Bondsfungi: Chapters 1-2 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

Nothing like an audiobook launch to erode my motivation. It might be premature to make calculations now, but the numbers so far look disappointing. Of course, I'll keep my promise of doing audiobooks for the first three books, and I'm in this for the long haul. I'm mainly disgruntled about the book being (in my opinion) misrepresented by angry readers.

The current phase will pass as I focus on creative work. But if anybody wants to check out the reviews and upvote those that seem thoughtful, it would make my lizard brain feel better.

Anyway, I'm not in the mood for anything else, so this week I'm going to post the first chapters of TWC5. This isn't the start of a regular posting schedule quite yet, since I still need to work on some of the later parts, but I figured that everybody would enjoy this. ^-^ I have some other fun things in store, but look forward to more chapters in the mix.

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Chapter 1

Theo glanced at the battle being waged below, glowered, and went back to trying to get some soulcrafting done. It wasn't that the battle was trivial to him, far from it, but after a couple months of preemptive war he needed to conserve his time or he wouldn't get anything done. Until he received the signal, he had to consider the battle as irrelevant.

The signalstone spun in place just in front of him. Theo's gaze wandered back over the side of the rocky spire that sheltered him, toward the mass of soulcrafters fighting below, but then returned to his task. If his hosts in Saan Fraskin didn't want him to get involved, it wasn't his place to wonder why, so he left his single gravitational field in place and looked inward.

Within his soulhome again, Theo began climbing up the ladder he'd placed against the side. It was fine for now, but he was gambling on his gravity being able to carry him between floors at later tiers, because using exterior ladders was becoming increasingly inconvenient. That was perhaps the only upside to the fact that he had only been able to find enough sublime materials to build three of the nine rooms he wanted on his third floor.

It wasn't a matter of finding an adequate material: House Blacksilver had helped him locate a sublime stone called densecrest that was a perfect match for his blueprint. The local understanding of gravity as a scientific concept was limited, so he'd been surprised that they found one that fit so well. The densecrest seemed tied to the essence of mass itself, and on top of that it was barely within the limits of the Ruler tier, thus a perfect foundation for the eventual leap to Authority.

As Theo sat down to work, he glanced at the sad little pile of bricks he had left from the last batch. Densecrest was rare in the best of times, and the rising conflicts that resulted from the battle at the Chasm of Lamentations had disrupted supply chains and entirely cut off some regions of Fithe. But with such a perfect material, he was willing to wait until he could acquire enough - it wasn't as though he didn't have other work to do.

The blackflint in his hands resisted at first, but eventually he managed to strike it at just the right angle, breaking off another shard. The sublime material was potent but brittle, shattering under the force of most skills meant to shape it. He'd needed to begin learning the spiritual version of knapping, which was a new technique for him and thus required significantly more training than familiar skills like carving.

In the end, however, he held a triangular spike of primitive power. Theo glanced outside his soulhome again - the signalstone was still spinning - and then went back to work.

To his surprise, he managed to finish knapping three more spikes, which was all he needed. Apparently the soulcrafters of Saan Fraskin didn't want his help. He carried the spikes extremely carefully, despite their durability, into the single corner chamber he'd built on his third floor.

Within, the air hummed with the raw power of the sublime stone he'd retrieved from the heart of the island that Tythes had destroyed. He'd made a few inquiries since leaving the Chasm of Lamentations, but no one seemed entirely sure what it was. What he knew was that it was an immensely powerful sublime material, one that he would never have been able to incorporate into his soulhome as a Ruler if he hadn't used the crucible during his ascension.

Even now its raw weight threatened the walls of the chamber, despite the altar of soft stone that was meant to incorporate it. That had required a great deal of experimentation, and the spikes were the newest element. Theo used his will to hold back the flooding cantae and forced the spikes into the softer stone. Now he had a complete circle of spikes expanding around the central stone... Theo took a deep breath and released his concentration.

Cantae flooded from the mysterious stone... but the blackflint spikes managed to channel it along their sharp lengths. The force shot out in all directions and he held his breath, but the lines of force were caught by the carved patterns on the chamber walls. Instead of threatening structural integrity, the power of the stone flowed through the walls of the room, rendering it a unified chamber that could be drawn into the overall flow of his cantae.

Of course, creating a sphere was still awkward without all the rooms on his third floor. He had so many problems he needed to solve before he ascended, if he didn't want to end up like Nauda.

