Through valleys and hills they did flee,

A caravan wild as the sea.

With danger behind,

They raced like the wind,

Just hoping for safety to be!

Goldie Honorhide.

"These horses can't go that fast much further," the Beast Master complained loudly to the Caravan Master. "They will collapse. 30km max, and we lose horses and wagons."

"We can't stay here," the Cargo Master said. "Do we stick to the road and run, or leave the road and try to go around?

"The Scouts will be back before dawn," the Caravan Master said, "If they have found a route, we will go around. If not, we run for it. Either way, we are leaving as soon as the scouts return. Make sure everybody is up and ready. If any of the independent Merchants want to turn back, they do it now, and they are on their own. For any wagon that breaks, we collect the people, unhitch the horses, and keep going. And get me that Water Affinity Merc. I need an idea of how long she can flood the ground and keep the horses wet. Make sure all the wagons have full barrels of water."

"Yes, Ma'am," and they exited the command wagon.

I wasn't meant to overhear that conversation. I was on night watch, and Hearing Aid was also on watch. It is not exactly a secret. The smell of smoke permeated the air.

We had stopped early, less than a day after passing the other caravan. The scouts had reported a wildfire. Then, the really bad news came in. It wasn't just a wildfire. It was a massive swarm of fire ants on the move. We don't know why, but the place was burning for kilometres in every direction. I didn't know why they thought 30km was not far enough.

Fire ants are what they appear to be. Ants about a handspan long who bite and set everything on fire except themselves. There are probably millions of them. They will burn everything, not just wooden wagons but horses and people.

I saw the scouts come back from two different directions. Yoboc was one of them, and Makara was called to that meeting. I didn't hear their reports. The horses were already fed and hitched. Soon, the word came, and we were moving fast and following the road.

Yoboc came back down the line, "You are upfront with Makara and the Caravan Master, Ivan. Your 'freezing Skill' will be useful."

I nodded and headed forward. Yoboc had thought this might happen, and I gave him permission to say I had a freezing skill. I was not going to let people burn by not using it. If I were going to use it, I needed to use it most effectively. Frigid Void used a lot of energy, even within Cosmic Aura.

I jogged forward with Felix at my heels. Makara was easy to spot. She towered over everyone except the orcs and wasn't hiding, so she clearly was not an orc. I towered over her. The Caravan Master was a normal-sized human female we called Master Karen. Borko, the Guard Master, was there, and so was his head Scout, Alex.

Master Karen looked up at Makara and me and shook her head. "You are a strange bunch." She looked at me, "A Freeze Skill, huh? Let me guess, it works very similarly to an Ice affinity, but it isn't an ice affinity." She obviously thought it was an Ice affinity.

"That is close enough," I said, not correcting her.

She huffed. "Whatever, it may be our ticket out to get us to Jern, so I am not interested in further details. What is your range?"

"About 30m, but I can stretch it further."

"No," she said, "Stretching skills use more energy, and this will be a marathon, not a sprint. Efficiency is the name of the game. The five of us are going ahead to the leading edge of the fire ants, and we will test your effectiveness and range. By the time the Caravan joins us, I will have a plan." He looked us up and down again, "You don't ride, do you?"

We shook our heads, "We run fine."

"OK, let's go, but the dog should stay; he looks flammable."

"Felix is fine and stays with me."

Karen shrugged, "Your dog."

We took off. Karen and Alex rode, and Borko ran with us.

An hour later, we were looking at a burning edge of fire and large ants crawling and eating everything. It was expanding at slightly less than walking pace. Smoke billowed out over us. There is no way the other caravan's scouts missed this.

"Are they all monsters?" I asked.

"No," Master Karen said. "The egglayers will have monster cores. These are just spiritually enhanced beasts. Enhanced with a fire affinity, obviously. Don't waste energy that can't be replenished before the caravan arrives, but let's see how effective you are. Remember, we will need to keep ants back from the wagons and horses."

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I extended my Void Sensing. The fire affinity showed brightly in my Cosmic Aura. "They are also in tunnels under the surface," I said. "It is how they are travelling around without us seeing it on the surface. It is why the inner land is hot and will burn even though it is barren. Their heat is rising from the tunnels. There," I pointed, "that one came from a tunnel."

Makara nodded, but the other three, even Alex the scout, shook their heads.

"You probably need Clearsight," I said. It was smoky and a lot of heat haze.

Makara stepped up to the ants, scooped up one in her hand, and then stepped back. The ant in her hand was struggling to get away and kept trying to bite her. I could see a spark of flame but it didn't catch.

"My scales are resisting," she said, "but the fire is wearing them down. I don't have fire resistance." She looked out at the fields of flames, "yet. This could hurt."

