Chapter 18: A Dangerous Road
Sakura
[NOTE: Thanks to the feedback from some of you readers, I realized this chapter was no where near the quality that I usually post. I have since edited and updated it. All I can say is, I got a bit behind last week, and let my quality slip. I hadn't really edited it up from a rough draft, to a working draft in my eagerness to get you a release on Friday. Thank you for being awesome, and as I always say feedback is a gift. So thank you for it :) ]
A day later I found myself back on the ground. Yu’s snow bird chirped happily to be relieved of my weight. But not nearly as happy as I was to feel my legs again. Whether it was from the cold, or from sitting for so long, my legs felt numb. Rayce offered me a hand up, and I took it.
“How did you two like the trip? The sky is incredible, isn’t it?” Yu asked, beaming from ear to ear as her white wintery bird turned into blue energy and reentered her Soul Vault. “Come quickly, your father waits for us.”
She walked as if the day’s travel on the bird hadn’t affected her in the slightest.
“Don’t feel bad. My knees are shaky too,” Rayce said, his voice low for only me to hear as I leaned on him.
It took me a few seconds, but after a moment of concentration, I cast Rose Bloom. It was one of the few wood-mana spells I knew.
A soft green and red light emanated from the magical rose that sprouted from my cupped hands, washing over me and healing the numbness in my legs. A moment later, the rose was gone; the spell finished.
“I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Rayce walked next to me, Rex in his Soul Vault. We were on Gamera’s shell once more. We were home. But the place looked and felt completely different.
The twin mountains had their peaks coated in dark clouds and icy blizzards. Magic of all kinds seemed to swirl there, as wild spirits and spirit beasts were awake and alert for danger. They were the natural guardians of the top of Gamera’s shell, and each had a contract with the giant Kame to provide protection in case of attack.
Herds of different giant bugs, like the rhinoceros beetles Raif had captured just after I had arrived in this world, swarmed the place. Giant crickets flew through the sky in bounding, leaping formations. Beatles roamed, their deadly horns gleaming as they stirred for a fight. While giant scorpions and other rarer oddities lead large groups of the more common bugs and their riders.
All but a few wild herds carried warriors on their backs. Either in baskets, or in over large saddles. Some carried archers, or small platforms for immortal realm warriors who would provide the steel and iron soldiers with extra support.
Several small squads of nobility on powerful Gamera or other spirit beast companions roamed the outer edges of the shell. Looking off into the distant tree line for foes or threats. While in a few places, the remains of a past fight were clear, scorched patches of ground, or the corpses of the dead.
They were small in scope, probing attacks easily dealt with. But it still made my nerves itch as we walked past several burn pits. Attackers and their mounts had been thrown in unceremoniously, as priests prayed over the burning, rotting corpses. It was the most ignominious of death rites, but even the spirits of the enemy deserved to be sent to the next world.
“Odd,” I said as we walked. My feet were un-airing, but my eyes wandered over the scene, taking in the once peaceful pastures and hard-working peasant herders and farmers. Now turned into military drill yards and toughened militia and warriors.
“What is?”
“That five years ago, I was peak Steel. The highest most of our common born warriors will ever achieve. While to us, to me, that was but the first substantive step on a long path. I am so much stronger and powerful than I was. Even before I ascended. The first steps for us are their end goals on the paths of the Dao.”
“I’ve not really thought of it in that way,” Rayce said as his expression fell into deep contemplation. “If we are to be given so much, then more should be expected of us. Yes?” I nodded in agreement. “Besides, there are many low born, both common and low nobility, who become immortals.”
“True. though even few of those ever reach the Noble realms. Knight, or even Baron. And we are expected to travel past even that lofty goal. If we can.”
“If we live long enough.” Rayce’s voice lowered again, to keep his voice from carrying. “You saw how close we are to the elves’ forest. Father pushing up the timeline for Gamera to do his first trail blazing has put the elves on the back foot. That’s why they resorted to the tactics they did, slaves after near great beasts. It was a suicide mission. They have no hope of succeeding.”
“It also made them play their hand early.” I kept my voice light and airy, trying to dispel some of the gloom that I had unwittingly conjured. “We know of their alliance with the Naga now.”
“True. But how does knowing a hammer blow is coming, slow the hammer if it is in mid swing? I wonder if father has brought us into a trap.” Rayce’s expression was sour, far more than I had seen it since Taitha’s betrayal. “Early, perhaps the trap is sprung, but if it is already set, what good is throwing off our enemies’ timing?”
