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“Um…” Sue glanced around the room as if looking for an answer to the question, but found nothing. “Shit… I don’t really know? I mean… I’m not strong enough to be useful in a fight, and I can’t fly anywhere near as fast as you can. Dammit, I wish I could help!”

“You can warn Bodeir’s household,” said Lian as she ran back into the VIP box. She didn’t hesitate to jump into Kat’s arms when the demon held them out. “Once you do that, perhaps you can also warn Bing’s family’s servants… but I’m not sure if that’s worth the risk. If Meng if compromised, Bang, her husband, must be as well. I don’t know what’s happened, so trust your judgement.”

Sue gulped and nodded before saying, “I think… in that case I’ll try and talk to Hromdir and the boat captains. I don’t know how strong the captains are… but if they can get a message back to Bodeir Sr then we’ll be in a much better position. It might be an issue for you guys…”

Lian shook her head rapidly and explained, “No, it’s too late for that. If Meng has been compromised and nobody important has noticed… or worse… if they HAVE noticed and chosen to do nothing about it we’re already in a horrible situation. Bodeir Sr cannot make things worse. Though… the Holy Icy Wind Sect is not likely to survive whatever has happened here… certainly not unscathed,”

Everyone gave grim nods at that. Kat shared a second nod with Sue, who was pacing around, chest bouncing with every step because she’d not taken the time to secure it properly. “I’ll leave now. Lian, you’ll need to direct me as we go, and perhaps give me some warning about what I can expect,”

Nobody said anything to contradict Kat, so she went to jump out through the window… only to remember the announcer’s words about not flying out of the stadium. *Shit… would it be faster to just take the ground route until I’m out of the arena? Probably. I’d hate to have to fight the announcer over it, especially if they take issue with me carrying Lian along for the ride. Plus, the announcer might be in on it. Dammit, guess I’m taking the long way.*

Kat kicked off the wall, hard, cracking the stonework that went into the stadium as she burst into the hallway and started running. As expected, Lian questioned her actions, “What the heck are you doing Kat! We’re in a hurry why are you exiting normally!” hissed Lian as Kat built up speed.

“I can’t risk a fight with the announcer over flying out of the stadium,” answered Kat.

.....

“I can tell him off! I’m a known part of the sect,” returned Lian.

“Lian, no offence, but there’s every chance that they ignore you, or use it as a chance to punish you for basically nothing. Remember, Meng and presumably Bang aren’t running things anymore, the announcer could be in on the deception, or they could just decide to cause problems because you’re a curse cultivator. It wouldn’t be the first time and we just can’t risk it,” finished Kat just as they reached the outside world.

Kat wasn’t running at full speed, she was limited by Lily and Lian. Kat knew her top speed would be too much for their bodies. Lily might take it better, being strapped to her back and saved from the buffeting of the wind, but Lian was taking the full weight of the wind, alongside the changing forced from Kat’s turns. Kat just had to hope this speed was fast enough. “Which way?” shouted Kat.

“Up the mountain!” said Lian back, “I can feel her in that direction,”

Kat didn’t need to be told twice, she kicked off the ground and her wings got to work, flying as fast as she could up the mountain, ignoring the few people that called out nearby. None of them looked important or spoke with authority, so Kat decided they weren’t an issue. Especially not right now.

“What can I expect Lian?” asked Kat over the rising winds, “Where are they likely to be?”

“Um…” Lian racked her brains, there were quite a few places they could be, “Well… based on the fact that they’re still on the mountain means they aren’t leaving the sect just yet. Part of that is probably because we don’t have a long distance teleportation array set up… but… well the fact that whoever is impersonating Meng hasn’t started running means they don’t know we know… and I’m not sure what else really?

“Um… I think they are trying not to blow their cover just yet. I’m not totally sure why they think they can get away with kidnapping Bodeir while you’re here… perhaps they’re trying to make it seem like the sect knows nothing? If… if they’re trying to keep up the charade… then they have to be at one of the vaults, and there are two of those up near the top of the mountain.

“They… hmm… they might be looking to lock everyone in one of the vaults? But… but that doesn’t make sense. The vaults are full of treasures for a reason. Locking someone in a vault is like locking them in heaven. They’ll have everything they could need and want in there. Sure they can’t get out… but with all those treasure artifacts and cultivation herbs… I just can’t see why they’d do it…”

[It’s quite possible one or both of the vaults have been robbed already. An empty vault is a great place to store high value hostages.] Kat’s eyes widened at Lily’s interpretation of events, and quickly relayed the idea to Lian.

“Shit… that… that might just work. Fake Meng could even say that they are meditating to consolidate their gains, and… and they’d just sort of have to believe her. The risk of interrupting somewhat while they are cultivating something important or absorbing energy from spirit stones is BAD. If the vaults are mostly empty… they could even lay out something moderately powerful, but well worth it for a Rank 2. If we’re the ones interrupting… we could get in a lot of trouble…” said Lian with a tinge of horror in her tone.

“Well… how deadly is it to interrupt them while they’re doing that sort of thing?” asked Kat as she continued to fly towards the summit. “Is it like… something it would take a day to recover from, a week, a month… or is it more permanent maiming? I don’t want to be the reason they’re in trouble, but obviously I’ll bust down the door and cause problems if I need to,”

“Um… yeah pretty much that whole range,” said Lian with a wince, “It really depends what Fake Meng was handing out. If it’s just taking in energy then the worst that could happen is ending up in the medical wing for a week… but if they’ve been offered the chance to attune with a powerful weapon… death is on the table,”

Kat cursed under her breath but Lian continued, “Um… that’s not likely… we, that is, the Holy Icy Wind Sect, tends to trade away those sorts of weapons because we consider them more trouble then they’re worth. Some of them can be really arbitrary when it comes to choosing their next wielders so we don’t like to take the risk on that sort of thing. Especially not when most of those weapons don’t scale up to higher Ranks. What did Meng say to me… um…

“I think it was ‘If you have to risk your life for such a minimal and temporary increase in power, even if you’re the luckiest cultivator in existence, something will kill you before Rank 4. Unless you cultivate luck as your affinity. In that case you’re a cheating little shit that cheats,’ though she might’ve been a touch more… explicit about luck cultivators,”

Kat laughed, feeling some of the tension draining from her shoulders, though still remaining somewhat warry. *True, they might not keep that sort of thing around normally… but if Fake Meng really wants to kill them… and make it look like an accident… having a bunch of cursed weapons around as a ‘reward’ seems like a really good way to go about it.*

[It’s a risk… but I think they are probably worth more as hostages. Bodeir at least, certainly is… though… Bing and Feng… might not be. If Meng and Bang have already been handled, perhaps… permanently… then I don’t know how much value Bing and Feng would have to whoever sett this whole thing up. They can’t exactly be ransomed to their kidnapped parents.]

*We… probably shouldn’t mention that last past to Lian. If she hasn’t thought of it already… it will just worry her unnecessarily, and she’s already fairly panicked. Plus… I dunno, maybe having Bing and Feng around without them noticing is good cover?*

[Yeah… best not mention it. We can only hope for the best]