Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 28: Vaugend Trial 10

  The sun bobbled just above the horizon as the party approached the outskirts of the mine. The Guardian's brought as many arrows as they could carry, literally hundreds. The Gaels had sent two warriors back to the Haven, one with a sprained ankle and another who had hidden a crossbow bolt injury. The resultant party consisted of twenty-four. The Guardian's minus Gisael and Benzhi perched atop the highest ridge looking down into the camp with a couple of Gaels to watch their backs. The other eighteen crept around to the west of the camp with one hogtied bluecloak officer in tow.

 As Benzhi's group closed on the mining camp outskirts the Guardians let fly, taking down any redcloak guard that was visible. Shouts, screams and panic ensued. The mine workers were not soldiers, they were barely peasants, almost slaves.

 Benzhi was flanked by Gisael and Reyas, he strode to the edge to the camp and began to address anyone who bothered to listen. The other Gaels stayed hidden behind several rocks, ready to ambush anyone who attacked the elite group of three. Benzhi had examined the camp with qi sight and knew there were no adepts present let alone someone with the qi core he had witnessed back in the Vaugend Keep. 

 As Benzhi began to speak several bundles of cloaks were thrown into the camp by the strongest Gaels, wrapped tightly they flew for a hundred meters and then rolled. "Bad people of Vaugend," Benzhi shouted above the din, lining his mouth with qi to enhance the sound, "Ye are not welcome here. Those bundles of cloaks used to belong to the hundred soldiers who patrolled nearby." He paused. "And this," a Gael dragged the hog-tied and gagged bluecloak to the edge of the camp, "is all that's left of them." The Gael then untied the officer. Benzhi slapped his face gently and spoke to him directly, "tell the Duke he is not welcome here."

 Gisael looked at Benzhi quizzically and he just winked at her. He then turned back to the camp and continued, "grab whatever you can and leave. You have until the sun sets, anyone who is left after dark... Will die." The scene devolved into pandemonium. Miners grabbing everything they could get their hands on, loading handcarts or the like and hustling down the road south. Benzhi, Gisael and Reyas just stood watching. Not one guard or worker came near them, let alone attacked. As darkness fell, Benzhi walked up to the Clan chiefs and said, "burn anything you can't carry."

 The Gaels spent scant moments checking equipment as they piled what was left of the camp into one large bonfire. As they watched it all burn Benzhi spoke to the group, "now we wait and keep watch"

 "Ye told him not to come?" Ulfgrim queried.

 "Yes, yes I did." Benzhi smiled. The Duke probably didn't need the added motivation, the Core would be enough. "He will be the sort of man who will not tolerate being told he can't come here," Benzhi explained.

 The setting of patrols of Guardians and Gaels was left to Gisael and the Clan Chiefs. All Benzhi cared about was knowing when and where an enemy arrived and that no one was lost in reporting the fact. The Guardian group returned to the haven they were using as a base and the Gaels returned to their respective holds. The Gaels left three men at the haven, in rotation, to act as messengers when the need arose. The next morning a group of Gatherers from the Forest arrived, delivering more arrows and other supplies.

 After the Gatherers left, Gisael approached Benzhi, "We have a gift for you," Benzhi was practising qi body techniques purloined from the Gaels. 

 "Hmm?" Benzhi replied. 

  Gisael continued, "remember when you met with Paphyra over a month ago? The day I first held qi blade."

 Benzhi nodded and it dawned on him. The shield. 

 Gisael pulled it from her back. "She cannot give it to yourself," she paused, "on behalf of the artisans, here Benzhi is your Ebony Shield. I have rarely seen its like." She added. 

 It was just a plain black round shield. Benzhi received the gift, thanking Gisael and the artisans and inspected the plain black shield. It had two straps when Benzhi held the first in his grip, the second was in the crook of his elbow. The wood was thick, about two centimetres, however, the shield was light, it only had a small amount of weight to it, if it was oak it would have weighed a tonne. It was curved to such a degree that it stood out from his arm, at its centre, by the size of his clenched fist. The shields he had seen were not this curved, they were much shallower. On closer inspection Benzhi could see faint lines in the wood, it looked like it had been in, seven elegantly curved pieces, that had been stuck together to form the whole. He hoped it was strong, though, he was in no doubt of the Fae artisan's skill.

 Gisael ran her finger along one of the lines and spoke quietly, "run qi through here," tracing back up another line she continued, "this is what the stories say."

 Benzhi understood. He explored the shield with a stream of qi, it snapped into the lines without him directing it. He yelped. "It does not need skill, the pattern has been made by Paphyra," he spoke in awe. "I saw something like this in the Vaugend Keep, except it was leather armour."

 Gisael beamed, "You finally learned something without falling over a passel of times." She earned a mocking scowl from Benzhi.

 But it was fascinating. By embedding a pattern in an object be it a shield or armour the user just needed to push qi into the object without having to learn the pattern, let alone master it. Benzhi imagined the consequences, this could work with anything. A sword, any weapon, shoes, any armour. The only problem was, you had to know that pattern to craft and be able to craft it. Paphyra was a gem, he would be sure to thank her on bended knee when he next saw her.

