Ferenike 25 - Hunting, Prelude to the Journey
Her travels had taken her to a little place called Red Noodle Village. It was a tiny little town tucked away several li northwest of the Hundred Li Soup Pot of the Simmering Soup Sect, ensconced in a small valley where the red grasses that went into their soup and noodle dough grew, sustained by arrays and magic talismans. Not much more than five thousand people lived here, and only five other cultivators lived and acted as guards for the town and arrays, though most of them made livings as maintenance workers and administrators on those arrays. She'd come here in her latest set of contracts and jobs seeking out a bandit who apparently had a habit of taming spiders and setting them on people if his extortion schemes failed, murdering them and earning him the moniker of 'Jade Spider' among those in the martial world.
Red Noodle Village was the latest in his course towards the Spider Gate the Simmering Soup Sect oversaw, and the Foundation Building Spirit Spiders that laired there. She'd pursued him quietly for about a month now, learning his habits to properly model his way of thought. The result of that had her sat in this small tea shop as she drank a sweet red tea. The similarities to her time in the west where she fought that group of Saber Disciples was eerie honestly. But also kind of funny.
The room was a lot smaller than the one from that past incident though, only four tables, all of them crammed nearly within reach of each other. There were three people in here besides her, two other customers having a quiet business deal at the table farthest from her, their heads shielded by hats that were a squarish frame of wood with linen between the spars and their robes were white linen. The proprietor, Jin Chen, was a tall and thin man with bright red hair, slowly organizing his cups and caring for the fire for the tea behind the counter. His son, a big and burly boy, was checking the water barrels by the side of the porch. What could be a quiet and calm day, if there wasn't a tension in the air causing everyone to sit nervously, eyes darting about, and how she knew for a fact that Jin Chen was particularly rich for this village and that his son was hiding their wealth in the barrels.
That tension was further increased when a tall and war hardened man swaggered in. His skin was bronzed, like the Clan's and his eyes were brownish. His cultivation was a half step from Foundation Building in the ninth Heavenstage, blaring loudly all over the room.
Ferenike was hiding her own with some tricks and tools she had picked up, presenting herself as a third Heavenstage. She hunched slightly in her seat as he walked by and she could feel his scowl deepen as he looked at her briefly before moving on. His clothing was traveler's garb, sturdy and well cared for much like hers and his black hair was bound back in a ponytail as he strutted through the room up to the counter and slammed his hand down onto it, causing the proprietor to jump.
"I'd like something strong to drink old man." He sneered, his way of speaking young, matching his youthful face. This bandit was probably younger than her, which was an odd thought. The mortal proprietor was shaking slightly, his hands kept almost completely still through years of experience in self-control, the whites of his eyes incredibly wide. Ferenike had to commend Jin Chen on his self control, not looking at her even though he knew who she was and was in on her plan.
"A-ah, may this one have your name while I serve you?" Jin Chen asked as he bowed and bent to work, fastidiously not looking at the man before him. Ferenike's eyes only looked at him from the corner of her eye. The other two customers were also ignoring the exchange and were pale with fear.
"No." The bandit snapped, slicing his hand through the air. "Bring me a drink!" He repeated his command. Jin Chen hurriedly continued, bustling about with a cup and pot. In the time it took to pull some alcohol out from under the counter, Jade Spider spent a great deal of attention looking around the small shop and gauging the worth of the woven pennants hanging from the walls and the set of sabers on the wall above Jin Chen's head. Their scabbards were decorated with flower petals shaped in golden wire and a beautiful and dark wood formed the main body. Jade Spider's eyes latched onto them.
"What's the story behind those blades, eh?" He asked in a nasty tone.
Jin Chen hesitated, his hands freezing as he set the drink before the bandit. "Those...," He swallowed, "Those were my grandfather's, a cultivator of the Simmering Soup Sect before his death a hundred years ago."
