Lucy Wickshire 174 Chapter twenty-one 7

On Other-side, a large fortress stood out in the snow storm. Inside was a well lit hall. There, a gathering of mostly men sat in silence. The tension in the hall was thick. One could feel the heartbeats of everyone in the room racing. Some had solemn expressions, some looked genuinely scared. A man walked in completely covered in fur to keep out the cold.

His foots steps approaching the long table, was like an arrow through the hearts of some of those present. The man sat, then looked round the faces of all present.

"Who gave that idiot my city to look after?" the man asked darkly and those in the hall paused.

"That is not the problem at the moment, chief. The idiot is dead, but we have lost the vitality of the spirit vein. We must find a way to resolve this." one of the elders spoke up, he looked to be the eldest there. His words caused them all to go solemn.

" This is already very suspicious. What kind of fire could burn for a day before going out?"

"Our enemies? Lantanier clan?"

"Even they do not have such abilities."

"What of the Flutii? They have been working for the Harnian gate. They could have been given such a fire."

"I thought they were always on our side."

"It doesn't matter, we have no evidence. We must find a way to revive the vein."

"How can we even hope to revive the vein?" someone asked.

"Now that we have lost this, we have been weakened. No spirit vein, our cultivation will be stalled and our martial arts will not grow." another joined the conversation.

"Yes! We may have killed all witnesses and locked the city, but when the snow storm ends, people stuck outside the city will try to enter. At then, our enemies will know something is wrong." they all seemed to be on their last leg.

"The resuscitators." the chief said and they all frowned a those words.

"Do they even still exist?"

"They do. They have been declining because the need for them had become less. Since we found out that spirit water could aid a degrading spirit vein, we have not had the need to call the resuscitators." the chief said.

"I hear they no more have clans. They are one body, one association. We should call them to send an inspector. If I remember clearly, the protocol is, an inspector comes, surveys the issue, then calls resuscitators to come over."

"Then we must contact them immediately." the chief said. He had not finished when a shadow appeared in the room and knelt to him.

"My lord." the shadow said.

"What is it?"

"We just received word; the Flutii clan's vein just west of ours has dried up, and the Lantanier clan's vein is degrading at a rapid pace." the shadow's words caused everyone to pause. Was this an attack on all of Other-side?

Chapter end