Pathway

"You well enough to be on your feet?" 

Abron said, pulling Ju Feng's gaze away from the tunnel.

"I'm fine." 

Ju Feng said. He assessed his injuries. He'd taken a blow to the head from a yaoguai's club, and there was a faint ringing in his ears from all the noise in the cavern, but the pain from the yaomo's arcane mystical arts was gone, leaving only a slight tremor in his hands. Ju Feng clenched a fist, closed his eyes, and took several breaths to calm his racing heartbeat. The chamber reeked of blood. 

"Godsdamn dismal way to fight."

Abron said. He cast his gaze over the battlefield—looking for Orban, Ju Feng surmised. Father and son separated soon after the battle began. Though Abron hadn't mentioned him, Ju Feng could tell by the way the Yellowhorn patriarch clutched his axe that his thoughts were with his son.

"There are dozens of us here and in the cavern to the south, and others who've fallen back with the wounded down the side passages. Obrin could be with them."

Ju Feng said assuredly.

"He won't fall back, not unless he's unconscious and they're dragging his body away from the fight." 

Abron said, glancing at Ju Feng.

"Here they come!"

The shout came from the front lines. Ju Feng looked up to see yaoguai and yaoling swarming across the cavern. In response, a chorus of battle cries deafened Ju Feng as the dwarves surged up from their stone trenches.

Abron stood, opened his arms, and cried out as he performed his mystical arts. 

"Give me your strength, Soul Forger. Father of the deep places and sacred stone, give me aid!"

Massive stones the dwarves had piled up as protection rose suddenly in the air and hovered ominously over the battlefield. Abron took a step forward, and the stones moved with him.

The attacking slaves saw the floating stones and staggered, breaking their charge. Behind them, the yaomo hissed and screamed in Undercommon, sending out webs of black lightning to prod them. They charged ahead, not so frenzied now, instead moving hesitantly, and let the dwarves slam into their lines in a crush of steel.

With a grim smile, Abron took another step forward. He swayed on his feet. He's weak, and it's taking all his concentration to maintain the activated arts, Ju Feng realized. He stood and took up a protective stance ahead and slightly to the right of Abron. 

"I'm here. Mind your arts. I won't let them touch you."

As he watched, one of the oldest dwarves came and slid his silver ring onto the Abron's smallest finger. From its appearance, Ju Feng could guess what it was for. To enhance power and arts. Using it was a risk, but if Ju Feng was right about what Abron was about to do with his conjured arts, it would give the dwarves an advantage.

Abron's eyes widened as the elder dwarf slid the ring over his knuckle, and a broad smile spread across his face.

"Let's have some fun, then," 

Abron said in a strained whisper. He made a fist and punched the air. One of the larger stones shot across the cavern, hit the ground rolling, and plowed into a group of four goblins, two of whom were killed instantly. Abron moved forward and wiggled his fingers, sending a hail of smaller stones against a charging pack of bugbears. They went down under the force of the smaller pellets hurled at lightning-fast speeds.

But the attacking force came in fast. Ju Feng spun to face a yaomo warrior darting toward Abron like an obsidian shadow, a bronze sword drawn and ready in his hand. The yaomo saw him and lunged, but Ju Feng slid to his knees, coming up beneath the yaomo's guard. Energy and focus hummed from his core as Ju Feng gathered a small amount of inner energy and drew it inward, funneling it all to his right hand. He drove his open palm into the side of the warrior's leg. Dimly, he sensed the impact of the yaomo's armor against his hand, but the pain he should have felt was absorbed by the energy and sloughed off harmlessly. He didn't even need to use his martial hand technique.

His punch was anything but harmless. Bone snapped, and the yaomo staggered, crying out in agony. Ju Feng came smoothly to his feet and thrust his other hand against the yaomo's sword hilt, pushing it above his head and away from Abron, the yaomo's intended target.

Now that they were standing face-to-face, Ruen could look the yaomo in the eye. He didn't want to be killing yaomo in a war that was never his. He saw the pain and hatred in the warrior's face, but he also glimpsed a deadly resolve Ju Feng hadn't counted on. Bones in the drow's leg were shattered, but he would crawl on his belly to reach Abron if he had to. Ju Feng read that truth in the yaomo's eyes.

