Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 03 (Not the coin they were looking for)

Over the next few days, the party was joined by the remnants of the khimori herd, Npi-Nhut, Ses-Hami, and only three others. And they were attacked by the lion-eagle creatures. They creatures were fearless and seemingly driven by hunger. They attacked the party’s extra horses, swiftly killing two of them to carry them off. But Salt also reacted swiftly. Bo-Jing had given her a magic wand and she used it to throw an explosive fall of fire after the lion-eagles as they escaped. Those who weren’t killed were forced to land. Bo-Jing and his men galloped after them fought them with arrows and swords. The brave warriors were grappled by the monster’s huge talons and slashed by their claws, but they fought on, defending each other and killing the monsters. The khimori expressed their gratitude and praised the party for their success in killing the monsters that they had come close to believing were insurmountable. Ses-Hami examined the bodies, and told Bo-Jing that he believed there were six more to be faced, including one who was invisible except when he was in combat. Bo-Jing assured Ses-Hami that he and the company would stay in the valley until the threat of the eagle-lions was completely eliminated.

Bangqiu suggested that while ranging over the northern end of the valley, they should search for the Northern Coin. Bo-Jing agreed. Following the information that Erke had provided and based on their own experiences in the Valley, they found the enormous horse statue and reason ed that it must be a representation of the King of the North. Bangqiu ascended to the top of the statue. Following its line of sight, he spotted a high cliff to the north, thoroughly pock-marked with caves. From this vantage point, he also saw activity outside the cave, living figures that, by their movements were possibly human or animal, but probably something in-between. The company decided to rest and approach the cliffs the next day.

While resting, they kept a close eye on the figures on the cliff. The next day, the company approached the cliffs and spent most of the day climbing up it. At the top, they encounter a group of beastmen, obviously agitated and anxious to attack, but held in check by a man in robes, the mysterious Erke whom they’d met in the course of their travels from Khanbaliq. Erke greeted them as old friends, apologizing that he had left Banua without them. “I didn’t know when you would return. And, as you can see, I found some other partners for my expedition!” Erke detailed how, with the help of the beastmen, he had found several tunnels, one of which he was sure was the hiding place of the Northern Coin. “Unfortunately, these are the breeding grounds of the crimson death worm, watch your step or your last breath will be a cry of agonizing pain!” The men from the Clan of Worm tapped their crimson shield and laughed to each other.

Erke explained that while exploring the tunnels, most of the beastmen had already been killed. “Those fellows almost never watch their step . . .” Salt found it very uncomfortable being so close to living beastmen. Their musky odor was nearly overpowering and they stared at her with bloodshot eyes and with saliva dripping from their fangs, and whimpered like dogs when Erke shouted at them in a harsh, metallic tongue. The marks on their body glowed faintly and the beastmen scratched at the marks until they oozed blood and pus. Erke identified the tunnels he had explored and the ones he still wanted to investigate. “If we send the beastmen along first, they will draw the worms out and your men can shoot them with arrows—the worms—before they get close enough to surprise us with electric shock . . . and if all the beastmen die, then we can avoid the problem of how to pay them . . . speaking of payment, you should know I’m working the Emperor. He expects to receive the Coin but we will all be well rewarded.”

Bangqiu and Salt expressed their extreme displeasure at this suggestion. Salt didn’t believe Erke and Bangqiu didn’t care. “We don’t work for the Emperor. If we find the coin, I want it.” Erke tried to argue, but in doing so, lost control of the beastmen. He pulled a potion from his robes; as his body sublimated into a blue-green cloud, Salt blasted him with a ball of fire from her wand. The cloud evaporated and two beastmen were incinerated. The other beastmen attacked. Meanwhile a screech from the sky announced another assault from the lions-eagles. The khimori took to the skies, while the lion-eagles attacked the party’s horses. Bo-Jing and his soldiers greatly outnumbered the beastmen, who fought with a death-wish, clawing and biting their opponents as they were cut down by swords and spears. The lion-eagles killed four horses before being driven off by Salt and Bangqiu’s magical attacks, losing one of their own in the process. The party watched their flight but did not seek to prolong the battle.

