Chapter 139 – Residue
“Cinna,” Siu said after leaving the inn and, standing beside her with the reins in hand, “stop complaining; we are leaving already.”
Cinna turned her head away, clearly unhappy that she was left outside. Not having her sass, Arya, sitting on the carriage rail, chirped at her like a bird, and of course, Cinna chirped back, only for Arya to snort and grunt something.
"Okay..." Siu looked at Arya because he had only caught the feeling, not the meaning behind it. “What did you say?”
“That she is being such a crybaby that Master thinks she is unbecoming to stay as his steed.”
“That is not helping.”
“It does.”
He couldn't argue, because Cinna actually was already stomping in place, ready to go and pull the carriage with all her might, clearly taking Arya's words to heart. Joren, who was climbing back inside the carriage, leaned his head out at that moment.
“I have worked with drunk guests easier than this bird.”
"Well," Ruben appeared opposite him, “But as you know, drunk guests do not usually have talons capable of disemboweling you.”
“You know full well what the disciples have can be even worse; you are on a list, after all.”
"The Paragon List, which I am part of, too, so don't make this sound weird." Seloryn cut in, standing beside the carriage, while she checked the road map one more time, then looked toward Siu. “Enough chit-chat; we should move. If we keep a steady pace, we can still reach the southern fork before evening, and we will be arriving at Mirebell by tomorrow.”
“Does that take us near the logging site?” Siu asked, climbing up, watching as her eyes shifted to the map.
“For a stretch, yes. Not directly through it, but close if you want to take a look. There is an old side road used by woodcutters, and it rejoins the main road farther ahead.”
"Perfect," Ruben tapped his umbrella lightly against the carriage floor. “We should take a look; it is a good change from watching the same scenery for hours.”
Siu looked toward the road leading out of Feldren. Beyond the village, the packed gravel path continued through fields and a few low hills, then bent toward the northwestern woodlots before turning back toward Mirebell. He clicked his tongue once, and although he didn't intend it as a command to Cinna, because it was only an involuntary sound of excitement, Cinna still heard it. Naturally, she straightened at once, then stepped forward before he had properly climbed up.
“Wait—!” He yelped as the carriage lurched and Seloryn caught the side rail with one hand, almost falling off too. "Impatient one!" Siu groaned as he hopped onto the driver’s bench, taking the reins properly, controlling her overzealous steps. At the same time, Arya made a noise that was definitely laughter, seeing their panicked expressions.
“Laugh all you want,” Siu muttered, rolling his eyes while they began leaving.
They rolled out of Feldren under the watching eyes of villagers and most of the children who clearly wished to see the great cultivators and their strange bird. Cinna kept her head high until they left the village behind, then settled into a smooth trot that made the shock-dampening worth its money, as it was as silky a ride as if they were floating. For a while, nobody spoke much, just looked out of their heads, the aftertaste of their lunch still on the tip of their tongue. By midafternoon, Seloryn tapped his arm and pointed ahead.
“That's the fork.”
"Mhm," Siu nodded as he slowed Cinna.
"Huh," Ruben looked at the road, then at the sky, squinting a little. “If we spend too long, we are going to lose daylight.”
“We don’t need to spend long,” Siu said, doing his best to mask his own curiosity, boosted by Arya and Marly's own.
“True,” Seloryn agreed, but her expression had become more serious suddenly. “But we do need to take a look.”
"Hm?" Joren glanced at her. “Need?”
“Yes.” She muttered as her eyes scanned the area much more seriously. “I can sense their leftover spell residue. And if I do, a fight of that level, in Hollow Song territory, AND near a border road, with signs witnessed by mortals and no report filed through proper channels? As a Paragon, now we are obliged to investigate.”
Siu looked at her, then at Ruben, who simply nodded, agreeing with her.
"I didn't think it was like this." Seloryn met his gaze calmly. “This is not curiosity anymore. We are disciples of the Hollow Song, traveling under an official directive from our sect. If cultivators fought here, we have the authority and the obligation to inspect the site, preserve what evidence we can, and report it back to the sect. If we find the culprits or a trail that suggests a threat to the territory of the Hollow Song, in any shape or form, we are allowed to pursue within reason or even request an Elder's intervention.”
"This is getting interesting!" Ruben opened his umbrella, resting it over one shoulder despite the lack of rain. “Maybe Seloryn was right that you have some kind of aura,” he joked, glancing at Siu with one eye, "And make events happen by just walking by."
"I hope not," Siu muttered as he looked down the side road, but he couldn't help but agree. Apparently, wherever he went, something always did seem to happen. Naturally, Cinna had already turned her head toward where he was looking, just waiting for the command to come. “Let's go then,” Siu said with no hesitation anymore. “But we keep the carriage safe; I have a creeping feeling that we wouldn't get a pass if something happens to it. So, if the road gets too bad, we stop and walk.”
“Good,” Seloryn said. “Tell her to keep a slow pace.”
"And you shut that shit back down," Joren moaned, fighting with his half-brother's umbrella, "Why even open it up inside the carriage, huh?"
Cinna stepped onto the logging road by then, and after ten minutes, the first sign appeared that there was indeed a battle that was fought there. It came in the form of a broken branch, which was not unusual by itself, but it was lying a few dozen meters away from a tree whose trunk leaned at a very strange angle, as if something deformed it, without actually breaking it.
"Here," Seloryn’s eyes sharpened suddenly. “Stop here.”
