Page 43 of The Last Tiger

Seung

Ametal point sticks through the surface of the bag, stopping centimeters from my face. Then it cuts a line down toward my waist, splitting the bag open. I squint as daylight showers in, blinding me.

Someone cuts the ropes binding my wrists and ankles. I look up to see Jin putting away her knife. Looks like she reclaimed it from the Slayer who confiscated it. She extends a hand to me.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I take in the chaos. We’re on what seems to be a busy intersection in the middle of the city, but the scene is blocked up.

Merchants’ carts are overturned in the street.

The tiger’s sled is knocked over on one side and empty, and a groaning cadre of fearsome-looking Dragon soldiers nurses their wounds around us.

Did I do this?

“Seung, we need to go. The tiger’s on the move.”

I grab Jin’s hand, and she helps me up to my feet.

“Which way?”

She points as a flash of white-and-black fur disappears down the street.

The soldiers behind us groan, struggling to get to their feet. But we’re off and running before they can stop us. One of them tries weakly to grab at me, and I blast her with a flash of adrenaline; she collapses into a seizure, her limbs shaking.

Oops. I didn’t mean to do that —

But there’s no time to stop and think. As we push our way through the crowd, I see a regiment of policemen running toward us. There’s far too many to fight off…

“Hey!” Jin shouts. “Look at me!”

The police stop in their tracks, spellbound.

“Let us through,” she commands. “Stop anyone who tries to follow us in their tracks.”

The policemen mutely assent, splitting down the middle to let us pass. Then they form a solid line behind us, taking out their batons, cordoning off the street. I sneak a glance at their backs as we run past.

Right. Hard to forget just how powerful Jin’s abilities can be.

It’s easy to see where the tiger has gone from the trail of chaos left behind her. There’s no time to take in the turned-over storefronts, the pedestrians crouching in fear. We’ve got one priority.

The tiger is waiting for us at the next street over. She’s panting, her body crouched and ready to spring. As Jin and I catch up, the tiger bounds ahead, turning a corner.

“I think she’s leading us toward Mount Tangun,” Jin shouts.

Everything passes into a blur of chaos as we race through Hannam City. The tiger leaps, dodging passersby, knocking into carts and wares, and leaving a trail of overturned goods spilling behind us. Jin and I sprint as hard as we can to keep up amid the screams of frightened people.

“Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!” I shout.

As we spill out into the square, we turn and suddenly come face-to-face with a line of soldiers, pouring toward us from every direction—

Jin gasps in surprise—

Spirits! Seamlessly, I redirect the fear, lifting it out of my heart, through my hands, and blasting the soldiers with a healthy dose of total, unmitigated terror. They cower in the street, hands held over their heads as they shake, tears spilling from their cheeks.

We run past, not bothering to look back at the blubbering soldiers behind us.

Looming over what must be the northern edge of the city, a stunning granite mountain rises into the sky.

Mount Tangun.

As we move farther from the city center, the streets begin to recede.

Finally, we turn a corner and come across a wide, abandoned dirt road that sweeps up toward an enormous rock ledge at the base of the mountain.

A wall of trees rises behind the ledge, which itself must be more than five meters tall.

At the end of the road, the tiger waits for us, her tail twitching anxiously. Hurry.

Behind the tiger are a pair of stone Haechi statues.

We catch up to her, panting. Jin bends down, putting her hands on her knees and groans, gasping for air.

I look up at the tiger, then at the wall of rock and trees behind her, and finally, at the Haechi statues, grinning their mysterious frozen grins at us.

This is it.

I place my hand into one of the statues’ mouths. Immediately its eyes glint, turning a brilliant ruby color. The stone wall between the statues rumbles, opening up like a gate.

I hear shouting in the city streets. Someone’s following us, and, clearly, they’re causing some mayhem while they’re at it.

I glance through the open gate anxiously. On the other side, the dark air glitters under a canopy of forest trees.

The tiger bounds through the opening, her head held high. Jin and I follow suit.

The air cools. The city noise behind us shrinks into the distance. Here, in the dark under the trees, little stirs. There’s only…silence.

As I turn back to glance at the city, I hear a groaning sound. The stone gate starts to close, the doors rumbling as they move slowly back into position—

I squint. There’s something on the other side. In the narrowing light of the opening, I can make out—some kind of—

Some one running incredibly fast—

I brace myself. Just as the gate is about to close, a mysterious figure in Dragon garb with a hood pulled low over its face careens through, narrowly sliding through the opening right before the stone walls clang shut.

Dust flies in the air as the mercenary slams into me; we both topple unceremoniously to the ground—

I scramble away as the intruder rises, preparing to fight. I raise my hands—

The hood slides back from their head, revealing—

I gasp.

That round face, those hooded eyes, those thin, determined lips.

This girl. I know her.

I would know her anywhere.

My voice catches in my throat as I speak, unable to believe my own eyes.

“Eunji?”