Jade Spider's eyes lit with greed and he took a drink. "Interesting! I want them." He declared, and in the silence that fell he turned in his chair and looked at everyone in the room. "In fact I think all of you will give me some money as well, so I don't kill you." Then his eyes flicked to Ferenike.
"And you woman, you have nothing to say for yourself hmm?" He shot at her, a suspicious look on his face.
She shrunk in on herself, and she hoped he bought the act.
He snorted. "Thought not, I'd crush you like a bug. You'll give me any treasures you have as well as your spirit stones." He snapped his fingers. "Hurry up and put them on the counter." He said as he turned around, his suspicions fading as he discarded her.
Her intents and thoughts calmed, falling away. She acted. Jade Spider had only just begun to dodge as he felt the faintest hint of her aura shift, but it was too late as her hand wrapped around his shoulder and tossed him bodily out of the open door of the shop. He soared through the air with a yell and then landed with a thud and a howl of pain in the sand outside, rolling to a stop.
Something clung to her hands and Ferenike looked down. Thumbnail sized spiders were clinging to her arms and hands, trying to bite through the glass armor that had been summoned around her brassy metal flesh. There was a
whumpf as red fire erupted from her hands and a series of pops and shrieks as the spiders exploded and she stepped out of the tea house and into the street.
Jade Spider was already scuttling to his feet, regaining his stance from the stunning force of his impact and he took up a stance as she approached.
"Gods be damned bitch, who are you?" He growled at her, paling as he felt her aura rise to its full might in the tenth Heavenstage.
"Golden Scorpion. Heard you've killed more than a few people, Little Spider." She needled back, her voice calm and ringing like metal.
He squinted, wracking his brain and he tensed up, his stance becoming even more serious and cautious as he sized her up. "Don't know you, bitch. Doesn't matter either. You'll die too!" He shouted and then something seemed to outright burst from his skin.
A tide of fist sized black-brown spiders exploded from him, the mortals on the streets who hadn't already cleared out screaming and running faster at the sight. The wave of spiders swept towards her and then formed a towering ten foot tall humanoid figure in front of her. Hundreds of black eyes glittered at her and one amorphous arm lashed out towards her with incredible speed.
She bent to the side like a reed and it passed through the space she'd just vacated, unable to correct as she raised her spear, suddenly in her hands. Shifting her feet in a blur of hot sand, she slashed with the long head of her spear and struck the arm before it could impact the building behind her. There was a hissing, popping shriek as the 'fist' separated from the arm, some of the spiders slain, and fell to the sand with a splat. The figure flinched back and then, seeming emboldened struck out again in a huge wave that would swallow everything behind her if she moved.
His clicking, shrieking kiai rang through the air as the wave towered over Ferenike. There was a snapping hiss and then a roar of expanding air as a red-purple burst of fire swallowed him up and filled the street with red light. His screams were consumed by the shrieks of the flame, and then it bored entirely through him and exploded out of his back, lashing at the air.
A shadow leapt nimbly away from the inferno, hissing and clicking thousands of fangs.
Crunch crunch crunch. Out of the flames walked Ferenike. The sounds of her boots crushing the molten sand and glass she had created underscored the crackle of the flames behind her, and she advanced into the space he had vacated so suddenly as they faded away.
The mass of arachnids that Jade Spider had become shifted, his chitin rustling against itself, rising again into a human shape only about a foot taller than her, much of his bulk burned away and glared at her with a bloodshot human eye peering from within the mass of spiders. "You are an incredibly bothersome woman Golden Scorpion." He growled at her in a buzzing, clicking voice as dozens upon dozens of pedipalps flexed and clear drops of poison dripped onto the sands to hiss and spit as they dissolved the sand.
She raised her spear and entered a ready stance of her Golden Scorpion Style, knees bent and left foot forward, ready to scuttle to either side. Her spear waited, tip at shoulder height as she focused intently on him. While she had plateaued for now with this style until she grew stronger, it was still useful.
