Zeal of the Mind and Flesh

by Marvin Whiteknight

  “As far as I was aware, the Crimson Dragonfly tribe was classified as a tribe. You don’t have the right to govern anything beyond your tribes own holdings.”

  The Crimson Dragonfly chief shook her head. “That is no longer the case. We have made suitable offerings to the kingdom, and the moment we subdue the other tribes in this little forest, our status will rise to that of a clan, under a new name. A trifling dragonfly is no longer a sufficient symbol for us, thus we are now reforming under the new name of the Crimson Dragon clan.”

  Yulli shrugged. “I suppose I needed to establish my true abilities in this place sooner or later. Arbiter, please oversea this duel between the two of us.”

  The arbiter looked taken aback. She was an agent of the crown, and while she was qualified to oversea legal duels under the authority of the queen, her cultivation base was only at the mage acolyte rank. She was already stretching her authority by overseeing a duel between three mage acolytes and a true mage.

  “It would hardly be appropriate for me to oversea a duel between experts of your caliber, honored seniors. I would hardly be able to follow it…” The arbiter protested.

  The chief of the Crimson Dragon clan waved her hand, causing a scroll to shoot out from her sleeve into the arbiters’ hands. The arbiter grabbed the scroll, broke the seal, and scanned its contents.

  When she was finished reading, her face paled and anxiety was apparent on her face, but she nodded in affirmation. The duel would occur right here and now.

  Yulli glanced suspiciously at the arbiter, but her gaze quickly turned to her opponent and she sank into a ready position.

  The members of the three defeated tribes had looks on their faces ranging from glee to confusion, and all of them hurried off the field the moment they had bottled their kinsman’s souls.

  “This battle shall be between Yulli of the Songstone clan and Red Serpent of the Crimson Dragon clan! Begin! As this is a battle between Matriarchs, the fate of their clans hangs in the balance.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Yulli was acting entirely different for this fight than she did moments ago. There was a tenseness that set her lithe form ridged. It was obvious by comparing this version of her to how she acted moments ago that the previous fight was nothing but a joke compared to her attitude now.

  Matriarch Red Serpent responded in a similar fashion. I was curious to see what exactly the secret magic of the Crimson Dragonfly tribe was.

  Yulli struck first, wielding fire magic in one hand like a fist strike. It was the same move I’d seen her use to overwhelm Gurthari in one blow. This time however, the primary strike was merely a distraction.

  Fire zeal blasted out in a cylinder of fire, completely concealing Matriarch Red Serpent. Yulli shot a gout of flame out from her leg, letting her change direction in midair where she landed in another location behind her opponent, where she fired off a smaller, more condensed beam of fire zeal.

  The fire faded away, revealing Matriarch Red Serpent, who was holding a bracelet up in front of her, completely unharmed. A golden glow emanated from the bracelet, forming a dome around her. The way the surface of the item glimmered as the last tinges of Yulli’s flames curled around it I realized that it was some sort shield.

  Aegis of Flame Shielding (Wizard).

  This item will completely protect the wielder from direct fire zeal attacks below it’s level and reduce the impact of fire zeal at ranks at or above its rank.

  Yulli cursed. “How did a backwoods cultivator tribe manage to get their hands on a wizard level protective treasure?”

  This was bad. Yulli’s primary method of attack was fire zeal. I’d never seen any mentions of the wizard level before, but from Yulli’s reaction I guessed it was something even above the true mage levels.

  “I have friends in high places.” Matriarch Red Serpent replied.

  “So that’s the secret behind the Crimson Dragonfly’s recent expansion? You sold yourselves out to some powerful backers?” Yulli taunted.

  Matriarch Red Serpent didn’t take that well. Her face changed into a snarl, and she reached behind her. From a pouch at her side she drew an entire spear. Space warped around the opening of the bag, allowing a two-meter spear to fit into something no bigger than a purse.

  A bag of holding!

  Red Serpent lashed out with her spear, thrusting overhead in a powerful blow directed at Yulli’s heart. The speed was powered by the full strength of the Wizard level, and I was barely able to follow the point along its trajectory directly towards Yulli’s heart.

