I hovered in the air, waiting for things to settle a bit more and to see what was going on. A few of my guards had managed to follow Aston and me, and a few more trickled in over the next few minutes.

We drifted away from the storm, which was dissolving, anyway. But I stopped seeing new people in our vicinity quickly.

“Perhaps we should get down,” Aston suggested. “The nomads have driven us off, but they might be going in pursuit. And if they somehow find out you were among us … well, it’s better not to be seen.”

I shook my head. “Alright, sure.”

So we descended, moving in the direction of Blue Valley City at the same time. I got what Aston meant, we’d be less visible closer to the ground. The guards arranged themselves in a loose formation around me, although Aston stayed close.

I glanced back in the direction we came from, feeling a stone drop into my stomach. I just hope the airships didn’t crash anywhere people live. Although that has to be unlikely. The landscape below us was dominated by grassy hills, some of them sprinkled with woods, and a few brooks cutting through them. I could see a few settlements, but they were far enough apart that the odds of debris hitting one should be low.

“Can we communicate with the others?” I asked Aston.

He frowned. “Yes, but the qi used could be felt by the nomads, and they might track the qi trail.”

Not a good idea unless there was something important, then. I didn’t know if whoever was in command of the remains of my force, and probably had a communication talisman linked to Aston’s, might still be fighting the nomads.

We continued flying, getting closer to the ground at the same time. These flying swords could move quickly, but not on the same level as the airships, so it would take a while to get back. Longer if we might have to evade nomad fliers. But perhaps we could come upon an Imperial airship.

As we traveled, I pondered where I had gone wrong. With some distance, I could see how Zun had obviously tried to discredit General Wei, probably to get me to take charge myself. Maybe he’d wanted to see me fail. If I showed more caution in the future, heeding the advice of experts, would he or others start making trouble for me? I would have expected old nobles to chafe at having to listen to someone in the fourth stage, maybe try to undermine my orders. Perhaps I’d underestimated their strategy.

The same way I’d underestimated the effective range of the raiders.

When I looked back, the storm the nomads had conjured was nowhere to be seen. I saw a few figures in the distance, but at this range I couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe. And I couldn’t use my techniques to get a closer look, not while we were flying. Hopefully, Tenira and the others got away safely.

We traveled in silence for a few more minutes, until I noticed flashes of light from the ground. They were weak and didn’t last long, but my enhanced eyes picked them up. I decelerated, sensing the guards around me follow suit, and angled my flying sword in their direction. I wanted to know what was going on there.

As we drew closer, I saw they were coming from the direction of a village. It wasn’t particularly big by local standards, but more than a hamlet. A few of the houses had to be on fire, smoke rising from their roofs. Around them, a fight raged. Cultivators threw techniques at each other or engaged in close combat. In the main road of the village, which led outward, a crowd of people had gathered. An airship stood in the field outside the village.

I descended even more, trying to make sense of the chaotic scene. The airship looked bigger than the ones I’d used, with a round hull providing lots of room for passengers. Imperial soldiers swarmed over it and the village, obviously trying to defend their transport and the villagers huddling on the road. As I watched, some of them dove for the airship. Further away, more of the nomads’ flying beasts swam through the sky over the village. Their riders threw techniques and enhanced arrows or crossbow bolts at the defenders, sometimes spurring their mounts into a dive. A few of the Zarieni warriors seemed to have dismounted, fighting from the village’s rooftops or streets.

“We need to help them,” I said. I looked over to Aston. “Don’t try to change my mind.”

It might be ‘beneath me’, or just not the best use of my time, to help with the evacuation of a single village. But I suspected the riders had only pressed forward so much because of me and the airships I’d brought. Besides, the fight wouldn’t take long, and it made sense to link up with these soldiers and their airship.

And maybe I was feeling the sting of losing my airships to the Zarieni vanguard.

“Of course not, Your Highness,” Aston sighed. “Kei, Virtuon, you circle around and attack from the other side. Lirta, you keep close to the princess with me. Let’s go.”

Before I could even start to move, the soldiers he hadn’t named dove down at a speed that would make a parachuter envious. The two others flew in a downwards curve that would take them to the other side of the battle. They were in the fifth and sixth stage, so I knew they could give the raiders a fight.

I didn’t hesitate, but followed my guards down. The wind whistled by so strongly I would have worried about my eyes if I wasn’t a cultivator. I couldn’t do an arc as graceful as them, but going down at an angle was easy with the flying sword, and I joined the battle only a moment after them.

The raiders didn’t get much warning about our arrival. They’d probably been too busy with the fight to pay attention to the wider skies. But they reacted quickly. Most of the birds scattered before my soldiers could get close to them. The raiders at the ground raised shield of various qi affinities in their direction, but didn’t pause their combat with the soldiers for long.

I threw a lance of light at a raider who wasn’t quick enough to look up, then searched for a new target as he stumbled into a building. The thunder of explosions came from the other side of the village.

I took a moment to release some light qi, buffing myself with Light’s Speed. My best shielding technique was darkness based, but in this fight speed would win out. I noticed a raider staggered from an Imperial’s earth spikes, and threw a ball of darkness qi at him. He tried to dodge, but my projectile caught the edge of his fire cloak and started to smother it. That would make him easy prey for his opponent.

I descended further, hopping from my flying sword to the roof of a house positioned at the edge of the village, catching the device in my left hand. I’d be more effective fighting on solid ground. Well, as solid as a roof that looked like it had been battered by a few boulders could be.

My first victim showed himself again, blurring past the street two houses over. I sensed his presence just in time, dodging an ice spike. I jumped to the next building, sending a bit of darkness qi into the air and letting it drift over while I spun around and fired off another ball of darkness. He dodged that one, coming onto the roof so quickly I almost fell down the side in my haste to get away.