Instead they set-up a camp and a number of watchers, knowing an attack could come from the air, the ground, or from within the caves. After a day of rest, Bo-Jing and Salt decided they would explore the tunnel. The men of the worm clan refused to follow them, explaining that the death worm was their totem animal. “We must warn you that if you value your life, you should not invade its home. It lies quietly, avoiding unnecessary strife, but if molested, it will defend itself with all lethal force, a mouth full of needles and poison, and with lightning expelled from its body.”

Despite this warning, the Worm Clan promised Bo-Jing that their own taboo against disturbing the worms would not make enemies of those who did. “If the Worm decides not to kill you, why should we?” Bo-Jing promised he would do his best to avoid fighting the worm but believed the coin would help defeat the Master’s armies. Bangqiu decided that he too would remain outside, both to protect the horses and to, just in case, watch the members of the Worm Clan.

Bo-Jing and his men, along with Ryu and Salt, explored the tunnels of the crimson death worms. The warning was very helpful. The worms were most dangerous when accidentally stepped on. Gan-Yul received a nasty bite that pierced his boot; his leg swelled up painfully, but he survived. By sweeping the area ahead of them with a long pole, the party located and drove away killed dozens of the worms. The worms did indeed expel lightning at enemies who drew too close, but Bo-Jing’s soldiers learned to pelt the worms with rocks from a safe distance. But the most effective way to deal with the worms was Ryu’s snake staff. In the form of a large python, it slithered through the tunnels, driving out the worms underfoot, to constrict and devour them. The hungry snake braved the shocks and seemed nearly impervious to poison. And when the snake did become so covered in worm bites, that it began to spasm, Ryu commanded it to return to staff form. By this time, the party had located and excavated the worm’s nest, a pile of rubble that covered and older tunnel that had been worked by human hands.

The party had to cross a chasm but found themselves at last in a small chamber in which a bronze coffer rested on top of a stone pedestal. The coffer, though small enough to fit in Bo-Jing’s hand, was so heavy that he could not lift it and only by summoning all his strength could he knock it off the pedestal. Something metal clattered inside. Bo-Jing rummaged through his belongings and found a bottle of what smelled like vinegar that he’d discovered in the dungeons beneath the monastery in Khanbaliq. When he unstopped it, the smell was overwhelming but while his men heaved and wretched, Bo-Jing gulped it down, swallowing the liquid with a mighty below. With another great shout, he seized pounded the coffer with his fist until it began to buckle and crack, and then with a final groan, tore the lid away. The coin—if that’s what it was—didn’t look like the others. Bo-Jing nursed his bloodied hand and Ryu held a torch over a disk of dull metal, maybe pewter depicting four doves flying in a circle. Ryu picked it up and turned it over—both sides were the same. No writing or symbols. Ryu gave Bo-Jing the coin, who clenched it in his fist. When he had held the other coins, he had received a sense of their powers. With this one, he felt nothing. Besides the coin, there was a scrap of paper, with writing in several languages. Ryu deciphered enough to explain its general message: “Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.”

Outside the cave, Npi-Nhut approached Bo-Jing with a suggestion. He appreciated that Bo-Jing was an honorable man with conflicting duties. Npi-Nhut knew the lion-eagles would return when they were rested, healed, and hungry. He trusted that Bo-Jing and his friends would fight them off. But how many more horses would be killed in the process? And how many of Bo-Jing’s own kind would be victims of these invading marauders? For the khimoris, flying with a person on their back was dangerous. In the air they were faster and more maneuverable than the lion-eagles or any other predators, but these advantages would be lost if the khimoris had to restrict their maneuvers to avoid throwing off their riders. But Npi-Nhut would make an exception. He and his family would each carry one rider across the valley and drop them into the aerie of the lion-eagles. With the benefit of a surprise attack, Bo-Jing and four of his most valiant companions would not doubt be victorious. Bo-Jing agreed to the plan. Ryu agreed to join him. Among his henchmen, he chose his cousins Gan-wei and Yi-Ren. The dilemma of choosing between Zhang and Ganyul to be left behind, was resolved by Salt, who volunteered to be the fifth. Npi-Nhut was very pleased by this suggestion, having noticed the sorceress’s uncanny instinct for the right time to strike in battle. And so, after some quick lessons in riding in the air and without a saddle, the group set off.

