CHAPTER ASHBORN 424: INFILTRATORS (TWO)

Ashani neither activated her white lightning rod nor did she move to attack any nearby demon.

Instead, she simply created a Gate. One that led to the deepest part of Mahādi that she had ever ventured to. She then immediately followed up with another that led to where the wolves were idling around.

Nothing short of pandemonium ensued. Using the Ash as a means to train soldiers and hide from enemies was well and good, but its very nature was itself a potent weapon. One that could be pointed at anyone, anywhere, at any time.

The overwhelming prana density didn’t simply render the kothis unable to fight… They seized up, convulsing and writhing as the prana proved too much to bear, overloading their blood’s carrying capacity before bursting it. They each dropped to the ground, dead.

Vir had, of course, considered such measures in the past. He’d even considered winning the war by simply opening Gates around the Chitran army, killing them with little effort on his part.

It was Cirayus who’d counseled him against that course of action, the foremost reason being that this victory wasn’t Vir’s victory. It wasn’t supposed to be. This was a struggle shared by all of his Gargans, and it was in that struggle, in toil, strife, and blood spilled, that their victory had meaning. Gifts, after all, were never valued as highly as that which had been slogged for. And that was no foundation for the birth of a new country.

Despite loathing the loss of life that was bound to occur through a conventional battle, Vir had eventually come around to Cirayus’ point of view. After the war, Vir would not only need capable leaders, forged in the fires of battle, he needed motivated leaders. Demons with a vested interest in the survival and betterment of the society. Those who would go to any length to preserve it, up to and including their own life. That sort of desire only came through sacrifice, a lesson Vir had beaten into him repeatedly throughout his life. Besides which, Vir would have had to forcibly restrain his troops if he went through with such a plan. Their desire to reclaim their home was nothing short of awe inspiring.

Soon, the room was silent, and the wolves prowled around, sniffing for any soldiers who might still be alive.

There were none.

Ashani soon closed both Gates, ceasing the torrent of prana. Even then, however, the area’s prana was significantly heightened from its surroundings, and Vir suspected that most souls within the castle walls were either dead or dying.

“Locate any stragglers,” Vir said, rising from the shadows with Asuman, who reeled in shock, both from the residual prana and from the experience.

Vir immediately activated Prana Current, sucking the ambient prana into himself. It would do little to dissipate the prana outside the audience hall, but it would at least save Asuman from the fate of his clansmen.

“First time in the Shadow Realm?” Vir asked.

Asuman nodded mutely, looking sick.

“The feeling will soon pass,” Vir said, recalling his first terrifying experience in that realm where time was stopped.

“Do you… Do the Iksana feel this? Every time?”

“You get used to it,” Vir said with a shrug. “I barely even notice anymore. Moreover, are the rest of the troops truly out of your control?”

“The only one capable of getting them to surrender is Raja Matiman, I’m afraid.”

“Matiman is dead,” Vir said.

Asuman’s eyes widened. “You are sure of this?”

Vir nodded. “I killed him before coming here.”

“I see,” Asuman replied weakly, tail slumped. “Then the Chitran are truly ended. We should never have earned the wrath of Clan Garga. Had we only known…”

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“It has never been my intention to exterminate or enslave the Chitran, as your clan tried so desperately to do with mine,” Vir said. “I have seen what such persecution does to a people. If I do to the Chitran what you did to me, this cycle will only continue. Countless demons will die.”

Asuman frowned. “I do not understand. Then what is it you suggest? Are we to be granted land of our own to govern? Where will this land come from?”

“I don’t know,” Vir said with a sigh. “Those are questions for later. For now, I need you alive and safe. Ashani? Would you mind creating a Gate to the Bairan camp?”

“Of course,” Ashani said, extending her arm. A new Ash Tear rippled into existence, quickly stabilizing into an ovaloid Gate. On the other side, countless Bairans and Nagas ran around, seeing to the Gargan refugees.

“Miraculous,” Asuman muttered, reaching through the Gate. “To think you can create these anywhere…”

Asuman turned to focus on Ashani. “I beg your pardon, but who are

you?”

It was Ashani’s turn to sigh, and Vir saved her the rigmarole. “She’s a dear friend of mine, from a distant place. That is all you need to know for now.”

They’d been through this countless times already. Things always played out the same way whenever she divulged her true identity.