He jumped forward and seemed to burst again. She was already moving without thought, her body acting on well trained impulse to strike at the dozen clones he attacked her with in sweeping strikes of her spear. Each clone was a mass of spiders in the shape of a man, like he himself was. Each shrieked kiai as they struck at her with dozens of blows.
She was already in amongst them however and with a sweeping kick launched glass spears as long as she was tall into them, her inner soldiers dutifully shepherding her Qi as she attacked again and again and again. Bronze spear and glass spears lashed out, carving a circle out of the group with a dozen stinging blows as she tried to advance. Many of the clones fell and dispersed as they hit the ground. But she found that every one that fell skittered toward her in a wave of arachnids, forcing her to give ground and herding her towards the blows the others were trying to make. There were soon so many of them that they began to build up around her in a growing dome.
She stabbed her spear into the latest clone to fall before her, sticking the weapon into the ground firmly, and used it as a support as she leapt high into the air above the mass before it could fully enclose and swallow her. Rotating in midair she gathered up her qi infused shards in her throat and then
exhaled onto the mass below her.
Insectile ichor and human blood burst out of the spiders as she struck, filling most of the street with a howling vortex of flame and whipping sand. She stopped after a moment and landed on the butt of her spear, balancing there with ease as the sand ceased swirling. Below her the fires ate at the street, transforming a long swatch of it into reddish glass. The spiders that had survived skittered around the pools of fire and molten sand in three streams and gathered up in a lump which slowly resolved into a much worse looking Jade Spider. His clothes were torn and tattered, smoking, massive weeping burns crisscrossing his body and face as he stared up at her and panted from where he lay. But she could feel his aura. Still strong, and this was starting to tax her.
Then he slammed his palms into the ground and sent himself flying through the air towards her with a scream, hand outstretched like a claw. She bent her knee and swept his arm aside with her hand, sending him off course. Instinct screamed to not touch a poison user for long. He soared above her, spitting curses as she dived off her spear and reaching out ripped it out of the ground and then spun in the air to smack his ribs with its haft, sending him careening through the air. He landed, bounced and then righted himself as she landed and he rushed in with a frantic, frenetic style that forced her back.
Red light bloomed from her and swept the street with blinding light. It swallowed everything, wiping out all outlines and details and bringing with it an incredible heat, though her eyes could pierce its blinding illumination, as her own power did not impede her. He shouted and Ferenike struck, her spear lashing out as she covered it with her glass, and sixty four of her qi invested stars led the charge of her soldiers.
As her technique rumbled through her meridians like an avalanche the glimmering spear slammed into Jade Spider and she felt his qi network buckle under the blow. It punched through his gut and out the other side, sending him straight off his feet and smashing into the sand. The light faded away, leaving spots in the eyes of any still watching the battle. Ferenike suffered no such impairment and stared down at Jade Spider. Red flames licked at the massive cleft she had torn in his guts and burned under his skin, eating through it rapidly. He gasped, twitching and clutching at his chest as his body burned until he choked and stopped moving.
In the next moment his skin dissolved into burning silk strands and the corpses of spiders. She was already whirling, reacting to the man falling silently on her from the sky. He'd leapt off of one of the buildings behind her. Unbeknownst to her he had expended his False Blue Spider Molt treasure for a burst of strength during his attack with the clones while her vision was obscured by the mass of his pets and had hidden himself away while she dealt with them.
In his hands his twin Ebony Gem Fang daggers sliced for her collarbones and throat, curved, viciously sharp, and filled with deadly poison that would kill her instantly. He could not correct his course when her arm lashed out with incredible speed, knocking aside his left arm, breaking it and sending him spinning in the air. Her spear thrust in a golden blur and punctured his throat in a spray of arterial blood, jerking him to a stop as he twitched on it like a trapped animal. His knives fell from nerveless fingers, and shattered as the qi he used to fuel them guttered out and they hit the ground. His life ran out of him, draining with his blood onto the sands.