Now that the stone he'd gained from the Chasm was properly integrated into his soulhome, the question was how exactly to use it. Theo was considering his options when pain in his hands distracted him. He realized how much the knapping had worn on him, one finger even bleeding from the sharp edges. Even if he wouldn't bleed out from losing spiritual blood, it hurt enough to distract him. Perhaps he'd done all he could.

Withdrawing from his soulhome, Theo glanced at the signalstone - still spinning - and decided to examine the battle again. There were people dying down there and his hosts still hadn't ordered him to take action. Most cities on Fithe were proud, but not accepting help from Norro Yorthin would be simply childish, given the rising threats.

Though Saan Fraskin had a very different culture, their army was basically what he expected of Fithans, regardless of the city. A few Rulers did battle in the central melee, while Archcrafters led groups of lesser soulcrafters who fired volleys from cover. By contrast, the Asplundat Movement's army was a gray mass, just as strictly regimented by tier but moving in strange formations. This army wasn't nearly as well-equipped with their gray armor as those he'd fought closer to home, but it was still a formidable force.

Yet his allies refused to call him in, even though they seemed to be giving ground. By his estimation the average city soulcrafter was better than the average Asplundat, but the Movement was better coordinated, and having consistent blueprints with no weak links or unstable attackers counted for a lot. They were successfully driving the army from Saan Fraskin back through the mudflats, toward the water where they'd be at a disadvantage.

While he waited for either the signal or the recovery of his hands, Theo stared out over the muddy terrain. Land and sea never met smoothly on Fithe, instead forming a boundary of mud twisting in a thousand flourishes. It almost looked like writing, but from high enough above he could see the natural patterns of wave and dust, forming fractal patterns...

His eyes unfocused as he thought back to Senka. Telling him that soulcrafting was fractal was one of the many strange clues she had given him, though far from the most important. There hadn't seen the slightest sign of her since the Chasm and yet she occupied more of his mind than she ever had as an annoying little imp. If he'd had more time...

Theo realized that he was staring at a Fithan army surging from out of the water. Beside him, the signalstone let out a low whine and crumbled to dust.

All at once he understood why his hosts hadn't called him to participate in the battle. Either they weren't sure or they were simply secretive, but they had been holding him in reserve for when the water Fithans attacked. The army surging from the shallows was all blue-skinned and fanged, not any faction from the land. Apparently this front of the fighting was more complicated than he'd expected.

The water Fithans only charged to the edge of the mudflats, which was presumably the maximum range where their soulcrafters could hurl jets of water and spheres of pitch black mud at the Saan Fraskin army. It would have been a devastating ambush, if Theo hadn't been cracking his knuckles at exactly that moment.

All the projectiles that the water Fithans had carefully calculated to strike their opponents instead sailed skyward, no longer so affected by gravity. As a Ruler, Theo found it far easier to extend gravitational fields over large areas, even while maintaining others. Creating fields perpendicular to the planet's gravity was also simpler, though nowhere near as powerful. His second field arced the projectiles away from the Saan Fraskin army, sending them hammering down into the Asplundat Movement.

That first act turned both the tide of the battle and the attention of every prominent soulcrafter toward him. Theo saw that the water Fithans had spotted him atop the rocky pillar and they weren't stupid enough to keep throwing physical projectiles. All through the shallows, soulcrafters were preparing cantae bolts to strike his position.

Not fast enough, not with his soulhome starting to operate with its true efficiency.

Theo dropped all but one gravitational field and instead slammed a singular field over the army in the water, flattening many soulcrafters to the ground and even making the Archcrafters and Rulers stumble. Most low tier soulcrafters, and especially the mass-produced blueprints of the Asplundat Movement, were entirely unprepared for gravitational techniques such as his. That was the reason that House Blacksilver sent him on missions across the continent as the battles increased.

Of course, all the stronger soulcrafters regrouped and mustered their cantae. He couldn't generate enough gravity to pin down a strong opponent reinforcing their body... but that had always been the simplest application of his power. Theo reversed his field, lifting all the big tough fighters into the air before slamming them back down into the water.

It wouldn't kill them, of course, but the water Fithan ambush had shattered into disarray. The Asplundat Movement wasn't doing much better: the spheres of mud clung to them like tar, pinning many to the ground. Meanwhile, only a few soulcrafters from Saan Fraskin watched or cheered, most of his allies taking the opportunity to fire on their opponents.

Though he enjoyed dominating the battlefield, Theo knew it couldn't last. A water Fithan rose from the waves further off the coast, glowing with an Authority's cantae.

