Rainhorn: Chapters 22-24 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

Two items of business first, this week.

The Brightest Shadow readers: I'll be releasing a prequel novella set in the same world, though with different characters and tone. If you're interested in being an ARC reader, send me a private message!

Patreon Future Stuff: I've decided to add a naming tier, do an AMA between books, and increase the lowest tier from $1 to $2. However, doing that in the middle of a book would feel unfair, so none of this will happen until I begin posting chapters of the third book.

Anyway, the chapters... one of my goals with this book was to break up the "big fight" style of climax. With this set, we're into the final sequence.

-

Chapter 22

By the end of the day, they had a total of seven rainhorns. Without the two they had stolen from Delarde's group, it would have been much worse hunting than the previous day, even going into less hunted territory. While they returned to the city, Theo heard rumors that the court was going to trigger some kind of effect to flush out hiding rainhorns for the last day of the hunt.

Once they entered city limits, Theo let the others get ready for the evening while he went to sell what they'd hunted. This time he went to one of the Armeau family merchants, intending to extend an olive branch that might deflect a little hostility. He was given a doubled increased price, and politely tried to decline it, but equally politely accepted it in the end. Esaire might be angry that he was losing the wager so far, but his family needed contributions more than money.

Most importantly, they now had over 2000 Silver Crowns, which was a small fortune for first tier soulcrafters. Even if they did poorly on the final day, they had enough to purchase a reliable vehicle with enough left over for their travels. On top of that, they had kept the three best sets of antlers for themselves, though he wasn't completely sure how he'd use his.

Though it would be good to discuss strategy, when Theo returned to meet the others, he realized that it wasn't time for that yet. They'd joined a feast in a neutral courtyard and purchased some of the rainhorn meat, clearly desiring a rest. Considering that a major conflict was still possible, they needed to be at their best, so he decided not to press the issue.

Senka was with them, chomping one of the pieces of meat. Of course she was. The little brat disappeared most of the time, then showed up again when it was time to eat something, or just to annoy him. He'd tried using her to hunt rainhorns on the second day, but she'd been more than useless.

"You got the doubled price, didn't you?" Nauda smiled when he approached, uncovering a plate of steaming rainhorn venison.

"Yeah, I did. So we already have what we need."

"I figured that we would, so I ordered a version of the dish specially prepared for soulcrafters. They added spices and greens - uh, silvers - to improve the cantae generation. It's not extraordinary, but it certainly tastes good."

"We have enough even with that purchase, so good choice." Accepting that they didn't want to discuss strategy at the moment, Theo just sat down to eat alongside them.

For a time they ate in silence, just relishing the food. It really was remarkably savory, and the additions helped it slip right into his soulhome. He'd organize it later, for the moment focusing on the conversation. Some of it was about hunting, or when they might return to Tatian, but for the most part they simply enjoyed one another's company.

Since they had been silent during most of the hunts, Nauda and Fiyu took the opportunity to ask questions they'd apparently been holding back. Nauda said that there were places on Tatian where animals naturally wandered into villages when they were about to die, offering themselves up. He thought he'd heard corroborating stories of that, but was more interested in where she had learned to hunt. Fiyu was the only one to answer that question, explaining about stalking animals in the Moonscape along with her relative.

This was one area where they completely surpassed him, because Theo had concentrated on other skills during his time on Earth. He had developed basic survival skills, but he knew that his life in the Nine Worlds would ultimately come down to soulcrafting. Though he'd taken strong first steps, he remained at the mercy of far too many soulcrafters, much less Vistgil.

After the first course, a cheerful peasant delivered strangely cloth-wrapped items that Nauda had apparently ordered. The rough outer cloth contained a mix of different types of meat, heavily spiced - not really a sublime material at all, but when he picked out the pieces, he found them delicious.

"I've done a few favors for the villagers," Nauda explained, "and they suggested we try these. You can't live on sublime foods alone, so I thought this was a good time to try them."

"It is too spicy." Fiyu's face was flushed, but she kept returning to pull another piece into her mouth.

"Yummy, yummy!" Senka chimed in cheerfully, talking through a full mouth. Theo abruptly realized that she wasn't eating the meat out of its container, she was chewing straight through the cloth. He just stared, while Nauda reached over to extricate it from her grip.

"Senka, you're not supposed to eat that part..."

"Don't take Senka's yummies!"

The two of them squabbled over the wrap, which made Fiyu laugh and Theo roll his eyes. It would have been a better meal with just the three of them, but he could put up with the imp for now. After he'd ascended far enough, he would need to do experiments on inter-world travel, and having another outsider to test might provide useful data. Especially an expendable outsider.

Though Senka whined interminably about not getting to eat the cloth, the meal eventually came to an end. Fiyu licked some of the spices from her empty wrap, then experimentally took a bite, only to immediately remove it from her mouth. Theo supposed that he should commend her open-mindedness.

"Should we rest and get an early start tomorrow?" Nauda asked. Fiyu immediately shook her head.

"It's only just stopped being so bright. We should do something."

"Actually, we should discuss what we intend to do on the last day." Theo wiped his mouth and set the cloth aside, doing his best to ignore Senka and look only at the other two. "We have the option of purchasing a sleigh as soon as possible and departing. There are advantages to that, if we want to make sure to avoid any further conflict."

Nauda tapped her fingers along the table thoughtfully. "Our whole plan was to invest time here because the hunt is our best chance to earn money. I don't think that the additional risk of one more day hunting is so high that we should just give up that opportunity."

"I agree, but I wanted to ask you first. There's also an economic risk: lots of other soulcrafters will be temporarily wealthy after the hunt, so prices might go up. I've had to push to get the money immediately, so I think it's usually given among the prizes at the end."

