Avuri

I quickly crouched down into the shadows in the back of the tent and made an extra effort to lock down my Qi, just in case. I felt around behind me to get a hand on the back 'wall' of the tent, just in case I needed to make a quick escape. On the plus side, I was near the back, so if I slipped out from where I was, I should end up safely behind the tent with Emery.

The people that had approached the front of the tent were clearly entering it while talking, though, and I wasn't about to leave the tent before I had to. If they weren't heading into the office part they wouldn't see me - and if I could overhear something useful, that'd be even better.

"When are we planning to make a move, Wenzu? The men are getting restless and tired of hiding underground." One of the voices said. It was masculine, but shrill and scratchy. "I don't know how long they'll be willing to stay here."

"You tell me, Luka." A second voice, I assumed Wenzu, responded. The second sounded deeper and more threatening. "You know as well as I do why we're down here. It's not as simple as just deciding to make a move and win. You know that."

"It doesn't matter what we know, does it?" Luka said. "It's been five months, and everyone that came with us has had Breakthroughs. In five months, people that have been stuck at a bottleneck for years suddenly broke those barriers and surged ahead."

"And?"

"And that makes them excited. And restless. They're angry that after such a big step they're still being forced to hide."

Wenzu growled angrily, his voice taking on a strange, unnatural depth. "And they'll continue to hide until we have the strength to lead them back against the damned elders in that rotten sect."

"You're going to have to tell them that, not me." Luka sounded exasperated. "Or hurry up with breaking through yourself."

"We're making progress. Clearly, the technique we stole has worked wonders for all of the Earth Realms we started with. It shouldn't be long before we break through to the Heavenly Realm."

"It might be best if you and Danil take the new kid for yourself. I think the men would be alright with a lack of resources for a bit if it meant getting out of here sooner."

Wenzu was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Perhaps. We can talk about it tonight during the feast. The kidnapping went off without a hitch again. They deserve to let loose a little at least."

"The cooks are already working on the food. I don't think you'd be able to stop them once the smell fills the cavern anyway."

Wenzu snorted. "True enough. Once their bellies are full of food and drink we can have a meeting about what to do from here. Plied with alcohol, maybe this will all go off without a hitch."

"Wouldn't that be nice." Luka sighed. I heard the shuffling of cloth as they began moving again. "Are you looking forward to the feast?"

"If they make the pork again, I'll be happy."

As they moved into a discussion about the last feast they held and the food they enjoyed, I got the distinct impression that they were moving toward the area of the tent where I was hidden. This time, without second guessing myself, I slipped out under the back wall, not willing to risk being caught. Especially not when I already felt like I got some solid information.

Emery saw me slip out from under the tent fabric and started making her way over to me. When she reached me, she moved to put a hand on my shoulder but I shook my head. She looked shocked at first, but I quickly pointed to the tent and mouthed "people inside".

She nodded at that, understanding. I wasn't sure if the skin-to-skin contact version of our bond could be noticed, but I wasn't sure it was worth chancing it when the potential high level enemies were just on the other side of some fabric.

Instead, I pulled the ledger of chores and things out from my sleeves, waving it in front of Emery. I flipped it open to show her what was inside it, then to the back of the ledger where there were still a fair number of unused blank pages. Then I produced a pen.

"I suspect you already got it, but I found a chores list with names and such." I wrote, then offered Emery the pen.

She nodded, took it, and replied on the paper. "Good. We should be able to use that plus the contributions list to make a decent list of enemies here."

I took the pen back and wrote, "I also overheard who I assume two of the leaders to be. Or a leader and an aide, maybe. But it sounds like we probably have a couple - two, maybe three - demons nearing the Heavenly Realm. It sounded like they're trying to bide time until they're strong enough to go back and fight whatever sect they splintered from."

Emery nodded and flipped back through the ledger to look at the list of names in the front couple pages. They didn't list Realms, but it did have positions listed next to names, and that was the next best thing.

I pointed to Wenzu and Danil, who were listed as Elder and Overseer respectively, then added on the page with the pen, "These two are the names I heard in relation to reaching the Heavenly Realm." Then, a little further down, I saw Luka listed as Quartermaster.

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"This is the one that was talking to Wenzu. It sounded like they were deferring to Wenzu and Danil as the two most powerful here."

Emery's face went pensive, as her finger traced over the list of names and jobs. When she hit the bottom of the list, I offered her the pen.

"28 people total on the list here. You think two are close to the Heavenly Realm?"

"Yes. But it also sounded like there were lots of Sky Realm people here. This could be a very difficult fight if things get loud."

"Then we have to make sure they don't get loud."

"And how, exactly, do we do that?" I wrote, then passed the pen back. Emery took it, but clearly had no answer. I snagged the pen again and wrote. "They're planning on a feast tonight. It might give us some cover to move around, but I doubt it would be enough to release all their prisoners and escape. We don't even know where they are all held."