Ferenike paused for a moment, her glass armor stained red with his blood like the sands. Then with a heave of effort she kicked him off the end of her spear and a quick burst of fire burned his blood off her body and set the sand at her feet to melting in a gust of hot air.
She took a breath of the hot air, and relaxed. Her spear disappeared back into storage. She took the time to settle herself, occupying her eyes by scanning for any damage to their surroundings, as the inhabitants of the town started coming out of their homes and businesses. The street for at least ten meters in either direction was a mass of superheated glass and semi-liquid sand, craters, and tall spears of red glass embedded into the sand. The corpses of fist sized spiders littered the devastation as well, and her enemy's corpse was at her feet. The buildings were mostly unharmed, though she could see smoke stains and damaged paint from where her fires had burned nearby and sand had lashed at their sides, respectively.
She took a final breath. For as similar as this might have been to the incident with those kids, she didn't feel regret for this. He'd already caused far too much harm and could not be turned aside from his path. Which left him at the mercy of herself and the Clan's opinions on bandits.
People gathered at the edges and then someone piped up as they thumped into something. "Gods damned lady, that one move was bright as hell! I can barely see shit in front of me!" They said grumpily. There was a panicked sounding argument immediately after.
She smiled slightly and bowed towards the voices. "My apologies, good sir, it should pass in a few minutes. Anyone else hurt?" She asked. She received a cascade of no's and other reassurances. Not long after that she waved the guard captain forward from where he had been stationed near the back of the tea house she had used, keeping the family there safe.
He was a short fellow in the sixth Heavenstage, the most advanced member of the guard here both in age and power. He saluted in the Clan style and then tapped his helmet at her. "Well then, I'd say that's a job well done Lady Ferenike. Would you like to take tea at the minister's home?" He said genially.
"That would be lovely." She said absently, used to the routine by this point. They always wanted to pay her in their fancy sitting rooms.
She'd been traveling east for weeks now, heading towards the Silver Grain Airship Spire, a northern stop-off point and secondary base for the Airship Fleet. Her hunting had turned up a tidy little profit and more than that had led her to some important connections from several thankful ministers which had given her an invitation to speak to the Ship Captain of the
Silver Liesun.
One of the Simmering Soup Sect's fourteen airships, the Liesun was slated to be part of the shipping caravan sent to Yuan and then Qiguai when the Qiguai's mystical doorway opened for Qi Condensation. It'd be traveling with the
Shafufen airship as part of that convoy, both ships carrying a heavy complement of Soup Sect disciples. She had it on good authority from those friends of hers that the head of the sect had decreed there were to be larger guard complements on this trip to Yuan and had opened the doors on limited mercenary contracts under the control of the Ship Captains for the occasion. Which left her with a useful lever in order to get a place on the ship.
The first sign of the Spire were the communities built around it, places built up with magic and clever water collection methods to allow for the growth of vital foods. She flew down the paths between these small communities, noting the people she passed, many tending the gardens and wells of their lands tucked away in the shade of the dunes. The next sign was the hazy image of its top rising over the horizon, the entire structure a sharply glinting metal spike like a giant nail sticking up out of the desert. The Spires were works of the Simmering Soup Sect's disciples and mortals, like their airships, though if she remembered her history right the Spires included architectural knowledge and assistance purchased at a premium from the Clan several hundred years ago. At its top she could see the vague oblong shape of the
Liesun hovering above the flat cargo platform that made up the top of the Spire and gave it its' nail shape.
She urged her camel to go faster, trotting towards the distant construction and kicking up dust and sand from the yellowed road surface. The roads grew wider and the amount of people on them rose as she got closer, goods being transported to and from the structure. It was not too long before it fully resolved into complete solidity, a bronze monolith that towered nearly five kilometers in the air and was more than a hundred meters thick at its base. The nail head far above cast an enormous shade onto the desert below and in its shadow a much denser community had grown up around it, the city ringing the entire structure and encircling it with a huge array-inscribed walls. Even far away she could see the towers and other buildings climbing up the central tower of the Spire, several tens of thousands of people living in the city. The air had changed as well, cooler and more humid as faint wisps of cloud gathered around the walls of the Spire and under its wide head.