"Can we buy our vehicle now?" Fiyu asked. "We could get a sleigh and use it to help on the last day."

"It's not a bad idea, but I think that's a bigger risk." When they turned to look at her, Nauda shrugged. "It would make us a bigger target, plus it could potentially be destroyed. Fiyu almost broke that sled with collateral damage, and there are a lot of Archcrafters or even Rulers participating. Another day of hunting is worth it, but not risking everything we've worked for."

"That is rational." Fiyu paused, nodding to herself for a time, then brightened. "Could we arrange the purchase tonight and acquire it later? Can that be done?"

Theo raised his eyebrows as he considered the idea. "The dealer might try to renege on our deal, but now that Nauda is an Archcrafter, she's due respect, unlike base soulcrafters. Plus, they don't sell sublime material vehicles so often that they can afford to just ignore a sale."

And so, they headed off to contact one of the sellers, even though it was already late. Some of the wealthier regions of the city remained lit up by ivory lanterns, but most were beginning to fade and the moon only cracked the horizon. With Fiyu moving at the head of the group, spreading her senses through the shadows, they were essentially safe. The dangers of Deuxan weren't bandits attacking in alleys, after all.

When they arrived at a likely store, the merchant and his family appeared to be getting ready for bed, but when they showed the number of Silver Crowns they were carrying, he hastened to accommodate them. Soon enough, they were the only ones in the display courtyard, free to choose among those they could afford.

That proved to be most of the most reliable versions, none of those gilded for nobles. Each was made custom, of course, so there were no standardized models or obvious patterns, but Theo quickly discerned that there was a logic to the construction. Different sleighs produced for different purposes, from narrow and highly efficient vehicles for leaders to defenseless sledges that could carry a great number.

Within their budget of 2000 Silver Crowns, Theo thought they could get a highly functional sleigh that could float with all three of them plus supplies. He dismissed attractiveness out of hand, but even looking at the most modest creations, they were going to need to choose between space, defenses, and agility.

"Given what we've seen, we might look for durability." Nauda stood in front of one of their options, a compact little sleigh with high reinforced sides. "This one looks like it could take a beating."

"It is very small." Fiyu stepped to the side and regarded the seating area dubiously, then looked to the owner. "May we try it?"

As soon as they received a confirmation from the owner, Fiyu hopped up into the sleigh, so there was no choice: they were testing it out. There was only one bench, so they needed to join Fiyu on it, which quickly proved that there wasn't enough space. Even with one person wedged into the space for supplies behind, their bodies ended up pressed together.

Fiyu shivered and shrank into herself, prompting Nauda to try to shift further away. "Are you okay, Fiyu? Is this too close for you?"

"It is okay." Fiyu's voice could hardly have been less convincing. "This is not intimate touching, it is necessary. It is okay."

"Clearly it isn't." Nauda hopped back out, for once not needing to restrain the urge to pat Fiyu. "We can pick something larger than this. A few sublime materials as defenses won't help if a Ruler or a dangerous sublime beast attacks us. If we pick a larger sleigh, we could effectively use it as a platform to fight."

"This is a good idea." Fiyu bobbed her head in such eager agreement that Nauda only barely restrained her smile long enough to redirect it toward Theo.

Regardless of the reasons for her decision, her logic was sound. If they continued advancing in the Nine Worlds, they would eventually leave behind even the most expensive sleighs offered in the city. They could grow better vehicles on Siata, and any priority would be better met by something else: Arbaian floating fortresses for defense, Ichili cloudships for stealth, Noveni wings for speed, and likely others he'd never even encountered.

Eventually they settled on a narrow sleigh that had three separate seats, as well as good speed and lift. It was lacking in defenses and maneuverability, but Theo managed to negotiate a deal with the owner: they could return the following day with their earnings from the hunt and purchase a more ideal sleigh. Allegedly without any markup, though Theo anticipated an argument about that.

Still, it had been a successful trip, and he felt confident that they would soon possess a reliable vehicle to take them north of Nlukoko. During his first life, he'd been given a far more expensive flying vessel by an impressed Deuxan lord, but Theo felt a sense of satisfaction that he had actually earned this one.

Though their business was done, Fiyu was clearly not ready to go to sleep yet, so they wandered further into the city. They came across a fountain in the center of a large square, the silver water spouting from the top rendered dreamlike in the moonlight. Most Deuxan nobles still awake were at bloodhouses or private mansions, so the square was almost shockingly empty.

While appreciating the fountain's beauty, Theo drifted into his soulhome. Ideally they would have a significant amount of time to soulcraft on their journey north, but he decided to operate on the assumption that it wouldn't go so easily. The question was what he could do to improve his efficacy in a short period of time.

First, he picked up the meal of rainhorn venison, placed it on a wooden plate from Tatian, and added it to his feasting table. The wooden plate didn't look quite right, but he didn't want to spend money on sublime dishes from Deuxan. Besides, the difference in strength between a perfectly set feasting table and one just piled high with powerful sublime food wasn't overwhelming. He did take some of the displaced flamefruit and tossed them into his singularity.

His chambers to create mass or anti-mass were functional, simply not powerful enough. It would take a lot of intricate work on the walls to improve them, which was time he didn't have. Spending all their money on the sleigh meant that he couldn't afford any dramatic new sublime materials, and those would be monopolized by the local court families anyway.

