95. Hiding: Wiremu

After I was out of sight, I went into stealth and circled around to pick up Tāoke. I knew I was leaking blood, so anyone with a Smell Skill or high-level Tracking would be able to follow me. I couldn’t do anything about the broken knife in my back at the moment. Tāoke looked like his Granite Bones had saved him as well as the knife wound seemed to have deflected off his backbone, but it sliced a fair bit of skin off. I fed him half a healing potion and drank the other half myself. I only had one more on me. Our Regeneration would kick in, but I doubted we would have time to wait for it. As we left the area, Nyx lifted the Engulfing Shadows, and I heard yelling to form up to search for the people who stole from them. This would be us stealing their kidnapped victim?

I got a Spear and Quick Strike level from the fight, but that was all. It is significantly harder to level after reaching Journeyman Level. I wonder how many levels that swordsman got from the fight. If you don’t kill your opponent, they will get stronger.

As we neared the agreed meeting place with Tabitha, my Bond Senses picked up a strong smell of blood, so that was a worry. My Hearing Aid kept track of our pursuers, who had picked up our trail and were coming as a group. We would only have a few minutes. I came into the clearing, and Tabitha and Mayakku were there. Mayakku was still unconscious, and Tabitha was binding a major cut on her leg.

“Do you want a hand with that?” I asked.

“Sure. Bloody rogues.” she replied.

“I know you can dig a blade out of my back for me after this. We don’t have a lot of time,” I said.

Her leg didn’t take much time to bind, and then she dug around in my back with her knife to get out the broken blade.

Tabitha then said, “I really want to get back to Obalno, but I can’t carry Mayakku with this leg.”

“I could carry her, but I am not sure Obalno is the safest place for her right now. We are about halfway to Ruku’s village. I could take her there for a few days.” I said.

“I don’t know what is wrong with her, whether she was hit too hard or is drugged. Are you sure you want to look after her and can lose the pursuers?” Tabitha asked.

“As long as we are not bleeding, we will lose them with no problem. There is a cave we could hole up in less than an hour from here. The one with the sand elemental in it. I have wanted to go back as I think there is more for me to learn there.” I had been looking for an opportunity to go back.

“OK, here are my supplies. I gave Mayakku a health potion and had the other one, but there was some food, water, and first aid supplies. I will send Nyx with you, so that should help you lose this crowd.” Tabitha handed me the contents of her pack, which I stuffed into mine.

“I will see you in a few days then. Nyx can carry messages.” I picked up Mayakku.

“Don’t spend the whole time fishing,” was Tabitha’s parting comment as she faded into the bush.

I set off towards the coast, being especially careful not to leave a trail. Nyx didn’t have Shadows Embrace with the sound and smell reductions, but she did have Engulfing Shadows to darken an area, so I asked her to do that directly behind us so there would be no glimpsing us from behind. We changed direction a couple of times until I was sure the search for us was getting further away.

I found a way down onto the beach, and we had to make our way along the open coast for a while, so I was glad of Nyx’s Shadows. If I were them, I would have put watchers on the coastline. I could see a ship's mast further along the coast, and I figured it was their ship. The tide was halfway in, so it would be deep to wade into the cave. As we neared the cave, I got the feeling Nyx was getting more and more uncomfortable. At the entrance, the shadow disappeared, and I had the distinct impression Nyx had left. Shadow Elementals and Sand Elementals don’t get on together, I guess. There was a small swell, and the water came up to my chest, so I was holding Mayakku and my pack up high, trying not to get them wet. I was glad of the extra weight my Granite Bones gave me as it made me steadier in the swell as I waded into the cave. Tāoke was well up on my shoulder, so he wasn’t getting wet.

I made my way carefully to the main body of the elemental and set up a small camp there. I shaped the sand into a bed for Mayakku and looked closer at her. If it was just being knocked unconscious, the health potion should have brought her around by now, so I suspected she was drugged, and it would take time to work out of her system. I got some water into her lamenting the fact that Ruku wasn’t here with his Hydrate ability. Fortunately, our water skins had been enchanted, by Mayakku, to condense water from the air so we could stay here as long as the food lasted. Tāoke moved off my shoulder to curl up in the sand to let his Regeneration work on his wounds.

I sat down to extend my senses into the elemental to try and learn from it. Mostly I was using Sense Spiritual and Granite Sense together. I focussed on the small grains that together made up the Monster core of the elemental. They were spread throughout the massive being, and now that I traced it they were also scattered in the sand down to the ocean. They must communicate or join somehow, but my senses were too low level, or I didn’t have the right sensing skills. Probably the latter.

I took a break and checked Mayakku and Tāoke. Tāoke looked asleep, but Mayakku looked like she was stirring. She groaned, and her eyes opened. She coughed and stretched.

“Hello?” she asked, “who is there?”

“It is me,” I replied. “I am sorry I forgot you only have Nightsight and not Darksight. I am not sure I have a light with me.” I have gotten so used to Darksight that I forget others don’t have it. The Catkin Nightsight needs some light to enhance, which enables them to see. We are in a cave with no light at all. I can find my fire starter, but I haven't got any wood with me for a fire, and I don’t think there would be enough air vents for a fire.

She relaxed when she heard and recognised my voice. “It’s OK. let me try some skills.” She was silent for a minute, then I heard an awed, “Wow. Where are we?”

