"So – who will be first to tell me a tale?" the spirit asked. He sat cross-legged still, looking up at them with an innocent smile, his eyes flicking from one member of the team to another.
"I suppose I can, though I don't think my tale will be that interesting." Tads volunteered, taking half a step forward.
"Excellent. The Spirit-talker, talking with the Spirit. As it should be!" Aswon announced with satisfaction."
Tads shot him a dirty look, but then started to chant, swaying slightly from side to side.
"Out of the darkness came the first light, the light of Num, the source of all. Creator of the sky, the ground, all living things. With Num came his son Nga, the god of evil, bringer of darkness and suffering. But Num nurtured the world, answering calls for protection when benedictions were made to him, accepting the worship and sacrifice of the peoples and keeping them safe from Nga," Her nervousness faded away as she concentrated on the tale, recounting legends passed down from one shaman to another since the dawn of time.
"With Num was Ya-nebya, the mother earth. She helped Num to keep the land and the people safe, but especially the females, protecting women and the act of childbirth, aiding fertility and preserving feminine energies. Over the years, many people moved and split, tribes to tribes, becoming different and not one under the gaze of Num, finding new idols and ways, turning their back upon the land. But the people of the forest and tundra remained true. Though the sacrifices grew symbolic, the meaning remained and the veneration of Num the creator lies at the centre."
"The people are supported by the shaman, the speakers to the spirits and guiders of faith. Three ranks there are, each guiding an area of the tribe and a part of life. The Sambana communicate with the dead and are responsible for rites and rituals related to death in what is known as the lower world. Then there are the Yanyani – of which I am one - responsible for communing with the land and the elements to ensure a balance is kept, as much as possible, which is in the middle world. The third type are the Vidutana, who do both Sambana and Yanyani as well as dealing with everyday life in the upper world."
"The shaman follow Num and his helpers, channelling their efforts through one of the many animals that personify a part of his being and teachings. Each animal embodies noble traits, that the shaman aspire to and try to embody - such as Elk being a protector and defender of the herds and thus, the people."
"Though I am far from home, far from my tribe of birth, I still carry out the will of Num. For whatever reason, I was sent on a journey, and I met these people, who became my people. Many adventures we have shared, and through it all, I have followed the ways of Elk, protecting and preserving them, ensuring their wellbeing and trying to guide them on the path that I feel is right."
Tads licked her lips as she finished, then blushed slightly, taking half a step backwards. The spirit watched her unblinking, his entire attention focussed on her for a moment, savouring her words as if they were sweet honey sliding over hungry lips.
"Thank you."
"I have a question first, before I tell you my tale?" Kai spoke quietly, trying not to be confrontational. Fortunately the sprit answered in a jovial manner, not appearing to take any offence.
"Questions were not part of the deal. Oh no no no. That wasn't what we agreed at all. Questions might cost extra! Will you pay the price?"
"That depends – is my story the price for being here?"
"Yes, that is what we have agreed. When I hear your tale, you may walk my mountain in safety."
"Ahh, very well then, you have answered my question. And, as I'm already speaking, I may as well continue... I was much younger, little more than a boy, and still living at home, out on the great steppes."
Kai rambled on for a while, talking about how he'd used his first bow on the steppes of Mongolia, describing his early exploits and attempts at hunting for a few minutes. The team listened, wondering if the story was true or not – Kai certainly was describing himself as being a pretty good shot with bow and arrow, but they'd yet to see him do so in combat.
When Kai stepped back, Vadim looked around nervously and then shuffled forwards. He spoke, haltingly and with lots of unnatural pauses as he looked around at the team and the spirit, clearly feeling self-conscious as he spoke. He started to speak in English, but quickly realised he wasn't fluent enough to tell his tale and swapped back to his native Russian.
"We were back home, well home for me, a week ago. Tads had been teaching me more about my talent, trying to show me how to control it and shape it. We went up into the woods behind the house, and I took her to where our ancestors were laid. It's a quiet place, a little grove that we always leave untouched when logging. Like a family refuge, I suppose. Anyway, when we got there, it felt a bit strange, and a huge beast appeared. Tads said it was my totem, and that I needed to spend some time with it, so she bowed and left."
"Then we were in a forest – but not our forest. It was somewhere else, but it felt familiar. It felt like somewhere I should protect and look after. It was huge, and seemed to stretch on forever. I found a place where lightning had blasted a tree down, creating a gap, and I could climb the fallen tree to see down the slope, and the trees just went on as far as you could see in every direction."
"But then we heard a noise, and found people in the woods, with guns and axes, and they were starting to destroy the trees, killing everything that they could see. Not for wood, or for food – just for the sake of destroying the forest." His nervousness disappeared and his speech became smoother as he recounted the tale, forgetting that he was telling a story and instead just recounting memories from a monumental change in his life.
"I realised I was supposed to stop them, so I started to attack them – but the spells I had… well, they weren't that dangerous." He glanced over at Tads for a moment. "I understand why – they were to keep me safe as well as the people around me, but now I was at a fight with an unloaded gun. I did the best I could with illusions and mind tricks to slow them down, but I didn't have anything to fight them with. I got frustrated and angry, and felt helpless. I didn't even have my rifle with me!"
"But then I felt my anger rising, rage building within me. But I managed to keep control, and used that feeling of anger and hate to focus my power. I called a spirit, like I've seen Tads do so many times. But it was big. Huge. I felt very week and woozy after calling it, but I remember it ripping into the enemy, tearing them apart to save the forest. Their axes bounced off its hide, their bullets couldn't stop it. It savaged them with the fury of the wolverine, punishing them for their acts."
"When I came back, I was so very tired, but I think Tads bought me home to rest. I've spent a while thinking about it, and what the totem meant for me to learn from the experience. I think it was trying to tell me that trying not to hurt people and win without killing is ok – but you have to be willing to sacrifice, and to fight with every fibre of your being for what you believe in, even if there's risk to yourself."
Vadmin fell quiet, shuffling back a step, flinching slightly as he felt a touch on his shoulder, then relaxing as he saw it was Tads. She held the flat of her palm on his shoulder blade for a moment, conveying warmth and support without judgement to him, before she released him, all without saying a word.