They flew by moonlight so as to avoid being sighted by the beastmen on the ground who might warn the lion-eagles of their approach. The air was cold and thin. Salt rode with her face pressed into Npi-Nhut’s mane. Bo- Jing, riding behind Npi-Nhut on Ses-Hami, did his best to maintain his customary proud seat, though his legs ached with the pressure of holding on. After several hours, Npi-Nhut ordered a rest. They landed and the khimoris allowed saddle ropes to be tied loosely around their bellies to give something more for the riders to hold onto. As dawn was breaking, the kihimoris and their riders reached the southwest corner of the valley.

Npi- Nhut circled higher, the signal that they had reached their target. The khimoris circled and then Npi- Nhut led them into a slow dive toward a large shelf far above the tree line and half-sheltered by slanting overhang. Two of the lion-eagles were visible, lazily gnawing on bones, on the edge of the shelf. As Npi-Nhut neared the shelf, he veered away from it, distracting the lion-eagles as the other four khimoris briefly touched their hooves down to drop off their riders. Bo-Jing had sprung off before Ses-Hami touched down, landing on the back of one of the lion-eagles and cutting off one of its wings. Gan-wei and Yi-Ren landed on either side of the other lion-eagle and Ryu landed at a safe distance and threw down his snake staff. Npi-Nhut stayed some distance from the shelf, not allowing Salt to land. The maimed lion-eagle screeched in pain and two more emerged from the cave at the back of the shelf. As Bo-Jing rushed to meet them, he was knocked to his feet by the invisible lion-eagle. It held him down in its talons and slashed at his face with its beak. Salt blasted it with a trio of energy bolts. Bo-Jing sprang to his feet and attacked the invisible foe, tracking it by its talon marks on the rocks and by the rush of wind as thrust at him with its slashing beak. Again and again, Bo-Jing’s blade found the neck and chest of his foe. Together, Gan-Wei and Yi-Ren flanked and killed one lion-eagle, but were hard pressed when forced to fight one by themselves. They were both battered and cut by talons, wings, and the sharp beaks of the lion-eagles. Ryu’s snake caught of one of the lion-eagles, and slithered up to its wing, hampering its movement so badly that Gan-Wei was able to gain the upper hand, slashing and stabbing at the monsters back while avoiding its beak and talons. Ryu himself assisted Yi-Ren, first healing one of his most grievous wounds, then joining in battle with his heavy staff. Salt sent another volley of magic missiles, and soon the invisible lion-eagle was the only one still alive. With a final slash at Bo-Jing face, the invisible lion-eagle took to the air. Salt showered it with magical cloud, bathing it in cool violet light—suddenly an easy target for the arrows of Bo-Jing, Gan-Wei and Yi-Ren. But the lion-eagle was fast; after being hit with two arrows, it dove toward the ground, falling out of bowshot. Ses-Hami gave chase, following it all the way to the ground. When he landed, the bloodied lion-eagle sprang on Ses-Hami with its talons, tearing his back. The khimori struggled to regain the air, shaking the eagle-lion off his back, then dived on the monster, pounding its head with his hooves. By the time Npi-Nhut and the other khimoris reached the ground, the last of their tormentors was dead. Meanwhile, up in the lion-eagles’ lair, among the bones, Bo-Jing found a fine sword and awarded it to Gan-Wei.