Analyzing the Situation

Tanggellir sighed at the three men, once First Daughter Annika was far enough so that she could not hear what he had to say. Wuying had signaled the other two to remain silent as well, as he watched her disappear among the trees. And he had waited until his new Sight could no longer detect a trace of her, before he nodded at the other three.

"As you can guess, the First Daughter was not ... overly impressed by the fact that she and her people had to rely on ... your efforts to protect the Birthing Place. That particular task has always been hers. Having to depend on outsiders ... Well, let us say that it has pricked her pride."

"And needless to say, she has injured ours."

Wumu Qian's curt reply had the support of both his brothers. And was enough to make the old man raise his eyebrows at the shortest of the group. However, he didn't say anything and only nodded, as if acknowledging Wumu Qian's point.

That seemed enough to set Duman Junhe off. And the smiling merchant-brat didn't hold himself back either, when he got started:

"Since it is rather clear, from the response of the leader of your hunters, and your First Daughter's own words, that we are not required or welcomed here, perhaps we should take our leave? After all, your people should not have any difficulty dealing with these Shadow Creatures on your own? Having us here would simply be a waste of time and resources, wouldn't it?

"Why not cut your losses now? Just pay us what you owe for the creatures that we have just slain today, and we shall go. That should be sufficient to make good the contract between us, don't you think?"

Wuying understood what Duman Junhe was trying to do at once. But at only three gold coins for each of the Beasts? For the twenty-seven Abyssal Creatures that they had dealt with today? That was too little, wasn't it? It certainly would not cover the costs that the three of them had incurred, travelling all the way from the White Tiger Gate!

Although he doubted that his Second Brother was about to let them suffer a loss. Duman Junhe was planning something. And Wuying trust him enough to play along!

"Indeed. Three gold coins for each Beast slain, wasn't it? That will be eighty-one coins, for today's work. And we'll be keeping the horns. And the crystals that the Shadow Stags dropped."

Tanggellir looked at the trio in rather obvious surprise. "Eighty-one ... Wait a moment! How many of those Abyssal Creatures did you manage to slay again?" he asked in a somewhat shaky voice.

Wumu Qian merely snorted as he upended a purse over the floorboards. The twenty odd shards tinkled prettily as they spilled from the same, piling neatly in front of his knee. "Twenty-seven of them, for a moment's work. It didn't take us that long, to be honest. But don't think that you will not have to pay the full price for what we have done.

"I found the attitude of your First Daughter far too insulting. Be thankful that we have a written agreement already, or I would be tempted to charge you a lot more for our services."

"Twenty-seven! There are really twenty-seven! You killed ... You three killed twenty-seven of the Creatures in ,,, What was it? Less than half the time for a cup of tea to cool? How did you do that?"

Tanggellir was clearly shocked to see the crystal shards, but Duman Junhe had been prepared for that, when he started turning their conversation to this particular topic, it seemed:

"What did you expect? How can you compare your Hunters to the three of us? Do you know how many of those Abyssal Creatures we have to face every night at our White Tiger Gate? And how many we have slain already, since we took up duty there? The number would astound you!

"What are these mere twenty-seven of them, compared to what we have to face back there? And we usually do not work together, you should know. Each one of us would take care of matters, on different nights. Well, except when we were new to the place. Didn't our Captain let you know about that?"

The old man laughed as he shook his head. "I am afraid that he didn't put in any details in his reply to us. Besides, I doubt that any of us would have believed him, had he done so. Still ... Twenty-seven! That is not a number that any of our Hunters or our Archers can match. Regardless of what our First Daughter had said earlier."

"Ha! You make it sound as if you are looking down on your own First Daughter, if you say that. Perhaps you are seeing us in a new light? Now that we have shown you proof of our abilities?"

Junhe's smile was telling. And his casual glance at Wumu Qian was enough of a signal for the shortest member of their group to start picking up the small glowing shards of crystal, and replacing them into his rough leather purse again.

Which was enough for Wuying to work with, he decided, as he coughed deliberately into his fist. "I think we were a little ... overcome with emotions earlier, and have been ... somewhat hasty. Don't you agree, Tanggellir? Perhaps we should both take a step back, and ... reconsider what we should doing hereon after?"

"That would suit me eminently. It would allow me to ... speak to the others, and Hoshendanggir, about ... your efforts on our behalf thus far. Perhaps we should meet again, for dinner? So that we can speak further on how to best ... utilise your particular abilities?"

