📚 the soul refiner b. 01 Part 43 of 20
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SCIENCE FICTION FANTASY

The Soul Refiner Bk 01 Ch 43 45

The Soul Refiner Bk 01 Ch 43 45

by maltry
20 min read
4.84 (3800 views)
adultfiction

Chapter 43

Our rest was interrupted by some kind of disturbance in the camp. Nothing serious enough for men to be calling the alarm, but there were plenty of raised voices. I groaned and got up quickly, with Myta doing the same beside me.

"Report." She ordered, approaching the ruckus. Though at least everyone was being relatively quiet about their distress. Voices were being raised in tone, rather than volume.

"Mytan," unsurprisingly it was Hati who spoke. "The goods we looted from the Pure have been raided, and all the scouts are missing."

"What is missing?" My vas asked, not missing a beat.

"Some spirits and opium resin. Not even that much of either." Hati didn't add anything else, but I could tell that she wanted to. It was pretty obvious, however. Someone had made off with a small helping of intoxicants, looking to have a relaxing time away from camp. It likely wasn't sabotage, but the fact that the scouts were missing wasn't a good sign. Also, two adult men disappearing with one young girl? When Myta had already described problems between them? It painted a potentially dangerous picture.

"Are there any signs of where they might have gone?" Myta asked, to a general shaking of heads. The scouts were all our main trackers, excluding Ket, and the spirit was watching the movements of the Pure.

"Let me try something." I said. Denu had one of the strongest bonds to us out of the entire group. Only Jito had exceeded it. My previous attempt to track my vasra had ended in a splitting headache, but perhaps I might find more luck when under real pressure.

Myta nodded, but I was already turning inward, focusing on my spiritual gaze. I found the bond easily enough, now that I knew what to look for. A tiny thread of anima, wrapped around Myta's bond to me, hazy from its passage through the Radiant Sea. Once again, I tried to shift my gaze to the sea, and once again attempting to trace its passage brought on a splitting headache.

The girl seemed to be miles from me, but somehow she also seemed to be standing right next to Myta, and the faint impressions of mana around her were more confusing than helpful. The sudden piercing pain in my head caused me to stagger.

"Master!" My vas caught me, preventing me from falling. The burst of pain didn't linger for long this time, at least, and I sent her a wave of reassurance. Then, I was struck by my own idiocy. I had been aware of Myta's location and state for so long that the sense of it didn't even register as unusual to me anymore. I didn't need to trace the bond, I needed to use it. To connect with it as I did with my vas.

I fumbled at it for a bit. My connection to Myta had been fluid, natural. So I had no real feeling for how I utilized our bond. It was simply something I did. I examined my own mind, trying to locate that same kind sense I had of my vas, but looking for something that didn't come from her. I found nothing, but I was undeterred, certain this was the right path forward. I just needed to find the bonds I had, that were separate from hers.

But, were they separate? These bonds only came to me through Myta. Again I focused, not on my own mental state, but on that of my flame. And there I found them, all of my vasra, most of them in some state of nervous anxiety. But there was one, stronger than most others, whose mind rang with panic and rage.

"I found Denu," I said aloud. Closing my eyes I focused on the sense. "She's not... too far. Distance is hard to judge. In that direction."

When I opened my eyes, I was pointing at a blank wall, and my heart sank. But Hati stepped forward.

"There's two rooms I think that could be. I'll lead us." No one argued. It had become clear that the sergeant's spatial awareness in the tunnels was nothing short of uncanny. It didn't quite rise to the level of sorcery, but was certainly a spiritual talent. We set out immediately; myself, Myta, and Hati. Jito joined us as well, without prompting, but my flame directed everyone else to stay behind.

The path we took was winding and indirect, but Hati never hesitated. In just a few minutes we heard the sounds of a fight. Not the clash of blades, but two men shouting, and a woman's scream. Myta burst into motion, and I barely managed to veil us in time. I broke into a run to keep her within my presence, just barely managing it as her speed was so much greater than my own.

The hunters, whose names I'd never learned, and Denu were positioned in a compromising scene. The girl was collapsed again the wall. Holding her rent clothes together. I could sense that her mind and spirit had been muddled with opium smoke. One hunter stood defensively in front of her, while the other stared at us, a scrap of cloth fluttering from his nerveless fingers. Both men were clearly heavily intoxicated, and for the most part the situation seemed clear.

