Sword and Snow

Emery wasted no time. From the moment we saw the ruined caravan and the people with it, she was in action mode.

Thankfully, we were already carrying all of our things in our storage rings, so there was no need to go back to the inn to gather any supplies or anything like that. And if there had been, I was pretty sure that Emery would have left without me at that moment.

“We move. Now.”

Was all she had said before taking off out the city gates. I kept pace on her heels.

“Emery? Do you know where we’re going?”

“We’ll start at that valley area. Some of those carts were practically still smoking. If we’re fast enough, there may be a trail we can follow.”

“Sure, that makes sense.” I said. As we got further away from Bastion, I called up my Qi and let it flow out from me. My passive senses had been able to extend out to around one and a half kilometers in the Earth Realm before I had started training with Emery. Since then, I hadn’t really spent any time or effort on training that particular skill.

But as my Qi flowed out easily in every direction, it seemed as though my training had benefits, regardless of the focus. Or perhaps it was because of the Domain training. Either way, my Qi diffused over a much wider range than I was used to. Without any way to actually measure it, I would have guessed the range had almost doubled.

And that was without focusing and directing it with purpose.

“Emery!” I called out as we continued to run, the ground quickly passing below our long, bounding strides. “My Qi coverage is almost twice the size it was before. I’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

Emery just looked back at me and nodded as we practically flew down the road.

After ten minutes or so of running, I opted to direct my Qi out ahead of us, rather than in a circle. If I was right in my guess and my range had, indeed, doubled, I should be able to reach somewhere in the realm of ten kilometers ahead of us.

I entered a light state of meditation then, focusing on my senses while letting my body follow Emery by instinct.

We covered the nearly three hundred kilometers to the common attack spot in under an hour. Thankfully, despite the speed, it really only amounted to a brisk jog for us.

My Qi senses took in the spot well before we reached it. There was no one in the vicinity; at least not within a reasonable distance.

“The area seems clear.” I said, once I felt comfortable with the reconnaissance I had done. “At the very least, there’s no active Qi in the area. I didn’t feel any residual Qi either, but it’s been long enough that it probably dissipated naturally by now.” I didn’t mention the rest of what I had felt.

Emery nodded, then picked up a bit of speed. I followed after, keeping pace.

When we arrived, even though I knew what to expect, I was still shaken.

Emery and I slowed to a more normal jog as we approached the absolute massacre at the mouth of the stone valley. Bodies littered the ground. There was blood everywhere. It was also nearly silent, except for the carrion birds beginning to circle overhead.

I swallowed thickly as we approached, and started mentally counting bodies. Emery seemed to be canvassing the area for threats or other potential trails to follow.

“Thirty-two.” I said aloud. Thirty-two bodies were on the ground, in various states of damage. None were alive. There were a few that were at least in one piece, but many were missing limbs or altogether shredded. Many showed signs of intense burning. A few others were apparently bludgeoned beyond recognition, the only thing remaining on the ground a vile reddish paste.

I swallowed, trying not to feel sick. Dealing with such grotesque sights during battle was one thing; dealing with it without the adrenaline rush of a fight was much more difficult.

Emery leapt off into the middle of the massacre, looking about with fury etched in the line of her face. She was muttering a long string of curses under her breath, aimed at whoever had done this, as she tried to gather herself to look for any sort of lead we could follow. She was not doing particularly well at calming herself down.

“Hey.” I said, as I leapt over a number of bodies to land neatly beside her. I moved in front of her, and took her by the shoulders. Her head and eyes still moved from place to place full of anxiety and anger, as she tried to take in the surroundings.

“Emery. Emery!” I half-shouted in her face, which finally got her to meet my eyes. She looked crazed. Or at least certainly not well held together. “Listen to me. Take a deep breath. You’re not the only one here anymore. You don’t have to try to handle all of this by yourself.”

I wasn’t sure if what I was saying was getting through to her at all. Even though she was looking me dead in the eye, I could see her mind moving working overtime behind her steel gray eyes.

I snapped my fingers a few times right in front of her face trying to pull her out of her own head. “Em-er-y!”

Slowly, the gears turning behind her eyes seemed to slow down enough for her to actually take in her surroundings. She blinked at me once, twice, then closed her eyes and took a long, shuddering breath. As she let it out, a little of the tension in her shoulders seemed to fade. When her eyes opened again, they looked clearer, and actually seemed to focus.

“Thank you, Avuri.” She said, quietly, as she leaned in. I let her lay her forehead against my chest.

“Just take a minute to adjust. I know this is a lot.” I said, making sure not to look at any of the mutilated bodies to avoid feeling ill. “But you’re not here alone. I’m here. We can work on this together. Lean on me a little, yeah?”

