Chương 54: Chapter 53: TO BE FAKE

CHAPTER 53 TO BE FAKE —∞— The forest snapped back into place around him, but all of Jieyuan's attention was on the little, innocent jade cube in his hand. What in the Heavens? He heard Maeva's giggle.

"Oh my." Jieyuan's stomach dropped. Maeva. He'd forgotten about her. His sister's voice rang in his head, "You were always so adorably awkward about—" Absolutely not. He would not be teased over this by the hallucination of his sister. Not when she'd have even more ammunition than the real Maeva would have, having all of his memories—as both Amyas and Jieyuan—at her disposal. He would not give so much as an inch.

"Oh, come on, little brother. You're eighteen. It's perfectly natural—" Drop the subject, Maeva, or I'll drop you.

"Fine," she said. But she did not stop giggling. Jieyuan was so terribly tempted to dismiss the command powering her, but he still needed her to keep watch. He looked back down at the jadebook and scowled. It wasn't like he had an issue with this kind of stuff. It was just that he had better things to do with his time. And… He recalled the woman in the memory. She'd been pretty, sure, but no Meiyao. Of course, he could always use Absolute Will Command to solve that particular problem— No.

Jieyuan cut off that line of thought immediately. He'd resisted using his bondskill for that kind of stuff so far. He would not give in now. His will was steel. He'd long since decided that it'd be the real thing, or nothing at all.

"But still… seriously?" he murmured, his eyes still on the jadebook. Yellowsouls, just like Orangesouls, must not be so different after all. After a moment's hesitation, he set the jadebook in the discarded pile and picked up another. He was prepared for another full memory, but all that happened were words appearing in his mind. Jieyuan was almost disappointed. Looking through it, he found that even though it was just text, it was more interesting than everything he'd read so far.

It is unlikely these words will ever find their way to another's mind, but I shall put them to jade all the same. My husband insists doing so shall help put my mind at ease. I fail to see how that might be, but I see no harm in indulging him. This is the seventh day of the joint expedition into the Dome. My fellow sectsmen of the Incandescent Serenity Sect and I have already come to the conclusion that if a means exist to circumvent the viridian mist, it is beyond the means of a mere Yellowsoul.

The Ardent Light Sect cultivators came to that same conclusion two days before. On the other hand, the Immaculate Blood cultists, and the men and women of the Obscuring Shadows Sect, have yet to give up hope. Of our original twenty-eight, seven of each sect, already we are down to twenty-six. Two utterly imbecilic Immaculate Blood cultists decided to brave the mists on their own before we realized the necessity of physical contact when traversing past the visibility zone.

One of the men of the Ardent Light Sect had the forethought to bring rope with him, and we have used it to tie ourselves together. I admit it makes for an unusual sight, twenty-six Yellowsouls all tied together as we move through the Dome, but function trumps form. By my best estimate, we have advanced less than a mile from our entry point into the Dome. So far, we've been besieged by all manners of chromal beasts. They have all been effortlessly dealt with, but I do not believe that shall remain the case for long.

The first Yellowrealm beast appeared yesterday, and since then, several more have crossed our path. Jieyuan read it all to the end, where the author concluded that they did not, in fact, feel any more at ease, and that it had been a waste of time. Jieyuan would bet good gold the author had been a Metalsoul. He set the jadebook down, thinking. Nothing of what the author had written about the Dome was news to him. The context was a different story.

The only Yellowrealm sect Jieyuan knew of was the Incandescent Serenity Sect, their island's ruling sect. Now, from the looks of it, he could add three more to the list. The Ardent Light Sect, the Obscuring Shadows Sect, and the Immaculate Blood Cult. They were, he was assuming, the ruling sects of neighboring islands. Now, their names didn't mean anything to him. Except for one.

"Immaculate Blood," Jieyuan murmured to himself, testing the words as he focused on the text in his mind's eye. The words were familiar, and it didn't take him long to place them. Back in Yikongwei Beidao's jadebooks he'd found in the Fatebloom Woods, there'd been a mention of something called the Immaculate Blood Pearl. Considering a Violetsoul had mentioned it, this pearl had to be something important.

