The Iron Forest: Ancestor's Legacy

Sana’s eye opened to a twig snapping. She remained still, focusing on every sound. Cold dew collected on her face with the morning sun filtering through a mountain haze. The low light and snow-covered trees cast the forest in an eerie blue.

Another snap.

She rolled to see Victor still asleep, snuggled under the bearskin cloak they both shared for warmth against the late winter night.

He stirred. “Good mor—”

Sana covered his mouth with her palm. “Quiet!”

At his nod, she dropped her hand and lifted her head, searching but unable to see through the trees. She tilted her head, seeing Jinlin still slept, but his snoring stopped. Everything was quiet. No birds or wind rustling the branches.

Too quiet for her comfort.

“Jinlin,” she whispered, but the wizard stayed still. She shifted closer to Victor and reached for her spear “I heard—”

Crunching of leaves came from all around.

The fire had long extinguished except for a few coals buried beneath a pile of ash. Small wisps of smoke swirled, but not enough to announce their position. She hoped the intruders would pass—

Her spear flung upward in a block, sending a crack of wood against wood. She flipped over to a fighting stance, still pressing against the Chotukhan soldier’s weapon. More men poured from the trees with spears and swords, screaming war cries.

The noise was startling.

Sana positioned to protect herself and Victor, leaving Jinlin, now awake and balanced on the balls of his feet, to fend for himself for she knew he handled well in a fight.

She attacked in a form that was half defense, half offense. Wood smacked wood as her spear blocked multiple weapons. She glanced to see another Chotukhan screaming, running toward her, but green plasma sent him flying—Jinlin grinned before turning away.

One attacker passed Sana as she fought and headed for Victor. It was a new challenge, fighting a soldier while keeping an eye on Victor. She recognized his moves as Rajin’s preferred dodge and duck, only to strike when an opening became available. He soon found that opening and sent his sword through his opponent’s gut. She was proud of him.

More soldiers came.

“Run!” she shouted once a small opening between the soldiers appeared. “Head to the hills. I’ll hold them back.”

Another green blast took a soldier off his feet.

“Go!” she shouted at Jinlin.

Jinlin snatched Victor by the collar and dragged him into the trees.

Sana fought against a dozen Chotukhan warriors coming from all angles. She spun her spear with a jab and thrust. Blood sprayed from a soldier who dropped his guard. The rest backed away to regain their defense. Seeing the opportunity to run, she took it, bolting to the trail with the Chotukhan following close.

The mountainside had a steep pitch with coarse rocks jutting outward. Her light frame and lack of armor gave an advantage of speed. She leaped from stone to stone, leaving her pursuers behind.

She saw Victor and Jinlin in the distance.

Another group of soldiers appeared: Her companions darted to the left. She moved to follow when a sudden cry had her stopping—Victor and Jinlin vanished.

“Victor! Jinlin!” she screamed into the pit that still crumbled rocks into the darkness below.

Distracted, the Chotukhan soldiers attacked.

Sana fought, noticing none matched her skill. They thrust and parried, but she seemed to be everywhere. One rushed forward and met her blade, splitting his chest open. Another tried, but the butt of her shaft sent him down to the dirt. Her chest heaved and muscles burned from exhaustion. The Chotukhan noticed and pressed heavier on their attack, adding to her fatigue. Another thrust, and another, but each one she sent became slower and sloppy.

“Do not harm the queen. She’s being taken alive.”

Pain shot through her leg from a wooden shaft and her knee buckled. She recognized the voice.

A sword proved faster and sliced the meaty part of her shoulder a minute later. Sana cringed. She spun to block an attacker, but a hempen mesh wrapped her arms and legs in a net, twice the size of a man.

Squirming, she failed to free herself from the mesh, but the more she struggled, the more entangled she became. She looked up, helpless, to see General Balon grinning.

*****

Water dripped from above, splattering Victor’s face. He lurched up in a tunnel filled with darkness and moldy air. Jinlin laid at his side, moaning in pain. He had no memory of what happened. One second, they were running from the Chotukhan, the next he awoke in the dark. His senses returning, he heard voices above.

“Sana!” he called, but she didn’t respond. His focus turned to the wizard. “Jinlin. You, okay?”

“What happened?” the wizard asked through a moan, rubbing his bald head.

“We fell into a… cave, I think.” He looked up the shaft and saw little light. “A deep one.”

Jinlin sat up and to Victor’s amazement, none of his old bones broke. Neither did his. He guessed their fall broke by a cascade of tree roots and the shaft’s slight angle.

“Damn!” Victor spat.

“What?”

“My sword. It’s up there.” He pointed up the hole they fell through. “Come on. We need to get out of here and help Sana.”

“I agree, but we don’t want to get lost in here first.”

Victor snarled.

“Sana is more than capable of taking care of herself. She’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“She’ll be fine. Trust me. I worry about her, too.”

Victor nodded, pulling out his flashlight to inspect the cave. Ancient wooden and steel beams stretched up and around to hold the mountain above. Rusted metal tracks lined the floor along the walls. “It appears to be an old mine.” He shined the flashlight through the hole. “It’s my guess we fell through an air-shaft.”

Jinlin pulled a light from his satchel, as well. He shined it down on both sides of the tunnel. “So, where do we go from here? Two passages to choose from.”

Victor scooped a handful of dust and allowed it to flow from his fingers. “There should be another opening at the other end of this. The airshaft was placed to allow fresh air to flow so the miners could breathe.” The dust flowed down, making a cloud that drifted with an unnoticeable breeze. “We should find an exit down there.”

He limped forward on sore joints. Sweat poured from his face with heat that radiated from the earth. It was stifling, making the trek through the dark corridor longer.