One thing he did have sitting unused was the impressive set of rainhorn antlers. They didn't generate much cantae, but they were filled with solidified strength, with a particularly sharp edge. If he was a swordsman like in his past life, they would have been perfect for hanging on the wall of a sword chamber. He could also add them to one of his empty rooms, letting it strengthen the cantae and hopefully improve its effect, but it wouldn't be ideal.

Ideal... Theo wandered through the corner rooms, examining each technique. What he needed to do was find a less than ideal solution that could serve as a stepping stone.

Eventually he decided on his torsion chamber, which was still nothing but carvings. Given time, it could become something truly dangerous, but at the moment it wasn't viable. However, if he changed his goal and turned it into a more ordinary cantae attack, he might be able to create something he could actually use.

Focusing his will, Theo drew out one of the solarstone blocks in the wall by spiritual force alone. He didn't have materials to create a window or anything more elaborate, but opening the hole made it easier to interact with the outside world. That could be the basis of a technique.

First he tried to just prop the rainhorn antlers in the hole, but it felt wrong. Instead he found some old hearthtree wood and built a hasty frame, with a place to attach the antlers. Not pretty, but it created a proper aperture to release a technique. The room would generate gravitational and twisting forces, which filtered through the horns to create a sharp bolt of cantae. He knew that he'd definitely need to replace it in the future, but it might actually work. Of course, he could refine the concept further...

"Senka found you!"

Of course she did. Theo could feel her running around the fountain and decided that he didn't notice her after all, just focusing on his soulcrafting.

"You're a bunch of fumpets, leaving Senka alone like that!"

"We didn't leave you," Nauda said. "You just wandered off."

Fiyu nodded her agreement. "You need to be careful, Senka. This world might be mostly safe, but there are other places where something might try to eat you up."

"That's scary!" Senka paused, then tilted her head. "Or not scary? What if Senka likes being eaten up?"

"You should still be cautious. We can't protect you if we don't know where you are!"

"What about Jake? Jakey jake. Jake jakey jake." Senka began spinning in circles around him, repeating the fake name in a singsong voice. He continued ignoring her right up to the point where she started clambering up his back. "Jake, hey, Jake. Do you like Senka, Jake? Why are you being so mean?"

"Let me soulcraft." He emerged just long enough to speak, but it didn't seem to stop her, climbing up onto his shoulders even while soulcrafting.

Eventually he'd had enough, leaving his soulhome and reaching back to grab her. She tried to scurry away from his grip, but he managed to pick her up. Standing, he held her in both hands in front of him, briefly surprised at how light she was. Senka beamed up at him.

"Jake does like Senka! Give Senka a kiss!"

Theo dropped her into the fountain.

At first Senka spluttered and thrashed wildly, leading Fiyu to stand up in alarm, but eventually she managed to begin swimming in a rough doggy paddle. "Now Senka has swimmies! Swimmies are fun!"

Fiyu laughed, Nauda smiled, and Theo decided that he could endure it for at least a little while. From a distance, perhaps with earplugs.

He moved away from the fountain to continue soulcrafting, but found himself looking over his shoulder at Senka's antics. Part of him still wondered if she might possibly be some sort of construct, perhaps a lost tool designed to sniff out certain materials. A more sinister explanation was that someone had sent her to track them, but he'd never seen her do anything particularly suspicious, or even any actions that benefited herself. If anything, she seemed designed to annoy him.

There was more soulcrafting to do, and Theo resolved to focus on it until they needed to sleep. The solution for today was refining his techniques, but he'd need to strengthen his body if he wanted to survive against Archcrafters. Perhaps it was time to begin an advanced technique in his empty western room...

-

Chapter 23

The final day of the Great Rainhorn Hunt began explosively, with almost all groups using floating vehicles of some kind. As Theo's group was left behind, it seemed like they were at an insurmountable disadvantage, but as they passed several wrecked sleds, the benefit of holding off on their purchase became obvious.

Since they already had sufficient money for their purchase, Theo's goal was maximum profit without getting involved in any conflicts. It seemed that several groups of rainhorns were pinned down, essentially just a prize as different groups warred around them. Several of those had Rulers involved, so they steered clear. Once again, they focused on the outskirts, hoping to track down rainhorns that were too fast for other groups.

Unfortunately, they'd only found a single rainhorn after several hours. Just as Theo was starting to think they'd chosen the wrong flank, he heard a disruption ahead... but he doubted it was a rainhorn.

A brief fight had begun in a small clearing, already finished by the time they arrived within Fiyu's sphere. Theo didn't recognize the robe style of one side and could only note that their badges suggested they were a noble family, just not a large one. The other side only had a few members, but they were standing uninjured, while the first side fell back.

"How dare you?" Delarde seethed at the front of the group, lifting a man off his feet by the front of his robes. "You can't beat us in a straight fight, so you sabotage us?"

It didn't make sense to Theo until he spotted the sled from earlier: this time, a massive hole had been torn through it and the shattered sublime materials released ripples of force as they broke down. That damage wasn't getting fixed, and he presumed that the other side had struck Delarde's vehicle to impede his hunting efforts.

"What do you expect?" The soulcrafter in Delarde's grip weakly struck at his arm, but the blow was ineffectual. "The Armeau family is strong, do you really think we won't target your weaknesses?"

"This is too far." Delarde threw him to the ground and glowered at the entire group. "That sled was worth more than your life... in fact... it really was."

Delarde glanced around, looking directly at Theo's group... but his gaze passed on, oblivious. Apparently stronger observation skills or techniques were among the things he'd sacrificed for his infinite stamina blueprint.

Then he turned back to the beaten group, a new cruelty in his eyes. Fiyu's gasp was caught in the sphere of stealth, the defeated soulcrafters flinched, and Nauda took a step forward too late. The pike tore directly through the chest of the fallen man, an overwhelming surge of cantae destroying his soulhome as well. As the body collapsed, everyone looked back to Delarde.