With a snarl, the aggressive hunter fumbled out his knife. I didn't have a clue what he was thinking, but then I guessed that very little thinking had gone on here. He lunged at Myta, and she knocked his clumsy blow aside, destroying his hand with a burst of flame.

"Guta, restrain yourself, or you'll join your brother. Explain what happened here." Myta's voice was deathly calm, but I could feel her by burning hatred.

"We were just off to have a good time," the man stammered. I could tell he was on the edge of doing something foolish, his shock was obvious. "We just wanted to have a quick drink and a smoke. A little something to take the edge off, that's all. But the girl found us, followed us. She started to shout, but she got dizzy.'

"Opium smoke in the air," I confirmed. "Denu is small, and has no tolerance. It would have hit her hard."

"When she fell, Futa grabbed her, he was... we were angry. The girl had been asking us questions and following us around. But now she was yelling at us, threatening us. We were just out here to take the edge off, I swear." He paused for a long moment, and I thought he might be unwilling to continue, but then something shifted in his gaze, turned inward.

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"She's just a girl," he said, and his tone turned betrayed, a little petulant even. Disbelieving. "He said he was going to... hurt her. She broke away, and I got between them." He finally looked at where his fellow hunter, his brother I was guessing by their names, was rolling around on the floor. Futa was moaning, clutching his charred stump while muttering to himself.

Now Guta seemed to be done speaking, and I wasn't sure there was much more to the story anyway. I treated Denu for a nasty bump on the head, she had the beginnings of a concussion, and then Myta got her account of events. Which largely just confirmed what Guta had said. She'd spotted the brothers sneaking out when they went off watch, and had followed.

My flame came to stand beside me, looking down at the injured hunter with murder in her eyes. I could feel her question for me, her intentions, but I also felt her uncertainty.

"Tell me why, first." I kept my voice quiet, though Hati was close enough to overhear.

"He deserves to be punished. What he said to Denu... he should suffer for it, even if it didn't happen." Her voice was filled with something past anger. A genuine hate. I didn't think that was unreasonable, or unwarranted, but it was still poison.

"What would it accomplish?" I kept my voice even.

"It would keep others from trying the same! And she should get the chance to see that something like this will not stand." She hissed the words, with nearly as much venom as the man on the floor.

"And you're hoping it will make you feel better as well." I said gently. "You feel like you failed here, and a harsh response will somehow make up for it."

I could feel her emotions churning for a while, but finally they settled a bit, and she nodded. We stood for awhile longer, Hati shaking her head at Jito when he came over to join us. When her mind was a bit calmer, I spoke again.

"I'll tell you something it will do. Once you've dealt with this, your men will know how you handle betrayal, and what lengths you'll go to, to protect or avenge them. Whatever you do, Hati and Jito will take it back to the company. You'll send them a message about who you are, and who you want to be."

"I thought you were trying to convince me not to." Myta's voice was small and vulnerable. I pushed my feelings of love and sympathy to her, I couldn't stand the thought that she might be doubting them, not now.

"No, my flame. I just want you to keep your eye on what's important here." I gestured at our escort, and at the girl who was currently slumped over in shock.

"That," I pointed at the maimed hunter, "is not worth the amount of space it's currently taking up in your mind. As long as it can't cause her, or anyone else any more damage."

She nodded, face grim, but resolved. The hate was easing now, and I was glad of it, though her anger still smoldered. Kneeling by Denu, she whispered something into the girl's ear. I didn't try to overhear it, it didn't feel appropriate. Nodding, Denu climbed slowly to her feet, heading to the tunnel entrance we'd come from, but waiting there in eyeshot.

Myta stepped onto Futa's chest, pinning him to the ground. She pricked his chest with the blade of her glaive, and I was impressed that she'd pierced one of his minor meridians so precisely. It took her a moment to recreate the aspect of the demon bramble, but when she did, it seeped into him. She was merciful, to an extent, she pushed enough into him that he'd only last a few hours.

