Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 38: Spawn 5

 A shiver of fear ran through the Stoneskin Clan when they heard the news. Their protectors, warriors without peer according to Skandear, were almost defeated by a new foe, the Hellhounds. One was wounded and almost killed. If the land was infested with these beasts how were they supposed to pass through?

 Bharelsia marched with her father and brother, they had been skinning and harvesting the yetis for the last two days, as they passed the dead beasts, and she was looking forward to seeing these hellhounds. She didn't give too much thought to the rumours the strangers were almost killed, if they were any kind of heroes, then this would be an everyday occurrence for them. When harvesting the yeti she had collected meats, which would need to be cooked soon, otherwise they would go off, she had salted them immediately. She wasn't able to carry many furs, they were already overburdened when leaving their home. But she did find something strange, something she would have to show Skandear or Kindeag when they allowed.

 The clan finally arrived at the scene where the strangers had fought the Hellhounds. These beasts were massive and would have enough meat for the entire clan for a day at least. When they left she thought there may be a problem with food, as usual, most folk brought all their tools, heirlooms and precious possessions. They did not bring much food or other essentials. Bharelsia considered most folk idiots. Fortunately, the beasts the strangers killed on a regular basis were enough to feed the entire clan. The only other thing they needed to survive was a fresh source of water daily, which had not been a problem, so far.

 Bharelsia approached Kindeag at the head of the convoy, "Master," she petitioned.

 Kindeag turned and questioned her, "We got issues to sort right now Bharelsia, is it important?" 

 "Aye, it is, you big dope, otherwise I would not be interrupting," Bharelsia admonished.

  "What is it?" Kindeag asked.

 "Well, you need to show these to the stranger Benzhi, I think they are important," Bharelsia handed over a pouch full of small gemstones. "And, we need to stip the meat from those carcasses and cook it up. Or we will starve in a few days. Not many folk brought enough food for the journey." 

 "Where did you get these," Kindeag asked when examining the contents of the pouch.

 "From the corpses of the yetis when I skinned and stripped meat from their bones," Bharelsia informed him.

 "Oh," Kindeag replied, thoughtful. He shook his head and continued, "we will probably need to stop now. I will order camp to be set, do what you need to do and I will send people to you to help. You tell them what to do, I am putting you in charge of food"

 "Oh damn," Bharelsia replied as she set off to start skinning and stripping the Hellhounds, "that'll learn me for opening my big fat mouth."

 Gisael had met with the Stoneskin Clan leadership and brought the entire Clan to camp where Reyas lay in Benzhi's lap. Reyas was resting, sleeping while her body recuperated, Benzhi's qi healing continued to improve however it was not able to heal everything to perfection. The body still had work to do itself, it most circumstances the qi bubbles merely encouraged self-healing, the region was still tender and new. The stitching merely brought skin, bone, ruptured organs and blood vessel back together, the body still had to heal the now sutured organ, with increased speed thanks to the minuscule bubbles of qi feeding regrowth. The reason qi healing technique used so much qi was there was still tremendous waste in Benzhi's technique. He was still relatively a novice, smashing around throwing qi everywhere.

 Reyas' chest rose and fell, it was a wonderful sight to behold, thought Benzhi. He almost lost her. His mind wandered, if this was a simulation, a game, how could she be an NPC. She was so real. She and all the others had to be the most advanced AI in existence. Benzhi could not reconcile these people with computer generated or scripted characters. It was impossible. Where did the emotion come from? You can't program that shit. Fuck, you can't program most of the shit he was seeing. Benzhi found this line of contemplation depressing, best focus on what he needed to do and not what may or may not be.

  "What now?" Skandear questioned Benzhi, politely, for a dwarf.

 "We should be safe here, now those twelve are dead. Set a perimeter. If any more are seen we know they will attack if we get within two hundred paces. As soon as any are sighted we will need to keep them at three hundred paces or organise a preemptive strike. Gisael, myself and twelve warriors will be enough, as long as we don't run out of arrows. Are you able to assist with that?" Commands rolled off Benzhi's tongue. He had been in the military, however, not in command like this. He had been learning and adapting over the last several months.

 Skandear nodded during the recital. "Aye, we will do what you ask. As for arrows, we have been known to use crossbows and bolts. Never have used a bow, so no need for arrows amongst our folk."

 Benzhi nodded, it was as he would have guessed. Even if the dwarves possessed arrows, they probably wouldn't work with qi arrow, the Fae arrows were made entirely of wood and like the wooden swords allowed qi flow. Reyas stirred in his lap, her eyes fluttered open.

 "What happened?" she asked groggily.

 "You drank too much after disobeying a direct order and I knocked you out," Benzhi replied whimsically.

 "Bullshit..." she said, "you couldn't...hold," she was regaining her senses. "I didn't die?" She asked tentatively.

 "No, I didn't hit you that hard," Benzhi laughed at his own joke. No one else did.