The next instant, three javelins of cantae burned through the air towards him, almost on top of him in an instant. Theo had been prepared to retreat off his pillar, yet the javelins all missed, overhead and to his sides. He hesitated a moment, expecting the attacks to curve toward him, and that moment was nearly too long.

Because there was a fourth javelin hurtling directly toward him.

If his old battlefield instincts hadn't been resharpened by all the recent combat, Theo might have died right then. Instead, he reacted instantly on both a physical and spiritual level. While sidestepping he applied the strongest perpendicular gravitational field he could. Against raw power, especially an Authority's cantae, it couldn't push the projectile very far, but it was enough. Theo barely threw himself aside from the javelin, feeling the heat as it passed under his arm and tore a hole through his coat.

Theo let himself fall off the side of the rock pillar, hoping to buy another moment by reversing direction when the enemy Authority attacked. His desperate defense had made him drop every field except one, and he considered that it might be time for his last contingency. Yet there weren't any other javelins coming in his direction.

"Don't worry about the Authority, Framkis!" That boisterous shout could only be Aronth, who Theo eventually spotted hovering just above one crest of the mudflats. The enormous man was his contact in the city, an Authority tier soulcrafter who specialized in brute force. "Just keep that army pinned down!"

Theo - or "Framkis" as he was calling himself to outsiders - tried to refocus on the army, but he couldn't help but watch the more intense battle. He quickly got an answer as to why the water Authority hadn't attacked him: Aronth was manifesting an enormous maelstrom of flame, so intense that it evaporated most of the water near the shore and flooded the space above with steam. It blew back the other Authority's cloak, but she appeared unfazed, readying another javelin.

While the two of them wrecked the watery side of the battlefield, Theo returned his attention to the Asplundat Movement. They had begun to regroup and burn their way through the tar-like mud, only to be flattened by his next gravitational field. Theo neutralized his own gravity and kicked off the side of the spire, floating to a safer distance.

But this time, he wouldn't be allowed to stop the entire army. The more time enemy soulcrafters had to adjust to his techniques, the less he could use them in such overwhelming ways. Usually he stayed ahead of the information, but the Asplundat Movement shared information particularly swiftly.

A Ruler stood up and waved a hand, sending an arc of pure wind slashing at him. Not cantae or a concrete substance imitating wind, just a wave of force in the air honed to a knife's edge. A true black hole might have been able to suck in even light, but Theo hadn't attained such extreme power, so wind and other similar attacks required him to take evasive maneuvers.

He dropped into the sky by reversing his gravity, realizing too late that there was a chariot containing another Ruler. Theo threw himself to the side with a perpendicular field, narrowly avoiding a guillotine of wind trying to cut him in half. Even then, the air exploded in a shower of blades that stung him as he dropped himself to a safer distance.

When he righted himself, Theo realized that he was bleeding from several shallow cuts. His coat had protected him from the worst of it, but his face and hands had been unprotected. Fortunately, as a Ruler he no longer needed to be worried about Ruler-tier cantae simply tearing through him, but he couldn't afford a battle of attrition with two Rulers prepared for his abilities.

Fortunately, he wasn't limited to fields. Theo hurled a large cantae bolt downward, a torsion bolt hidden within it. The Ruler on the ground swept aside most of the cantae with a wave of her hand, but the twisting energy refined in his soulhome pierced through her defenses and her shoulder, sending her staggering.

An instant later Theo dropped back toward the ground, avoiding a horizontal pulse of wind from the other Ruler. He cast several cantae bolts, forcing his opponent to examine them for hidden torsion bolts, but they were all distractions. Instead Theo applied his full gravitational force to the flying chariot the Ruler stood on. His gravity might not be powerful enough to crush soulcrafters, but it could break the materials controlling the vehicle.

Neither Ruler was defeated, but they were clearly taken aback that their strategy hadn't overcome him. Before Theo could target either again, he felt a surge of cantae from the rest of the Asplundat army. Most had been pushed to the ground or too slow to react, but now they launched a volley of bolts toward him.

While he'd been busy, the Archcrafters had resisted his field and summoned all their cantae. Instead of trying to target him, they blanketed the sky, a vast hail of bolts that would have been a serious problem for him... about a year ago.

Instead of trying to dodge, Theo generated a point of anti-mass directly in front of him. As the cantae bolts struck his power, they parted to all sides. Using anti-mass effectively was still difficult, even as a Ruler, so the bolts passed troublingly close to his body. Theo remained calm and hoped that it made him look precise instead of unable to push the attacks further away.