"Eradicating such filth from Anguedan is worth the bloodprice." He reached into his cloak and tossed a bag of coins onto the ground, hard enough that it spilled. The opposing soulcrafters watched him with fear and hatred, but they had no choice but to scramble to pick up the coins. While they did, Delarde weighed another bag of similar size in his hand. "Is that lesson enough for you? I have enough here for a lot more, and the Armeau family could purchase the lives of your entire little clan."

As the group gathered up the bloodprice, Delarde occasionally knocked one over with a non-lethal blow, while his supporters jeered at them. Though the act might have been a deterrent, Theo thought he saw cruelty in Delarde's expression that went beyond what would be expected for Deuxan. He could easily have intimidated his opponents less expensively, so the fact that he could act freely meant he had some real authority in the family.

"He doesn't have many allies." Nauda gripped her staff tighter, gaze set on him. "If I recall your list, there's no bloodprice for any injury I deal to him, right?"

"No, but this isn't our fight." Theo kept his voice down, just in case, but there didn't seem to be any risk of the others piercing the technique. "Getting involved will only make our departure more complicated."

"You're going to just watch this happen?"

"The time to intervene would have been before he killed someone. What happens now is just Deuxan politics, and fighting him won't stop it. Even if we killed him, there would only be someone else in his position doing the same thing."

Nauda's knuckles tightened even more, but she didn't argue. Theo himself had felt simultaneous impulses to act and to leave, which had canceled each other out and left him hesitating when he could have acted. But he did believe what he said, and fighting wouldn't earn them any rainhorns.

"Bartolo aina Fithe!" Esaire's voice suddenly rang out over the clearing and Theo realized that retreat was impossible. The familiar grand sleigh floated to a halt and Esaire sprang from the top. "It wouldn't be fair of me to challenge you to a duel, but what do you say to an informal little scrap?"

"Now?" Theo gestured to Fiyu to drop the sphere, then gave an overly humble bow. "But your servant was doing his best to hunt rainhorns for you."

"The hunt is nearly over, and the Armeau family has won again. No, I'd like to have a little contest." Esaire removed the gauntlets from where they hung on his chest and slipped them onto his hands - definitely Archcrafter armaments. "Just for our mutual edification, of course. No bloodprices, eh Delarde?"

"Accidents happen." Delarde hefted his pike with undue eagerness.

"Well, that would be a pity. So... why don't you try your best to make this interesting?" Esaire and his followers went to walk alongside Delarde and the others, leaving them sorely outnumbered.

However, when Theo looked more carefully, the odds were different than his first impression. Many of the soulcrafters didn't have particularly large soulhomes, and other than Esaire and Delarde, the one other Archcrafter was only nominal. Of course, if she got near him with that knife, her more intense cantae would tear right through him. On the other hand, she had no defenses...

Theo glanced at Fiyu and then acted first, before Esaire could take control of the fight. He hit the entire clearing with a gravitational field, sending most of the group into the air. Before they even reversed direction, Fiyu unleashed a hail of bolts, knocking them backward into the forest.

She immediately swept her hands down to catch Esaire and Delarde in the blast, but both had manifested their cantae cloaks. Theo didn't even waste his time trying to use gravity against them, he needed a direct strike.

Unfortunately, Esaire was every bit as fast as he'd feared. He leapt for them, and only Nauda's reflexes allowed her to intercept him.

Nauda started by trying to bind him, thrusting her fork out, but Esaire ducked underneath the movement and closed the distance. She immediately swung her staff at his head, only for him to contemptuously turn it aside with one gauntlet, so forcefully that the staff nearly left her hands.

His other gauntlet swept up to strike her... and was bound in place by her cantae. Yet though the technique should have frozen his entire body, Esaire managed to twist, keeping his arm in place and instead kicking Nauda in the face. She hurtled backward, weapons flying from her hands as she slammed into one of the trees.

That left Theo facing a sprinting Esaire, with no way to assist Nauda. He saw Delarde closing on her, and Fiyu tried to stop him with a hail of bolts, but he waded through them, focusing on his target.

Then one of those gauntlets was coming for him and there was no time to help anyone else. Theo reversed gravity beneath himself, falling into the sky before Esaire could reach him. He had lost Navim's spear, leaving him with something simpler: rocks. Though he couldn't fly, Theo could change his momentum to keep himself high in the air.

So he threw the rocks down at Esaire, casting a gravitational field that sent each plummeting to the earth at many times normal acceleration.

Fast as they were, Esaire danced between them. Worse, he realized that the rocks were just pure force, not a cantae trick. Theo knew that throwing the last one was a mistake, but his body couldn't keep up with his experience and the last rock left his fingers toward his opponent.

This one, Esaire met with a flat palm, and somehow the velocity of the rock reversed in an instant. Theo couldn't manipulate gravity well enough to dodge, so it was only his position that meant the rock struck his arm instead of slamming into his body.

His focus weakened and he pitched downward. Theo wanted to stand calmly in the sky, but it was hard to control his momentum when he was pitching back and forth between gravitational fields and now wincing from the impact. Worse, Esaire was eyeing him carefully, and it would be entirely within the Archcrafter's power to reach him with a leap.

So he only had one choice: his new torsion technique. To prevent an aerial battle, Theo let himself drop back to the ground... and then suddenly thrust forward, casting a bolt of cantae at his opponent.