And though it wasn't a sure thing, it probably had something to do with this Immaculate Blood Cult, seeing how they shared a name. This wasn't information Jieyuan could act on right now, but later, when (when, not if) he got out of the Viridian Dome? That was something worth looking into. Of course, it had to do with a cult; and if the Viridian Death Cult was any indication, the less he had to do with that kind of sect, the better.

Something else that was curious was that over twenty cultivators had managed to travel together. Opening his eyes, looking around the clearing he and Daojue were in, he couldn't see that happening, even though it was one of the bigger pockets they'd come across so far. It might just fit that many cultivators if they were all crammed together, sure. But they definitely wouldn't be able to fight inside it.

So unless he was missing something, that'd imply the pockets the Yellowsouls had gone through had been considerably bigger. Did the Viridian Dome adjust the size of the pockets based on the number of people inside it? That was possible, but Jieyuan didn't see that much difference now that it was just him and Daojue as opposed to when they still had Meiyao with them. Something else stood out to him. The Yellowsouls had faced Yellowrealm beasts not even a week into the Dome, and with less than a mile traveled.

Jieyuan and Daojue had been inside much longer, and gone much further in than that. It could be that he and Daojue were just that lucky, or the Yellowsouls that unlucky. It could also be that Daojue's ring had kept them safe. Or—and this was Jieyuan's real concern—that the Dome was sentient somehow and had intentionally not sent overly dangerous beasts their way. Jieyuan sighed, putting the jadebook away.

The remaining jadebooks didn't add much to what he already knew, only that a lot of the Yellowsouls had decided to bring with them some particularly private memories, each one from a different person's viewpoint (and only half of them from a man's). Jieyuan kept the relatively useful jadebooks, putting them in his new and much appreciated Orangerealm holder pouch. The others, he left on the ground. Checking up on Daojue, he found that he'd already wrapped up his own matters.

He was sitting with Gleaming End on his lap, eyes closed, both arms gauntleted again. Glancing over to the pile of artifacts, Jieyuan found that all the Yellowrealm artifacts were gone. Of the Orangerealm ones, all that were left were the saber, the three glyph-sealer rings, and two swords. The Redrealm ones were untouched.

"How did it go?" Jieyuan moved over and went about putting all the artifacts away.

"What's Gleaming End's step now?" Daojue looked at him.

"Tenth-step Orangerealm." Jieyuan felt a little part of him—the merchant part—die at the thought of just how many high-step Orangerealm and Yellowrealm artifacts it'd taken just to get Gleaming End to that point. But it'd been the more practical choice, so he forced himself to say, "Good." Daojue closed his eyes, returning to his meditation or cultivation or whatever it was that he did. Jieyuan finished up. He attached a sheath for the Orangerealm saber to his waist, next to one of the Shifting Sisters sheaths.

Then he threw half of the red prisms inside one of the Orangerealm pouches and tossed it to Daojue, who caught it without opening his eyes. The rest of their haul he kept for himself, at least for the time being. The third Orangerealm pouch would be going to Meiyao once they finally reunited. That done, Jieyuan got on with his usual routine. Refining, training, and then cultivating. Business as usual.

—∞— Jieyuan wasn't sure if their luck had run out, or if the Viridian Dome had just decided to kick things up a notch. Either way, something had changed, and not for the better. It'd been a week since their fight with the jackal and the division of the spoils. And what a week it'd been. Jieyuan stood in the middle of a pocket. He had the Orangerealm saber in one hand, a scale dagger in another. Floating in the air near him, under Maeva's control, were the Shifting Sisters.

Dark green blood dripped from the blades of all four weapons, painting the foliage underfoot. His own blood dripped from the cuts and gouges littering his bare chest and arms. Bite wounds and tears and cuts. Daojue was standing next to him, looking considerably less roughed up but wounded and bloodied all the same. Gleaming End at the ready. It'd already been rare for Daojue to let go of his weapon, but it'd been days since the last time the spear left Daojue's hands. Surrounding them were the corpses of wolves.

Seven of them, which was only half of the original pack they'd just fought. The other half was just as dead, but spread throughout surrounding pockets. Usually he and Daojue didn't have much trouble with Redrealm beasts anymore, not even tenth-step ones. But usually they didn't have to face more than a dozen of them all at once. It'd been a flurry of fangs and claws and wolves that just wouldn't quit.