After several seconds of sustained fire, all of it flowing harmlessly away from his position, the Asplundat soulcrafters fell silent. Theo cast his next gravitational field reversed, and though the Rulers and several others had locked their legs into the mudflats, he still pulled much of the army into the air. Several allied Rulers were hurling flames into their midst as well, finally providing backup.

It was all nicely in hand, much the same as the other battles. The instinct that saved Theo wasn't anything he could pin down, just an flickering impression from all the combat experience in his past. Theo dropped himself backward with a perpendicular field as rapidly as he possibly could without knowing why.

He watched jagged shards of rock erupt just in front of him.

An entire column of rock had risen from the mudflat, clearly unnatural both in its speed and the cantae flowing through it. Theo had barely gotten clear when it exploded, and he had no time to worry about the hail of stones down over his allies, because he needed every bit of his attention on the new threat.

Where the column had stood, an Authority of the Asplundat Movement floated in midair. Their body was entirely covered in gray stone armor, similar to the other blueprints, but Theo knew immediately that this soulcrafter was no mindless drone. Whoever was inside the armor, they had completely hidden their presence and carefully moved underneath him, choosing the perfect time to strike.

Theo rapidly cast two gravitational fields that-

His opponent was faster, unleashing a shockwave that swept in all directions. Theo survived, unlike a few others caught in the blast, but that was about all his defenses could manage. The shockwave overwhelmed his artificial gravity, sending him tumbling downward and slamming into the ground.

Instead of letting himself fall back up, Theo instead neutralized his gravity and skimmed to the side. Only then was he able to clear his head enough to think again after the impact, and he saw that there were vicious spikes of earth covering the area where he had been. Even more cantae flowed through the ground beneath him as the Authority tried to pen him in for a killing blow.

Fortunately, the impact had made Theo release his first gravitational field, the one he had been maintaining since before the battle started. Before any of them had arrived, Theo had lifted several boulders over the mudflats and kept them suspended in the clouds above... until moments ago.

Normal gravity reasserted itself and the boulders plummeted to the battlefield. Each impact pulped the mudflats, scattering chaos in all directions. One of them even struck the Authority directly, and though the reinforced armor survived the blow, the distraction gave Theo time to return to the air and put some distance between them as the raining stone broke apart every formation.

The very first thing Theo did was fall into the sky to gain as much height as possible, this time checking more carefully for flying chariots. Even falling at the highest gravity he could manage, another spike of earth very nearly caught him as the Authority recovered.

A wall of earth rose in front of him and Theo realized that it was only intended to slow him down. Rather than risk taking a look at his opponent, Theo cast a larger torsion bolt ahead of him. It barely managed to tear through the reinforced earth, and as he scraped through the hole, he realized how risky that had been. If the Authority had been more prepared or closer, his bolt might have failed to penetrate.

Theo heard the sounds of an avalanche and had to look back, spotting the armored Authority passing through the crumbling wall of earth. He lifted himself higher again, but his opponent wasn't trying any more spires, just coming after him directly.

That was going to be a problem. Theo had unusually high aerial mobility for a Ruler, but Authorities could use their denser cantae to simply move themselves through the air. Worse, this one would likely use their shockwave technique again as soon as they got a chance, which could send him flying. He wished that he had been able to develop the gravitational anchoring technique he'd planned, or a thousand others, but at the moment his only choice was evasion.

He swerved violently to dodge another cantae bolt, simple but powerful. It hadn't been intended to defeat him, the Authority was just forcing him to rapidly switch between his fields. Theo tried to rise further but had no choice but to drop back toward the ground to evade an arc of cantae. Eventually he was going to make a mistake...

The Asplundat soulcrafter had gained significantly on him when Theo felt the pulse of cantae. Another shockwave. Theo didn't try to dodge, just turned to face it and reinforced his cantae as he moved in the opposite direction. He couldn't escape the shockwave, but he reduced the impact until it just felt like slamming into a brick wall.

His opponent sped up, burning cantae rapidly to end the fight, and Theo wasn't sure how many tricks he had left. So far he'd never revealed his singularity technique in these battles, and now he wouldn't have a chance to-

A molten column of lava interrupted his thoughts and the fight. It completely eclipsed the Asplundat Authority, and though their armor emerged unharmed, their attention left him.

"Yeah, that's right." Aronth floated above the primary battle, or at least the remnants of it, and grinned. "Took you too long, and now your only choice is to pick on someone your own size."

The words squirmed in Theo's mind, since the actual phrase had been something closer to "fight a bigger boar" but they were soul translated into a more familiar idiom. He might not have even noticed if he'd still been so tense. Fortunately, it only took a brief glimpse of the battlefield to realize that the greatest point of danger had passed.

