Chapter 3

Earlier the same day...

Yami King was supervising the evacuation of the casino when he felt it: a malevolence that seemed to appear out of nowhere, as if the source had been masked and was only now revealing itself. He shuddered at the power of it, the sheer hatred beneath the chaotic force that was suddenly beating against his mental shields.

Even as he flung up his defenses, he called out to his nearest ally. "Ishizu!"

Ishizu Ishtar immediately turned her own task over to an underling and hastened over to where Yami stood beneath the awning of the loading bay.

"Yami!" Ishizu arrived at a run, one hand holding up the long skirts of her loose linen shift in a mostly futile effort to keep the hem out of the puddles collecting on the stone pavement. "Are you all right? I felt your pain through our connection!"

So she had sensed his reaction to the disturbance, if not the disturbance itself. Unsurprising, as his connection to the magic had always been stronger than any of the others'. Impatiently, Yami waved away her concern, as his own reaction (and the headache that had begun to throb in his temples), was unimportant right now. "I'm fine. But an enemy has just made himself known to me, and I fear that we soon will have more to worry about than simply the weather."

"An enemy? Who?"

"I don't know." Until whoever it was had dropped the magic that shielded them, Yami hadn't even know they were there. He could still feel the reverberation of that alien power through the Shadows. "Whoever they are, they have real power, tainted though it may be."

Ishizu raised both hands to frame the udjat amulet that rested at the base of her throat. With her back to the crowd of guests boarding the shuttle bus that would take them to the island's small airport for evacuation, no one but Yami could see as the amulet began to glow. Eyes closed in concentration, Ishizu held that pose for several seconds. When she finally opened her eyes, she looked both troubled and disappointed.

"Yes... They are indeed powerful, capable of shielding their identity from my vision." Her brow creased into a deeper frown. "It's as if the Shadows themselves are hiding this sorcerer from me."

"And from me, as well." With Yami's close connection to the Shadows, such deception shouldn't be possible. Or, if it was, the cost in life-energy would be enormous for the spellcaster. That the Shadows would act against their jailor if given the chance was, unfortunately, neither surprising nor unexpected.

"What should we do?" Ishizu asked.

Briefly, Yami considered his options. "First, we make sure the last of our guests and staff are on their way to the airport. Once the hotel and casino are clear, I want you and Mahaad to go to the airport and collect Karim. I'll try to contact Seto, and then head for the Kaiba Center. We'll rendezvous there."

"Strength in numbers." She nodded her approval. "Mahaad is still inside. I will ask him to make certain everyone has evacuated the building."

She pulled out one of walkies they all used for personal communication on the island. Less complex than a cell phone but with more range and function than a standard walkie-talkie, the walkies were a result of Seto's paranoia and love of tinkering with technology. Since the devices benefited their group by giving them a reliable means of staying connected even when the cell network or power grid failed, Yami had embraced their use with his usual pragmatism.

"Mahaad is checking the building," she said, adjusting the walkie's controls. "You're certain Seto is at the convention center?"

"He spent five minutes ranting about having to go deal with Maximillion Pegasus and that Austrian duelist, as they were refusing to co-operate with the staff," Yami said, impatiently ending his own attempt at a call. "So, I'm sure he's there. Even if he isn't answering me-" He adjusted the frequency and waited for a response. "Have your brothers returned from their trip, yet?"

She shook her head, most of her attention on the call she was attempting to make. "They were on the last flight into Trefoil, but Odion said the airport had canceled all outbound traffic due to the storm," Ishizu said, even as her mouth turned down and she glared at the walkie. "And Karim is not answering." She sighed. "He's probably forgotten to take his walkie with him. Or dropped it into a fountain. Again."

Unlike Seto, Karim was not a fan of modern technology. Karim's ability to lose, break, or "forget" about any and all manifestations of it was legendary. Sometimes, Yami suspected it was all an act just so Karim could get away with hiding out in the jungle and pretending he was Robinson Crusoe.

The sound of someone answering his page snapped his attention back to the walkie in his hand. A familiar male voice came from the speaker. "Go for Mokuba."

"Thank Netjer-" Quickly, Yami explained about the danger he'd sensed, and urged the younger man to do what he could to make certain anyone remaining at the convention center was safe. "I'll keep trying to reach Seto, but if you see him, pass along the warning and have him contact me at once. And, Mokuba, if something does happen, take shelter in the penthouse. We'll find you."

After receiving Mokuba's reassurance that he would do so, Yami again tried Seto's frequency. This time, he got a response.

"What?" Seto snapped, his voice betraying both impatience and a tension that Yami knew he was about to increase.

"Seto, the evacuation-"

"Yes, we're working on it. Have you gotten everyone out of the hotel yet?"

Yami watched as the shuttle drove out into the rain. "The last bus is just leaving. Assuming everyone obeyed our instructions, the Palace is empty. Mahaad is inside right now, checking the hotel and casino for any stragglers."

"Good." Seto sounded distracted. "If that's all, I have to go wrangle some idiots-"

"No, that's not all," Yami quickly interjected. "There's someone on the island who's messing with shadow magic. I felt them when they let down their guard. They're powerful, Seto. This could be a real problem."

"I'll check back in with you in a few minutes." Seto disconnected before Yami could get another word in.