Her idea to check our defences was good. From my ill-advised experiments, I have moderate Fire Resistance and high Heat Resistance. I stepped forward and scooped up an ant. The legs scrambled against my skin as I held them in my claws. I watched as it lowered its mandibles to bite me, and a spark flared as they touched my skin. My fur was retracted right back, but I felt the fire try to take hold, and my Fire Resistance opposed it. The heat was only warm as my Heat Resistance was more than capable.

My Tough Hide included more than my fur—it also included my skin. Only a small amount made it through to my Tough Hide. A lot of them crawling on me would eventually wear me down as my spiritual energy reduced, but I could last a long time with only mild discomfort.

I crushed the ant.

I looked at Felix. He also had Heat and Fire Resistance, but I don't know how high. I assume they are similar to mine. He darted forward and grabbed an ant in his jaws. He was not so quick, and another ant grabbed his leg and bit it. A small fire flared in his fur and was extinguished as he flared Frigid Void. The ant on his leg froze as well.

"Not an Ice affinity, huh? Affinities are shared through bonds, I believe," Master Karen said.

Felix bit down, crushed the ant in his mouth, and then ate it. Then he ate the frozen one as well.

"The mandibles and glands are worth collecting for the alchemists if you are interested," Karen said.

I ignored Karen and squatted by Felix, patting him and examining his leg. "What do you think?" I asked him. Through the bond, I got the impression that he didn't like the taste of ant all that much, but it had a fire-aspect spirituality close to part of our Astral Affinity.

I looked at the crushed ant in my hand, popped it into my mouth, and ate it. I used my Cosmic Aura and Spiritual Senses to feel the energy. It was tiny, but it was there. It was not linked to a live creature anymore, so was it free? Loose? Something like that. It was also partially compatible with my Astral affinity. It was gone before I could sense more.

Could my Astral Affinity absorb closely related energy? That needs exploring more, as this sort of situation could mean I could operate for longer. My Astral Affinity is difficult to figure out, and I am not even sure of anything except that it was partially compatible.

I looked around. Everybody was staring at Felix and me.

Makara popped her ant into her mouth. She swallowed and then shivered. "Eew, that is horrible. It burned all the way down."

I guess fire and water don't mix.

Karen and Alex had horrified expressions on their faces. Borko stepped forward and picked up an ant. He flinched when it bit him, then he killed it and ate it. He grunted and shook his head. "Crazy," was all he said.

I could hear the caravan approaching with Hearing Aid, and I guess Makara could as well. She stepped up and sprayed water over the edge of the fire ants. Clouds of steam billowed up, and she kept adding water until it was wetting the ground.

She frowned. "Dampening the flames is easy and doesn't take much energy," she said. "Killing the little shrimps requires drowning, which takes a lot. Easier to stomp them," she said, demonstrating with a crunch.

"I need an area effect," Karen said, "How wide an area can you dampen the flames and for how long?"

Makara thought about it and stretched out her arm. A line of steam erupted along the road area for about 40m.

"That is about four wagon lengths," Karen observed. We watched, and the fire was back in about half a minute. "How often?"

"As often as you like till I run out of energy. The hotter the ants, the more energy. These," she paused thinking, "an hour or maybe two at half-minute intervals."

Karen looked at me, "And you?"

I spread my aura and pulsed Frigid Void, freezing the ants on the road and under the road, for the same area Makara squirted.

"I can keep doing that for several hours," I said as we walked out there, and Karen and Alex picked up some frozen ants. The ants at the edge of the road started working back to the centre, but they did not like the cold.

"How wide an area do we think the ants are covering?" I asked.

Karen looked to Alex, "At least 20km across, we think. The road is not straight, though, and there are a couple of nasty hills coming up," he responded.

"With that distance, there can't be ants everywhere," I said.

"No, but there are key connecting routes, and those tunnels are not deep. If they collapse under the weight of the horses or wagons, then that will slow us, and ants will come," Alex explained. "They are like fire and will consume everything they can."

"You can sense the tunnels?" Karen asked. I nodded. "Can you warn of larger ones that might collapse?"

I nodded, "But I don't know what collapsing it will take."

"I guess you will learn. An earth affinity user would have been best here, but we are lucky you are here. We will run two columns side by side. I will be in the lead wagon with Ivan. You will freeze and kill the ants at that same distance, and then when the lead wagon gets to the end, you will do it again." She looked at Makara. "You will be in the middle of the column, putting out fires. Alex will be with you, and you will follow his directions, but only his directions. Some of those merchants can get pushy. Alex will shut them up or cut them loose. Borko will be with you."

"Just a warning," Alex said. "We are cutting across their territory, as we get closer to their nest the ants will get bigger and burn hotter. These are the worker ants feeding the nest."

"The wagons are here," Karen said, "Get the horses well watered, and it is time for a very long, hot run."

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