"Dinner?"

Wuying jumped to his feet at once. That was it! That was what he missed!

But Duman Junhe laughed before he could say a word, and from the way that he was pointing a finger at him, it was clear that his laughter was directed at him. "What is this, Eldest Brother? Are you that hungry already? We usually have to last a whole night fending off those Shadows, remember? Don't tell me that you are tired already?"

Wumu Qian was quicker, and smacked Junhe on his upper arm before he nodded at Wuying. "Eldest Brother has just thought of something. So stop it with your jokes. What is it, Wuying ge?"

Wuying decided not to waste any time, and pointed at the sky at once. Or rather, he tried to. The thick forest canopy overhead made it a little hard to be certain that the other two men would understand what he was really pointing at:

"Dinner! If it is dinner time, it must be the evening now. Which means we have been fighting in the afternoon, and not the night! Don't you see? The Shadows here are capable of appearing during the day! That is the difference between this place and the White Tiger Gate!"

*

That particular discovery had completely eradicated whatever enthusiasm they might have had, after their victory over the Abyssal Creatures earlier. And left them with a bit of a dilemma:

What they were accustomed to, back at the White Tiger Gate, was a flood of attacks over a particular segment of the day. That had allowed them a chance to rest during the rest of the time, and to deal with their injuries and such. However, this was not likely to be the case here!

Tanggellir had been a little surprised when he heard that. "It is not as though we are expecting you to fight all the time, you understand. Even our Hunters are unable to to do that continually. We usually get the Hoshendanggir to seal up our village at specific times, and only open them again when we have to leave, to deal with our needs."

"So ... when you were talking about making arrangements for your crafters, you were only talking about sending them out for a quick check on your material sites?"

Tanggellir had laughed as he nodded at Duman Junhe's question, and waved a hand at the Forest around the three visiting warriors. "We are already grateful for what you have done for us today. And there has been talk of arranging another visit to the river - that's where we were gathering the sand and gravel and we use for our craft earlier. And maybe extending it for ..."

Wuying cut him off at that, with a shake of his head. "No, no. We shouldn't extend the period that your people are out of the safe zones. You might not have noticed, but your crafters did not suffer any attacks at all, while some of the other gatherer groups were assaulted by the Beasts as soon as they were detected.

"We believe that this has something to do with the period of time that you are out of your safe zones. The longer that you are out of the same, the higher the chances that the Abyssal Creatures are able to pin down your locations and attack."

"What do you mean?"

Tanggellir looked rather surprised at what Wuying was saying, as if it had never occurred to him that there was a relationship between the amount of time they spent in a certain place and the frequency of attacks that were made against that particular group. That had Wuying hurrying to explain his theory:

"I believe that the Abyssal Creatures, as you call them here, are sensitive to the number of people that you have leaving your safe zones. And they would take a certain amount of time, to gather their numbers to launch an attack. So if you can keep your movements short, the Abyssal Creatures may not have a chance to respond.

"That is why some of your people had managed to escape attacks while other groups are so harried every time that they head out into the Woods."

"That is something that we have not considered. Perhaps we should test out your theory."

The old one's face held a hint of anticipation then. And Wuying could understand just why he was so eager. If he could find out the limits of the Abyssal Creatures' response to his people, he wouldn't have to worry about the safety of his crafters! That would certainly be to his advantage!

"Perhaps we can ... start our test at once? This is something that we are all eager to find out, given the number of years we have been plagued by these monsters."

Duman Junhe agreed at once, as he held up his now filled quiver of arrows. "I think we can accommodate you. I have brought extra arrows, as you can see. And I am also eager to find out if Big Brother here is correct. It might make our remaining days here a lot easier!"

And Wumu Qian even went so far as to pat himself on the chest, and boast:

"Ha! So long as you hold to the schedule that our Big Brother has made, I dare to say that we shall not have a single casualty among your gatherers! This, I can promise you!"

Their efforts the rest of the day made it clear that Wumu Qian's little boast had not been an empty one. Although Wuying had to admit that it was a little more tiring than he had thought it would be. Even with the Hoshendanggir's help, they had been attacked almost constantly for close to twelve hours, before they had a chance to take a proper rest.

Although that was probably due to the fact that they were fighting a totally different generation of Shadow Creatures. And ones that have adapted to the low-light conditions under the eaves of the forest.