“You should tell him.”
“Oh, and the first thing I tell my father when I see him face to face for the first time in five years is that he’s a fool, and likely leading us all into disaster? No thank you.”
“Alright, then I’ll do it. He never could stay mad at me. Even when I was caught smuggling silk from my silkworm farm into the sect half a dozen times. Or when I was caught bribing the guards to look the other way. Or the time I stabbed Taitha in the leg with uncle Raif’s daggers.” His eyes showed barely contained mirth. “Or the time I tried—”
“Ha!” He interrupted my tirade with a harsh bark of a laugh. “We’ll see sister. We’ll see.”
***
We came to an enormous bubble of force roughly the size of our palace home. It distorted my vision into the bubble by bending light, it was almost impossible to make out what was inside. It felt odd pushing through the field, and having myself scanned by half a dozen auras of the people who were maintaining the defensive perimeter. But in a matter of moments I was through.
Rayce and I walked into chaos.
Dozens of young warriors, all Immortals ran. Carrying messages to field commanders, or fetching supplies, or any of the other thousand needful things in a war camp. Wounded were being treated out in the open on cots by physicians, wood cultivators, or healing magicians. There were dozens of them, most with wounds that should have been fatal.
But the healers worked miracles as I stood there, watching.
In moments, I saw miracles. Three amputations, one limb regrowth, and one doctor reach into a gaping chest wound and force a man’s heart to pump with his bare hand. The wounded man was bathe din golden healing light from another healer as the first desperately kept his heart going.
The power and skill displayed put the little healing and regrowth I had learned to shame.
“Here is a war front all its own,” I whispered to myself and I felt King stir inside my vault. The feeling that came from him was one of agreement and sadness.
I will not see such a scene again and be unable to help. I can do so much more than grow tasty flowers and heal cuts and bruises.
“Save your strength. You’ll need it. Follow me.” Yu’s voice broke my fixation on the healing cots. “It is good you are concerned for them. But the healers have this well under control. They are not yet at triage.” Yu motioned for us to follow her as she turned and made her way towards the central command table.
Dozens of high nobility, including two of the three counts of the duchy stood with my father as they heard reports from the scouts. They stood in front of a massive map that moved and shifted with every moment. As if I were watching a bird's-eye view of Gamera, the forest’s edge, and all the way to the foothills north of our location.
Four pieces of wood painted in a crimson red followed Gamera’s path a few feet into the tree line. I wasn’t sure of the scale, but it seemed they were acting as a screening force.
“Three of the four squads have reported back, all clear up to a mile into the woods.” A baron said as he bowed to the three men and handed his report over to a scribe. The scribe took the report and placed it on an altar. Suddenly, the map shifted and the red wooden marker switched colors to black, showing the patrol was missing.
“Send out the locust patrols, and two squads of immortals as support ahead of our position,” Count Moran said. His face had changed dramatically since last I had seen him. He was missing an eye and a terrible scar crossed his face, the cause of the missing eye. He also looked far more somber, where before he had been filled with a kind of impulsive energy. Always willing to pick a fight, despite his age.
Now he seemed almost resigned to conflict rather than eager for it.
The other count I didn’t recognize, but he was a squat fellow, with thick heavy armor and a massive war hammer strapped to his back.
The baron took the orders and left. He was quickly swarmed by his own staff, and began sending out orders to various squads and units under his command. After only a few moments, a massive feathered creature emerged from his vault and he mounted it. The beast looked like a larger version of the crystalline eagles from the sect, only this one was shaded jade green.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
After the beast took off less urgent messages were read out loud and added to the table map.
“Husband,” Yu interjected after a few of the missives had been added. She quickly slipped between the men and joined my father by his side. “Our children have returned.” Ren’s mouth quirked up in a somber smile.
“Welcome children. You’ve both grown—” For a moment he looked us over, examining us with the eyes of both a father, and a general leading his people into war. “Your help will be needed.” He gave us both a curt nod. “We have made excellent time through the pass. The northern hill men have left us alone. We’ve only glimpsed their out riders once at the beginning of our trip yesterday, just before the Kame raids.”
That’s good, I thought. But the hill men were never the concern. And he knows it. The hill men were peaceful herders, largely the descendants of escaped elven slaves. They purposely did not cultivate, hoping to keep themselves below the notice of the dangerous people that live right on their borders.
According to some travelers from the west, they were equally afraid of the Jade Empire as they were the elves. Why, I didn’t have a clue.
