Chapter 427: Dryads in the Southern Rivers

It seemed like the risk had been worth it: Zae Zin Nim confirmed that no qi signals had gone out and Omilaena was interrogating the cultivator left alive for all he was worth. Hopefully Cragrila could help all the rescued captives get over their terror, but for his part Kai was mostly interested in one prisoner.

Her name turned out to be Lifrinyne, and once he got her tree out of the work camp and into other soil she seemed much more composed. Unlike the only other dryad he'd met, she wasn't physically combined with her tree, just bound to trees somehow. He decided not to ruin his reputation as a world traveler by asking how that worked and just assumed she was another species or ethnicity or something.

"Is there anything you need?" he asked. "We'll give you what we can, but we really need information. I know you were probably taken and don't know much, but anything y-"

"Oh, I wasn't stolen from Deadwaste," she said off-hand, then looked around plaintively. "Can I have some water? Just... normal clean water, nothing special."

At that moment Omilaena returned, handing over a water flask. Zae Zin Nim was just behind her and came to stand beside Kai, though she clearly wasn't in an affectionate mood. They'd just started an attack against a formidable sect, after all, and they didn't know how far it would escalate.

Lifrinyne took a long drink, poured some of the water around the base of her temporary tree, then drank again. Once she quenched her thirst, however, she began to compose herself. Compared to the other prisoners, many of whom just begged to go home or struggled with trauma, she seemed unusually focused. While he waited, Kai examined her soul to guess a little more of her story.

<

Name: Lifrinyne

Total Power: 58

Dryad Essence: 14 (42)

Cultivation: Qi Condensation 20% (12)

Soul Level: 2 (4)

>

Most of her strength came from Dryad Essence, which he'd once mistaken for a Class, similar to the lamias from Rosemount. It looked as though she had some local cultivation - just Qi Condensation, but learning how to cultivate and gathering that much took time, so she clearly wasn't a new arrival.

"I don't really know much about our Goralian alliance," Lifrinyne said eventually. "Did you come specifically to investigate?"

"I had no idea anyone from the Southern Reach was here until I saw you," Kai told her. "Why don't you explain what's going on?"

"Then you don't even know about Nymidria?"

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Omilaena suggested.

"Well... I think it started over a century ago." Lifrinyne took another drink of water as she gathered her thoughts. "A dryad named Nymidria was nearly legendary in the Southern Reach, was even considered to join the Frontier elites. Instead she decided to go to Cloudspire, since she felt some kinship to this place - Southern Rivers, Southern Reach, you might understand. Unlike most, she actually survived and in fact thrived.

"It still isn't common, but sometimes people from the Southern Reach come over to join her. There's a small community of us and we're valued by the local sects because we can grow some things they can't. Once you get into qi-rich soil, it can potentially be excellent for your growth."

"I'd like to ask more about that later," Omilaena said, "but we need to know more about the politics of the situation. Are these dryads a faction of a major sect?"

"I think we're treated as a sect of our own, but we're closely allied with the Verdant River sect." Lifrinyne took another slow drink. "Please understand, I'm not an expert or highly ranked. I had just started to live there - I haven't even met Nymidria myself. But while I was relocating, I was torn from my tree by those cultivators and taken to the work camp."

"Surely that's a violation of your alliance." Zae Zin Nim folded her arms in her sleeves and stared at the dryad. "How could such a thing be allowed? Does Nymidria not have the strength to protect her own?"

"I think she doesn't know. She's strong... even for here, I think. Not the strongest, but enough that she's respected, so... I'm not explaining this well. What I heard in the community is that relations have soured. The Verdant River sect used to be a close ally, but in recent years they've gotten more and more desperate. We heard rumors that they were capturing cultivators from enemy clans, but we never imagined they would touch one of us. If we can just get to Nymidria, surely she..."

Given how brutal Cloudspire politics could be, Kai wasn't willing to bet on the kindness of a dryad who had been living here for a century. He still gave an encouraging smile and nodded, since it actually might work in their plans, but first they needed more information.

"How much do you know about Nymidria?" he asked. "Why here, and why this specific sect?"

"As I understand it... she hoped to access the Loam of the Gods." Lifrinyne hesitated, as if expecting them to be surprised when she named an Insanity, but they only kept watching her. "If it can make herbs grow so quickly and so powerfully, what would happen to a dryad planted in such soil? But she's never even gotten close. For decades they've implied promises and strung her along, but she's never even seen the Loam."

Kai could understand why the dryad leader might be willing to remain anyway, given the potential benefits. Most of the Insanities were either threats or so overwhelming that people couldn't even interact with them, but if a dryad could gain the strength of such powerful soil, it could shake the continent. No doubt the Verdant River sect knew the same thing and had no intentions of ever allowing it.

"Forget about that," Omilaena said, "what did they want with you in particular?"

"I'm not really sure." Lifrinyne shook her head slowly. "They were always forcing me to grow strange fruit, or taking my bark, or conducting strange qi rituals. It all seemed to be to push power back into the soil, like they were trying to enrich it. They were making us work fields, but they didn't seem to care about the results except to test them."

"They're experimenting." Zae Zin Nim nodded as if everything made sense now. "There's some sort of alchemy problem they're working on that requires new materials. So they're grabbing qi crystals, dumping bodies, using dryads, anything they think might give them the materials they need."

"Dumping bodies?" Lifrinyne stared between them anxiously and Kai put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He realized later that might be a mistake, but to his surprise she didn't flinch away from it.

"We've seen the sect do some terrible things," he told her, "which is why we took action. But now we need more information. Do you know anything about the barriers?"

"I have no idea, but Nymidria would. She's been scouting them for years, trying to find a way inside, so she knows more than anyone. I could introduce you to our community, I guarantee they would take you in. Nymidria herself is planted in the sect headquarters, but you might be able to get access. I'm sure if we tell her about what's happened, she'll take action."

"Those seem like good options," Omilaena said, "but would we be spotted by cultivators?"

Lifrinyne shrugged. "Some of them pass through the town built beside ours, but would they know your faces? Our community is secure, and there are many secret areas in the forests, so I'm sure you could find a place to stay."

"We can't go quite yet," Kai said. "There are still other work camps out there. I know we can't free them all, but we might be able to pull this off once or twice more, and you never know what information we could uncover. It would be a good distraction for the sect if you plan to act against them directly, too."

He expected some push-back, but the others took surprisingly little convincing, so they only had to discuss the details. Omilaena would investigate the dryad community, Zae Zin Nim would scout the Verdant River sect, and Kai would remain behind to strike again. They made him agree to wait until the sect started to react, in order to put them further off balance, and he didn't mind: the time in between would give him a good opportunity to pick the best targets.

When Kai had first suggested attacking one of the work camps he hadn't been lying, exactly, but he hadn't been confident that it would have great benefits for them. People like Cragrila were uncommon, after all, and indeed they hadn't found any Krysali who would be even slightly useful. But the encounter with Lifrinyne had transformed their knowledge of the area and given them a new angle to attack the Verdant River sect.

Most likely none of the other attacks would be anywhere near as significant. He'd kill a few cultivators, rescue a few people, and disrupt the enemy sect a little. That was enough, as far as he was concerned.

As Kai returned to the jungle, the dark armor began to close over his body and he felt his teeth sharpen.