Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 19 (Patreon)

There were still a few snakes on the path ahead of him, but thanks to his excellent observational ability, he could see the trajectory of their strikes before they launched their attacks, and with dancing feet and a sweeping spear, he cleared the way. Evan followed close behind him, still recharging his rifle, while Vale and Dugan were only a step behind. The path wound down the mountain, and they took it as fast as they could. There was no thought to safety, and a few times, one of the prospectors nearly tumbled from the steep mountainside, only catching themselves just before they completely lost control. After fifteen minutes of mad running, they finally outpaced the snakes.

When they slowed down, the prospectors were breathing heavily and could run no longer. Barak wanted to keep going at a faster pace, getting more distance between themselves and the snake nest, but it was clear that Vale, Dugan, and Evan couldn't continue. After a brief discussion with Merrick, Barak left them to continue following the path at a more sedate pace with the prospectors, while he ranged ahead, looking for a place they could spend the night.

It was starting to grow dark, and none of them wanted to spend the night on a mountain infested with rock snakes, so Merrick kept the pace as aggressive as possible. By the time they finally stumbled into the camp that Barak had chosen, Dugan, Vale, and Evan were so exhausted they could barely stand. Collapsing to the ground they gasped for breath as Merrick began to prepare camp. This time, when he got out of the stove, Barak didn't say anything. All of them were too exhausted, and even Barak and Merrick could feel the strain. They still had a little bit of the goat meat left, and Merrick wasn't stingy with it, preparing all of it and giving it to the ravenous men. Within a few minutes after he had finished cooking it, all of the food was gone.

"Isn't there any more?" Evan asked.

Shrugging, Merrick showed him the empty pot.

"We could always go back and get some snakes," he said, giving the prospector a wide grin that showed his canines.

"No, that's okay," Evan said, shaking his head. "I'd rather starve to death than go back there."

That night, as they sat around the campfire discussing their plans for the following day, Vale consulted the map.

"We need to get around the backside of that mountain," he said. "Snake nest or not, that's where we're going to find the mine."

Merrick had been hearing the word mine for some time now, but he didn't know what it meant as there was no equivalent in the language of the people. Though the prospectors would talk about it occasionally, they had not given him enough context clues to figure out what they were talking about. This time, however, it was different and he listened with rapt attention as they finally revealed what they were looking for. Shaken by their close encounter, Dugan looked at his boss, Vale.

"Do you think there's actually a mine here?" he asked.

Hearing the question, Vale looked uncomfortable for a moment. Picking up a stick, he poked at the fire, filling the dark night air with sparks. It was cold now that the sun had fallen, and the fire they had built was big and hot as they tried to guard against the deep chill that lay over the mountains.

"There's no guarantee," the dark haired young man said, "but all signs point to it. According to the reports that my father saw, when they did the initial scans of this world they found a high mana concentration located here. The only thing that can be is a manastone mine.”

"So let's say we find it," Evan said, frowning. "What's the plan then? This place is so far out of the way, and I don't know about you, but I don't know any miner crazy enough to work next door to a snake nest."

"For a manastone mine? Are you kidding? Listen, if there's actually a manastone mine here, and we find it, the Ministry of War will flatten this mountain to get it out. Even if it's a small one, you know, grade C or even grade D, they'll be able to pull enough manastones out to fund the war for years. And if it's a big one? Let me tell you, we will be rich! You won't even remember the difficulties that we've gone through," Vale said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Listening as Vale continued to talk, Merrick was excited. This thing that they were looking for, this mine, had manastones that could be removed, meaning that it must be where the manastones were produced. Having seen the power of the manastone powered manatech artifacts, it wasn't hard for Merrick to understand why they were so desperate to find it.

Earlier, Vale had told the men to pay close attention to any sort of cave system or hole in the ground, which meant that the mine must be something underground. Logically, the manastones would come from deep underground as well, which would also explain why his people had no knowledge of them. Though they occasionally explored caves, the people much preferred the surface, fearing the dark underground world and leaving it to the creatures who preferred such dark halls. Merrick didn't know of anyone who had ventured deep underground, which explained why knowledge of the manastones was completely foreign to the people.

That night, Merrick had trouble sleeping. He wasn't sure if it was the idea of rock snakes burrowing up through the ground underneath him, or if it was the curiosity that he felt regarding the mine they were going to be looking for the following day. But he seemed to awake at every slight sound and he wasn’t the only one. Even before dawn arrived the following morning, everyone was up. It was clear that nobody had slept very well, and after packing up their camp, they continued on their way. It took them twice as long to go around the mountain as it would have taken to go over it, but nobody fancied trying to fight the snakes at the top of the mountain for use of their path.

Because they had to find a new way around the mountain it took them an extra day, much to Vale’s aggravation. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done, and after one more night camping out on a ridge, they finally made it around to the other side of the mountain and saw a large canyon falling away before them. Excited by the sight, Vale surveyed the area, double-checking it against his map.

"It's here. I know it's here," he said, turning to the other two prospectors. "We need to go down and look. Evan, see if they can find a way down to the valley floor, to the floor of the canyon."

Nodding, Evan turned on his translator and relayed the request to Merrick and Barak. The two soul warriors shared a glance.

"We need to find food," Merrick said.

There had been no dinner the night before, but everyone had been too tired to care. But Merrick knew that if they continued on this trend, they would soon be too tired to even hunt. Excited as Evan was about the idea of finding the mine, his belly reminded him that it had been a full twenty-four hours since he had last eaten a meal. They had found some fruit along the way, but remembering Merrick's reminder, they had not dared to eat it.

