Dodging Echoes (Part Six)
Maria Turn 10 Seventh Omake
"So who else?"
"From here? Us, some Flood Dragons, a few Divine Sabers-"
"Euugh."
"I know, I know, but it is what it is. Anyway, a couple of Strength Purity, Ganbei's squad from the Drunkards, and some itinerants."
"…That's it?! I thought all the sects were putting people forward!"
"The promise of the Righteous, Pris. Buys you a cup of bad wine as long as you've got two obols."
"Still. What's the excuse?"
"The usual. Big push coming, they must conserve their numbers, blah blah blah."
"This. This is why Strength Purity has no vassals. If we had to deal with this shit every day, we'd snuff them out too."
"Stow it," growled Draconis. Priscian and Cecilia shared a knowing glance and shut up. Nikolas, being Nikolas, didn't seem to understand.
"But. Sarge. Come on. It's ridiculous."
"You want to know what's ridiculous, legionnaire? Getting an order from a superior officer to shut your mouth and then
keeping talking."
Maria snorted with amusement. 'Conis had to make captain soon. He was just too good at talking down to people to stay where he was. She couldn't have pulled that off as well. Not when she agreed with it. Might honestly be the most insightful thing she'd ever heard out of Cecilia's mouth. Not that it was true of all of them; there were enough examples of decent, reliable cultivators to undercut that generalization pretty cleanly. But Gutless Heaven, the way they ran their sects…
They'd moved out an hour ago, ten miles behind the Drunkards so as to break up their numbers. Keep them from losing everyone at once if they got hit. The Flood Dragons would follow on after them, then the rest. Not the swiftest strategy in the world, but anything that got to the Caravan would be an improvement. The stealth arrays emblazoned on their shields and armour should keep them away from the prying eyes of the Noble Knowledge Sect.
Hopefully.
Still. Best they be quick. And Draconis was probably right to keep them quiet. She dropped her own head a little and sped up.
The no-man's land between the Line and the meat grinder that was the front had only gotten bleaker since the last time she'd seen it, which wasn't surprising. That seemed to be the constant, out here. Gradually, entropy wore down the wreckage of towns, villages, cities, and the open wounds of battlefields until everything was grey and blunted, all texture smoothed out by the wind and colour bleached away by the sun. Even now, in the cold pre-dawn light, it felt dull and colourless. This was what war was like, for the foot soldiers of the great powers. Baring witness to the havoc your seniors wrought, and praying to any God that might listen they wouldn't wreak it on you. The thought drained the humour from her.
They went on in silence for another two hours, flitting from wreckage to wreckage, until at last the rendezvous slithered out of the darkness. Not a very special place; the corpse of some small-town granary, ceiling collapsed long ago. Then again, that's probably why it'd been picked. She brought a hand up for stillness, and the squad froze.
Thin edge of adrenaline ran through her. She let it pass. No need to lose her temper just yet. Instead, she lay down her shield, stepped away from it, and carefully, gently, flared her qi.
Counted the seconds, trying not to hold her breath.
One. Two. Three…
Felt the counterflare. Once, twice, pause, then a third.
She responded – two more flares.
One last response.
Breathed out.
"Clear," she murmered, gathering her shield back up again and feeling the stealth array wrap around her like a shroud. "Let's go."
And then they ghosted inside one after another. The inside wasn't much better than the outside – nothing more than a circular wall and the splintered beams of the roof – but she had to admit, any cover was better than the grim exposure outside. Besides, she could see stealth arrays smeared roughly over every free surface. Crude as hell. Even she could tell that. But they'd work.
Ganbei was perched opposite the entrance, legs crossed, her unit sprawled around her barring two working a portable still.
"Paleface."
Maria smiles a little.
"Pisshead. Got here okay?"
"Mmm. No contact. You?"
"Nothing."
"Good. Caravan's due in four hours, everyone else is coming in after you. Settle in. My darlings can teach you humble desert charmers how to drink."