Apparently that wasn't a result of any magic, except the natural magic of the weather, as the clouds found it easier to gather near the Spire's immense size. Water sometimes dewed on its surface and then ran down into the city's water catch system. A fascinating little tidbit she didn't quite believe until she saw it glinting in the morning sunlight like that.
Near the gates of the city hundreds and hundreds of people moved down the road in two parallel streams separated by a median of raised stone from which rose light towers to illuminate the roadway at night. She kept moving, most of the crowd parting around her easily as they recognized her Legion robes and cultivation, and soon reached the gates.
It was a massive circular portal, the gates two halves of the circle and emblazoned with the soup pot symbol of the Simmering Soup Sect in shining silver. The enormous bronze wall had pennants with the same symbol flapping along its' top, hung under the flag of the Clan. The chatter and shouts of the people all around her were immense as she made her way towards the open portal.
Each of the two doors was opened, flung outwards to let traffic through. Across the gate a lower wall was strung, only a few tens of meters high with guard stations placed along its length. Passing through the open gate, giving the expansive arch above her head an appreciative look, she moved through the low wall without difficulty as they certified her purpose and legion identity.
The city on the other side started with a wide boulevard which then rapidly broke up into an organic growth of warehouses, bazaars, hawkers and an incredible number of shops. Animals and people moved through this little port given its proximity to the Hundred Li Soup Pot. Sect disciples of many stripes also moved about here, marked out by their robes which bore the markings of the sect and who sometimes carried oversized ladles or soup pots. They eyed her curiously and she saw many covert messages passed around as she entered and walked the city in such an obvious fashion.
Very few of the disciples were at the ninth Heavenstage, and those that she saw were usually a half step from Foundation Building. Here it seemed few went along the unorthodox paths, like her. That made her frown, saddened. Something of a loss in her mind. Those going along the unorthodox paths could discover new knowledge and new enlightened insights to bring back to their clans, which was in large part why she found the nine pillars stage of Foundation Building so intriguing. But it was each person's business how far they went on the path. If the world changed, perhaps they might explore more.
After spending a good half hour wandering around the city and taking in the sights of its towering buildings and fountains and wet air she approached a disciple of the soup sect and politely extracted directions to the Spire Lift from her. Moving clockwise around the Spire base she eventually found it, a yawning gate carved into the bottom of the Spire with three defensive towers on either side and two walls blocking off the entrance. The gate doors themselves were a portcullis and single door of Spirit Iron. Waving her invitation in front of the gate guards got her through the walls guarding the gate.
The gate itself caught her eye, as it had a clever system of pulleys which pulled the massive reinforced door up into a slot in the ceiling. She surmised it could likely be dropped in a handful of seconds if the alarm was called, the incredible mass crushing anything unlucky enough to be caught under it.
Passing through the outer wall of the Spire, it rapidly cooled further, and the sunlight was replaced by the luminescence of arrays and glowing green stones. Ferenike rode down the tunnel in a stream of people who looked like Soup Sect disciples, though they wore strange white uniforms, and cargo haulers, passing from one spot of illumination to another rapidly until the air started to warm again as humidity rose. It spiked when they reached the Lift structure itself. A massive tube in the center of the Spire, she could feel hot air rising rapidly around the edges through vents set in the footpath, and see in the center of the tube a circular floor suspended by large mechanical wheels. The entire Lift structure was an automaton of immense size, which rode rails by means of the iron wheels attached to its edge in four places.
She felt like a chickpea on a god's plate on this massive thing, giddiness making her eyes and feet bounce with energy. She could barely sit still in the saddle, to the grumbling consternation of her mount. She was so close to seeing new horizons with her own eyes!
