Emergency Meeting

"Okay, first the easy stuff. The festival will be postponed, if not canceled entirely," David started, eyes still barely open from being suddenly awoken.

It was still before sunrise. Rebecca, Tau, and Jacob had gone around to gather the leaders of the farming teams as Father Dawson arranged an emergency meeting with David. Before too long, everyone had gathered at the large house in the walled-off area, which Tau learned was not anyone's home, but the village records building.

The inside walls were lined with bookshelves, each stuffed full with bundles of paper. At the center of the room was a rectangular table with a candle-stand in the middle. It was around this table that David, Jacob, the other three farming team leaders, and Father Dawson were seated. Tau stood at Father Dawson's side. It was he who insisted that she be present for the meeting.

"The more pressing matter is the state of the merchant train," David continued, "We've received information from their messenger that their company numbered fifty, and that they encountered at least two demons about five miles from the village. Unfortunately, the messenger passed away shortly after delivering this information."

This announcement resulted in a round of panicked whispers among those who were hearing this news for the first time.

"Now, regarding this situation, I think we have three objectives," David declared loudly, putting an end to the whispering, "First, the extermination of the demons. Second, the securing of the supplies brought by the merchants. And third, the rescue of any remaining survivors. Any objections?"

"Do we have to fight?" One of the older farm leaders asked, "If the group with the messenger managed to make it here without being followed, doesn't that mean our location is still safe? Why should we go through the risk of finding and fighting those demons if we don't need to?"

"Maybe, but having demons in the area would be dangerous for our regular activities..." Another farm leader commented.

"Five miles is quite a bit of distance, isn't it?" The first one responded.

"About that," Father Dawson jumped in, "Given the extent of his injuries, there's no way he would have lasted more than several minutes. And given that their group had a cart in tow, they couldn't have gone too fast. So, I would say he received that injury about one mile, maybe two miles from the village tops."

More murmurs in the group.

"Thank you for letting us know, Father Dawson," David continued, "If there is anything else that you've learned from treating the survivors that would help us with the extermination, please share it now."

"Well, most of the basic physical injuries suggest some form of slashing weapon is involved. Advanced decomposition limited to the slash sites suggests a short-range earth type soul aura. A few other survivors had decreased body temperatures, excessive sweating, and vomiting. Other than that, they seemed to have little to none external injuries, and certainly, none that seemed similar to the slash wounds I mentioned earlier. This suggests a potentially long-ranged water type soul aura independent of the earth type one. Very likely, these are the two demons we're working with this time."

The table was silent as everyone took some time to process this information.

"Long ranged water type, huh," David scratched his chin, "similar to the one that caused the plague years ago."

"This one is almost definitely weaker, at least in terms of aura strength," Father Dawson added.

"Still though," The old farm leader from earlier jumped in again, "that's the one that'll make things difficult."

"Yeah, we can probably deal with the short-range one, but very few of us can even reach the long-range one and still be fit to fight," another farm leader added.

"And if they're moving together…?" Jacob started.

"That would be the worst-case scenario," The older farm leader finished.

"Then we should move fast," Father Dawson said, "At the very least, the two were separate when the messenger sustained his injuries. Otherwise, his group would never have been able to make it here."

"Okay, so the situation as we know right now is a short-range earth type somewhere within two miles, and a long-range water type somewhere within five miles, very likely to still be currently separated, right?" David asked, mainly directing the question at Father Dawson.

"Sounds right," Father Dawson nodded.

"Okay..." David squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose and stifled a yawn, "Here's the plan: Tom and John, take your teams and gather everyone at this square, then we'll shut the gates and hold this position. I'll address everyone and explain the situation. Robert, take your team and search the surrounding forest. If you encounter the earth type, try to eliminate it if you can. Otherwise, just keep track of it and keep us informed on its position. Jacob, take your team down the road and try to find the merchant train. If you encounter the earth type, the same thing as with Robert's team: Eliminate if you can, and track it if you can't. If any of you start feeling sick, retreat immediately."

David addressed each of the farm leaders in turn, and each nodded in understanding as they were given their orders. Lastly, David turned to face Father Dawson, "I'll leave the water type to you."

Father Dawson smiled, "Sure."

David nodded to him and then looked around at everyone, "Any objections?"

The farm leaders shook their heads.

"Then get going! We don't have time to waste."

The farm leaders cleared out, including Jacob. As Father Dawson got up to leave as well, he was stopped by David.

"The five survivors at your clinic, how are they?" David asked.

"Rebecca is tending to them. We did all we could. They all probably have quite a high fever right now. It'll up to them to see if they survive."

"Do you think they're well enough to be moved here with everyone else?"

"That should be fine. It's probably better here than lying in my backyard anyway."

David let out a sigh of relief, "Good, so we won't have to leave them behind."

"If you cared so much, you should have just asked earlier."

"I can't do that. My primary responsibility is the well-being of the village. How could I waste time considering the well-being of outsiders without first handling the situation of the village?"

"You're too serious. I'm sure no one at the meeting would have minded if you're a little more selfish sometimes."

David responded with a yawn.

Father Dawson chuckled, "Go take a nap before your public address."

"Can I ask you to move the survivors here? Ask Jacob if you need more manpower."

"Will do."