They didn't, but only because Maria wouldn't let them. Instead, her squad had started setting up rough defences. Nikolas was rescribing the stealth arrays – apparently too horrified by their inefficiency to let them pass – and Cecilia was trying to teach one of the Drunkards how to play Ludus. It was going about as well as could be expected.
She'd traded a few more affectionate barbs with Ganbei, then settled herself on the far side of the granary, pulling out 'On the Nature of the Flame.' Tempted as she was to try the contemplation of a single point again, she couldn't risk it. All it would take was one lucky divination and they were done. The manual was the next best thing.
Time passed. The others filtered in, one by one. Flood Dragons. Divine Sabers (Liming shooting her the faintest nod – Maria freezing, before nodding back. The closest either one could manage to courtesy.) Then –
Are you fucking kidding me?
Shanshu's sharp, lined face amongst the robed and shrouded itinerants like a spark among tinder. Her eyes flickered about the room before settling on Maria. She froze. Then her lips curled downwards, and she looked away.
The manual in Maria's hands was suddenly a foul, cloying weight. She had to force herself not to drop it. No. No, she
would not be ashamed of this. If the old bitch didn't want to teach her, that was one thing, but she couldn't stop Maria
learning. She'd paid for this, not stolen it. Something like defiance drove her head back down, and set her eye ripping along the pages.
Her teeth were clenched, she realised suddenly. Clenched so hard she could feel the muscles in her jaw spasming. Gods. Of all the fucking missions, why did she-
Stop that.
She blinked again.
Oh, you're talking to me now, are you?
She has done nothing wrong. Or do we measure all actions by whether or not you like them, now?
Silent. Completely silent. For months. And that's the first thing you say to me.
Stop whining.
Where the fuck have you been!?
There was an uncomfortable pause.
Protecting you.
In total fucking silence?!
It's – complicated.
Well, that's nice to hear. Complicated. Lovely. Thank you.
Stop whining I said. I'm back, aren't I?
And that's all the explanation I get? You were protecting me, its complicated, stop whining? Gods, you're a fucking asshole.
You don't understand.
No! No, I clearly don't.
Maria-
And her! Her you defend?! The cow who-
Was right that you turned away from something and now there were consequences to that?
Another uncomfortable silence.
Shut up.
No.
Bastard.
Probably.
The old joke just pissed her off more. She sat on the anger. Tried to focus on the book. Lasted all of five seconds.
What do you mean protecting me?
Something was going to hurt you. I had to make it stop.
What?
It didn't answer. She gritted her teeth around a frustrated snarl.
Red, I swear to every God there is, I will fucking hurt you somehow. What was going to hurt me?
Still nothing. But it was a different type of silence, now. The silence of an unspoken secret, not separation.
…Fine. Fuck you.
She went back to the book, fighting back a growl as she went.
---
Priscian felt them before anyone else. His face stilled. Tilted up slowly.
"Incoming," he murmured.
The other sensors in the room had done similar, faces turning towards the door.
Right on time.
And then the caravan came through.
She'd figured it was going to be bad earlier. If the escort had been thinned out, then gods alone knew how badly they'd hit the mortals. But this… this beggared belief. There had been seven hundred refugees expected.
Only sixty were still alive.
Four cultivators led them inside, wrapped in rags and loose cloaks. She couldn't make out their allegiance. Then again, did it matter now?
One of them, tall, dark-haired, exhausted on a level so profound it radiated off him, yet somehow still smiling, stepped forward.
"Hi," he said. "Guessing you're the cavalry?"
"Fuck," muttered Draconis. Maria nodded.
Ganbei rose. Diplomacy in situations like this tended to fall to the Drunkards. They had the least enemies.
"That'd be us, alright," she said. "Mixed bag. Hope you don't mind. I'm Ganbei."
"Grinning Jin, currently," replied the escort. "Or Book of Names. Might know that better."
