The Azure Dragon

by Vladimir Vasilenko

  I scratched the back of my head. Given the new information, I saw more and more sense in Hanuman's mumbling. I wished I'd remembered his chatter word for word. I should have written it down. He was definitely talking about some bitter fruit. That was about Jubacca. And about the seeds irrigated by heavenly dew. And about the one who whispers. And something about the flow of rivers…

  "Hanuman talked about the fact that I need to outsmart someone who stops the rivers from flowing. Who's that? Some powerful sorcerer?"

  Bao smiled and shook his head.

  "You'll find out in time. However, it's hardly relevant to your problem. This hints at the pilgrimage of the adept of the Wood Element. Monks of the Wood Element should complete it to learn the basic skills of this element. Over time, they will get a chance to challenge Hanuman and, by defeating the monkey King, they become a Master of Wood. You'll find out when you get to the Eternal Banyan."

  "But how do I find it?"

  "Oh, it's not that hard. Much easier than finding the other trees. You just have to go upstream."

  "Which river?"

  "Any river. All Uobo rivers originate in the Lake of Life, and therefore are at the roots of the Eternal Banyan. When you reach it, you can easily find the throne of Hanuman. And again, you will be able to speak with the monkey king."

  "To be honest, one time was enough for me. Why do I need to talk to him?"

  "Because nothing in Uobo happens without him knowing. He is omnipresent, cunning and almost omnipotent. And if anyone can help you defeat your enemies without an open fight, it's him. You just have to convince him that he will benefit from it, too."

  "But how?! He's crazy!"

  "Did I say it would be easy?" Bao shrugged his shoulders and reached for his tools again.

  He's gotta be kidding me!

  "Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna keep working on my rock garden. You said you weren't staying long. Besides, something strange is happening in Artar without you. It looks like a fight."

  "Right in the camp?" I started. "A vanara attack?"

  "You'd better see for yourself," the Xy answered evasively.

  I jumped to my feet and inadvertently knocked over a couple of rocks assembled by him. I didn't even touch them—they fell from the vibration of the soil. His eyes flared up, and he froze, spreading his fingers over the stones as if trying to put them back into place with the power of his mind.

  "Oops! I'm sorry, teacher!"

  I left the Misty Hall before these stones could hit me in the back.

  Immediately upon arrival back in Artar I was overwhelmed by a flurry of screaming, stomping, applauding, shrilling, coming from behind the palisade.

  What's going on in there?!

  There was no gate at the camp—just another section of wooden palisade that was three times wider than the gap in the main wall, at a distance of only a couple of yards from it. This way, potential attackers would have to go around this area on the left or right and break through the relatively narrow tunnel, which, in turn, was perfectly visible from the watchtowers and within the archers' reach. So I had to follow through this tunnel to return to the camp.

  I saw a crowd of people on the other side of the fence. It looked like everyone who was online at the moment had gathered here—not counting Terekhov's squad, there were no less than twenty people.

  It's gotta be a fight. The girls are fighting! Our girls!

  Edge dodged a blow by effectively jumping to the side. She rolled and, with a slight hiss that sounded like water splashed on the hot stones, she became invisible. A transparent haze that was similar to movements of heated air over fire, flashed over ground and signified Edge's movements.

  But she had nowhere to go from the dense circle formed by onlookers. Kata was very well aware of that, and with a fierce cry, she rushed to attack, spinning her bludgeon around. Tinkling on its chain, the heavy spiked end cut through the air at different levels. The sorceress whipped it at the mid-section level, sporadically lowering it towards the ground. She got Edge in a moment, knocking her out of invisibility.

  Growling, the assassin rolled on the ground, holding onto her injured thigh. Kata wanted to finish her off with a sweeping blow from above but missed. Edge was fast and twirling like a little lizard—I know this for a fact because I had a chance to get in a fight with her myself. She started a counter-attack, managing to hit her opponent at the wrist and knock out her weapon. Now she was in a position to attack her with the sai daggers. Kata managed to intercept one of her hands, but the second dagger landed right in her stomach, piercing through the leather armor. The sorceress used her free hand to cast an ice arrow. The magic icicle hit the assassin at close range, deeply piercing her body above the left clavicle, between the neck and shoulder. Instead of re-casting her spell, Kata just grabbed her opponent's throat.