"I am not a storyteller. But I can tell you about why I hate dragons." Marius looked at the spirit directly, his gaze unblinking and unwavering. I can tell you why I would just as soon spit on them as talk to them. You see, where I came from, there is a dragon that is very important to our country and much of our industry – very important. Not well loved, more feared. Not respected, but to be suffered. He rules his corporation with an iron fist, and all the people that work for him are pawns – things without true value, to be used and pushed around."
"That, unfortunately, includes my family and I. Both of my parents work for the corporation, have done for most of their lives. They live where they were told to, worked where they were told, even ran their social calendar to the corporation's tune. When they were told they needed to be more efficient at their jobs, they went under the knife to have implants and augmentations installed to help them, putting them in debt to their divisions and departments, meaning they had to work even harder to make money for them."
"And that pretty much sums up my early life as well – being told what to do, when and where, and for whom, to maximise my contribution to the corporate empire. But I quickly realised that loyalty cannot flow only one way. So when I was left languishing in a cell on the side of a mountain because the cost breakdown for a search and rescue apparently exceeds the value of my work to the corporation, I took advantage of that to slip away into the shadows."
"But it seems that fleeing from that oversized German Bastard has just driven me into the arms of other schuppiger mutterficker it seems. First we bump into a great dragon on the side of a mountain in Iran that we're certain is Aden, who signs us up for a job to go and kill eldritch horrors, and not long after we run into what can only by Ruymyo and Lung, playing some kind of game and using other people to do their dirty work."
"So, here we are, trying to keep out of things as much as possible, but up to our necks in dragon business, still being treated like shit and having to carry out their bidding, whether it suits our purposes or not. So, I suppose if you want a story, there should be a moral behind it – if you treat people like things, with no value, then you can rule by fear, but not loyalty…and don't ever be surprised when you get stabbed in the back because those people became more afraid of something else instead."
"Basically, life's not fair, and it's all a bit shit. And that's why I detest dragons…"
"Well, I'm not sure it's much of a story, but it's a lot less bitter and angry sounding than what Marius has to say." Shimazu started speaking from his position, not stepping forward like the others had. "It happened a long time ago – when I was in that strange part of life where a boy is not quite a man yet. I was with my friend Sato – you know who I mean I think folks, and Tads, you met him – and it was the middle of winter. Cold, bitterly cold that year, and most of the water near us had iced over. Our parents had told us to stay off it of course, as it never normally froze at all. They told us it was too thin, too unstable. But that didn't stop us playing on the lake, did it? No."
"Sato was out on the ice, nearly thirty metres from the shore. And he suddenly disappeared, swallowed up by the water as the ice gave way. I saw him fall, his face suddenly forming into a scream, his hands grasping for the sides. But there was nothing to grab. More of the ice broke, cutting his hands and the water started to froth pink. I saw him drop under the water, his clothes dragging him down. I was sliding over the ice to get him, and he was under, weighed down in the frigid cold water, panicking. He couldn't swim, you see."
"The ice gave way under me as well, plunging me down into the depths, and I managed to find him, grab him. Push up from the bottom and drag him to the surface. He was writhing and thrashing like a madman, his lungs half full of water, mind driven by terror. I had to grab him from behind, and tow him behind me, smashing at the ice with my free hand to carve us a channel back to the shallows. I could feel the cold sapping my strength, invading my limbs and trying to rob me of my energy too, but I pushed on. I had to."
"We made it back to the shallows, and I could stand – but by then Sato had passed out from the cold. I slung him over my shoulder and waded to the shore, the ice cracking underneath me. I had to get him into the warm quickly, or I think he would have died. And it would have been my fault. You see…" Shimazu's voice was quiet, almost inaudible as he stared down at his feet.
"I dared him to do it."
Silence washed out from him as the others contemplated his story. Shimazu tended to be quiet and introspective most of the time, a quiet person who didn't share much. Several of the team thought back to the job in Russia to fetch the Singing Soulweed, and how Shimazu had waded and swam through the freezing water without complaint or issue, wondering now if he'd seen it as some kind of penance – or just had the experience to know what to expect and that he could handle it…
"What the fu…" the team looked up quickly as they heard the familiar voice, staring at Hunter as he slid down the hillock towards them, stopping at the bottom to stare at them.
"I thought you were going up the hill to drop off the token?" Kai asked.
"So did I!" Hunter stared at the spirit, his eyes narrow and suspicious. "I was climbing the hill, making sure I was near the centre of the area, concentrating on where I was going… next thing I know, just here."
"Did you drop the token?" Hunter checked his clenched palm, then swore quietly under his breath.
"Nope. Still here, Kai."
"Ahh, then you're here just in time to tell me your story, then!" The spirit beamed, ignoring the harsh look from Hunter. He was about to reply when he saw both Tads and Aswon shaking their head slightly, eyes serious. For a moment it looked like he wasn't going to listen, but then he took a deep breath and plonked himself down on the last part of the hill, resting his tired legs.
"Right. Story. Alright then."
"I do have a story ready to tell them, on your behalf, Hunter?"
"It's ok Tads, I know what I want to say. But ta." He gave her a small smile, then turned to face the spirit. "Ok then, a little while back, and a long way west of here, we – that is the team and I, along with someone else who isn't here right now – were in a smuggler base. Big set of tunnels and caves it is, underground. One of our team went wandering off to get something, and got waylaid in the tunnels by some bad people. These bad people were part of a larger group, another group of people that used the base. But we'd heard things about them, about what they did and how they acted. People not to be trusted or worked with. But anyway, it turned out that these two people from this group had found our team member and had assaulted her."
Over to the side, Marius' jaw clenched as he remembered the incident, and his aura darkened as rage rose within him. Aswon watched him carefully, making sure he wasn't going to lose his temper or do anything rash, while Hunter continued the story.
"Now it turned out alright – before they could really do anything bad, someone found them and scared them off. And they bought the team member back to us and we made sure they were ok. But then we had to do something about these people see. We ended up having to challenge them to a fight in the base, in a special arena. Their champion against ours. And our team ended up picking me."
