Bondsfungi: Chapters 31-32 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

Heads up for NGM audiobook volunteers: you should have received messages from me this weekend. Some have had trouble finding the private message function on Patreon, but if I commented to you about this, take a look! There's no great urgency from my end, but narrators generally want to wrap up projects quickly.

Meanwhile, for everyone, we have more fanart renders from Runcible Technician! This isn't even all of the ones that have been on the Discord, just some I picked out as fun. ^-^

Finally, we have our chapters. Two things I've been building toward for a while, though in very different categories. I hope everyone enjoys them!

-

Chapter 31

With the barbarians gone, Theo was honestly starting to feel as if he was in control of life on Slest. Other than declining supplies of good food, he had everything he needed, so it was an opportunity to soulcraft in peace.

He'd finished all the bricks for his third floor and was putting the finishing touches on the final chamber. Once that was done, he'd finally be able to implode the miniature sun from the Chasm, strengthening his singularity and truly arriving at Ruler tier in every sense. His experiments with the grizzleroot indicated that it could definitely reinforce his stone and survive within the pillars, so that would be an excellent design as soon as he made it grow more successfully. So much was going well that he didn't even mind that he hadn't cracked the trick of the voidflint.

Once he'd reached his limits, he went to check on the others. Kathina had made more progress with the sublime materials from the myrm, so she was soulcrafting frequently. Meanwhile Krikree refused to touch any of them and he hadn't taken the time to figure out why. She was seated at the edge of camp, eyes fixed toward the armies in the distance.

"Krikree guard," she informed him.

"Yes, very good." He sat down beside her and looked out toward the armies. Eventually they were going to need to choose a new direction to travel, because heading across those lines would be a huge risk. In addition to more powerful Slescans, there were flying beetles regularly patrolling the area.

While listening carefully, Theo began picking up [Mutual Destruction] pheromones from the lines. It was hard to pick up pheromones from so far away, so for the signal to rise above all the others, it must have been emitted by a huge number of the soldiers.

"Krikree, what's that signal they're emitting?"

"What?" She cocked her head and then began cleaning her antennae.

"I mean the main pheromone coming from the armies." Theo had no idea if it would work, but if soul translation worked from pure intention and meaning, could it go the other way? He concentrated on meaning, letting all specific words and sounds slip from his mind, and tried to say [Mutual Destruction] without opening his lips.

"What? What?" Krikree crawled up his torso, her lower arms on his chest and her upper grabbing his head.

"Uh, I was trying to say..." He made another attempt at [Mutual Destruction]. Krikree stared, then suddenly scuttled back to her usual posture, chittering all the way.

"Chkchkchk. Ivo-sister can't talk. Is..." Then she emitted [Mutual Destruction], much purer and closer than any of the other signals.

"What exactly does it mean?" he asked. "They're saying it out there, but they're also fighting sometimes."

"If enemy, colony fights. If queen command, colony fights. But if nothing gained from fight, say Mutual Destruction. Is truce. Wait until command, or until battle."

Theo considered that in silence, shifting his understanding of Slescan communication yet again. He knew that ants on Earth sometimes threw themselves into battle without any sense of self-preservation, but they could also form truces in certain situations. Here on Slest, with more complex language available, apparently those tendencies had evolved. There was an ebb and flow of it, the pheromone fading when fighting broke out, but then returning as the sides watched uneasily.

For the next hour he traded pheromone signals with Krikree, never able to emit them easily but gradually improving his accuracy. Theo was so focused on pheromones and soul translation that when he heard a piercing whistle, he almost didn't understand. Then his mind kicked into gear, he recognized the Ichili code, and he leapt to his feet.

It had to be Fiyu, whistling for help. After the "help" signal, she whistled "companion injured". She used the whistle for a close relative. He doubted that her elder relative would be easily injured, and she would not use that whistle for simple allies, so it was likely to be Nauda. Somehow they had found one another. But as the call for help repeated shrilly, Theo realized how desperate she must be.

He responded with an acknowledgment whistle, which was rapidly returned. As Krikree stared and rubbed her antennae, he began a conversation with Fiyu.

She clearly needed help on the other side of the war front, even if the whistling codes weren't complicated enough to explain every detail. But as they continued communication, Theo couldn't help but listen to the pheromones as well. Fewer of the Slescans were emitting [Mutual Destruction] and more of them began repeating [War].

~ ~ ~

A terribly injured companion, a dying ally, and two associates who continued demanding more of her. Fiyu wished that she was a child again, that a trusted relative would pick her up and make everything better. If only Relative Guchiro would at last find her.

But there was no one else, only her.

The two soulcrafters from House Crimson were arguing when Fiyu walked up to them and forced herself to raise her voice. "Our group must work together to survive. You, please inventory the supplies the wild tribes did not steal. You, please repair the barricades and keep watch for Slescans."

While the first man nodded and moved away, the second glowered at her. "Why should we still listen to you? Gethyrue was healing until you forced her to overexert herself."

"Please do not cause disturbances. This is a difficult time, and the group must be unified."

"No. We need t-" He cut off as Fiyu held her cantae blade to his throat.

"My dear friend is injured and the group requires unity. If you cause disturbances, you will be removed." This time he obeyed, retreating to the barricades and watching her the entire time.

Fiyu briefly considered whether or not they might attack Friend Nauda before judging that this was unlikely. In any case, she needed to act or her friend would die. Though Fiyu had bandaged her wound to reduce bleeding, that would not be anywhere close to sufficient for such an injury.