  Together they fell to the ground, rolled, screeching and swearing at each other, disproving the bias about girls being delicate and sophisticated creatures.

  Meanwhile, the spectators kept cheering up the amazons and hooting at them. Someone from the crowd yelled out greasy jokes, saying that it would be better for the girls to fight naked in a tub of jelly.

  I looked around, trying to find Terekhov or someone else from the crew in the crowd, but it was pointless.

  Where the hell are they? These fools are going to kill each other!

  I pushed the onlookers aside to get through to the girls and rushed to separate the fighters amid the chorus of boos. By now, Edge was on top and, intercepting the dagger with both hands, she pressed it, trying to stab the other girl in the eye. Kata held her wrists, but it was obvious that the struggle wouldn't last long. I hesitated for a second, not knowing how to approach them. They were girls, after all. I couldn't just kick the assassin in the gut and drag her away by the hair. In the end, I just grabbed her waist from behind and pulled her away with one jerk.

  Kata immediately rolled to the side, picked up the dropped flail, and jumped up, obviously going to rush back into the fight. Edge quickly recovered.

  "Break away!" I yelled, spreading my arms and rushing between them just like a referee at a boxing match.

  Genghis's people whistled and honked and reviled me. I think rotten tomatoes were about to fly at me.

  "What the fuck are you doing, baldie?"

  "Let them fight! It's all fair, one on one!"

  "Hey, I bet two gold coins on the pretty one! You owe me!"

  "Which one is the pretty one?"

  "Give me my money back, I said!"

  Some of the spectators have already gotten into it. I didn't care—the screams seemed distant as if coming through a thick wall. I felt like an animal tamer in a cage with two angry tigresses.

  "Hey, chill out! Kata! Edge! Are you out of your minds?"

  "Get out of the way!" The sorceress growled, spinning the flail and seeming generally oblivious to the blood gushing from her wounds on the abdomen.

  "Kata, stop! Is this all because of me? Are you jealous?”

  Her eyes widened and flared with even greater fury.

  "What?!" She screamed. "What are you talking about?"

  "Well, I just... I thought that…"

  Edge laughed openly, watching my dumbfounded face.

  "Jerk!" Kata hissed, eyeing me. Then she added a couple of curses, pushed the spectators aside, and broke out of the circle.

  "Are they having a fling?" Laughed one of the fighters.

  "Yeah. The little hopper is a ladies' man!"

  Edge sighed, patted me on the shoulder, and left too.

  I was left alone in a rapidly dispersing crowd and felt as if I had been spat on.

  What the hell! Why did I even bother? I should have let them stab each other with daggers all they want! In the end, it's all my fault.

  Finally, Terekhov, Bers, and the rest showed up. They followed Genghis and Karim, coming out of the big tent that served as the headquarters of the detachment. They must have been discussing something. At the sight o
f the leader, the fighters instantly fell silent and pretended to be busy. He drilled them well.

  "Everyone, report in fifteen minutes," announced the head of the Hounds. "Everyone who is involved in the expedition, check your ammunition and recharge to double the norm. Everyone who is staying here, distribute the duties in the camp. Do not leave the camp or go farther than a quarter mile from the perimeter.”

  He turned to Terekhov.

  "Well, I hope your task is clear to you."

  The paladin nodded.

  "Don't let down your guard!" Genghis shouted. "This jungle's trying to drive us out. We'll have to chew our way through steel."

  "Well, that's why we are the Steel Hounds!" Said one of the fighters.

  As if on cue, the others barked like a pack of dogs. This gruff, polyphonic cry echoed over the camp, startling a flock of small monkeys and some bird.

  "Get to work!" Terekhov muttered, walking past me. Our small squad has gotten together—even Kata and Edge joined in, still healing their wounds.