"The other guy, he was a big fella. Bigger than me, mean as a bear with toothache. Looked pretty handy as well, and his crew thought he was going to win. But… well, let's just say it didn't work out like that. You see, there's something that makes me pretty mad, and that's bullies, picking on people and hurting them. Especially when it's blokes victimising women, relying on them being weaker and less able to defend themselves. Really pisses me off." Hunter leaned forward, staring at the spirit eye to eye. His voice wasn't particularly dramatic, and his body language was restrained, which only made the next line he said all the more chilling.
"When I get pissed off, I get all single minded. Focus on the job. And my job was making sure he could never do that again. Ever. No matter what the cost. So that's what I did. And that's what I'd do all over again."
"Needless to say I won the contest and due payment was collected, shall we say, and I won't go into the details of how but it was unexpected how it happened and it was very quick and very decisive."
"And if the story has a moral, then it's this. For me it's simple; no one messes with any of the members of this team. We're friends, comrades, companions and have become family and when one of ours is hurt, we will defend our own to the death."
"Now I know this is short but stories I don't tell well, make them I can and quite possibly do, some of the others will, I have no doubt tell you or have told you longer ones. But that's my story."
The spirit nodded at him, his face sombre and eyes round. Tads glanced from the spirit to Hunter and back again, trying to work out what was going on, and watching to see how the spirit reacted to the implicit threat in the story. Or potential threat anyway. Fortunately it seemed to take the story as a warning and a sign – a sign that even if he was hopelessly outclassed, Hunter would still fight tooth and nail, because it was the thing to do. The moment broke as Aswon stepped forward, conspicuously drawing attention to himself and clearing his throat.
"I am from a land far to the west of here, where my people revere the land and those who live upon it. In my culture I am a warrior, and so I have travelled to many places and fought in many battles. I could perhaps tell you a tale of mighty deeds I have performed? Sights I have seen? Many would expect it. But I shall instead tell you a simple tale that demonstrates the most important lesson I have learned which holds true no matter the endeavour."
"Recently, we needed to stop at an island far to the north of here. Fuel, rest, the details do not matter. Fate required that we stop, and so we stopped. The island peak was not so mighty as your home, and was covered in lush jungle. Living there on the edge of the jungle was a man. The island is his home, and he serves as a protector of sorts. Many have made their home there in times past, and he makes sure their treasures and the land are not disturbed without… good cause."
"We arrived, and exchanged gifts as is usual when one expects to greet a host – I apologise that we did not know we would be meeting you – and he told us of visitors who had arrived before us, with whom a bargain had been struck that they would be allowed to carefully study a site of interest to them for seven nights, in exchange for a contribution towards the man's ability to keep the island safe. In this case, money, for the visitors had no practical gifts to give. A fair trade."
"They had outstayed their welcome and had sought no leave to remain. He asked us, in exchange for hospitality, much as you have asked us for a tale, to take the trek into the jungle and restore the honour of the bargain struck. We understand the importance of a bargain, and so we agreed."
"A fair trade." Aswon emphasised the words.
"Marius would be our eyes from above, using his connection with his machines to guide us and assist in restoring the balance of the bargain struck. All but Marius headed into the jungle: Tadibya, Shimazu, Hunter, Kai and myself."
"I… am Aswon." Several of the team smirked or exchanged glances, having seen it coming.
"The jungle was bright… to those with eyes to see it. All manner of creatures: monkeys, snakes, strange birds. Vines and trees and flowers and fruits of all kinds. Occasionally the sight of an animal or plant so pure it radiated into the spirit realm. Wondrous. I have fought fierce battles in such places, rarely have I been able to take the time to wander."
"The trail was not too hard, and within a few hours we neared their encampment. Tadibya consulted with the local spirits to ensure that we could reach them without causing alarm. Although our plan was that Kai would speak with their leader and attempt reason, as it was he with whom the bargain had been struck, the man had already shown himself to be untrustworthy, as I'm sure you agree."
"Therefore Shimazu, who is Kai's guardian and shadow, would go with him as ever but Hunter and I would be ready to intervene should the leader instruct his underlings to fight rather than see reason. His group were, after all, little out of childhood. None of us wanted violence. Still, we wanted to be sure that even from there we could step up further – Kai's plan often involve layers – and so Marius would bring one of his heavily armed flying machines into range to join us should it be needed. Tadibya sought the agreement of the spirits to help keep us safe, and wrapped us in protective magics."
"The leader… did not see reason. He said he was entitled to be there. He said the man who served as guardian of the island had no power over him, and was undeserving of respect. He said he had powerful friends and we should just go away."
"But a bargain had been struck. By us, by him. Bargains must be kept."
"He asked why he should not set his students upon Kai and Shimazu. Students! In his care! And so Hunter and I appeared from the trees, stepping out of the concealment of the spirits. Still he railed against us, though he went no further in exhorting his students to what, for all he knew, was their doom. Still he refused!"
"And so Marius revealed himself, the noise of the engines drowning out the miserable wretch's protestations and entitlement, as he realised he faced not just a negotiator and his body guard, not just magic, not just men at arms and not just a master of machines, but all together and all at once."
"His resolve crumbled. He agreed to meet the bargain he had struck, and we left, to return the tribute to it's rightful owner."
"Back down the trail we journeyed, intending to be back by nightfall and our spirits high: violence had been avoided, honour and balance restored, and of course, our own needs for fuel and rest now guaranteed by way of our own bargain. But in our confidence, I – I, Aswon – had forgotten that at all times one must respect the land and a clumsy step angered a snake I had not seen."
"Now I must tell you that I have nothing against snakes. Or scorpions or spiders. Yet strangely they seem to abhor me, and my body, I know from bitter experience, abhors their venom. And this snake was no different. Rather than retreat from our group, all much larger than it, it struck."
"A deadly jungle viper. Very dangerous."
"Do you know about jungle vipers? No?" The spirit shook his head, listening in wonder as Aswon described the events. "Well, they say a jungle viper's venom will dissolve your flesh as it poisons your heart. That you will watch yourself rot before the end, and die in agony."