Being flooded with an incompatible aspect was a terrible way to die, the mana would eat away at your anima and body, dissolving you from the inside out. Something like the bramble, a distilled essence of fiery pain? I could imagine worse things, but I didn't care to. We lingered as his screams began, long enough to see his veins blacken, and begin burning through his skin. Then we left to return to camp.

Chapter 44

Our mood was somber as we returned. No one argued that Futa's punishment had been unearned, not even his brother. But Guta was terrified now, and everyone else was grim. We had finally suffered our first casualty in this conflict, and it had come from within.

Myta at least took time to speak with the other hunter, to reassure him. While he had been complicit in taking the forbidden goods from camp, that was a much less serious offense. He had also defended Denu from his brother's assault, and that meant a great deal. Hati and Jito took care of explaining what had happened to the rest of the company, as my vas didn't feel prepared to give any grand speeches. But I did see her make time for the other squad leaders.

Guta did suffer a punishment, though it was an odd one. He was 'demoted' to serving under Denu, they being our only two remaining scouts. Our only human ones, in any case. I wasn't sure how that would work out, but Myta had taken the idea from Hati, who assured us that it was fairly common in tight-knit mercenary companies. Either the two would work out their issues, or they would clash explosively. And if the latter was going to be an issue, it was better to reveal that as soon as possible. We'd just need to keep a close eye on them.

Soon after the Futa incident, we returned to our primary mission. We'd hit the Pure forces hard, killing a third of their number, but that still left well over a hundred enemies in these tunnels, including at least two sorcerers, and three demons. And we knew that the enemy had used the warded area around the exit door to conceal demons already. The warded areas weren't large, but they could easily hold another group our own size. While I seriously doubted they would have another twenty five awakened fighters there, we had no reasonable way to make sure.

In the aftermath of our attack, the Pure had finally decided to consolidate. They stopped sending out patrols, doubled their guard, and reduced the amount of area they were taking up. Increasing the population of each of their camps. That made it much harder for us to conduct more raids. On the upside, their soldiers were frazzled now, and no better disciplined. So, we began to harry them again. There were only three entrance points to their newly reduced territory, and so we were able to focus our efforts. We unfortunately didn't have a large supply of arrows, but when our scouts saw good shots, they took them. When there were pursuers, they were lured into traps or ambushes. Myta and I practiced our fire-calling skills on any visible cache of supplies, or failing that, on tents and bedding.

When we finally saw one of their remaining sorcerers in one of the visible rooms, we knew their presence was bait for a trap.

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"It's still too tempting to ignore." I said, looking at Myta and Hati.

"Ignore, no." Myta replied. "But springing the obvious trap the way they intend us to is foolish. They probably have the other sorcerer and the demons just waiting to sweep in. But we can still easily use this to our advantage."

"How so?" I couldn't fault her logic. We knew the enemy leader was reckless and impatient. Even if they'd been burned once, that would only make them a little more cautious. It wouldn't change their fundamental personality. Trying to lure us into an ambush, with all their elite forces in wait, would fit that very well.

"If they did set up an ambush like that, then the exit they are using is unguarded, or more lightly guarded at least. We can take this chance to attack there. If we take the exit, we could turn around and use it as a chokepoint for their whole force. Ket, you said you only located one warded area nearby?" Myta's voice was tinged with excitement, and I thought I understood why. Tarun should have been in Bani by now, and hopefully they were alerted to the incoming attack. If we could expose that point of attack now, maybe we could bottle them up, and make this whole battle much easier.

*I did,* the leopard spirit responded. *But it is still difficult for me to locate them in areas where mana is not actively moving. Especially in these tunnels.*

"Still better than our current plan," Hati grunted. "There's nothing holding them here now but pride."

"We never expected to have an opportunity to do more than distract them anyway." I said. "This gives us the chance, at least, to do more."

"Then we'll move as soon as everyone is prepared," Myta decided. "Ket will lead us through the alternate path, the two of you will keep us veiled, as before, and I will lead the charge. We'll focus on pushing through as fast as possible. Then, once we reach the surface, the scouts will head straight into Bani. We'll hold the entrance as long as we can. Or, as long as they press us. Any questions?"

We shook our heads. The plan was clear enough, even if it depended on luck more than I'd like. But it seemed like our best option, especially as we couldn't stay here for all that much longer without the ability to forage.

