Sword and Snow

Talya, Vale, and I sat around the table in the dining room, pouring over the map of the Dying Lands. Avuri was nearby in the kitchen, finishing cooking dinner while Cierra ran around the kitchen beside her, ‘helping’. To her credit, she did successfully help peel some vegetables with a safety peeler, and was very proud of that. She hadn’t stopped bragging or asking what else she could do; it was adorable.

“If nothing else, we know that there is one demonic sect operating in the Dying Lands around here.” Vale said, circling an area in the north of the Lands.

“Avuri said that some of the caravaners she was traveling with mentioned that they were getting attacked by demonic Cultivators on the road, though.” I said, pointing to the main road that traveled through the Lands, between the Emerald Expanse and the Blooming Wilds. “The road is so far south of the sect we know of. I’d be shocked if they were the ones responsible.”

“Maybe a splinter group?” Avuri called from the kitchen, where she worked while listening.

I eyed the map. The Dying Lands were massive, but virtually empty. The whole place was a desert-like wasteland, with all kinds of treacherous fractured land. Stone outcroppings would jut from the ground in different directions, often criss-crossing one another. Water was rare, and the beasts that roamed the Lands were incredibly dangerous for average folk.

Altogether, it made the place basically uninhabitable for most people. This meant travel through it was common, with few places of safety to stop for camping.

Which also meant it was a potentially attractive location for bandits and the like. Though that, in turn, required you to be strong enough to survive out there.

The cyclical nature of it all meant that anything that regularly was found in the Dying Lands would be of at least Sky Realm strength; thus our time spent training to reach that level ourselves. It also meant…

“If there’s a splinter group off the original sect we know of in the North, this could be real trouble.” I said, my eyes aimed at the map but unfocused as I thought about the whole problem. “For there to be a splinter group, there would have to be at least Sky Realm Cultivators among them, if not more. They wouldn’t allow two separate forces to exist, otherwise. Any group out there needs at least one Sky Realm to just survive.”

“Which means we’re very likely looking at multiple Sky Realm enemies.” Avuri said from the kitchen. She sounded a little worried.

“Very likely.” I agreed.

“And if it is a splinter group,” Talya interjected, “You’re likely going to be getting entangled with both groups. Even if you successfully cull the group down south, it’ll surely get the north group to come after you.”

“At least we’d have a few days of recuperation between the fights?” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“You joke, but that time would be invaluable, assuming you both survive the first wave.” Vale muttered, taking a deep breath while staring down the map. “As long as you both make it out of the first major fight conscious and intact, Avuri should be able to get your bodies in fighting condition again in a day, if it comes to it.”

“You said the first group is far north? How far?” Avuri asked, unable to look at the map.

Vale traced the path with his finger. “If they travel at average speed for Sky Realm Cultivators, maybe a day and a half.” He licked his lips as he considered that. “More likely, you’d have closer to three - maybe four - days, as I doubt the whole group is Sky Realm. They’d probably be moving at Earth Realm speeds.”

“That’s…Well, that’s alright I suppose.” Avuri sighed.

I stared blankly at the map, thinking out loud. “I think our best bet would obviously be to deal with the southern group first. They’re the ones that have been actively attacking caravans. There’s always the chance that they are a new group acting on their own, and just removing them is our goal anyway.”

I swallowed before continuing. “If they are connected to the northern sect, we’ll have to figure out where to go from there. We can stay put and lick our wounds for a few days while they come after us; or if we’re in good shape we travel north to take them on directly.”

Talya leaned back and crossed her arms. “There’s too many unknown factors here. You don’t know if there’s one or two sects. You don’t know how many Sky Realm Cultivators they have. You don’t know how strong they are. Hell, you don’t even really know what their typical operations are like, outside of rumors.”

I eyed Talya carefully. She knew better than to tell me not to do this.

And she held up her hands in surrender. “Yeah, I know better.” She said with a laugh. “What I was going to say is that pouring over the map like this and trying to plan for so many potential outcomes is honestly a waste of time.”

I chuckled. “That’s rich, coming from you. Miss Over-planner.”

Talya rolled her eyes. “You’re right. But let’s be honest about two things here.” She said, and dramatically poked the center of the map. “First, no good plans ever survive contact with the enemy. We all know this, it's basic battle strategy.”

