“But why? She’s an orc!” Sava hissed.
“So?” I asked, wondering what the big deal was. Sava had been fine dealing with Grotkins the goblin. I didn’t think she was as racially biased as the other elves seemed to be.
“She’s an invader! The orc homeworld only collides with our world every ten years, but whenever it does, they send countless warbands over. In some regions, the elves still haven’t managed to push the orcs strongholds, meaning they have permanent strongholds here. This region has been safe from an orc raid for many generations, but I know of the devastation they can cause!”
I frowned at that. It seemed there was a lot of stuff about this place I still didn’t know.
“Okay, but I don’t think Yorik is part of any organized group. If she was, she wouldn’t be off running alone like she is, she’d be running back to her stronghold. Just look at her, she can barely dress herself, let alone equip herself for a raid. Besides, I’m not helping her out of the goodness of my heart alone.”
It was Sava’s turn to frown as I explained my ulterior motives.
“Based on what she’s said, whoever is after Yorik is from an organization of elves who also use mind magic. And they have spellhearts of the mind aspect, like Yorik used on you! These are actual wielders of mind magic. You personally experienced how well those powers worked on you. Imagine what it would be like if we could wield such abilities! Or at least have the opportunity to study them and learn how to fight against their powers.”
Sava of course wasn’t happy with my plan, but eventually she agreed to play her part in our ambush. I think she was partially motivated by her own apparent weakness to mind magic. I promised her that with Yorik’s help I’d be doing some extensive experimentation, which would hopefully yield some effective defenses against the stuff.
With everyone agreed, the only thing left to do was to lay our trap and wait.
***
By sundown I was starting to grow impatient. Judging by how anxious Yorik had been I expected her pursuer to be no more than an hour behind him. A few hours at most. And yet here I was, crouched behind a bush for nearly a whole day.
Eventually I gave up waiting and decided to get back to practicing with earth magic. Yorik soon joined me. She seemed in much better spirits now. When I asked her about it, she said that now that she’s sworn to a chief, she no longer needs to worry about things like enemies or invaders. That’s for the chief to handle. I might have bitten off more than I expected when I agreed to be her tribal chief.
But it wasn’t all bad. Yorik told me she had inherited some secret orc clan magic. One of which was an earth zeal-based body strengthening technique. I was instantly intrigued. Body strengthening is apparently a technique that allows you to absorb zeal beyond the ordinary life zeal and utilize it in very specific ways to strengthen your body. Earth zeal was famous for its many uses in increasing the body’s innate defenses. The technique Yorik knew was just such a technique. She had no earth spellheart and so couldn’t cultivate it beyond its most rudimentary level, but I did have an earth spellheart, and I was eager to fully utilize it.
“So, I just have to... eat this dirt?”
Yorik nodded vigorously. “‘Tis needed chief Theo. Eating of the earth helps your body grow in power. You must take it into you and let it become one with your form.”
I stuck my tongue out, tasting the brown soil in my hand. It was not very appetizing.
“Experts of earth zeal body refining devour mountains, swallow titan’s bones, and chew through diamonds to nourish their flesh. Such things do not taste good, but they do it to become strong. Very strong. So strong swords and spears are like dry leaves blowing against a boulder.”
I sighed. It sounded beautiful. I took a small bite of dirt and swallowed it down, nearly coughing it back up. “This Blackgorge body technique is a start in that direction. It may not be able to take me all the way there, but it always pays to have good defenses.”
Yorik nodded vigorously once again while I choked down another mouthful of dirt.
Sava approached silently from behind. Neither of us noticed her until she spoke.
“Are you... eating dirt?”
I blushed. “It’s for a technique Yorik has been teaching me--“.
Sava held up a hand. “I see how it is. You’ve gone full savage on me. This is some sort of orc bonding ritual.”
