I kept my enhanced time perception active as I scanned the area after checking again that both Tetra and Wulfric were following our plan and keeping down and out of danger.

I wasn’t entirely confident that I could face a full squad of warriors… each warrior was, by definition, also a Cultivator, and was the match of dozens of regular beasts on their own.

In fact, even regular guards were quite a lot tougher than I think their human equivalents would be, although I couldn’t be certain. Could four trained human medieval soldiers take down a small pack of bloodthirsty wolves? Because I had seen the equivalent to that several times here, and we were taught that, on the battlefield, our guards generally wouldn’t be considered in danger unless they were outnumbered (or if a Nascent beast showed up, of course).

Then again, maybe skilled humans would be just as capable, but the fact that my current race of people apparently don’t have to worry about infected wounds and diseases means that our survival rate post combat is likely a hell of a lot higher than it would have been back in medieval Europe, so maybe we end up with more veterans.

And I was well aware of what a group of trained cultivators could do – trying to outrun them was pointless, because even if I made enough ice constructs to carry both Tetra and Wulfric (who weighed about the same as four Tetras), I would only be able to just barely outpace them for a few hours at most – that is, assuming that some of them were specialized in speed – and at the end of that time I would be so exhausted they could just tie me up and take me away.

I could just try, and hope that they had nobody in their squad who specialised in tracking – I might get lucky and lose them… but I didn’t think it was worth the risk of spending all that energy (my build was definitely not specialized in ‘people conveyance’) and maybe having to fight them anyway.

Which didn’t leave me with very much choice; stealth had failed, so it was either diplomacy, or violence.

So, I got to work. There were gasps of surprise from our hidden ambushers as large blocky shields of ice grew quickly into existence over my friends, hopefully sealing them away from danger for the time being.

Even a Spiritwind cultivator as accomplished as Jesvae would take a few moments to move aside a that much ice, and I was gambling that the noble leading this group wouldn’t be a high-ranking ice cultivator. I had tested my abilities against Jesvae a few times, and the strange ice and cold based abilities that she could bring to bear were surprisingly effective at countering my own powers, while her wind could disperse my diffused snow-cloud body to some extent, disorienting me.

It wasn’t a direct counter, but with my current power set I found Ice-Cultivation kinda hard to deal with simply because everything I created could, to some extent, then be used by my opponent – but at worst it just lead to a stalemate where both sides found it difficult to make progress. There wasn’t any danger involved in fighting against an ice-user for me, it was just aggravating to have my own constructs manipulated and changed around as soon as I stopped focusing on them.

Jesvae and I had both reached the conclusion that, eventually, I would win the fight, if only because my ice-form made me completely immune to the cold, whereas she was just highly resistant, and I could repair my ice-body faster than she could heal.

Truly the worst matchup for me was fire and heat, which shouldn’t be a shock to anyone. I had only sparred with Firebrand the once, but that memory had always stuck with me, and I felt certain that he could melt (and then subsequently evaporate) me to death in my ice-form before I would be able to retaliate or even escape…

But he was also over a hundred years old, and as high a noble as our society had – a regular Flameward cultivator couldn’t do more than annoy me a bit with their smaller fireballs, and lighting was even less effective…

… Which I confirmed again as a series of lighting bolts leapt out of the forest, striking both my hulking icy form (as I unfolded to my full height of about a Wulfric-and-a-half) and the barrier I had placed over my freshly hidden companions.

“What the bloody beast is that!”

“Is that the boy?”

“Is that the target?”

“By the spirits, is Deathwind here? Is this a trap?”

“Lady Jesvae Spiritwind, if that is you, show yourself! We will surrender!”

I paused in my actions for a moment, nearly as stunned by their reactions as they seemed to be by my transformation. Deathwind? I hadn’t heard that name before… was it a nickname for Jesvae? It would make sense, if this was part of a faction that she was enemies with. She was pretty scary…

My inappropriately timed rumination on the merits of Wolfram’s sister were interrupted as a feathered man dressed in tattered finery moved into view with his hands raised high, his eyes wide as he looked around himself.

“High Lady Jesvae Spiritwind, I hereby identify myself as Baronet Fasbed of House Runetail, and I request parley!”

The poor bugger looked properly terrified, which I found both humorous and interesting – why had they sent such an obvious coward out of The City on a mission like this? Maybe he was one of many, and there were dozens of groups out looking for me, so they ran out of brave people…

I already knew that the groups acting against Jesvae weren’t all that coordinated, and that there were multiple factions that wanted to see The City held in reserve for the nobility should worst come to worst.