“We are hiding in a cave with a Sand Elemental. I was hoping to stay here at least a full day, maybe longer, to lose your kidnappers. What do you see?”

“When I turn on my Spiritual Sight, everything glows depending on the amount of Spiritual energy in them. The cave floor glows bright, almost too bright to look at.” she replied.

“I am passing you a water skin. Can you see it?” I ask.

“No, but I see you and your arm and the energy in my enchantments on the water skin. They will need to be renewed soon.” She took the water skin and had a long drink.

“What do you remember from the Quarry?” I asked.

“I was being escorted by Mutalil and Ilaiya, and we were attacked.” She paused and put her hands to her mouth in shock, “Are they… Are they dead?” her voice quivered.

“Mutalil managed to take a potion and will live. Ilaiya was killed. All your other family are alive” I broke the news to her, but I decided not to tell her about the injuries and missing arm. They could all be fixed. She broke down in tears. I tried to comfort her, but I was not very good at that. We just sat together in the dark for a long while. She would sob occasionally. I guess she was thinking of her family. Eventually, she fell asleep. Eventually, I dozed as well.

I woke up when I heard Mayakku stirring. Being on my own a lot while hunting means I am a light sleeper. I would have been happier if I had a trap left to set in the tunnel. We drank and ate the dry trail food and settled in to wait. I returned to my Sensing, and I think Mayakku was doing the same.

This time I focused on the edge where the Sand Elemental met the surrounding rock. There was an interaction going on there, and I studied it. It was a Spiritual interaction that slowly ground at the rock and turned it into the sand. My affinity and Identify were telling me I could get a skill from learning his. I put my hand on the rock next to me and tried to copy what the elemental was doing. It used Spiritual Strength and Agility filtered through the Affinity, but it was also sort of similar to Granite Manipulation. I tried multiple times and was sure I was doing it right, but it wasn’t working for me, and I was getting frustrated. Then I realised what an idiot I was. My affinity was Granite, and this rock was not granite.

I created a Granite Spike to see if it would work with my created Granite. It may require natural granite. It worked fine on my created Granite, and it was enough to trigger a new Skill, Granite Sand. The Skill made the process easy, and I could now create sand like I could create Granite Spike. It would create a small amount of sand either in my hand or on a surface. The amount of sand and my control over it would grow with the level. At Apprentice Level, I could shoot it from my hands like Ruku could do with his Water Surge, and at Journeyman Level, there was enough for a small Sand Pit or quite a strong pressure of sand if I funnelled it through a small opening. I could think of quite a few uses to enhance my traps, and the sand shooting could be damaging against unarmoured skin. At Novice Level, I would have to get it in the eyes or throat to damage, but Skills levelled relatively fast when they were low.

Mayakku suddenly exclaimed, “That’s how it works!”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Powered Enchanting with Beast Cores. I have been trying to figure out how the energy works and use it in enchantments, but I haven't gotten it after almost a year, even with the beast core you supplied us with. I thought I would have to find someone to teach me, but they are all usually locked into contracts and would require me to do so as well,” she answered.

“So what has changed?” I inquired.

“This Sand Elemental has its Beast core splintered and spread throughout its body. I figured out how the splinters communicate with each other. It is almost like a hive-type mind. But I can see it!” she exclaimed. “It is infrequent because there is not much action going on, but there are spiritual links between the core pieces, and I have identified the communication pulses, which are the same type of energy I aim to extract from the cores. I think I can replicate it and manipulate it. I will have to wait till I get back to the wagon to try it, though.”

“Would I be able to see this? I did try looking for this.” I was definitely curious.

“I would doubt it even with Sense Spiritual at the Master level. I have Spiritual Flow, which makes me more sensitive to how the Spiritual Energy moves, and Spiritual Sensitivity, which enhances both those skills as well as my Spiritual Sight, to be more sensitive, particularly to the type of Spiritual Energy.” She replied.

It was a plain fact that I didn't have the Skills. I am not sure I have the patience or the desire to learn them. I assumed they all required Enchanting Skills. She went back to her observations, and I went back to practising my new Skill.

As I thought about it, these skills were what I was missing when I was trying to understand what the Goblin Chief was doing when he created the Goblin Shaman. That episode has rattled around in my head since I saw it. I mentioned it to Tabitha, but we have not mentioned it to anyone else. The Spiritual Sensitivity Skill and the affinities of Spiritual energy were all new to me. It just highlighted how much I didn’t know. I don’t have time or the inclination to learn everything, and I doubt Mayakku wants to come Monster hunting with me. I doubt her Pride would let her even if she did.

I waited for what I thought was two days, but it is hard to tell in a cave, and then I went to check the tide. It was daylight and a high tide, so we waited for night and a low tide before making our way out. Mayakku was fascinated that the Sand Elemental Core was embedded in the sand all the way out to the cave entrance. Once we exited the cave, she could also see the Elemental spread out into the ocean, beyond her capability to sense. I had the sense that there was more I could learn from the Elemental if I spent the time. Now was not the time, though.

The ship's mast was gone, so I was hoping the attackers had also gone, but I wasn't betting our lives on that. They could have left watchers and assassins. We got off the beach as soon as we could and made our way to Ruku's village. When we got there, we broke into his cabin and made ourselves at home. I found out the attack was two days ago. Tabitha is going into attack mode, as we are both sick of being on the receiving end. I wonder how she is progressing in that.