"It's fangs flashed towards my calf, with lightning speed. Well do I know the dangers of terrain like this. I had not even seen it. I, Aswon, thousands of miles from home, was to die from carelessness."
The spirit raised its hands to its face, peering out over the top of them as if in doubt as to whether Aswon was going to survive the events being described. It appeared to be completely drawn into the story, hanging off of every word.
"What happened? Well, I did not die. For I was with my friends and both Shimazu and Hunter sprung into action. Before my foot had reached flat to the floor, the sharp retort of gunfire and the swish of a quickly drawn blade saw to the snake's end. It was not the snake's fault. It was my fault."
"It is my people's way that you do not take game you intend not to eat, and so I resolve to learn the lesson this jungle had to teach, packed the snake's body away and took it with us to the beach. And that night, many of us feasted on snake for the first time, for that was better than taking yet game just for the sake of comforting familiarity."
"Ah, and what is the lesson? Well that is twofold: First: snake tastes good." Aswon raised two thumbs upwards and gave a broad smile, revealing his massive fangs. "Second: It is not the battles or the travel that matter. It is that no matter the challenge, it is better to not be alone. It is not the journey or the fight, spirit."
"It is the friends one makes along the way."
"That!"
"Was!"
"AWESOME!" The spirit looked moved, almost to tears, his eyes shining moistly as he looked around the team. "You have the best stories! Those were awesome, I shall come with you! I shall hear SO many GOOD stories!"
The team fell silent. Looks were exchanged amongst them. This was not what they'd imagined would happen… Kai opened his mouth, went to speak and nothing came out. He blinked. Then tried again…
"Err, right. For how long. Like a few minutes? Or an hour? Or were you thinking for a whole day?"
"Oh no! It would be weeks and weeks and weeks at least, maybe lots of months! So many stories!"
"But, don't you need to look after the mountain? Make sure its safe and everything?" The spirit looked at Kai and then sprang to its feet, stamping the right foot on the ground hard several times.
"Nope! Look see, solid – like a rock. Seems fine to me."
"Well of course, I'd be happy to have you along, but we actually have a rule, see. We have to have a vote, and if you get voted against by any one person, then I'm afraid the veto stands."
"Oh." The smile vanished from the spirits face, the features smoothing to look utterly neutral. "Sounds like you don't want me to come along."
"It's not that – but we do have rules and agreements, and you know how important agreements are, right? So we can have a quick vote and discuss, perhaps after the token has been hidden. Because we did agree to that.
"Yes we did. Very well. In that case… yeet or ride?" The spirit looked over at Hunter, still holding the token in his right hand.
"Yeet!" called out Shimazu
"Ride," answered Hunter firmly, giving Shimazu a shake of the fist.
"Awww, go on. Don't be soft."
"Hush you. You can get yeeted. I'll ride, thank you." The spirit transformed back into the shape of a quoll, and moved over to stand next to Hunter, then bumped into his leg suggestively. Somewhat tentatively, Hunter raised the leg and swung it over the back of the creature and then slowly settled his weight onto its back. His legs were still touching the floor on either side and he felt slightly foolish, like an adult trying to ride a child's bicycle.
"Lift your legs up then, and we'll go…" Hunter did so, cringing slightly as his full weight lowered onto the creature. It was solid though, like sitting on a concrete bench or steel furniture. There was no give at all in the creature, and no sign that it was struggling with his weight. "Here we go, then!" The creature bounded forwards and then started to run up the mountain, springing from hillock to hillock in giant leaps that took it forward metres at a time. Hunter instinctively grabbed onto the fur on either side of the neck as best he could as the ground blurred to either side of him, and felt his reflexes kick in automatically as adrenaline spiked through his system.
"We should talk while the spirit is away," Aswon turned to address the rest of the team, motioning for them to close in.
"I'm actually in favour of it coming with us." Tads looked at each of them in turn. "Not only is it cute, but it's also very powerful. Very. A creature like that could be of so much potential help when we go hunting that horror."
"It may not help us much, or at all. It seems most interesting in stories. Did it have masking by the way?"
"Oh yes – I think it may have just let the edge of its power show through when I examined it, either as a warning or to establish its powers. Beyond that I couldn't get a good read on it at all. But either way I'm certain it was more than twice as powerful as I am. More than…"
"At least it wasn't hostile then. Though I think if we'd needed to, we could have handled it between us." Aswon watched Tads shake her head in denial. "It might not have been easy, but I think we could. But not for long – we couldn't have destroyed it, just banished it. And when it came back, I'm sure it would have sought revenge, and that would have been bad. But short of attacking it, if it's that powerful, we may have no choice but to let it come with us.
"How about if we ask it what its story is?" Kai offered. "Maybe we can work out a deal, with protection as part of the bargain for letting it come with us."
Their conversation was interrupted by Hunter's voice slowly rising in volume through the fog and mist. It sounded like a mix between a battle cry and a whoop of sheer joy, and they emerged from a patch of mist in the middle of a giant leap. Hunters legs were tucked up tight by his side, both arms were raised over his head and he had a grin that was plastered from ear to ear. Whatever fear he'd had about falling off was long gone, and they watched as he descended down the sixty degree slope at high speed, leaning back to try and remain pointing vaguely upright with his arms bouncing and flapping around wildly.
"Do you think I could have a go if I asked nicely?" Tads murmured wistfully.
"Did you get the token planted successfully?" Kai paused, and waited for Hunter to nod – he was still too busy grinning like a lunatic to make much sense otherwise. "Very good. Well, let's still talk about this then, like we promised we would. You see, we're smugglers. We travel a lot, but there's a fair amount of sneaking around sometimes, with us having to be quiet and not talk or tell stories. Sometimes we end up having to be very violent, or escape from violent situations. Sometimes there's a lot of danger where we are, and the risk of getting hurt – very badly. Tads here very nearly died a little while back. So you see, it might sound exciting, but there's lots of risk involved."
"Well, that sounds very interesting – but all those situations must give you great stories afterwards!" The quoll had transformed back into the small child, and had resumed his position on the hill, sitting cross-legged. "I shall sit out of the way and be quiet and watch. Then I can see what is going on."
