Dao 3 Chapter 8 (Patreon)

“It sounds like we shouldn’t plan on Lilith. What other options do we have?” Dar still wanted to go after the Mo himself. At a minimum, he knew there were a number of devils up in the hills he could use to produce more dao fruits.

“Perhaps we could at least go hunt the devils?” Tami pleaded with Karn, clearly on the same wavelength as Dar, although she had different reasons. “If the Mo were truly loose, we’d already be dead.”

Karn grumbled to himself. “Dar, what was the situation when you found the other Mo?”

Given that Karn had already dismissed Neko’s blurting out that Dar had killed it as a misunderstanding, Dar didn’t hold back. “The ettercaps had formed a massive web fortress in the surrounding woods. The Mo itself looked like a colossal spider. When we found it, it had its head along with two legs outside the seal. It looked like it was slowly breaking free. When we threatened it, the Mo devoured the ettercap and spiders in an effort to speed up the process and escape the seal.”

Tami gasped. “Did it escape?”

“We had to beat back the ettercaps and spiders before we were able to reach it and hack away at the Mo. I rode on its head and smashed its eyes repeatedly until the creature collapsed, unmoving.” Dar decided to try a bit of a white lie to see if he could help convince them to go after the other Mo in The White’s territory. “It disappeared after I defeated it. Perhaps I weakened it enough to draw it back into the seal?”

Karn looked deep in thought before nodding along with that assessment. “That could very well be it. Lilith designed those things to never be found. When I checked the woods next to your village, I found the site of the battle and signs of a creature as large as you described, but no seal. I had thought the worst. But you are right. If it had gotten out, we’d both be no more.”

“Then there’s hope. We can push back this other tide of devils.” Tami pressed.

Dar rubbed his chin in thought. “We don’t know if this one has progressed further than the other, but we also have no idea what we are up against. Do you have any more information on what this Mo is, so we can prepare?”

“It is a giant creature of earth and stone. While you might have been able to smash the previous creature using brute force, this one will be much more resilient.”

With that, the group fell quiet. They each had their own motivations for going after the Mo, and their own concerns.

Dar was most curious about which decision Karn would come to. He had no love for the human city, but he did seem to want to keep the Mo within The White’s territory contained. Plus, the bear man just seemed inclined to violence.

“Food is ready.” Amber said from the kitchen.

“Thank you.” Tami stood to get her own.

Dar realized that he needed to have a discussion with his girls, alone. “Is there a room I could use? I would like to discuss this with my dao companions in private.”

“Of course. That room there, on the right.” Tami traded her bowl over to her other hand and pointed at a door.

“You should consider this carefully. It won’t be as easy as the ettercaps, and we are few.” Karn said as he let Amber fill his bowl. “I will take a chance to meditate on this as well.”

“Sure. Just make yourself at home.” Tami rolled her eyes at Karn. “I should be charging you, given the stunt you pulled today.”

“It was necessary. I thought you would be more receptive, given that your brother was killed for nothing but having horns.”

Tami focused on Dar. He knew she still wanted the rest of his story, no doubt. “We’ll see.”

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Dar said before ducking into the room with Neko in tow, followed by the maids shortly after.

Closing the door, he let his dao of quiet envelope the group, blocking any potential outside listener.

“How is everyone?” Dar started taking a seat on the bed.

Neko came to his side with her own food, and the maids sat cross-legged on the ground before him.

“Good. Karn is a vicious animal, but he got things done.” Neko surprised Dar with her description. She often responded more like an animal than most of them. He realized she must have used the term used somewhere else.

“Are we really going to go after another Mo from here?” Marcie asked, looking up through her hair that had fallen into her face. “The last one was… dangerous.”

“Agreed.” Dar said, taking the first bite of his food. The girls had made a creamy soup with noodles and sliced vegetables, along with a slice of warm bread covered in hunks of meat that was stuck on with cheese.

Dar smiled, enjoying the luxury of the cheese. It wasn’t something they were going to have in Hearthway for some time, unless they traded for it. With that thought, he realized he should see if Dane would be able to bring them some goats or milk cows.

