Chapter One hundred ninety-five (Patreon)

The rain still hadn’t stopped by the time the humans decided to camp for the night. He couldn’t see the moon and stars, but Kaz could feel the sun set, as damp shadows deepened into darkness, and the brilliant flashes of lightning backlit the roiling clouds. Shortly after each flash came the terrible growling of a monstrous beast. Kaz and Kyla growled and barked back until Lianhua explained that the lightning caused the sound.

“But what is the thunder?” Kyla asked for the tenth time as Raff started setting up the tent. The fur on the back of her neck stood up so straight that even its sodden weight couldn’t force it flat.

Lianhua’s face held a long-suffering expression. “No one really knows. Pan Li claims it’s caused by the sudden explosion of ki in the lightning, but Zhen Yazhu thinks it has nothing to do with ki at all, and is a result of the air displaced by the lightning collapsing back in on itself. Qian Min caused quite an uproar among the scholarly-”

“Pellis is bowlin’ with skulls up in the clouds,” Raff said, wiping ineffectually at the water streaming over his brow. “If he wins, we’ll have more storms, but if Pholeus wins, the storm will end soon.”

Kyla blinked as she took in this statement, then asked, “What’s bowling?”

Lianhua snickered, Raff sighed, and Kaz turned to look for Chi Yincang. The man was barely visible in the rain, but he wasn’t using his ki to hide at the moment. He also wasn’t using it to keep the rain away, at least not any more.

Like everyone else, he was utterly drenched, but the only real sign of it was the way his short beard hung down from his jaw ever so slightly. He had bound up his long hair into a tight ball on top of his head, rather than the long tail he usually wore it in. Not a single tendril escaped, and he seemed utterly oblivious to the rain streaming down his face.

Crossing to him, Kaz asked, “Should I help watch tonight?” He had to raise his voice to be heard above the pounding of the raindrops on the earth.

Chi Yincang shook his head. “I will watch.”

Kaz felt his own lips compress the way he’d seen the humans do so many times. There were shadows beneath the male’s eyes. Kaz remembered Lianhua had developed such shadows when she refused to sleep while she was poring over Zhangwo’s records. Chi Yincang’s central dantian was low, as well, and Kaz could see that he was cultivating constantly, but it wasn’t doing much to refill his channels.

“You’re tired,” Kaz said, and Chi Yincang stiffened ever so slightly.

A moment passed, filled with another rolling boom of thunder, and Kaz felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He didn’t care what caused it. He just wanted it to stop.

“Raff can take a watch,” Chi Yincang unbent enough to say. His lip curled ever so slightly as he said Raff’s name. Chi Yincang was not pleased at the trouble Raff had brought to them, even if none of it was his fault.

“But not me?” Kaz asked. He didn’t actually think the humans distrusted him, at least not any more, but Chi Yincang always seemed to be around when Kaz was.

There was no direct reply, but silence could be an answer in itself, and Kaz turned away. In his mind, Li began to mutter about ungrateful humans. Finally, she sniffed, then sneezed. <At least that means we can sleep tonight,> she grumbled.

He looked down at her head, which protruded from the front of his robe. When he’d tried to copy Kyla and take off his clothing, Lianhua insisted he keep the garments on, and Li had long since taken cover beneath the heavy fabric. She had enjoyed the constant flow of water over her scales for the first hour or so, but then she grew tired of wiping it from her eyes and nose, and simply burrowed her way into a hiding spot. She was getting a bit too big for this to be comfortable, however, so she kept shifting, and finally Kaz just pulled the whole front of the robe out into a sort of soggy bag.

Kaz smiled. “Are you excited to sleep in the tent?” Lianhua had insisted that anyone not on watch should stay inside the shelter, and Kaz himself was both pleased and nervous about the idea. It would be a bit like sleeping in a hut, but this world was so filled with things he knew nothing about that he jumped at every sound, and liked to be able to see if whatever had made it was about to eat him.

Li swiped at her nose. <I just want to be dry,> she said plaintively, and Kaz tugged the opening in the robe a little tighter.

“Ready!” Raff called, and Kaz turned to see that Lianhua had already vanished, and Kyla was disappearing through the flaps that served as the tent’s door. The large man held the flap aside a bit, looking at Kaz. “You goin’ in, Blue?”

Kaz took a few steps, then stopped. “What about you?”

Raff glanced sidelong at Chi Yincang, who was a dark blotch without visible details against the backdrop of trees and bushes. “Nah. I can heat somethin’ up on my fire stone. Nice thing about not needin’ a real fire, I don’t have to worry about the rain puttin’ it out. I’ll have to get a mage to recharge the stone when we get to Cliffcross, though. Doesn’t put out as much heat as it should anymore.”

He pulled the stone from his pouch, and Kaz looked at it. It was mostly filled with mana, and Kaz wasn’t much good with mana. There were a few sparks of red ki in it, though, so Kaz asked, “Do you… want me to try?”

Raff started to laugh the offer off, then hesitated, narrowing his eyes at Kaz. “Can you? That’s a good skill to have, if you can. Mages who can enchant items are mighty rare, and expensive. Just takes an apprentice to recharge ‘em, but even they get paid a good bit for it, so you’d be savin’ me some gold.”

“Close the door!” Lianhua called from inside the tent as a particularly strong gust of wind made the raindrops fall almost parallel to the ground. Raff let the flap fall, then offered the stone to Kaz.

Kaz accepted it, turning it over in his hands. Raff used the flat stone to heat food and water, as well as provide light in what must have seemed like the eternal darkness of the mountain. It had the rune for ‘fire’ carved into one side, and that rune seemed to be where both the heat and most of the red ki gathered.