A moment of discussion with staff of the lift had her dismounting and being shepherded around the platform to a loading dock and into the fenced in passenger compartment at its center. The animals were lead elsewhere on the craft as the cargo was tied and anchored down to the surface. She was taller than many of the other people in the area and she was strong enough to muscle her way to the edge of the fence and watched the staff bustle about industriously.
It took about half an hour for everything to be tied down and fastened properly. After the last crate was bolted down and the last bleating animal secured to their tether a warning alarm started blaring.
"Greetings travelers! I am Soup Master Shi, please prepare for launch and
remember to brace!" A bombastic voice hollered, amplified by magic to echo over the entire platform.
Ferenike set her feet and felt the surge in the air as Qi flowed through it, concentrated below and she felt heat rising from somewhere deep under her feet as well. The rush of hot air intensified with a tea kettle hiss, amplified to gargantuan proportions, and then the Lift lurched into motion with a cacophonous bang as locking brakes released.
There was an immense roar, swallowing up the cries of the other passengers as it soared into the air propelled by arrays in the wheels and a massive geyser-like steam vent. The lights in the tube raced by in a blur of green, smearing together into one line. The acceleration nearly forced some people to their knees as they held on to whatever they could. Quickly however the shriek of steam quieted and the incredible acceleration of the Lift stopped. The mass of metal carried on however, skating up the rails on momentum and the stable velocity of the wheels.
Ferenike laughed, many of the other passengers nearby flinching back from her as she smiled so wide her face hurt. She was too happy to notice, and leaned against the top of the railing to watch. She wasn't sure exactly how long it took for them to see the light above them for the first time, but they rapidly began to slow as they approached, causing her to feel lighter and lighter until they came to a stop in a massive bronze and glass dome at the top of the Spire with a loud
ka-chunk.
Senior Disciple Shi spoke again as the loading area of the Lift lined up with the exit dock. "Alright travelers, you have arrived at the Spire-Top! Please disembark in an orderly fashion!" He said cheerily as people started to totter off of the amazing device.
Ferenike was nearly skipping as she ran through the loading dock towards a number of booths set in the wall of the doom where more gate guards sat. Waving her invitation in front of the guards caused their eyes to widen as they saw the seal embossed on it. They let her through quickly and she stepped out onto the top of the Spire. It was an almost mirror bright expanse of hot metal, the heat radiating up from the soles of her boots and she saw more of the strange uniformed disciples running all over the place carrying tools and materials in a hectic bustle.
What dominated her vision however was the hundred meter long mass of the
Silver Liesun, hanging in the air to one side of the platform and tied in place with thick lines anchored to the metal by massive bronze loops
.
The hull of the ship was shaped from long planks of Qi infused wood, dark black-brown in color. She could see a thick bronze keel along the bottom going from one end to the other. The entire ship was sleek and much longer than it was wide, hanging like a knife in the air.
What caught her attention the most were the three enormous masts sticking up at least thirty meters from the ship. The foremast had a small triangular sail, the tallest main mast had two triangular sails set on either side of it which ran in a direction perpendicular to the front sail. And then the mizzen-mast furthest back had a huge square sail hanging from it.
She could see the arrays carved into the masts and feel the qi concentrating into the sails, ready to propel the ship. For these ships wind was only a helpful suggestion and source of fuel via the Qi the winds carried. The aft of the ship had a bulbous construction rising above the deck and a massive propeller extending out from it. There was a frizz of thunder in the air which tingled over her metallic skin. The bow of the ship had a silver falcon figure head, its feathers seeming to be carved into the shapes of flames. And all around the ship's superstructure she saw more of those disciples in the strange uniforms, made up of long pants which tied off at the ankles and long sleeved tunics with similar ties around the wrists. They were sailors' uniforms she surmised.
She became aware of long-suffering looks being thrown her way as she gaped at the ship and that prompted her to stop staring like a child. It did not stop her from stealing glances at everything that was going on around her and the ship hovering there in the air as she headed for the loudest voice she could hear shouting orders. Decent chance that was the captain.