Siu pulled the reins lightly, whistled low, and Cinna halted as per his orders, and this time, she obeyed at once, sensing the seriousness of the situation. The logging site was not far beyond, and from where they stood, the mortals had not exaggerated much. Half the clearing looked as if a storm had passed by, but only locally, sparing everything else around it.
Stacks of cut timber were lying split open, clearly not chopped by axes or saws. Two sled tracks had been crushed into the soil, the wooden frames flattened as if a massive thing had been dropped on them. A shed stood near the far side of the clearing, one half collapsed, the other blackened so deeply that the wood had turned glossy in places. Yet the ground around it was not burned as it should have been in a fire. There was no spreading pattern, no trail of embers flying off; it was way too concentrated. Several more trees at the edge of the clearing had been bent outward, away from the center of a massive impact.
Siu's first instinct was to look for bodies, but as the people had said, there were none. As they spread out to take a look, Arya and Marly also hopped from place to place, and they found no blood anywhere. Taking deep breaths, Siu soon could tell what Seloryn was speaking of, as he could sense and smell the residue she mentioned. It had a weird sensation, like walking down a cellar that hadn't been opened for years.
“Tsk, this was a proper fight,” Ruben said quietly, all amusement gone from his voice. "I would dare to wager it was a fight to the death, because they didn't hold back at all. I wonder if we know one of them."
"If they are both sect members," Joren crouched beside one of the crushed sleds. “They will be in deep trouble once they get back.”
"Maybe one of them doesn't want the other to get back," Seloryn nodded, examining the ruined shed, “For now, we only know that there were two cultivators at minimum. Possibly more, considering the different signs of multiple affinities clashing. I can't really tell, but the main exchange was between two figures as per the clues.”
"So, there was one who managed to twist the trees, one that clearly used lightning, and there was maybe one with... fire? I can't pick out more..." Siu muttered as he looked at her.
"I came to a similar conclusion, but I don't think the third had fire as an affinity. I think those signs are byproducts only." She said, pointing toward the burned shed. “Here, the residue is lightning-based, as it burnt the wood in a controlled and concentrated pattern. Wherever the spell they used passed, it generated enough heat to do it. Now... look there.” She turned and pointed toward the split timber stack. At first, he saw only broken wood; then, when he focused, he saw faint pale traces along the edges, almost like a white, cold glaze, though not even the nights were chilly at all right now.
“Huh... it is frosted over?” He asked, crouching to examine it closer.
“Likely. Maybe a cold-driven technique.”
"Don't rule out someone with the affinity to manipulate temperatures." Ruben walked over and crouched beside the timber. “It could be a water-style spell, creating the ice, yes. But... I fought people like that, and this is not the same, clean ice they produce. Maybe the opponent could deal with both fire and ice, because they can tap into the temperature itself by a more rare, unique affinity.”
“...” Siu remained silent, listening to them, realizing that the knowledge of affinities and their possibilities was more varied than it could be at a first glance. He would have to learn more and study them all in the future.
"Heh," Ruben smiled faintly, catching the way he looked at him. “I am not only handsome, but have a brain too.”
"Hmph," Joren, from across the clearing, scoffed under his breath, “Debatable.”
“The handsome part or the useful part?” Ruben asked back, twirling his umbrella.
“Yes.”
"Siu," Seloryn called out as she kept ignoring them, “Come here.”
She now stood near the center of the clearing, where the ground had been pressed down in a rough oval. The grass was flattened just like the trees, as the dirt got packed, as if they were preparing it for a house to be built atop the spot. He could see that small stones were embedded deeper into the soil than they should have been.
He spread his senses slowly before asking a question. As he did so, after a brief moment, he could sense two distinct lines. One of them was buzzing and cutting a path through the place. It had entered from the west side, struck upward, then curved across the clearing, just as the mortals spoke of the blue-red lightning strike. Could it have been not a spell but the cultivator? The other one he sensed moved more slowly than the first one. And... A third... he was sure there was a third one, which was super heavy, extremely slow... and that the third was why the trees got bent over.
"Haaah..." Siu opened his eyes after a long exhale. “I can sense three different presences. They all came from the west,” he turned his head, squinting. “I think the one with the lightning-affinity was fleeing, while the other two were in pursuit.”
"I think so too," Seloryn smiled slightly, listening to him. “Keep going.”
“There,” he said, turning toward the eastern edge of the clearing, and walked toward it. "The fight ended here,” Siu said, as there were signs of a clash, a lightning-strike-shaped burnmark on the grass.
"Yeah," Ruben came closer, folding his umbrella, pointing at the marks. “Someone tried to disengage here."
"I think," Joren spoke up as he was running his fingers over the earth, "they didn't give up the pursuit. And if there were three, the third for sure was of an earth-based affinity."
"Like your dear Papa?" Ruben grinned, making Joren roll his eyes.
"Like me." He snorted, patting down his hand, "And not the mudwall type you are thinking of," Joren added, glaring at Ruben, "I think it's more along the type that manipulates the weight of things."
"If it is that kind of affinity we are dealing with," Seloryn muttered, crossing her arms, looking around, "We have a unique trio at hand. Although earth-based affinities are not rare, variants that can manipulate gravity are. Same with temperature control, if you both of you are right."
"So if they are Hollow Song disciples, it won't be hard to identify them," Siu said, concluding her thoughts.
"Mhm." Seloryn and Ruben nodded as they looked towards Mirebell. "And our escapee has fled towards the same place we are heading for."