17. Hanako The Zombie Slayer.

Hanako was already running away before her mind could decide.

Through thick smoke and the scent of burning flesh, she leapt into a storm drain, while the beast strafed the land with fire. The sight of the creature left her reeling, unsure how such an abomination could exist.

It had the head of a lion, the body of a white horse, with the front legs and wings of an enormous eagle. Its tail was a long, metal chain ending on a spiked ball.

What the hell?

Hanako had no more time to waste and bolted for the nearest dome-like bunker. Trying the door, she found it to be locked. No luck there. She looked around and found it to be close to a dark alley. After her last experience with shadows, she decided to chance it in the open.

Quickly noticing how the first ship was smashed up against the side of a Church, Hanako saw no other option and headed toward the central plaza, ducking from cover to cover.

Barrelling inside a Church, she was shocked to see a giant Knight, covered head to toe in moss. The being was so huge; it was forced to curl up inside, with its head touching the high ceiling.

The Moss Knight was seated in a huddle and gently playing a home-made lute, made from broken-up pews and stripped-down ropes used to ring the Church bells. It seemed unfazed by the intruder.

"Hmph," It said, rumbling under its helmet. "Another visitor to witness the great Vann at work, even though I tell people, my compositions will be aired once they are complete. Not before." The voice was muffled, as if heard through walls, (not that Hanako could). 

"You being here can only mean someone woke up the Gillerman. Stupid fish people, they ruined fishing." It moved its head slightly and caught sight of the girl staring up at her. "You're smaller than the other elves. Like a shiny little doll."

Hanako relaxed a little and got the feeling the Giant was no kind of threat. "I'm sorry I don't do requests, all my work is my own." The girl pointed upward at the window. Vann nodded. "I see. To enter thy window, thou must answereth riddles three." It held up three fingers. Despite not being able to hear, Hanako crossed her arms, annoyed at the lack of progress. The Knight uttered a small laugh that sounded like churning thunder. "I'm just jesting with you, little one. I don't even know what 'Thou' means. I suppose 'answereth' is not a real word either. Hmm."

Hanako put her hands on her hips and stared back.

"Oh, you want to go now? Why not wait for the starry night to come out? Hmm, on second thought, once released, it can be around for ages. Oh well, if you are taking the ships, you might need this." The Giant reached out and grabbed a sword from the ceiling. "This is known as: 'Aquelarre', good for old bones." He let the blade fall, causing it to dig into the threadbare carpet.

Hanako noticed how everything but the handle was made entirely of black mist.

The girl plucked out the weapon and gave it a few swings. Satisfied, she nodded in return.

"Well, best hop on," Vann said, spreading his arm like a ramp. Hanako hesitated and moved onto the Giant's finger, then the back of its hand. Halfway up the wrist, she felt a little more confident and sped up. "Don't fall off; I won't be able to catch you in time." The girl eventually reached the top of his shoulders and she hugged the Knight, before disappearing out the window. "What a nice Elf."

Outside on the Bell tower, Hanako pressed her back flat and waited for the Gillerman to fly out of sight. Once the coast was clear, she edged around the side of the building, toward a rope net hanging from the side of the ship.

After a five-count, she leapt onto the netting and crashed against the side, trying not to look down.

No way back, now. 

After pulling herself up, Hanako saw how the ship was tilted at an angle and could not help but slide toward the rear mast. Desperate to keep upright, she held onto the Ship's wheel before jumping down off the broken stairs.

Finally, on a level floor, Hanako was hoping to sneak about using the lower decks. Unfortunately, a group of Zombies had other plans.

***

The dead swarmed her with teeth bared and hands hooked into claws.

Hanako immediately cut down the horde with the new sword and watched them turn into drifting white embers. It wasn’t enough, however; they kept coming from floors and walls, constantly growing in number.

Soon, the dead surrounded her, until she was drowning in bodies, and all Hanako could see were a mass of rotted faces; craving, clawing and reaching out to satisfy their maniacal hunger.

She could feel nails scrape at the armour, as a sea of mouths bit at all over her chain-mail.

A wall of clawed fingers started to rake over her helmet, forcing her down onto her knees. With every effort spent, the pull was too strong, and she had no choice but to be devoured in a storm of gnawing, rotten faces.

***

Out of nowhere, everything was lit up brighter than a midday sun, as a row  of fire thinned out the crowd.

 Thankful for the rescue, Hanako rolled out of the way and jumped onto the deck below.

Spurred on by this near-death experience, she was energised with a burning hatred, laced with anger and resentment. Taking the misty blade, she dashed through the lower decks like a Banshee possessed, cutting through any passing Zombies that gave her so much as a dirty look.

Hanako vaulted beams and bound through doors. Onward she ran, cleaving through bodies, determined to see its occupants dissipate in a flurry of snowy ash.

Infused with a brutal disregard for monsters, Hanako leapt onto the second ship, expecting another fight, but found the place deserted. Only the scorched wood and flickering fire were signs she was late for the party.

Peering down toward the lower decks, she found the river spilling in through a large hole. From what Hanako could make out, the reason the ship had not sunk was thanks to the other two holding it aloft.

It was then that the Gillerman landed a few feet away. Hanako kept low and out of sight. She watched it sneeze and make a strangled clucking sound.

Crouching slowly behind the broken mast, she waited. This was the closest the girl had been without running away. The creature continued to paw at the deck.

