Chapter 15: First Night 2
The next stretch of the Bridge fell to their assault pretty much like the first one, with none of the Guard contingent receiving anything more than scratches. Wumu Qian was the one who ended up being the most injured, if one could count the painful but shallow cuts on his arms as injuries. One of the shield bearers also took a hit on his upper arm when he overextended with a sword thrust. But he had followed the young lieutenant's example and refused treatment until the assault was done.
That had, more or less, set the tone for the rest of the night's proceedings.
Duxi had been a little tired by the time they were done with the second stretch, but like the Guard, he had refused to give up. "Just a short rest to ease my voice will do the trick," he had said, when the officers spoke to him, "I wouldn't want to spoil your little surprise for your Captain." And he had laughed after he said it, showing his good spirits.
But things were not so smooth as they had hoped, when they started on the next stretch!
Junhe was the first to spot the approach of the large Wolf-like creature, and he had shouted at everyone at the fore to alert them. Even then, it had taken but one charge from the larger than usual creature to knock three of the shield-bearers off their feet. Fortunately, the hail of arrows, along with Wuying's and Qian's desperate assault on its rear was enough to cover for them, and they managed to regain their feet. Then the rest of the dogs hit the wall too, and the mad battle began in earnest!
It also became clear that the Shadow Wolf was a harder enemy than anything else that they had faced! Wumu Qian had a hard time dealing with it, and with the dogs that were striking at his rear. His longer weapon was less reactive to the rapid changes in their movements, and Wuying had to cover for him.
But the Wolf seemed to throw off his cuts and slashes with greater ease than any of the smaller Shadows, and it batted aside Qian's spear thrusts with an agility and intelligence that put the rest of the creatures to shame. It was causing enough trouble such that the Dogs were able to reach the Shield Wall, and cause havoc there!
"I'll handle the Dog things! You two take care of that one! I don't think the men will be able to help in any case!" came Junhe's cry as arrows rained down on the smaller of the Shadows, taking down two of the Dog-like things that Wuying held in the corner of his eye. Then Junhe gave an update of the effort to reclaim the Bridge:
"Duxi has another four or five more repetitions to go! Keep holding it back!"
It helped to know that the Gray Robe was almost done. And Junhe's cry had reminded everyone of why they were there. Killing the monsters was good, but their primary purpose was to protect the Gray Robe so that he could finish his chant!
So Wuying jumped in, between the Wolf-thing and the Shield Wall, and did not bother with any deep attacks. Instead, he concentrated on nicks and cuts that would keep the creature off-balanced and focused on him! Qian was harrying the creature from behind, and that was also keeping it occupied. Too occupied to go after the shields, at least! All that they needed to do was to keep it distracted and away from the Grey Robe until the chant was done!
But the Wolf seemed to sense their plan, and it began to ignore Qian's spear-thrusts, keeping the pressure on Wuying and his shorter weapon. The man cursed quietly, and turned all of his attention on the creature's claws, each one the size of a man's head. And far stronger than anything that he had ever faced before!
Still, he managed to deflect them, and hold his ground. He couldn't back away. The Shield Wall was just behind him. He could sense the heavy breathing and the prayer going on at his back, and Wuying knew that if he gave the creature any room at all ... No! He couldn't do that! He had to hold!
Even though his hands were already numb. And he had even had to switch to a two-handed grip on the hilt of his sword, in order to fend off the Shadow Wolf's large claws. But fend them off he did!
So he redoubled his efforts, blocking the Wolf's attacks and slashing at its snout every chance that he had, to make it back off, so that he could hold onto his position. He wasn't going to move! He would hold until the chant was done! He would hold the creature's advance even if he had to die to do that!
Then, to his surprise, the Wolf yelped, throwing its head up and around. It was an opportunity that he could not miss! That he would not miss! He lunged quickly, the tip of his sword driving past its collar bone into its rib-cage, and drawing a downward bite at his shoulder, which somehow, he managed to avoid. His sword wriggled desperately then, as he slammed his shoulder against its shoulder, seeking its heart!
And he found it! He felt the same sensation that he had, when he cut or pierced the heart of the dog-like things. This time, it was more intense, and more ... fiery? It was almost as if he had just grabbed hold of a torch! And there was a taste in his mouth, as though he had just had a bite of something utterly delicious! What was this? Was it even possible?
But the sensation faded at once, and he was left gasping over the disintegrating skeleton of a massive beast, easily twice or three times his size. And the first thought that entered into his brain at this moment was the surprise that he felt, when there were no stink, no odour of decomposition, as the flesh and bones of the creature simply faded away before his eyes!
The skull of the Wolf-like creature was almost the size of his own chest! And there was a glowing rock the size of his fist, rolling and skittering away on the ground. A foot stepped down on it, to stop its spinning motion. And Wuying followed it back up to a haggard-looking Qian, standing in front of him, and panting heavily.
The man had his back to the darkness beyond, and that seemed a little careless to Wuying. But even as he opened his mouth to warn his brother, he heard the cheering of the men at his back, and there was a golden glow that surrounded the two of them.
