Qinran sat above the town in a large tree. He had disturbed a colony of the local monkeys as he has prepared for the night. The colony had attacked at first, but upon losing a few of their numbers they decided to flee to the shelter of another tree. Qinran did not wish to waste the meat and ate what he could. The rest he left in the tree. He had feared that he was going to be noticed, but the commotion had been mostly ignored by the humans below. The sun was still in the sky and he was just waiting for it to set. A few of the jungle wild cats had smelled the blood and investigated. Qinran threw occasional pieces of meat their way. A few of the less skittish jungle cats left with their bellies full. His eyes adjusted to the dwindling light. He chewed on handful of meat idly.

When night came, there were more patrols in the village. One of his subordinates must have been noticed while scouting. He sighed and climbed down the tree. His destination hadn’t changed. He would take the woman he had marked the night before and try for a second that he had also found. If they came back with five, that would be enough. He didn’t want to make a return trip to the town. It had grown dark enough for Qinran to make it into the village. The patrols were staggered enough that there were a couple of close calls, but he had managed to slip into the darkness unnoticed.

The house was dark, but he could still find the woman inside. He quietly unlatched the door and worked his way into the woman’s room. He undid the pouches at his hips, preparing the needles with relaxants and anticoagulants. He knelt by her bed and started by working needles into her body. He worked the tubing into empty vials trying to catch as much blood as he could. He could see her body loosen and her breath grew deep and steady. Qinran watched her body for any adverse effects. She only seemed to be sleeping deeper. A noise in the house caused his ears to twitch in reaction. He swiveled his head into the sound’s direction. He had paused just about to drive another needle into her skin. He only needed another three minutes before he could leave with her. Footsteps slowly approached the room and Qinran started to hurriedly put his equipment back into the pouches. He pulled out another prepared needle and jabbed it into the woman’s body. It was both a poison and a neutralizing agent, designed to help keep his people’s alchemical secrets. The door opened as Qinran had pulled the needle out of her skin.

The human stood in the doorway. His eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dark. The woman started to choke as her veins started to become visible as deep red streaks in her skin. Qinran shifted and the man noticed.

“Almay?” he said.

Qinran had managed to put his equipment back into place and had worked free a dagger. He jumped at the man, leaving a large gash along his chest. The man yelled in surprise and managed to land a quick hit to Qinran’s side. Qinran covered the spot with his hand. The man must have broken a rib or two. It was far stronger than he expected. His speed had him launching out of the house far faster than the male human who had tried to follow him. The human shouted an alarm. Qinran made it to another group of houses and dove under the one that was closest to the ground. In his haste he worked top off a vial a mouthful of the substance. He made a face and looked at the vial. It was the woman’s blood. He had dropped the lid on the ground. Instead of letting the sample go to waste, he drank the remainder and followed it with a healing potion. He silently cursed the ancestors that had lead him to this position while he felt the tingle of healing spread through his body. If anything the potion would give them a boost.

He listened to the night as the guards stomped by the house in what felt like endless waves. He could catch scattered words from the many conversations that happened around him. Qinran had really worked himself into a difficult situation. The night was probably a bust, considering he had killed the woman that he planned to take back. There was still the man that he had spotted. He was lackluster compared to the woman, but a far higher quality compared to everyone else. He would have to paralyze the man and drag him off into the rain forest and conduct his work there before he would take him to the beach.

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Qinran could still feel the pain in his side with each breath. He hadn’t managed to get a good look at the area. He was also reluctant to let any of his subordinates examine the injury. He opened the pouches on his sides and started to sort between the used and unused portions. The tubing and needles he had used on the woman were discarded. Qinran dug a hole with his knife and buried the used supplies. He still had enough to capture another two people, but with how the night was going, he’d be lucky just to capture the man that remained. He was glad he was able to at least remove any alchemical trace from the woman before he was forced to flee. The humans from this jungle were excellent fighters, but their grasp of magic and alchemy were tenuous at best. It was still safer to destroy anything that would accidentally expedite the development of a culture. Qinran thought about the young man again. Had he really made a mistake by letting him go? Was there harm in that fact? Could he be found out for releasing him instead of sacrificing him? Qinran lay back on the dirt, breathing short breaths, waiting for the pain to subside.

——

Corin had tried letting his men spar to get a sense of their new capabilities. The problem was that he feared he was not getting an accurate picture due to the raising capabilities of his men undergoing enhancement. He needed to test them out. He started sending out scouting parties to find viable targets. Corin thought that this would be an excellent way to fund his band and to recruit new members.

The second they had managed to chase caravan was mostly dealt with at this point. Corin decided it was a good idea to test the capabilities of his forces. This particular ambush was to be for testing the effectiveness of his battle mages and their new techniques. Volley after volley of mana spheres had been launched. The pack animals had suffered losses and put some distances between themselves and the men that were trying to fight back. Corin’s attack party had been matched man to man to the caravan’s own defensive forces. The return fire from the mages was inaccurate and slow. The surviving men desperately drew a sash through the air indicating their surrender. Bombarding them with mages was effective. He walked with his men to examine the damage. The sand was covered with small craters, a direct result of the bombardment. The soldiers had tried returning fire with arrows and crossbows. The archers had started strong, but his mages responding by using mana shielding techniques rendering the arrows useless. There had been one injury. A single wight had been struck by two arrows, one in the arm and the other in his stomach. He pulled the offending projectiles with ease from his body. A black substance flowed freely until it was bandaged. The wight hadn’t even sought help and was only bandaged when a soldier had noticed the wounds an hour after the fight.

The tests with his soldiers was a little more bloody. The testing for his living soldiers had been the bloodiest. There were a few casualties on his side and the left a camp of corpses. When he tested the wights the enemy the enemy was far more prone to run. Corin figured that it was more of a fact the wights were near unstoppable. They shrugged off most wounds that would simply kill other men. Their ghoulish visage probably didn’t do them any favors either.

The caravan’s animals were gathered, A mixture of camels and pack lizards. The lizards were far more adept and carrying heavy loads and Corin saw the immediate utility of having the five of them. If Corin could find some loyal merchants he could send out his own caravans to trade their own goods. He opted to ride one of the lizards back to camp. It walked, swaying it’s body side to side, like a large snake. It was oddly calming and he could feel his eyes start to grow heavy. Just as he was about to doze off a scout came near

“Lord, a mercenary camp is nearby,” The scout reported

Corin grinned. His small war band changed direction abruptly and went around the camp. His men were ready for a real fight, Corin was too. There was still the hesitance that stood out in the back of his mind. He knew that people would die. There was also the thought that seemed to push down the doubt. If someone died, they could just return as a wight.

He ordered a few scouts to keep their eyes on it as they prepared to attack. He wanted to attack at night. He wasn’t stupid enough to give up the advantage of immediate hostility. If he could capture the company, there would be another few hundred mercenaries under his employ. He could have a quarter of his men ready to attack. If he peppered them from afar with the mages it would be even better. A simple plan started to form in his head. He walked to the command tent to plan.