While I corrected my course, pushing up the street onto another roof, I turned and fired off another beam of concentrated light qi. It flew over his head, before it met the reflective surface I’d left behind, coming back towards him.

His eyes widened and he twisted his torso, but he couldn’t stop the attack from hitting his side. Ice cracked as his shielding technique failed.

But a moment later, he continued on towards me with most of his momentum. I cursed, barely dodging his attack in time. He’s got to be in the late part of the fourth stage at least!

I frantically dodged and weaved around his next attacks. Without my buff, I couldn’t have matched his speed, but I knew his attacks hit harder than mine.

The next second, a boulder the size of a basketball shot towards him, quickly enough I only caught a glimpse of it. The attack battered through his defense as if it didn’t exist, caving in his torso like he was made of paper.

Before I got a good look at it, Aston caught me, pulling me to yet another rooftop. I pushed his arm away. He could have intervened earlier, couldn’t he?

If I stopped to think about it, I’d kept remarkably calm throughout all the fighting. I didn’t feel like I was in danger of breaking down. But having Aston close relaxed some of my tension.

I took in the scene at a glance. The village lay half in ruins, and the other half looked like a sequence of natural catastrophes had befallen it. But the fight seemed to be going well. More of the villagers were on the deck of the airship or on their way to it, shielded by soldiers. Kei and Virtuon had made their way over, their side of the village empty of threats. They’d linked up with a group of higher-stage soldiers. The raiders were retreating. As I watched, more of them jumped onto their birds, and most of those in the sky pulled away to higher altitudes.

They weren’t really leaving, though. I knew that much.

“Let’s get everyone into the airship fast,” I said. “Come on.”

I looked at my clothing, in a bit of disarray from the fight. I’d chosen my outfit to be practical, and I might still look like a noble, but probably not a princess. My guards didn’t wear their uniforms, either. Taking those into a potential combat situation would be worse than putting glowing target markers on me.

I descended to the floor, approaching the startled villagers and trying my best to calm them down. They wore simple but durable clothing, and most clutched a few treasured possessions or weapons. The headman seemed to have a storage ring for their important items. I could see the stress on their faces, but at least there were no hysterics.

They responded well to a firm voice that sounded like it knew what it was doing. With a bit of help from Aston and the rest, we managed to get them into the airship quickly. They vanished into its belly, while the soldiers gathered on deck and in the air.

I let Aston talk tactics with the commander of the task force, simply listening in. They worked things out quickly. After a minute, I felt a buildup of air qi. I grasped onto the railing as the vessel moved straight upwards into the sky. I was glad to leave the smell of smoke behind, at least.

A moment later, Aston joined me. He spoke quietly. “Your Highness, protecting the airship is going to be difficult, if not dangerous. It might be quicker to return to the city on our own.”

I shook my head. “I can hardly abandon the people we evacuated now. If nothing else, what would that do for my reputation?”

We waited in silence as the airship accelerated. It flew pretty far down, but the wind still whipped my hair around. I kept an eye out for the raiders, who had kept their distance so far but were gathering now. It looked like they’d finished regrouping.

All too soon, they came back and started harassing us. Aston and a few others put up shields around the airship, which took most of their attacks. But the occasional gust of wind made it sway. And some attacks managed to get through, inflicting minor damage on the hull or hitting one of the soldiers.

The Imperials didn’t sit idly by, of course. They tried to fight back, throwing techniques and projectiles at the raiders. But their birds were agile, and evaded most of the attacks. I joined in, trying my best to aim for any vulnerabilities. Light-based attacks moved quickly, and I was good at targeting. But even when an attack hit, it usually didn’t inflict much damage. Maybe a few scorched feathers, or throwing them off for a bit. I wished I wasn’t just in the fourth stage.

The journey back didn’t hold any surprises, or sudden spikes of danger. But the minutes dragged by as if time wanted to torture us, nerves grating and worn thin by the constant attacks. Mental fatigue started dogging me after a bit. My qi reserves dwindled, and I took a break to recharge them, although the situation didn’t let me cultivate well.

At least we didn’t face that many raiders. If there were more, they probably would have sunk the airship.

But the others were worn thin, too. I noticed that many of the soldiers conserved their qi carefully, some of them almost running empty. The shields surrounding the airship weren’t affected much, since it was the high-stage officers who maintained them, but our soldiers reacted to threats more slowly. And the shields did let through a bit more of the raiders’ attacks.

Then, just as I was beginning to worry if we could reach the city, they stopped. I opened my eyes, glancing around in confusion. The raiders, who’d spread themselves out all around the airship, now gathered at the rear. They let the distance increase.

When I looked past the bow of the airship, I saw why. A number of black spots dotted the sky, growing larger quickly. Soon, I could make out the shapes of the new arrivals, and the individual people shortly after.

They were riding a variety of flying beasts, although none of them of the same type as the nomads’. Most were larger and seated several people. Soldiers, I realized. And at the front, atop what looked like a winged jaguar, flew San Hashar.

I turned around and watched as they streaked over the airship, going after the raiders. Those were in full retreat by now. I sensed a few flashes and qi pulses as the Imperials hunted them down. Elites, by the strength they displayed.

It didn’t take long for them to return, settling into formation around the airship. San Hashar pulled her mount up alongside where I stood on the deck. She saluted me.

I smiled, feeling a weight slip off my shoulders. “It’s very good to see you, General.”

She grinned. “Anytime, my princess. After I heard what happened, I knew I needed to make sure you got back safely. The rest of my soldiers are heading to the other evacuations and to join up with the remnants of your force.”

I couldn’t help smiling wryly. “I suppose you protected me again. Thank you.”

“It’s always good to have some backup,” Aston added. He sounded a lot cheerier. “Let’s get Her Highness back to the city.”