Chapter 7 #2
Alex frowned thoughtfully. “All right, even with my pretreatment and cleaning and using the element of Water to carefully shove everything back into place, an adult clearly needs more than just a couple drops of tincture. Noted. Open your mouth, please.”
Timon blinked in momentary confusion.
“Timon, he’s clearly a healer! Open your mouth!” Rachel urged.
Timon did so, whereupon Alex sprinkled three additional drops of his crimson tincture, and the poor caravanner collapsed and began to shudder and groan.
Alex frowned. Because with only a single meridian gate open, Alex knew that the added drops had been a risk. Yet after a few seconds, a shaky, exhausted-looking Timon opened his eyes, took a deep, shuddering breath, and laughed for joy. “It’s gone. The pain is gone!”
“That’s good to hear,” Alex allowed with a gentle smile, carefully putting away the precious potion he was wise enough to use very sparingly, clearly intended for far stronger cultivators of Bronze or Silver, even if only a couple people in every thousand of the general population normally enjoyed such power.
His hopeful gaze then turned into tightly pursed lips, concealing his dismay. Because of the critically injured he hadn’t gotten to yet, there was only a pair of corpses, glassy-eyed men who had suffered grievous wounds before completely bleeding out upon the desert sands.
The young Ruidian woman smiled up at Alex, her hand gently reaching out to squeeze his own. “Thank you. My name’s Rachel, by the way.”
Alex smiled. “Alex. Happy to help.”
Amber eyes peered intently into his own. She inhaled as if to ask a question, before abruptly lowering her gaze.
“We were fighting for our lives, and I don’t remember a single thing.
I think that means…” She trembled, squeezing her arms. “My father once told me that the most elite delving groups can form such a communion that they can use the potency of their kills to heal almost any wound. Even those of their teammates who have fallen, if they act in time. But I’m all alone, out here.
So damn foolish of me. And here you are, a Ruidian boy who doesn’t look like anyone I’ve ever met before.
Certainly not from my clan, which is hardly a clan at all now, and not from the neighboring tribes that all look down on us, even if I can use my jewel as well as anyone just starting out. ”
She sighed, and Alex totally wasn’t expecting her to lean against him, her hand now entwining with his own, or the curious scents of cinnamon, cardamon, and hope that tingled against his nostrils.
“I owe you a life debt, don’t I?”
Alex solemnly shook his head. “You owe me nothing at all,” he assured while Sunlay tended to a wounded guardsman, revealing talents Alex certainly hadn’t expected but perhaps should have, in a water-aligned noblewoman.
“I was traveling with friends, and we caught sight of raiders far too focused on what they thought was easy prey to spot us at their back. Between your stalwart defenders and our own men,” he said with a nod to his companions, including Anjen and Quing Da, who solemnly nodded back, looking oddly relieved for some reason. “We made short work of those bandits.”
Timon snorted at this. “You make it sound like it was as easy as filling your plate with bread. There were Bronze-tier monsters amongst that crew!” The man paled, wincing at the memory of death narrowly avoided.
“It didn’t matter how well positioned we were or how bravely we fought, those monsters just tore right through us. ”
Alex chuckled. “Have you not felt my friend’s presence, yet?” he said, nodding toward Quing Da, whose expression turned rueful when Timon’s eyes widened with awe.
“I can feel it, even from here! And his size… by Zheng Yi’s beard, is that man actually a Silver?”
Alex winked. “Do you really think these ragamuffins stood a chance?”
The Rank 1 Basic, still enough of a cultivator to at least sense and understand a Silver’s potency, rapidly shook his head. “Not with a man of his caliber coming to our rescue.” He took a shuddering breath, gazing intently at a still-smiling Alex. “Or you.”
Alex blinked. “Me?”
“He’s right.” Rachel gazed up at him, eyes twinkling merrily. “You radiate potency I can all but taste in the air, for all that I see no jewel upon your forehead at all,” she said, lips curving in wonder as delicate fingers brushed his naked brow, earning an unexpected shiver.
He stepped back abruptly. “Forgive me, I believe my friends will want us to get going before nightfall. All things considered…”
“Of course!” Timon quickly agreed, looking at the vast empty desert all around them with a worried light in his eyes. “It’s a miracle that so few of us fell. We’d be fools not to take full advantage of this blessing and seek the shelter of Wanshi’s pristine walls before the hour grows any later.”