Jieyuan didn't know what exactly their spiritskill was, but it let them keep fighting even with half their head cut off. And it'd only gotten worse when Jieyuan had realized that if the wolves weren't killed for good, they'd quickly regenerate. There was one particular wolf Jieyuan was fairly sure he'd killed three times.

There were seven corpses in the clearing, but someone who hadn't seen the fight would have a hard time telling as much, when the one in the best condition was missing all of its limbs and over a third of its head— and was still twitching. Jieyuan bit off a curse, then stormed over and stomped his greave on what remained of the beast's head. The wet crackle and crush was music to his ears.

Fighting several near-undying wolves was bad enough, but it didn't help any that he'd already been on the verge of exhaustion before the fight. It took a lot to tire out a sixth-step Redsoul, but it'd been a week since he'd last managed more than half an hour of uninterrupted rest. Where before they could manage to avoid conflict one out of three encounters, now almost every time they came across a beast, a fight broke out.

Beasts were also popping up so often they might as well be sharks, the Dome the ocean, and Daojue and him succulent and bloody morsels. Jieyuan groaned, his limbs heavy, leaden. Already his augmented stamina was at work, warding off true exhaustion, but seven days without sleep kept him from making a full recovery. At his step, he needed less than an hour of sleep, but nowadays he'd be lucky if he managed half that much. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The viridian mist swirled almost playfully around them, licking intangibly at his skin, making all the shed blood glisten with its glow. Jieyuan cast his eyes across the clearing, making sure all the corpses were indeed corpses. Satisfied, he popped a regeneration augmenter. It wasn't his first one today. It wasn't his second, either, but his third. Thankfully regeneration augmenters didn't strain his soul nearly as much agility augmenters did, or he'd have been in trouble.

Maeva and Huaxin were on high alert, but it wasn't like that made much of a difference. Not anymore. He'd be surprised if he got more than a handful of minutes before the next wave. He didn't know what, exactly, had provoked this unprecedented ramp-up in aggression.

"Go?" Jieyuan asked, glancing at Daojue. He didn't bother checking with Huaxin whether it was safe to leave. It wouldn't be. But it wouldn't be safe to stay, either. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Daojue's answer was to stride forward. Jieyuan followed. All the way to the edge of the clearing, and then out of it, into the next pocket. Stepping through, he had been prepared for just about anything. From nothing at all to a pack of Orangerealm beasts. But he had not been prepared for the sight of Meiyao.

She was there, somehow, standing on the other end of the pocket. Her hair was even longer than he remembered, waving softly in the gentle breeze. Her skin was rosy and warm; her eyes, impossibly green. Jieyuan stared, wide-eyed, frozen at the edge of the clearing. All his instincts, honed over and over across the last few months, failed him. He forgot all his aches, all his wounds. There was nothing in his head besides that one word, that one name. Meiyao.

All this time he hadn't given up hope that they'd be meeting again in the center of the Dome. But he'd thought that was years if not decades away. And yet, here she was. Standing there, unmoving, as she stared right back at him from the opposite edge of the clearing. He almost lost himself in her perfect face, in her bright green eyes, but then he noticed just what she was wearing. An indistinct green thing was wrapped around her body.

It was like color given shape; not that different from materialized chroma, but not quite it either. There were some darker spots on it, like half-done patterns. She also had grayish blurs on her arms and on the parts of her legs and feet that the green mass didn't cover. What in the Heavens? Vaguely, very vaguely, whatever it was she was wearing might have passed for robes from a distance. From a lot of distance.

The outline of the green mass over her was about right for robes, but that was the best that could be said about it. A soft breeze stirred the air, and though her hair fluttered softly, her not -robes remained entirely unmoving. And there was more. Something else felt wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint just what it was.

"Jieyuan," Maeva said, suddenly, whispering in his ear.

"Soulsenses. Now." Jieyuan focused on his soulsenses, and he immediately recognized the wrongness he'd felt. To his soulsenses, where Meiyao was standing was a sixth-shade red form. The shade of it wasn't the issue. Meiyao had been at fourth-step Redrealm when they separated, but it'd been more than two months since they'd split up. He and Daojue were sixth-step Redsouls now, and it was no surprise that Meiyao had likewise advanced two ranks.

