The feeling of being watched persisted for a few minutes before it disappeared. It did leave Yuriko with lingering disquiet, and the feeling that if they didn’t move now, they’d be found soon. However, it was still light out, and the woods dropped off into fields as they went farther south. There was a lovely range of snow capped mountains ahead, where she figured they could lose any pursuit.

It was rather frustrating to run away from such weak opponents, but their weakness was only relative to herself. That pseudo Plasma Caster the warriors used had nearly a dozen metal arrows left in the cartridge, and she knew that every single one of the opposing warriors had one of these. Plus, whatever they used to create the explosions.

As always, she’d remain relatively unharmed, but not her friends and allies. She’d rather not risk them in a pointless battle. For the hundredth time since arriving here, Yuriko cursed at the Threads of Fate for bringing them to a place that was so devoid of ambient Chaos that it might as well have been the Firma…

The Firmament? Was Siderious located up there? The only place she knew where the ambient Chaos was low was in the Firmament. But she couldn’t imagine Sage, that strange humanoid monkey she met above the obsidian tower, to live here. He had used Animus as much as anyone…but then, considering he said he had been on a coming of age ritual…perhaps the purpose had been to amass enough power and to advance his bodily strength enough to survive and thrive in such an environment. It was something worth considering, anyway.

Anyway, she called upon her council, which now consisted of her original group, a couple of marines, Seran Arkas, and an older man named Horace Greenfield. Greenfield was the one in actual command of the marines, not Seran as Yuriko initially assumed. The man had been self-effacing so it had not been apparent. Kassy and Roland of the beastkin were also part of the council, mostly due to their strength and prowess, rather than anything else.

“I feel we need to leave,” Yuriko prefaced. “I felt something watching me.”

“We’ll be out in the open though,” Saki said.

“I know, which is why we’re talking now instead of heading out,” Yuriko answered.

“Let us wait until nightfall, if that works for you, Knight Davar,” Horace Greenfield said deferentially. “The absence of the Chaos flows at night is ideal for hidden movements, even discounting the light of the moon and the strange pinpricks of light in the void.”

“That’s still a few hours away…” Yuriko muttered. She subconsciously glanced at the courtyard’s hill, which was less than a longstride away.

“Haste makes waste.”

“Very well, that is understandable,” Yuriko conceded. “But Saki, please check if those people are following us.”

“Yes, young mistress.” But then, Saki hesitated and bit her lower lip, “There is someone there who can use Animus, albeit to a rather limited scale. But his technique managed to pierce my shadow concealment. I may not be the best scout…”

“He could?” Yuriko gasped. No one had been able to see Saki unless she wanted to be seen, or if she’d been exposed to Yuriko’s Radiant light. “Does he touch upon an Ennoia?”

“I’m not sure, young mistress. He seemed just as frail as the other warriors in his cadre, so perhaps not.”

“Then I guess its up to your marine scouts?”

“We obey,” Greenfield said with a seated bow.

“But be prepared to retreat at any time.”

“As you command.”

As Horace made to leave the council, Yuriko stopped him. “Wait, we’ve yet to establish what to do and where to go.”

The past couple of days, while they had been stuck in the ruins, they’d explored a few options. For one, she could immediately seek out the thing that was calling to her. For another, they could find a place to fortify so she could explore in peace. Third, they could continue exploring Siderious and find out what it had to offer them.

She was leaning more into the second option, but it didn’t quite look possible. Along the plains leading towards the snow capped mountains were at least two other towns. The hill the ruins had been on was an isolated rise covered with thick woods, but the rest of the area looked cultivated. Which meant that if they wanted a defensible place, then the mountains were a good place to start.

Except there were roads leading towards a mountain pass. So perhaps there are settlements beyond those peaks too. Either way, they would have to avoid the warriors chasing after them first.

They decided to head towards the mountains first. Find a nice valley to rest in, then move towards the east, as the thing pulling at her was in the northeast. Then, once they’d secured a base, they would venture northward.

“I wish the farmers came with us,” Braden said. “We can’t rely on the fabricator right?”

“No,” Yuriko answered. “We can keep using it to build up an emergency stockpile, but for our daily needs, no. Also, since there’s fewer of us here, and we’re not in the middle of a desert, I can invest Animus into your condenser canteens every day so we’d have enough drinking water. The hunting looks to be easy, too, and we can trade with the locals. Carefully.”

“Right.”

With the meeting then adjourned, Yuriko settled on a tree branch and looked northward, towards the cliff they came from. The foliage was thick enough that she couldn’t see the ground, but maybe the warriors would spook the birds out of the leaves with their noise. The exploding sounds had caused a large flock of dark coloured birds to swarm earlier in the day.

As the sun rose to its zenith and began to move towards the west, she spotted movement along the ridge. After making sure that enough leaves and branches were in between her and the cliff, she activated Enhanced Sight to give her a clearer view.

“Eh, are those…?”