“A most miraculous friend indeed,” Asuman said. “I have heard rumors, of course. That you travel with a being from the Age of Gods. I did not believe them. Not until now.”

Vir gave Ashani an apologetic look, which she returned with a wry smile.

“I am Ashani,” she said. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Asuman stiffened at the name. “Ashani, as in… The Ashani? From the legends!?”

“Yes, yes,” Vir said, pushing the kothi through the Gate. “You’ll have plenty of time to chat with her later. For now, we need to ensure nobody tries to lynch you.”

Vir spotted Tara in her half-naga form, slithering at speed, looking very much in a rush to get somewhere. Unfortunately for her, he was about to complicate her life significantly.

“Tara,” he said, Leaping up to her.

“Oh, hello, Lord Akh Nara, living deity, sir,” Tara said irritably. “Little busy right now. Got lives to save, and all.”

“Actually, I was hoping you could do me a favor. I’d like you to keep the second most hated Chitran alive and safe from everyone else. Can you do that for me?”

Tara stopped in her tracks and stared at Vir before glancing at a terrified-looking Asuman behind him.

“Oh, you have got

to be joking.”

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Tara had been underwater directing everything at the Bairan camp. The fatalities and serious injuries had been far lighter than she’d anticipated, with only a handful of deaths so far, and most of those had been Gargan Laborers and Outcasts caught out in the chaos. Some had been trampled underfoot by the mobilizing Chitran soldiers, while others were shot at or stabbed simply for being in the army’s way at the wrong time.

The very thought infuriated Tara. She wanted to be out there, fighting alongside the Akh Nara’s Warriors. Wasn’t she a veteran of the Ash as well? Sure, she might not have taken part in that harrowing Gauntlet of his or fought as many Ash Beasts as the others, but she’d acclimatized just like them. She had overwhelming prana flowing through her blood. Tara was sure she was more than a match for all but Annas, and that monkey had fled with his tail between his legs.

Yet, her duties as a healer compelled her to stay behind. For now. Most of her tasks were related to calming and assuaging the panicked and emaciated Gargan population, herding lost children to the right shelters, and overall ensuring chaos never broke out. While Thaman himself was present to quell any violence, Tara feared the Bairan’s imposing demeanor would only terrify the Gargan noncombatants. Terror was no foundation for peace, and so Tara worked furiously to avoid that outcome.

She’d just gotten a handle on the situation when the Akh Nara dropped a bombshell on her. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d disappeared through his Gate with a ‘Thanks!’ before it shut behind him, leaving Tara with a monumental problem and nobody to vent her frustration to.

Well, not nobody, exactly.

“He’s insufferable!” Tara spat.

“He’s the Akh Nara,” Raja Thaman of Baira replied, frowning in consternation. “Are you sure you’re alright being here? Have you told your grandmother?”

Tara rolled her eyes. “For the hundredth time, my grandmother was the one who asked me to join the Akh Nara in the Ash. I’m not a baby!”

Thaman snorted. “All children say that.”

Tara leveled a stare at the giant, causing Thaman to throw his hands up in defeat. “I am not saying you are. Your grandmother would not have granted you your position if you were.”

“Well, you certainly don’t treat me like a Rajni,” Tara muttered. “Anyway, what are we supposed to do with him?” she asked, thumbing to Asuman.

“The Akh Nara would not have kept him alive without good reason. I do not believe it would be prudent to kill him. Or to let him die,” he added, when Asuman’s tail shot straight up.

Asuman’s tail relaxed slightly, but he kept a nervous eye on the demons who ambled nearby, casting loathing glances his way. Were it not for Thaman or Tara’s presence, a mob of angry Gargans would likely have swarmed him by now. So far as Tara knew, the governor of Samar Patag had no offensive arts, being a pure Ruler Calling. He wouldn’t have lasted five minutes.

“So? What do you suggest we do?” Tara asked.

Thaman sighed, reaching down and picking up the kothi by the scruff of his neck. “I shall take him back to my palace. He can stay in one of the guest quarters. My people do not hate the Chitran nearly as much as the Gargans do.”

“Really?” Tara’s eyes lit up. Just like that, her greatest problem had been cleanly removed from her plate. She rubbed her hands together, already plotting. She’d been sitting on the back line for far too long.

Maybe there was still time to join the fight. Tara thirsted for blood, and it simply wouldn’t do to allow her skills to rust now, would it?