With a huff of annoyance, Yami tucked the walkie away. Ishizu was staring out into the increasing downpour, hands cupped around her the centerpiece of her necklace as she probed the Shadows. "Any luck?"

She shook her head. "Nothing concrete... There's a looming darkness, and a sense of hatred, anger... It is difficult to focus on, with the Shadows interference, but..." Letting her hands fall to her sides, she met his gaze. "This feels like more than just someone stumbling across a way to access the Shadows by accident. It feels focused, maybe even as powerful as one of us."

That was bad news, albeit not unexpected. After all, Yami had sensed the interloper's power for himself. He could still feel the restlessness of the Shadows as they tested their restraints with more force than they had used in centuries. It was already uncomfortable; soon, it would cause him real pain. He laid his hand atop the pyramid shaped pendant, small enough to fit within his palm, that rested on its gold chain over his heart. He had a feeling that defeating this new enemy was going to require all of his priests. He would need their strength to bolster his power. Luckily, everyone but Odion was on the island, and he was at least in the same island chain. Perhaps, if they could establish contact, that would prove near enough for him to lend his strength - and that of his Item - to the effort.

"We'll need everyone for this," Yami mused aloud. Over Ishizu's shoulder, he could see Mahaad hastily making his way over to them.

Following Yami's gaze, Ishizu turned to address her husband as Mahaad shifted nearer to the wall in an attempt to avoid the rain that was blowing under the rattling awning. "Is the Palace clear?"

"I didn't hear any heartbeats inside," Mahaad said. He brushed fastidiously at the gray silk sleeve of his jacket, now spotted with moisture from the wind-driven rain. "Have you heard from Karim?"

"No, and Seto is being... Seto." Yami frowned as he caught sight of movement in the rain that wasn't merely foliage or debris being blown about by the wind. "I see someone- Karim? Is that you?"

The human shape stumbled, as if the wind had almost knocked it off its feet. As it neared, it became evident that there was something off about it. Yami's temples throbbed with an echo of his earlier pain and his hand instinctively clenched around the Pendant.

"That- That is not Karim," Mahaad said, voice grim, as the figure staggered under the awning and they all got a good look at it. "Nor is it human."

Without the veil of the rain, it was clear that the figure was not only not human, it was no longer alive. One of its arms was missing from the elbow joint down, the jagged ends of the broken bones clearly visible where they protruded from the bloody stump. Its throat was a mass of ripped flesh, black with old blood. The stench of death that proceded the thing was enough to make the three observers gag and stop breathing in order to avoid the putrid smell.

When Yami moved to deal with the creature, Mahaad threw out an arm to hold him back. "No. I'll take care of it."

Very efficiently, Mahaad ripped out the creature's dead heart, crushed it, then smashed its skull to destroy the brain inside. He looked to Yami, then. "What is your command?"

Yami explained the plan he'd already laid out for Ishizu. He wasn't entirely surprised when Mahaad objected to leaving Yami on his own, but, "So, you'd leave your wife to go off on her own? Really, Mahaad."

"You know why-" Mahaad began.

"I didn't object before," Ishizu interjected, "because I knew that he would do it for me." She smirked at her sheepish-looking husband. "But Mahaad is right, Yami. I'll be fine on my own as far as the airport. Once there, I'll have Karim for back-up."

"Assuming he's actually there and not holed up somewhere with a book-"

"He would not shirk his duty in a real emergency," she said, tone chiding him for the slight.

Yami knew he hadn't been fair, so he simply nodded. "All right. I know a losing battle when I see one. Be careful, Ishizu. Call once you've located our wayward priest."

Ishizu glanced over to where a pair of enclosed electric carts sat. "I will take one of the carts. That should make the trip a bit easier, as I'll not be as exposed in case there are more of the Soulless Ones between here and the airport."

"Be careful." Yami made it an order.

"Of course." She bowed slightly to Yami, stood on tiptoe to kiss Mahaad, and then hurried over to the nearest cart. They watched her drive off into the rain.

Yami hastened to call Seto. He needed to be on the alert to this new threat.

"Yami, I told you-" Seto didn't sound any happier to hear from him than before.

"Someone has released Soulless Ones on the island."

"...Are you sure?" Yami's own horror was echoed in Seto's voice.

"Mahaad just killed one. From the state of it, there are bound to be more." Knowing what lurked in the storm made Yami jerk toward every hint of movement at ground level. "Their master must be nearby."

He could only hope none of the Soulless Ones had attacked the evacuees. He doubted any had made it off the island; the creatures were incapable of surviving too far from their master. It wasn't the first time he'd had cause to be thankful for that weakness in the monsters.

"Seto? Have you spoken to Karim? None of us have been able to contact him and we're going to need everyone to deal with this-"

"There's been a breach of security at the Center," Seto interrupted him. "And by that I mean there's a damn palm tree sticking out of the front wall of the atrium. Get over here, now!"

Shit. "We're on our way."

Yami heard the electric cart before he saw it racing toward him. It was one of the smaller ones, but enclosed to offer some protection from the storm, and Mahaad was at the wheel. It slewed to a halt next to him. There was no door, so he threw himself into the passenger seat and motioned for Mahaad to drive.

"We need to get to the Kaiba Center. Seto said the building's integrity has been breached."

"The sorcerer or the storm?"

"I don't know. Either way, we need to be there as quickly as possible."

Mahaad nodded and accelerated into the storm.

o0o