  A moment before it landed, Yulli reached around behind her into a pouch of her own. I’d never taken note of it before, but now that I was examining it I realized it was nearly identical to the bag Matriarch Red Serpent had strapped to her waist.

  From her own bag of holding, Yulli drew a fiery red sword. In one swing she drew it and bated Red Serpent’s spear to the side.

  “You’re not the only one with a powerful weapon!”

  Yulli dove towards her opponent. Matriarch Red Serpent tried to pull back to put Yulli at range again but she was too slow. Now that she was inside of Matriarch Red Serpent’s guard, the spear would be of little use. If Yulli landed a deadly slash here, the fight might be over like that.

  Just when it seemed that Yulli would land a blow, a pendant around Red Serpent’s neck glittered. A burst of light shot out of it and a stone sphere materialized in the air, crashing into Yulli’s sword and deflecting it away from her. Soon, dozens of stone spheres surrounded Red Serpent, orbiting her like tiny planets.

  Guardian Clay Pendant (Wizard)

  This pendant generates shapeable clay constructs that can be manipulated for defensive purposes.

  Yulli fell back just in the nick of time. Red Serpent cast aside her spear, which appeared to have no special properties, and replaced it with something far superior. This spear was the same in size and shape to her normal one, but that was where the similarities ended.

  Around the shaft where glowing lines, shaped like coiling dragons wrapped around the shaft. There was a blue dragon and a red dragon, and the jaws of each were wrapped around a deadly point of dark gray metal.

  Iron Spear of the Ancestor Dragon (Wizard)

  This spear contains the power of two wizard-level dragons who were killed and had their souls imprisoned in the spear. It is tipped with iron, which is cursed to be especially effective in slaying elves.

  If Yulli had been a moment slower, she would have been skewered on that spear tip. I’d seen what iron did to elves, and while I’d only ever used it on zeal accumulation-level elves, it still had a powerful effect. I had no doubt that that thing was very lethal.

  “How many wizard-level treasures do you have?” Yulli exclaimed, a bit of worry on her face. She knew she was the better fighter, but she hadn’t expected there to be such a gap in equipment between the two of them.

  “More than you can endure.” Matriarch Red Serpent said coolly. She bit her thumb, causing deep crimson blood spill out, which she smeared on the back of the spear, causing it to glow with a deadly light. Wings sprouted on her back, glowing a deep crimson red. When Red Serpent took a step afterimages shimmered around her as the wings shot her through the air at high speed.

  Yulli was forced backwards in a defensive stance. Red Serpent hovered in midair, swooping down to strike like a hawk with its eyes on a defiant rabbit.

  Yulli was on the defensive now. She couldn’t strike from a distance because of Red Serpent’s fire-repelling shield, so she could only battle with her sword. Except to fight with her sword, she would have to make direct contact with her weapon. That wasn’t possible with Matriarch Red Serpent hovering out of reach.

  “Coward.” Yulli cursed. “Fight toe to toe!”

  “Is wealth not another type of strength? You have your skill with a sword and fire zeal, my clan has its blood zeal and wealth.”

  “My clan had files on your people. You were a minor tribe of insignificant importance.
The Crimson Dragonfly tribe had no wealth to speak of and was bound to be destroyed by the Claw Tamer tribe sooner or later.”

  “As I said, we have friends in high places.” Red Serpent grinned. “I’ll give you a hint to whom.”

  Red Serpent’s body flickered as a set of plate armor came into existence around her, covering her head to toe. It was gold and silver, more in common with Yulli’s color theme than the crimson colors that Red Serpent wore. It clashed with the color of her clothes and blood-red hair.

  Songstone Elder Armor

  This armor is produced in the Songstone mines, controlled exclusively by the clan of the same name. It offers great protection but serves primarily as a symbol of status for the elders of their clan. It is forbidden for outsiders to wear it. The Songstone clan will kill anyone caught doing so to maintain their honor. After the Songstone clan’s fall, these sets of armor were looted by the conquerors.