It flickered between them with more speed than he'd expected, concentrated force of gravity pulling in opposite directions, filtered through the sharpness of the rainhorn antlers. Despite its speed, Esaire nearly managed to dodge, the bolt hitting him in the shoulder.

Where it tore through his robes, but that was all. Theo saw his opponent take a step back, and it looked like a bruise was beginning to form, but he knew instantly that it hadn't been enough. And now he was far too close...

Theo threw himself to the side on old instincts and was still clipped by the blow, which felt like a wall of bricks rushing past him. He spun, bouncing painfully over the ground before landing some distance away. Half his body was numb and his other arm still ached from the stone that had struck him, while Esaire merely tore off his sleeve and prepared to advance again.

As he rose to his feet, Theo investigated the rest of the field. Nauda had apparently kept Delarde at bay, but he saw several bleeding wounds along her arms and legs, while her opponent still burned with cantae. Many of Esaire's other followers had stayed down, but others were getting back to their feet and forming a group, preparing to enter the battle. Fiyu... he didn't see Fiyu anywhere.

"I knew you weren't an Archcrafter." Esaire smiled and began wiping his gauntlets against one another. "I was sure enough of it before, but I still wanted to fight you. It's a good trick, but it's just a trick, isn't it?"

"Happy to have proved it to yourself?" Theo did his best to ignore his injuries and just met his gaze. "It's obvious that we're not your equal."

Delarde stepped forward and slammed the butt of his pike against the ground. "Then these worms have wasted your time! And my time, and the time of the entire Armeau family! They deserve to be punished!"

Troublingly, Esaire actually seemed to be listening. Theo took a deep breath and prepared to try another gamble. "I only have tricks now, but I haven't had very long to soulcraft. If you can endure my 'tricks' in a year, I'll bare my neck willingly."

"Proposing a scheduled duel?" Esaire regarded him with surprise, considering the offer as Delarde shouted at him to ignore it. He didn't seem to listen, but that didn't stop him from smiling coldly. "I refuse. I'll spare your lives, because you've been an interesting diversion, but you do need a lesson about challenging your betters."

With Esaire, Delarde, and the regrouping soulcrafters, the odds weren't good. Theo wasn't sure about the range of his gravitational fields, but he wondered if he could potentially launch himself and Nauda high into the air and refuse to come down. Nothing but a stalling tactic, but it was all he had that would be fast enough to avoid Esaire's strike.

Across the clearing, Esaire's sleigh began to move without any apparent cause. Theo couldn't keep himself from staring, and the others noticed, but it was too late.

The sleigh plowed through the group of soulcrafters, sending them tumbling over the clearing, and struck Delarde hard enough to knock him to the ground. Esaire barely dodged aside and started to strike back at the front seat, but Nauda managed to land her staff directly into his face, making him stumble back despite his defensive aura.

When the sleigh skidded sideways, briefly slowing, Theo hopped into the second seat along the way. As soon as he got near enough, he passed inside Fiyu's bubble, finally seeing her sitting at the controls. Nauda leapt to join them, then the sleigh began to speed up again, blasting through the forest canopy and shooting into the air.

"Fiyu, you did it!" Nauda very nearly embraced her and settled for grabbing Theo instead. "We're out!"

"And they don't have any way to follow us." Theo looked back to the clearing and the surrounding region. He saw Esaire and Delarde staring up at them in fury, but the simple fact was that they were standing in a mostly empty region, far from any other vehicles.

"Umm." Fiyu had smiled broadly when they arrived, but now flailed her hands in front of the controls. "I... don't really understand this. I could barely figure out how to make it go. I think... we're going to fall."

Theo scrambled over into the front seat, desperately grasping the controls as they began to plummet. Beneath the silvery hood, there were a number of metal spheres set against a wooden panel. They'd no doubt be linked to the primary sublime materials by thin lines, though he hadn't ever explored the art of crafting such things.

Fortunately, the spheres weren't so different from the old Deuxan vehicles he remembered, and they were designed to be idiot-friendly for lazy nobles. The sublime materials built into the floor couldn't keep the sleigh this high for long, but if he slowed their fall with gravitational fields and increased the buffer as much as possible when they landed...

The sleigh scraped against the ground, but other than a falling piece of gilding, the impact didn't do any damage. Above all, it continued to slide forward above the ground, its primary function uninhibited. Theo grinned and turned it around, heading toward the Tatian gate at full speed.

"Is this fair play?" Nauda asked. "If you can 'hunt' anything during the event, is this ours now?"

"That might be the letter of the law, but would you count on them to follow it?" Theo glanced behind them, checking for any pursuit, but there was no sign and even if Esaire acted immediately, he would be severely delayed. "No, the game is over. Our goal now is to get beyond his reach."

"But our sleigh..." Fiyu abruptly smiled. "Oh, we're just going to use his sleigh."

"That's right. No weapons, but the defenses aren't bad, and it's very fast. This is better than anything we could have afforded."

"But all the Silver Crowns we worked so hard for..."

Nauda shook her head with a smile. "We'll need to buy other things. It will be nice not to be so poor for once."

Theo nodded his agreement, and he couldn't help but smile along with the others. For a time, they simply raced forward, enjoying the ride as the sleigh shielded much of the air rushing past them. Fiyu confirmed that she had retrieved Nauda's fallen weapon, so they hadn't lost anything during the fight except their last rainhorn, which they no longer needed.

For now, they had time to breathe. But once they got back to the city of Nlukoko, they would need a plan.

-

Chapter 24

By the time they neared the region containing the gate back to Tatian, they'd finished some basic precautions. First, he'd gone over the vehicle carefully, finding several spheres that might serve as a tracking component and leaving them behind. The sleigh would obviously look foreign, but they'd removed the Armeau family crest and much of the gilding so it could pass as a more generic transport. Theo switched back to his Deuxan cloak and was surprised to find that the other two had acquired their own. They could enter the city easily, unless...