And as before, it was Duman Junhe and his bow that did most to the killing. They had fought, and destroyed, close to sixteen of the creatures this time round. And eleven of them had fallen to Duman Junhe's arrows. That should be enough to make him some sort of idol, among the tribeswomen there.

That is, if it wasn't for the fact that First Daughter Annika had a running bet against them! Tanggellir seemed more than pleased at having managed to wrangle that. After all, he had managed to push most of the tribe's debt onto her shoulders, which would have her and her people footing the bill for the Beasts that the trio were killing.

A noise from the back entrance of their hut made Wuying turn his head then, and he grinned as he saw Duman Junhe, their most valuable asset at the moment, saunter into the hut with his hair let down and dripping wet.

The return of Junhe from the baths drew their attention then, and the pair watched as their lanky brother dropped into his cot, still wearing his rather clean-looking uniform. Although it did appear to be a little damp.

"I am dead tired! We spent the whole night probing the North end of the woods, to make sure that the Crafting Hall is safe, and we were harried by no less than six of those Shadow Stags each run! That's a little too many for us to handle, don't you think?" he whined as he started to pull off his slippers, "We should call in the women archers, at least!"

Wuying smiled at that, and waved at the crude map that he had drawn onto the long scrap cloth that he torn from his spare cloak. After all, they had received much better ones, from Tanggellir already. "Where was that? And I mean the Stags, and not the women archers. Where exactly, do you know?"

Junhe laughed at his stupid joke and hauled himself back to his feet again. To step over to the same. He pointed at a spot on the same, in the space between the Birthing Place and the small stream where the women did their washing.

"There! That's where we fought them. But Third Brother seems to be holding up well, despite all of their taunts. And he has begun to figure out a way to use the trees to his advantage too. He managed to kill three of the Shadow Stags before I could pin them down with my arrows."

"Well, I had promised the old crafter that I wouldn't let any of his people get hurt. So I wasn't about to let down my own good name! But enough of that! You took long enough with your bath just now. I hope you haven't used up all of the hot water!"

Then Wumu Qian gave out a snort, and hurried towards the door at once. And almost crashed into Tanggellir, who was just starting to lift the flap, and enter. The pair gave out embarrassed laughs almost at the same time, before Wumu Qian invited the old man inside. And sat down once more.

Apparently, he was more concerned about the news that the Lead Crafter brought, than his intended soak in the warm bath!

To be honest, Wuying was honestly surprised to see him. From the look of things, this particular visit made it five times already, that they had met the crafter. And his mood seemed to have improved, each time that he appeared before them. Hopefully, this meant that the three of them had been properly accepted by the rest of the tribe?

As it turned out, that was exactly why Tanggellir had come to speak to them!

Tanggellir laughed. "Ah! You three are better than anyone expected! So many of the Shadows slain, and not a single scratch on you! On any of you! Amazing! I am certain that our Hunt Leader is regretting his hasty words yesterday. And First Daughter Annika her bet," the old man said, rubbing his chin as he did so.

Junhe laughed along with him, and bowed to the crafter. "You are being kind. Your archers were excellent too, by the way. I admire the way that they were able to provide cover for our Wumu Qian here, when he foolishly charged into the last four earlier, at the fire this morning."

"Foolishly? I doubt that. He saw the danger to our women and he reacted. That was admirable! However, I should warn you that he might be the target of a few jokes later tonight, at the welcome bonfire. Indeed, perhaps for the length of his whole stay with us."

"Jokes? What do you mean?"

Qian looked concerned, and Wuying felt himself growing tense as well. He knew that the youngest man tended to be more serious about his honor than most. And jokes - particularly practical jokes, usually ended poorly when they were played on him.

"Well, I'm afraid that most of the younger women in our tribe are fiercely independent and they hold their freedom rather highly. Your ... rather careless remark about your oaths to help the defenceless and the women earlier in the morning ... Well, let us say that there was some talk about that," Tanggellir chuckled as he shrugged at the younger men, "Some of our younger, more ambitious girls are likely to make things a little annoying for you at the formal meals."

"Ah! Thank you for the warning. I shall be more careful then."

Duman Junhe laughed loudly at Wumu Qian's reply. "You might want to warn your people that Third Brother Qian is extremely polite to women as a rule, And he has a rather annoying way to trying to protect everyone, especially children. It is just the way that he was brought up," the merchant-brat explained as he continued to laugh away.

