Between the Veil and Crown

Kylin 30

They brought the camp nearer to the entrance of the tunnel in order to keep a better eye on it throughout the night. Despite the task of needing to find the flower, Shaelren placed the ankheg tunnel as higher priority, and declared that they would investigate -and hopefully exterminate- the culprit in the morning.

He roped Kylin into helping with the strategizing, forcing him to search the crevices of his memory for what he had researched on them long ago.

Kylin remembered that they were some of the nastier invasive species. Not only did their tunnels cause problems for the trees and damage roots, but their hunting tactics were just as damaging, if not more. In addition, care had to be taken in exterminating them as they had a horrible habit of spitting acid.

Ankhegs were giant insect-like creatures, except with too many legs, hooked barbs for front legs, and enormous jaws that could snap a tree in half. Their exoskeleton made it difficult to attack them with piercing weapons.

Acid-spitting and sheer size made them a terror to fight in the tunnels. Unfortunately, it was necessary to enter in order to find eggs and follow paths to figure out where they were headed.

Plans were laid out and Shaelren called to the rest of the group. "Everyone is to find a partner, and match compasses. Half of us will be above ground, and will handle the horses. The other half will be in the tunnels. Those above ground will shadow the compasses below ground, except for mine."

The hunters immediately began pairing off, the most experienced of them pairing with Shaelren. Bryval beckoned Fame over to Kylin.

"Were you ever taught to match a compass before?" Bryval asked Fame as he and Kylin pulled out their compasses.

"I'm certain all compasses already match," Fame said. "All of them point south."

He wasn't wrong on that; the Veil Forest screwed up normal compasses so badly anyone using them in the forest was doomed to get lost. The only compasses that worked were ones that had been enchanted to find south.

"I figured that was the case," Bryval said. "Matching compasses means our compasses will instead follow Kylin's instead of pointing south. Kylin's will operate as normal."

"Wait, does that mean we're staying above ground?" Fame asked.

"Yes," came the firm response. Bryval handed his compass to Kylin, explaining the process to Fame.

Kylin popped open a little door on the back of his compass, where the enchanting magnet was kept. He then opened the case where the needle was and struck the magnet across the needle. While every Ranger was required to learn how to match compasses, it was a technique not often sed because of lack of need. Kylin was certain the last time he had matched his compass was when he had first learned, so he couldn't remember the number of times the needle had to be swiped. What he did remember was that there was a minimum in order for it to work. So be on the safe side, he struck the needle at least twenty times.

After he felt that he had struck the needle enough, he opened Bryval's compass, flipped the magnet over, and gave it as many strikes as he had given his.

He felt a small twinge of relief to see that Bryval's immediate swiveled and pointed directly at his the moment the case was closed.

Now done, he looked up at the other two as he handed Bryval back his compass. Fame had a wide eyed look that clearly said he was absolutely going to find ways to continue using this technique.