"You know you're the aggressors here." Aronth floated closer to the armored soulcrafter, fire burning in his hands. "If you retreat now, we'll let you go. Framkis, release your control over their armies."

"Of course," Theo said politely. He hadn't been able to maintain gravitational fields during the entire fight, but given how battered and disoriented the army was, it looked as though they were still being weighed down.

When the enemy Authority finally gave the command, the Asplundat Movement began to retreat. In the shallows, which were returning over the scorched region, the water Fithans also retreated. Their own Authority cradled a burned arm but appeared to have survived as well.

In the end, the battle hadn't resulted in nearly as many casualties as might have been expected, which was actually the goal. Despite how he had been thinking of them, Theo knew that the other Fithans weren't truly enemies that needed to be killed. The purpose of this battle was gaining a superior position as conflict heated up on the continent, not eradication. No doubt there were sublime material gathering regions at stake, or perhaps it had all been about a political maneuver regarding the Asplundat alliance with water Fithans. Ultimately, Theo didn't care.

As he watched the armies retreat and caught his breath, Theo wondered when he would need to pay attention to these politics. If his suspicions were correct, the source of all this conflict had been instigated by Vistgil on another Fithan continent. The war spread slowly, but when it came it would threaten Norro Yorthin and all the Ruling Cities. If it truly came to that point, he would have a difficult decision to make.

"Another successful battle!" Aronth flew closer to him and practically shook him by the shoulders. "Well done, Framkis! It's not every Ruler that can turn the tide like that!"

"I'm sorry I can't help you any further," Theo said, "but this group was already prepared to target me, so in every future encounter they'll have more countermeasures."

"No worries, we have what we need from you. Trust me, the politicians back in Saan Fraskin will be happy." Aronth jabbed a thumb at his chest. "Me, I want you to ascend! Fighting you as an Authority sounds like fun!"

Though Theo smiled and nodded, he doubted it would happen and had little interest in the possibility. By his measure, Aronth and the other two Authorities in that battle were very average soulcrafters for their tier, relying on ordinary Authority traits like flight and raw power. Stronger than him for the moment, but not a challenge if he completed his ascension properly. None of them seemed to be carrying any weirkeys, whereas Theo expected to be traveling other worlds by the time he reached that tier.

After so long in the air, Theo was relieved to lower himself to one of the Saan Fraskin chariots and return to normal gravity. It would take the army some time to recover and return to the city, so back to soulcrafting.

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Chapter 2

Nauda found the battlefield frozen in time, the twisted corpses petrified where they fell. All the fallen combatants had been reduced to statues of themselves, eerily lifelike if not for the gray coloring. Even the blood and the stench of the battle were gone, replaced with an oddly sterile blue glow.

She stumbled to a halt, uncertain exactly what she was seeing. House Blacksilver's reports said that the battle had taken place just a few days ago. Her first thought was some kind of massive technique binding the entire battlefield in time, but there had been no indication of anything so extreme, if it was even possible. When she bent lower, Nauda saw that there were small mushrooms growing on and between the bodies, emitting the blue glow that cast everything in such a strange light, but the stone-like appearance of the bodies was no trick of the eye.

"Bondsfungi got here already." Jefria walked up beside her and put her hands on her sturdy hips, clucking in disapproval. "Just spring up overnight, they do. Sorry about all this."

"I don't even know what these are," Nauda admitted. She could feel cantae flowing through the "bondsfungi" though she couldn't determine its exact nature.

"Oh, right, you're from a ways away, ain't ya?" Jefria tapped Nauda in the forehead where a Fithan's horns would have been and chuckled. "It's staring me right in the face, but I keep forgetting. Bondsfungi is a rarish sublime material, but you never know where it will pop up. It especially grows on battlefields or cemeteries and it gets just everywhere. Once it gets its hooks into bodies it doesn't let go and starts growing fast, so overnight you get whole fields like this."

"So your request wasn't to help us recover the bodies?"

"Goodness no! It's probably possible, but that's dangerous work, and it doesn't matter much to us anyway. None of our young ones in this fight, so we just want you to help with the living."

Nauda bent closer to one of the mushrooms, only for Jefria to grab her shoulder. The middle-aged woman was just a first tier soulcrafter and couldn't hold Nauda back even in her current condition, but Nauda still halted and looked back to her curiously.

"They say those are dangerous," Jefria said with a shake of her head. "They like dead bodies, but they'll get into live ones if they can. Of course, they're probably not much danger to a strong young Ruler like you, miss, but it's best to be cautious, I always say."