"So, the chant is done," he sighed then, letting his own shoulders droop. He had never felt so tired before in his life! "That makes three, I suppose."
Qian laughed softly. "It does. And I suppose that we have just met our target, hey? Barely! I almost regret setting it, to tell the truth. That Wolf-thing was a hard fight indeed! Not that the Dogs were that much easier."
Wuying laughed back and saw that the rest of the troop was hugging each other, and clapping themselves on the shoulder. Apparently, they had thought the same themselves. "Well, I'm not going on. Besides the night is more than half-gone. We have done well enough for our first night beyond the Gate, I think."
The Northerner in front of him chuckled at that. Then he bent down and picked up the glowing rock in his hands, holding it out to Wuying. "Is this what I think it is? One of those glowing stones that we are supposed to find in the creatures' bodies?"
It was larger than the others that Wuying had seen. But it seemed to have come from the Wolf that he had killed. That they had killed, he reminded himself. He wouldn't have liked to face it alone. Well, the crystalline stone was larger and its glow seemed a lot stronger than the others too.
"That's your reward for your hard work," came a hoarse voice from behind him then, and Wuying turned to see a smiling Gray Robe standing there, "That's the soul stone from the Wolf-creature. It's what remains after you destroy the Beasts. Even the smaller dogs that you had slain had something similar. The sergeants collected those earlier. They are not as remarkable as that one, of course."
"Ah! I have heard about these, I think. I suppose you are right about them being a reward. The veterans told me that we can exchange them for coin? And the Crafters often take them in lieu of the same, when we seek better gear. I trust we should bring them to the market? Wherever that may be?" Qian took the question out of Wuying's mouth.
"They are worth a great deal. But wait! I am sworn to poverty, humility and such, and not the best person to explain it to you," laughed the hoarse Gray Robe then, "You should have a word with your Sergeant Nan. He should be able to tell you more. And from a soldier's perspective too. Me, I need to rest my voice!"
Duxi stepped away at that, chuckling, and Junhe soon moved to join the pair. "That was harder than I thought it would be," the lieutenant sighed as he looked over the pair's ragged uniforms, "And they are harder on your clothes too! I think I understand why we were given the extra allowance for uniforms now!"
Then he grinned, as he gestured at his own clothes. "Well, I think you two will need it more that I will. The good thing about being an archer, hey? Rather than heading out to the fore with my sword? Not that you'll miss me; I'm nowhere as good as you two at hand-to-hand!" he laughed.
Then he saw the crystalline stone in Qian's hand, and pointed at it. "Ah! That is one of the soul stones that they were talking about. I had talked to Sergeant Nan about that. He's gone off to make his report it seems. I told him that we weren't going to try anything else tonight. He had a worried look on his face before I told him that! Besides, it's another four, five hours to dawn anyway, and we are all hurting. I'll need to get more arrows too. That last assault took everything that I brought down with me."
Then Junhe smiled and looked around, before he turned back to grin at the pair. "That last fight was amazing. Although I think we might want to avoid those large Wolf-things for the time being. They are tough to kill! And I see you two have taken more wounds too."
Wuying laughed and held up his hands. The uniform sleeves were all torn up, and he had blood dripping from his forearms. It did not seem too bad, at first. But he knew that he had better bind up his injuries before he suffered from blood loss. "We should try to convince the Captain that we need to get our gear in order before we try again. Perhaps some vambraces would help. Or else my forearms are going to get shredded soon," he sighed.
"Oh? Where can we get them made? I am certainly going to need some, unlike Second Brother here. A good breastplate would be welcome. I had to curb some of my instincts earlier, for fear of getting bitten on my shoulders," Wumu Qian sighed.
Wuying smiled at him, and waved back at the town. "Back there. I'll bring you to the Crafters myself. We'll all need armor. My arms will end up looking like shredded meat without them," he laughed.
"And we should get these things assessed. I heard they are worth a good bit of coin, to the Crafters in the town too," Junhe reminded the other two, as he pointed at the glowing rock in Qian's hands. Then he chuckled again:
"And that is what I call a pretty piece! And you're right about it being pricey! The small stones that we got out of the dogs are worth about eight to ten gold each! That's from what the other men told me. And something like that is close to a hundred in gold! That should be more than enough to pay for your armor, I think!"
*
But the trio didn't get a chance to leave the Old Trade Town just yet. Apparently, Sergeant Nan's report had managed to surprise the standby Gray Robe, and he came down with the man to the Greenstone Pillar to see how Duxi was coping, when the sergeant returned. And he helped with the healing of the injuries sustained by the men after he had laughed at the younger priest's report.
But Faxi, the older, thinner Grey Robe, frowned when he came to Wuying's scratches. "Are you joking with me? You should heal on your own in an hour or two! You don't need my help with something like this?" he declared, with a scowl at the terrible scratch marks on the lieutenant's arms, "You Long-lived don't need magical healing."
That was enough to puzzle the younger man. "Are you sure? I mean, I have never fought the Shadows before, so I don't know. Am I really one of the Long-lived?"