Relics from the past leaned against the wall, covered in spider’s web and several thousand years of dust. Pickaxes blended with the rock and old dried oil lamps hung from the ceiling. They entered a fork in the tunnel, making Jinlin sigh.

“Now where?”

Victor tried his dust trick again, but not a single speck drifted anywhere. “I don’t know. The tracks go both ways, but there’s no air flow.” He looked back. “Did we miss another tunnel?”

The wizard shook his head. “Looks like we have to choose.”

Victor grabbed a smooth stone and stood in front of the two passages. They looked identical—no signs or indication of which tunnel will lead to the outside world. Sana is somewhere out there, surrounded by the Chotukhan. His anxiety spiked with images of her fighting alone. He didn’t know if the enemy captured her… or worse, killed. The thought of her getting harmed—he bellowed and chucked the rock into the dark tunnel.

Dirt crumbles fell from the ceiling. A few at first that increased to a rain of gravel and stone. The chamber rumbled like a groaning beast. Ancient wood beams splintered, sending more rock from above. Victor snatched Jinlin and headed into the closest tunnel. The sound of large rocks, followed by boulders hitting the ground, rattled his ears.

The chaos halted as fast as it began.

Victor turned, seeing his choice was made for him.

“Charred circuits!” Jinlin cursed, breathing hard. “Mother Gaia, damn you.”

Victor turned to see the old man steaming with his fists at his hips. “What? We’re alive. You should be thankful.”

“Yes, of course I am, my boy. But when you grabbed me, you should have grabbed my satchel as well.”

Victor glanced at the stone pile. “Oh, shit.”

They continued through the darkness. Jinlin muttered occasional curses at almost every turn. It annoyed Victor at first, but he blocked it out in favor of thinking of Sana. Could he truly love her the way she deserved or would she even love him back. What if she isn’t ready? What if —.

The air turned less acrid and dusty.

He paused, breaking Jinlin out of his under-breath ramble.

“What now?” The wizard scoffed.

Victor sniffed. “You smell that?”

“Smell what? Defeat?”

He rolled his eyes. “No. I smell cedar or pine. I think we are close to the outside. The air seems fresher.”

“Right you are, my boy,” Jinlin agreed. He took a step forward and dropped straight to the ground. “Mother Gaia’s curse!”

Victor shined his light where Jinlin tripped. A wooden box crumbled from age, spilled several dozen red cylinders at his feet. The wizard grabbed one, but before he tossed in a fit of anger, Victor snatched his hand with a gasp.

“Don’t throw that!” He pulled the cylinder from the shriveled liver-spotted hand. “That would have been bad.”

Jinlin picked up another stick and inspected it with a close eye and a sniff. “What is it?”

Victor grinned. “Dynamite, my friend. A powerful explosive.” He put the stick back with the rest. “They used this stuff to blast out these tunnels.”

The wizard hummed. “Interesting.” He grabbed fistfuls of dynamite and stuffed them in his robe.

“What are you doing? You’re not seriously going to take that with you.”

“Of course, my boy. This might come in useful.”

Victor shook his head. “That stuff is over thousands of years old. It’s not safe.”

“Neither is running headfirst into a Chotukhan war party or traveling through the Iron Forest unannounced.”

Victor couldn’t argue how right the wizard was and proceeded toward the mine exit.

Daylight welcomed them in slivers through petrified boards. He pushed and heaved one board at a time till enough room opened to let them pass. The clean air felt fresh and crisp. A trickle of a stream flowing down the mountainside greeted them.

“Any idea where we are?” Victor asked, scanning around for landmarks to get his bearings.

Jinlin scratched the wrinkles across his forehead. “Hard to tell. I lost my sense of direction a long time ago.” He peered at the sun and observed the shadows beneath the trees. “If I’m correct, Gathal should be that way,” he said and pointed. “And we came from across that ridge.” He looked around. “If Sana was captured, I’m certain that’s where they’ll take her.”

Victor agreed. Returning to where they separated would give the Chotukhan a massive head start. If they caught up to the war party and Sana wasn’t with them, then they can return to their old campsite and try to trace Sana from there.

“We’ll try to cut off the Chotukhan before they reach Gathal.” He didn’t know where Gathal was, but his desire to find Sana forced him to rely on the wizard’s knowledge of the land. Every ounce of him wanted to yell out her name in hope she would answer, but rationality told him to think better of it. “Lead the way, Master Jinlin.”

Up and down the slopes, through the cold breeze, tired them. But each ridge they climbed meant they were one step closer to Sana. Victor took the lead at the sound of men and hooves. They crawled across the ridge-top, keeping a low profile.

Thirty men. Their armor and white tunics made no mistake they were Chotukhan. Lying in the cart pulled by a pair of draft elks was a woman bound in chains.

“Sana.”

Jinlin peeked over Victor’s shoulder. “That’s a lot of men guarding her. There’s not much we can do with no weapons.”

Through the gray mountain mist, a stronghold made of stone stood within a forest clearing. Tents and fires dotted outside the walls, with black birds soaring in small circles above.

“I’ll bet they are taking her there.”

Jinlin nodded. “Quite likely. Not much chance of getting anywhere near that place. It looks like half of Shunlin’s army is camped outside.”

“I agree.”

Victor followed the road that skirted the castle. It wound through a few groups of trees before passing through a facing pair of steep slopes, forming a narrow pass.

“What’s across that pass?”

Jinlin squinted. “The Great Valley. That’s the way to Gathal.”

“Is there another way around?”

“Nope. Just that one.”

Victor saw the mountain pass bottle-necked the road into a thin trail. He judged the distance and figured they could get to the pass before the column of soldiers left toward Gathal. “How much dynamite do you have?”

The wizard tapped his robe stuffed. “Quite a bit. Why?”

Victor grinned. “I have an idea.”