Alex smiled and dipped his head, pretending he didn’t see the odd questioning look in both their gazes as he quickly made his way to Quing Da.
“Good to see you,” he softly said, nodding in approval at the corpses by the powerfully built Silver’s feet.
Instead of returning his smile, Quing Da solemnly bowed his head. Anjen’s cheeks actually heated up as he looked away.
“Guys?”
Quing Da sighed, a powerful hand gently clapping Alex’s shoulder. Yet his words were kind enough. “It’s good to have a light in the darkness traveling by our side. One who can remind us of the righteous path when it is all too easy to go astray,” he softly said, earning a bemused snort from Alex.
“Okay, I’m not even going to pretend to know what that means, but I say we do what we can to get the caravan organized and safely trading its wares within Wanshi’s walls before the hour gets any later.”
Quing Da nodded his agreement, catching his wife’s eye. Nili immediately shifted gears from reassuring a despondent-looking man dressed in rich silk and dyed leather, who was obviously the owner of the caravan, to cajoling him into immediate action.
Much to Alex’s relief, it appeared that of all those injured in the original seconds of the blitzkrieg assault, only three had expired to their wounds. Everyone else was either healed, on their way to recovering, or suffering only superficial injuries already cleaned and treated with liniments.
In truth, Alex was surprised that his companions didn’t break away to make use of their carpet once the camels were soothed, the stirrups and saddles straightened, and the wagons were once more making their plodding way to the city.
Yet he was content as anyone to enjoy a peaceful hour’s meditative walking, electing not to sit on any of the raised seats or wagon beds, despite being offered his choice of seats.
He had always found it far easier to meditate or distract himself with motion than stillness, and there was something to be said for a meditative walk under the waning light with the cool desert breeze now brushing against his skin.
“Thank you, Alex.”
He blinked, not expecting Sunlay to be matching him stride for stride, let alone peering at him so intently, the rest of their band a respectful distance back.
“For what?”
“For reminding me of what truly matters.” She lowered her gaze, cheeks flushing underneath her dusky complexion.
“I was so busy thinking of the big picture, and yes… if I’m going to be honest, still feeling the sting of helplessness, powerlessness, and that damned collar that was around my neck, less than a day ago.
And I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that it was fear as much as prudence that held me back, making it so easy to tell myself that we had other things to worry about.
And we were all getting ready to turn our focus right back to the city when you actually jumped right off the carpet, hundreds of feet in the air. ”
She shook her head with wonder. “For a half-second, I feared the worst, before remembering the odd talent that let you swoop so nobly to our rescue, just a short time ago. And what an awesome sight it was to see that charming eccentric Ruidian boy transform into a living weapon, tearing through the vile pawns of our enemies as effortlessly as a shadow puma could tear through all our throats.” She shivered, eyes growing wide at her own words.
“At first, I felt shamed. There you were, throwing your life away like a foolish idealist embracing dreams of heroism. Then it quickly became apparent that you’re the furthest thing from a fool, and a foe to be feared by anyone below Gold. ”
Alex shook his head. “Let’s not tempt fate. I’m a Rank 1 Silver with a decent foundation. A powerful enough Silver could easily crush me, let alone a Gold-tier monster.”
Sunlay chuckled softly, biting her lip as she took Alex’s measure.
“But that’s just it. You somehow managed to ascend to Silver.
In what, the space of a week? How? A fortuitous encounter?
Walking in the footsteps of past legends?
In what world could anyone, even a wealthy scion with unlimited resources at his disposal, accomplish such a feat before his forties, even if he would look a perpetual twenty for centuries? ”
“An excellent point, my lady,” Nili agreed with a grin, stepping free of the growing gloom as if she had been walking beside them all along. “And we all saw what he did to the wujen commander before that fool could cast a single spell.”
“And that monstrous Silver giant who had managed to align himself to an element, in addition to infusing his body directly!” Sunlay declared, now peering intently at Alex’s fangtian ji.
“And what enchantments allow your wondrous weapon to cleave through a Silver Giant’s stone wards and unbreakable body so effortlessly? ”
Alex winked. “Let’s just say Fu Tan isn’t the only one with strong elemental affinities.”
“Of course,” Sunlay quickly agreed. “But to actually cut through his defenses like it was nothing?”
“Just requires the right infusion of wind, water, and steel, among other things.”