The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul
I’m tired of sitting on my backside.”
    “You’ll do well to stay on that backside,” said Neviah. “If you start the bleeding again, you may die.”
    Malkyr sighed. “You changed the dressing on it earlier and there was no blood.”
    “Yes, but you could do something to start it again. Stay where you are.”
    Ran sighed. “You can still take a watch. The rest of us will sleep while you take the first shift. Wake me in two hours and I’ll relieve you. We’re not going to lay about like we did last night.”
    “Agreed,” said Kancho. “We’re lucky we’re all still alive and weren’t killed during the night.”
    Malkyr stretched his arms overhead. “Very well. You lot rest. I’ll take my turn same as any other.”
    Ran and the others arranged themselves around the fire. As he peered into the trees, Ran saw the mist descending once more.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    It was not Malkyr but the warmth of the morning sun that woke Ran finally. He sat up immediately. Malkyr hadn’t roused him for his shift last night. Ran glanced around. Aside from the still slumbering form of Jysal, the beach was deserted. Even the embers of the fire had died down to nothing but cold bits of charred wood. Ran’s hand went immediately to his sword, which he was relieved to see was still by his side. He got to his feet and scanned the sand for any signs that would tell him where the others had gone. He frowned at the sight of the smooth beach, undisturbed except for where the waves of the sea gently licked at its shoreline.
    Ran moved to Jysal and paused to gaze at the curves of her body. She was exquisitely beautiful, but Ran shrugged the thought from his mind and squatted next to her. “Jysal. Wake up.”
    Her eyelids fluttered open, and it reminded Ran of a butterfly flicking its wings in the lazy summer. She smiled. “I don’t suppose it’s breakfast?”
    Ran frowned. “I wish it was. But I’ve got bad news. We’re the only ones here.”
    Jysal jerked upright. One glance told her everything she needed to know. “Where did they run off to?”
    Ran shook his head. “I have no idea, truly. I only woke up a few moments ago myself. The last thing I can remember is telling Malkyr to wake me up in two hours so I could take my shift on guard duty.”
    “That’s all you remember?”
    Ran frowned. “I remember seeing the fog last night. Right before we fell asleep.”
    Jysal nodded. “I remember that fog, too. It was with us the first night as well.”
    “The night we lost Vargul,” said Ran.
    “Do you think they’re connected?”
    “They have to be,” said Ran. “There’s nothing else that could really explain it. It’s not as though our fellow castaways are going to abandon us. Neviah would lay down her life for you. That’s fairly obvious.”
    “She is my protector,” said Jysal. “Her job is to make sure I get to the temple. She takes her role very seriously.”
    “She seems like a formidable warrior,” said Ran. No sense in annoying Jysal with useless platitudes. And Ran could see that Neviah would be a handful if it ever came to combat with her. Better, Ran decided, to treat Neviah with the respect she deserved rather than try some of the silly machismo he’d seen during the course of his travels. He sometimes found himself wondering if it wasn’t just insecurity that made men think less of women. As if admitting they were equal would somehow disrupt the essence of who they were as men. To Ran, such sentiment made no sense whatsoever. If your opponent was a good warrior, then the least you could do was respect them for their prowess. Better to give them the respect they’d earned than underestimate them and find yourself on the end of their blade.
    But Ran knew that logic was often in short supply when it came to the mind of a fighting man. It was a weakness his elders at the school had often taught him to exploit for his own purposes, whether in combat or in the art of gathering information.
    “Where could

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