V6

V6

Sen was deeply relieved when Misty Peak, after throwing a few more verbal jabs at him, departed to go try to convince her grandfather to let her join Sen in the ruins. For his part, Sen thought it was a fools errand but a very useful fools errand. It served double duty by getting the fox woman out of his hair for a while and firmly placing the decision into Laughing Rivers hand. Sen thought there was about no chance in the world that the elder fox would let Misty Peak go along. If Sen had his doubts about the womans intentions, the vastly more experienced Laughing River surely had deeper and more nuanced doubts. It seemed deeply unlikely that the old man would put his own survival at risk, not even if it might be amusing for him to see what would happen. Sen hesitated at that thought, though. I dont really understand how their society works, he mused. I may be misreading what the old fox will do.

Realizing that the damage was already done if he had misjudged, Sen turned his mind back to building the formation. The work did go much faster without the fox woman there constantly interrupting him. Unfortunately, shed slowed him down enough that hed never be able to finish before darkness fell. It would take at least one more day to finish building the formation and do some basic tests. He knew he couldnt fully activate it or even the horde with its seemingly unswerving fixation on the ruins would notice. Sen absolutely didnt want them to notice until he was ready for them to notice. Of course, even without Misty Peak there to distract him, there was still the distraction of the ever-present spider watchers.

They werent actively impeding his progress. They were actually keeping to what he might almost describe as a polite distance. Close enough that they could observe what he was doing, but much too far away to launch an attack he wouldnt see coming. They were, regardless, still beacons in his spiritual sense. He wasnt sure if they stood out because he was looking for them, or if their focused attention on him forged a latent connection between them. They served as a constant low-level source of distraction. It didnt slow him down that much, but Sen was starting to feel like the world was actively working against him ever finishing these formations. The knowledge that he wouldnt finish before dark did mean that he felt fine taking a break in the middle of the afternoon to eat. He wasnt hungry, but it took a lot of concentration to make formations. A quick meal gave him a mental break and let him appreciate the primal beauty of the forest around him.

Or, he thought that was what would happen. Hed barely had time to start when something moving fast on the outer edges of his spiritual sense caught his attention. He realized it was some kind of spirit beast bird and almost dismissed the thing from his thoughts. Of all the spirit beasts in the area, birds probably had the least to fear from the horde below. They were simply too fast and usually too far above to get caught accidentally. Unless one blindly flew into the horde, they were likely safe. It took another moment before Sens cultivation-enhanced mind was able to project the birds path. Sen groaned. It was headed straight for one of the spiders because of course it was. His initial instinct was simply to let nature play out the way it should. He could hardly be blamed if a spirit beast bird consumed a big, creepy, sapient spider.

However, the spider queen may not see it that way. Her precious children wouldnt be out in the woods, relatively exposed, if he wasn't there. At the very least, they wouldnt be spending most of their attention on him. Theyd be watching their surroundings more carefully. Plus, the way that the horde had scared off most of the major spirit beasts in the area may have given the spiders a false sense of security while watching him. Still, he could just let it play out. The other spiders would report that he hadnt done the killing. Hed been sitting there, minding his own business and eating, while the mean sky predator swooped in and killed the queens darling little monstrosity. Shed never know any better. But he would know better. While their agreement to not interfere with each other didnt include providing any active protection, he supposed it might earn him a little goodwill from the queen if he intervened. Any additional goodwill he could earn would probably prove a good thing given how on-the-fence shed been about him. So much for my quiet afternoon, he thought.

Leaving his food behind, Sen activated his qinggong technique and shot toward the spider that was perched up in a tree. Sen was fast on the ground, but he realized that the bird was faster. It would reach that spider before he did if he didnt change tactics. Remembering his initial attempts to master his qinggong technique, he started launching himself up into the trees. He did some fast mental projections and, when he thought he had it right and had a clear path, he gathered his qi and blasted off of the trunk of a tree. Now that he was closing on the spiders position at breakneck speeds, he got a look at the bird. It was a fire eagle. Of course, the spider was so fixated on him that it wasnt looking at the real threat. Sen summoned the heavens chasing spear from his storage ring. He couldnt tell exactly how strong the fire eagle was, but better to not take chances with a lesser spear.

With the fire eagle sufficiently dealt with, Sen decided he was too injured and tired to do anything more with the formation. He turned to start the walk back toward the galehouse and came up short. There were half a dozen of the big spiders standing there, just watching him. If hed been less tired and in a little less pain, he might have even felt some apprehension. Instead, he just gave them a nod and started walking again. The spiders fell in around him, and it took Sen a while to realize that the creepy things were escorting him back to the galehouse. He decided that was fine with him. It wasnt like hed be revealing information. They knew where he was staying already. When he got back to the galehouse, most of the spiders disappeared back into the forest. One, maybe the one hed saved, Sen couldnt tell for sure, settled down near the galehouse and turned its gaze out toward the forest. Sen stared at it while his mind churned.

Nope, muttered Sen. Thats a tomorrow problem.

He pushed open the door and walked in on Misty Peak giving Laughing Riven a pleading look. They both turned to look at him and their eyes went wide.

Charbroiled, said Laughing River. Im not sure thats the right look for you, boy.

Ha, said Sen in a flat voice.

He walked over to his room, went in, and shut the door behind him. Sighing, he opened the door again and shouted into the common area.

Theres a big spider outside. Dont kill it.