"Well ok, then." If Kai was disappointed that he'd not dissuaded the spirit from the idea of coming with them, he managed to keep it out of his voice. "Well, of course if you want to come with us, we need to negotiate a deal. How about you tell us all about you, and we'll make room in the chopper for you?"
"No. Oh no, no no. NO. don't think I'll fall for that one."
"Fall for what one?" Kai looked puzzled, his brow furrowing at the sudden change in tone and body language that spirit was showing. "I don't see what the problem is, you know all about us, we just want to know all about you."
"But I only know a little bit about you, just what you've told me in your stories – but you want to know ALL about me? I think not!"
"Kai, relax – I think this is just a word choice issue." Aswon laid a hand on his boss' shoulder. "When you say "know all about you, you're talking abstractly. You don't actually mean ALL – as in everything. But our friend here is talking literally – when he says all, he means ALL. And as we know, having the name of a free spirit, which would be included in ALL, would allow you dominion and control over it. So yeah, they're not likely to tell you all about them." Realisation dawned on Kai's face, and the spirit seemed to relax a little – accepting that perhaps words had different meanings for different people.
"Well, I can tell you a story about me if you like. But not ALL the stories." It winked at Kai. "I'll start off with a nice easy one then, where I learned the word 'yeet'." The spirit relaxed, and waved for people to come closer and sit. The team closed in a little, but didn't sit on the wet, cold, muddy ground, choosing to stand and wait instead. "It was a few cycles back, and I found two walkers, climbing the mountain. I followed them for a while to see what they were doing. They seemed nice enough, a young man and a woman, but nice – respectful. They took their litter with them, and didn't make a mess. Anyway, so I followed them for a while, and the weather closed in – so they set up their tent and got inside just before the storm hit. I was just about to leave, when I realised they were telling stories. To each other. Marvellous stories, tales of far away places, things I could barely imagine! The stories went on and on, though the night. They laughed, they cried, they sang a little, talking to each other. I had to get close so I could hear them over the sound of the storm, and I think I got too eager – too close. I accidently trod on their tent, and it ripped."
"They screamed. I screamed. We all screamed. They tried to run, but they were all wrapped up in their sleeping bags and blankets. The rain came in through the hole and got everything wet. As they panicked, more of the tent ripped, and the wind got in, and blew their things everywhere. They screamed some more, I screamed. It was all very confusing." The spirit shook his head, looking wistful for a moment.
"Eventually they calmed down, and they seemed very sad. They thought they were going to die you see, from the wet and the cold and the wind, stuck on the side of the mountain in a storm. And all of their survival gear was yeeted all over the mountain. Of course, I didn't understand, so I had to get them to tell me what that meant."
"I helped them, of course, they'd given me so many marvellous stories. So I scampered around and found their things, blown all over the mountain. And I yeeted them, back to their tent. One after another, throwing them back inside. And when it was all back together, I tried to comfort them and keep them warm and safe, to calm the storm around them and keep the wind out." The spirit bounced up and down a little in excitement.
"And you know what the best thing was? They told me how amazing it was, even though I was there. They told me a story, about me, to me with me in it! I got to be in a story that was a story of a story! Oh, that was a good day…" The spirit relaxed, a huge contented smile on its face, arms wrapped around its legs and rocking gently from side to side.
"You really like stories, then, it seems."
"Oh yes! They're the best!"
"Well, let's go take you on board our helicopter then, and go find you some more stories."
"What's it called?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your machine? What is it called? It does have a name, right?"
"Um… the bird?" Kai glanced around to see if anyone else had something different to suggest. "Nope – the bird is what we call it."
"Oh, I thought it would have a really cool name. Never mind – maybe we can find it one. Let's GO!"
The spirit rose from the hillock, springing up and transforming in one smooth fluid move into the quoll again, and bounding towards the chopper. The rest of the team followed along behind it, radiating either amusement, resignation or signs of faint despair at letting a magical critter into their lives.
"Everyone, let's get a quick look at its aura and adjust the ward to let it pass. It'll be easier than having it get battered down every time – and if it's as powerful as Tads says it is, that's what's gonna happen." The others nodded at Aswon, and studied the spirit for a moment, trying to adjust the ward to let it pass. It wasn't strictly necessary, as they were on the side of the chopper with the unwarded doorway, so as soon as they opened the sliding panel, there was nothing to impede its progress anyway. It leapt up into the chopper, and shrank as it did so, dropping in size to something that would fit in the hand of any of the team.
"Well, that makes things easier, I suppose…" Aswon remarked as he climbed aboard. The rest of the team filtered in, sitting down and strapping their harnesses on while the quoll turned around and pointed at things one by one with a tiny paw.
"What's that?"
"Door gun." Kai answered, as the spirit pointed at the medium machine gun on the far side of the fuselage.
"Cool. What's that?"
"Dirt bike, for driving around on."
"Amazing! What's that?"
"Aerial support drone."
"Marvellous! What's that?"
"Bag of dirty washing."
"Fabulous! What's that?"
"Um…rotator splinge linkeage."
"Super! What's that?"
"Grommit holder. It's delicate though, so please don't swing off of it. You might want to find somewhere to sit though, Marius is starting the engines…" The airframe hummed as the blades started to turn, the whine of the auxiliary power unit transmitting dimly through the struts and spars of the chopper. A moment later the engines caught, rumbling into life and the massive propellers started to spin. The noise mounted, and the vibrations began as the whole aircraft rumbled and danced from the power transmitted from the two huge engines straining to lift the vehicle.
"I don't like that….. Do. Not. Like. That…" The team were pretty much immune to the noise now having done several thousand kilometres and grown thoroughly bored of the background rattle and rumble, their brains doing their best to filter it out. The quoll however seemed to find the noise something that was causing it great distress. It grew rapidly, and started to spring from one side of the craft to the other, slamming into the doors before springing back the other way. Faster and faster it jumped, until the chopper was rocking from side to side, the doors reverberating with the impact.
"Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!" The chopper lifted off the ground, rising a few centimetres into the air. "NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!" Shimazu leant over and grabbed the door release, sliding the door open and letting the terrified-looking creature leap out and down to the ground. It sank its claws into the ground, pressing itself down into the mud and shouted up at them. "I've decided to stay here! Bring me some stories back! I'll keep you safe if you bring me some tales!"
Shimazu was about to slide the door closed when the ethereal form of the child floated through, not touching the sides or floor of the aircraft.
"Sorry, I think I should stay here!" it bellowed over the noise of the engines.
"You know that some people will be coming to the mountain in a few weeks yes? To look for the token that you hid?" Tads called out.
"Will they have stories, too?"
"Yes they will. Lots of stories. Really good ones!" Kai responded quickly.
"Oh excellent. I shall wait for them and talk to them, then!"
"They may be violent people, who may try to hurt you. I don't think they will succeed, but you may want to be careful about getting involved." Aswon added, "Just be wary of them, as they may want to beat other people to the token, to claim it as a prize!"
The spirit nodded, and then backed out of the doorway, waving goodbye to them before swooping down towards the ground.
Shimazu slid the door closed and Marius lifted them further up into the air, and sluggishly they turned, drifting down the mountain a little and heading for the nearest valley that would let them drop down into the thicker air below.
"How weird was that? Finding a spirit that was afraid of flying?" Kai said.
"Phobias don't have to make sense, and spirits are sentient creatures. No reason it shouldn't be afraid, I suppose – though I wouldn't have expected it." Aswon shrugged, then pulled down the viewing prism headset and worked to get it over his thick dreadlocks and into position.
As they dropped down towards the coastal areas, they re-entered range of the matrix towers and cell service, and Kai was able to call through to Arkan Port, advising them they were on their way and would like to arrange for some fuel. They sounded a little surprised when he gave them an ETA of early afternoon, but acknowledged his request. Marius continued to descend, gradually turning west as the terrain opened up and headed parallel to the coast at about seventy-five percent power, keeping a close watch on the engine temperatures and diagnostics.
They kept low, mostly under five hundred metres and flashed over several small farmsteads, hamlets and villages. In one there was a small column of what looked like Anzac troops, out doing a security sweep. Soldiers grabbed at their weapons and tried to draw a bead on them, but they were gone before anyone could target them. They picked up a few bursts of encrypted traffic, almost certainly a sighting report, so Marius adjusted course and put in a few random dog leg turns to throw off any pursuit.
They flew on, heading along the southern side of the island and then adjusting to a more northerly direction once they had cleared the central spine of Papa New Guinea, before settling down on the course for Anggramaeos Island and Arkan port. The weather was still poor, but the rain started to lift a little as they crossed over into the bay, covering the last one hundred kilometres.
They arrived at Arkan at a little before one in the afternoon, landing carefully on the beach to the west of the fortified house again, once more blowing up a wall of sand that surrounded the chopper. Marius killed the engines quickly, trying to cut down on the amount of debris in the air, and watched out of the starboard window as a trike drove out of the gate to head towards them. The guns were pointed up in the air this time, rather than trained upon them, but the trike was still fully crewed. He snorted in amusement – guessing that it was as much about relieving boredom as it was about security.
"I'm going to stay in here again. I think if I go out, even though we've made contact with them previously, it could get…political. So let's keep things simple, eh?"
"Fair enough, Aswon. Let us know if you need anything, but hopefully we'll grab the fuel and be gone soon enough. Come on, folks." Kai led the way out of the chopper, towards the waiting security team.
"Afternoon all. Say – it's a bit of a long shot, but I don't suppose you guys have a repair facility here, do you? Somewhere to get some of our components looked at?"
"No, sorry mate. We got a general workshop, that's good for the little engines in the drones and stuff, and sorting out the bikes and trikes, but not for the big stuff."
"Oh well, it was worth a shot. So – can we get some fuel?"
"You'll need to talk to the boss. If you want to head to the house, you can talk to the boss there." Without waiting for a response, the driver started the trike up and spun it around in a tight circle, then headed back towards the house.
"Guess we're going to the house then…" Kai led the way, with the rest of the team except for Aswon following along behind him.
They entered through the same door as they had previously, into the cool entrance hallway lined with black and while tiles, tasteful paintings lining the walls with the staircase leading down to the weapons vault on their right-hand side. One of the guards waved them through into a generous sized room off to the left though, where they found another soldier sitting at a desk working on a terminal.
"Good afternoon, welcome back to Arkan. I'm afraid the Colonel is tied up with some business at the moment. Can I offer you refreshments?"
They accepted, and a couple of locals appeared at the ringing of a bell, taking requests and disappearing, only to return a minute later with pitchers of ice water and some fruit juices, along with a tray of fresh fruits for the team to enjoy.
"So, I was wondering if we could discuss the fuel?" Kai asked, after taking a long swig of the ice-cold water. Condensation beaded on the outside of the glass in the warm, humid air, and he took another refreshing swig as he waited for a response, feeling the icy liquid sloshing down his gullet.
"I'm afraid we're a little low on fuel. We have requested a delivery, and it's on its way, but its not due here until tomorrow. We thought you'd give us a little more notice, you see…"
Kai was about to respond when the door was pushed open, and the colonel strode in. Kai jumped up to greet him, as did the rest of the team.
"Welcome back, welcome. Good to see you again. You are well, I hope? The weapons – they are to your liking, yes? Perhaps you're back for another purchase?"
"Good afternoon, Colonel. As far as I know the weapons are fine – though we've not had much chance to use them yet. But I don't think we're after more firepower at the moment, we're just looking to fuel up. But I understand your delivery isn't due until tomorrow." The Colonel glanced over at the soldier standing behind the desk and got a confirmatory nod.
"Yes indeed. Well, in that case you are of course welcome to stay the night in the guest quarters and spend a little time in our company."
"Thank you Colonel, and I apologise for the lack of notice - where we were, there was no signal at all, and we had to make a hasty departure. However we're happy to wait, and we apologise if we're causing any disruption." Kai paused as Tads shifted into his line of sight and made a subtle drinking motion. It took him a moment to realise what she was hinting at, but then he gave the Colonel a smile.
