Page 42 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“Intruder!” one of them shouted.

Kasu was so stunned by the indignity of the ghosts calling her an intruder she almost forgot to dodge the metal pipe swinging at her head. She jumped back just in time, and the pipe hit the shelves again with such force that several bottles toppled over and smashed on the cold tiles.

Smoke swirled through the air, dark shapes forming in the centre of the room. Kasu watched, transfixed, as a cloud of smoke gave way to the image of a man lying on the side of a muddy road.

“What the hell is this?” The other ghosts stopped in their tracks.

The man lying on the road was dying. Merchants passed him without a glance, their carts rolling through the puddles and splashing water all over his face. The man reached out to them, calling for help, but they all ignored him. A woman pulled her child aside as they passed.

In another swirl of smoke, Kasu watched a woman walking to an executioner’s block. Though she could not hear them, Kasu could feel the spectators’ excitement. They wanted to see the woman dead. They wanted blood.

Inside another cloud, a young boy sat in an empty storehouse. His bare toes were almost black with frostbite. The holes in the roof did nothing to protect him from the frigid winter winds. His father had said that he would be back and then locked him in here. He hoped his father wouldn’t take too long.

Kasu watched their final moments play out again and again until the smoke dissipated. She was sure she recognized some of the figures too – there was the ghost who served lunch, one of the beetle-wrestling trainers, a dice roller. Why did Lady Camellia have a collection of their memories?

Did that mean Kasu’s memories were here too?

“Gods, look what you’ve done!” One of the ghosts stared aghast at the smoke and shattered bottles.

“Lord Cobalt won’t like this!”

“Lord Cobalt?” said Kasu. “You’re working for Lord Cobalt?”

The demon lord of the eastern quarter. A lot of rare, expensive produce passed through Lord Cobalt’s hands. Items worth more than their weight in gold – powdered dragon antlers, the skulls of one-horned children, the bodies of famous saints and bottles of blood drained from living princesses. Whatever he was planning by sending ghosts to break into Lady Camellia’s chambers, Kasu wanted no part of it.

“Stay still, girl!” The ghost with the pipe lifted it over his head and brought it down right where Kasu was standing.

Before the blow could connect, Ruo leapt onto his chest, fangs sinking into flesh and tearing a scream from his throat. The ghost toppled over, pinned to the ground by Ruo’s weight.

“Don’t kill him!” Kasu barely had time to shout.

“Damn it all! We don’t have time for this,” another ghost swore.

“She’s got a curse with her – let’s just go!”

With a roar, the ghost beneath Ruo leveraged a foot under the cat’s stomach and kicked them off. As the ghost picked himself up, Kasu lunged for his middle. Her intention had been to throw him to the ground again, but she was not heavy enough to unbalance him. A second later, she felt a sharp blow to the back of her neck. Pain exploded through her skull and her vision blurred. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground and Ruo was in front of her, snapping and snarling at the ghosts.

The door on the ceiling shifted. Just as Kasu picked herself up, it burst open and Arun came falling through, landing right between Ruo and the ghosts.

“Look out!” Kasu shouted as one of the ghosts swung at Arun’s back.

She did not see Arun draw his sword, but their weapons clashed, scattering sparks across the tiled floor. The ghost howled and shoved Arun back, sending him crashing into another row of shelves. Bottles plummeted to the ground around him, smoke escaping and swirling into the air.

Kasu ran past the bottles, trying not to look at the pitiful scenes playing out before her. Through the mist, she heard Ruo tackle one of the ghosts and Arun clash with another. She kept running. If she squinted, she could just about make out the figure of the third intruder, lost in the smoke. The Heavenly Principles were clear that violence should only be used as a last resort, but Kasu did not know what else she could do as she barrelled into the ghost, knocking the weapon out of his hand. While he stumbled, she grabbed the front of his clothes and pulled him towards her.

“What are you here for?” she demanded.

The room rotated. Or rather, the ceiling and walls moved like a sliding puzzle, barely upsetting the lines of shelves, which did little more than rattle.

Someone was coming. She could feel it the way migrating birds sensed the approach of winter, the way salmon knew to swim upstream. Kasu sensed it within her bones. Lady Camellia had returned.

So soon? But what about the bazaar? Perhaps business had been so bad she had decided to come home early.

The other ghosts sensed the demon’s approach as well. One of them cursed, reached into the folds of his clothes and pulled out an ornate hand mirror.

“Retreat!” He threw the mirror to the floor. It didn’t shatter. Instead, a small vortex pulled the three ghosts into the smooth glass.

“Wait!” Kasu ran after them, but Arun grabbed the back of her clothes and pulled her behind the shelves just as the door burst open.