The sailors cleared out as she started moving, parting around her like the sands around a rock. A moment later the source of the voice she was following revealed itself as a massive man easily half again as wide as her with a shock of gold-white hair, sideburns, and thick muscles cladding his form, standing atop a crate in front of a desk making notes in a book he held in one hand when he wasn't pointing vigorously at people and shouting at the top of his huge lungs.
His cultivation stood in the Early Foundation Building it took him only a moment to notice her, his latest order given and then his gaze snapped to her. "You got business with the Liesun?" He hollered at her across the space separating them boisterous, a crinkle of suspicion on his brow. "I don't have room for anyone but disciples or mercs, nor the time." He grumbled.
She smiled and bowed with clasped hands. "I have here an invitation to speak with one Ship Captain Huan. Would that be you?" She asked as she held it up between two fingers. By how his eyes flashed between her and the invite and one eyebrow rose she could tell he knew how powerful she was and what she was likely here for.
He grunted and crossed his arms as she approached. "Yeah I'm Captain Huan Wei. If you would?" He said, hand making motions towards the invitation. She straightened and flicked it across the three meters separating them and he caught it easily, snatching it out of the air. He examined the seal, running thick fingers over it and then unfolding the piece of paper and reading the short description of her exploits as 'Golden Scorpion' in the Simmering Soup Sect. His brow crinkled further before he folded it back up and tucked it into his uniform, suspicion being overtaken by consideration.
"Well then Golden Scorpion, if you would join my ship till Qiguai I would be your Senior." He said, standing straighter.
Ferenike nodded slightly. "That won't be an issue Captain Huan, this one is perfectly willing to lend her strength for the trip, as laid out in the decrees of the Sect Head." She said.
He snorted, rubbing his chin and thick sideburns. "Right, we shall exchange strikes." He said, sliding into a wide stance, heavy feet settling onto the metal and his hands coming up in large fists.
Ferenike blinked. That was a bit more direct than she was expecting for a test, from a man this intelligent. Maybe he was just impatient. She slid into an opening stance for Golden Scorpion Style, right foot extended and settling into a low stance. One hand was her stinger, another a pincer.
He breathed in and she saw his lead foot begin to shift forward as muscles tensed across his body in a wave. As his lead foot came up in a snapping kick she brushed it aside with her pincer hand and shot inward with a quick pitter-patter of feet and stabbed her stinger hand towards his solar plexus. What followed was a hideously quick exchange of blows, Ferenike and Huan punching and kicking and swatting aside blows with nearly unthinking instinct drilled into them by training. To the spectating sailors they saw both fighters nearly disappear into blurs of yellow and white and the rapid
bang-bang-bang of flesh meeting metal.
"Hah! Enough!" Huan Wei shouted as they separated, slamming to a stop as Ferenike twisted away and landed lightly. Neither had as much as a scratch or bruise on them. "Well I'd say you're hired just for that, your style is very well polished."
"Thank you Senior, this Junior finds your own style formidable." She said lightly. And it was, the sheer speed of a Foundation Expert presenting a rather intractable problem for her. Even if she was tough enough to survive him for a good while he had the two pronged issues common to facing a Foundation Building expert in his greater speed and stamina. She'd likely lose. An idle part of her considered how that fight might progress as she straightened and bowed, glancing up at him from beneath her hat, the flame in her eye glinting.
He snorted. "Well, come. We need to sort out your pay. All you gawkers get
back to work!" He roared as he walked over to his desk and pulled out a scroll, handing it to her. "This is the contract I'm offering."