Wumu Qian, who had just had his injuries chanted over, looked over then. His own injuries had already been treated. In fact, he was one of the first to be seen to by the old man. "It is true then? I wondered when I saw you get hurt. But hey! Aren't your injuries supposed to heal faster because of your magic? The wounds on your arms are still the same as they were after we dealt with the Wolf."
The Grey Robe stopped at that, and reached for Wuying's arms again. The latter winced as the old man touched his fingers to the marks and muttered some expletive under his tongue. "This is strange. Most of these should have faded after a minute or two. Why are they still bothering you? And you do not have the look of the Old Ones either. Neither their fair eyes nor their hair. Why should your wounds look like this? And why are they so slow in healing?" the old Grey Robe muttered, half to himself.
Then he lifted his gourd and poured some of its contents over the man's wounds, chanting some incomprehensible words as he did so. Wuying hissed as the wounds stung, but he held himself still all the same. After all, Faxi had done the same for all of the men, including Qian. And he wasn't about to disgrace himself in front of them!
The old man scowled, his eyebrows knitting together as he pulled his gourd away. "That is curious indeed. The wounds react as if you are not one of the Long-lived, and they respond to the same healing that I offered your men. Yet they look as if you are one of them. That is most curious," he muttered as he stared at the same, "See how they are starting to close now? See? It is just like the scratches that this one - Wumu Qian, right? It is just like what he had suffered."
Wuying looked down, and he saw that the wounds were starting to close where they had remained open and raw before. And his frown was just as deep as the Grey Robe's. How did that happen? Was he one of the Long-lived or not? This was something that was going to take some looking into for certain.
"Why do your wounds look as if you are one of the Long-lived, and react to his healing as if you are not one? That doesn't make sense at all!"
Faxi and Wuying both turned to Qian at that, and the Grey Robe was the first to shrug. "I have no idea. This has never happened before, as far as I know. Perhaps he is one of the Dragon-blooded, but his blood is too weak to have much of an effect. I have never come across anyone like that though. He is the first, clearly."
"But I cannot be one, surely! Look at me! My hair and my eyes are black. That's the normal color, right? And the Long-lived have either blond hair or other colored eyes!"
Qian nodded at that. And he turned to the old man, who shrugged again, and pointed a finger at Wuying's nose. "It is true. Everyone knows that. But what if the blood of the Dragon is really thin inside you? What if it is so thin that it doesn't show when he is affected by the Curse? Would that make any sense?"
"The Curse?"
"When the wounds turn black, and they have to be prayed over, or have holy water splashed over them, before they heal. We call that the Curse," Faxi sighed, "The Long-lived have another name for it, that I have heard. But they do not need the same sort of magic that we do, and their flesh simply repels the magic of the Beasts. Their flesh do not change color and they heal quickly too. That is why I thought you were one of them."
Then Faxi scratched at his bearded chin, frowning. "Your blood seems to be just enough so that it protects you from the acid of the Shadow Beasts' claws and teeth, but not enough to heal you on its own. That's certainly problematic. And if you were one of the Dragon-blooded, the Captain would have certainly known. After all, he is one of them, and they can tell just by looking at you. And you definitely needed healing. That also makes no sense at all."
"What makes no sense at all?"
Junhe walked up to the trio, looking at each of them in turn. Qian was the first to explain what had just happened. "So we are still debating what to do about it. This should be reported to the Captain, I think," Qian said quietly.
"Oh I agree. But does it really matter?" Junhe turned to the old Grey Robe then. "Your Order heals all soldiers who face the Shadows and takes injuries right? And Wuying evidently needs your help after his fights, with his wounds. That makes him one of the ordinary soldiers of the Guard, right? Does it matter if he is one of the Long-lived? However diluted is his blood?"
Faxi shrugged again. "No. Not really."
"Then why bother to ponder over it? It's not going to change anything. In fact, he might be able to deal better with the enemy's attacks, despite the fact that he needs healing just like everybody else. At least he will not be so affected by the pain. That's a benefit, as far as I can tell."
"No doubt, you are correct. Still, I cannot help but feel curious."
Junhe laughed at that. "Oh no! You are not going to ask him to avoid treatment for his wounds, are you? To see if they turn grey or keep bleeding over a day or two? Think of how much work you will have, to deal with that once it happens! And I don't think the Captain will be very happy with that either!"
Faxi laughed at that. "I suppose you are right. We shall just have to wait and see, and wait for something extraordinary to happen, I guess," he said, before he turned back to Wuying and cocked his head at the man, "You will alert me if anything changes, won't you? And we will meet from time to time, if you keep taking these missions. You three have done exceptionally well tonight. So much so that I don't mind talking to your Captain myself, to see if you should be excused from tomorrow night's exercise. You three are going to need some protective gear!"
Then he waved at the glowing stones that the troop had gathered. "Those were all that remained of the Beasts when they vanish. And from the looks of that small pile there, you had slaughtered about thirty to forty of them! Fortunately, you have more than enough here to keep most of the Crafters in town occupied!"
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