"Oho! I can do that. But I think that I shall wait until the morning before I do that," Tanggellir laughed gleefully, "I can't wait to see what the youngsters come up with. To be honest, I haven't seen them try to bait anyone deliberately for a long, long time. It should amusing, don't you think? To see what sort of new tricks that they can come up with?"

Then he turned back to Wuying and Duman Junhe, nodding at them in turn. "I suppose that I should warn you; you two are also likely to be at the receiving end of a few jokes tonight, since you three are known to be sworn brothers. This custom sort of lumps all of you together, I am afraid."

Junhe nodded back with a grin. "Ah! I have no objection to be made the target of women's games, or attempts at seduction. But you may wish to warn them off our eldest brother here. Wuying is married and utterly devoted to his wife. They may make matters ... a little troublesome if they bother him too much."

"Ah! You are wedded? But I do not see ... Oh, of course, of course! You would not wear the headscarf because you are not one of us, nor are you aware of our traditions. But do not worry. I shall have a word with the matrons. I should warn you though, there are some who will not be deterred! In fact, the fact that you are married will make you all the more attractive for a ... dalliance, as they call it."

"I do not think that would be ... such a good idea," Wuying replied, even as he hoped that he was not blushing, "My wife ... tends to be rather ... possessive. And I do not believe that ..."

"What he means is that your womenfolk are a little too beautiful and too alluring, and that he is certain that his wife will not accept any excuses," Junhe laughed as he waved a hand to encompass the rest of the camp, "I think you had best warn them off our big brother here."

The Tanggellir laughed too. "I see. I see. Not a problem there. A word in the right ear and you should be free of problems of that nature, Yue Wuying!" he promised.

Qian interrupted then, and his face was back to its quiet blank wall once again. "I would like to know more about the magic, that your ... Hoshin... dang..gellir? The magic that he cast? On us? It seemed to allow us to view the very ... I would like to say the Heart of the Darkness, of the Shadows, but that description fails to convey the significance of what I saw. What all of us saw."

"Ah! The Sight. That is something that Hoshen - that is his name, by the way. Danggir is his title. It means spellcrafter, or cunning one. Just as I am Tanggellir; Tang is my name, or at least a good part of it. And gellir is ... Well, it means a rank that is a little higher than a simple crafter," the old man explained, which had the three of them nodding as he did so.

Then he came back to the Shadows, and the magic that they had used. "And yes. You were asking about the fight. Well, the Sight was one of the magic spells that Hoshendanggir learned from the Ancestress, when she last visited the Shadowed Woods. It has proven more useful than some of the magic that he has come up with himself."

"I was wondering about this magic too. And whether it can be used elsewhere," Wuying cut in just then, taking the opportunity to question the man about what he wanted to know. "And if he would be willing to teach that Sight spell to us. Or to one of us."

"That is something that has never come up in our conversations, so I do not really know the answer to that. I could speak to him, and to our loremistress. She is the one who keeps the history of our people, and the secrets of all of our arts. If he cannot provide an answer, she might be able to do so."

"Ah! You have my thanks."

Wuying knew that it was not simply their skill with weapons that had allowed them such an easy victory over the Shadow Stags. The Sight had sharpened their focus, and allowed them to target the exact ... Well, the Heart of Darkness, for want of a better term. It allowed them to see exactly what they were aiming for, and that helped them a great deal! Once they hit that, the lines or threads, that bound the form of the Beasts to the Heart were destroyed immediately! If they could do that, on their own terms, they should be able to excel, even against the other Shadow Beasts back at the Gate!

That is, if the same could be applied to the Abyssal Creatures back at the White Tiger Gate as well.

"It seems like our preparations are complete, and we have just be invited to the welcome feast! Once again, I must apologize for asking you to excuse our Hunt Leader. He has been under a great deal of strain of late."

Junhe and Qian merely nodded at that, leaving Wuying to bow and make a somewhat stiff reply. "We understand, of course. There are those back at the Gate who have suffered ... similar ill-effects. Perhaps we should take over the fight, so that he may ... concentrate on his recovery in the meantime," he suggested to the old man.

Tanggellir smiled at his not-so-subtle hint. "I shall surely pass on your suggestion to the rest of the Council. But come! For now, let us enjoy ourselves!"

* * *