“Wake up, you fools! Bandits are coming from the north!”

Alex screamed for all he was worth, humiliated by how his voice cracked… until he cleared his throat and repeated his cry.

Immediately the pair of half-slumbering guards jolted awake. Their armaments were a far cry from what Alex would have hoped, seeing no trace of lamellar, just fabric that looked suspiciously like silk in the form of airy robes. He could only hope that they were wearing mail shirts or quilted gambesons underneath.

“Who goes there… who the hell are you?” Asked the closest man belligerently as he fumbled for the shaft of his spear.

Alex glared at unkempt man who’s eyes were bleary and bloodshot, scraggly whiskers making it clear he had a passing acquaintance with a razor blade at best. Not that Alex would normally care one way or another, save that cleanly shaven features or well-kept beards along with clear focused gazes were great signs of discipline, focus, and pride.

At least the guard’s associate looked a lot more awake, and aware, and he didn’t smell of strong spirits.

“State your name and business!” The man roared, his weapon held in a ready grip as he glared Alex’s way.

“About forty raiders are about to overrun your camp in less than five minutes so you’d better wake up your captain and get your men in position to guard the caravan now!” Alex roared the last, eyes turning toward the caravan, noting the largest of the half dozen, and the compartment he could spot built into it.

“Captain, you’ve got five minutes before raiders hit your caravan and cut you all down in your sleep!”

Alex roared the last as loud as he could as the pair of flat-footed guards continued to stare at him, more relieved than he wanted to admit by the rough baritone voice that now rang through the night air as a powerful man sprung out of the lead wagon with a cultivator’s grace, fully armored, of course, with a massive guandao in his hands as he rapidly approached the fire.

“Men! Arm yourselves and take positions!” The cultivator roared, while refusing to take his steel grey eyes off Alex. The man was massive, Alex would give him that, clearly radiating the aura of a strength cultivator who had broken through to Bronze. His skin, much like the pair of guards, was a darker hue than those of most of the citizens of Yidushi and Baidushi that Alex had come across, with perfectly symmetrical features blending features that were far more Mongolian and middle-eastern than Chinese Han. Of course Alex knew he was only going by the reference point of a world that this realm had no actual ties to at all, but the fact that these people looked so different from the ‘true people’ he had been surrounded by over so many lifetimes made it clear that his latest incarnation had traveled far indeed. Though whether through distance or time or both, Alex had yet to determine.

“You! Who the hell are you, and what’s this report of bandits? Friends of yours, perhaps?” The obvious captain barked, though only after making sure that the caravan was now wide awake, panicked men and women scurrying to the tops of what Alex was pleased to see were indeed reinforced wagons, crossbows and spears soon making an appearance over the reinforced sides of the parapeted wagons.

“Name’s Alex. And no, the forty raiders on desert ponies are no friends of mine. I just happened to catch sight of them while getting my bearings on the massive rock sticking out of the desert sands a few hundred yards from here.” He then pointed to said rock, ignoring one of the guards muttering that it was a hill.

The captain frowned. “And you just happened to catch sight of them at just the right time to turn around and give complete strangers you never met a friendly warning?”

Alex gave the man a hard glare. “You’re damn right I did just that.”

“Why?”

“I used to be a caravan guard myself. And bandits just like these assholes took the life of someone I cared about. So, yes, if fate wakes me up at just the right time to get some positive karma helping to take out the bastards that dared to take out one of mine, I’ll gladly play the hero of that story.”

This earned a puzzled frown. But the man’s tight grip on his guandao began to relax. “So why the hell are you even out here? Where are your friends?”

Alex grimaced. To this he actually had an answer, having forced himself to think up something that would both divorce himself from a past it was best if no one knew, without being such a bald-faced lie that any wujen would tut and shake their head.

“I had a major falling out with my… clan. Most of them despise me. The feeling’s mutual. My one true friend among them made it clear that if I didn’t leave immediately, I was as good as dead.” He shrugged. “So I left. Being directed to head for this rock, in sight of the city ahead, was the final good turn my old friend could do me. Now I’m completely on my own. The fact that I just happened to catch sight of raiders while looking to orient myself was pure serendipity. Even if it would have been far easier just to ignore you all and make my way to the city without giving a damn… that’s just not how I role. It never has been. And I think we have less than four minutes before those assholes are here.”