“It’s not a bonding ritual, I’m practicing cultivation.” I grumbled, but I stopped when I saw the glint in Sava’s eyes. She clearly knew exactly what was going on. She was just teasing me.
Yorik frowned as she looked at Sava, and seemed to unconsciously pull her top lower, revealing more of her hefty green breasts, which she jiggled intimidatingly at the elf.
Before I could come up with a witty comeback, the entire camp started shaking. A portion of the earth berm wall I’d spent so many precious hours creating collapsed. If that was all that happened I would have suspected an earthquake. Instead, a fireball descended from the sky. We were under attack.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I glanced at Yorik. “These your friends, Yorik?”
Her expression portrayed surprise and confusion. “No chief! They users of Mind Magic! Not fire magic! These attackers be different, but Yorik will defend her chief’s territory all the same!”
I figured as much. “Well then, time to fight for your new chief! When I give the signal, do that same thing you did before to daze and confuse everyone!”
My earth berm wall cracked. My earth magic was only strong enough to harden the outermost layer. Once that was broken through, the mud and dirt inside started falling apart. A few more blasts and my wall would be finished.
I wasn’t about to stick my head over the wall to see who was attacking us, but I was able to gauge their relative location from the sound of fireballs hammering against dirt. They didn’t hit with force, but with a whoosh of hot air and the crackling of a bonfire.
My earth spellheart seemed to favor building things over direct combat so flinging dirt wasn’t as effective as I hoped. Luckily, I’d taken the time to produce a number of sharp, disk like rocks made from compressed mud and dirt. They were just about as heavy as I could practically throw with the strength of my magic.
I telekinetically picked up a half dozen of them. With a heave, I blasted them off in the general direction of the enemy. There were no cries of pain, but the fireballs stopped coming. That was good enough for me. Now that the enemy was taking cover from my return fire, I was willing to stick my head out and see who was attacking us.
I recognized one of the attackers immediately by their clothes. We’d run into them a few days ago while in town. The one I spotted was wearing a uniform, along with professional equipment. It was those people whose deal with the gangsters back in town we interrupted. What did they call themselves? The Songstone clan?
What were they doing here? I didn’t steal anything from them. Why were they attacking?
“Alchemist! We know you have that chaka inside there! We’re requisitioning him! Hand him over to the Songstone clan and you’ll be well compensated! Fail to do so and we’ll take him by force!”
So, they were after me. Yet again, I proved to be a valuable commodity. What a pain. But still, it was an asset I could use.
Sava was stringing some manner of unique bow. It had a cup where the arrow would normally be knocked, and Sava was in the middle of placing a corked clay vial into the cup. Doubtlessly it held something nasty for whoever it spilled on.
As the clay pots sailed through the air they hid the ground, shattering and splashing a large amount of viscous green fluid everywhere. Green smoke began to billow out in the air, which I hoped would draw the Riverweed tribe warriors out to defend their territory. At the very least, it seemed to be causing the Songstone clan warriors to sputter and cough.
“I have no quarrel with you, people of the Songstone clan. Know that you are trespassing on the lands of the Riverweed tribe! You don’t want to
make an enemy of us!”
A familiar figure stepped out from behind the Songstone warriors. “I am Nela Songstone, now the matriarch of the Songstone clan. I am truly sorry for what we must do today, but my clan is in dire straits. Our home has been destroyed and our numbers have dwindled to nothing. We need that male you have with you if we hope to rebuild our flagging strength.”
“Hold up!” I shouted. “Don’t I get a say in this!?”
“Theo!” Sava hissed. “You just let them confirm you were here.”
I waved my hand dismissively. They would have found out anyhow soon enough.
“Listen Nela, and you Songstone people! If you want me, this isn’t the way to do it. Don’t come here armed and dangerous and expect me to be fully cooperative. How about we sit down and have a little chat?”
Instead of responding with words, a fireball bigger than all the ones that had come before it sailed through the air, shattering my wall into pieces.