 Reyas went to get up, wincing in pain she subsided in his lap again. "That was a mistake," she said. "Thank you Benzhi," she said and closed her eyes again, "I'm going to rest some more....but give me some water, I am thirsty."

 Benzhi may be able to heal but that didn't make him a doctor, he had no idea she would be needing water it suddenly occurred to him. 

 They needed help. Benzhi reached into his backpack and retrieved the Core. Closing his eyes, submerging himself into the Core, he reached out through it.

  'Seer,' Benzhi called.

  'Ah, Benzhi, do you think I just sit around waiting for you to call?' The Seer replied.

 Benzhi laughed, 'Yes, what else do you do? I have never seen or heard of you leaving your cave."

 'Pfft, ye contacted me for a reason,' the Seer stated.

 'Can you sense where we are?' Benzhi asked.

 'I have an idea, a feeling, I could not draw ye a map," the Seer answered.

 'That will have to do. I would like you to fly in hawk form and scout the area between the Alpine Forest and here. I will contact you tomorrow morning to talk about what you had seen. Is this something you can do?' Benzhi asked.

 'Aye, it is. But I will ask ye one thing, ye need to come and see me when ye are back.' The Seer requested.

 'Always,' Benzhi replied, 'Talk tomorrow. Good luck.'

 Benzhi then contacted Mother, informed her of their situation and asked her to have the Guardians and subsequently Gaels prepare. Prepare, but not leave the Alpine Forest.

 The dwarves went about their business setting camp. Reyas rested for the day and after Benzhi attempted more qi healing was up and about walking by evening. Gisael and Benzhi scouted the nearby area. There were no signs of more Hellhounds in the immediate vicinity, it was fortunate as Gisael only had eleven arrows remaining.

 The next morning Benzhi contacted the Seer through the Core.

 'Good morning Seer, have you returned?' Benzhi called.

 'Aye, after flying all day and night, I am not as young as I used to be. Ye owe me, boy,' The Seer replied.

 'What did you find?' How many monsters, what types of monsters, how far are they spread out?' Benzhi rapid shot questions at the Seer.

 'Ho Ho, slow down. Arck. There be many monsters, as ye call em. Even I not know em all. Everywhere across the plains all the way to the Alpine Forest there be monsters.'

 'Shit,' Benzhi thought.

 'I seen many lizard and Insect types, two leg and four leg. There be packs of small kobolds and I be seein a large monster all by itself. It had a thick hide and horns. Heck, Benzhi, If I be telling ya all the monsters we will be here all day. I need some sleep. Arck. The monsters, they be fairly spread out across the plain. Ye may be able to travel without havin to fight em. That is my advice to ye. Skirt them and fight only if ye have too.' the Seer finished.

 Benzhi nodded mentally. 'Thank you, Seer. I do owe you and I will not forget.'

  Benzhi put the Core away. At least they had a plan. Reyas could walk, although he wouldn't want her to fight, she would anyway. At least they could move. He went to speak with the dwarf leaders.

 "I have a plan," Benzhi announced to Skandear, Kindeag and Barrin.

 "Aye, I hope it be a gooddun," replied Kindeag, "we don't want to be risking the common folk, that's why we followed you. To keep them safe."

 Benzhi nodded, "the Seer scouted the portal monsters in spirit form yesterday. From our destination to here. I just communicated with him and he said we would be able to avoid most of them as they are spread out. The plan is to head directly to the Alpine Forest, diverting east or west as needed. If we maintain three hundred paces distance from a cluster or pack, we should not alert them. The lead group will set the boundary and the rest will follow. The lead group will be all the warriors. We will need trusted people, with a good head on their shoulders to act as boundary guards. They will need to ensure the column does not get closer to the monsters than the lead group."

 The three Masters nodded during the speech.

 "That be a good enough plan," Skandear replied, "we are not afraid to do our share of fighting as long as the common folk are protected."

"We 'av something to show ye," Kindeag told Benzhi and proceeded to hand him the pouch.

 Benzhi opened the pouch it contained forty gemstones of various sizes, twelve larger and thirty odd smaller. The larger ones were the size of his thumb and the smaller half that. They felt odd. Benzhi gazed upon them with qi sight. 'Shit,' he thought.

 "These are qi cores," he announced, "where are they from?"

 "The dead monsters," replied Kindeag, "one of our smarter lasses found them when she was harvesting the corpses for meat and hides."

 Benzhi retrieved the Core from his backpack and placed it on the ground. He then took one of the larger monster cores and attempted to merge it with the land Core. The Land Core accepted it and consumed it.

 "Ho, Ho!" Barrin exclaimed, "That not be something I ever seen before."

 Benzhi nodded to them. "These will come in handy. The lass has done well, very well. Who is she?" The Seer had told Benzhi that setting up the domain will consume the Land Cores and they will need to be replenished. Until now, the only way he knew how to replenish them was by stealing and merging another Land Core.

 "Her name be Bharelsia," Kindeag supplied. 

Chapter end