Chapter 2

"Manji ! GET UP!" Manji groaned, his eyes opened, sea green ones stared back at him.

"Lana…this had better be good." Ever since he'd rented the apartment opposite Lana, and given her the keys to his apartment, he'd wondered if he'd regret it one day. He did.

"HQ just called, they want us now."

Manji bolted upright, "Say what?"

"Get changed, Will's in the living room waiting."

Will? That's Lana's mentor, what's he doing here? He wondered as he sheathed his sword, and threw his leather gloves into his backpack along with his own copy of the hunter's bestiary. Two weeks of his apprenticeship, and he'd already memorized notes on undead beings till his head hurt, accumulated a number of cuts and bruises from Tristan's training, and now the HQ had just called him at the ungodly hour of three in the morning.

"Cheer up Manji, we get holidays too you know." Will chuckled as Manji came into the living room with messy hair, and yesterdays clothes.

"Really ?" The tiny maintenance penguin in his life had found a torchlight.

"Sure ,one day on Christmas"

Will had promptly snuffed his penguin feathers and all.

"I love my job." He mumbled grabbing the coffee pot and pouring himself a mug, he had a feeling he was going to need the caffeine.

Will cracked his fingers, he pulled out a large manila envelope "Right down to business, according to our boffins at HQ, recently there's been a rising number of dead in Edelstein."

"Why can't this wait till morning?" Manji groaned.

"Edelstein is the birth place of the Black Mage. When anything happens there people tend to get jumpy, more specifically the people upstairs known as Athena pierce, and our boss Jacob Mason. If it's any consolation seventy other hunter guild agents share your pain."

"Wait, "Lana interrupted "Isn't Edelstein an old mining town?"

Will poured himself a mug of coffee. "Yes."

"There's always undead in the mines, it's not extremely unusual."

"True, but more than usual, and this time, they massacred a whole library."

Manji selected a bottle of potion from a shelf "A library? Why a library?"

"To gain knowledge on politics and how to be peaceful? "Lana said hopefully.

Will whacked her over the head lightly. "Manji, you need to go with Tristan to find out why undead raided a library. Lana, you're coming with me to a gun shop."

"Do we need guns?"

"No, we need answers; the owner of the shop's been killed."

"Edelstein." The airman grunted snatching the pouch of bronze coins from Tristan. Manji shivered, he'd only gotten an hour of rest on the airship, but the cold air now woke him up properly. So this is Edelstein…crummy. Crummy was an understatement, every building he could see either screamed the dying need for a paintjob, repairs or interior decoration. Most of them needed all three.

The outskirts of Edelstein was worse than slums back at Victoria islands, and he'd seen quite a few. Half a dozen mice had committed suicide in several alleys that Manji passed. The place smelled of fish and meat that had decided to valiantly try crawl back, and died in the attempt.The very stench of the city could probably knock a balrog dead at a hundred meters. He thought.

Manji spotted a faded banner.

Travelers Hello, Welcome to Edelstein.

Or at least that's what it probably meant to say; with half the words gone it now it read

Travelers Hell , Edelstein.

They were trying to tell him something.

The library, or least what was left of it looked like a clumsy child's Lego house, the architect must have been drinking heavy stuff .Manji tilted his head to one side and the library looked straight. This can't be good.

As Manji eased library door open ; a chill raced up his spine, and his blood froze .A man with his mouth wide open laid against the door , dark red liquid ran down his throat, his eyes stared vacantly into the distance. He wasn't the only one; a woman had her arm very violently slashed, she had died with her body half hanging out a window. Manji went further into the library; more cold soulless eyes stared at him. Every cell in his body wanted him to run in the other direction as far away from here as he could.

"Breathe. You'll feel better."Manji felt Tristan grasp his shoulder firmly, and let out a pent up breath, he felt a little better.

"You can leave if you wish, even I find staying here hard."

"I think I'll stay." Manji said softly.

Tristan patted him on the shoulder."Good boy."

Tristan knelt down at a dead man with greying hair, his robes were torn and his hand clutched a wand tightly."This is odd." he whispered picking up a gold chain with an owl pendant on it .