Through the gap, two dozen Songstone clans women broke through. Some of them carried shields, some carried swords, but all of them wore matching armor. I noted again that much of their armor, which seemed to have once been beautiful and decorative, was now worn and in some cases had holes punched all the way through it. Clearly, recent days had been rough for the Songstone clan.
The Songstone clansmen that had been responsible for launching the fireballs retreated to the back line. Nela stepped out from the gap last and these two fire-wielding warriors flanked her, clearly acting as bodyguards.
Sava tossed her bow to the side and picked up an axe. It was nothing but a woodsman’s tool; however, in Sava’s hands it instantly became a weapon of war. It bit down on one of the warrior’s shields, which was batted to the side from the sheer strength of the blow. I wasn’t the only one to make cultivation breakthroughs thanks to our nightly activities. Sava had progressed as well, reaching the sixth level. It seemed she’d was putting newfound superhuman strength to use.
The warrior tried to pull back once her defenses were compromised, but Sava was too quick. She mercilessly struck down with another blow of the axe, catching her opponent in the collar bone. Though that area was armored, the axe was heavy, and Sava was strong. She pierced through a good portion of the armor and there was a sickening crunching sound. The warrior didn’t topple over, but she was forced to drop her weapon and quickly withdraw behind the line of her allies.
I had underestimated Sava before, thinking she was only good with potions. Apparently all elves of the Hearthwood forest learned to defend themselves at an early age, and Sava was no exception. While she didn’t excel at wielding a weapon, like any being of superhuman strength when she used one she used it well.
The swordswoman from the other day caught sight of Sava and closed the gap, but she quickly found her sword pushed aside by Sava’s heightened reflexes. With the heavy axe the alchemist was wielding, the swordswoman should have been able to dart in and end the fight in one blow, but Sava was moving visibly faster. She was one level ahead, and the swordswoman’s skills weren’t enough to bridge that gap.
But her friends were. The swordswoman was soon joined by three of her comrades, and between the lot of them they were able to push Sava on the defensive.
Sava continued to fight valiantly, but it soon became apparent that she would be surrounded and defeated.
I wasn’t about to sit idly by though. I prepared myself for my own attack. I pulled up a dozen more earth spikes, as I’d taken to calling them, and hurled them at the enemy before me.
That got their attention, and many of the warriors glared at me with hostility evident in their expressions, but also a look of surprise.
“Seize the chaka!” Her two fire-wielding bodyguards made to move towards me but Nela waved them back. “I want him fully intact please. Not burned to a crisp. Fire wielders aren’t known for their finesse.”
Instead, two of the guards that had surrounded Sava peeled off to attack me. One of Nela’s guards took their place in combat against Sava, while another stayed back to protect their matriarch.
Where was Yorik? We could really use that stun thing she could do with mind magic right about now.
The three guards apparently hadn’t expected much of my physical combat capabilities. The closest one sheathed her sword and lunged at me, her arms wide. Clearly, she intended to wrestle me to the ground.
I don’t know where she got the idea that she could do that. She managed to wrap her arms around me, but I seemed to be vastly stronger than her. She wasn’t even as strong as Sava. I threw her off with ease and flipped her on her back in the dirt. Time to put that earth zeal body training to work.
She quickly started struggling to her feet, but I was faster. Instead of letting one of my attackers recover, I lifted the pile of muddy dirt on the ground in front of her and pulled it up, leaving an arm-deem depression on the ground. As the elf stumbled into the hole, I dropped the dirt back on top of her, pinning her under a pile of mud and dirt. She might be able to get one of her hands free eventually, but it would take her some time to dig herself out.
At this point, I was hesitant to use lethal force. These people clearly wanted me alive. It was only polite to return the favor. Besides, killing someone’s friends is usually a bad move on the diplomatic front, and I had the feeling that I could negotiate with these Songstone people, if only they’d hear me out. I’d only start killing them if things really started looking bad.
