Free The Dark Warrior by Kugane Maruyama Page B

short blond hair before pushing open the stone door. From beneath her cape came a sound like the soft rubbing of metal on metal, almost exactly like the sound chain mail makes.
    When she entered the mausoleum, there were no bodies on the stone platforms for laying out corpses, and the ornaments put up when praying for the departures of deceased souls had already been taken down. Still, a cloying smell tingled her nose, as if the rocks had absorbed all the tons of incense.
    With a slight wrinkle in her brow, she approached a large platform in the back. “Hmm-hmm-hmm! Let’s seeee…” Humming, she pressed one of the surprisingly detailed carvings near its base.
    Something went
ker-chk
as if catching, and a beat later the platform rumbled to the side to reveal a staircase leading underground.
    “I’m coming iiin!” she shouted down the stairs, stretching the final vowel in a carefree way, and began her descent. There was one turn along the way, and at the bottom yawned a huge cavern.
    The walls and floor were dirt, but since it was partially man-made, it didn’t seem like it would collapse anytime soon. The air wasn’t stale, either; it wasn’t clear where it was coming in from, but it was fresh.
    This place was not part of the graveyard. No, it was something far more sinister.
    Strange tapestries hung from the walls and below them burned a number of bright red candles with blood mixed into the wax, sending up the stench of scorched gore as they gave off their dim glow. Among the countless shadows cast by the dancing light were several holes, big enough for humans to pass through, that reeked in the putrid way only lower-tier undead do.
    The woman swept her eyes across the room before focusing on one point. “Oh! Hey, you hiding over there! You have a guest!”
    The shoulders of a man watching from the shadows of a passage flinched.
    “H’lo! I’m here to see Khaj! Is he here?”
    The man wasn’t sure what to do, and his shoulders flinched again at the sound of more footsteps.
    “It’s fine. Leave us.” The newly arrived man dispatched the hesitant one with just that and showed himself.
    He was very thin. His eyes were sunken, and he had so little color in his face it was questionable whether he was even alive—
ashen
was the perfect word to describe it. Not a single hair could be spotted on his head. In fact, he had neither eyebrows nor lashes and there was so little evidence of anything hairlike on his body that one began to wonder if he had any at all. With those looks, it was impossible to guess his age, but since his skin didn’t have wrinkles, he must not have been too terribly old. He wore a deep, bloody-red robe and a necklace that was a string of small animal skulls. His skin-and-bones arms ended in hands with yellowed nails that gripped a black staff. He looked more like an undead monster than a human.
    “H’lo, Khaj.”
    The man frowned at the woman’s lighthearted salute. “Stop using that bastardized greeting! It’s an insult to the proud name of Zurrernorn.”
    Zurrernorn—an evil secret society made up of casters who always had their powerful leader in mind and kept death close. They had caused more than a few tragedies and were considered an enemy by the countries in the area.
    “Hmm!” Her response containing no sign that she would change caused the creases in the man’s face to deepen.
    “And? What reason could you possibly have for being here? You know I’m pouring energy into the Jewel of Death in this place. If you came to make trouble, I’ll take the liberty of dealing with you as I see fit.” The man squinted and power began to build up in his staff.
    “Aw, Khaj, don’t be that way. I even brought you a present!” The woman grinned and dug around under her cape. There was some jangling, but eventually she found what she was looking for and gleefully pulled it out.
    It was a circlet. Innumerable tiny gems were delicately attached to metal thread as thin as spider silk,