"As a show of good faith for any trouble we may be causing, we've got a small gift – we happen to have picked up several crates of beer at our last stop, and we thought maybe we could donate it to your and your men, to help keep spirits high? If that's ok?"
The Colonel gave him a smile, then moved in to clap him on the shoulder with a meaty slap.
"Excellent – I'm sure the men will enjoy that. In fact – do you know what time it is?" Kai was about to check his phone to grab the time, but the Colonel carried on speaking. "It's bevvy training time! Sergeant, gather the men if you will and break out the training equipment. Let's go see how wet the beach is!" He turned back to Kai. "If you want to fetch your gift, we'll meet you out on the beach!"
Kai nodded and threw back the last of his drink, placing the glass back onto the tray that a servant was holding, the rest of the team following suit, then led the way back to the chopper. As he was heading out, he grabbed the phone and made a call back to Sarangani port. The phone rang nearly twenty times and he was just about to give up when a sleepy voice answered.
"Yes?"
"Kui Hai? It's Kai. From the team that came a few days ago."
"Oh, yes. Hi."
"Yes, hi, look – we're at Arkan port at the moment, getting some deals done and such like, and going to be leaving here tomorrow, heading back to you. Just wanted to check to see if you had fuel available, enough for a full refill on the tanks."
"Oh sure, sure. Got tens of kilolitres in the tanks down at the marina. Plenty of black gold. All types, too."
"Ok, that's great. I just wanted to make sure before we arrived."
"No problem. So, you heading back here tomorrow then? Then onwards? Where you heading?"
"Up to the Philippines, working our way back a little."
"Oh, right – makes sense. So you're buying some weapons, then?"
"Well, no, not actually. We grabbed some on our way through the first time, but we weren't planning on it. Why?"
"Well, you said you were going back to the mainland right?"
"Yes"
"I just sort of assumed you were going to drop some weapons off with the Huk, and that's why you were back at Arkan. That's what most people do on the journey."
"Well, that sounds like a good idea, but we've got no contacts with the Huk, and no time to make any. We're moving on to…. For a mission we have." Kai bit his tongue, realising that he didn't know where Kui Hai's ultimate loyalties lay. Best to be a little circumspect…
"Oh, well, I can sort you out with a contact if you want. If you're bringing in some hardware, they'll have a buyer for you. They need all the help they can get."
"Well… that makes sense I suppose. Ok – if you can set us up with a meet somewhere, we'll make it work. Thanks, Kui Hai. Guess we'll buy some hardware after all. I'll speak to you again tomorrow then."
The line went dead, and Kai looked up, focussing on where he was and realising they were almost back at the chopper, with the rest of the team looking at him, having only caught half the conversation.
"Ok, so Kui Hai can set up a meeting with the Huk, so we can smuggle some weapons over there and make a bit of cash on the side, seeing as we're passing through."
"Kai!" Hunter sounded exasperated, and a little annoyed. "Just where the hell are you going to put them? We have got somewhere between no room and fuck all room on the chopper at the moment."
"We'll find a way, one way or another. We'll make it work."
"I suppose we could lower the ramp and then lash a crate or two directly to the loading ramp itself. If they're not too high, they won't hit the fuselage…"
"That's why I like to hear, Marius! Constructive thinking!"
"Who exactly are the Huk, and why are we selling them guns?"
"The Huk are a Filipino resistance movement, working to overthrow the Japanese occupation force and control of the corporations, looking to return their country to independence." Shimazu answered. "They're organised on a cell structure, and are rumoured to have the backing of some western countries, looking to destabilise Japanese control." The others gave him a questioning look, wondering how he knew this. "We had a briefing on them back when I was bodyguarding some executives that had to travel over here. The Huk favour hit and run tactics, and will use improvised bombs, snatch and grabs, terrorist strikes – anything they can do to try and fight the Marine Expeditionary force. Very hard to pin them down, and they're good at infiltration."
"Well, sounds like our kind of people," Kai added. "If we can get an introduction, that's a good thing. Might give us some more work in the future. So, let's grab the beer and give it to the Colonel, and then set up a deal for some guns. Ok?"
They slid open the door, and found Aswon lying in the middle of the floor, spread out like a star fish.
"You alright there, Aswon?" Kai looked down at the tribesman.
"Perfect, thank you. Taking advantage of you lot being somewhere else. Do you know how difficult it is when you're as tall as I am to stretch out and not bump into other people? This is the first time in days I've been able to do it."
"Well, I guess you heard the discussions over the comms, so make yourself comfy, we're here until tomorrow afternoon, at least."
They grabbed the crates of beer and moved them off the chopper before closing the doors again, making sure nobody outside caught a glimpse of Aswon. By this point a steady stream of soldiers and servants had appeared from the house, carrying out weapons, equipment, tables and chairs, and what looked like a large spit-roast bar-b-que set. They grabbed the crates and carried them down across the beach to meet the locals, where they – and the beer – were given a warm welcome.
The soldiers set up impromptu targets, setting up twenty-five, fifty and hundred metre ranges on the beach using stands that held silhouette targets printed onto thin sheets of plastic weave. Troops laid out pistols, submachine guns and boxes of ammo, while servants laid out a small buffet of food and drinks, and made a seating area.
Over the next few hours the team were invited to join "bevvy time" – which turned out to be training with drinking. None of the troops were drinking particularly heavily, certainly not enough to become drunk, but enough that it made fine marksmanship much more difficult.
"It simulates having been out in the fields for a week in combat conditions, to a certain extent." The Colonel explained. "Watch the guys, when it's their turn to shoot. You'll see them take a half a dozen rapid breaths to try and hyper-oxygenate their blood and clear their heads for a moment – just long enough to take the shot. And of course, you get a great rush afterwards when your body relaxes!"
They joined in with the weapons drills, which turned into a fairly easy-going competition between the team and the Colonel's men. It turned out that the team were generally better trained in their specific chosen weapon, edging out the soldiers by a few points consistently in whatever category they were competing in, but the troopers were much better than them with everything else – clearly having trained as generalists. Hunter might have them beat with his favoured assault rifle for instance, but they had him drubbed with a sub-gun or a shotgun.