By now, Kaz was well aware that ki was far more efficient than its diffuse sibling, mana. It was harder to create in the first place, at least for humans, but once they refined it, a small amount of ki could replace a large amount of mana. That seemed to be at least part of why Raff was so much weaker than Chi Yincang, Lianhua, and even Gaoda.

Ever so cautiously, Kaz traced his finger over the rune, allowing just a bit of red ki to flow out of him and into it. He was glad he’d been so careful when the thing grew so warm that he almost dropped it, and the raindrops that struck it almost instantly turned to hissing vapor.

Raff’s eyes grew large, and he pointed to a spot beneath a nearby tree, where thick leaves caused the water to sluice off, creating a dripping canopy. It certainly wasn’t dry, but it was better than just standing directly in the downpour.

Kaz almost leaped to the spot, dropping the stone as he gave it one last tiny bit of fire ki. It didn’t seem like it was able to hold much, and he was afraid of breaking it, much as he had once done with a platform in the mosui storage cavern. The ground around the flat stone sizzled, and the grass curled away from it, but the stone didn’t crack.

Raff shook his head. “I take it back. Don’t let anyone know you can do that, eh? Might could be it’d give the wrong sorta fella some bad ideas.”

Kaz nodded, then glanced at the tent. “Will you be in soon?” Lianhua had been trying to question Raff about why the warriors were after him, but the large male just pretended not to be able to hear her over the sound of the storm and the horses.

Reminded of the beasts, Kaz turned to look at them. They looked miserable, tied beneath another nearby tree. Raff insisted they should be close to each other, but they barely fit, and the animals didn’t seem to be enjoying being wet any more than Kaz and the others. Raff hadn’t even removed the straps and pads attached to their backs, claiming that they needed to be ready to go if their pursuers caught up.

Raff saw the direction of his gaze, and said, “They’ll be all right. The rain is warm, an’ they’ll be safe so long as lightning doesn’t strike the tree.”

Kaz’s eyes widened. “Lightning strike?”

“Yeah, it’s when-” Raff stopped and shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll explain it another time. You better get inside before Lianhua comes lookin’ for you. Now that my fire stone is hot again, I can make somethin’ good, especially since we’ll be able to replenish our stores in the city.”

Kaz nodded and headed for the tent. As he lifted the flap, Raff called, “Hey, Blue?” Kaz glanced back.

“Thanks,” Raff said. “To you an’ your little friend. I probably woulda been caught back there if it wasn’t for you.”

“Couldn’t you fight them?” Kaz asked, genuinely curious.

Raff swept his hand through his hair, sending a sheet of water onto the hot stone at his feet. It popped and sizzled angrily. “Coulda. Glad I didn’t have to.”

Kaz nodded, lifting his free hand to stroke Li’s head. “You’re welcome.”

Lianhua and Kyla were still standing near the entrance to the tent, and they both stared at Kaz as he entered, water dripping heavily from his clothes. Lianhua was already wearing a fresh, dry under robe with a single simple belt holding it closed. Kyla was stripped down to her loincloth, and Lianhua was rubbing a thick, rough cloth over her fur. The puppy’s already wild, tufted fur stood up in complete disarray, making her look absolutely adorable, not that Kaz would ever tell her that.

The dragon instantly clambered out of Kaz’s robe, then jumped and glided over to one of the cushions that sat on the oiled cloth that covered the ground. Very little water clung to her smooth scales, and she gave Kaz a superior look as she shook herself slightly, then curled up on the cushion, resting her head on her crossed front paws.

“Take everything off,” Lianhua said, then held up a hand. “Put your loincloth on under the inner robe before you drop it.”

Kaz did as instructed, allowing each water-logged piece of clothing to fall to the ground as he did so. Meanwhile, Lianhua continued to dry Kyla until the puppy looked more like a ball of fluff than a kobold.

They finished their tasks at about the same time, and Lianhua made the wet cloth vanish into her pouch, then took out another one. This one she wrapped around her own hair, which was down and already partially dry, but the ends, which nearly reached her knees, were still dripping onto the floor.

“All right, Kyla,” Lianhua said, and the young kobold gave a relieved sigh. Crossing over to a large pile of cloth, she moved it aside, revealing a sleepy Mei. The fuergar looked just as fluffy as Kyla, though some thicker strands of copper fur stood out among the silver-pink poof.

“Now you,” Lianhua turned to Kaz. He held up his hands.

“I can dry myself,” he told her. “If you have another cloth?”

Looking relieved, Lianhua handed him the length of damp cloth. “Go ahead. And then we need to talk.”

Talk? Kaz could think of a half dozen things he should talk to her about, including the vision he’d had when he touched Qiangde’s core, but she didn’t know about any of them. Yet. Because he was definitely going to tell her, just as soon as they had enough time for her to react in the way he knew she would. Time and energy, because even though his ki and body refinement kept him from tiring as he once had, he was mentally overwhelmed by the events of the last day. Since the moment he met the humans, it seemed like anything more than momentary peace was only a thing of the forgotten past.

Lianhua saw his expression and misinterpreted it. Or maybe kobold expressions didn’t translate into human ones as well as he thought?

“You saw what Li did, right?” she asked, and Kaz understood. Raff hadn’t been particularly forthcoming with information, but Li could explain at least a bit, through Kaz. During the excitement of their quick exit from town, all he had been able to tell Lianhua was that Raff had argued with someone, and now warriors were after him, and presumably the rest of them as well.

Kaz sighed and glanced over at Li, who had her eyes firmly closed as she pretended to sleep. It was up to him to tell Lianhua what was going on, so as he dried off his almost furless skin, he began to talk.