  Yulli’s eyes went wide and furious. I could feel many of the former Songstone clan members react with rising rage.

  “You!” Yulli snarled. “You teamed up with them!”

  “That’s right. Our backers are the Sakaku clan. Your Songstone clan couldn’t fight them when you were at full strength. And you think you can oppose me with that rag-tag band of survivors? I think not. My friends at in the Sakaku clan told me to finish you off, and so I shall.”

  I sensed the hatred flowing off the former Songstone clan members. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted.

  “Don’t you mean your masters in the Sakaku clan?”

  Red Serpent’s gaze turned on me, a dark look in her eyes. But at the same time, the former Songstone clan members looked at me with admiration and loyalty. Their opinion of me had increased as I struck a verbal blow.

  Yulli sensed my train of thought. “Don’t fool yourself, snake. The Sakaku clan has masters of its own. Masters who will use you up and spit you out.”

  Red Serpents eyes scanned me up and down, examining me down to the core. I resisted the urge to flinch.

  She turned back to Yulli. “You need to control your subordinates. Not that you’ll have the chance too now. After this they’ll be slaves to the newly formed Crimson Dragon clan.”

  Things were not looking good. Yulli was on the defensive, and the first blow was soon struck on her left side. Blood shot out of her wounded limb and was siphoned through the air to swirl into a sphere in Red Serpent’s hand.

  The swirling pool of blood formed into a stream that flooded into the dragon-spear. The spear glowed brighter, and the next time it struck Yulli barely had the strength to parry it.

  Red Serpent struck at Yulli’s exposed back while she was still recovering from the first blow. Yulli cried out, as the iron tip of the spear poked out from her stomach.

  Her skin started turning gray as crimson light pulsed into the iron tip of the spear.

  Red Serpent planted her foot against Yulli’s back as her sword fell from her hands. She contemptuously kicked at Yulli’s back and pulled her spear out. Yulli staggered backwards for several steps. Then Red Serpent twirled the spear like a blade and severed Yulli’s head. She spit on the ground and kicked Yulli’s body in my direction. Before my eyes it started rapidly turning to dust, until it faded, leaving a glowing, golden yellow elf soul floating in the air. It was far larger than the mage acolyte level souls I’d seen before, but it was equally unmoving.

  To see someone so strong get cut down so easily… I took a deep breath to steady my nerves.

  I may have made a major miscalculation.

  “T-the match is finished. Matriarch Red Serpent is the victor.” The Arbiter announced in a shaking voice. She had been calm and steady when mage acolytes were getting cut down, but to see a true mage level expert die had left her shaken. “The kin of the deceased may now collect the soul of their fallen.”

  “No.” Matriarch Red Serpent interrupted. She picked up Yulli’s bag of holding, examining its contents for a moment before pulling out a soul jar. She popped open the lid and sucked Yulli’s soul inside.

  “Matriarch Red Serpent… it’s tradition that the kin of those defeated in a duel are permitted their relatives belongings and soul, so that they have the option for a resurrection…”

  “I am a relative of the deceased Matriarch Yulli now. The Crimson Dragon Clan reigns supreme over this forest. Henceforth, the Hearthwood forest shall be renamed the Crimson Dragon Forrest, and all tribes and cultivators that live within its bounds are subject to my rule.”

  “But that…” The arbiter tried to argue, but Red Serpent’s gaze was directed at the scroll in the arbiter’s hand. The arbiter gulped and nodded. “Yes, Matriarch Red Serpent.”

  “Then I assume I hold the rights bestowed on clan matriarchs by the queen?”

  The arbiter took a deep breath and nodded. “In the name of the queen, all elves of the Hearthwood forest are now the subjects of Matriarch Red Serpent and the Crimson Dragon Clan! Kneel before the power granted by the queen!”

  Every elf in the vicinity not from the Crimson Dragon clan was forced to their knees by a supernatural force. For those who weren’t mage acolytes, their foreheads where pulled to the ground where they lay in supplication.

