Path of Dragons-Chapter 8Book 9: : Bird Problems

“Draggin’ me out here like I don’t have nothin’ else to do,” grumbled Kurik, his short legs having no problem keeping up with Elijah’s pace. The dwarf had clearly gained a good deal of experience via his efforts in setting up Ironshore’s defenses – which made sense, based on what Elijah had seen of them. It also probably contributed to his friend’s insistence on staying put.

Why go looking for trouble when he could stay put and get all the experience he wanted?

It was a valid question, and the only answer Elijah could come up with was that Kurik’s skills were needed. Of course, there was also the very distinct possibility that his progress would soon slow.

“Did you reach ascendence yet?” he asked, glancing back.

“No. Close, though. Just a couple more months, and I’ll get there. I can feel it.”

“Maybe this will give that timetable a little push,” Elijah reasoned.

Kurik only grunted as he leaped over a small gap. “How far is it?” he asked.

“Not far,” Elijah answered. “I thought all you dwarves liked being underground.”

“Common misconception. My people lived underground for centuries, but that ain’t the case with every dwarf. Besides, my impatience ain’t got a gods bedamned thing to do with me bein’ uncomfortable. I want to get back to my traps.”

“Just think of all the traps you’ll get to set up top,” Elijah coaxed.

“Don’t patronize me. I see what your doin’.”

“What?” asked Elijah with mock innocence. “I’m just saying that you’ll get to play with all your toys.”

Kurik just grunted and sped up, pushing past Elijah. How he knew where they were going was a mystery, but at each turn, he took the right path until, at last, they reached the surface. It was just in time to see one of the birds diving. It hit one of the scarecrows – realistic dummies meant to fool the monsters – like a bomb. Dirt and rock sprayed in every direction as the bird let out a cacophonous squawk.

It actually sounded like a redtail hawk, which got Elijah’s patriotic blood pumping. How that sound had become synonymous with a bald eagle, he didn’t know, but like many Americans – or former Americans, considering the country didn’t exactly exist anymore – he had an almost Pavlovian response to the sound. An image of the stars and stripes and fighter jets flew through his mind before he shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all.

There was something to be said for national – or at least territorial – pride, especially when it came to a state’s viability. He was almost nostalgic for it all.

“I really miss the Fourth of July,” he said when he joined Kurik. The enormous bird had already returned to the skies, clutching its prey.

“What in all the hells is that?”

“Oh. It’s a holiday where my country used to celebrate our independence,” Elijah explained. “But it was mostly about barbecue and fireworks. You’d have liked that last part. You know, because of the explosions.”

“I do like explosions,” Kurik mused appreciatively. “Sounds like my kinda holiday. Those were the birds, right? That’s what we’re here to kill?”

“Yeah.”

“They dive like that often?”

“Only on occasion,” Elijah explained. “The workers came up with the decoys. Made of metal and harpy guts.”

“Gross.”

Elijah shrugged. “Can’t really argue with that assessment,” he acknowledged. Then, he pointed to the area surrounding the still-in-progress outpost. There were dozens of decoys scattered across the barren stretch of land. “They do their job, though. One of the goblins tried to stuff some explosives in a couple of them, but it didn’t really do any damage. We also tried poisoning them, but again – didn’t really work.” 𝙍𝐚NՕВËS

“You can’t just fly up there and kill ‘em? I thought you were powerful,” Kurik remarked.

“Went over this back in Ironshore. There are hundreds of those things up there. They’ll rip me to shreds unless I’m in one of my other forms,” he said. He’d certainly tried to go up there and do exactly what Kurik had suggested. Even using Wild Resurgence didn’t keep Shape of the Sky from being torn to pieces. He’d ended up crashing to the ground, his wings in tatters before he shifted into the Shape of Thorn and used Unchecked Growth to heal.

That was when he’d decided to ask a friend for help.

“Alright then,” Kurik said, slapping his hands together. “Let’s get to it.”

After that, the dwarf commandeered a dozen workers and started digging holes and trenches. Elijah had no idea what he was doing, and he knew that if he asked, he’d just get a surly non-response. So, after Kurik told him – for the fourth time – that he didn’t need his help, Elijah headed toward the build site.

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The excavation of the lower levels had progressed quite well, and to Elijah, it looked like they were building an underground city. The foreman – Donogal – had claimed it was an old dwarven design, and to Elijah, it looked it. He certainly wasn’t entirely familiar with the race’s preferred aesthetics, but the blocky, no-nonsense layout definitely felt dwarven to him. It wasn’t entirely without its fair share of flourishes, though they tended more toward subtle and angular than overt.

Whatever the case, he couldn’t argue with their progress.

“How much more are you going to carve down here?” Elijah asked when he found Donogal on the lowest level. The broad-shouldered dwarf looked up from a set of plans he’d laid on a collapsable table.

“Ah. We got a mandate to build somethin’ capable of housin’ at least ten-thousand people. That ain’t quick or easy, ‘specially ‘cause it needs to be self-sustainin’. The old Farmer you brought back to Ironshore is s’posed to be one of the first over so we can get down to some proper subterranean agriculture. Right now, we’re just carvin’ the space,” he explained.