Though she managed to suppress it to a single deep breath, a wave of shame washed through Nauda. Any time anyone paid her the slightest respect, she felt like a complete failure and her ruined soulhome seemed to burn again. The only unquestionably successful soulcrafting project she'd completed since her injury was building a massive three story shielding wall. It defended nothing, only hiding her shame and in a perverse way humiliating her even more than letting the world see.

Pushing aside those thoughts was an all-too-familiar maneuver, so Nauda kept her voice steady. "I take it this isn't the battlefield where you wanted help?"

"Oh, you had the right way, but I think we'd better circle around. They probably haven't spread to the rockier area, so you should be able to help out there." Jefria began trudging a broad arc around the petrified battlefield, not even looking at it. "We appreciate you coming out so soon, even if you're not a healer. You might be able to save a few."

"There are healers on their way," Nauda said, "but I ran ahead. Now, can you show me the rocks?"

Past the petrified battlefield, Nauda discovered much less grim farmland. The low-lying fields looked like miserable dust farms by Tatian standards, but at least they weren't covered by corpse statues. However, they'd been damaged by the battle as well: various large rocks had fallen into the fields, heavy enough to require a whole team of low-level soulcrafters.

Nauda tested the weight before hefting one from the ground and throwing it out of the field. Jefria made impressed noises, which only shamed Nauda again. In her current state, she had access to significant levels of strength only briefly, while her cantae held out. Just lifting one of the rocks for several minutes would have been impossible for her, much less engaging in serious combat.

But since all she needed to do was relocate the rocks, she could help like a proper Ruler. When she removed some of the larger boulders she caught sight of the gnarled root vegetables underneath. So that was where dustcarrots came from. They were bland but filling, a staple of many Fithan tables, so Nauda was glad to help the farmers get their crops back.

While they worked, Jefria explained that the soldiers who fought outside their farms had taken measures to reduce civilian deaths but not cared about the boulders casually scattered through their fields. She seemed appreciative but not astonished as she worked around Nauda, sweeping up the smaller fragments and mending damaged fences.

Just when Nauda was starting to think she'd do nothing but throw rocks, they heard muffled cries from below. Jefria immediately shouted something about caverns and beckoned Nauda further. When Nauda removed the boulder she indicated, it revealed a smashed stone staircase. Several workers had apparently taken refuge from the fighting below and been trapped.

They were all alive, but going several days on limited food and water had taken a heavy toll. Nauda joined Jefria and the stronger survivors to carry the weakest away from the fields to the village itself.

If it could be called a village. Nauda still wasn't quite comfortable with the squat little fortresses, even though they seemed to be the common housing of the poor. She could easily recognize the relief of the people as their loved ones thought dead returned, however, so she helped everyone reach the tented area that had been set up to care for the injured.

There, she would have been helpless even if she had her former strength. Many of the villagers had large cuts or bruises, and two had lost limbs. Apparently the soulcrafters had used cantae techniques that scattered in all directions, leading to collateral damage. Nauda noted how the villagers didn't seem to think of their first tier neighbors as soulcrafters at all, instead reserving that term for Archcrafters and above. The way they said it, that didn't sound like entirely a good thing.

Real healers from Blacksilver would be needed for them, so Nauda retreated as soon as she'd done what she could. Jefria joined her, and thankfully didn't seem eager to get back to work. As they stood together near the village's heavily-defended well, Nauda found herself staring out toward the battlefield.

"Will it just stay that way?" She wasn't sure if her question was too vague, but Jefria immediately looked out toward the statues.

"Afraid so. The sublime materials take years and years to finish their growing and there's not much you can do about them before then, unless you can hire a soulcrafter." Jefria took a long drink and then handed the ladle to Nauda. "My uncle's village was even nearer a big battlefield and they had to move, since the bondsfungi just kept growing into the village."

"I don't know if we'll be able to do anything about that, I'm afraid." Nauda paused to take a drink of water, but Jefria only shook her head.

"No need for apologies now, miss. We're plenty glad that you Blacksilver folks are helping out like this."

Nauda froze for a moment, thinking back over their conversation carefully. Had she once identified herself as a Blacksilver representative? As far as she knew, the entire expedition was working without announcement over the entire region, so how did Jefria know? Nauda kept her expression neutral and spoke quietly. "Blacksilver folks?"

"Well, you are, right?" Jefria chuckled as she took the ladle back. "Nobody comes this far from the city to help except Blacksilver."