 Two days passed and no sign of the Duke or any soldiers from Vaugend. Benzhi started to get nervous, what if he didn't come? He really didn't want to wait here, in a state of readiness forever. If the Duke was to take his time he would train each day with Reyas and Gisael. Reyas had shown up of her own accord at the Haven, stating she could go where she pleased in her mountains. Benzhi 'wasn't sure what Ulfgrim or even Glum thought about it, but it wasn't his problem, was it?' 

  Benzhi trained each day with his shield, sparring with Gisael and Reyas, and practised qi body techniques, particularly speed in his lower body and strength in his upper body. He did not dare to practice qi healing, in case the enemy did show, he wanted to be close to full qi core. By meditating between each session Benzhi was able to maintain a high level of qi. Through training with the shield, Benzhi had learnt it stored some of his qi. He definitely needed a conversation with Paphyra to why that was. The shield held enough of his qi stored to run for days and it still had the capacity for more. 

  After seven days, word of a large force approaching, arrived. Benzhi was becoming anxious and the news was actually a welcome relief, did it really take seven days for the Duke to gather forces and march for a day? Benzhi could only guess the delay was due to the logistics of putting a large force together. Benzhi, Gisael, Reyas, all the Guardians and Gaels at the Haven waited with bated breath for Talila's report.

 "Tell," Gisael asked Talila to report in the Guardian way.

  "A large force, we counted almost a thousand soldiers. We hid high on a mountain and watched with qi sense for an hour." Talila meant her and Sakaala had used enhanced senses to watch, listen, and whatever the other eleven senses they could command were. "There were many normal men with weapons, cloaks of all colours and there were five special men with black cloaks and one with blue."

 "Adepts?" Benzhi asked.

 "Yes, may be more," Talila answered. "There is more. There were five abominations herded by the men in black cloaks."

 "What the fuck is an abomination?" Benzhi queried with apprehension.

 "They had claws, beak, hard skin and walked on two or four legs. They looked like no animal, they looked like an insect. They did not have qi, because they had black hearts. The black cloaks had a tether around the necks of the abominations, the tether controlled the abomination with qi from the black cloak."

 Gisael whistled lowly.

 "What does this mean?" Benzhi asked, wanting to run straight out and view the enemy with qi sight.

 "This is bad," Gisael stated offering no further information other than a request, "I need to scout them."

 Benzhi sighed. 'The reason for the delay now became apparent. The Duke was not stupid. He had gotten aid from somewhere and had waited for it to arrive. Perhaps killing the Adept Soldier was a mistake. His death had alerted the Duke to Benzhi's strength,' Benzhi speculated. 'Mistakes were made, nothing could be done about it now.' Benzhi stood.

 "Gather everyone. The time has come to defend our lands." Benzhi stated flatly. He invited Gisael to accompany him to scout the enemy first hand. Reyas invited herself.

 "Do you follow anyone's orders?" Benzhi asked Reyas when she refused to not follow them. 

 Reyas looked confused for a minute. "I do as I please," she said as if that explained everything.

 Benzhi looked at Gisael, "Don't get any ideas," and then chuckled at his own mistake. Gisael did as she damn well pleased as well.

 The three headed south. The enemy wasn't trying to be stealthy or strategic for that matter. They were coming head on with full force. Scouting had not stopped, however, it looked almost certain there were no other forces other than the main. Benzhi did not wait for Reyas heartlessly running straight up the highest peaks, scanning to the south before moving on to the next. After half an hour Benzhi and Gisael were watching the enemy pass, what was, the mining camp. The enemy was heading slightly to the east of north, Benzhi guessed, directly towards the Core of the mountains. Benzhi checked with qi sight, the Core was so intense it was visible from here. If the enemy had qi sight, like him, they could see him, Gisael and Reyas from this distance, he would not be able to hide from them. 

 After an hour of watching the enemy crawl through the mountains, ignoring his party, Benzhi deduced they either did not have qi sight, like his own technique, or they were just ignoring him, Gisael and now Reyas since she had joined them. 

 "They are keeping the ordinary soldiers in front, like a meatshield," Benzhi spoke to the two women.

 Gisael nodded, "the black cloaks could move faster, yet they walk slowly behind."

 "What do you think of the abbies?" Reyas asked.

Abomination was the right description, so much so Benzhi had labelled them Abbies. They had a beak and two clawed feet like a hawk, their head was birdlike. Their two front appendages were long claws, pincers, similar to what a giant mantis could have, not bird-like at all. Their body was covered with an exoskeleton, just like an insect. On their back, the Abbies had a hard shell covering their entire rear, like a beetle.

The most important attribute was their qi or Abbie qi. Instead of the soothing, elegant blue green streams of qi. They had a black miasma, Benzhi had never seen anything like it. The fact he could sense it with qi sight meant it was related to qi somehow. 