His right hand tangled with Ju Feng's as he fought for control of the sword, and the yaomo used his left to fumble at his belt for a dagger. Ju Feng applied pressure to the hand of the yaomo, and the warrior howled in pain. In a swift movement, the yaomo yanked a dagger out of his loin pocket and lashed out at Ju Feng's chest.

It was enough. Ju Feng reared back and drove his fist into the yaomo's chest. He poured all his pent-up energy into the strike and felt it reverberate through the yaomo's armor, a wave that passed through flesh, shattering ribs and breastbone. The killing wave reached the yaomo's heart. Through his premier sense, Ju Feng felt the yaomo's death a breath before the drow did. The coldness, the cracks in the yaomo's life force, spread out from that one central point where his fist made impact. The warrior's eyes widened, he opened his mouth, and then his gaze became a fixed stare. His sword clattered to the floor.

Ju Feng had a familiar feeling, unpleasant but hardly alarming. The breath of life and the aura of death. Death always proved stronger, in the end, and it was no different this time. Cold seized his body, and his bones ached from this feelings death. It reminded him of his own impending death. Ju Feng tried to ignore the sensations and sprang to his feet. Abron had moved a few feet away, hurling more rocks at the enemy. It was as if a storm had enveloped the chamber. Mighty cracks of thunder shook the foundations of the cavern each time the runepriest cast a stone down on his enemies. Abron's eyes glowed with the light of his mystique. Those same glows outlined the runes on his face, making him look more and more like an avenging spirit.

The enemy had taken notice as well. The slaves cringed and ran from the hovering death that moved inexorably across the cavern. The yaomo did not run, but Ju Feng saw their wizards gathered near the tunnel mouth, watching Abron's progress. They'll turn all their mystiques loose on him in a moment, Ju Feng thought. Abron would make too big a target. Ju Feng didn't have time to warn Abron. A pair of yaomo warriors charged the runecaster. Crouching low, Ju Feng ran to intercept them. He flung out his arms and caught both yaomo at the chest. The impact sent a tingle into his shoulders, but the yaomo's forward momentum halted, and they both went down.

Fragile, Ju Feng thought. Most on this planet had fragile bodies. They were not body cultivators. The bloods had a way to go stronger and more powerful at a cost, but the yaomo are too weak physically. These yaomo sets weren't even strong, and they were not used to these kinds of attacks, blows that went through their fine armor.

Ju Feng knew he couldn't keep up his defense of Abron forever without showing his true powers. He called out for aid, and several dwarves stopped their charge and fell back to form a protective perimeter around the runecaster.

"That's right, you crawlers, run!" 

Abron screamed in fury as more yaomo and yaoguai fell before him. His voice carried on the thunder of falling rocks. Shaking all over, he thrust his fists into the air.

Ju Feng fell into a crouch, sweeping the legs out from under another yaomo. They were attacking side by side with the slaves, but the enemy spells he'd expected hadn't yet come. What were they waiting for? Ju Feng tried to see the tunnel mouth, but the shower of rocks and the close press of bodies and flashing weapons made it impossible to see the yaomo at the far end of the battlefield.

Distracted, Ju Feng saw the blade slicing at him out of the corner of his eye only just in time. He wanted to release a chi blast but decided against it. He ducked, but the axe bit slightly into his flesh. He swung around and grabbed the yaoguai's wrist, twisting its arm behind its back. The creature squealed and dropped its weapon. Ju Feng brought his hand back, aiming for a blow to the yaoguai's spine. He halted in mid-strike. Although he avoided killing any yaomo unnecessarily, he was there to help the dwarves on the promises made by the king.

Beneath the creature's filthy, blood-splattered armor, he glimpsed a familiar marking carved into the yaoguai's flesh. Unlike the dead yaoguai he'd seen earlier, this slave's mark glowed faintly and pulsed with a blood-red light. Instead of striking the creature, Ju Feng forced it to its knees, careful to keep pressure on its axe arm to hold it in place. With his other hand, he ripped the flimsy armor aside to get a better look at the rune. It was obviously magical, but he had no idea what it meant.

Glancing across the battlefield, Ju Feng noticed a pattern he hadn't seen before. The yaoling slaves fought mostly together, not counting the creatures that broke ranks and ran from Abron's hail of stones. But the yaoguai fought scattered throughout the cavern, spaced evenly amongst the dwarf attackers, as if they'd been assigned to those places.

Immediately, he knew something was wrong.