The afternoon wore on, and they demolished all of the crates of beer, while a small carcass was roasted over the bar-b-q. Nobody seemed to mind the slow drizzle, which did have the advantage of keeping the weather agreeably cool, at least. While the guys were shooting, Kai sidled up to the Colonel and had a chat, arranging to purchase some weapons from his stockpile. He explained that they only wanted to take a couple of crates – both because they were limited for space on the chopper due to other supplies, but also because it was a new contact they were dealing with.
Once they had arranged for a selection of hand guns, submachine guns and basic rifles, along with a stash of ammunition for them, Kai made enquiries about respirators and chemically treated suits, expecting to be told that such things were not available. The Colonel surprised him though, but not only having a number of sizes available, but also having options for some enhanced suits, fully enclosed chemical resistant smocks and trousers, with a backpack containing batteries and a small cooling system. While they added significant weight to the wearer, while the batteries lasted they made the normally miserable to wear NBC suits actually quite comfortable, as well as safe versus a number of threats.
After some negotiation and haggling back and forth, they agreed a price and Kai agreed to purchase three of the chilled suits as well as six normal suits, along with the weapons – pulling out his certified cred-stick which the Colonel's sergeant ran through his reader, debiting the twenty five thousand for the suits and guns from their balance. Kai checked the reader as the funds were moved over, confirming what was left on the stick – a touch over two hundred and eighty-nine thousand Nuyen. Enough to get them all the way through this job without worrying about fuel costs, at least.
As the training wound down in the evening, Tads returned to the chopper to spend the night behind the wards and to make sure Aswon wasn't alone, while the rest made use of the guest rooms in the house. The Colonel had apparently had the building designed with entertaining in mind, and there was a corridor with a dozen or more rooms located on it. Each was a basic cube shape, with a single bed and small wardrobe, painted a plain white and with simple artwork to make it less spartan. They were plain and simple, but comfortable and certainly considerably better than trying to sleep in the chopper on the floor or across the jump seats, and Kai, Shimazu, Vadim, Marius and Hunter took advantage of the chance to use the bathrooms and beds to their fullest.
When they arose on Saturday morning, there was a light breakfast available – Tads taking full advantage of the buffet spread to identify and taste a selection of new (to her, at least) fruits, quizzing the servants on exactly what it was she was eating. She savoured breakfast, taking her time to study each mouthful and working to identify the structure and flavours so she could try and replicate them magically later. Hunter, Marius and Shimazu went for a jog up and down the beach, finding themselves engaged in another friendly little competition with some of the Colonel's men. They found out that while the troops were still were trained and competent in a variety of weapons and firearms, their PT had slackened off considerably – even Marius came in level with the troops, while Hunter and Shimazu romped ahead of them, putting them to shame.
With breakfast concluded, Tads tried to call Aslik back at the windmill near the ranch, getting nothing but his answering service. She hung up after leaving a basic message, asking if he'd made any progress on the costs for designing a spell for her, then just as she was hanging up suddenly remembered how many time zones there were between them now, and realised it was only about four AM back in the Trans Caucus League.
Marius did some maintenance on the chopper while he was waiting, do the best he could with his portal toolkit, and at least getting most of the sand from their landing out of their engine filters, preventing things from getting any worse.
"Say, Tads – do you want to scout out the bomb site back at Lae again? It may have cooled off enough by now?"
"Not really, Kai. It may have done, but they may still have watchers guarding the place that could set off the alarm. And if there aren't, then probably there isn't anything left to guard, so I won't pick up any magical impressions or anything, or gain any useful information. Probably best to just leave it now."
"Fair enough, I trust your judgement on this. Right, I'm going to give Kui Hai a call, and update him on our cargo shipment. Can you ask Hunter and Shimazu to get the hardware transferred over? We might as well spend the time while we're waiting for the fuel to get the packing sorted, ready for when we get to the Philippines!"
While Kai updated Kui Hai with their manifest and expected arrival time at Sarangani, Tads rounded up Shimazu and Hunter, and they made a few trips back and forth with the crates of guns, ammunition and chem-suits, working with Marius to get them stowed away in the aircraft. The guns did indeed fit on the tail ramp, though it rendered the rear exit of the craft unusable, leaving them with just the two side doors, and with the NBC gear added to their personal kit, the back of the troop bay was even more crowded than before.
At midday, a trawler appeared out on the ocean, slowly making its way towards the small waterway that lead to the lagoon next to the house. Even at high tide, it looked to be a tight fit, but the trawler was soon lashed up just past the Corvette, and fuel was transferred over from the trawlers hold to a fuel bowser that had been driven over from the courtyard, dragged by one of the trikes. When the bowser was full, they spun it round and drove it over to the chopper, refilling the tanks for the team, and once more Kai used his credstick to pay the fuel bill, dropping their balance by another ten grand.
They quickly said their goodbyes and took off, heading north west across the ocean back towards Sarangani island. Marius kept the power settings down, and checked the sensors and diagnostics carefully throughout the journey. Nothing was acutely wrong, but he did feel fatigued and worn out as the journey progressed, and he could tell that the craft was not performing as it should. Computing the flight time and distance travelled versus the fuel used, he realised they were down on their economy, the engines using far more fuel than they should. With the amount of over-water flying they had ahead of them that wasn't good news at all!
With the beach hut in sight, and the chopper on final approach for a landing just after 17:00 local time, Marius fired up the internal speakers.
"Just coming in to land at the beach. All looks safe, no sign of hostile activity on the sensors. I have computed our fuel usage on the journey from Arkan to here. We have flown a total of one thousand five hundred and eighty eight kilometres today – but our fuel usage should have taken us one thousand seven hundred and forty kilometres. We are well into the last of the tanks, and close to our reserve. We need to plan in some time at a repair facility to get these engines looked at!"
As the chopper flared for landing, Kai signalled to the team to get ready.
"Let's get this meeting out of the way, work out where we need to go to sell these guns, and then we'll work out what airport or facility we can get to for repairs. But for now, let's go meet Kui Hai, and sort out a meeting with the Huk."