The Flood Dragons sat up at that, muttering to each other.
"…
The Book of Names?" asked one of them. The man nodded, still smiling.
"Yeah."
"…Huh."
"You're a Flood Dragon, then," said Ganbei.
"Yeah."
Her brow furrowed a little. There was the briefest flicker of qi flares as they signed and countersigned.
"…Shit."
"Yeah."
"What happened?"
"Altar," said Names. "Commander Divine Strike did his best, but… well. Eight of them, one of him, do the math."
Eight. Fuck.
There was the quietest squeak from behind Names, and he turned.
" 'S okay," he murmured, voice gentle. " 'S okay. They're friends."
Something small and pale lunged into his arms, and he cradled it as he rose again. It was the girl. Smaller somehow than Maria had expected, and she hadn't been over-estimating. Wu Diao Shi was tiny. Malnutrition, maybe, she thought. Or just… blood, maybe. Bloodlines could be complicated. Either way, her little face was glancing around fearfully at the assemblage.
It made sense. After all this, there probably wasn't much more frightening for her than a cultivator.
"Names," she whispered.
"It's okay," said the Flood Dragon again. "I know. But they're here to help. They're going to get us somewhere safe."
"Yes!" Said Ganbei. She had her best "mad-but-friendly auntie" voice on. Gods alone knew how it must have come off, because Shi recoiled like a viper had been waved in her face. "Friendly. That's us. Good, friendly, responsible-"
"I don't like her," muttered the child.
"…Eh. You should. I'm very charming after a glass or two of Baijiu. Would you- no. Child." Ganbei was visibly flailing for words. "Perhaps a light rice wine?"
Gods. Alright. Maria wasn't good with grown ups, but she knew kids, and this was clearly only going to get worse.
"Hey," she said. The broken-glass burr had grown up in her throat. Shi squeaked again. Maria stood, slowly, letting the girl see her empty hands as she came. When finally she drew level, she bent at the waist a little, putting her face to face with Shi.
"I'm Maria," she said, simply. "You okay?"
Shi considered that for a long moment, eyes drifting warily across her face. She'd have to be careful, here. The kid had seen things that no-one should. Maria couldn't patronise her, but neither could she come on too strong, either, or she'd turtle and that would be that.
"…No," said Shi eventually.
"Makes sense," said Maria. "We're friends of Names."
"Jin," said Shi.
"Yeah?"
"He killed him and took his name, and put it in his book. So he's Jin. Grinning Jin."
Maria nodded slowly.
"He has a lot of names?"
"I think so."
"Okay. I've only got one."
"Yes. You said." Shi kept staring. Something calculating had entered her gaze.
"Have you killed people?"
"Yes." No flinching, no screwing around. Be direct.
"Are you good at it?"
"Killing people? Yeah. Very."
"She actually is, it's really quite upsetting," chirped Ganbei. Maria kicked her without turning away.
"Won't kill you, though," she said. "Jin would stop me, for one. I'll just kill anyone he tells me to. And my friends-" pointing back towards the squad, all watching, "will do the same. They have to do what I say because I'm in charge."
Another long pause. Shi was looking at the squad. Then she turned back to Names.
"Do you believe her?"
"Think I do," said Names, grinning wryly.
Shi nodded.
"Alright then. Thank you," she said to Maria.
"You're welcome."
She straightened, and looked at Names.
"You want to talk tactics?"
He gave her a long, searching look. Then that ever-present grin broadened a hint.
"Yeah. Sure."
---
Really do not like this arc now. At all.
@Kaboomatic @Alectai @ReaderOfFate , may I please have a threadmark for this piece of shit?
Unfortunately that's totally not doable; HBK and Scorpions are rebellious or suppressed, whereas Spirit Oasis doesn't have any such modifiers on the map, and is a big money-maker due to the healing springs in it, so the Jingshen wouldn't ever let it break away.
