The Twilight War (14 page)

The man-made tunnel ran ahead in a straight line, its side walls reinforced with oiled timbers and its ceiling braced with joists of hewn cedar.

In near-darkness, Moonshadow and Groundspider dashed through it until suddenly the sides and ceiling flared and they found themselves entering a vast, separate gallery that had apparently been blasted out of the rock.

This gallery was almost as enormous as The Sifter. Dome-shaped, with a high ceiling, the upper half of its walls was streaked with shadowy rocky ledges.

Small tunnels fed off the gallery in all directions. In the centre of the gallery's floor yawned the mouth of a massive pit. Cage-style lavers on iron tripods surrounded it, perched on a wide lip of level rock that ran around the big hole.

Moonshadow stopped at the edge. Groundspider slid to a halt, almost crashing into him from behind. Together they glanced down into the huge opening.

It was around one hundred paces in diameter and perhaps half as deep. Its level floor was rock covered with a thick layer of dust. In one dim corner of the pit was a wide, high, tunnel mouth. Closing footfall echoed from behind them.

‘My turn to hold the Fuma!' Moonshadow gestured at the many small tunnels. ‘Pick one, use the map, double round and get her out of the
interrogation chamber! I'll evade. Meet you back there!'

Groundspider quickly weighed the idea, grunted, then turned and ran off.

Instantly Rikichi was on Moonshadow, hacking at him with strong vertical cuts.

Moonshadow danced backwards, avoiding each slice with fast left and right bobs, then ducking as Rikichi launched horizontal cuts. Suddenly Rikichi stopped his attack and scuttled backwards. He lowered his weapon and leaned on the rock wall, panting and eyeing his target.

Fuma agents poured into the gallery, bunching up behind Rikichi. Moonshadow scanned them with alarm. He and Groundspider had been chased in here by three, but now, obviously thanks to the commotion in the gallery, he counted
nine
backing Rikichi, with a few older faces among them. This was a whole new problem!

‘Traitor!' He sneered at Rikichi.

Rikichi shrugged, unconcerned. ‘Not at all. A most loyal son of Fuma. Goodbye, dead man. It is a pity to waste your skills, but I doubt that you could be turned …'

With that, his hand rose and gestured a circle. ‘Prepare!' Rikichi ordered his men. Five of them immediately tore off around the lip of the pit, leaving the remaining four and Rikichi himself to advance slowly on Moonshadow.

Moonshadow backed away, glancing in all directions. Rushing around the pit, the five ninja quickly cut off his potential escape route. He was encircled now, and could neither run for one of the small tunnels leading off the gallery, nor go back the way he had come – unless he could instantly defeat five enemies, including Rikichi, before the other five dashed in to hack at him from behind.

Rikichi and his men strode forward. Moonshadow froze, trapped on the pit's rocky lip, a wall to his back, five armed and eager foes on either side, a drop before him.

‘Now … deliver!' Rikichi leered. His eyes flicked at the five ninja behind Moonshadow and they advanced, swords extended, close to the gallery wall. Looking down into the pit, Moonshadow flinched. It was clear what
deliver
meant: the Fuma aimed to close in, levering him off the lip and down into
that
. He anxiously gulped in dusty air. If he slowed himself by digging his gauntlets into the sides on the way down, he could survive the fall. But who or what were they delivering him to?

His eyes flicked to Rikichi. Moonshadow silently vowed that if he
was
going into that pit, it wouldn't be alone. Their so-called guide was coming too!

Before the ninja at his back could close in, Moonshadow launched himself at Rikichi. There was a loud
whump
as they collided chest-to-chest.
Rikichi snarled and clubbed with his sword's pommel, knocking Moonshadow over the edge.

To a wave of startled grunts from the surrounding Fuma, Moonshadow snatched a grip on Rikichi's ankle, cutting short his plunge.

Moonshadow dangled over the pit, feet cycling desperately against its smooth wall.

Groundspider pounded the rocky ledge with his fist. The tunnel he had chosen had gone nowhere useful: it had just climbed sharply, turned back, then ended on this high ledge.

Now he had a great view of the pit and its surrounds, but he was trapped. If he went back, the small crowd of enemies he could see in the gallery below would slay him, just as they were about to slay Moonshadow, and there would be nobody left to fulfil the mission's prime objective.

He fought an impulse to rush back down and fight anyway. No! It was his duty to try and carry out Eagle's last orders. In the meantime, he would just have to huddle up here and watch Moonshadow die. He swore bitterly and shook his head at the horror below.

Rikichi was leaning backwards, bracing himself on the edge of the pit. The kid had a hold on the trickster's ankle. Feet scrambling against
the smooth pit walls, Moonshadow was vainly trying to pull himself up. Some of the Fuma were laughing.

‘This pit connects to the last tunnel ever blasted out,' Rikichi shouted, his voice echoing. ‘A deep cave system running north-east under the mountain.' He threw back his head with a hard, determined laugh. ‘The writing at the back door had it all wrong! This place is not “hell's lips”, it's something far worse.'

Groundspider heard a low pounding come from the pit beneath Moonshadow.

