"How you want fight rest of the bitches?"

"New rule, effective immediately: you can't call women bitches anymore."

Hans smirked at the attempt to regulate him. "How you want kill the Azure women?"

"I assume from the name of their group that they all use spears?" Hector watched for the nod, then sighed. "At least no one is going to hit us with a chaos bolt."

He paused in thought. Chaos bolts would certainly help his cause.

"You have plan, hunter?"

"Yes. I need to ask a friend for help." Hector groaned at the thought of informing Darius about the circumstances of his mission. He would not be spared any insult.

"Other hunter? We have no time."

Hector summoned his transit sphere. "I will be fast." As he prepared it for travel, he gathered the stolen bamboo containers. Hans made as if to join him in the sphere, but Hector firmly refused. He couldn't let the man discover he traveled to another world.

Arriving back at Tian Tower filled Hector with more dread than he'd felt while fighting for his life. He sought out Darius and found the eunuch playing a board game in the third floor lounge. "Darius? I have a situation."

Something in his tone caused Darius to grow alert. "What happened? Where is Riley?"

"She is working on the estate of Lord Zara Shaocheth."

Darius knocked the board over in his haste to reach Hector. "Why is she mixed up with a Xian lord, Hector? What happened?"

"When we dropped firewood off at the farm, they were waiting for us."

Something dark passed through the eyes of Darius, giving him a chill. Hector suspected his friend had just considered murder. "She's safe, Darius. Zara is feeding and housing her."

"Why? Lords do nothing out of kindness. Did you tell her of me? Did you sell me out?"

Hector flinched. "Of course not. This has nothing to do with you, Darius. She has me hunting down some treasure that might not even exist in the nation of Stein."

Cold eyes slowly thawed. Not in a peaceful way. Darius went from chilling contemplation to steaming rage. "Why did you bring her to Tian? Are you a damn fool?"

"I must be. But now I'm in a situation. There are opponents trying to kill me. I need backup."

"Now I'm to save you?"

Hector pulled out a pill. "They are carrying these. Swallow one and cultivate."

Darius held off long enough to demonstrate his disdain with an over-the-top sneer, then tossed it back. His eyes widened. "What is this?"

"A spirit pill from Zing."

The eunuch took the bamboo container from Hector and studied the supply of pills. "Every opponent carries these?"

"Yes. Six more remain. Two at level six, four at level seven."

Darius stared at the pills, greed warring with his good sense. "And two of us?"

"Three of us, actually. I have an ally. He's a hateful bigot, but we share enemies for now."

"That is still two to one," Darius muttered.

"You're the only one with a chaos bolt. The women all use spears."

"Let's go, then." Darius poured pills into his hand and began swallowing them one at a time as they journeyed using Hector's sphere. "Resources will not make me forget your failure."

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"I wouldn't expect you to," Hector said as he opened the weld of his sphere.

Hans came into view. "Good! You returned, hunter. With new ally."

"Who am I killing?" The harsh words of Darius brought a broad smile to Hans.

"Bitches from Zing." Hans studied Darius. "You have combat externality?"

The implied criticism stung Hector more than it should have. He'd never misrepresented his fighting prowess to Hans. Nor had he chosen the path of the transit sphere out of some desire to avoid battle. He saved his home world by traveling between universes. The fact that in this current disaster a different externality type would serve him better didn't make his decision invalid.

Darius went straight to business. "Where are they?"

"Not known."

"Six, all with spear externalities?"

"Yes. All spear bitches."

Darius nodded as he strode to the door and peeked out. "You two draw them out and split their forces. One of you flees the city. The other comes back this direction. I will be waiting."

Hans bobbed his head and yanked the door open. For a moment, Hector had the urge to hammer out a more comprehensive plan. A look at the narrowed eyes of Darius swayed him away from that desire. He followed the racist Stein man out into the streets and back towards the scene of their crime.

"I go back to bath house," Hans declared. "You lead bitches away."

"Why should I be separated from my friend?"

"Transit sphere give you escape options. I need ally."

That sounded more reasonable than he'd expected. Hector sighed and accepted the logic. They darted forward through the streets, footsteps loud in his ears. They didn't reach the bakery before encountering their enemies.

Six women in blue robes leaped from a rooftop to hover around them, spears manifesting into existence. Four of them were level seven. Two were only level six – the same as Hector and Hans. His bloodthirsty ally summoned his arming sword and raised it in a threatening gesture. "All you Zing bitches will die!"

They were surrounded by opponents who had the high ground. Not a great start to a fight.

Six spears flashed down. Rather than rely on his mental sense to help him dodge, Hector hauled his transit sphere into existence above his head. He could summon it faster than most porters, but the rate of growth was still only enough to create an orb the size of his head before the weapons arrived. Two deflected off of it. Two more shattered entirely, fading from existence. The final two had never been aimed at him.

Hector took the momentary reprieve to launch himself into rough flight, skimming the street to gain horizontal distance from his adversaries. He shot past several streets before he had to swerve to avoid a building. A spear struck the structure, showering Hector with stone fragments. In another minute, he was out of the city.

Spears flew at him, the heat of their cosmic energy like bonfires he could sense approaching his back. Hector darted side to side and performed barrel rolls to avoid the danger. His energy levels were declining rapidly, so he pulled out a handful of the spirit pills and threw them back his throat in desperation.

Slowly, he climbed higher into the air. A glance back showed him he was being chased by four forms – three at level seven and only one of the weaker women. How had he drawn more attention than Hans? They could not think him the bigger threat. Maybe fleeing the city made it easier for them to harvest his core without harassment?

In the distance, Hector saw another city. This next one was further downstream on the same river that split Baden down the middle. From his study of Lord Zara's map, he knew it was called Bach and sat right before a steep waterfall. If he could trust the tiny illustrations to be meaningful and not just artistic license, there would be watermills in the area. Though who knew what grains they ground. The mountains and hills might be green with nature, but he saw very little that could be considered farmland.

He put on some more speed and arrived several minutes before the women, snaking through the streets of a dense area of town before dropping to the ground and stepping inside a random business that had a crowd. People were eating breakfast sandwiches in stern silence. They gave way for him with efficient shuffling that didn't quite cross the line into haste.

Hector found himself in front of a serving counter. The woman waiting on customers sat next to a tray stacked with more of the sandwiches. She barked something at him, then seemed to realize he wasn't a local and switched languages. "How many buy?"

A sandwich would make him blend in better. And he was quite hungry still. "Four."

He paid with a silver, received only a small back, and took four sandwiches. He packed three of them into a bamboo container that he'd emptied of pills, then ate the fourth while standing there. It was sausage and sauerkraut on a bun with a spicy mustard. Hector ate it so fast he almost choked. Then washed everything down with the rest of the water in his canteen.

Finally having a moment of peace, he began to evaluate his options. Could he meet back up with Darius? The spear maidens had him seriously outnumbered and three of them were stronger than him. They all had weapon externalities as well. It wasn't a battle he wanted without his friend's chaos bolt to back him up. For that reason, he didn't think leaving the city of Bach would be safe.

But would Darius know to find him here? If the other battle lasted for any length of time, Hector could not expect them to be fast on their heels. Would they even know the direction Hector fled? Bach was the closest town, just downstream of Baden. If Hans survived, he should be able to remember the rough direction Hector fled, which would make everything obvious.

Was hiding here the best option, then? Hector swallowed a few more spirit pills while he pondered his next move. If he planned to hide here, he would need the cooperation of the locals. Otherwise they could just sell him out to the spear maidens.

Hector tapped a nearby man on the shoulder. "Excuse me. Do you know somewhere I could stay here? I want to avoid some Zing women."

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