Emery took the pen back, nodded, then tapped the page in thought. "Poison?"

"And exactly how would that work?"

"I can make my Qi poisonous. Especially for demons. Put it in their food?"

"That's great, but wouldn't that be detectable? Especially with Sky Realms everywhere?"

Emery just hung her head in response. "We need to do something, though."

I fought the urge to slump while trying to think. We needed to stay alert and ready to move, so leaving the pads of my feet while crouched was a bad idea.

"The leader mentioned the men getting drunk before they discussed their next plans. They must have decent Cultivator booze if they're planning on the men actually getting drunk. We could just wait until they're dazed by the alcohol?"

"That's not a bad start. But they would need to drink a lot to be impaired enough for the number disadvantage to be equal. And if their most powerful fighters aren't also drunk, we're potentially in trouble."

"Drunk men plus an assassination attempt to start off on their leaders?" I asked. "You can make your weapons do that anti-demon thing and try to start off by killing one of the leaders quickly?"

Emery seemed to consider that. "If they're distracted enough, I could conceivably take one down quickly, but that still leaves us exposed and in enemy territory."

I carefully eyed the wall after reading 'enemy territory'. It gave me an idea that I wasn't exactly a fan of, but could maybe work. I sighed, then wrote, "Antlions?"

Emery looked at the word thoughtfully. "Do we know how to lure them in any way?"

"I would guess food or Qi, right? They're beasts, so they should be able to sense Qi."

"We saw a bunch of tunnels earlier on. You think we could throw some Qi down it to lure them this way?"

"Maybe. And the demons said something about them already cooking for the feast, and that the smells will probably fill the cavern soon."

"A Qi lure to get them close, then let the Antlions follow the scent of food the rest of the way?"

"It could work, but we're assuming that the people here don't have some kind of repellent in place. I honestly would expect them to be getting attacked regularly otherwise."

"Good point." Emery wrote. "But creating a little chaos with the Antlions is probably still our best bet, I think. If we go back far enough from the camp we should be safe to use some Qi. Given their clear lack of tight security here, I doubt they're watching the tunnels like they probably should be."

"We'll need to figure out where the captives are being held before we do this. If it works, I imagine things will get chaotic fast. We can't waste time."

"So. Find where the captives are, find a way to lure a bunch of Antlions, use the chaos to kill the main demons and escape with the captives." Emery wrote.

"That is one hell of nothing plan." I wrote.

Emery at least had the decency to look a little cowed by that. "We're already behind enemy lines here, love. I don't think we can expect to come up with "great" plans exactly."

I shot Emery a flat, unimpressed stare. "That's fine, but do you have any idea how to lure Antlions with Qi? Because I don't."

Emery just gave me a noncommittal shrug. "Not a clue. Other than knowing they're hunting beasts and should come after a potential meal."

I soothed my forehead between my brows. I loved Emery. I really did. But while her tendency to take leaps of faith so far had worked out, I had serious, genuine doubts about this one. "Em, the demons have been traveling the tunnels for months. If the Antlions would attack any Qi that passed by, they would be at war with each other."

"Good point." Emery seemed to be giving it more thought, finally, as she stared up at the cave ceiling. "Maybe we just go bother a hive then. Are Antlions gathered in hives?"

"I think it's a colony, like regular ants." I wrote idly while considering the idea. I was not a fan. I was terrified of being assaulted underground by waves of Antlions that could collapse tunnels, make new ones, and attack from all sides as they burrowed immensely fast. Admittedly, it was mostly the potential for collapsed tunnels and being trapped by dirt that terrified me, and the thought alone made me break out in a cold sweat as my heart took off running.

Emery laid a hand on my shoulder to try to keep me as calm as possible, a reassuring presence while I quietly did my best to veer my thoughts away from the worst outcomes.

"I can do that part myself." Emery wrote. I moved to take the pen from her to say I would come with her, but she shooed my hand away. "You've already done a lot by coming down here, and I'm sure you'll help when it comes to the potential fight in here. Stay where the cave is reinforced. I'll be fine."

I closed my eyes and took a breath. It didn't entirely calm me down, but it was enough that I felt like I could at least think straight. It helped that I could see all the support beams running through the demons' cavern base.

"Alright. But you need to promise me you will be careful. And by that I mean none of your bullshit 'act first, think later' nonsense. Actually be careful."

"I can do that."

I met Emery's eyes with an intense stare for a long moment, trying to drill it in through our locked gaze that I was serious. When I felt like she may have gotten the message, I sighed.

"Then I guess we have the start of a plan. Let's get moving while we still have time."

Emery nodded and pointed toward the entrance of the camp. I nodded and we slowly began to shuffle off, with at least some direction on how to proceed from there.

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