B2 Chapter 247: Bonefields, pt. 1

Their walk from Deadacre was a long one—filled with cold wind and frigid rain. The waxed canvas cloaks they had to keep off the weather helped, but it didn’t make the late autumn climate pleasant.

Thankfully, with their stats and gear, unpleasant was all it was. A mild discomfort at most.

If one thing worked in their favour, it was that the local creatures were as beaten down by the weather as they were. Favouring their dens and nooks instead of ranging widely across the plains and forests that surrounded Deadacre.

Combined with their growing strength, they faced far less aggression than they otherwise would have—most beasts willing to let them pass as soon as it became obvious they had no interest in harassing them, or challenging them for their territory.

That didn’t mean there were no fights during their journey. More than once they had spotted a creature of a size and strength that could prove troublesome for the unprepared, or beasts that had grown temperamental under the ministrations of the rising mana. Easy enough for a team of their calibre to deal with, but not necessarily a hamlet, or a caravan.

Spiders the size of dogs, nesting in the trees over a road. A rare direbear, making its den a bare league from a small village. Those were the standouts. Nothing that broached level sixty, but enough of a threat to the unprepared that it felt reckless to leave them.

Small breaks from the monotony, but enough for a few skill levels, and to get the blood pumping.

After three weeks of travel, they arrived at the river that they had spotted on the map, curling its way through meadows and cutting through clustered trees. The weather was thankfully mild, a pallid overcast that muted the colours of the world around them—with only the faintest hint of a drizzle.

It was a good enough spot to try and bag a few deer, or something similar that they could use as bait—the Bone-fields were a bare day’s walk at a casual pace to their east.

Crouched on a gentle rise, Kaius swept his gaze through the trees, leaning on his Truesight to cut through the murky shadows cast from the clouds above. He’d spotted a few larger creatures drinking from the waters on their approach, but nothing since they were close enough to actually strike.

So he sat, and waited—his team clustered around him.

After a quarter hour, it became obvious that the boredom grew too much for Porkchop. He shifted, looking over to Kaius and Ianmus.

“What do we do if Rieker is right? If we’re attacked before we are ready?”

Kaius paused, staring off into the woods as he digested the sudden question. It was something that had sat at the back of his mind, but every time he considered it, he came up at a loss.

Unless it was some common bandits, underestimating them, he really couldn’t see such a confrontation going well. Anyone who had the resources to watch them closely enough to discover their strength, would have the people on hand to deal with it.

He sighed, shrugging. “I wish I had a better answer than ‘fight like a demon, and try to survive’, but I don’t.”

A shallow chuff left Porkchop’s throat, though Kaius could feel the undercurrent of worry that simmered beneath it.

“It’s still probably worth thinking about,” Ianmus replied, leaning on his staff. “For all we can hope that Rieker is wrong, or that we get lucky, we should still act like it’s a certainty.”

“Fine,” Kaius replied. He knew Ianmus was right, but every time he started to think about it, he tied his brain up in knots, and his chest felt like it had a heavy weight dropped on it.

“Most likely contenders? Aside from some ballsy thugs, or the obvious danger of the Onyx Temple, that is.” he continued.

Those two represented two extremes of the threat—one they would deal with easily, and the other one they had no chance against unless they got lucky and were underestimated.

“Local nobility?” Porkchop asked. “I know you always mentioned that they were a large risk.”

Ianmus shook his head. “There aren’t any—at least not with any significant presence. We’d have to get supremely unlucky for the blue-blooded to have noticed us.”

Kaius nodded along to his teammates’ words—it was a defining feature of the Frontier. With how low value the lands were, no dynasty of any reasonable ability bothered to exert their influence here directly. Sure, agents and businesses had ties to a dozen dozen powers across central Vaastivar, but there were no strongholds.

Even the governors of Deadacre and Grandbrook barely counted as powers in the truest sense. If anyone of real means took an interest in the cities, their rulers would find themselves ousted before the week was out.

Kaius doubted that the governour himself would have any interest. While they might envy their abilities, they would be far more likely to try to extort the guild for concessions in return for their secrecy—they relied on it far too much to risk damaging their relationship, and Kaius doubted they had the resources to pull off an abduction directly under Rieker’s nose.

He paused, finding himself absent of the simmering tension that normally came with thinking about the danger they were in. It seemed working through it with his team really had helped.

“It could end up being a team of Delvers—corrupt ones. That guy from our first visit did mention that not everyone in the guild was a ray of sunshine.” Kaius said, thinking back on the many, many figures that would have seen them interacting so closely with Ro. Surely that would arouse some suspicions.

Porkchop snorted, flexing his claws so that they dug into the dirt.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not all that concerned about a delving team from Deadacre. You’ve seen them—unless they have a secret team of tier two Silvers hanging around, we’ll wipe the floor with them.” his brother said confidently, a low growl in the back of his throat.

That was…true. While most of Deadacre’s delvers were putting in the work and growing like wildfire in the current climate, none of them were exactly the cream of the crop. The city was remote, relatively poor, and—from what Ianmus had told him—embarrassingly small. Anyone of any exceptional skill tended to leave for greener pastures quickly.

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“I hate to say it, but what if it is the Onyx Temple?” Ianmus said, his voice low.

“Then we go back to my original plan, fighting like demons.” Kaius replied softly.

He hadn’t sat idle in the months since he had discovered the nature of his enemy—he’d done his research.

They were too competent, too resourceful, and too strong for them to handle. Every report he’d seen implied that they watched, waited, and then struck with overwhelming force.

The only saving grace they had is that they’d be taken alive—a small one, considering what would likely happen under the Temple’s care.

Potential imprisonment made Kaius feel all the more dour, made worse by the gray clouds and drizzle that seemed to be a reflection of his mood. Still, if they were captured alive, there would be opportunities to struggle.

He wasn’t one to simply consign himself to woe and death when there was the chance of seizing his fate in his own hands.