"I see." Since she was away from any natives of Norro Yorthin, Nauda decided to ask a question that had been on her mind for a long time. "Please be honest with me, as an outsider: how do you feel about the great Houses in the cities? Are they fair to those who live around them?"

Jefria set the ladle aside slowly and scratched her stomach, more thoughtful than uncomfortable. "I don't know where you're from, miss, but I figure the problems aren't so different anywhere you go."

"It doesn't seem so familiar to me. Won't you tell me?"

"Well... it's pretty obvious that city folk think they're better than us. Not that we don't strut about sometimes, saying that they don't know where their food comes from and the like. But as I see it, the big difference is that the cities have all the soulcrafters and they get to decide how things get decided. We have our resentments, no doubt."

"Such as?"

"Roads, for one." Jefria gestured vaguely toward the path Nauda had taken there. "They're always wanting to repair the roads that matter to them, saying that the roads out to our farms don't matter because there's not many of us. Fair 'nuff, city folk need roads too if they can't fly. But they ignore that we need most of those roads to carry in all the goods they want. So they tax what we sell, but what do they really give us?"

That was a very different picture than Nauda had gotten from Antha, if not an entirely happy one. While she chewed it over, Jefria was happy to continue speaking.

"Now, Norro Yorthin is better than most. But they tend to treat everybody outside the city as part of the wild tribes, no matter whether they cause trouble or not. As I see it, the Houses are more of the same, just going after whatever they want for themselves."

"Except Blacksilver?"

"I'm not saying they're all good eggs, but they're a friend to us little folk. Maybe they spend more time on the poor in the cities, but every time they've sent someone out here, they've helped." Jefria patted her on the shoulder. "You have a good heart, miss. People like you are why we trust Blacksilver."

"I appreciate that, but I'm just afraid of making mistakes without realizing it." As soon as Nauda uttered the words, she realized that she'd stumbled directly into her vulnerability, so she pushed on. "What about the Asplundat Movement? I've heard what they say about the Ruling Cities."

"Hmph! A lot of noisy bother, if you ask me. Doesn't matter if soulcrafters are all polite, we want them to treat us right. I'd rather be free than-" Whatever Jefria had been intending to say was cut off by cries of alarm and Nauda leapt to her feet, staff in hand and politics far from her mind.

Three Fithans were walking toward the village, but even without the cries Nauda immediately knew that they didn't belong. Norro Yorthin had a highly developed textile industry, yet these three wore ragged and stained leather hides. She also thought they had unusually large horns at first before she realized that they actually wore head gear that exaggerated their horns to several times the normal length. Combined with the fact that they were all Archcrafters carrying weapons, Nauda had a good guess about what they were doing.

"Miss..." Jefria gripped her sleeve tightly, eyes fixed on the three. "They're up to no good. Can you chase them off?"

"I can try." Nauda didn't want to admit how much of a risk it was, but she made herself walk confidently to intercept the attackers.

"You know who we are, don't you?" One of the rough Fithans raised his sword toward the villagers by the healing tent. "Give us all your food and valuables, and your friends might recover. Make any trouble, and all of you can join them."

Some villagers quailed while others looked to her, removing her last chance of avoiding a confrontation. Nauda didn't let any of her doubt onto her face as she strode toward them, beating her staff against the ground with each step. They wouldn't be able to see her soulhome, just get a sense that she'd built a high shielding wall. She saw their eyes note the armament in her hands and the belt of sapphires around her waist, which would hopefully make them think twice.

In fact, she wasn't sure she could beat three Archcrafters, not if they were experienced working together. Within her walls there was mostly stone slag and a pathetic single chamber to house her sublime materials. Her cantae might be a Ruler's, but she could only fight as one briefly.

"I think you should keep moving." Nauda stopped at a safe distance, slamming her staff down beside her. "Don't trouble these people."

"You think we obey your city laws?" one of the Fithans behind the leader sneered. "We take what we want, when we want."

"These people are under the protection of the great Houses of Norro Yorthin. Do you think you can take what's theirs?" She didn't like claiming ownership of the villagers, but it seemed like the easiest way to get through to the raiders. Her words produced sneers, but also a bit of uneasiness.

"We don't fear them." The leader swept his sword in her direction instead. "You think your words and alliances matter? Out in the wastes, we're not soft. Out here, only power matters."

"Then test mine." Nauda still hadn't revealed the slightest hint of cantae, but she gestured for them to attack with her free hand.