‘It's a
kimon
!' Rikichi sniggered. ‘A demon gate!'

Groundspider quickly crawled along the high, shadowy ledge, seeking a better vantage point. The pounding continued, mixing now with crunching sounds, the rhythm slow as if …

Groundspider flinched. It was!
Footsteps!
Something very heavy was striding from the dark tunnel mouth down inside the pit. On the rocky lip where Moonshadow dangled, Fuma heads turned to watch it approach.

It? Groundspider swallowed. What
was
it? Then he caught a glimpse of a massive horned head, long wild hair and muscular blue shoulders. His eyes went wide, his mouth fell open. So they were neither a fable nor extinct!

Approaching the dangling Moonshadow across the centre of the pit was an Oni, an ogre long said to
live in mountain country. The enormous creature was man-like in shape, but easily three times the height of a man. Its flesh was mottled blue and a pair of slightly curved horns rose from its lank, matted hair. The creature's only clothing was a crude loin cloth fashioned from animal skins. The Oni's sullen eyes glowed red and its angry mouth was jammed with crooked yellow fangs. Groundspider looked down at its clawed hands: Oni were said to carry iron clubs, but
this one
wielded a tree trunk as its weapon.

Rikichi pointed at the ogre as he addressed Moonshadow. ‘Good as you are, I can't wait to see how you do against … this!' He leaned forward and stamped down hard on Moonshadow's arm. Moonshadow let out a yelp of pain but somehow hung on.

Groundspider could take it no longer: he rummaged in his leggings for a shuriken.

Before he could draw one, Moonshadow let out an angry growl, and, swinging his legs hard, he rose up and snatched at Rikichi's other ankle with his free hand. Grabbing it tight, Moonshadow threw his legs back, bent his knees, and let himself just
drop
. Rikichi bellowed, trying to twist himself free, but it was too late. Clipping the edge of the pit with his back, he plunged after Moonshadow, struggling as he fell.

Groundspider lurched forward on his ledge, eyes locked on the two small figures careening down the
wall of the Oni's pit. As they struck the floor and sent up a puff of dust, the ogre let out a delighted roar. Groundspider covered his mouth with one hand.

Rikichi was right. Ten Moonshadows could not defeat
that
.

Moonshadow drew his sword and held it out before him, trying to cover both Rikichi and the massive creature glaring down at him from the centre of what was now a rocky arena. So Oni were real! His eyes flicked about, searching for an exit. Behind the huge beast, its access tunnel led down from the pit at a sharp angle. No, not that way, he decided. That tunnel might go anywhere, and if it proved a dead-end, the Oni could easily just retrace its steps and corner him down there.

The Oni stared at him, then at Rikichi, who was also brandishing his sword. It snorted, rubbed its flat nose with the back of one gigantic hand and then dropped its head intently, as if deciding something. With a low growl, it came striding at Moonshadow.

Each step the ogre took kicked up flurries of white dust, and sent tremors through the floor of the pit into Moonshadow's legs.

As the air grew thick with dust, Moonshadow tried to dart to the creature's left, but it moved
with surprising speed for its size, cutting him off. It grinned vengefully down at him through the growing haze, showing off its great yellow canine fangs. One shuddering
stomp
at a time, ignoring Rikichi, the Oni advanced on Moonshadow. He backed away, eyes locked on its angry face and sword hoisted defensively.

With a dull
thump
Moonshadow felt his back meet the rock wall of the pit.

He was cornered. For whatever reason, it wanted
him
. The ogre swung its tree-trunk club up from its side, hurling more grit and dust into the air.

With a nerve-shredding battle cry, it ran at Moonshadow. As the ground shook around him, Moonshadow looked helplessly up at the towering monster. How could he escape? Rolling in between its legs wouldn't work, the creature was too alert, too quick.

Then he glanced at the thick dust-fog in the air around the Oni's head.

Maybe there
was
a way.

Groundspider watched, his heart in his mouth. Though parts of the pit were now obscured by clouds of thick dust that had been kicked up from its floor, he could still make out snatches of the
action taking place below. The Oni and its two potential targets had all turned the pale colour of the dust. The three appeared to be weaving frantically around, just missing each other, moving in and out of sight, like children playing a game.

A deadly version of
catch me if you can
, Groundspider thought, and swallowed hard.

He held his breath as the ogre suddenly emerged in a narrow visibility gap. It dashed forward, amazingly fast for its size, cornering a tiny figure that moved in a familiar way. That had to be Moon! An errant puff of dust blocked his view but when it cleared, Groundspider shuddered. Moonshadow was in the ogre's grip!

As he looked on in revulsion, the wiry, dusty figure, was hoisted into the air by the creature.

Groundspider shook his big head. ‘No,' he said weakly. The small figure struggled bravely, swinging at the massive ogre's wrist with his sword.

In response the Oni swung its gigantic arm back and hurled its captive hard. It spun like a cloth effigy straight into the nearest wall. The sickening
crunch
of body against rock was so loud it echoed. Limply the dusty figure dropped to the pit floor.