"Will the animals be poisonous?" Evan asked, concerned.

Shaking his head, Barak pointed to some of the plants growing by the side of the path. "No, only those things that come up from the ground. The land here is what's poisonous, and so any plant that grows from it, the water too, is potentially dangerous. But if we can find some animals, we should be fine."

Merrick, after thinking for a moment, looked between Barak and Evan. "We can go hunting," he said, “while you make your way to the canyon floor. We'll join you there once we have some food."

Though he didn't like the idea, Evan turned and related the situation to Vale, who just nodded impatiently.

"Yes, that's fine."

Clearly the young man was so focused on finding the mine that he didn't have a thought to spare for anything else. After picking a visible landmark where they would meet, the group split up and Barak and Merrick headed out around the rim of the canyon. They had spotted dense vegetation along its edge and thought they might find some deer there. In the meantime, the others began to work their way down into the canyon. There were a number of places where the side of the canyon sloped from the canyon floor up to the surface and picking the closest of these slopes, Evan and the others began to make their way down. Watching them go, Merrick shook his head and turned to Barak.

"I think you were right. I'm sorry. I don't think we should have come."

Shrugging, Barak crouched as he watched the prospectors leave.

"Too late," he said, his words pragmatic. "We have agreed to help and so that is what we will do. But be on your guard. I don't like the look of that black-haired one."

Nodding, Merrick turned to scan the forest in the distance.

"What is it that you think they seek?" Merrick asked as Barak finally stood up.

"They seek wealth," came the reply.

Startled, Merrick looked over at Barak. The veteran spirit warrior had no sense of the language they spoke, yet he had been able to pick up on the prospectors' desires without trouble.

"Do you think they'll find it in the canyon?" Merrick asked.

Glancing down at the steep drop in front of them, Barak shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to me," he said. "What matters to me is getting out of here alive. Keep your senses about you."

Without another word, he turned and trotted off, following the rim of the canyon out towards the woods, Merrick following close behind. Though they spotted many smaller animals on their way, they were hoping for a deer or something big. They hadn't seen anything by the time they arrived at the forest, but almost as soon as they entered, Merrick held up his hand and Barak stopped. Over the course of the trip, the older warrior had come to appreciate just how sharp Merrick's observational skill was. It was clear that his gift had given him tremendous insight into the world around him, and Barak had started to pay attention whenever Merrick had something to say.

"It looks like there are boar in these woods," Merrick said, pointing at the base of a tree where there were three long scratches. "Those were made by boar tusks."

Nodding, Barak scanned the forest, sniffing the air.

"Then we'll be eating well tonight," he said.

As they pressed deeper into the woods, they slowed down, beginning to crouch as they moved through the brush, looking for signs of prey. The two spirit warriors crept silently through the thick trees, doing their best to make as little sound as possible. It wasn't long before they heard the boar.

"Sounds like there's more than one," Barak said. "Be ready."

Working their way through the dense underbrush, they soon came to a small clearing where they found the animals they had heard, milling around the clearing as they foraged. There was one large boar, nearly 300 pounds, with giant curling tusks that looked like they could go straight through Merrick's stomach. Next to the giant boar were three sow, smaller, but still 150 to 200 pounds each. Though they lacked the tusk of the giant boar their charge could break a man's leg easily, so Barak and Merrick decided to do their hunting from up on high. Retreating a few steps, they each picked a tree and climbed up it, finding a vantage point that would allow them to strike at the boar, as they had the goats.

Barak spoke, his a whisper, "I'll take the boar. You take one of the others like last time."

Barak didn't wait for Merrick to be ready as he pulled his arm back and hurled one of his short spears, sending it piercing through the air. Though it was an incredible sight, somehow Merrick felt it was a bit lackluster compared to the powerful shot from a rifle, and he found himself wishing that he had one of the manatech rifles now. It would be so easy and simple to take down even the largest boar with a single shot from one of the prospector's rifles.

Still, he didn't have time to wish, and even as Barak released his first spear, Merrick's was flying through the air shortly behind. He had aimed at one of the sows closest to the large boar, and his spear flew true, piercing deep into the thick muscle of the sow's body. Unlike the mountain goats, whose heart and lungs sit right behind their front shoulders, boars have a more compact body, putting their heart and lungs directly behind their front legs and under the shoulder joints. Merrick had chosen his target with this consideration, and thanks to the angle, was able to get his spear in behind the sow's left foreleg and sink it deep into the center of her chest at an angle.

At the same time, Barak's spear arrived, blasting into the side of the boar who let out a furious squeal and spun to face the trees where they hid. Its little beady eyes scanned the environment, and it charged toward them, furious. The sow took two tottering steps and fell, sending the others scattering into the woods. Merrick let them go, and even if he had another spear he wouldn't have thrown it. From a young age he had been trained only to hunt the meat that he needed and would not break that rule now, no matter how hungry he was.

[Ding! Two experience points.]

The boar, mad with rage and pain, had begun to charge towards them, but Barak leapt from the tree to meet it, his spear stabbing down even as the boar's tusks were ripped upward. With a sharp crack, the stone-tipped spear pierced deep into the boar's skull, hitting its brain and killing it instantly. As agile as a jaguar, Barak turned over in midair, landing neatly behind the boar and watching as the other wild pigs scattered. Rather than turn to examine his kill, his eyes scanned the forest for threats. When nothing appeared, he slowly took a step back. Merrick, jumping down from the tree, ran out to join him, his hand clutching his dagger.

"Is something wrong?"