What looked like the barrels of Steam Cannons poked out of the tree line, followed by the rest of the…landcraft? It was a boxy and angular thing, with wide wheels? She couldn’t see from the angle, but the barrels swiveled on turrets, and were aimed slightly upwards. Then, the barrels pointed practically straight at her.

Her eyes widened as…

Boom! Booom! Boooom! Boooooom!

Flashes of light.

Thunk! Kaboom!

Something passed right through her perceptive aura, and slammed into the tree trunk below. It exploded and sent a wave of fire and shrapnel all around, followed by thick black smoke.

Yuriko leapt out of the branches, and glided towards the camp, which had been spared a direct hit.

“What happened!”

“Under attack!”

The two from the Federation, Izna and Arman, were panicking, while her own group as well as the marines, were clumping together. The beastkin had been out scouting, but she could see them converge towards the camp.

“Grab all your things!” Yuriko yelled. “We’ll go!”

The only safer path was along the woods. If they broke out of cover, those cannons could target them. She had no illusions that they’d be able to outrun landcraft in the open field, which then limited their choices. The forest extended to the west, and she thought she saw the glimmer of water in the distance. They could cross a river and forestall pursuit that way.

A few seconds later, the cannons spoke again with roars and explosions. This time, they were closer to the camp. A few trees at the edge toppled over, and fires began to overcome the damp wood.

“Ancestors!” Yuriko yelped.

These cannons shot much faster than the Federation’s Steam Cannons, and from the fires and shrapnel, struck much harder. Even if the explosives didn’t have Animus invested into them, the sheer kinetic energy was more than enough to overcome basic Field techniques. It was evident by how a few of the marines were wounded. Not too badly, but it didn’t look like the bombardment would stop anytime soon.

She glared at the cliff. The cannons were just a longstride away. She picked up a pebble with her Animakinesis, invested three lumens of Animus in it, aimed, and blasted it off, even going so far as to reduce her condensed aura to nearly nothing.

Wsssst! Booom!

She saw the stone strike the cannon’s landcraft. It rocked on its wheels at the impact, and Yuriko blinked in surprise. She didn’t actually expect that to happen. In Rumiga, when she tried to use her entire Animakinesis to throw a rock, it had disintegrated in the air, even with an investment of Animus. And here, using fifteen minutes’ worth of Animus, it had struck true.

Of course, when she checked for the actual damage, she was more than disappointed to see that the pebble had only made a hole on the vehicle, near the barrel. When the turret swung towards them again, and unleashed another shell, she knew that the attack was practically ineffective. She could shower the thing with Empowered Strikes, and waste her Animus. She wasn’t even sure if she could destroy the landcraft. Maybe if she hit the barrel…

Eyes widening in realisation, she grabbed another pebble, empowered it with three lumens and threw it.

West! Boom!

With a grin, she noted that there was a rather large dent on the cannon’s barrel. Good luck trying to use it without destroying itself. She eyed the other three landcraft, and shot three more pebbles in succession.

Wssst! Booom! Wssst! Booom! Wssst! Booom!

And now the three other cannons were disabled. But perhaps those men would be able to quickly repair the turrets. The dent wasn’t too large after all. She noticed that the damaged landcraft had retreated too.

Well, it didn’t look like they could rest for the rest of the day. With the landcraft with Steam Cannons mounted on them damaged, they could retreat without getting harassed. If they left now. She had no doubt that the opposing warriors, especially since they seemed to know where she and the others were.

She waited until the rest of her team had hurried ahead. She checked for the beastkin, and found them already with the group.

“Head west. Stay under cover until nightfall, then break towards the mountains.”

She planned to hang back and harry the pursuers, but after half an hour and with nothing happening on the cliffside, she decided to catch up with her group.

It didn’t take the rest of the day to reach the end of the woods. The glimmer of water turned out to be a lake rather than a river. It stretched towards the southwest. The northern shore had a couple of villages, and there were a few boats plying the waters. They were headed back to the docks at this hour though. The southern shore looked barren, but she thought she saw another dock farther south, so perhaps there were more people there. Enhanced Sight allowed her to inspect the fisherfolk, which were mostly old men and women of all ages. All human.

They continued travelling throughout the night. The southern area was more secluded, and she saw more than a few groves as well as the foothills of the tall mountains. They kept away from the villages throughout the night, easily visible from their lights.

Among other things in this strange countryside, were several wooden poles connected to each other with black ropes. They were constructed along the roads and were easily visible in the distance. They were more scarce nearer the foothills, but there was a line heading straight towards a pass. Looking at it from here, even in the darkness, Yuriko thought she saw glimmers of lantern light halfway up the mountain. So it wasn’t as deserted as she expected.

They made camp close to dawn, at a relatively secure spot between trees, a fold in the land, and some large boulders. They had a hasty meal and most of them went to sleep. Yuriko meditated for several hours, hoping to replenish her distilled Chaos reserves. Her Animus reserves were nearly three fourths of the way full, but she was the only one who managed to recover. Most of the others gained five lumens worth if they were Journeymen level, or ten if they were Knights.

As she sank into her meditative state, she suddenly felt it again. Someone was watching her.