Manji looked over his master's shoulder, "What's odd?"

Tristan held up the bag."This chain is only given to arch mages; elite, hardened ,top dog mages handpicked by Grendel." He pointed at the dead man. "He, is one of them."

"How is that odd?"

Tristan paused. He looked at the trinket thoughtfully "I'm not going to jump to conclusions here, but if my theory is correct we could end up quite a lot of trouble."

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad could this end up?"

"Fifteen."

Manji's ears picked up the slight sound of shuffling feet .His hand loosed his katana from its sheath, a loud moan cut through the air. More followed, louder, more aggressive sounding. Snarls joined in; now anyone standing a hundred meters from the library could probably hear the ruckus.

Tristan cursed "Zombies."

Manji gulped, he felt his mouth go dry. "We can't run?"

Tristan looked out one of the broken window blinds.

"No, there's too many of them they have us surrounded."Tristan snapped a chair leg and shoved it into the door handle barring it. He flicked his hand, the air rippled and the nearest bookcase shot across the room slamming into the door.

"They're not too bright these zombies, so we're going to allow them to get in here and lock them in."

"Won't that mean being in the same confined space as them?"

"Uhh unfortunately, yes."

"Remember, use fire or destroy their heads." Tristan said drawing his own two handed sword. Moonlight reflected off it, casting a bluish white glow on the walls.

"Tristan?" He asked his hands shaking; they were cold despite him wearing gloves." If the whole library was killed, what makes you think we'll survive?"

"Dawn is coming, which means they won't be as aggressive as they were that the night when they attacked the library. Their numbers are probably only half of the original horde."

Manji looked out the small crack in the barred window, more figures were approaching. I'd really hate to see the full horde of zombies. He thought.

The terrifying groaning grew louder. Something slammed against the door, followed by another, thousands of hammers smashing against the library door, or at least that's what it sounded like. A window shattered, Tristan clicked his fingers sending a fireball roaring in the direction .It exploded, dust flew and smoke rose.

As the smoke cleared, pale white dead body came into view, its movements awkward and jerky; its eyes had been torn out, so when it turned to face them only its sightless gruesome eye sockets looked at him. It lunged.

Manji dived aside .A pair of bloodied hands as its long sharp fingernails lacerated the air above of him .He rolled away giving himself room .The zombie rushed at him again ,he sidestepped and cleaved downwards ,the edge of his katana bit deep into the zombie's shoulder severing it clean off. The zombie kicked aside its severed shoulder, as if the lack of an arm was a mere annoyance and continued its assault .Manji clicked his fingers, Final Attack! Fire exploded from his palms wreathing his attacker in a firestorm, the charred body of the zombie fell at his feet.

Two more zombies attempted to crawl through the window, Tristan splayed his hands in the direction and they barely managed to get through the window before a storm of broken glass shards tore them into ribbons.

Somewhere upstairs a window shattered, a loud snarl came from behind Manji, and he spun around in time to see a zombie's reaching for him. He backed up stabbing wildly; his blade went through its throat. He drew upon magic from his mind, marks of fire and destruction glowed on his katana running down his blade. If zombies could scream the one in front of him did a good job of trying before it fell to its knees joining the mass of bodies on the floor.

Manji grabbed a broken curtain rail and flung it, intending to spear a nearby through its head. He missed and it ran through the zombie's chest with the sickening sound of bones breaking. Manji cursed, slashing its head off.

Tristan's sword spun and slashed his blade a dark blue blur in his hands .Blackened or beheaded bodies fell at his feet."GO! "he yelled

Manji didn't need to be told twice he, bolted for the back door. Tristan shot out the door after him, "withstand "he muttered, a silver mark melded across the wooden door.

"That should hold a while" He heard a low moan; zombies were rising out of alleys and dark corners in twos and threes from every direction.

"You go I'll cover an escape route. Get to the barricade" Manji hesitated, his face showed reluctance, something smashed against the door, it creaked but withstood, Tristan's spell couldn't hold forever. He ran in the direction of the barbed wire in the distance.