She pulled it open and hummed at the dense legalese. The first few pages were basically various declarations indicating the authority of the Sect Head and Ship Captain to prosecute violations of the contract in increasingly violent and cruel ways, including such activities as staking out in the desert to be killed by the sun. It then moved on to the actual benefits of becoming what was termed a 'Traveler-Guard', which were reductions in prices for riding the Airship to your preferred destination and right to treasures found by yourself on the voyage to Qiguai. There were the general clauses about payment in spirit stones if one wished to convert the treasure, as well as healing and food and quarters aboard the vessel. All in all the Sect would still be making a profit, but as she was essentially paying for a speedy and safe trip to the wonders of Qiguai she figured most would find it worth it.
She had a general understanding that other contract offers were available for those with less to pay than her and who sought a small profit, but those were for mercenaries who were interested in being long term guards and not Traveler-Guards as she wished to become. After continued reading about halfway through the document there was something that caught her eye, a clause specifying that those 'who can materially provide the defense of the winds and air for the Sect's vessel were entitled for negotiated compensation'.
She raised her eyes from the contract and looked up at Huan. He'd continued shouting his orders as usual while she read, and the snap of paper as she waved the contract in his direction made his gaze snap back to her with a questioning expression on his face. "While Senior's test was quite thorough, I am quite capable when it comes to throwing weapons, particularly spears."
He squinted and huffed. "Can you kill a Poison-Belching Vulture at three hundred meters?" He asked.
That would be a gigantic gangly bird whose wingspan was greater than ten meters which liked to lurk in the lowest hills of the clan's mountain borders, ranging all the way up to ninth Heavenstage. "I could kill ten in the blink of an eye." She said confidently and then snapped an arm out, causing a spike of glass two meters long to slam out into the air at ridiculous speed, sailing far over the edge of the Spire and out of sight.
"Good enough. Now lets negotiate your compensation..." He said, which precipitated a long discussion over tea, which appeared rapidly as she sat in front of his desk, one leg crossed over the other and her hands clasped on her knee.
They spoke for a solid hour on the details, and she ended up negotiating for the much despised (to most cultivators) day watch hours and her spear throwing abilities in return for a greater reduction in her pricing, though he managed to kick the price up a bit when she was forced to indicate her only surface level knowledge of sailing. When all was said and done she'd still be mostly cleaned out, but she wouldn't be eating into any emergency supplies like she might have been.
When they were done Captain Huan had a tired expression on his face, and waved her off. "Go on junior, find Huan Zhi. He'll give you your station and stay there until we launch. We have about three hours." The unspoken 'so you quit bothering me' was heard loudly, much to her amusement.
"Yes Captain Huan." She said as she sprung to her feet and saluted as she'd seen his sailors do. She stepped away and made her way to the gangway strung to the side of the ship with a hop in her step.
She made it up to the deck in just a few excited hops and there found herself getting slapped on the back by a fresh faced looking young man with a power at the ninth stage. "I'm one of Captain Huan's assistants, Huan Zhi, you're to take the front bow. How much experience do you have with sailing?" He asked her.
She snorted. "I know the terms and enough to stay out of trouble Disciple Huan Zhi." She said.
He nodded, face seeming to naturally settle into a frown as his black hair blew under the hat he wore. "Then you have your orders. I must return to my duties." He said brusquely.
Ferenike didn't care what had him so tense, she was already moving towards the figure head. Moving around those running about the deck gracefully she marveled in the slight bobbing motion she could feel in the deck as the ship rose up and down slightly in the air and the way the wind howled quietly around her ears. She would have to explore the ship if she got the chance!
Reaching the figure head in another moment she found steps carved into its back which led up to a watch post behind the falcon's head. She looked out at the immense expanse of desert in front of her and her heart seemed to soar. She was traveling~
All of those horizons she needed to see were just in reach. She laughed, pure glee echoing over the ship.
@occipitallobe and this is the start of book 2! Another fate supplemental etc etc
And we're finally starting the Yuan and Qiguai journey arcs! YAYAHAHAHAH I am super excited.
As an aside on my writing process the first section of this omake was initially going to be a middle scene for the previous omake, but I decided that was terrible and I could do better and open in typical Ferenike fashion, i.e Dead People!
Hope you all enjoyed.