“This is great. My compliments to the chef.”

“Thank you, Milord.” Amber somehow managed a sitting curtsy. “I could do a little more with what Tami had here on hand.”

Dar let the silence linger, taking the time to enjoy the delicious food. And he needed the chance to think and collect his thoughts.

While it was dangerous to go after the Mo, any delay could end up costing them. They had no idea how much time remained on the seal, and as far as Dar knew, he was the only one who could actually remove the threat.

While Karn believed it possible that the seal recovered and retrap the Mo, Dar knew better. He’d smashed the previous Mo to pieces with his ax until it lay flat on the forest floor, yet the seal still didn’t recover.

Dar took another bite, coming to the clear answer. The only choice was to go after the Mo and remove the threat. The only question was how. “I need to go.” Dar said. “If I don’t stop it, one day it will be a problem we can’t handle. While I have faith in us, there’s no way we all ascend to the levels needed to fight an unsealed Mo in the time we likely have before it breaks free. It’s not a risk we can afford. So the only remaining question is if you come with me or should head back to Hearthway.”

Neko snorted. “Where Dar goes, Neko goes.”

“We will serve you as well. I’m only afraid we won’t be as much help.” Amber looked down at the floor. “You need more than a cook and a servant. You need fighters.”

“You two have been training well.” Dar tried to encourage them, but he knew their concerns were valid. While they had become immortals with their quiet dao and now had the dao of dark, they were still lesser immortals. At best, they’d be able to handle a single lesser troll each.

In the scheme of the potential battle to come, that was not enough.

Dar racked his brain, trying to figure out how he could help them improve in only a few days.

He came up short, but he realized part of that was that he hadn’t been spending enough time working on his own potential for growth.

Maybe the improvements to the little dao tree opened up new opportunities towards the dao of shadows. Better manipulation of the shadows would go a long way to helping the maids. Trolls aren’t exactly the smartest creatures.

Deciding the best course of action was to delay their trip and strengthen, Dar once again spoke up. “Karn has agreed to stay here in the city for several days. I think we should use this opportunity to expand our strength as rapidly as we can.”

Neko perked up. “Dao companionship?”

“Yes. But I was thinking I might be able to touch on the greater dao of shadows.” His eyes slid to the two maids, who were smiling back at the concept. “Otherwise, how is your dao path, Neko?”

“Sharp, quiet, darkness.” She gave a feral grin. “I will become a hunter.”

They were three lesser dao, but Dar wasn’t sure what greater dao they would form. If she could figure it out, it would be great.

Amber licked her lips, meeting Dar’s eyes. “Shadow you say?”

“Yes. We have quiet and dark. Now, we just need a third.” He pondered. “Shadow has a lot of potential.”

The maids both nodded with delight in their eyes, following his train of thought. “Shadow would be perfect.” Amber spoke for them. “What about your own dao? Were you not heading towards flame?”

“I still am.” Dar had the bright dao from Blair, which would be the perfect compliment to the dao that he already had. “But shadow seems far closer. After the little dao tree absorbed the Mo, I think I might have a propensity towards this dao. I could almost feel it calling to me with the dao of dim.”

He reached his hand out. It almost felt like he could grasp it. “I’m going to work to develop that dao before we leave and see if I can’t help you two along in the process.”

His wink made the two maids blush.

“That would be lovely.” Marcie said under her breath before speaking up. “Let me take your dishes out.”

Once Marcie left the room, Dar raised a brow at Amber in question. She’d left rather quickly at the mention of sharing dao companionship.

“She’s just nervous. The play we have been doing lately helps. She does better when… uh… someone else is in control.” Amber grinned. “Milord.”

Dar rolled his eyes. “I’ll trust that you are treating her well. There is no room in my house for mistreating anyone or forcing them to do something against their will.”

“I used the colors, like you told me. She’s only said red when I asked her to confirm.”

“Red?” Neko asked, her cat-like curiosity blooming in her expression.

“We use colors to communicate during sex.” Amber explained.

That only made Neko’s head tilt in confusion.