He ran harder and faster than he ever had in his life, his lungs scream at him and his legs burned. His life being at stake probably helped. Zombies crawled out of shops and building ruins after him, after a while a small horde hunted him like rabid dogs, rabid undead dogs intent on eating him alive.

He poured his reserves and more into his legs, his lungs felt like they might give out at any moment .A loose stone caught his foot and sent him sprawling. He tried get up, but he stumbled. Now he could see their pale, bloodied grotesque features as they drew nearer.

Soon they'd surround him.

There was a flash and a roar, the nearest zombie dropped to the ground like a stone. Manji saw a small group people rushing towards him, as they got closer he saw they were armed with rifles and staves all of them wore dark red coats with a symbol of a silver clog sewn on their sleeves. Fireballs and more bullets strafed the air ,which now smelled heavily of gunpowder.

"ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!" someone shook him, all he could only nod, he'd probably mumbled something, but the words sounded slurred like a bad recording. Another rifle roared, cutting off the person mid-sentence.

Soon the area was cleared of undead; a figure came pelting towards them, his features concealed by smoke and dust. Guns reloaded and staves glowed molten red.

"CEASE FIRE!" Manji recognized the voice, as the smoke cleared, a very worn out and smudged Tristan stumbled into view."Thank god," he gasped.

"I'm getting too old for this job you know that?"

"It's really cheerful here isn't it." Lana looked a signboard that had more bullet holes and arrows sticking out of it than actual wood left.

"This isn't the worse part of Edelstein "Will remind her."The outer parts of the city are struggling to fight undead. Here, we're relatively safe."

"Relatively?"

"We're in danger of getting killed by paranoid people."

"Oh goodie."

They came to a small farmhouse the gate barred by various pieces of discarded wood, hay and other things. Will drew two short hunting knives, at close range his bow wouldn't be much use .He motioned for Lana to follow.

They approached cautiously. Lana jumped at the crack of a twig ."Will ?"

"I think there's –"some of the discarded furniture moved, leaves rustled

Lana tensed up; her palms grew hot as magic flowed through them. Frost blossomed out of her wand.

"BACK OFF YOU BLACK WING SAVAGES!" Lana almost let loose a torrent of icicles, until she saw who it was. A red faced farmer came running out of behind the barricade.

"He has the physical structure of stickman."Lana whispered to Will, who elbowed her but a small smile graced his face.

The farmer had a wiry thin body structure, his arms long and skinny, the baggy shabby overalls he wore didn't help much either. He waved a sickle furiously.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY LAND!" he roared brandishing the sickle at Will.

"And bah humbug to you too sir."Will said softly, Lana stifled a giggle.

"Good morning," Will say in the cheerful tone,

"I'M NOT FOOLED BY YOU BLACK WING DOGS; I'M IN A BAD MOOD TODAY SO YOU BETTER SCRAM FAST."

" Ahh, lost your other six dwarf companions and dear snow white old boy? They must have left you behind by accident."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Oh you know, cheerful, sleazy, droopy, squeezy, goofy, and doofus head. I can never remember them right, Lana what's the names of the others?"

"Grumpy ?" she suggested fighting to keep a straight face.

The farmer's face turned bright purple "DON'T YOU GET SMART WITH ME.I KNOW WHAT YOU"RE PLANNING."

"We just want to know where find a gun shop."Will continued calmly

"HOW THE BLAZES WOULD I KNOW, ASK SOMEONE ELSE."

Will looked at his apprentice; clearly they'd get nothing from him."Okay, we'll leave now."

The man watched them leave, even after they lost sight of him Lana felt pretty sure he was still watching to see if they would come back. "I don't think he likes us."

Will grinned as he strung his bow. "I wonder what gave that away. Was it the sickle?"

"Do you think he's still watching us?"

"I'd bet my life on it, he's probably going to wake up in the middle of the night to check too."

Lana never felt more unwelcome in her whole life than she did now in the main city of Edelstein, no children played on the streets, and people kept their heads down when they passed.

Will tried to ask for directions but all hey got were filthy looks and glares. He sighed and slumped down after his last attempt."How are we going to find our bloody way around here, if we can't even find a decent non paranoid person for a map?"

"Then we do it the old fashioned way."