  Well, alright. Let's get to work. Pardon me, commander, but I have my own plans in this campaign…

  Chapter 10. Back to Basics

  My suspicions about Genghis and his operation were confirmed. Once again, he ordered to pay a visit to the old camp, and this time, he wanted us to destroy the constructed altar and keep scouring the jungle until we found and marked other Qi sources and altars on the map. I don't know much about the military, but I think it's called "drawing their fire". If we were in the real world, this mission would get us a big award and we’d be remembered long after we were gone.

  We took a different route to get back to the camp. This time, we decided to get to it from the northwest, so we could explore the surrounding area and possibly find other altars. Well, “decided” is a wrong word, actually. Uobo was still unexplored territory for us, so we entirely relied on Viper. In fact, he probably chose this path to avoid running into Genghis's main detachment, which was also moving deep into the peninsula.

  The land to the north of the old camp was a continuous thicket of bamboo with occasional giant-sized shorea trees that reached almost two hundred feet in height. Their trunks were as smooth as masts, about ten feet wide, and their crowns closed high above our heads with a solid green canopy.

  This area, according to Viper, was relatively safe and was used by their squad as a permanent hunting ground. Bamboo rats—huge rodents the size of a mini-pig—inhibited this area, sharing it with pandas, monkeys, and all sorts of lizards, as if all of them escaped from the movies about dinosaurs. There were also a lot of snakes and toads. Medium-sized alligators swarmed in numerous small lakes and ducts between the thickets. The medium-sized ones were those that could halve a man with their teeth in one bite.

  All these animals were a relatively easy prey for trained and well-equipped players, and therefore, Genghis’s people were actively attacking and farming the local animals. Apparently, it was profitable: from skins alone, one could start an average tannery.

  "As long as you stay out of the water, you’ll be fine," Viper advised. "Inkanyamby could even be in puddles that are only knee-deep. Also, gbahali and large anacondas sometimes wander off here, too.”

  We had started to develop phobias of the local ponds even before his warnings. God knows what could be hiding in these pools of water that was so muddy and murky, that I wasn't sure whether it was because of the impurities of clay or some algae. Wading through small areas while using the staff felt like stirring thick soup. Every time before stepping in, Viper checked the depth with his spear. We all followed his example, having chopped some bamboo stems for this purpose.

  We moved slowly though we didn't have to hack our way into the thickets with swords. It was like a bamboo maze—different-sized stems grew in a dense system, and we couldn't see anything ten steps ahead of us. We couldn't go straight either because then we'd just come to a dead-end like a pond or a swamp, which we had to get around. Terekhov and Daniel took the hardest hit as they had the heaviest armor. Under its weight their boots got stuck in the viscous clay soil and pulling them out of this quagmire required much effort.

  There were lots of mobs along the way, but we tried not to waste time on them, and take down only those who absolutely had it coming. In the meantime, Doc entertained himself the way he liked it—he raised undead from a dozen bamboo mice and incited this tailed squad on everything in his sight.

  By the way, zombie rodents turned out quite nimble and fierce and were definitely more dangerous than their prototypes. A crowd of them easily dealt with lizards the size of a calf. Doc's skill grew by leaps and bounds. Not long ago, the living dead were useless in battle, and now we had tangible reinforcements, with whom we didn’t have to share the experience. We didn't mind losing them either. If only the necromancer's teammates didn't stink so much, they'd be priceless.

  All the way I was wondering how I could break away from the squad unnoticed, but soon the jungle itself gave me a great chance. And Doc helped me without knowing it.

  We had just come to the shore of a long, curved pool of stagnant water and stopped to figure out how to get to the other side. The pack of Doc's animals immediately attacked an alligator that decided to doze off on a mound, exposing its lumpy back to the rare sunrays that peeked through the canopy of the giant trees.

  The toothy creature was quite large—five feet in length—and bamboo rats were probably its traditional breakfast. So these zombie rats that started tearing pieces of meat from its sides with their incisors, came as a complete surprise to the predator. Moreover, they went after him with some special frenzy as if they were moved by a genetic despise towards their nemesis. The reptile tried to escape by diving underwater, but it didn't work out because the bloodthirsty rats, shrieking, rushed after it and gnawed it even in the water, like huge hairy piranhas.