No, the problem was that Meiyao's spiritual outline wasn't the vague radiance of a mantle, with a solid sphere of red that was her soul in the middle. Rather, it was all a solid, sixth-shade red. It wasn't a human's soul with a mantle he was seeing, but a chromal beast's spiritual body. Jieyuan tensed. Meiyao—if that was even her—was still staring fixedly at him, expressionless. Her total lack of reaction was even more indication that something was wrong. He couldn't recall ever seeing Meiyao so still, so blank.

That was Daojue's thing. Jieyuan shot a quick glance to his side. Daojue was also tensed, visibly so, Gleaming End at the ready. But he hadn't moved yet. Jieyuan was fairly sure Daojue had known something was off from the get-go. Jieyuan focused back on Meiyao. Or maybe it was not-Meiyao. Maeva, tell me. Is this an illusion?

"Not as far as I can tell," she answered immediately. Jieyuan nodded. If it were anyone else, given everything he'd seen so far—the spirit, the utterly wrong robes and armor she wore—he'd have assumed it was some shape-shifting beast and dealt with it. He and Daojue had yet to come across a beast with powers like that, but he wouldn't be surprised if they existed. If there was one thing that the Dome didn't lack, it was new horrors to throw their way. But this was Meiyao.

Meiyao, who had all sorts of unusual powers, as well as a mysterious connection to the Viridian Dome. There was a chance that this was her. And since she hadn't made a move yet, he didn't have to act yet and risk making a mistake. Slowly, Meiyao tilted her head to the side, still staring at him. Jieyuan tensed, but when she made no other movements, he searched her spirit, finding its song. A proud, graceful melody filling an ancient forest.

He'd long since memorized Meiyao's spiritual song, and this was a near-perfect match for it. It gave off the same lofty, majestic feel. It wasn't a perfect match; something about it was a little odd, a little offbeat. But it was still close enough to throw more doubt into the situation.

"Meiyao?" he said, tentatively, not quite sure how to proceed. It didn't help that he was running on fumes. He and Daojue had just fought one of their hardest fights yet, and it'd been way too long since the last time he'd gotten a proper rest.

"Jie… Yuan…" Meiyao said, slowly. Her voice was just as he'd remembered. Rich, velvety, melodic. But the way she spoke his name wasn't quite right, like it was unfamiliar to her. Meiyao's brow suddenly furrowed. She stood up straighter, her stare growing more intense. A flush crept into her face.

"Jieyuan," she repeated, more firmly. Her pronunciation still wasn't quite right, but it was better than before.

"Mate?"" Mate?" Jieyuan repeated, blinking. Had he really heard that right?

"What are you—" Daojue took a step forward then, and Meiyao's head whipped toward him. Her frown turned into a scowl, her lips pulling back, baring her teeth. She leaned forward, assuming a more aggressive posture.

"Daojue. Threat." Daojue stopped moving, staring right back at her. He was as expressionless as ever, not frowning or anything, but the way he held Gleaming End pointed toward her was threatening enough. Jieyuan looked between them. Meiyao had always had a wild flair to her forms, and back in the Gleaming Stone Palace he'd faced her in unarmed combat more than once. The way she held herself right now—half-hunched, knees bent, arms tensed by her side—was in line with her usual forms.

But though Meiyao was no slouch at hand-to-hand combat, she was definitely a saber artist first and foremost. And now that he was looking at her again, he realized he couldn't see any weapons on her. Not even a sheath. All she had on were her indistinct, blurry not-robes and not-armor. Jieyuan stepped forward. Meiyao turned back to him, and he caught Daojue glancing at him.

"All right," he said.

"I have no idea what's going on, but if you are Meiyao"—and with the Heavens as his witness, there was absolutely nothing he wished for more than for that to be true right now, even with all the weirdness—"then we'll need proof. Give me something. Anything." Meiyao's scowl loosened. Some color bled into her cheeks. Her gaze turned intent, meaningful, eyes half-lidded. Her lips curled up again. But unlike earlier, she didn't snarl. Rather, she smiled. Softly, sensually.

"Mate." Meiyao practically purred the word." Rut?" If Jieyuan had been unsure before, now he was positively floored. For a moment he thought he'd heard it wrong, that Meiyao had meant rot (a word she used often enough), but the look on her face didn't leave any room for doubt. Nor did her tone. Rut was possibly the least appealing word that could be used to describe that particular act, but somehow Meiyao made it work.