The captain snorted. Alex was happy to see that the pair of guards had left to take up position… but only after stomping out the fire.

The captain glared thoughtfully at Alex for long seconds they didn’t have. An alarmed Alex halfway wondered if the man would actually try to cut him down before giving a reluctant nod. “Alright, let’s say I believe you. Are you willing to fight by our side?”

Alex gave a relieved nod. “Damn right I am. But I want double pay and a good referral, if we survive this bullshit.”

The captain grinned. “Done. We have a wujen who’s mastered Ice. I don’t suppose you’re a ruby master?”

Alex sighed and shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. But if you put a weapon in my hands, I’ll be bringing you bandit heads. But no jian,” he hastily said. “Not unless you want me to be swinging it like a dao.”

The captain winced despite himself. “No chance of that. Name’s Captain Dui Zhong.”

“Alex,” he said, not hesitating to grip the powerfully built man’s wrist, nor flinch at the hard half-smile as the man squeezed tight, measuring Alex’s strength.

Alex’s smile matched the man’s own. He didn’t hold back, pleased despite himself at the surprised blink this earned him. “Spear it is, then.”

“Sounds good,” Alex said with a smirk.

The captain then turned to roar at the second largest wagon. “Qing Wu! I got a Ruidian for you!”

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Alex blinked at the sight of the spry looking man who could have been anything from thirty five to fifty five, with glossy dark hair and a carefully trimmed salt and pepper beard and fine silk robes who popped out of the fanciest looking carriage wagon, gazing Alex’s way with a hawk-like intensity. He gave off an air of frigid winter snows, radiating an ageless aura Alex had learned to associate with Silvers. He could easily be centuries old, and would no doubt remain full of autumn vigor for centuries more.

“And what the hell do you want me to do with him, Dui? I’m busy setting up talismans! Thanks for the brilliant warning, by the way. Just enough time to get us killed!”

The captain shrugged. “It’s thanks to this Ruidian that we have any time at all. So why don’t you find out of he plans on stabbing us in the back? If not, let him guard your front. If he pulls anything, you already know what to do.”

Qing Ru sighed and shook his head, before pinning Alex with his glare.

He shivered despite himself, feeling the build up of not Water Qi… but ice in the man’s right hand.

“Well, boy? Are you secretly a plant of those raiders? Are you planning on betraying us?”

Alex blinked, momentarily at a complete loss for words. Not even minding the bemused gazes turning hard and cold with his continued silence.

“Well, boy?” Qing Wu’s exasperated voice had turned just as frigid as the spear of ice now hovering above his hand.

“Ice Qi. You summoned that spear with Ice Qi! Directly! It’s not synergized with Air and Water… it’s Ice alone!”

Qing Wu furrowed his brow, giving Alex a curious look. His ice spike faded as did the deadly tension radiating from the pair of men. “Are you a cultivator, boy?”

The captain snorted. “As if a grip too strong for any mortal didn’t already give that tidbit away.” The man shook his head. “Alright, he’s your problem, Qing. I have a caravan to ready, and no more time to waste!”

Alex blinked after the captain now yelling at his men, reacting just fast enough to catch the spear the Dui Zhong tossed his way.

The wujen snorted. “At least your reflexes aren’t completely abysmal. So, what’s your specialty?”

Alex blinked and turned around. “Excuse me?”

Qing Wu glared. Alex winced and stepped back as the surrounding bustle of the caravan increased, hurried movements becoming frenetic as people raced to kit up and arm themselves with helmet, spear, and shield, at a minimum. “We don’t have time to mince words, boy. Those damned raiders are just minutes away! Can you do anything besides hold a spear?”

Alex gazed at the man for long seconds, mind racing as he considered how much to reveal.

“Never mind,” the man said with a huff. “Just grab a helmet and shield and come with me!”

Alex frowned at that, having no idea where their equipment was kept, but he knew better than to fall behind the rapidly moving wujen who was placing talismans at evenly spaced intervals around the wagon.