The leader attacked immediately with a killing thrust, fast for an Archcrafter. Not fast enough. Nauda extended her staff in his direction, pinning him in place. After letting him struggle just a moment, she whipped her staff around, striking him across the face and sending him tumbling back into his allies.

His sword spun into the air and Nauda snatched it with both hands, snapping it in half over her knee. If they hadn't already felt that she had a Ruler's cantae, that drove the point home. She contemptuously tossed the halves onto the ground in front of them and withdrew her cantae again, as if they weren't worth taking seriously.

In truth, she couldn't keep fighting like that for long. Using her full strength as a Ruler had already emptied half the cantae in her remaining chamber, and they wouldn't wait long enough for it to refill. If they actually attacked her, it would be a difficult fight. Binding them would be too exhausting, so she would need to use that threat as a feint, then use her more intense cantae to deal killing blows early in the fight.

If it came to that... but after staring at her, the three raiders scrambled backwards in retreat. Nauda watched them leave, trying to keep the relief off her face.

"Well done, miss." Jefria appeared behind her, along with many smiling villagers. "They would have taken everything."

"Are they going to come back?" Nauda asked. Jefria immediately shook her head.

"I hope not. The wild tribes prefer to live in the harshest wastelands, so they usually don't get this close to Norro Yorthin. You scared them off good, seems like."

"All the same, I'm going to throw some rocks as a demonstration."

Nauda returned to the fields and began hefting boulders, either with her physical strength or with her staff. She sent them spinning into the wastelands with derisive ease, just in case the raiders or their allies were watching. In between she would sweep her gaze over the horizon as if to make a point, though she actually needed the pauses in order to recover.

As she worked at clearing the fields, she spoke more to the others about these wild tribes. In retrospect Nauda realized that she had heard hints of them in the city, she had just misunderstood the real meaning. Apparently local mythology said that the earliest Fithans had lived in wasteland tribes, so those who still did were treated with an odd mix of contempt and awe. The farmers who actually suffered under their predation seemed to have much less of the latter.

Fortunately, there were no further attacks by the time the rest of the Blacksilver delegation began to arrive. The first group was the healers, but just having more Archcrafters around would no doubt ward off any raiders. Nauda saw that the group included Grekig, so she stopped her work to go meet him.

When she had returned from the Chasm of Lamentations with devastating soulhome damage, House Blacksilver had assigned Grekig to help her. The well-dressed and exquisitely-mustachioed man had been a powerful soulcrafter in his youth, on course to become an Authority, but his ascension had gone horribly wrong. Since then, he worked as the House's recovery expert, though he hadn't been able to do much for her yet.

"Three members of one of the wild tribes attacked here," Nauda told him before he could begin another lesson. "I chased them off, but I'm not sure if they'll be back."

"Here?" Grekig glanced around the villagers as if her words needed confirmation. "That's so close to the city... usually the wild tribes stick to the wastes in between. I suppose the recent battles against them might have pushed their territory."

"Battles against them? Are they a threat?"

"Yes and no. The wild tribes are disorganized and fractured, but they're among the fiercest and most brutal soulcrafters here. And there are more of them than you'd think. Whenever there's rumors of major war, every city works to get their region in order by quelling the local tribes. Or recruiting them if possible, but they mostly disdain us."

"Ah, I understand."

"I'm not sure you do, if you fought them." Grekig frowned at her, running his knuckles over his mustache. "You realize how weak you are at the moment? You'll need to accept your limitations even after you rebuild three floors, much less now. I'd never have allowed you out of the city if I knew the wild tribes were active again."

"Thank you for sharing your wisdom." Nauda barely kept the bitterness out of her voice, and it usually dissipated over soul translation. She didn't want to argue with Grekig, since his motives seemed pure and he'd offered her a variety of techniques to help her recover. 

Still, she didn't want to deal with him at the moment, so she went to help the healers. They had rapidly taken care of the villagers with recent injuries, moving on to soldiers who had suffered more serious wounds from the battle. When she drew close they asked her to help by holding down one of the soldiers who was shaking violently. The man struggled mindlessly, his eyes covered in a blue film and apparently sightless.

Most likely they wanted her to use her binding technique to freeze him in place, but Nauda was too weary for it. Instead she bent down and pinned him physically in place, allowing the healers to do their work. They had compassion for her as well, and thus the decency not to question her weakness. The man coughed violently throughout the procedure, his breath smelling absolutely foul, but otherwise his struggles were easy to contain.

Outside the healing area, Grekig moved cautiously, waiting to give her another lesson. But soulcrafting felt so completely futile, Nauda stayed with the villagers. At least here, she could do a little good.