“I’ll explain another time, Neko. While we have the night, I suggest we work on progressing our dao.” Dar didn’t exactly want to explain the colors to Neko. The cat girl would probably want a demonstration.

A knock on the door brought Dar out of his thoughts. “Come in.” He had a pretty good idea of who was on the other side.

“Hello.” Tami walked in with Marcie as she returned from cleaning the dishes.

“How can we help you?” Dar squeezed out a smile.

Tami licked her lips and gave him a pleasant smile. “I was hoping I could talk with you about what you’d seen with my brother.”

“Sit.” Dar gestured to the unoccupied seat in the room. Once she was sitting, Dar began recounting. “I first saw your brother when he was coming down the river, standing at the helm of The Prince’s boat.” He debated how to hide the next part, but then decided it didn’t matter. “I then was in the city a few days later checking to see if The Prince had corrected the treatment of demons. When I entered, I found your brother’s body hanging outside the building, his body already starting to rot.”

“That would mean he was killed as soon as he got here.” Tami surmised. “What of The Prince?”

“He was under house arrest. The men he’d come with were active in the city, working for the usurper, though they seemed forced. The Prince, nor the rest of his men, were harmed from what I understand. Only your brother was killed.” Dar said.

She squeezed her eyes closed. “That’s not how they reported it to our family.”

“I don’t know what they told you, but I’ve given you the truth. Speaking of your family, how exactly do they work for the kingdom?” Dar was curious about how the arrangement had begun.

Tami nodded, the antlers on her head coming dangerously close to knocking over a candlestick. “My father has lived and worked in service to the royal family of Kindrake since their founding. Hundreds of years. He was fast friends with King Tolmier when he founded Kindrake.”

“How would he feel about what’s happening here in Bellhaven?”

“I’m not sure you understand just what old demons are like.” Tami gave him a rueful smile. “They are a prickly bunch. They sometimes think the cycle of life is completely fair.”

“Like Karn?”

“Not quite so brutal, though my father and Karn are of the same era. If anything, my father just wants to be left alone to follow his dao path. Kindrake has become a sort of protection while he tries to chase after The White.” She shook her head. “He’ll be so distraught to learn that she’d acquired her second celestial dao while he is still trying to form his first.”

Dar noted that level of strength. That meant her father had three grand dao if he was working to form them into his first celestial.

Now Dar knew why Karn gave Tami a measure of respect. The bear demon respected strength, and her father clearly had it. If Dar had to guess, Karn only had two grand dao.

“And what will your father do about your brother’s death?”

“He won’t leave Kindrake, but he may find ways to punish the royal family. If The White pulls back her support, though… he’ll have tough choices to make. The kingdom is likely to be invaded if news of her withdrawal spreads.”

“By who? You told me of the deep one. But would he really encroach on The White’s territory?”

“The deep one and his demons are less… human than most. They live in the ocean like apex predators, only coming onto land to satisfy certain needs.” The way she wrinkled her nose, Dar had a good idea what needs those were. “But the other two neighboring kingdoms will see an opportunity. And Kindrake has just provoked Tormac as well.”

Ah. There was a piece of information that Dar had been looking for. War with Tormac.

“Why? What do we have to gain from the conflict?” He asked.

“Mining rights. The mountains that make the northern border are incredibly rich with precious metals. Several small skirmishes over a particularly large vein of gold have already occurred in the last few months. It has only calmed down because neither side is going to send an army up into the mountains in the dead of winter.”

“But the spring?”

“War will most certainly break out in the spring over the gold, and then the victor will hold not only the gold, but the other mineral rich mountains. The real question is how decisive the victory will be. If one side crushes the other, they may push past the mountains into the Kingdom proper.”

Dar nodded. Once power was gained, those who won often have trouble showing down. “And this may be worsened if The White pulls out?”

Tami nodded. “She will declare that demons and spirits don’t join the war effort.”

“Ah.” Dar understood now. Barring ancient races from a war that was surely going to happen would handicap Kindrake. “You’ll lose.”

Tami snorted. “We will still have some that are loyal to my father, but it will certainly make the fighting far more precarious than anyone would like. And it will put my father in a tough position with The White.”

