Seed Of Speed

Chapter 34 - {Encore of Battle}

As the shaman raced off into the distance, a war horn broke through the cries of pain and alert throughout the three camps. The atmosphere around the campground began to change as the uninjured warriors gathered towards their commander's camp which left the miners to put out the fires. The Quko Clan though was unable to pull itself from the chaos as they had been the hardest hit.

Rainshower continued to purge the fire mana out of Diego's body, so that it could start to heal. The pain caused by the conflicting energies in his body began to ease and be replaced by a cooling sensation. Eventually, he regained enough clarity of mind and began helping her purge the energy, finally allowing his body to heal under Rainshower's and the Seed's power.

Diego gripped the sand as he pushed himself to his knees. Rainshower tried to tell to lay back down, but he was unable to hear her as unsteadily stood up and looked around. Fanflame had removed the flames, but smoke was still rising into the air. The ground around them had been littered with ash and other unrecognizably charred items. There were no standing tents remaining in the Quko grounds and people could be seen writhing in pain.

Rainshower stood up and clapped her hands over his ears while she turned his head to look at her as she mouthed, "You shouldn't be moving! You're badly hurt!"

"I'll be fine," he said louder than he should have.

She only shook her head as she finished healing his ears. "Junior-apprentice brother, you are badly hurt!"

"That won't stop our enemies!" he said in a normal voice. "Come, Toba is likely gathering everyone!"

Diego took her by the hand and led her towards their camp. His backside was still covered in half-healed burns, so moving was agonizing, but he gritted his teeth and continued on. Before they could make it halfway to Toba's tent, Toba was leading fifteen men towards them.

"Young lord!" Toba called with surprise and relief. One of the men following him now had seen Rainshower and him enter the Quko camp minutes before the explosion, causing him to fear the worst.

"He's badly injured and needs add!" Rainshower exclaimed. "Someone find me Yelhu Root Paste!"

Toba pointed to two of the warriors who broke off from the group to find the ointment. Ruski and Toba walked forward to offer their aid, but Diego refused them.

"Our warriors?" Diego asked.

"Assembling as we speak, Wolves under Tovao's command and Hawks following Jastrab to the corral," Toba replied.

"We need to join up with the Bolxi Clan and make a defensive ring around the injured and non-combatants!"

"Ruski, you're known to the Bolxi Captain. Relay the young lord's message and remind him that we have two shamans with us," Toba ordered.

"Yes, young lord, captain," Ruski said with a quick salute then took off running.

"You can't fight, junior-apprentice brother!" Rainshower insisted.

"I don't plan to. Send someone to my tent and grab my ki'ta!" Diego said.

"Young lord, I understand it was a gift, but…" Toba started.

"No! That's perfect! I'll go!" Rainshower said and she too ran off.

"You'll understand soon, uncle. We need to gather our people now!" Diego said before Toba could question him.

"You tell Tovao the plan and you tell Jastrab. We will meet at the Quko corral!" Toba ordered, pointing at two men.

Diego almost release a sigh of relief when Toba picked the nearby location since it meant he would not need to walk much further.

"The rest of you go and start arranging their wagons into a ring. Pull any Quko member who isn't helping the injured along to help you!"

The warriors all saluted then moved to carry out their orders. Toba turned back to look at Diego and his normal, expressionless face was now one of concern. Diego's dignity had only been preserved by the charred remains of his Sheol Wolf leather armor, so the burns were exposed. Toba was impressed by the strength he was showing, but after experience the pain of Searing King Cobra venom, these burns were a toothache.

Toba no longer offered his aid as he walked silently at Diego's side with respect. He had never thought much of his nephew, but ever seen the contest between his brothers, he has started to look at the boy in a new light. Yes, he was powerful for his age, but he also showed a wisdom beyond his years. He could see what the clan needed to grow stronger and somehow managed to change law.

When they entered the quickly forming ring of wagons, Toba pulled a horn hanging from his belt and let out three long notes, the signal to for all to gather. Rainshower was the first to return to the group and handed the ki'ta to Diego.

"If I support you, how long can you use your rain shower domain?" Diego asked as he tested the tune of the strings.

"I'm not sure, probably half an hour, but can you handle that much of a drain with everyone around?"

"If I have to, I can just isolate the effect to us, but so far, I've yet to feel a drain on my reserves when I use {War Song}," Diego replied.

Toba could only look at the two in mild confusion as he did not understand what they were talking about.