“I quite literally am leaning on you.” She said, with a half-hearted chuckle. I leaned my head against hers, hoping to offer a little comfort.

“Good. Now let’s focus and find a lead here so we can hunt those bastards down.”

Emery nodded, took a deep breath, and pushed back upright.

We both took in the site of the massacre with fresh eyes.

I noticed that many of the bodies, though not all of them, seemed to have been struck from behind. Many were laying face down in the dirt, with their back wounded, rather than their fronts.

“Did they not have any guards?” Emery asked aloud.

“Not many.” I said, pointing out three bodies that looked like they had been severely wounded, but had stood and fought. “It looks like the vast majority here were just regular caravanners. Those three bodies are…were obviously Cultivators. It’s hard to gauge the ones that were smashed though.” I said, still actively avoiding looking at those remains.

“There were still at least fifteen survivors at the gate. With the thirty-odd bodies here, being generous would mean there were a minimum of forty people with maybe five guards. That’s insane. Why would they travel so unprotected?”

A shiver ran through my body. “And that’s not counting however many children the demons took.” I said, feeling sick again. “They were basically asking to be attacked with those numbers.” I muttered bitterly.

Emery just nodded, finally turning away from the remains. “Come on. Let’s look around for a trail of some kind.”

We knew that, most likely, the group had set up their camp to the north, so we started on that side of the valley - and it didn’t take long to find exactly what we were looking for.

Tracks, clear as day, led away from the northern side. Either the demons were confident, and didn’t care about leaving tracks, or they were simply idiots. Emery and I looked at each other once, before deciding to err on the side of caution, and treat this as the former.

“Well, now we know what happened to the missing animals, too.” I said dryly, pointing to the clear animal tracks alongside the straight line grooves in the dirt. “I can’t believe they had the gall to just break yokes and take the pack animals too.”

“I’m not surprised. They probably left a few people behind in the area to gather the animals after the caravan fled. Look.” She said, motioning between the two tracks. “The animal tracks weave around the tracks of the sled or cart, or whatever it was. And they look a bit more fresh too, but with the loose dirt and wind around here, that’s harder to judge accurately.”

I nodded absently, opting to stretch my Qi to its limit in the direction of the tracks. Even at my limits, I came up with nothing.

“I can’t sense anything notable with my Qi, so they must have a pretty good lead on us.”

“Makes sense. We only started moving after the caravan limped its way to Bastion.” Emery looked back at the massacre before facing toward the north again. “We should just get a move on. I’m sure Bastion will send a group to come collect the bodies. And if they have any remaining family members, I’m sure they wouldn’t want them buried here.”

I nodded solemnly. “Right. We should go.”

Emery gave me one more determined nod before leaping off to follow the trail. I followed right on her heels, keeping my Qi extended, hoping to find out quarry

Three hours into our pursuit, my Qi finally slid over something.

“Emery.” I said sharply, trying to get the woman’s attention as we continued moving. “Three people. Five animals. Horses and oxen, I think.”

“That’s probably the group left for the animals then.”

“Agreed. I don’t feel any Qi, so they’re at least Earth Realm or below.”

Emery nodded in affirmation. One distinction of the Sky Realm that we learned was that, once Qi filled the body during your breakthrough, anyone who could sense Qi would be able to feel the Qi in your body. It wouldn’t be as dramatic as when Qi was actively used, but it was still a clear marker of someone in the Sky Realm or above.

“We’re outpacing them significantly.” I said, trying to monitor our distance. “We’ll likely catch up in a few minutes. They’re straight ahead.”

“Pull your Qi back.” Emery said. I quickly did so before she explained any further. “We don’t need to alert them to us if they haven’t already noticed you.”

“I know. Already done.” I said. “What’s the plan? Do we immediately just attack or wait and watch them first?”

“Attack. But don’t kill if you can help it.” Emery said seriously. “We should try to get information if we can, but I’m not willing to risk our chance at a surprise attack to observe them; they’re likely just walking to their camp.”

“Not worried about finding it ourselves, then?”

“Not even a little.” Emery said with a snort. “We’ll get them to talk. And if not, we still have our current trail and their heading.”

“Fair enough.”

We lapsed into silence after that for another three or four minutes as we hurdled forward after them.

They came into view shortly thereafter, still trudging along without paying any real attention to their surroundings.

I dropped my speed to fall a little ways from the group, but still within my Domain range.

Emery dropped silently in the middle of the group, and we both flared with Qi at once. As the demonic Cultivators turned to face Emery - the immediate threat - she smiled viciously.

“Hello there.”