Chương 23: "Eventful Night?”

Ch 23 "Eventful Night?"

The fire crackles echoed in the small cave. Rain continued to pour outside. Amber carefully put the black elixir bottles to the side so as not to break them. Then, she turned her attention to the rest of the items she had looted from her would-be murderers." This is all they had? After all the trouble you guys put me through, the least you could have done is left some better things for me!" she echoed into the cave. The tiger tilted it's little fuzzy head as it looked at the collection.

There was a glittering assortment of daggers and knives, none of which were very impressive. Also on the cave floor were a few pieces of the more expensive looking armor she had taken, but none of them looked as if they would fit her. There were some gold earrings and gold teeth, and a few rings and necklaces of mixed metals that also lay there. She hadn't spared their corpses any bit of mutilation as she extracted what value she could from them.

While the act wasn't pleasing, she was angry at the thought of them doing the same to her if they had their way. The thought of them winning after hunting and killing her like a quail brought her a kind of rage she hadn't felt before without the use of Saint Tiger Qi. Her knife hand didn't even tremble as she worked. Her father had taught her to skin animals before, and her had mother taught her to break them down for cooking, so this wasn't half as gruesome in comparison.

What was the difference between humans and animals anyway? the girl thought. Only one of those had been trying to kill her. There was a bit of dried meat and biscuits that she ate and handed the little tiger bits of as well as she took stock of her new belongings. The little tiger took his time chewing on the morsels.

"Robbing people, and this is all you have? Sad." Amber spoke to her deceased assailants, emptying out a few coins from various bags before stuffing her own coin bag with them. Perhaps the most interesting items to her were the straps and pouches that she got. While they were a bit large for her, they weren't hard to adjust. Amber cut a few of them and put on various straps which let her keep some of her new daggers hidden on her body. One around her ankle, one on her lower back, and two on each side of her ribs.

She smiled as she felt safer already.

"I'm more like you now," the girl smiled cheesily at the tiger, "covered in fangs and claws!"" Meow," the tiger swished it's tail. Amber looked back to the 6 little vials of black elixir. She crossed her arms and stared at them where they lay on the rock floor of the cave.

"I'm not sure I should have even taken these with us," she sighed. They seemed a bit too important to just have laying around.

"Did you see when my hand glowed?" She asked the feline.

"I tore off a piece of that bastard's weird arm thing!" The cub purred and licked it's paw. The girl looked down at her hand. As she willed it, the black spirals and circles arose into view on her palm.

"I made it appear! Look little tiger, my mother had the same mark. Isn't it cool?" She smiled at the little cub, stretching out her palm. The tiger tilted it's head as it stopped licking its paw to see what the girl was showing it. He briefly sniffed the mark before returning his attention to his paw.

"I just don't know what's different this time… I couldn't make it appear before. Is it because I touched the demonic Qi? Did I use the mark to make it crumble somehow?" She sat there in quiet contemplation, staring at her palm as the little tiger purred and rubbed itself against her legs. The storm was beginning to let up and the promise of light was starting to creep onto the horizon.

"Oh! Little tiger. It's been such a long night, it's time to go back." Amber changed her cloak for her dried pants and top, tying it off with her sash. The girl put her black rough fabric shoes back on, missing them dearly after having to fight bare foot. She adjusted the feel of her new hidden daggers before putting her cloak back on. The sleeved garment of her outfit was kept off by the girl, who instead used it to carry the few pieces of armor and extra weapons she got. Hey, it was money after all!

Amber kicked dirt over the fire and put on her bamboo travel hat before grabbing her spear and makeshift bag.

"Little tiger, let's go!"" Meow." The run back to camp was uneventful. The beautiful forest revealed it's illustrious hues of verdant and jade as the sun began to seep into the horizon. Amber kept a brisk pace, something that was easy for her with her dwindled reserves of Qi, yet not slow enough that everyone would be up when she arrived. The tiger happily bounced along side her, keeping pace with every step. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She was finally almost back to camp.

"Little tiger! Can you go back in my shadow? Surely it's comfortable with how much time you spent in there, right?" the appearance of the little tiger had caused it to be hunted before, and Amber didn't want to see that again." Meow," the cub sank down into the ground where the girl's shadow lay, a sight that amazed the girl. She was overjoyed that the little feline had stayed with her. All of those times she felt as if he were near, were actually true! The girl felt much less alone in the world.

If he really stays with me, maybe I should give him a name! she smiled with glee at the thought. Amber managed to sneak past the guard posts. It wasn't too difficult, since she remembered all the post positions and the general layout. The girl made it to her tent and was already congratulating herself in her head as she heard a voice behind her.

"Eventful night?" Amber froze. She turned around slowly.

"Wing! You scared the shit out of me!"

"And why would you be scared?" the short haired boy asked, his eyebrow raising in curiosity.

"You're not doing anything… against the rules, right?"

"Uhhh…" Amber couldn't say anything. She felt his eyes examining her. She felt uncomfortably seen, and all too aware that in the light of day her outer garment that she used to carry her bigger loot had more visible blood stains than it seemed to have in the dead of night.

"Great cover story. Need a better one?" he asked through the silence.

"What do you mean?" She broke eye contact as she smiled shyly.

"Like that scratch on your cheek," he pointed to his own face. Amber suddenly remembered the pain of being cut across the face last night, but it had blended in with the rest of her bodily pains to the point that she had forgotten about it.