 "The black miasma, the Abbies have, looks like a corruption of qi. And If I am right, they are here to nullify us." Benzhi speculated. He guessed it was corrupted qi. He could usually only see qi with qi sight and the fact he could see the black miasma was telling.

 The group skirted to the west to test if the enemy reacted to their qi cores at all. Nothing changed, the enemy did not react to their flanking. It was time for them to head back to the Haven and wait for reinforcements.

 Another day went by, waiting for the Gaels to assemble, the Guardians spent the time storing caches of arrows in front of the enemies progression path to the Mountain Core. A meeting was held with the Clan Chiefs, their right hands, Gisael, Reyas and Benzhi and initial plans were set. In Benzhi's limited experience with war, the initial plans often went out the window as soon as engagement began. The Clan Chiefs had their roles, the Guardians orders were simple; to inflict damage from range and keep retreating. A third group was created, the Vanguard, which was the trio of Benzhi, Gisael and Reyas. Ulfgrim was not happy with Reyas inclusion into the Vanguard, but he had little say due to the presence of Benzhi, who approved, and the fact she not only volunteered she insisted.

  In the early morning before the first engagement, weapons were being sharpened, idle chatter amongst warriors spread through the camp, breakfasts were cooked upon fires and Benzhi, Gisael and Reyas walked from group to group wishing them well, patting backs, giving and taking jokes. When Benzhi arrived at the Guardians rest area, there was a fire but no cooking, they ate like birds, nuts, berries, shrooms and roots. He hugged each one in turn and made them promise to keep their distance from the enemy.

  The three from the Vanguard made their way west.

 Most of the one hundred Gaels went north and would hold firm in some of the harshest terrains in the mountains, waiting for the Guardians to join them. The Guardians headed directly to the enemy, who were still making their way north. If left unchecked, and with their current formation, it would take the enemy at least another ten days to make it to the Mountain's Core. 

 The Guardians intercepted the force from Vaugend with-in two hours. Present were Talila, their leader, Ailen, Sakaala and the quiet Vulen. There were only four, but these four all could use qi arrow and kill an armoured man from one hundred paces on flat ground. A small group of ten Gaels carried extra arrows and waited at the ridgeline behind the Guardians.

 Talila waited for the greencloak to come into range, inhale, draw, aim, qi, loose. With a satisfying thunk, she impaled the top of his head as he climbed. This soldier wore only a leather helm, which was easy to pierce with qi arrow shot downwards. The group would fire a few volleys and then move. The daren't stay in one position too long, they could be easily flanked and the enemy adapted to their barrage.

 The four were able to empty two quivers before coming under fire from a barrage of crossbow bolts. They took their time and made each arrow count. Out of the close to two hundred arrows fired on the first day, they had taken down one hundred and fifty men. These men, at the front of the enemy force, wore all manner of coloured cloaks and wore the lightest armour. The cloaks included red and white but also included many other colours including green, orange and purple. There were at least ten different groups represented.

 As the lightly armoured Soldiers were worn down, the attrition rate slowed. The next day the Guardians took down only one hundred for two hundred arrows. The soldiers climbing rate slowed as they held up their shields and the attrition rate declined further. The Guardians changed tactics as well, suddenly flanking the soldiers firing off half a dozen shots before escaping. Shields above their heads were useless when they were shot from either side.

 By the time the enemy had travelled four days they had lost half their men. As the ridges became steeper and snow covered they lost just as many to falls as they did arrows. Most of these men wore the cheapest armour, they were the enemy's cannon fodder. 

 The Vanguard had waited four days and positioned themselves behind the enemy. No matter how close the Vanguard of the talented qi users got, the enemy showed no sign they were aware of their presence. But Benzhi remained sceptical.

 On the fifth day, the Guardians flanked the enemy from either side, stand on sheer faces and firing, moving and firing again. As the enemy, hampered by the constant barrage, crossed the first peak, they were engaged by the one hundred Gaels in a vicious assault. The Gaels moved well in the snow covered, treacherous terrain, and harried the enemy between boulders and drops. Ulfgrim pushed three right over a ledge and they fell to their deaths. It was not all one way, the Gaels lost men in the savage encounters. The Gaels retreated down the slope and across the crevasse before the bulk of the enemy force could surround them. Snows assisted them in their escape. Between the savage Gaels and the Guardians two hundred of the best fighters of the enemy were slain or lost to the mountain.

 On the sixth day, the enemy was exhausted, freezing and terrorised thus consequently changed formation, most likely, to try to turn the tide of battle. The Abbies moved to the front line. Benzhi's Vanguard was watching from the rear and noticed immediately. With qi sight, Benzhi could see the Duke was still at the rear with his closest subordinates. 

 Benzhi, Gisael and Reyas moved swiftly to engage the rearguard of the enemy. Benzhi had two things on his mind, an opportunity had presented itself and he did not want the Gaels or Guardians to die in numbers in the beaks and pincers of the Abbies and their masters the black cloaks.

Chapter end