David yawned again, nodded, and left. Father Dawson was right behind him, gesturing for Tau to follow. After leaving the building, the two of them headed for the clinic. By this time, the sun had already started to peek beyond the horizon, and it only crept higher as they walked.

"Cam, do you understand why I asked for you to attend the meeting?"

"Because you wanted me to be aware of the situation?" Tau answered immediately. Then, thinking about it some more, she added, "There's something you want me to do."

"It's good that you catch on quickly. As is, there is a big problem with David's plan. We don't want the water type to join up with the earth type, but it would also be disastrous if the water type were to make its way to the village. David wants me to go and hunt the water type, but if I do and it shows up at the village, there will be no one here who can fight it off and treat those who fall ill."

Tau nodded, following Father Dawson's explanation.

"To his credit though, he probably only came up with this gamble because he thought you wouldn't be able to fight. In that case, I would be the only one who could handle the water type."

"I see," Tau said, "So, you want me to go and hunt the water type in your place so that you can stay and guard the village and treat people if it comes to that."

Father Dawson nodded and explained, "The holy sword should allow you to cut through the water type's soul aura, so you'll be safe from the illness. Generally, water types are pretty weak physically, so you should be able to beat it pretty easily. If you find the earth type though, run away. I cannot guarantee that you'll be able to beat it as you are now."

"Okay, I'll do it," Tau responded.

"Just like that? This is pretty dangerous, you know? One wrong move and you could die."

"Well, I planned to show you later, but I'm pretty confident in my ability to run away," Tau explained.

As she said this, she jumped forward and Neu brought the sword down to catch her feet. She landed with both feet firmly planted on the blade and Neu lifted her into the air. Father Dawson's eyes widened as Tau weaved up and down through the air, standing atop the floating sword.

"See?" Tau called down to him and waved.

"I see," Father Dawson said as he started to laugh, "You have exceeded my wildest expectations."

[That's not all.]

{Hmm?}

[I've thought about it all night, and I've got an upgrade for the free-form mode that I'm pretty sure will work.]

{Let me down first, and tell me on the way.}

Neu brought the sword down, Tau jumped off, and they continued their walk with Father Dawson to the clinic.

[So, you know how we shared control for the hand oriented model?]

{Yeah.}

[Well, I thought we would do something similar to increase the acting range of free-form mode.]

{Hmm…? What, do you want me to find new anchors for you as we go or something?}

[Well… actually yes.]

{And then we'll be able to just keep flying wherever we want?}

[That's correct.]

{Awsome! That'll be so much fun.}

[Wait, but remember, there are some desirable characteristics to look for when choosing an anchor-]

{Yeah, I remember. I can't wait to try it out!}

[My entire night… and it sounds so trivial...]

{What?}

[Nevermind.]

{Oh yeah, you said you spent all last night doing this? There was no need to do that. Haven't you been tired lately? It's fine to just take a break some days.}

Neu didn't reply.

They had arrived at the clinic. The five survivors were lying next to each other in the backyard. Each had several layers of cloth over them to shield them from the cold of the night. Tau hadn't noticed earlier when it was still dark, but parked on the far side of the building, next to the forest, was a wagon cart. Judging from the bloodstains, Tau guessed that it must have been the one the survivors arrived on.

Going inside the clinic, Father Dawson and Tau found Rebecca asleep at the operating table. She had somehow scrubbed out all the signs of carnage from the room while they were gone. Although, the smell of blood still faintly lingered in the air. Tau and Father Dawson both agreed to let her sleep a little longer. The two of them loaded four of the survivors onto the cart, wrapping them in their blankets; the other one had stopped breathing and become cold. The four that were still alive all had high fevers as Father Dawson had predicted, and none of them stirred even as they were moved.

"Go and have breakfast with Mrs. Bentley," Father Dawson said as they loaded the last patient onto the cart, "Rebecca and I will handle the rest. Meet us at the square later."

Tau did as she was told. The weariness of the night was starting to take its toll on her, and she found herself yawning as well. When Tau arrived back at the Bentley house, Mrs. Bentley had already finished preparing breakfast. The two of them ate the porridge in silence, both tired from the events of the night. It took a while before Tau noticed something was strange.

"Where's Jacob?" Tau asked, "Shouldn't he be eating with us?"

Mrs. Bentley put down her spoon and sighed.

"That boy has already eaten breakfast elsewhere. He briefly came back and told me that he was in charge of finding the lost merchant group and rushed off saying there was no time to lose."

"Yeah, and Father Dawson told me to hunt one of the demons for him so that he can stay behind and protect everyone."

"Really?" Mrs. Bentley looked at Tau in shock. Then, her gaze rested on the sword floating behind Tau, and her expression relaxed, "If Father Dawson says so, I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Yep. Don't worry. I'll do my part to protect everyone here."

"Thanks, Cam."

They soon finished their meal. Tau was just about out the door when Mrs. Bentley called out to her.

"Cam, I know it might be unreasonable to ask, but could you please watch over my son?"

Tau turned back to face Mrs. Bentley and was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"Please…" She pleaded, "I don't know what I would do if I were to lose him too..."

Tau approached the old woman slowly and hugged her.

"Don't worry," she promised, "I'll bring him home safe and sound when this is over."