"Old fashioned way?" Lana felt herself dreading the answer

Will pointed ahead casually "By walking"

Drake Winchester sat in his gun workshop, he'd been there for quite some time now staring at his door .He looked like he was thinking, deep in thought for his next idea for a gun ,sadly this wasn't true.

Drake was no longer breathing; a knife handle protruded out of his chest, dried blood stained his shirt.

Lana looked down at his body, "Any ideas Will?"

Will shrugged "What do you think?"

Lana kneeled and carefully studied the oak table Drake was sprawled across, there were various ammo clips, bullets, a flintlock and several papers with sketches of guns on them.

"Not a robbery."

"Excellent, that's one motive off the list, and why?

She picked up the flintlock, a single bullet rolled into her palm "His gun has gold plates and his ring is still on his finger."

"Like everyone here ,he's either paranoid or careful. He's facing the door; he can't be surprised unless someone climbed through the window." But we're on the 2nd floor; his main shop is downstairs .How were you killed? Will studied the door,there were two deadbolts and a slightly scratched padlock. "

A creak, it cut through Will's train of thought. Someone's coming up the stairs.He placed a finger to his lips and motioned to Lana pointing downwards.

"Hide." He whispered. Lana scrambled behind the wooden table.

The door swung open, she could roughly make out a tattered brown coat and worn out jeans. He held out a metal can and tipped its contents out, the strong smell of car garage on a busy day hit her. Petrol!

Will exploded out of the cupboard bow drawn "HUNTER'S GUILD! MOVE AND I SHOOT!"

Lana came out of cover, wand drawn and ready. Now she saw the man's face, uncombed hair, a sallow face and his watery blue eyes that darted from her to Will. He flung the metal can at Will. The ranger ducked and loosened an arrow, but a few seconds too late .The man had rushed out the door slamming it behind him.

Will cursed and ran for the window, before Lana could stop him he jumped out .She watched as he grasped the edge of roof beside them, he swung himself up, flipped and landed in a crouch on the roof . He ran off in pursuit of the man."Show off." she muttered and vanished into thin air appearing in the street below.

She caught sight of the tattered coat in the middle of the crowd and raced after it. The man looked back, his eyes widened and he ran faster.

She caught sight of a shadow gliding across the rooftops, Will had spotted him too.

Lana tore after him; thank god I'm not the kind of high heel wearing kind of girl she thought. The man shoved several stalls aside ignoring the yells of angry sellers and people alike. He's fast.She watched her target sprint into an alley, she followed .The end of the alley had a metal fencing about six feet high , he leapt at the fencing scaling it like a spider.

He landed on the other side with a smug smile "Can little girls like you do that?"

"No, but they can do this." She vanished from his sight like mist and appeared in front of him. Before he could react she lashed out a booted heel and slammed her shoulder into his chest sending him stumbling backwards.

He swore as he regained balance pulling out a small dagger from his coat."I won't usually hit girls, but this is an exception."He snarled lunging at her. Lana backed up ,avoiding his short lethal stabs with the dagger."SAVAGE BLOW!" he roared, the dagger leapt at her tearing the sleeves of her robe.

She grimaced as blood seeped from a thin cut . Cold winds swept past them, Lana's palms grew hot, frost crept across her hands, she swept her hands outwards. Her attacker barely managed to dive aside, shards of ice pierced the ground where he had been seconds ago, but two found their mark, he screamed as one pierced his shoulder and the other bit into his thigh. Lana stepped closer; her fists now hardened with ice like a gauntlet .She hammered two punches into his stomach, He doubled over wheezing. He slashed back; a small red line appeared on Lana's arm. Fighting the pain she slapped his hand away, the dagger skittered across the cobbles .She lashed out kicking him in the middle of his legs , following with a backhand that caught the side of his head .The bandit couldn't take it anymore, he whimpered and kneeled over .

"LANA!" She looked up to see her mentor , he dropped down beside her."So sorry, are you alright? …good god, what happened to him."He handed her a bottle filled with purple liquid.

Lana gulped down the potion, her cuts faded instantly and her vitality along with her strength returned. "He believed in gender equality." she turned to Will grinning "I wasn't so keen on it."