"Do we know if Nlukoko has any method of instantly contacting Deuxan cities?" He asked the question to both of them, but looked toward Nauda. She shook her head grimly.

"Unless Lord Ariano has a special connection he's never revealed, I don't think they do, otherwise there would have been more news from Deuxan. But I have a hard time believing they'll let this go... they'll be after us soon, won't they?"

"Our biggest advantage is our head start. I didn't see evidence of communication armaments in Anguedan, which makes sense since those are usually rare. Esaire will have to run back to the city, or at least to someone whose transport he can take. I doubt he has the authority to just chase us directly into another world, so he'll need to confer with the rest of his family first."

Fiyu took a deep breath. "Do you think he will follow us with reinforcements? If they send one of their Rulers..."

"I doubt it. The more people get involved, the more the conflict will seem petty and beneath the family." Theo could almost convince himself, but ended up shaking his head. "But I don't think Esaire will give up so easily and we don't know what connections he has on Tatian. We can't afford to stay in Nlukoko."

"They won't follow us far in the borderlands." Nauda sat back in her seat and prepared to soulcraft. "We can lose them out there, but we need supplies. The most dangerous period is while we're still in the city, or if they chase us out of it."

"I hope we can escape without seeing them again," Fiyu said. She settled back to follow Nauda's example and Theo wasn't sure if it was a statement of concern or simply making good use of her time.

One of the best features of the sleigh was that it could continue moving forward on its own and even navigate over minor obstacles. Since he had a well-constructed door in his soulhome, it would be easy to soulcraft even while driving the sleigh. Normally he would have joined the others, but they were already close to the gate and what he needed was insight.

Unfortunately, he just didn't see any way to make significant progress given his current resources. Looking back, he felt like everything had fallen together more quickly for him during his first life in the Nine Worlds. Perhaps he had just been lucky, perhaps his personal changes led him in a different direction, or perhaps the Nine had changed...

Soon he saw the gate ahead and began to slow their sleigh, the others emerging from their soulcrafting to join him. There was a very small chance that they'd be set on as soon as they went through, so they were on edge while they approached the tall silver arch. When they emerged on the other side, they were in the Nlukoko courtyard surrounded by the Deuxan market. A few local guards sat nearby, but there was no sign that anything was amiss and only one stood up to greet them.

"Visitors from Deuxan?" The guard didn't look at them very carefully and didn't seem to care. "Pay your fees and we'll get your papers sorted."

They could have used Nauda's false papers and avoided the fee, but Theo preferred to further break up any trail of evidence. Besides, it only took two of their Silver Crowns to put the guard in a good mood and get him to expedite the process. Hopefully, the man would barely think about them and not go out of his way to remember details, if Deuxans followed them later.

As they were about to depart, Theo turned back to the guard as if with a careless thought. "We heard there was some trouble with demons this year. Is the Landguard still here to keep the city safe?"

"Oh, they moved on months ago." The guard gave the question a slightly odd look, but scratched his side lazily as he answered. "Don't you worry, noble one. The city guard is well trained, and the Lord of Nlukoko is an Authority-tier soulcrafter. You're safe as can be here."

Theo pretended to be reassured and then guided their sleigh into the city. Unfortunately, though Deuxans weren't rare in Nlukoko, such an expensive sleigh still attracted some attention. Nauda sat low in her seat so no one would identify her as Tatian and Theo just hoped that any observations of them would be so garbled as to be useless.

"If we need to get out of here as soon as possible, do we split up?" Nauda asked. Fiyu shook her head immediately, and this time Theo agreed with her.

"It would save time, but I think there's too much risk of being found alone. Let's just do everything in order as efficiently as possible."

"Then we should exchange our money, or we'll have to negotiate at every single store. Turn that way, we can get a decent rate in the Deuxan district."

They slid onto another street, this one filled with many more Deuxan pedestrians. Theo remained in the sleigh as a precaution against thieves while the other two ducked under a specific stall. He was surprised to note that Nauda gave Fiyu the bag of money and had her move forward first.

"Hello!" Fiyu set down the bag and smiled at the woman running the stall. "We have many Silver Crowns. What are they worth?"

"Ah, you've come to the right place." The woman smiled broadly and picked up the sack, beginning to run the silver rings through her fingers. "Each of these is worth two full plates, or five chips, or s-"

Abruptly Nauda slid beside her, bringing her hand down on the sack and pinning it to the table, along with the money exchanger's hand. "So that's what you'd charge a naive customer you wanted to rob, huh?"

"Th-that's..." The woman tried to pull back, but couldn't escape Nauda's grip. "I pride myself on honorable business, but someone who requires such quantities..."

"You were giving me dishonest prices?" Even with her eyes covered, Fiyu's dismay was visible. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"I grew up on these streets, you know." Nauda put an arm on the money exchanger's shoulders, a Tatian gesture that wasn't quite so friendly in Nlukoko, despite her smile. "As it happens, we have a great deal of coin that we need to pass through an honest exchange. Now, are you the person we need, or not?"

Not long after, the two returned to the sleigh with their new currencies. He waited just long enough for them to get in, then began navigating to their next destination. Fiyu beamed happily at her participation in the deception, while Nauda just leaned forward over his shoulder to give the results.

"I kept a hundred Silver Crowns in case we run into Deuxans or need foreign currency. Some of it I converted to local plates, just enough to cover all the supplies we need here. But the rest, I converted into these." She reached into the sack and revealed a small amber gem. "I don't know economic details about the city we'll find on the other side of the gate, but I'm confident these will have value there. You know them?"