Desperation was starting to sink in. All she needed was somewhere to hide.

To her relief, she spotted an exit.  It was a door leading to the 'Great Cabin’, traditionally reserved for the Captain's quarters.

 Now or never. 

Being as quiet as possible, Hanako carefully reached out to a smouldering block of wood. Counting down from five, she hurled it over the deck.

Success! The creature squawked and took flight.

Sensing her chance, Hanako darted toward the doors, nearly caught by a rolling inferno. She slid flat against the left-hand bookcase, while the entrance collapsed into a jumbled pile of burning oak.

Then...nothing.

Quietness settled all around, except for the sound of heavy wings receding in the distance.

***

Hanako got to her feet and dusted herself off. She was ready to look for an exit, when something took her by surprise. In her race to stay alive, she completely missed the impaled skeleton seated opposite the Captain's desk.

The one-armed individual was dressed in a Tweed Jacket, brown trousers and tan shoes. Whoever it was had been pierced from top to bottom by a long, dark blue icicle with a wedding ring placed on the tip.

Grim. 

Hanako checked the shelves, but every book was unreadable. They were all written in the same language of domino dots and twirling lines.

Placing her hands on her hips, she was suddenly blown back into a drinks cabinet by another explosion. Slightly dazed, the girl pushed herself onto all fours.

Give me a chance, why don’t you? 

Still feeling woozy, she inspected the scorched hole ringed in minimal fire. As luck would have it, the rear mast had come loose and unfurled a sheet of canvas.

It still meant having to jump the gap and catch hold of the sheet.

Carefully approaching the exit, she looked down and caught sight of the straight drop into rushing waters.

I promise I'll never go up in a big ship again. 

Hanako backed away a bit to get a good run-up. She paced around, trying to build enough courage, and after a few little skips, she bolted toward the hole and leapt for dear life.

Another gamble paid off as she caught it with ease, but relief turned to icy dread as she gripped the canvas and felt herself being swung around toward the ship.

Once steady against the side, she climbed the sail and pulled herself up onto one of the beams, which was just big enough for her to balance on.

At the halfway point, Hanako stopped and waited for the Gillerman to come around for another pass.. Looking up, she saw a sheet flapping out and traced the rope to a nearby post.

Interesting

It helped that the creature was following a familiar pattern. Circle around, blast the main deck and repeat. This made its movement easy to predict.

Three times the animal and none of the smarts.

Hanako knew what she had to do. Taking a nearby piece of metal, she repeatedly hit it against the beam. The Gillerman picked up the sounds and steered in for the kill.

Come on. Hanako thought, watching the beast change course.  Let's go. Let's go! 

The Chimaera started its attack run and dived down toward the main deck. Once the beast had opened its mouth for another volley of fire, Hanako slashed at the rope, bringing down the main sail. The Gillerman went headfirst and became snared inside.

While quickly celebrating, Hanako leapt off the top deck, opened her hand, just in time for the missing Javelin to snap back into her hand.

And then she stopped.

A sense of pity came over her; it didn't seem right. This abomination was only reacting to innate instincts. Who could blame it, just because it didn't look pretty enough?

The girl knelt down and carefully cut a hole open. Peeling back the layers, she saw the Lion's face snap and snarl, before its features sank, defeated. Hanako frowned, cut the ropes and slowly backed away.

It should be free enough and give her time to escape.

Feeling like a countdown was going on, Hanako sprinted toward the front deck and launched herself onto the third ship, landing with a neat roll. Everything seemed to be holding firm until some boards gave way, and she went crashing into the deeper reaches of the ship.

Expecting a hard impact, the girl was surprised to find her fall cushioned by something mushy, like balled-up glue.

Eww. Nice. 

Low light revealed the twinkling surface of a jellied pool. Confused, she took a nearby torch and swept it across the area.

Upon checking all around, Hanako found herself waist-deep in a sticky, soupy, gooey stew of broken-down human fat and tissue.

Even with a face, she felt sick.

Inside the lower decks, she saw tens of human skulls with every kind of bone it was possible to name. The acidic stench was enough to make her pass out.

Wading through the gelatinous sludge, she kept her arms up and tried not to think how every blob used to be a person, or how foam around the edges was once a village.

Hanako passed through a narrow passage and came to a dead end. Flicking off the heavy globs of decay, she searched for some exit door, but everything was blocked off. No luck there. She was tempted to cut back toward the galley when the corner of one side rose into a dome before erupting.

Air!  Air is coming from underneath!

There was a definite hole and judging by the speed of the current, a sizeable one at that. Hanako stamped on a piece of wood, quickly losing her footing. Steadying herself, she realised the only way to escape was to submerge herself within the depths of this rotted body soup.

Hesitant at first to drown in a lake of human slop, Hanako slowly lowered herself and tried to avoid thinking about the jellied things that swam at her.

Following the cold stream, she was able to swim out of the hole at the bottom and stagger up onto the beach. Grateful to feel land again, the girl knelt down and buried her face, not wanting to move.

Somewhere, large wings could be heard receding into the distance.

I hate this place. 

Hanako didn't know how long she had been lying there, but something was trying to get her attention. She turned over to see Moany-Pony snuffling nearby.

Yeah, I know. There’s a long way to go. 

After adjusting a few straps, Hanako mounted the horse and set off. Halfway up the beach, she reached out and let Chain-Maker sail back into her hand