been slumped at the base of the tree, sputtered and spat splintered bark out of his mouth. “Is there sap in my hair? You’d tell me if there was sap in my hair, wouldn’t you?”
He looked like he’d just crawled out of a fire.
Half his hair was singed off, his left eye was matted shut with dried blood, and his turquoise robes were burned and shredded. His core was almost empty, and he looked like he had been soaked in blood.
This was the worst Lindon had seen Eithan except immediately after his fight with the Blood Sage, and concern for the man overwhelmed even his worry about the Dreadgod.
Briefly. Until he scanned Eithan and realized he wasn’t wounded at all. He was just tired.
“Not my blood,” said the red-soaked Archlord.
Lindon let out a breath of relief, but responded lightly. “Apologies. I’m afraid your hair is done for.”
Eithan wilted against the tree. His eyes slowly closed.
“Put me out of my misery. Make it quick.”
The Kazan clansmen were murmuring behind Lindon, but their mutters turned to shouts as Heaven’s Glory techniques blasted through the trees.
Though it was a drain on his limited madra, Lindon projected the Hollow Domain around himself and the seven or eight Kazan members in range. There were a dozen nearby, and they began to crowd inside when they saw Heaven’s Glory madra melting at the edge of his blue-white boundary.
“What happened?” Lindon quietly asked Eithan.
“Believe it or not, they took advantage of my compassionate nature. My reserves are finite, especially here.”
“I can’t believe anyone pushed you this far.”
“Lost my Golds at the wrong moment. Hostages are as effective against me as against anyone, but…well, I’ll put it to you this way: they’re running drastically low on manpower.”
Lindon dropped the Hollow Domain, which was tiring to keep up inside the suppression field, just as a trio of Iron Enforcers charged in.
Eithan jerked his head in their general direction without opening his eyes. “If you could clean up here, I’d appreciate it.”
The three Enforcers were covered by three more Strikers, two Rulers, and a Forger. Constructs flanked them all, and they carried steel weapons banded with halfsilver. It was a charge worthy of attacking a Jade, and showed more tactical skill than Lindon had seen from Heaven’s Glory thus far.
[Not bad, not bad,] Dross said. [I’m afraid to say you’ll have to take a hit.]
Ten seconds later, Lindon was pinning the last standing Heaven’s Glory member up against a tree with one hand. “Where are your Jades?”
He released his grip so that the man could answer. Nearby, one of the destroyed constructs finished falling through the air, exploding as it hit the ground.
“Gone, they’re gone, they’re…I don’t know!” The Iron man’s eyes were wild. “They’re dead or crippled. He was going to kill us all!”
“I was not!” Eithan shouted. “I told you that!”
Lindon released the Heaven’s Glory member to stand on his own. “I am Wei Shi Lindon, and I claim Heaven’s Glory School in the absence of its Jades. If you find an elder, bring them to me. Otherwise, you’re to help everyone leave the valley.”
The man glanced down at Lindon’s badge, but Lindon caught his eyes again. “Spread the word.”
The man ran, leaving Lindon to repeat himself to all the other members of Heaven’s Glory on the ground. He’d left them only lightly injured, and as a result he’d taken the cut that Dross had promised. A tiny slice across his left forearm.
It was already healing.
Lindon marched back to Eithan, but he started speaking early. Eithan would be able to hear him. “I can’t imagine that would have been much threat to you.”
“It’s not the first twenty ambushes that get you,” Eithan called.
When Lindon returned to Eithan, the crowd of Kazan members were huddled together, looking to him with awe and fear, as though he might decide to execute them at any second.
Lindon bowed to them. “Gratitude,” he said. “My thanks for protecting my master in my absence.”
At the word “master,” their eyes widened.
“If you don’t mind, you should leave as soon as possible. I can’t be sure that Heaven’s Glory will leave you alone, even now. We don’t have much—”
[Oh no,] Dross whispered.
“What?” Eithan asked. “What is it? I can’t see anything! I hate this place.”
Lindon hopped on his Thousand-Mile Cloud without finishing his sentence, zooming up above the surrounding trees.
He looked over to the west. Something had changed with the Wandering Titan, but he couldn’t identify exactly what.