“You there, tell everyone to stay back from this line in the sand!” Qing Wu snapped to a busy-looking guardsman who nonetheless flinched and froze before the wujen’s voice.

The man immediately dropped into a bow. “It will be as you say, honored wujen.”

“Good. And give the boy here your helm and shield.” The man froze at those words. Qing Wu snorted. “You know where the supplies are, he does not, and I need him with me.”

The man blinked. “It will be as you say, honored wujen.” For all that the man glared daggers his way, Alex didn’t hesitate to claim the gear, fastening the somewhat tight helmet upon his head, finding the shield with both forearm and shoulder straps to be a bit larger than he was used to, but not to any insurmountable degree.

“All kitted up? Good. Now spend a second, and examine this talisman. What do you sense?”

Alex furrowed his brow. Finding the question unexpected, especially considering the circumstances, but he wasn’t so arrogant as to tell a Silver their business, especially since he immediately understood that he was still being tested.

He frowned, gazing intently at the talisman.

“Well, boy?”

Artificer skill check made. Critical success!

Alex’s eyes widened. “It’s an ice trap, isn’t it? I don’t know that much about talismans, pretty much nothing, but it feels like a storm of ice is being held under tremendous pressure. And all it will take is… what… a brush with someone possessing either negative karma or ill-will in his heart to trigger it… freezing that heart solid. Or at least, that’s the spiritual formula your using, whether or not it actually turns your target to ice.”

The wujen gazed at Alex for long moments. He felt his cheeks flush, wondering just how stupid it was to have revealed so much to a complete stranger.

Qing Wu chuckled softly. “How remarkably perceptive. I didn’t realize Ruidian enclaves had talisman specialists. Perhaps that explains the odd number of talismans and artifacts I’ve noted that follow principles and concepts entirely different from our own, over the years.”

“Actually I don’t know of any Ruidian talisman specialists, though I know an exquisitely talented artist or two...”

The wujen regretfully shook his head. “A worthy topic for another day. Now come, this wagon is mine! I expect you to guard my flank while I focus on casting.”

Alex blinked at this. “I’m sorry, what’s this about...”

“No time!” The wujen scrambled up the side of the wagon with preternatural grace, helping Alex up the side with surprising strength for a Wujen, Alex pleased to note the reinforced sides they ducked behind, giving surprisingly good cover, especially with its reinforced ceiling panels effectively granting them modest battlements from which to mount a defense.

Qing Wu’s eyes widened when he followed the line of Alex’s pale arm. “You weren’t lying. A full two score of the bastards!”

Alex swallowed his suddenly dry throat, his heart starting to race as he gazed at the rapidly approaching danger head-on. No longer were they distant specks seen from an elevated vantage point. Now he saw the bloodthirsty visages of what were no doubt dozens of hardened killers eager to make another score.

The wujen chuckled softly, the morning breeze tousling his snow white beard. “It gets the blood flowing, doesn’t it? Looking death in the face with a smile.”

Alex grinned despite himself, testing the haft of his spear. “You know what? It does.”

Qing Wu gave Alex a thoughtful look. “Been in life or death fights before, have you?”

Alex smirked. “You could say that, sure.”

This earned a snort. “You no doubt think me a foolish old man, inviting a strong powerful stranger to guard my back minutes before were swarmed by bandits.”

Alex solemnly shook his head.

Qi Perception Check successful!

“Not with the retributive ice-blast you’ve set to trigger the second you fall.”

The wujen blinked, bursting out with laughter. “You spotted it that easily, did you? And I didn’t even have to threaten a prospective future student. Wonderful!”

Alex grinned at that. “While making it abundantly clear that it’s in my best interest to keep you alive. As if a Silver tier wujen needed my help.”

The man’s bemused smile hardened once more. “You really are a perceptive one, aren’t you?”

Alex winced. “Not perceptive enough to keep my observations to myself, however.”

This earned a chuckle. “A student could make far worse choices than trying to impress their future instructor, lad.”

Alex chuckled at that. “Are we recruiting disciples right before battle?”

“What better time is there?”

“You got me there.”