  For me, I felt nothing. The magic must target something about elves. Despite that, seeing what was happening to those around me I thought it best to play along. I took a knee, though I kept my eyes level, scanning the faces of those in the other clans. Some were calm, but most were furious.

  I closed my eyes, feeling the beginnings of a plan spark in my mind.

  “Honored Matriarch,” I began. “I would consider it a personal favor if you could give the soul of our former Matriarch to me.”

  Red Serpent clicked her tongue. At first, she seemed like she was going to lash out at me on instinct, but she held herself back.

  “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you after two breaths of time. You’ve got quite the mouth on you. A pity the Hidden Serpent tribe wasn’t able to capture you first. I can think of better uses for that mouth of yours than what you seem to use it for.”

  If there was ever a time to be a man-whore, now was it. “A personal favor.” I promised the matriarch. “Anything you want.”

  “I could build a harem of male elves, each with a higher cultivation base than you. But still, you caught my attention with your boldness.” Red Serpent tossed Yulli’s soul jar into my waiting grasp. The way her eyes lingered on me made me suspect that she was bluffing. From what I’d seen thus far, a chaka was a rare prize for any elf clan. “Even if you manage to restore her, she’ll have to build her cultivation base back up, and I doubt she’ll have the talent to do so without the resources of the Songstone clan.”

  “Many thanks.” I replied slowly, not trusting myself to keep my tone neutral if I used too many words.

  Red Serpent licked her lips. “I’m going to call in that favor soon as things settle down. Enjoy the next few days while you can…”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The next week in Queenshold was unpleasant, to say the least. The Crimson Dragon clan wasted no time displaying their superiority over the local tribes of elves. As the rulers of this region, tributes went through them, with the Crimson Dragon clan skimming their portion before sending the rest off to the queen. Because of this, they demanded much of the tribute in spellhearts. Not only that, but the amount they demanded in tribute went up fivefold. None of the tribes had prepared so much to offer directly to the queen, so assets had to be rapidly liquidated at rock-bottom prices… only to be bought up by the only tribe that had low-grade spellhearts in abundance, the Crimson Dragon clan. I had been planning on using all those spellhearts to enhance the spellhearts of clan members, so it was especially painful to give them up.

  With Yulli dead, we’d been forced to abandon the name of the Songstone clan a second time. Especially since having a rival organization calling themselves another clan is what drew the animosity of the Crimson Dragon clan in the first place.


  So, we went back to being called the Hearthwood tribe. The Crimson Dragon clan elves weren’t happy about that but since Matriarch Red Serpent had rechristened the forest under the name Crimson Dragon Forest, it wasn’t like we were insinuating to be the owners of the whole region anymore.

  Out of all the tribes in the area, the Hearthwood tribe was the only organization that met the new increased tribute quotas, and even then only because we had lots of wealth that had been hauled off by the survivors from the Songstone clan. It wasn’t sustainable though. We could have used those resources to for centuries of tributes to the queen, but under the Crimson Dragon clan they likely would last a few decades at most.

  If we could be considered to be having it rough, this development was downright devastating to the other tribes. The Waterbeetle tribe was immediately forced to yield their exclusivity on the dungeon entrance they possessed, which I’d since learned was connected to that place where I’d found the blue beetles. And to Mac.

  The Ironwood tribe now had a fixed quota of Ironwood tools and weapons that needed to be produced. I wasn’t sure how hard it was to produce ironwood, but based on their constant grumbling, their quota seemed to be high.

  The Myriad Hues of Flame tribe had it worst of all. They tried to evacuate their whole tribe from the Hearthwood forest, but the Crimson Dragon clan caught onto their plan. Now, members of the Crimson Dragon clan were present in large numbers in the heart of their tribe, observing their secret magics and reporting on every move the tribe members made.

  When Crimson Dragon clan members weren’t available, it was usually members of the Hidden Serpent tribe who did the dirty work. They were the purple-haired elves who’d attacked me not long after arriving in this world. Their leadership didn’t like me much because I killed one of their males, which was why I was concerned when somebody high in their command structure asked me to meet with them.