his superiors in Gakur about the potential invasion. It would probably be the first they’d heard of it. And if it was, then they would need to work their manipulations on the warlords in Nehon and convince them to band together to prepare for invasion.

Ran knew what that would mean: he’d be assigned to scout out the potential threat posed by the army to the north.

That meant there was an even greater reason for escaping from this place. He couldn’t delay. As he moved through the barracks, he saw a small room to the left. Was this what Kancho had noticed? Ran was impressed. The room was barely noticeable, and he himself had failed to spot it earlier. But when Ran looked inside, he was extremely glad Kancho had seen it.

He was standing in an armory. There were racks filled with swords, including the two curved Nehon blades that belonged to Ran and Kancho. There were straight swords as well as other blades of types that Ran had never seen before. He wondered if this was where Kan-Gul stored all the weapons from the people he’d murdered. With a frown, Ran realized the sheer number of weapons in the armory meant that Kan-Gul must have murdered hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

He took his sword and Kancho’s back with him to the cell. Neviah, Jysal and Malkyr would have to wait until they got out to arm themselves. Ran couldn’t risk carrying a bundle of blades back that might make noise or compromise his ability to stay undetected.

Back in the passageway, he moved as quickly as he could and returned to the cell. He handed Kancho’s sword through the bars. Kancho’s eyes lit up when he grasped his treasured weapon. Ran motioned for him to stay quiet and then pulled the door to the cell open.

Kancho came out and put his cupped hand over Ran’s ear. “Was it an armory?”

Ran nodded. “We’ll need to go back so Neviah and the others can get weapons, too. I couldn’t take a chance on bringing back too much.”

“Understood.” Kancho moved back into the cell and explained the situation to the others. They nodded in agreement, and then Kancho looked at Ran.

With a nod, Ran waved them out into the passageway one at a time. Kancho came out first and went to one side so he could keep watch for the guards. As the others filed out, Ran positioned them near the stone wall and told them to stay still.

Malkyr was the last to hobble out of the cell. His leg was still causing him to limp. Ran frowned. An injury like that could compromise the entire escape. But he couldn’t leave him behind. That wouldn’t be right.

Slowly, the five of them moved down the passageway toward the barracks. Ran led them inside one at a time, figuring it would better that way so they could minimize the chances of being spotted. He took Neviah in first. After briefly searching for her own weapons amid the piles of gear, she finally shrugged and then outfitted herself with a slim sword and several daggers that she tucked into her belt. She smiled at Ran and exited. Malkyr came next and chose a thicker straight sword. Jysal came last and chose three daggers that she dutifully tucked into her belted dress.

Back in the passageway, Ran eyed them all. They had weapons. They were out of the cell.

Now they needed to get out of the castle.