“We’ll get there together. All of us.”
“But of course, Master. What else would you do with your time? Warm your chambers with armies of young women with rosy flesh?”
I glanced over the women behind me and grinned. “You’re joking, right?”
Nydarth laughed. “But of course.”
“This province is drenched in your element,” I said. “Do you know anything about the monks of the Dying Sun? Did you ever brush against them in the past?”
“Not in a very long while. Other than that old half-wit Tolin. And he barely resembled an ascetic. He was uncouth, had greasy hands, and certainly didn’t have your strong young limbs.”
“You. . . you didn’t visit him in the night, did you?”
“Of course not!” Nydarth yelled, outraged. “I would never have touched that fool and his wrinkled member.”
I chuckled at her description. “Good. I’m not sure I’d want Tolin’s seconds.”
“That old monk left me to rust in the Ember Cavern,” she said.
“Tolin’s a monk?” I asked.
“How else do you describe a senile creature who lives alone with a cat and doesn’t make an attempt to touch the outside world?”
“I wonder if he knows about the monastery. Or if he’s connected with it.”
“Time will tell, Master, although you would have an easier time setting fire to water than to wrangle a secret out of Tolin. He does possess strength, of a kind, but he does all he can to hide it from the others. You and he are worlds apart.”
“I’ll have to ask him about it,” I decided.
“Perhaps you will.”
I finished off my snack, sheathed the Sundered Heart at my side, and gathered the others before we left the small plateau behind us. The path dipped down again into a slope of jagged slate, loose gravel, and brightly colored weeds. Faryn inspected one of them as we went and tucked a sample into her satchel. Mahrai stomped along beside her with a bored expression. She looked a lot better after Faryn’s herbs, and I made sure to speak with both of them as our journey carried us over razor-edged ridges and into the early evening.
The sun sank behind the mountains when the energy in the air changed slightly, a constant prickle on my skin and a buzz in my ears. Chunks of slate rose up from the ground in spiked formations and hissed steam from hidden gaps around us. Kegohr and Mahrai lit lanterns as we paused.
“A Vigorous Zone,” I said, feeling the Vigor in the air.
“It is,” Faryn agreed. “We should watch out for monsters.”
“Where are the guards?” I asked. “The Wysaro Clan protects Flametongue Valley, so they should guard the borders and entrances of Vigorous Zones.”
From what I had learned, they did this so that monsters wouldn’t venture out from the zones and non-Augmenters wouldn’t accidentally enter them.
“Maybe they don’t want to come all this way,” Kegohr said. “It’s a long walk from the castle to this place.”
“This Vigorous Zone isn’t on the map,” Vesma said as she looked it over. “But it borders the location where the monastery should be.”
Kumi bit her lip in thought. “Perhaps the monks use this Vigorous Zone as a safeguard for their monastery. The swamps to the north of Qihin City are an enormous barrier to any invaders looking to besiege our walls.”
“Works great until someone leaves a door open and the monsters attack,” Vesma reminded her.
“Maybe the Vigorous Zone appeared like the monastery, from out of nowhere?” I suggested. “All the same, we should be on our guard.”
I tugged the Demure Rebirth Warhammer from my back and gestured for Mahrai to join me at the front of the party as the others readied their own weapons. A smirk settled onto Mahrai’s face as we led the way cautiously forward.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” she asked. “We fight off a flaming panda or two?”
A black shape fluttered overhead in reply, followed by three shadows gliding in silent circles above us. It was hard to see exactly what we were up against, but they could fly, and this being a Fire Province, they could probably breathe fire.
“Those don’t look like pandas,” Kumi said nervously.
I surveyed our path and grimaced. We were sitting ducks on a narrow trail with a steep slope on either side of us. A winged predator would have no issue picking us off one at a time with concentrated attacks from the air. I scanned ahead and caught sight of a larger plateau down to our left.
“All right, on three, we slide down there and get ready to fight like hell.”
“How the hells are we supposed to get them out of the sky?” Vesma asked.
I flashed her a grin. “I’ll think of something. Three!”
Choshi shrieked in my head as I launched myself off the path and hit the sharp decline like a surfer. Gravel slid around my feet as my weight carried me away from the path and toward the battleground I had chosen. I adjusted my trajectory, then swung my warhammer into the loose stones and dirt. Hidden Burrow tore open the ground under my feet, and I vanished into the darkness of the earth.
I burst out of the ground 20 yards away and jumped from the river of gravel toward the plateau. My sandals hit the cracked slate, and I turned to watch my friends. Kumi and Vesma landed beside me while Faryn effortlessly stepped over the slope with Mahrai in tow. Kegohr was having the worst of it, but he was still nimble for a big guy. He forged forward with long, confident strides before he joined us.
With the party assembled on the plateau, I glanced up at the flying creatures.
“Vesma! What are we fighting?” Kumi asked since Vesma seemed to be a walking bestiary.
“I can’t quite tell.” She squinted into the sky before she yelped. “Spinedrakes, I think! They haven’t been seen in the area for years. I think Ethan’s theory of this Vigorous Zone appearing out