I swept my leg out, knocking another of the Songstone elves to the ground. Then I repeated my previous trick, dropping a pile of dirt on her and pinning her to the ground.
The third Songstone elf was much more cautious, seeing how easily I had dealt with her allies. Instead of charging in hoping to pin me with physical strength, she drew her sword. It still had the scabbard on it, so it wouldn’t actually cut me, but she waved her hand down its length, making the whole sword glow with a strange blue-ish light. Little sparks jumped off the scabbard.
I didn’t have a weapon, but Yorik’s earth body strengthening technique made me confident in the strength of my fists.
The elf swung her scabbard, and I raised my forearm to block it. The blue light touched my arm, causing a tingly numbing sensation to spread throughout the area. The elf must have been expecting that bit of magic to take me down though, because she was completely unprepared for when my fist collided with her abdomen. It still felt wrong to hit a woman, even though these were elves rather than the human women I’d grown up with. Still, my pragmatic side won out over my superego as I buried her in a pile of dirt as well.
The attacks against Sava weren’t anywhere near as tame. The Songstone clan wasn’t pulling their punches on her. They had their blades drawn and were striking to kill. Sava was returning the favor. Grassy vines pooled at her feet, lashing out like whips at anyone who got too close. They covered her back, making sure nobody could safely circle around her, keeping Sava safe for the moment. Sava’s axe was red and dripped with fresh blood. The Songstone clan elf who had been hit in the collar bone had since been dragged away by her allies. Sava had landed disabling strikes on two more Songstone clan members, and more than one of them had taken a nasty potion to the face. As a result, they were behaving more cautiously.
Sava was holding her ground, but it was clear which way this was going. Sava couldn’t handle this fight. And once she lost the Songstone people wouldn’t be nice enough to capture her. I was pretty tough myself, but even with the advantage that the Songstone clan members wanted to capture me alive, I wouldn’t be able to win. Where were these Riverweed tribe cultivators? Surely somebody had to have noticed all the green smoke billowing in the air.
It seemed I wouldn’t be able to rely on rescuers showing up. Only on myself. Hopefully Yorik had enough time by now to get her mind magic going.
There was a fundamental, permanent difference in status between those who are captured and forced to join a faction, and those that willingly join on their own terms. I wasn�
��t about to become a prisoner if I could help it.
“Songstone clan! Listen up! I want to meet with your leaders.” I looked right at Nela, who I knew to be the young matriarch, or something along those lines.
“Hush now, chaka! You’ve been captured by this vile evil-doer, but fear not! We of the Songstone clan have come to rescue you!” One of the Songstone fire wielders shouted with pride.
“First of all, I’m not damsel in distress.” I replied. “And second… Yorik! Get me some peace and quiet!”
I heard a buzzing sound which rapidly rose in volume. The elves didn’t seem to notice it, but I did. This was much worse than last time. I tried covering my ears, but the buzzing noise wasn’t really sound. It was a characteristic of the mind zeal flooding the surrounding area.
Right on my signal the humming noise that reverberated through the air intensified. The elves of the Songstone clan, along with Sava, started moving oddly. Sword blows that seemed simple suddenly started missing for no apparent reason. Muscles spasmed weirdly. Elves were glancing around with expressions on their faces ranging from wonder to terror, as if each were stuck in a separate hallucination.
To get this to work for me I’d need to capture someone important, that Lady Nela. With her has my hostage I would be able to negotiate with her directly, from a position of power. I was betting on the fact that the info I’d been given the other day was correct, and this Nela Songstone was in fact of high standing, if not the leader of the clan before me. Perhaps I could even benefit from this unexpected encounter.
Truth was, I wasn’t entirely unwilling to join their clan. It just had to be on my terms. Also, Sava was good to me, so I’d like to see her treated well. And not killed by those six Songstone elves who were gathered around her poised to strike.
Zeal of the Mind and Flesh Page 17
