The morning sun revealed the true cost of Rylan's "closed gate" policy.
The bodies lay twenty yards beyond the wall. Crows scattered whenever a watcher moved above them, then returned. No one had yet gone out to learn the dead people's names.
A metallic smell reached the wall when the breeze turned. Lyra found flies gathering at the service opening and sent for cloth to cover the food.
Rylan stood in the center of the training yard, stripped to the waist, ignoring the stench. He moved through the forms of the Azure Dragon's Breath, his body glistening with sweat.
"Breath like the wind," he muttered.
He inhaled, pulling the ambient Wood Qi from the surrounding forest into his lungs. It was harder now; the forest outside was tainted with the metallic blood-energy of the Crimson Lotus war machine.
He struck a wooden post.
CRACK.
He held the scale before striking, as he had practiced. The post splintered at the point of impact. His left shoulder tightened in warning, and he stopped before the next blow.
"You are scaring them," a voice said.
Rylan didn't stop his forms. "I know. I'm trying to make the watch predictable again."
Lyra walked into his peripheral vision. She looked tired. Her hands were stained yellow from sulfur; she had been up all night manufacturing bolts for the new ballistae.
"The villagers are asking to retrieve the bodies," Lyra said flatly. "They want to bury them. The children can see them from the houses."
Rylan stopped, exhaling a plume of white Qi. He turned to look at her.
"After we know the approach is clear," Rylan said. "Ropes from the service opening. No one goes beyond cover alone."
"Rylan, it's a health hazard. Flies, disease—"
"I thought leaving them might tell the sect we weren't protecting the Empire," Rylan said. Hearing himself explain it to Lyra made the thought sound no less ugly. "We move them when it's safe. Record the names if anyone knows them."
Lyra sighed, switching to her role as strategist. "We have food for three weeks if we ration. Water is fine; the well is inside the perimeter. But the Spirit Oil... Mei says the barrier burned through 5% of its charged reservoir last night vaporizing that single beast. If they attack in force, the barrier lasts maybe an hour."
"Then we need to make sure they don't attack in force," Rylan said. "We need to remain a mystery. A hazard they prefer to bypass."
BZZZT.
The metal orb on Rylan's belt vibrated. It was the signal from the watchtower.
"Master," Elara's voice came through, tight and whispered. "Target. Sector One. Right at the kill zone."
Rylan grabbed his sword. "Army?"
"No," Elara replied. "One man. He... he isn't walking. He's hovering."
Rylan exchanged a look with Lyra. Hovering meant significant cultivation control.
"Clear the walls," Rylan ordered Lyra. "Get everyone out of sight. I don't want him to see a militia. I want him to see a ruin."
Rylan climbed the watchtower ladder, ignoring the throb in his healing shoulder. He joined Elara in the cramped observation nest.
She looked pale, her splinted hands resting on her lap, her eyes glued to the scope. She gestured with her elbow toward the north.
Rylan took the scope.
There, floating a few inches above the carnage of the refugees, was a figure robed in deep crimson silk. He was bald, his skin tattooed with intricate, moving blood-runes. He held a long, thin metal rod that twitched like a dowsing stick.
[Ding! Threat Analysis.]
[Target: Crimson Lotus "Blood-Seeker" (Specialist).]
[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment (Mid-Stage).]
[Role: Tracker/Investigator.]
[Ability: Can reconstruct events from residual blood aura.]
Rylan's blood ran cold. A reconstruction specialist.
The Seeker wasn't looking at the refugees. He was ignoring the bodies entirely. He was floating toward the spot where the Blood-Beast had hit the barrier and vaporized.
He was tracking the missing beast.
"He knows," Rylan whispered.
Through the scope, Rylan watched the Seeker stop at the scorch mark on the ground—the only evidence that the barrier had triggered. The Seeker lowered his rod. The tip glowed red. He touched the scorched earth.
The Seeker's head snapped up. He looked directly at the invisible air where the barrier hummed.
He reached out a hand, his fingers glowing with red Qi, and gently pressed against the air.
Ripple.
The barrier reacted, shimmering into visibility for a split second—a web of green iron-wood energy.
The Seeker smiled. It was a hideous, lipless smile. He tapped the side of his head, activating a communication earring.
"He's calling it in," Elara hissed. "Master, if he reports a Grade-4 Barrier in a peasant village..."
"They will know we possess Spirit Ore," Rylan finished. "And they will know who raided their mine."
If that report went out, the war wouldn't bypass Oakhaven. It would descend upon it.
"Mei!" Rylan shouted into his receiver. "Do we have a solution for a single target? Silent?"
Mei's voice came back, panic-stricken. "The ballistae are loud, Master! And the barrier is purely defensive! I can't reach out and grab him!"
Rylan looked at the Seeker. The man was speaking into his earring now, his lips moving rapidly.
Rylan had seconds.
He looked at the distance. Two hundred yards. Too far for his Azure Dragon Claw. Too far to sprint before the man flew away.
The longbow stood in a padded clamp beside the scope. Elara had used that rest during training, with Rylan drawing while she called small corrections. The shared exercise let him match the release to her sighting without asking her hands to carry the load. It worked only at a fixed position, on a target she could keep in view.
"Can you see his throat?" he asked.
"Left of the rod. He turns when he speaks."
Rylan seated the iron-tipped arrow and drew with his right arm, bracing the bow against the clamp. His left shoulder burned even with its weight supported. Elara stayed behind the scope, splints against her chest.
"A little right. Hold."
He fed a measured thread of Wind Qi along the shaft. It would shed speed and accuracy at this range; the clamped aim and still target were their chance.
"Now."
He released.
The arrow launched with the force of a ballista bolt. It screamed through the air, wrapped in a spiraling vortex of green wind.
The Seeker heard the sound. He started to turn, a shield of blood forming instantly.
The shield had not closed around the hand holding the earring. The arrow crossed that gap before the Seeker completed his turn.
The iron tip punched through the blood shield. It punched through the crimson robes. It punched through the Seeker's throat.
The force of the Wind Qi detonated on impact.
SPLAT.
The Seeker's head vanished in a mist of red. His body dropped out of the air like a stone.
Elara stayed at the scope until the body stopped moving. Then she leaned back, pale with concentration. Her hands remained in their splints. Rylan let go of the bow and pressed his good hand against the shoulder dressing.
Rylan took the scope only after Elara confirmed she could stand without help.
The body lay still. The earring lay in the grass, silent.
[Threat eliminated. Coordinated technique recorded: Joint Strike.]
[Requires practiced timing and a shared target. No transfer of injury tolerance.]
Rylan could not tell how much the interface had added beyond the coordination they had rehearsed. He would test it when a failed attempt did not mean a report reaching an enemy.
Rylan checked Elara before checking the fallen man again. The earring was silent, but they had no way to know how much he had sent.
He asked the second watcher to bring Elara water and stay at the scope. She had been awake long enough.
"Good sighting," Rylan said. "Now take the next watch off."
He stood up and keyed his receiver.
"Lyra," Rylan said. "The Seeker is down. But he might have sent a partial signal."
"What do we do?" Lyra asked.
"We assume they are coming," Rylan said. "Prepare the villagers. Tonight, we don't sleep."
He looked at the headless corpse in the field.
The Crimson Lotus knew something was here. The Jade Empire suspected a rogue. Rylan was running out of shadows to hide in.
It was time to stop hiding.
"Mei," Rylan said into the orb. "Prepare the Spirit Ore. We aren't just building walls anymore. I want you to build me a trap."