“As for the elves,” my father continued. “They seem distracted. Though any scouts we send far forward have not returned. We can only hope we do not run directly into whatever danger holds their attention.”
The short Count nodded. “And perhaps we can slip right by them.”
“That would defeat our purpose here,” Moran said with a heavy sigh. This had evidently already been a point of discussion. “We are the most powerful of the caravans. We are here to clear the path. To dismantle traps and take whatever raids or counter assaults the Elves might have, and burn their forest to the ground if need be. Our goal is to make sure those that follow behind us in the next caravan are under reduced threat.”
“I am well aware, Count Moran. I was only trying to point out . . . bah.” The stout Count shrugged his shoulders and waved the argument off. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s hope all the elves die to whatever haunts them to the west, so we may all pass in peace.”
Before any additional discussion could take place, another messenger ran past those waiting to report. “My lords! Baron Marcas ordered our warriors forward as you requested in search of the lost patrol. They’ve encountered an enemy force.”
“How large is the enemy force?” Ren asked.
“The Baron himself is joining the fight, my lords. He even now engages their Knights to the far south. Keeping them away from the patrol. But a force lead by lesser cultivators has sliped by him. He requests another squad of immortals if they can be spared.” The messenger bowed and left the scroll with for the scribes. The wood pieces updated, this time several green pieces appeared on the map next to the black piece, far out ahead of Gamera. In front of them were half a dozen white pieces, each representing a unit of elven forces.
To the south of the body of our forces was a yellow piece showing the Baron and his guards. They were engaged with half a dozen markers, each representing an enemy Noble Realm level cultivator.
Ren’s eyes fell on us again, and he smiled. “Tell the Baron he can have his Immortals. And I’ll be sending some extra help along as well.” The messenger bowed and left, summoning his flying companion and taking off into the air in moments. “How would you two like to join the fight?”
Yu frowned, but she didn’t interject.
“It was a long flight, father. I’d love to stretch a bit,” Rayce said, his usual zeal for a bit of trouble back in his voice.
“And you Sakura?” Yu asked.
I smiled. “I think I would enjoy that as well. Those slaves they sent against Manao were no real threat. If it pleases you. Father, mother. I would join the reinforcements.”
***
A few minutes later, several immortal realm cultivators with flying mounts joined Rayce and I. We made our way together to one of the staging areas at the front edge of Gamera’s shell.
A tall man in a gray set of robes, with a long sword strapped to his belt, bowed to us. “I am Quin,” he proudly displayed a jade insignia patch on his left shoulder, showing his rank and leadership status in the squad. “We are ready to depart. Do you two have flight capability? If not, then mine and Dorian’s steeds can take an additional rider.”
Quin gestured towards two massive thunder birds perched and ready to dive along the edge of the shell. Their predatory eyes were fixed on the rising smoke, and sounds of fighting that were already growing in the distance to the southwest.
“I’m alright, thank you for your concern.” Rayce summoned Rex, in a more spiritual form, and his size grew until he was nearly the size of a warhorse. Rayce jumped on his back, and the dog barked happily as it jumped into the sky, running on a cloud of lightning.
Five of the six squad members took off close behind him. They took up protective formations around Rayce, and activated defensive spells, abilities, and techniques as they went.
“And you, my lady?” Quin gestured to his bird, who stood alone on its perch.
I smiled, turned, and ran straight for the edge.
“Wait, lady Sakura!” The man’s cries were lost to my ears as I leapt from the edge of the mountain-sized tortoise.
You’re up, I said to Sky as the wind whistled in my mind.
Let us enjoy another perfect hunt.
Sky appeared underneath me in a seamless transition. Taking on my weight as if I weighed nothing. The wind howled as Sky’s body elongated and flattened. He caught the wind he generated like a kite, and we sailed far above the rest of the flyers, and came down in an arch.
As he climbed, I looked down and saw the fierce fighting.
Mystical tree men that stood three stories tall, wielded black wood blades and clubs. They dripped with putrid poisonus sap, and each attack their wielders unleashed splashed dozens of my fathers Iron warriors with the stuff. While they dueled with spirit beast riding cultivators and nobility.
The tree men seemed capable against the Gamera, but were a poor match for the plant eating crickets who harried them in groups of twos or threes. All the while, the beasts riders spat spells of all kinds from their hands. Lighting cracked wood, fire burned leaves to ash, and earth shattered mana reinforced bark as if it were nothing more than paper.