Even this bizarre caveman speech thing she had going on wasn't enough to dampen the impact of what she was suggesting.

"I…" he started, caught himself. Swallowed. He felt that familiar heat inside him, that fire, but did his best to stifle it. He needed to get a handle on the situation, understand just what was going on. And he needed it yesterday.

"I don't—" Meiyao whipped her head back, glancing at the denser mists behind her. She growled something indistinct. When she turned back to him he saw she was scowling again, even more than before.

"Run," she said, urging, as she moved closer. Before Jieyuan could do anything, Daojue took another step forward. Meiyao focused on Daojue, growling at him. Then she let out a low, sharp whistle.

"Meiyao—" Jieyuan began, but then a creature walked out of the mist behind her. A big feline beast with white fur striped with green. A tiger, Jieyuan quickly realized. A chromal tiger. He and Daojue had faced a chromal tiger before, but of a different race. It'd been one of their toughest fights. Tigers had it all: speed and power and cunning. They might very well be the deadliest mundane animal, and their chromal counterparts were equally dangerous.

This time Jieyuan was on the ball, immediately tapping into his soulsenses. He saw a tenth-shade red outline where the tiger was. Meiyao whistled again, and the beast lunged forward, bounding toward Daojue. Daojue charged at it, stabbing out with Gleaming End. Activating his haster ring, Jieyuan moved to help, but then realized Meiyao was rushing toward him, so fast it was clear she was also using hastespace. He didn't hesitate, jumping back, putting up the Shifting Sisters as he focused on her.

Daojue could handle it on his own; the Heavens would fall before a Redrealm beast got the better of that man. Meiyao came to an abrupt halt, giving him a confused look.

"Jieyuan?" He was still holding onto hope that this was Meiyao, that this was some new bloodgift of hers at play, or the result of some freak accident. But it was just as likely, if not even more so, that this was just some beast that had taken her form. But if this really was a beast, that begged the question: where would the beast have copied Meiyao's form from? Had it somehow scanned his mind, pulled it from his memories? Or had it come across Meiyao at some point? He needed to know more.

"Get any closer, and we'll have problems," he warned her. He thrust his chin at where Daojue was busy with the tiger.

"And call off Green Stripes over there." Meiyao—or maybe Not-Meiyao—gave him a hard stare. Just as she was about to speak, she shot another glance backward, before rounding back to him with an even harder look on her face.

"Jieyuan," she growled his name.

"Subdue." And then she was glowing. Her entire body lit up with a green aura, the same color as the viridian mist around them, but many times brighter. Jieyuan recognized it. Divine Nature Unison. The first bloodgift he'd ever seen Meiyao use, even when he didn't know what it was. The one that made her stronger in areas thick with beasts and plants. But he'd never seen it shine this brightly.

Jieyuan didn't get a chance to consider the implications, what it might mean for this Meiyao to use that bloodgift; Meiyao blurred into a glowing green streak, and the next thing he knew, she was in front of him, reaching out. He reacted on instinct, bringing a Shifting Sister forward to block— And as Ruby's blade met her skin, Jieyuan felt a shock run up his arms as it was stopped short, like he'd struck the hardest wall. Eyes wide, Jieyuan shot backward again.

Meiyao didn't give chase, and he tracked her eyes to his weapons through the green glow surrounding her. The impact hadn't felt like striking flesh. Divine Nature Unison boosted all aspects of Meiyao's body, including the durability of her skin, but it shouldn't have been to this extent. Rather, it felt more like he'd tried to something indestructible. Like he'd tried to hit an Orangesoul. Jieyuan immediately sheathed the Shifting Sisters. Meiyao, who'd been about to move again, paused. Maeva, double prong.

He brought his hands closer to the holsters attached to his belt. Just at the edge of his vision, he saw Maeva appearing behind him, wearing white and yellow robes instead of her usual outfit. Then he felt Maeva draw some chroma out of his soul, pooling it around her illusory hands like gauntlets, before materializing it. She then moved fully behind him and used her physical chroma gauntlets to draw out a pair of scale daggers from the holsters he kept on his back.

Being illusory—not even actually existing —Maeva couldn't handle Orangerealm weapons directly; he couldn't bond them and so couldn't use his soulforce on them, and it was through soulforce that Maeva could interact with the world. But her gauntlets were real enough, and under her perfect control of his soulforce, they were as good as hands. This particular application of his newest Redtalent—Chromal Materialization—had definitely gone a long way in keeping him alive over the past week.

