The Third Kingdom

“So it would appear,” Richard told her. “Naja says that at first they rampaged out of control, in the beginning attacking those who had created them and then the troops they had been assigned to serve with before escaping out into the population at large. The half people tore through the ranks of makers who had created them. The wizard makers who hadn’t been eaten were terrified of their own creation. Many fled.

“For a time, they had no way of stopping them. For a time, the half people owned the night. People quickly learned to lock themselves inside once the sun went down and hope those without souls didn’t come for them in large numbers.

“Fearful whispers called these demonic hunters of souls the unholy half dead.”

“Unholy half dead. That sounds like a pretty good description of them to me,” Samantha said.

Richard agreed. “Naja says that Sulachan’s makers were eventually able to come up with a solution. They modified the magic they had used to create them and directed this need to kill against their enemies—the people here in the New World.”

“Against us?” Samantha asked in alarm.

Richard nodded. “I’m afraid so. She says that the half people, although no stronger than a normal person and nowhere near as strong as the awakened dead, are more dangerous because they are quicker, but more importantly because they still have the ability to think like a predator and hunt those with souls.

“Although stripped of their higher reasoning functions, they learned to amass and attack in overpowering numbers. After the makers gained control and were able to modify the magic used create them, their savage nature and their ability to think was finally turned against Sulachan’s enemies.”

Richard was weary from the effort of translating such complex symbols, but he couldn’t afford to miss anything or to stop. He rubbed his eyes and went on reading.

When he was silent for a time, Samantha shook his sleeve. “What does it say? What are you reading? Speak it out loud.”

Richard let out a deep sigh as he straightened. He gestured vaguely, dismissively, at the wall.

“There’s no new information in this part. It’s just some material describing how the half people kill their victims.”

“I need to know,” Samantha said when he fell silent. “They will come after our people, after me. Don’t try to protect me by keeping me in the dark. It’s no help to be ignorant of the truth. I need to know.”

Richard glanced briefly to the determination in her eyes. He supposed that she was right. He gestured at the description.

“They tear people open, believing the soul they crave is inside. The half people often eat the victim’s insides first because they think the soul resides in them. They drink the blood, fearing that the soul might escape by leaking away. When they aren’t satisfied because they still haven’t been able to get what they crave, they strip all the meat from the bones, devouring every bit of it in an attempt to find and consume the soul they think is hiding somewhere in the still-warm flesh.

“Groups of them will compete for scraps, each hoping to get the soul for themselves. They eat everything—muscle, blood, organs, even the face. They suck the brain out of the skull, or crush it with a rock to get at it. They leave only some of the bowels and the bones, but often crack open larger bones and devour the marrow, still trying to find the elusive soul.”

Samantha looked dumbfounded. “How do they possibly think they can get a soul by eating people?”

“It’s a madness that drives them. It doesn’t make sense to us, but it does to them. They think that souls reside within a person or hide in bodily tissues. They’re looking for that moment when the spirit departs the dying body. They think that at that moment they can devour it, pulling it into themselves for their own. So, they eat everything, hoping to get it while it is hiding in the body, before it can escape the warm flesh.”

Samantha’s eyes grew more liquid. “They are unholy demons.”

“Soulless demons,” Richard agreed. He gestured to the symbols as he went on. “Failure to gain the soul they seek only makes them more frantic, more enraged. The more they kill, the more they fail to be sated, the more obsessed they become to possess a soul.

“Naja says that the half people can sense the presence of a soul, the way a predator can smell blood.”

Samantha grabbed his sleeve again and leaned in. “You mean they can use that ability to track and hunt people?”

Richard nodded. “Naja says that the half people are death itself, with teeth, coming for the living.”

He had to pause to take a breath. The account was graphic and making him sick. He had only given her the highlights so that she would understand what they faced. He judged it enough.

Samantha, looking on the verge of tears, shook her head in horror. “Death with teeth, coming for the living,” she said to herself. “That’s what happened to my father, then. And maybe my mother. If they hadn’t already eaten her alive when they caught her, they would have by now.”