We made our preparations and set out. Our advantage here was the maze-like nature of these ruins, which Ket had largely been able to map out. From one side passage, we could strike at the warded exit while passing through only three other rooms. The sorcerer who we presumed was bait would be five rooms from the exit, and his presumed support would be four or six.

Of course they would be traveling through friendly territory, where we would need to fight our way through. The distance was more relevant to the amount of time it would take them to become aware of our attack, rather than the distance to be traveled.

The paths between rooms were relatively narrow here, allowing only two people to travel side by side. My vas led the way again, while Jito and I trailed close behind. We were to veil the room as quickly as possible, while Myta headed directly for the opposite side. This room had only one other exit, making it easy to contain.

When my flame struck, she did so like a thunderbolt, charging down the hall before the rest of us could even see her targets. Her presence, which was pulled tightly in around herself, was intense enough to glow even to mortal eyes. There was a brief shout, ending abruptly, and then came more confused yelling before I had a chance to round the bend. I pushed my speed to its limits, knowing that I had to keep her use of mana concealed at all costs. Trusting her to have cleared the way, as I raced into the room.

Ket had gone ahead, as soon as she'd confirmed that no one there was able to perceive her immaterial form. I ended my sprint next to her in the center of the room, only then glancing around. There were a dozen men present, not including the two dead that Myta had left lying at the door. Perhaps eight of those now turned their gazes on me with murderous intent. The rest were following in her wake, either to attack her, or simply to try and alert the rest of the Pure.

I was surprised that any of them responded so quickly. We had hoped that those away from the sorcerer would be less wary, but the opposite seemed to be true. These soldiers were fully equipped and prepared, although I saw the tiredness in their eyes from our campaign of disruption. Now I was alone, in the middle of a ring of enemies. Ket could not incarnate without disrupting the shroud of silence, and I could not call on much of my mana without ending my own veil.

The first man to recover lunged at me with a glaive. I ducked forward and around the blow, hitting his chest with a palm strike that was backed by my lancet. I shoved against his leather chest piece, physically doing little more than arresting his momentum, but my spiritual blade pierced entirely through his heart. With an agonized cry he dropped to the ground, squealing as he clutched his chest, gasping for air.

The next two came at me from the same direction, moving with unfortunate coordination. I could hear more shouts behind them, then the sounds of combat. The rest of our company had begun to enter the room, but my opponents didn't so much as glance away from me. Pity, I could have used the distraction.

One man thrust at my head, while the other waited on guard, clearly hoping for me to expose myself. I dodged a few such thrusts easily, waiting for an opening. My speed may not have been a match for Myta's, but my reflexes were still far greater than those of a mundane fighter. When I spotted a feint, I spun toward his side, away from his compatriot. My target was already attempting to follow through on his real attack, expecting sweep low and take me in the gut while I was off balance. Instead I slid up to his side, hitting his shoulder, and severing the meridian that supported his arm. He cursed at the sudden pain and weakness, dropping the weapon he could no longer properly support.

One more step, and my palm hit the back of his head. Destroying his third eye was not as immediately fatal as the heart, but he was out of the fight. Blinded, effectively one armed, and falling to his knees due to the additional searing agony in his head.

My other foe didn't live long enough to inconvenience me further. Jito thrust his own glaive through the side of the soldier's neck as he was still turning on me. Apparently our first battle was resolved already.

We made our way to where Myta was standing victorious, with four bodies scattered around her. Ket rushed ahead to our next objective. We'd started well, but now time nipped at our heals like an angry dog. We couldn't count on surprise for long.

Chapter 45

We pushed through the next two rooms as easily as the first. Even more easily, in one case. That room was one of their main supply caches, rather than a makeshift barracks. There were only a few soldiers there, but they were better equipped, with gear similar to what we had looted and equipped.

We paused there long enough for Myta to incinerate the bulk of their supplies. At this point we were hardly worried that a lack of supplies would push them to attack sooner. I also left them a small parting gift that I'd prepared. Some spirits, to which I'd added a slow-acting poison. I didn't think it would accomplish too much, but every bit of hindrance to our enemies could be valuable now.

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