  That’s when a third party intervened. First, there was a movement in the water so large that it formed a mini-tsunami. Some huge animal lazily breached out of the water and in one fell swoop covered the alligator and rodents, hanging on it. The animal’s broad back, covered with shapeless growths, looked like that of a snake, but was flat. The dimensions of the monster and its shape were difficult to estimate immediately because most of its body was still hiding in the muddy water. But when it came up to the surface, at least partially, it became clear that it should have stayed on the bottom of the lake or, even better yet, never been born.

  "Holy shit!" Sting screamed, lowering the bow that he had raised to take aim. "What the hell is this?!"

  "I have no idea!" Viper replied, his eyes bulging out at the beast with undisguised horror.

  The monster resembled a long woodlouse, ten feet wide and thirty feet long. When it came out of the water, it arched its back, looking like a cobra that was ready to attack. On the underside of its flat body were a dozen round sucking mouths, framed by sharp needle-like teeth. Apparently, it had tentacles hiding underwater, because the creature was moving quite quickly along the bottom.

  Our screaming must have attracted it. Leaving the half-eaten alligator, it rushed forward with a powerful jerk, splashing fountains around. The Hounds scattered. Becoming a hero right now wasn't my plan, so, maneuvering between the stalks of bamboo, I ran away in the direction of the nearest shorea tree. Stopping at its trunk, I looked up in search of the lowest branch. All of the branches were at least thirty feet above me.

  Frog Leap!

  I jumped up, stretching out my right hand. Yeah, a wannabe Superman. On takeoff, I tried to slow down using the Soaring Falcon bead, and then activated the Stinger ejection.

  The silver dart shot upward, unleashing the rope. Yes! Thankfully, it was long enough. In a moment, I hung on a thin but strong silver cable. Now the pull... The rope began to tighten rapidly, pulling me up like a winch. It shrank to its minimum length of three feet, and there I was, clinging to the cracks in the bark, releasing the Stinger and shooting it again, aiming even higher.

  Ha, it w
orks! I wish I had it in real life—then I could set up challenges for the speediest ascent.

  Stinger release—pull—and I was in a fixed position. Again, release—pull—and in one fell swoop, I was several feet above the prior point. Now the branches were closer to one another. When I reached a convenient fork, about a hundred feet above the ground, I took a break and looked down.

  It was kind of fun to look down at the familiar world from that height. It’s like climbing to the roof of a building and looking at the streets below. There's something philosophical about it. City bustle is then in front of you, at a glance. The cars, scurrying up and down the street, people swarming like ants in a disturbed anthill. And you're just watching them all like it's another dimension. Almost no one ever looks up. In fact, the roofs made me feel as if I were on a different planet. A planet of endless space and freedom. The monolith walls and ceilings of the concrete jungle aren't suffocating when you are on a roof of a tall building.

  In the upper tier of the virtual jungle, everything was also quite different. The shorea branches were overgrown with vines, intertwined, forming a labyrinth of living bridges over the precipice. While the undergrowth always had a sort of green twilight, here, it was full of light and bright colors. Multi-colored birds fluttered from branch to branch; bunches of exotic fruit were hanging around; flowers were blooming. There were as many animals up here as there were down below, but they were mostly harmless. At least, on first impression.

  The lower tier from here looked like impassable wilds, with some creatures only occasionally being distinguishable. There was that lake, where we stumbled upon the unknown creature. The water in it was still moving, and the bamboo thickets around were also disturbed. I couldn't see the Hounds, but the trajectory of their movement could be determined the swinging plant tops and small birds flying away.

  And there's the monster. Wow, its is still after them!

  Briskly, it bent its back like a giant caterpillar.

  Okay, I'm gonna leave them be and have fun for now. By the time they realize that I'm not around, I'll be far away. In a mess like this, it's hard to understand who's gone where. Most likely, they will decide that I died and will check the nearest menhirs. This will win me some time. I think I have a couple of hours. After that...