She placed a second finger beside her first. “And, perhaps more importantly, second. Even if you had a solid plan of attack for every potential outcome, Emery,” She said my name icily, “You wouldn’t follow the plan anyway.” She said with a sigh.

Vale and I chuckled. She was totally right.

“Even if that’s all true,” Avuri said, poking her head around the corner from the kitchen. Cierra was hugging one of her hips. “I would like to know the most plausible issues we can run into. Especially if it’s just the two of us going in there with no real options for backup. We need to know at least the most likely scenarios to plan for.”

“Avuri is right.” Vale said, crossing his arms while continuing to eye the map. “And I think we’ve already gone over the broad strokes of the situation. Either you’re going to go in and remove an upstart sect, or you’re going to go in and remove a splinter group of an established sect. The first part doesn’t really change much either way.”

“The potential strength behind an upstart sect and an established one could be a pretty wide gap.” Talya cautioned.

“While you aren’t wrong, it doesn’t really change anything.” Vale responded. “No matter what, they need to go in and cull the sect. It’s not like one of the two scenarios allows them to avoid the fight or settle all this in other ways. It’s always going to be a bloodbath one way or the other.”

“In a weird way, there’s comfort in that.” I said lightly. “We’re in for a fight no matter what we do. Their numbers, strength, or Realms don’t really factor into the plan. We need to fight and win. Simple.”

Avuri laughed from the kitchen door. She patted Cierra’s head as she turned to go back to cooking and I smiled after her.

“Simple but optimistic!” She called. “You are right though, I’m not sure spending extra time on all this planning is getting us anywhere. We’re at least aware of some of the most likely potential outcomes. That may be all we get.”

I chuckled as I leaned back in my seat. I let my head hang back over the back of my chair as I stared up at the ceiling.

“I think your first move should be going to the Dying Lands and gathering information. Carefully.” Vale said. “You’re going to be picking a fight so you don’t necessarily need to worry about being marked by the sect, you just want to avoid being attacked in the middle of town.”

“Because that’s so simple.” Talya muttered.

I forcefully shut my eyes for a moment, squeezing them shut tight. With a groan, I sat upright. “So basically.” I began, “The plan is to go to Bastion. Ask around about the demonic Cultivator attacks. Gather whatever info we can while avoiding starting a fight there. Go out into the middle of the Dying Lands themselves and try to bait and kill the bad guys. Then we make up the rest from there.”

Silence fell for a few moments before Avuri swept into the room with a pot of rice. “That about sums it up, yeah.” She said bluntly, as she fished around for a safe spot on the table to place the pot. I moved the map for her, and rolled it back up.

As Cierra trailed in after her with another pot in her hands, we all got up to start getting the table set for dinner. It only took a few moments before all the food was brought to the table along with place settings for each of us.

“So…you’re leaving soon, Mom?” Cierra asked sadly. I paused in the middle of spooning food onto her plate to look at her, sad myself.

“I think so, Cici. Avuri and I need to go help some other kids too, just like we helped you.” I said. “I’m hoping we won’t be gone too long.”

“I can help with that.” Vale said through a mouthful of food. “I may not be able to interfere in the fight itself without good cause, but I can fly you there and back for speed at least. Get you there in a day or two instead of a week.”

“Thanks, Vale.” I said, offering him a smile. “That’ll help.”

“And obviously, I’ll stay here with Cierra while you’re gone.” Talya cut in. She offered me a thumbs up before grinning at Cierra. “We’ll have fun, but you all better not be gone long, you hear me? Two weeks, tops.”

Avuri seemed to take that in and nod. “Cull potentially two demonic sects of unknown power and deal with whatever fallout occurs after? Two weeks seems reasonable.”

We all laughed at that, some strange mixture of nervousness and levity surrounding us.

Cierra’s little voice cut through the awkward laughter.

“You better come back.” She said, sounding like she was almost on the verge of tears. Her hand reached out to grab my sleeve.

The mood at the table immediately turned serious once more.

“I promise, Cierra. I will come back.” I said, placing a reassuring hand on her head. “We both will.”

She turned to look at Avuri. And I was pretty sure if she could reach, she would have grabbed her sleeve too. Avuri nodded. “I promise I’ll bring your mom back, Cierra.” She said earnestly.

“You better come back too!” She yelled, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes. “You need to be careful. And win.” She said, starting to wipe at her eyes with her sleeves.

We both glanced at each other, nodded, and responded in unison.

“We will.”