"Toba, we need to help those members of the Quko that we can. Send out a few people to tell them to bring their wounded here," Diego said as the start batch of people rushed over.

"Of course, young lord," Toba said respectfully as he backed away.

Toba sent a portion of the people assembling out to find any Quko members that they could before the call to return while the others were put to moving carts and anything else they could find to work as a wall. Tovao and the rest of the fully armed warriors arrived and started forming a defensive ring outside the makeshift walls. Jastrab and his mounted archers were next to arrive, but Toba sent them out to help collect everyone.

From the moment between Catro's sneak attack and Toba final horn call to assemble as the Langu and Yung Clan forces entered arrow-range, only fifteen minutes had passed. Their group had completely gathered and there were about twenty injured Quko members that had come as well. Jastrab led the Hawk riders to launch a volley of arrows towards their enemies to cover the Bolxi Clan members who running to join up as well.

"Let get this started," he said with a grin to Rainshower.

Heavy gray clouds began to form in the sky above them as the first eight chords of the Scorpions's "Rock You Like A Hurricane" rang out. Diego grinned to himself at the inside joke. He had once asked Katalina if his songs would be at danger of exposing the fact he was from another world, but she had explained that it was a natural ability of bards that prevented even the strongest of the next world from remembering anything more than the feeling it gave. That was what made Bards so rare, they had to be born and could not be developed without the gift.

"It's early morning

The sun comes out

Last night was shaking

And pretty loud

My cat is purring

And scratches my skin

So what is wrong

With another sin

The bitch is hungry

She needs to tell

So give her inches

And feed her well

More days to come

New places to go

I've got to leave

It's time for a show

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane…"

As the rain began to fall, Diego began to sing. Toba was confused when he started, but then the power of Diego's {War Song} hit him and filled him with energy. He was not the only person who felt the effects as Diego pushed his power to blanket everyone within the defensive ring. His body reached a strange equilibrium when the Bolxi members ended the range as he expended as much energy he gained back through the combination of the Seed's regenerative and the ability of his {War Song}.

Increasing the morale further, the power of Rainshower's spell began to manifest. Each drop of rain carried a small amount healing power that would cling to their bodies and build up over time. This was her custom spell: Rain Shower of Life, that would guarantee her to become a disciple of a Master Healer, if not the Grand Master, when she entered the sect. It required her entire focus and was normally something she could use for ten minutes before she would collapse.

The main reason why she could use it for so long despite being much weaker than someone like Snowneedles and his snowstorm, was that this had been created through her own understanding of the magic runes which reduced the cost. It was also a step weaker than the snowstorm as it could attack and bewilder his opponents while hers only acted as a conduit for her healing, taking her complete focus to distinguish between friend and foe.

While Diego and Rainshower supported their allies, they fought with a shocking amount of vigor for a victim of a surprise attack. The Langu and Yung Clan were frightened of the rain at first, but when it proved to not harm them, they charged in. Despite being made up of only two clans, the Langu's and Yung's forces outnumbered the warriors of the three clans. The bulk of the small army circled the hundred and fifty while small groups broke off to raid the camps. Jastrab and his riders were able to escape being enclosed, so they broke off to chase those headed into their campsite.

Diego's eyes flashed with a strange light as he changed songs. The hard guitar line of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" rang out.

"Aaaaaah, aaaaaah

We come from the land of the ice and snow

From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow

The hammer of the gods will drive our sh.i.p.s to new lands

To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!

On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore…"

::{War Song} evolved into {Encore of Battle}::

Although he could not look up what the new power was, he felt a hit to his mana reserves and could sense the enemy forces within his territory. He could feel that his mana wrapping around the hostile forces, draining their energy into the air. He knew there would be a way to harvest that energy for himself one day, but for now, he just focused the song.

The fighting carried on for another ten minutes with Diego's mana reserves plummeting, but it was worth it. For every one of theirs the enemy killed, three would fall from their ranks. These people fought with overwhelming conviction as they felt the power of their shamans coursing through their bodies. Before he ran out though, their lines broke and their men began to retreat. Those who could gave chase, did so with crazed war cries while those who could not gave a cheer of victory. With the last of his mana, he switched his last song to {Revitalizing Melody} and played Queen's, "We Are The Champions".

"I've paid my dues

Time after time

I've done my sentence

But committed no crime

And bad mistakes

I've made a few

I've had my share of sand

Kicked in my face

But I've come through

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions, my friends

And we'll keep on fighting till the end