Sacrifice by Cindy Pon Read Free Book Online Page A

fallen in love with, whom he hadn’t seen or sensed in over six months since she had been taken hostage by Stone.
    The fireball guttered, then dimmed, and Kai Sen focused again, weaving the intense energy around it tightly, relinquishing the memories of the brown-eyed girl who sang so beautifully, who smelled of the forest so he could never enter it without always being reminded of her. The hellfire was as large as a pumpkin now, barely contained in his hands, when he heard a familiar shuffle, and all the hairs on his arms stood on end. An undead creature emerged between the trees, jumping toward Kai Sen, its arms held stiff in front. It was an old corpse, its face long rotted away, and its funeral clothes faded and tattered.
    Kai Sen cursed. He had left the monastery with no weapon except for the dagger at his waist, not wanting to be encumbered during his nightly wanderings. The undead thing hopped a few more steps, closing the distance between them as another crashed through from behind it. This creature was a fresher corpse, bloated with greenish skin pulled tight around its decomposed face. Kai Sen almost gagged, but the reflex fled when five more undead appeared. Seven now. How many were hidden in the depths of night?
    He backed away even as he raised his arms, speaking a spell that Abbot Wu had never taught him, but he had studied secretly on his own. He’d practiced on boulders and dead tree trunks until now. His voice deepened as he said the last archaic words and thrust his arms out at the closest undead creature. A wall of blue flames shot forth from between his curved palms, igniting the corpse. The fire didn’t feel hot to his touch but like liquid, something more malleable than water. Kai Sen willed his arms steady and began chanting the spell anew, tugging hard on the fire threads around him. They seared his core, wound around his heart and lungs, binding him tightly before he flung them forward again, blasting five more undead with hellfire.
    The last undead creature continued to jump his way, intent on turning its prey. One bite or scratch and Kai Sen would become a living corpse as well. He unsheathed his dagger, wanting the danger of closeness, the thrill of thrusting his blade. There was no other noise now within the forest except for the crackling blue flames that wreathed the six undead as they shambled in their last death throes, illuminating the scene as bright as midday, and the heavy-footed thumping of the last remaining corpse. It had been a large man in life, its dark blue tunic in rags now, revealing the fetid body beneath.
    Kai Sen knew little fear after fighting hell’s creatures for weeks when the underworld had opened into theirs; days and nights had melded into each other in an endless nightmare. He had trained every day relentlessly after his return to the monastery in an attempt to forget those horrifying weeks. Forget the final confrontation that had resulted in losing Skybright forever. Rage and anger had helped to ease the loss, to help erase the horror.
    He gripped his dagger tighter as he leaned down to seize a large branch from the forest floor, his eyes never leaving the undead creature. The other six had long since crumpled to the ground, filling the forest with the harsh stench of burned clothes and hair. When the last corpse was near enough, Kai Sen stabbed the long branch into the corpse’s throat, and it halted, skewered like a beetle, yet it still fought to stagger toward him, scrabbling its skeletal fingers in the air. It was strong, but so was Kai Sen. He had the advantage of training and muscle, and this thing was mere rotten flesh.
    Forcing the thick branch even deeper, he shoved the corpse back until with a final thrust, the thing toppled onto its back. He was on the creature before it could rise again, stomping on its extended arms with furious kicks, breaking them, before driving the branch into the earth and pinning the corpse. It struggled still, thudding its feet