As I watched, more cricket reinforcements arrived, carrying three soldiers each. These fresh fighters reinforced the line, as their Steel cultivator captains and officers barked orders. Organizing the defense of their monster riding companions. They created shield walls and phalanx thickets of spears to keep away the lesser elvish warriors, allowing the Immortal cultivators to tackle the greater threats directly.
For every tree man, there were dozens of elven slave-warriors. Low-level cultivators that swarmed over my father’s disciplined Iron troops’ spear and shield lines like water over a dam. They moved far quicker than humans at that same level of advancement, and the elves attacks were preternaturally accurate.
But their strikes lacked the strength of our fighters. For every three elven strikes that found their mark , two were turned aside by armor or shields. Only where the elven blades found flesh did they do any damage.
Among the elves were some who were clearly of higher advancement. Steel leadership, and even the occasional Immortal realm warrior. These stood out from the normal armorless, dexterous fighters, as they were painted in strange colors and adorned with sacred animal skins.
This was all the battle on the ground. As my gaze rose from the tree line, I found other levels to the fighting. To the south, a dozen cultivators danced on the wind and clouds. Launching deadly techniques that could have incinerated me in or any of the lesser warriors below in a matter of seconds.
High-level spirits and flying beasts howled lighting, or sent frozen torrents of sharpened ice in deadly attacks that would have destroyed battle lines, and broken castles. All of them were directed at one man.
The Baron from earlier knocked back attacks capable of breaking castle walls, or melting icebergs, with a flick of his wrist and a flex of his will.
He turned aside hammer blows that could sunder hilltops, caught blade strikes that sent visible shockwaves through the clouds around the confrontation with his bracers, and dodged arrows that moved faster than my eyes could track as they left their bow strings.
Any single one of these fighters would have been nothing to him. Low Knight and Jade cultivators at the peak of their power could hardly have been a challenge. But together in numbers, they had all of his attention on defense.
He was harried on all sides, unable to retaliate.
By the time Sky had reached his climbs zenith, several of the larger sections of spear and shield walls had come together to create a ragged battle line below. As more cricket patrols brought fresh troops to the fight, it became a proper formation. In the matter of moments, what had been a skirmish was quickly evolving into a full-fledged battle.
I looked for somewhere I could make an impact. The tree men are the largest danger. Do you think we could take one together?
I do not eat trees, Sky said into my mind. Or bite them unless I am forced too.
Alright, I’ll find us something else. I thought back, as Sky glided and banked to the right making it easier for me to see the shifting fight below.
Rayce had reached the battle lines and had stopped a part of the shield wall from breaking under a massive attack by several dozen elven slave-soldiers who were determined to wreak havoc. He brought a thunderstorm’s wrath down on the attackers, before the tree canopy obscured from my vantage point him. He had descended while the other immortals had continued on. The squad was spitting spells and death down on the foe, strafing the elves and weakening their aggressive assault before it reached our lines.
The battle is shifting incredibly fast. I don’t see a suitable target. Do you?
I, Sky, will help you. Let me see through your eyes, as you see through mine.
I felt him in my mind then, not just a connection, but a melding of perspectives.
Do human warriors like to have enemies all around them? Sky asked, and I felt his interest was genuine. I like mice to scurry around me. Makes it easier to find them when I’m hungry.
What do you mean?
Sky moved our joint awareness towards the very northern edge of our still solidifying line. Several Steel captains were fighting a losing battle against some kind of shaman. The spell caster was calling giant beasts from the woods to her bidding, in a mirror of events with Rayce. The Iron warriors had rallied around their captains, and what appeared to be a wounded and clearly dying Silver, until the beasts had attacked.
The Shaman had sent several powerful beasts, most wolves and bears directly at the Irons, keeping them distracted. While she fought with Wood and Earth mana directed at their leaders. It was all the captains could do to stay alive, let alone strike back at the witch.
Several dozen Iron elvish warriors were flanking far out away from the line, and trying to find a way through the woods, to attack our line from the rear. They were far off yet, but they would be in position soon. We needed to get in position to intercept them.
In between the shaman on the steel captains were bodies, broken and clearly dead. Their uniforms were melted, and their bodies desiccated by whatever trap the Shaman had laid for them. But what remained of their clothes had silver trim, denoting their cultivation ranks.
That must have been the immortal squad on this side of the battle. Those men don’t stand a chance. The shaman is the priority.
Good prey choice. Sky said, and his voice sounded proud of me in my mind. Without so much as another word, we dove.
Directly towards the shaman.