"Not those particularly, but I know the idea." Theo glanced back at the gem, confirming that it felt like a sublime material, but without any power. "I assume they're used as a core component of crafting sublime materials in the real world?"

"Yeah. Craftgems have functional value and they're artificial, so they're a practical currency anywhere. We lost a bit converting to craftgems, but we can't convert to our destination's currency and I think craftgems will be the better choice in the end, wherever we end up."

"We have something like that on Ichil," Fiyu spoke up. "They're small crystals that help power defenses while you sleep. I suppose those would not be as necessary in other worlds, but they were the only money we used while traveling."

Normally that might have led to another conversation, but they were running against a deadline. For normal supplies they visited another market, where Nauda ruthlessly negotiated for food, blankets, and other basics. Traveling would be cheap with the sleigh, since it could serve as shelter, but he noted that she purchased a significant amount of food. Could so much of Tatian really be empty and infertile?

"She is very good at negotiating," Fiyu said happily. Theo only grunted.

"I'm happy to leave it to her. Scoot over, she's coming back."

"That's the minimum we need." Once she dropped the supplies beside Fiyu, Nauda vaulted into the middle seat behind him. Realizing that she intended to talk, Theo turned back to look at them both. "If we want to get out of the city as soon as possible, we should go now. But there's no sign that we've been followed, so if anyone else has business in Nlukoko..."

Fiyu shook her head while Theo weighed the odds. The truth was that he didn't know the exact Deuxan threats, but since he was fairly certain that he wasn't being actively hunted by anyone higher, he decided that ignorance was a greater threat than a delay. "Can we visit the library again? Now that you're an Archcrafter, we should be able to access more resources than before."

Though the two women glanced at each other, they didn't object in the slightest, so Theo navigated to the library. Along the way, Nauda had the idea of repainting the sleigh to decrease its visibility. Since Fiyu didn't want to join them in the library, despite his claims about its peacefulness, she remained outside with a man who began to repaint it while they entered.

Inside, the Deuxan librarian glowered at him without any apparent memory of his previous visit. When she observed Nauda, however, she let them access some of the restricted archives.

"I know you just needed my rank," Nauda said as they entered the shelves, "but I'll help if I can. What are we actually looking for, in detail?"

"It's nothing different than I've said." Though, even as he spoke, he questioned if he had really been completely forthcoming with them. "Any information at all about the Artifacts of Elghiera, or the ancient soulcrafter himself. I probably found the stories you mentioned before, but don't rule anything out. Then anything about the Landguard - it's not very likely, but if we can learn anything about why they're so paranoid about outsiders, that might save our lives later."

She could easily have dismissed it as too abstract or relevant only to him, but Nauda accepted his words with a nod and began to help in the search. Actually, she proved to be a great help, since she showed no hesitation in approaching librarians directly where Theo preferred to search alone.

After an hour spent mostly futilely, Theo sat back and wondered if this had fundamentally been a mistake. This search needed to be undertaken carefully and thoughtfully, not rushed into while on the run from unknown opponents. Only the fact that they might not be able to return to Nlukoko for a long time made him refocus on the task.

What he found most frustrating was that the books the librarian brought him about Elghiera seemed to take him even less seriously than the myths he'd found before. There was a long chapter that put forth a theory that "Elghiera" was the mythical version of a real historical figure who had been essential in creating the very first weirkeys. Though the ring Theo had owned in his first life had never been usable as a weirkey, it had seemed aligned with some worlds more than others, and it had helped him in the pale white realm. What if it was a key in search of a lock?

The chapter would have been fascinating on its own terms, but as an answer under pressure, it was horribly disappointing. In fact, everything he read just made him angrier, wading through unnecessary information when he'd been killed because he didn't know enough. What should have been an enjoyable experience was reduced to futile scrabbling after a retreating goal.

"I think I have something." Nauda hadn't said anything of the sort during their search, even for potentially useful finds, so he immediately looked to her. She raised the book so he could see the title and smiled. "This is specifically for Archcrafters who believe they might join the Landguard. Unfortunately, it's more about ideas of community than specific techniques or advice."

"But it has information about the Landguard? When was it published?"

When Nauda blinked at him, he remembered that of course the book wouldn't have a publication date or anything of the sort. Whatever word she heard, she overcame her confusion fairly quickly. "The binding is very new, but a few other people have read it. He mentions a city that was founded ten years ago, so it's at least a decade old."

"Sorry, it doesn't matter. What's the important part?"

"It says that, while the Landguard is able to deal with military threats, it's struggled to deal with other types. Harmful addictive substances from other worlds, for example. The book emphasizes all the different threats, but the important part is that they've also received support from other worlds, information about dangerous outsiders that they might not be familiar with."

For the first time in so long, Theo felt like he was getting somewhere. He leaned closer. "And?"

"It doesn't say anything about who, but some sort of benefactor gave the Landguard both information and sublime materials if they promised to increase their usual duties. Specifically, they needed to locate and hunt down any outsiders who might be dangerous to the Nine Worlds." Nauda paused and shrugged with the book in hand. "Unfortunately, it doesn't say much more than that. The book is more about how awe-inspiringly important and serious the Landguard is, as opposed to little details like what they do. Does that help?"

"It's more than I've ever had before." Theo sat back and considered what that changed.

When he'd first arrived, he'd been afraid that Vistgil would pop out of nowhere and kill him again. That had never happened, and now he had a plausible theory. Vistgil and whatever organization he might represent couldn't afford to police billions of people across all the continents of the Nine Worlds. But they knew that unplanned outsiders might arrive, so they established broad policies against them.

