Seed Of Speed

The next few days passed like the first, ride through the morning until breaking during the midday then continue on until nightfall. Diego and his brothers went out and hunted every night allowing Diego to rack up some more Experience and Mastery points. Despite nearly asking two times, Diego avoided barrowing Juni ki'ta again, or he knew the kind stablemaster would insist on gifting it to him.

The Timick Oasis looked much like the Jobin Oasis. Red sandstone buildings with small rooftop gardens were scattered around a large spring which had a few groves of fruit trees close by. Tunba lead Diego and his party into the heart of the oasis where the Patriarch of the Quko Clan greeted them and offered them refreshments while they broke for midday.

The Patriarch had given the edge of his grounds to set up their tents while he sent servants to help carry water to the dracolisks. Diego spent his time meditating since he was not required to put up tents or tend to the animals, but there was another who was also free of those duties and snuck out camp with a servant acting as a guide. Only Toba noticed the person leave, and he had no say over her actions.

"Young lord, Captain Toba is looking for you," a voice called from outside Diego's tent just as he sat down.

"Of course," Diego sighed as he pushed himself back up to his feet.

He walked out of his tent and found a warrior waiting outside that he vaguely remembered his name: Quin. He gave the man a nod then followed him through the campsite that was nearly done being assembled. To his knowledge, only Rainshower and he had private tents while everyone else was forced to three or four to a tent. The warrior lead Diego towards the Patriarch's home and he saw Toba waiting on the steps. He dismissed the warrior and continued on his own to where the captain was waiting.

"The Quko Patriarch has called for us, young lord," Toba said with a slight bow of greeting.

"Alright, let's see if we can't get some information about this trip," Diego replied.

Toba allowed him to take the lead as he followed respectfully from behind. The home of the Patriarch was built up in a similar fashion as the Bastion with a number of small rooms on the first floor, all around the large central room which was where the servant led the pair.

The Patriarch of the Quko Clan, a red-skinned, white-haired old man, sat at the head of the table with Tunba to his left and two more people to his right. The younger of the two strangers looked just a few years older than Diego and had similar features as the Patriarch, causing him to guess he was the heir. The other stranger looked about the same age as the Patriarch, but he was bald, and his body was riddled with scars; no doubt this was someone like Anoe, who lead the warrior faction.

"Greetings to our Telryn allies, please sit," the Patriarch said as Diego and Toba entered the room.

Toba gave a polite bow while Diego merely nodded as his position was nearly equal to that of the Patriarch before the pair sat down. They were quickly offered food and drinks by the servants, but both politely refused without taking their eyes off the Patriarch. The old man could easily read their mood, so he dismissed the servants, leaving only the six of them within the meeting room.

"Tunba has informed me that you are the heir to the Telryn Clan, so I feel quite honored that Barru was willing to part with you. He even said that you brought a young shaman with you as well," the Patriarch said in a kind sounding tone.

"My father is a hard man and will not see any of his sons shy away from conflict," Diego replied.

"That is true, but it has also been a source of power for your clan. Your Patriarchs are unmatchable within our region of the desert."

"Umm…" Diego replied with a bit of a nod, not really interested in the fake flattery.

The Patriarch gave a dry cough to dispel the awkward atmosphere then said, "We expect the Bolxi's reinforcement by the evening, but we can lead your men to the Void Passage before then, if you would prefer. We have built a small campground around the entrance which your group will be able to join without too much difficulty."

"We set out after the midday break. How are things within the passage? Have the Langu Clan lunched anymore attacks?" Diego asked.

"The Void Passage is proving to be a high-quality mine with crystal seams of the five elements, but of course, that is making extraction more labor intensive. The Langu have launched a number of small, probing attacks that are made up of ten to twenty-five men. Their focus has been more on scaring away any of our miners that they can and rarely engage in a real fight with our warriors. Our problem comes from the honeycomb-like tunnel system which makes it nearly impossible to chase after anyone while also being extremely easy to get lost inside. We've lost touch with four groups, but three turned up after some time," the Patriarch said.

"Have you started creating a map yet?" Diego asked.

"No, we have just been marking the path back to the entrance, slowly working our way further from the entrance," the Patriarch replied.

(Idoits!) Diego complained in his mind, but he nodded with understanding. "Have you found where the Langu Clan is entering?"

"No, we have only been focusing on collecting the elemental crystals."

"I understand… Is there any more information that you need to give us?"

"I think we have covered the important parts. Anymore can be given to you by Idoku, our captain stationed at the campground, or you can learn by entering the passage itself," the Patriarch replied with a light smile.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Diego and Toba excused themselves. They walked, under the guide of a servant, out of the building and returned to their campsite. Peyni and Tovao were sparring, but nothing as intense as what they did back in the Jobin Oasis, and they stopped once they saw Diego and Toba walking their way.

"How did it go?" Tovao asked, planting the b.u.t.t of his glaive into the sand.

"Fine, I guess," Diego sighed. "The Quko are far too worried about their profit versus their defense."

"What did you expect of the little gremlins?" Tovao laughed.

"I can excuse the lack of a map, but they don't even know where the Langu Clan is entering from!"

"Just because the Langu Clan is stupid enough to explore a Void Passage, doesn't mean you should be so hard on the Quko Clan," Tovao replied.

"Your brother's words are correct, young lord. Void Passages can house a number of environmental dangers as well as strange beasts only found within such places," Toba added.

"It is clearly safe enough for enemies to launch attacks. I'll make my mind up once we get there and I can hear the situation from Idoku, but I want to lead a scouting party through these tunnels."

"Young lord…" Toba started, but Diego cut him off by raising a hand.

"I understand there are a number of dangers, but so is there with life. I'll talk with Shaman Rainshower and ask her to come as well since her abilities will greatly lessen those dangers."

"As you wish, but I ask to be the one to choose your guards."

"Put these fools with my group and I won't complain," Diego replied with a chuckle, pointing at his brothers.

"Of course, young lord," Toba replied