Chapter 420: Chapter 420 - A Bit Of Trouble Now, A Bit More To Come
The heavy sigil covered block began its slow lift directly upward, attached to the massive chains hidden inside the wall structure. Links catching over reinforced gears one by one, with a pull powered by a set of rituals much more simplified than what the Continent used for their train engines, the bottom side was up high enough for the first to pass through by the time the new arrivals drew close.
Marching at their head, Qatrand recognized the acid-scarred woman from the meeting. A grim but determined set of features were painted on her face as she helped support one side of a figure - whose identity became clear once you stopped paying attention to the bloodied bandages around his skull.
Salghis er Nalbet was conscious, but moving like every step cost him significant effort and caused much pain. His left arm hung useless at his side and other filthy stains all across his clothing suggested a set of injuries underneath that went beyond the headwound. But he remained at the front of his people.
"...What happened?"
Looking up at the pigeon blues that... didn’t cause this, but caused it... hands tightened on her Guild Leader’s good arm as she looked bitterly at the unmarred hero in their black suit. It only increased in intensity when she could see a similar look on the Yecine’s face to the one that the man she held had used when starting all of this.
’Proven right about dangers they’d hoped to be wrong about. Ready to fight to the end anyway. Stupid young people... all of them.’
"Coup attempt. Started thirteen hours after you left with the evacuation group."
She helped settle Salghis into a fresh stretcher, one that the Empath of the strikeforce sent out with what small corps of healer-likes she could put together out of the Army and other civilian mortals. Her burden and duty lost, she leaned on the supply crate as other fort personnel moved to assist the wounded Saltfire and those struggling with them.
"Should have... listened closer... to your warnings... about desperate people."
The man managed to wheeze out as he was carried away. Qat was confident he would make it through, even if it wouldn’t be a fast recovery. Though she was, like most times of the day, saddened that her cute wife was not around to provide her level of assistance. She was better than any single medic and probably all of them combined!
Or... just to be there. To cheer her up and cheer her on in ways that the memory of her was failing to do. Because while she was sure that Elua would do both things, she was having a harder and harder time picturing... how.
"How many?"
"Twenty seven of them are left that got away, we think. We did do a rough headcount - but we didn’t have time to wait with all the injured. To count out the dead we had to leave from the missing combatants. So if you’re thinking of going after-"
"Not that. Not yet. I was asking about how many lost their lives because of my advice."
The woman was suddenly not sure what to say, but she frowned. She certainly did not want to make the young man feel better, yet the clear and immediate ’self-recrimination’ did at least make her not want to hurt them more. Licking her parched mouth, she cleared her throat while rubbing at her acid scars.
"Up to a hundred. The thirty two mortals that remained with us... were attacked first. Likely because their understanding of certain jobs and hidden information inside was important. We think a few were even kidnapped, but we have no proof they did not just execute them elsewhere."
That left ’up to’ more than five dozen cultivators that were killed in some kind of small and fast civil war... a power keg that Qatrand did not plant. But one which she did ’teach’ Salghis how to set the fuse for - and which the rogue faction clearly decided was the right time to light aflame.
"Did you learn why? Why they could do this to the people they should have called companions?"
She shook her head as Zonnel jogged over their way. Bringing her kit which included a personal waterskin - an item she quickly shared with the dehydrated looking woman before worrying over her carefully. She could feel the physical pain, or the spiritual annoyance at it, but wasn’t sure where on her it was coming from.
"Don’t mind me, keep talking."
"...Right. Salghis did tell them that he was going to be looking into everything that has been going on under his nose. They claimed they had nothing to hide and waited until most of our loyal members were either here with the evacuation or were out on delving operations. Then-"
She hissed and glared down at the healer, who nodded when she found the deep tissue bruising. Ice was not available to use on the contusion just yet, so she wrapped the leg with some compressive fabric for now.
"You need to get off this and rest."
"I know. I will. After I finish speaking."
"Please do not give me that ’I am older than you, so I know better’ look. You are not that much older. Our Commander would be more than happy to listen while taking you to the infirmary."
To ease the situation, Qatrand stepped forward and offered her arm to the scarred woman... leaving her to look between the healer with her determined expression and the hero whose guilt was likely driving their actions. Ultimately the fact that her leg did hurt won over any stubbornness.
"Fine."
Zonnel immediately made sure they were held stable before trailing off as they moved toward the infirmary. Her professional side had completely overtaken any deference to rank or age. Something developed on the battlefield truly thanks to the rumors of how Elua er Goltbred had handled the situation during the competition.
During triage, there was no time to argue extensively with people. Getting them to shut up and do what they were told while looking for more critically injured people was key. It was when they’d entered the corridor behind a line of people that the tale began again.
"They struck the command area first. Killed the night watch and seized the artifact storage. By the time we realized what was happening, they were holding the surviving mortals hostage."
Hearing this, the cultivator sent to help with evacuation felt more and more regret that she hadn’t circled back after seeing the rest of the team on their way. She had thought about it for the first few hours. But while ultimately they had not encountered any mass of Voidlings, if the group had while she was not around to help lower the burden... then a larger death toll could have possibly been incurred.
’Not that judging it that way makes me feel better. It just makes me feel worse. That I can’t be everywhere at once.’
It was the same feeling from when she was ’late’ to a disturbance area and casualties occurred. No matter how she was told, from herself or others, that they had been moving as fast as possible - the former Yecine still took it hard. She still felt like she was trying to find the balance of burden that strengthened and burden that overwhelmed.
"Then they told us we could either accept their new leadership or watch more civilians die. Salghis... he told them that threatening innocents made them no better than bandits."
"I imagine that’s when the real fighting started."
"Well, if you can call it that. They activated some of the artifacts we’d recovered and turned them on us."
At this, the heavy blade wielder wasn’t even sure what to say. It did explain why, beyond the surprise of it all, so many had died against such an outnumbered group. There was a reason that such items from the past were meant to be catalogued and handled with care.
"Terrain manipulation tools that work on scales too rapid for mere Enchanters to deal with. Opening pits and shoving massive columns of dirt into our side. Weapons with effects that would make it much simpler to fight in the Descents, probably making anyone a hero candidate with ease."
She grimaced. Some of them had been found months and months ago. They could have been sent to the Void Defense Society and studies started, instead of stored away for those they were already ’owed’ to.
"One of those was what caused a lot of his wounds. It splintered off shards that fired at incredible velocities. But they would also return to the weapon as if magnetized... and not necessarily in the same order so it remained unpredictable."
Already trying to judge the best way to go about fighting such a cultivator tool, she was unprepared when the woman stopped and pulled on the lapel of her blazer.
"But the worst of them all was the one that made some sort of unstable essence field. It shredded through the protective sigils carved into our temporary base. So much that a few of their number could collapse the structure on their own with some well placed strikes."
Hearing this didn’t exactly frighten her, though Qatrand would admit she’d never been buried in rubble. But it did make her think of something in particular. Reports she had seen lately... the number of Guild grounds that had been destroyed in this Descent being abnormally high.
All of them as if the Voidlings had been let inside with the protections down to rampage as they liked.
’And now I have a possible answer to that. Would it have been found out if my wife hadn’t been swept up into... another artifact that quite probably came from them? Or if she had not tried to handle whatever wrongdoing they were up to all on her own?’
In that regard, Qat found herself also to blame. While there was a lot on her mind... she had not pointed the finger at the Saltfire Storm Alliance for what had been done in the competition. Even though she knew - as did her El - that there were times the schemer needed to be well restrained.
That there were times when the ancient cultivator did not know everything.