Or was it a trap, a ruse to draw her out? Or…

I forced myself to focus – it was pointless to speculate when I didn’t have enough time or information to figure anything out. Tetra and Wulfric were still safely underneath my ice-barrier, and I didn’t have a good way to communicate with them before this noble became suspicious, so it was up to me.

“I speak for Lady First Heir Jesvae Spiritwind.” I rumbled in the deep pseudo-voice of my ice body.

It was pretty good news that he was from House Runetail, as they were the easiest for me to fight against (except for the healers of House Silverlight, but they were generally considered non-combatants so they didn’t really count) amongst the Great Houses.

House Runetail’s cultivation technique was complicated, but it mostly dealt with barriers and formations that blocked, mitigated, or altered the effects and damage of incoming attacks – I could just follow the standard House Spiritwind method of dealing with a Runetail cultivator and trap this feathered coward in a shell of ice. He would be able to break out eventually, but we would be long gone by then.

Still with his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender, I saw the noble’s hands move erratically, either shaking from fear, or making subtle hand gestures to his troops... He still looked terrified, however, so I honestly didn’t know what to think.

Should I just attack? I certainly didn’t feel threatened by this guy, and his troops had stopped blasting me with lighting right after he stepped out of cover.

“You are Heller of North Stone Village, are you not? May I speak directly with Lady First Heir Jesvae Spiritwind?”

Uhho… I was starting to get a bad vibe, because although the noble before me looked scared and dishevelled (his clothes were torn and stained as if he had been sleeping outdoors for a week), he had never stopped circling around me, and his hands were still twitching now and then. Did he think his troops would make a difference…? I was hardly in any danger…

Wait, that’s not right…

Oh, by the spirits, he is a noble of House Runetail! Was he trying to tie me up in an invisible barrier? The realization hit me, and at the same time I felt a strange resistance in my mind, maybe a little bit like the Mind Magic of my buddy Wolfram, but easier to detect. What the beast, what was this, like a barrier against wariness… was he keeping me calm somehow!? Was that even possible?

As soon as I noticed what was going on the effects were easy enough to shrug off, and by stimulating the ambient Qi around me I was able to further disrupt any crap he was trying to pull.

I didn’t waste any more time, and the shocked look on Lord Fasbed’s face was the last I saw of him as I forced an ice-prison to swiftly grow around him. There was an odd sense of resistance, like he was somehow fighting against me, but it was easy enough to overpower with a little bit of effort.

I let out a roar of frustration, my previously muted emotions snapping back into me with a vengeance as I swung my massive arms around me and unleashed a barrage of untargeted ice spikes. Bloody beast, did these fools think I was some kinda pushover? Beast that!

Sure, I didn’t really want to kill anyone, but I also wouldn’t mind some of the respect (or even fear) that Jesvae enjoyed. At some point I was going to have to make a reputation for myself, but now was not the time, and I hated how they had forced my hand.

I heard a number of cries of shock and dismay from my surroundings, along with a few gasps of pain, but I didn’t really pay attention as I swung my fist at the nearest tree, forming a wide blade of ice as I did, like an axe extending from the end of my arm. I circulated Qi through my axe-arm as it bit into the tree, causing it to penetrate far deeper than it would otherwise, and then I threw myself against the tree, pushing at the highest point I could reach.

I ignored the few missiles (a mix of lighting and standard crossbow bolts) that began impacting my massive form as I heaved against the tree, causing a resounding *CRACK* to echo across the forest as the tree began to fall.

I hadn’t thought this strategy through to the fullest, but my aim was both to intimidate the attacking squad so they would retreat (or parley) before I had to kill anyone, and to remove some of the cover that they were hiding in (I was pretty sure at least two of them were nestled in the tree I had just felled).

“Surrender and I’ll let you live!” I called out in my inhuman voice, “I’m the apprentice of the Merrik, you beast brained fools!”

Nobody answered, and I swung my gigantic icy head from side to side, only catching a few glimpses of motion, but suddenly sure that there were fewer figures around me than there had been a moment ago.

Then I saw a pair of figures walk out of the forest, wiping blood from their swords.

“Lord Heller, the Lady Jesvae sends her regards.” The two of them scanned their surroundings, tense as a pair of coiled springs. I still heard the sound of combat off in the forest, so I figured there must be more of them out there.

“We are part of the group sent to keep watch over the North, and we would be honored to accompany you the rest of the way.”

Huh…