He was still nowhere near proficient enough with manipulating materialized chroma to simulate hands like Maeva was doing, but like with most things, she was vastly better at it than he was.

"Give… up?" Meiyao asked him. He couldn't see her face clearly with how much she was glowing, but her eyes seemed to be narrowed. In reply, as fast as he could move, Jieyuan palmed a throwing knife with his right hand and hurled it at Meiyao, aiming for her waist. Nothing too deadly, just to check— Again, Meiyao moved so fast she blurred, dodging out of the way, before lunging right at him.

Jieyuan jumped back, taking out two more knives as he did, even as Maeva surged forward, charging out from behind him, and swept her Orangerealm daggers at Meiyao. Jieyuan threw the knives right as Maeva and Meiyao met. Blisteringly fast, Meiyao dodged Maeva's attack, and then both knives; but Maeva was aggressive, pressing forward instead of retreating, and managed to get a hit in, cutting Meiyao's arm. Through his soulsenses, Jieyuan felt the feedback of the attack—and the resistance.

It did cut Meiyao's skin, but it was little more than a nick. And that was all Jieyuan needed to know. That it managed to harm Meiyao when the tenth-step Shifting Sisters couldn't… It meant Meiyao's true realm was Orangerealm. Or maybe … Divine Beast Resonance? He recalled when they'd found the twin-headed snake. When Meiyao had resonated with it, she'd become like an Orangesoul herself Law-wise. But the only beast in the clearing was the chromal tiger Daojue was fighting, and it wasn't Orangerealm.

Meiyao lunged at him again before he could think more about that. Jieyuan put up his saber as fast as he could, but before Meiyao reached him, Maeva intercepted her, swinging her Orangerealm daggers. Meiyao broke off her attack, hissing as she jumped to the side to dodge. But Meiyao didn't stay put, coming at him again, arms outstretched and hands grasping like she wanted to grab him. Jieyuan was ready for it and swung his saber at her.

And where the Meiyao he knew would've simply swerved around it without stopping, this Meiyao immediately retreated, growling. Jieyuan narrowed his eyes. Busy as he was trying to stay alive—Meiyao, if that was even her, was faster and stronger than she had any right to be—he'd still been paying attention to the way Meiyao was moving. And her retreat just now proved his suspicions. This Meiyao wasn't remotely as skilled as the one he remembered.

Meiyao had always had a wild touch to the way she fought, but the one he was facing was outright bestial. If she weren't so stupidly fast and strong, this would've been no fight at all. Maeva came in at Meiyao from the side before she could recover and strike again, and Jieyuan watched as Meiyao dodged Maeva's attacks, growling as she twisted her body this way and that. Her movements were rough, wild. But they didn't stay that way. The way Meiyao moved was becoming smoother, more fluid.

It was a subtle thing, and if he hadn't been paying attention to it, he wouldn't have noticed. Meiyao was improving, acting more and more like the Meiyao he remembered. Heavens damn it. Jieyuan clutched the throwing knife in his left hand. He couldn't make up his mind. Was this Meiyao, or wasn't it? Meiyao's Linzushen Bloodline had made their time in the Dome much easier, but right now it was really muddying the waters. Huaxin? Can you tell? UNCERTAINTY. Jieyuan gritted his teeth.

As long as he didn't know for sure, he couldn't go for the kill outright. The only upside to this whole situation was that, as far as he could tell, Meiyao wasn't trying to kill him either. Rather, she seemed intent on subduing him, as she'd not so eloquently put it earlier. Why that was, he didn't know. He was also concerned about the way she'd acted earlier, how she'd glanced backward before she'd decided to take him down. Like something was coming, and she didn't want to be here when it arrived.

Dodging under one of Maeva's strikes, Meiyao ran through Maeva's illusory body and charged at Jieyuan. Maeva was already rushing back to intercept, but Meiyao was faster. Jieyuan threw the knife, and Meiyao cut off her charge as she dodged it. In the time it took her to recover, Jieyuan grasped his saber with both hands, bracing himself; a beat later, and Meiyao was almost at him, Maeva just behind her. But then a voice cut through the clearing.

"Oh, no, you don't."