That was assuming that Vistgil or an ally had been the one responsible for influencing the Landguard, but Theo couldn't really bring himself to doubt that. On his previous visit, just a century ago in Nine Worlds time, the attitude toward outsiders had been entirely different. The people of Tatian had actually been especially welcoming toward people from beyond the Nine Worlds, curious to hear their tales. Theo had never met anyone else from Earth, but he'd met people who were widely known to be from some distant world.

If his assumptions proved true, that meant he was dealing with less of a hunt and more of a conspiracy. What Magnafor had said suggested that others were coming across, perhaps with greater frequency than before. And whoever didn't want that process to happen had struck with surgical precision, their trap designed to annihilate people returning to the Nine Worlds with plans to ascend quickly.

Questions of why were pointless because he simply didn't have enough information, so his mind wandered in another direction. If this arrival had been accidental and unplanned, had the first been coordinated? Vistgil had known exactly how he almost died on Earth, despite claiming it was a meaningless accident, and had somehow met him immediately. Every possible explanation for that just left him with even more questions.

"Theo?" Nauda had closed the book and now just looked at him. "I know this information is important to you, but I don't know what else we can try."

"I think that will be enough. We should get moving." As he rose, Theo reached down to rub her arm. "This helps more than you know, Nauda. Thank you."

"I think you'd do the same for me." That was all she said before sweeping back toward the entrance. A warm thought, and decidedly not a Tatian one.

Back outside, they discovered Fiyu lurking in the shadows next to a newly painted sleigh - it was now a rich red color that would blend in with Tatian foliage, and more importantly didn't look nearly so Deuxan. Fiyu herself hid among their supplies as though she wanted to hide herself with her stealth technique, but she popped up when she saw them.

"The paint is not dry yet. Is there anything else we need to do?"

"We could always use sublime materials." Nauda glanced between them, then shook her head. "I still have enough Deuxan stone, and I don't want to mix types on my second floor. I could use some metal ore, perhaps. Do you need anything, Fiyu?"

"Oh, I am fine. I will remain here, by the sleigh."

Since she seemed determined on that account, Theo and Nauda set off again, this time walking to the nearest market that sold sublime materials. He wasn't eager to spend their money on materials that were probably second rate compared to what they would soon access, but he had to admit that lack of materials had been a choke point for him.

Thinking through all the potential problems, Theo decided to purchase some of the springy branches that Nauda had used to ascend. It was unlikely that he would reach Archcrafter soon, but it was good to be prepared. Nauda purchased a number of supplies for mixing sublime cement, which was always a practical choice.

They had to search longer to find anything of quality, but eventually they came across some sublime metal that the merchant called sunbronze. Like many sun-related Tatian materials, it felt potent, though not Archcrafter-tier. It would have fit his old blueprint better, but he thought he could find a place for it, while Nauda was sure that she and even Fiyu could use it to polish some of their chambers.

Since it was unlikely that they would find anything of immense value, and he was growing antsy, they headed back to the sleigh. Along the way, Nauda blended into the crowds to gather information and rumors, but when she rejoined him, she only shook her head.

When they returned, they found Fiyu perched on one of the seats, running a finger along the new paint curiously. The red would have stood out starkly on her dark clothes and she'd reloaded the sleigh, however, so it seemed that it was essentially dry. When she felt their presence she smiled and looked up.

"Hello. I think it is almost all dry, so we could leave if we want."

"That's good." Nauda folded her arms and frowned over all the supplies they'd gathered. "Does anyone have anything else they need to do?"

"Senka does!"

Everyone flinched as the imp suddenly hopped up onto their sleigh. Though Theo's first impulse was to roll his eyes, he immediately realized that her presence meant something much worse. "Senka, exactly how did you get here?"

"Ummm... Senka was eating and then people were yelling your names. Senka was a bit confused by all the words, but there was a mean fumpet and a really angry fumpet. They said they needed find you and Senka also needed to find you! So Senka sneaked into their flying boat thingy and we went back over here so Senka came to find you."

They listened in horror, almost made worse by the childish nature of the story. Theo jumped forward, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Senka, are you saying that Deuxans have already followed us here?"

"Umm, yes? Senka thinks so. There were lots of words but they said that you might get away so they wanted to talk to some Lord fumpet and lock something up."

Nauda groaned, but she also leapt into the sleigh at the same moment. "They're trying to lock us in, and probably get us reported as thieves to the whole guard. We need to move."

"Is it already too late?" Fiyu asked, shifting to a better seat and pulling Senka onto her bench.

"Hopefully not, thanks to Senka. The Lord of Nlukoko is too proud to meet with just anyone, especially anyone without a significant rank. But I don't know how long that delay will last, so we should get out of here as soon as possible."

"That's now." Before he'd even properly sat down, Theo lowered his hands to the controls and began navigating out of the city. This could be closer than he'd wanted, and he could only hope they had time.

If it really came down to it and the bridges out of the city were closed, he was fairly certain that the sleigh could move directly across the lake. The guard might have some sort of barrier they could raise, but with gravitational fields he could probably send the sleigh over them. The real problem would be if they actually got Ariano on their side - an Authority could shoot them out of the sky in an instant.

"Was Senka helpful? Huh? Huh? Senka thinks she was helpful. You gonna thank Senka or you gonna be a sporping fumpet?" She started to clamber up onto his shoulders, but he pushed her back.

"We can hand out the thanks when we're safe." Theo pressed down harder on the sphere, willing them to escape Nlukoko.