"If the captain asks, tell him you got it from sparring this morning. Meet me on the east side field in 10 minutes." Wing turned to walk away, leaving the girl to stash her things in her small tent. Amber breathed a small sigh of relief. Maybe Wing was a better guy than he had let on. In 10 minutes she was on the field in just her dark pants, black sash and green short top as she stretched on the field. Wing hadn't arrived yet.

Amner felt pretty damn good considering the lack of sleep, lack of Qi, and various injuries. She didn't need Qi for this anyway. In fact, Captain Dante had forbid it and all other non spear techniques during spars. There was still a lingering pain in her side, but it felt great compared to her time in Misty Hollow when she was worried about her guts falling out. After a light stretch, Amber spent the wait drinking in Qi with Burning Sun to accelerate her recovery as much as possible and restore her reserves.

It seeped through her body just a little easier than before the night's blood droplet. Not a bad result, considering the little tiger had drunken up a bunch of the Saint Tiger Qi. Or maybe the effects of the Qi Vitality elixir had been lingering? It had been an awful long time though. In any case, the circulation helped her rinse the tinge of blood Qi from her aura. She knew that was important now, thanks to Ember's warnings. Her thoughts on her cultivation were broken as a voice spoke up.

"Cabbage! Catch!" The boy threw a practice spear her way, the shaft rotating around the weighted sand bag at the end.

"What did you just call me?" Amber asked, her face twitching at the name despite plucking the spear effortlessly out of the air. Her coordination was getting sharper with all of her training.

"I heard you were a cabbage farmer, was that a lie?"

"I grew vegetables, mainly cabbages, yeah," Amber twirled the staff. She forced a smile as she felt her eye twitch. It was too close to being called demonic cabbage girl, like she had been called in her village. She tried to think of who she mentioned her past to besides Lulu. The blonde girl did seem like the talkative type, she thought.

"No wonder, I've never seen woman's hands as rough as yours!" he smiled as he pulled his spear's sand bagged tip up into an offensive position.

"They're not rough, but they can get rough!" Amber huffed as she lunged forward with her spear. Her side ached and she was still a bit low on Qi, but she was feeling more comfortable than ever with the weapon after her guard spear had carried her through life and death the previous night.

"Whoa! Looking a bit sharp there!" Wing swayed to the side as a thrust from Amber's practice weapon seared by.

"Thats the biggest compliment you've given me so far!" Amber smiled smugly. She knew she had forced him to say it.

"Compliment? You're reading too far into it!" Wing said as he aimed a low sweep at her knees. With a quick reaction she hopped over it and aimed her own high sweep at his head. Wing glanced at the attack with a look of surprise as he ducked low, unable to bring his spear back in time. Amber's attack whisked over his head as he thrusted straight at her ribs. The girl quickly hopped out of the way and stumbled slightly.

"You're clearly hurt on that side. Don't make it so obvious," Wing smiled.

"And you purposely aimed for it?" she asked, wincing and annoyed.

"Do you expect your enemies not to?" Wing laughed as he peppered her with a few thrusts that she rushed to swat away. They exchanged back and forth for a while, Amber winning a grand total of zero rounds. Amber thought about how lucky she was that the demonic assassins seemed to just be juiced up street thugs. If they had half of Wing's skills, she would have been cooked and garnished with green onions. The girl pressed in and forced him back with a wide mid sweep.

She followed him and charged for a thrust that Wing barely swatted away. He twisted the shaft in his hand and brought it spinning around, making Amber anticipate and deflect the oncoming hit; but it never came. His spear deceptively went for a second twirl before suddenly darting out straight for Amber's chest. Amber let loose a yell as she swept her spear back, smacking against his and pushing it off it's trajectory.

She was already flooded with the anticipation of victory, when Wing's failed thrust suddenly snaked around her spear in a tight circular spin that sent Amber's spear far out to the side. The young guard pushed the sand bagged tip of his weapon against Amber's throat.

"Checkmate," he smiled.

"I was about to win! What was that move?" Amber asked in surprise.

"That," A deep and calming voice came from behind the two, "is a parry. A move that's a bit unfair to practice on someone who hasn't learned it."

"Captain!" Both Amber and Wing straightened up and clasped their fists as Dante walked over to them, looking as tall and composed as ever.

"So you really were worried I'd beat you then!" Amber smiled with her brows tight, elbowing the boy who looked away.

"It's best to get used to surprises on the battlefield," Dante spoke. His eyes fell on the girl's face where he saw the cut.

"Tough training I see." Wing suppressed a laugh as Amber muttered out a "Yes, Captain." Dante glanced between the two.

"Well, in any case, it's good to see your diligence. I wish my men spent half the time on the practice field that you do."

"Thank you captain!" she clasped her fist. Did that count as a compliment? She couldn't completely hide her smile.

"The parry was your next lesson. If you can learn the parry before I teach it to you, I'll teach you something good instead."

"Captain- you don't mean!" Wing had his jaw hanging open. Dante put his finger to his unmoving lips, "Not yet." Amber glanced between the two, wondering what kind of technique they could be talking about.

"Will you teach it to me too?" Wing had fire in his eyes.

"Awaken your Qi first, and of I course I will," Dante spoke as Wing looked dejected.

"Yes Captain…"

"As you were," Dante began to walk away.

"Captain! I have a request!" Dante turned around and looked at the girl clasping her fist.

"Speak."

"Can this hard working guardswoman go into Blue Cloud City?" she asked respectfully, with her eyes closed. She didn't want her face to reveal her intentions. She had loot to sell damn it! There was no way she would miss out on going to the city and have to haul around her spoils of battle. Dante raised an eyebrow.

"After what happened in Golden Sea City?"