“Davika’s coming back?” Elijah asked. He hadn’t expected that. He’d believed that the old woman would have preferred to never see Chimera Island again.

“Aye,” Donogal answered. “She wanted to come with the first wave, but wasn’t safe. She’ll come over on the first ship.”

“What’s the timetable?”

He’d gotten a vague idea from Ramik of how long it would all take, but those had always been estimates. Now that Donogal had a good sense of what challenges he faced, he would be able to provide a better approximation of what was in store.

And he did, explaining to Elijah that they expected to be done with excavation within the next week. After that, they’d start refining the space with detail work and the addition of creature comforts. That, he expected to take at least another month.

“Then we gotta go topside. Probably won’t take much to get that set up,” Donogal explained. “Maybe another month at most.” He scratched his nose. “Oh, and we gotta build a proper dock. Can’t forget that. By that point, the boat from Ironshore ought to be finished and on its way. Might even get here before we’re finished.”

That was definitely an important step. One of the major points of the entire endeavor was to ensure that Ironshore could stand on its own two feet and manage the Primal Realm on its own. Certainly, a big part of that was the outpost itself. Being able to grind on the harpies and eventually challenge the Chimeric Forge while protecting the tree was huge as well.

But one thing Elijah didn’t want was to have to babysit them the whole time. Including acting as a ferry for their forces. Cutting through the maelstrom was no easy task, but Ramik had assured him it was possible. So, he had to trust his ally to hold up his end of the bargain.

In the meantime, Elijah needed to ensure that the rest of the operations went off without a hitch.

That was why he’d brought Kurik out to Chimera Island to help him deal with the birds. They were a constant threat, and while no one had been grievously injured by them, it was only a matter of time before someone grew careless and the monsters took advantage of their inattention.

Over the course of the next day, Elijah lent a hand where he could. Mostly, that just boiled down to carrying heavy things. He was much stronger than anyone else present, but he just didn’t have the skills necessary to build what needed to be built.

Not that he minded.

There was a certain degree of peace in committing to physical labor. Partly, that came from the satisfaction of seeing a job well done, but the act itself was cathartic as well. In addition, it gave him an opportunity to ponder his cultivation. Specifically, he thought about what path he wanted to take next. He could only work on one aspect at a time – at least for now – so he knew he needed to make a choice fairly soon.

He couldn’t work on his core yet. Doing so before advancing the other aspects would just make things that much more difficult. So, given that core advancement was already extremely taxing, he eliminated that from contention.

Which left either mind or soul.

There were merits to both, though Elijah had to admit he was far more curious about what would happen when he took the next step in soul cultivation. The last time had given him the ability to extend his soul into other creatures, and he was more than a little excited about improving on that ability.

But his mind was important as well. Even more so considering the ethera requirements of spells like Eternal Plague. If he’d been capable of pulling in more ethera through the apertures of his mind, he might not have needed to lean so heavily on Conduit of the Grove.

In the end, though, Elijah chose curiosity over utility and decided to work on his soul. The problem was that he only had a vague idea of what that entailed. Certainly, he expected that he would need to expand the scope of his channels, but beyond that, he was a little lost. So, he resolved to find a guide next time he was near a Branch.

In the meantime, he practiced controlling the ethera in his soul. Speeding up and slowing down the flow was incredibly difficult, which meant that it was probably a good exercise. So, as he played pack mule and waited for Kurik to finish, he flexed the ethera in his soul, hoping that it would assist him once he had a little more direction.

Still, it felt right, and he trusted that more than he’d ever trust a guide.

In the end, it was nearly a week before Kurik descended into the subterranean compound and announced he’d finished. Then, he explained the orientation of his traps, what each of them did, and how they were deployed.

“And how do we get them to strike?” asked Gorank, the leader of the combatants.

“Two options,” Kurik answered. “We stake out some more of your decoys and hope when those birds swoop in, they hit with enough force to activate the traps.”

“That does not seem like a viable plan.”

“Nope,” Kurik responded. “The other one’s sight better, ya ask me.” Then, he looked at Elijah. “You ready to be bait?”

Truthfully, Elijah had expected as much. “That might be the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen on your face,” he sighed.

“Can’t help it. If it works, it works. And we know this’ll work.”

Elijah ran his hand through his hair and glanced toward the ceiling. He’d gone up there a few times in the past month or so, and in each instance, he’d been torn to ribbons. Certainly, he could have escaped any time he wanted. Just a quick use of Lightning Rush, and he’d be a couple hundred miles away. However, that didn’t solve the problem.

And besides, he was past due for a little combat training in his flight form. Strictly speaking, it clearly wasn’t meant for fighting, but with his attributes, he should have been much better at it than he was.

“Fine,” he said. “But I want it on record that if you blow me up, I’m going to haunt you.”

“Bah. What’s life without a little danger?”

“Shouldn’t you be telling me it’s perfectly safe?”

“What kind of traps do you think I’ve been buildin’? Safe don’t come into it!” Kurik exclaimed. “But you’re big and strong. I’m sure you can take it.”

Once again, Elijah sighed. He had a feeling he’d need quite a lot of healing before he was finished.

“Well, no time like the present, I suppose. Let’s get it done,” he said, already walking toward the steps that would lead him outside.