Paragon of Destruction

"So what else do we need to do?" Arran asked, dividing his attention between the girl beside him and the barren wasteland around them.

That the girl — Negin — could not be trusted was obvious. She’d asked Arran to kill one of her fellow recruits for a chance at a starmetal weapon, and he had little doubt that she’d betray him as well, if she thought it would benefit her.

Yet this was exactly what made her useful.

Her desire for a weapon meant that she had no qualms about helping an outsider, and after the part she’d played in the death of another recruit, revealing Arran’s identity would implicate her as well.

The balance was a precarious one, but for now, it got Arran what he needed. And if the girl decided to betray him, she’d soon discover the depth of her mistake.

"That tingle you feel on your skin is magic," she said in response to his question. "And it’s much stronger in the real battlefield. If we go inside without proper precautions, we’ll burn long before we reach our destination."

Naturally, Arran already knew about this. He’d faced the same thing in Uvar, and unless the unbound Essence grew much stronger than he expected, it should pose little difficulty to him.

Still, he asked, "You have a way of dealing with that?"

"I do," Negin replied, though she spoke with some hesitation. In a careful voice, she added, "You’re lucky you met me, or you never would’ve known about it."

"Tell me what it is," Arran said curtly.

He could tell that the girl was reluctant to share the information. And no wonder. She probably feared that he’d abandon or kill her once he no longer needed her help.

Yet she need not have worried. Arran’s main reason for taking her hadn’t been her help in getting through the battlefield, but her knowledge about the Hunters — or rather, the Darian Imperium.

Negin hesitated briefly, then said, "There are other obstacles ahead. So even if I tell you this, you’ll still need my help."

Arran sighed. "If you keep your end of the bargain, I’ll help you get a weapon. But if you betray me, or keep secrets..."

He left the rest of the threat unspoken. Doubtless, her imagination could come up with things far worse than any threat he could make.

"I’ll tell you," she said after a moment. "When we came here, we were given pills that provide resistance to magic. But not enough to make it to the center of the battlefield."

"So we’ll need to take them from other recruits." Now, Arran understood why the tall young man had tried to rob the girl’s possessions, and why she needed his help so badly.

Negin nodded. "If we want to have a chance at finding weapons, we’ll need to take the pills from several dozens of recruits." Some concern in her voice, she hastily added, "And we can’t kill them. If one or two go missing, no one will care. But if you kill dozens of recruits, the Rangers will know something is wrong."

"Beating up a few dozen recruits should be simple enough," Arran said. "But you said there were too many recruits here. If we’re looking for people to rob, isn’t that a good thing?"

She shook her head. "If we rob too many people here, word will get out, and others will group up to take our pills." With an appraising look at Arran, she continued, "You might be strong enough to defeat them, but it will draw attention."

Although he was unwilling to waste too much time, Arran gave her a reluctant nod in response. "Just tell me when we can start the hunt."

They traveled along the edge of the battlefield for several days, avoiding the other recruits that roamed the area as best they could. This proved an easy task, since most of the recruits fled as soon as they saw two figures appear in the distance — few were willing to face superior numbers, it seemed.

But there were some exceptions, as well.

The first of these was a group of three recruits, all young men, who made the mistake of thinking their numbers would be enough to bring them victory.

Arran quickly disabused them of this notion, giving them a beating that they wouldn’t soon forget. He took care to conceal his strength, but even so, the three recruits posed no challenge whatsoever. At a guess, he thought even the recruit he’d killed could have defeated them.

The second, however, was more interesting.

A handsome man, nearing the end of his twenties, ambushed them as they made their way through the wasteland. Arran detected the ambush from a mile away, but since there was no real risk, he made no attempt to avoid it — doing so would only make Negin even more suspicious.

Yet to his surprise, the ambusher proved unexpectedly skilled. Not so much as to pose a challenge to Arran, but enough to leave him impressed. And eager to learn more about his opponent’s style, he let the fight continue for several minutes.

There was a definite hint of an insight in the man’s skill, he saw — perhaps even more than one. It was still very far from becoming a true insight, but it intrigued Arran nonetheless.

When Arran ended the fight — this time without giving his opponent too bad a thrashing — the man gave him a slight bow, then tossed him a small bag filled with pills. "I don’t suppose you’ll tell me your name?"

Arran silently shook his head. Earlier, he’d wrapped a scarf around his face to hide his identity — something Negin said was common for recruits to do — so there was no risk of his opponent remembering him.

The man sighed. "Even so, it’s good to know there’s talent like yours hiding among our ranks."

After they’d left the defeated recruit behind, Arran said, "That one had some skill."

Negin shot him an incredulous look. "Some skill? That was Eshkan, of the Bair clan. He’s famous among the recruits. I doubt there are a hundred among us who could defeat him."

Arran shrugged. "Like I said, he had some skill."

There were other encounters as they traveled around the edge of the battlefield, but none of them were particularly interesting. Arran ended the fights quickly, defeating the recruits before they had a real chance to defend themselves.

In truth, he was far more interested in what he learned from Negin.

After the first two days, she steadily grew more comfortable and talkative. And although she resisted Arran’s more obvious attempts at learning more about the Darian Imperium — he’d find out when he joined, she said — she still let slip more than she appeared to realize.

Arran soon learned that the pills that granted resistance to magic only had a temporary effect — no more than a few days, if that. But even that was enough to give Hunters a major advantage when fighting mages, and if these were given to recruits, there would be stronger ones as well.

He also discovered several things about the Darian Imperium, and though it was less than he would have liked, it was enough to unsettle him.

From what Negin said, the Imperium was absolutely vast — several times as large as the Ninth Valley’s borderlands, and with dozens of major cities. And although she couldn’t — or wouldn’t — say how many recruits there were, what she did tell him suggested there were millions.

If true, that spelled trouble for the Ninth Valley. While Arran could easily defeat these recruits, he knew novices and adepts would struggle to defeat them. And these were only recruits. Their leaders would undoubtedly be far stronger.

Yet while the news for the Valley was bad, the things Arran learned related to his own mission were encouraging.

According to Negin, there were no real requirements to join the Imperium. Anyone who wasn’t a mage could enter into the Hunters’ lands, and as long as they didn’t break any laws, they would be free to remain.

It almost seemed too easy to be true. But then, Negin’s own parents had done the same thing, and she had clearly been accepted as one of the Hunters — or Darians, as she preferred.

Arran did not simply take her word for it, of course.

Even if she seemed to believe his claim of wanting to join the Darian Imperium, he knew there were many things she wasn’t telling him. But while he expected to find some unpleasant surprises, it seemed that infiltrating the Hunters would at least be possible.

Then, after nearly a week of travel around the edge of the battlefield, Negin finally turned to Arran with the words he’d been waiting for.

"We’ve gone far enough," she said. "There will be fewer recruits here, and none from my group. It’s time to hunt."

Arran thought he could see some excitement in her expression, as if she was looking forward to the chance to rob her fellow recruits.

But then, that made sense. By now, he understood that she was among the weakest recruits, and her parents being outsiders had further harmed her status. It was only natural that she was eager to get some revenge, now that she had the chance.

"Then let’s not waste any more time," he replied. "Let’s rob some recruits."

A hint of a smile flashed across her face, and with an eager nod, she followed him as they headed toward the battlefield.