Dar was pleased with all the information he’d gotten. Finally, the pieces were starting to make sense, and he could figure out what to do with them. “What are you going to do? Now that you know what actually happened to your brother?”

“Send a message to my father and likely step away from this posting to fight the devils. As much as I’d like to outright kill The Prince for letting my brother die, politics are a bitch. The best I could do is find an excuse to abandon him.”

Dar was disappointed. She was beat down and wouldn’t even do anything about her brother’s death except flee. He had hoped she was stronger than that.

“Seems we have similar goals. I too would like to fight these devils, maybe even kill the Mo.”

She barked a laugh. “You don’t think you really killed the Mo, do you?”

Dar paused, giving her a piece. “What if I told you I was one hundred percent positive that I killed the Mo?”

“Dar did.” Neko interjected. “We all watch it.”

The maids looked away from the conversation, clearly not sure how much to give away.

“Okay, let’s say you did. Which is ridiculous. How would you kill this other Mo?” Tami’s curiosity got the better of her.

“I need to weaken it first, but once it is down, I can deal the finishing blow.” Dar leaned forward, curious to see if he’d just gained an ally in that fight.

Doubt rippled across Tami’s face, but eventually she let it all out with a heavy sigh. “A fool's errand. Mo cannot be killed.”

Suddenly, Dar was far less interested in the woman. She was too limited in her thinking.

“Well, you may choose to believe what you will. But while I have you here, I was wondering if you’d be interested in trading dao?”

“Trading dao?” She asked, confused.

Dar pulled out his booklet of dao characters of all his dao companions. “I would be willing to trade one for one.” Collecting one outside of his dao companions would give him more potential growth.

Tami blushed. “I will not be your dao companion.”

“That wasn’t the offer.” Dar said dryly. He had enough women as it was. “I wanted to simply trade dao characters to broaden my family's strength.”

Tami looked at him strangely.

Dar knew it was unorthodox. Without dao companionship to pull each other closer in their dao paths, such a trade would have little value. Almost no value, if Dar hadn’t figured out how to study the dao characters and start to ingrain them in his body through meditation.

“Um, sure. Let me get my book.”

Tami got up, but before she left, Dar spoke a thought out loud. “Your brother must have had his own book with him. What do you think happened to it?”

She paused and turned woodenly back to him. “That is none of your business.”

Dar wondered if The Prince had it now and what it might be worth to him. There was a chance Dar could trade protection from the devils to get his hands on it.

As soon as Tami left, Dar turned to Amber. “Go run to The Prince’s manor. Ask him if Tami’s brother kept a book of his dao, and if he would be willing to offer it as a reward or trade.”

“Milord, that would be going around her back.” Amber smiled mischievously. “Don’t you want to woo her? She might be willing to separate from her family.”

Dar shrugged. “Not to sound cold, but her value is questionable. She won’t even stand up to her brother’s death. Is that the kind of person you want in the family?”

Amber shrugged. “I guess not. It is your decision, Milord.”

Dar would be lying if he said he hadn’t considered how her antlers would make wonderful handlebars as he crushed into her, but Dar had two eager maids and a catgirl if he needed a release. Plus, Cherry was still in his inner world, brimming with need.

Tami came back, flipping through her book. “Of course, we must make an equal trade. Lesser for lesser, and such.”

“Of course. I’m interested to see if you have any lesser dao that speaks to me.” Dar said with a smile.

Tami looked to where Amber had been. “Where’s the red-haired one?”

“Off on an errand.” He said smoothly.

“Here, I’ll trade you.” Tami held out the book, gripping it tightly as she held out her other hand, palm open.

Dar wasn’t worried about her trying to cheat him or run off with the book. It wasn’t in her character from what he’d seen. She seemed reluctant to do anything except stick with the herd, despite any trouble or dangers. And she certainly acted like a prey animal rather than a predator.

He slapped his book in her open palm, and she released her book to his care. Dar didn’t waste any time, sitting down and flipping through her book, trying not to focus on anyone of her dao characters too long.