Considering that fact led Fiyu to return to the beetle mound. The only hope of survival was the fact that Acquaintance Gethyrue was a healer, and she also required help. Fiyu could not heal a major internal wound, but she knew a method to assist her other ally. She wasted no time, moving unnoticed through the tunnels until she located more of the honey.

As soon as she found it she rushed back, barely taking care not to bump the beetles. Nothing had gone wrong in her absence, so she hastened to Acquaintance Gethyrue's tent. She appeared to be unconscious, even after Fiyu applied the honey to her wound.

"Gethyrue... I am sorry to disturb you, but you are needed." Fiyu took the step of touching her shoulder, and would even have shaken her if it had been necessary. Fortunately, the older woman regained focus, weary but awake.

"What is it?"

"My friend... she has a grave wound, and you are the only one who can help her."

Acquaintance Gethyrue nodded weakly and attempted to leave the tent, soon requiring Fiyu's physical assistance. Given the crisis, she barely even noticed the excessive contact. Fortunately, it was not far to the place where Friend Nauda slept fitfully.

When Acquaintance Gethyrue began to work, Friend Nauda's flesh began repairing itself much faster than it normally could. Eventually there was only a circular scar on her stomach, but she grimaced in pain. Acquaintance Gethyrue slowly lay down on the same bedroll, not even able to return to her tent, and fell asleep as well.

Now Fiyu had only herself and two unreliable associates. She sank down to the ground, the relief at Friend Nauda's healing fading as despair took her. Her friend might not bleed out, but she could still die. Both of them could easily die, even if the Slescans did not find their location and attack them.

Desperately, Fiyu whistled for help. Perhaps Relative Guchiro's search had brought him closer to her and he needed only to know her location. It might potentially draw an enemy, but she allowed herself to whistle repeatedly.

An answering whistle. From the instability, she immediately realized that it could not be her relative: it must be Friend Theo! Leaping back to her feet, Fiyu rushed to the edge of camp and began extending her senses even as they exchanged information.

The growing chaos in the death zone between them made it too difficult to detect their exact location, but Friend Theo whistled that he had two companions in good condition. Regrettably, that would not be enough to survive a crossing, not with more powerful Slescans joining the armies. Fiyu briefly hesitated in her whistles, considering attempting to cross in order to bring them back under her sphere of stealth. But some of the Slescans could defeat it with brute force, and Friend Nauda was still so injured...

In the end, they agreed to hold position. Friend Theo thought that it might be possible to survive the crossing, with additional work that he didn't know how to communicate via whistle. This was a better plan than she had, and Fiyu was grateful to communicate with him again, so she responded with approval.

Until they could reunite, she would do everything she could.

~ ~ ~

At first, Nauda had wondered if she would never wake up, then she realized that those thoughts meant she was conscious again. Not only was she conscious, there were ear-splitting whistles echoing around her.

It must have been Fiyu's Ichili codes with Theo. Or possibly her relative, and without any insult to Theo Nauda hoped that it was Guchiro instead. The sounds made her head hurt, but since everything seemed to make her head hurt, she tried to tune out the whistling and focus on herself.

Sitting up was impossible, so Nauda tested what she could move. No injuries to her limbs, it just took considerable effort to shift her arms. She managed to bring one up to her stomach and found that it was covered in dried blood. There was a tender spot where she had been struck and the flesh underneath it was a solid column of pain, but the worst seemed to have passed.

Nauda tried to conserve her strength, hoping that her soulhome could finish healing her. She faded in and out, occasionally feeling a cloth gently clean her injury and almost always seeing Fiyu beside her. If she'd had more strength, she could have offered some sort of comfort.

That evening, Nauda was surprised to hear the humming music of the leafpuller bugs. Whatever else was going wrong in the world, they continued their cheerful music. Whether it was the encouragement or just the rest, Nauda felt restored enough to enter her soulhome. She wanted to check on her heartoak and see if anything could be done to increase the speed at which her body regenerated.

Yet when she stepped through her wall, she was met by a blue glow and knew that something was wrong. All around her soulhome, the bondsfungi blanketed every hard surface. She desperately struck at one of them on her wall, but it did no good: the faint blue glow of the fungus covered the rest and it would just grow back.

When she entered her life tower, Nauda saw the worst of all: the bondsfungi had spread over the heartoak. Instead of a peaceful green, the room was lit in an unnatural blue. The cantae flowing from all the bondsfungi seemed to wrap her body in a layer of ropes... or perhaps stone. Everything about her was beginning to harden. With a cry of despair, Nauda stumbled out of her soulhome.

At least Fiyu was alive. Nauda lay back, aching, and hoped that was enough.

-

Chapter 32

Even though getting across the war zone was the highest priority, Theo didn't rush. It bothered him to know that Nauda might be dying on the other side, but the truth was that he didn't have any healing abilities that could miraculously save her. He'd checked with Kathina and Krikree, and since their group lacked healing, all they could provide was backup.

Accordingly, his second highest priority was preparing to survive the journey. The largest factor would be the shifts in the Slescan war, but the only variable he could control was the strength of their group. That boiled down to a grim equation of power.

Theo couldn't have ascended to Authority even if he gave up all other objectives, not under these conditions with no supporting work. Kathina hadn't revealed much, but had never implied she had a chance at ascending. She was soulcrafting daily, and of course Theo would continue his work, but neither could make a breakthrough that would substantially increase their military force.

That left their only hope the insect sitting at the edge of camp and muttering "Food" to herself.

Once it was time for a break in soulcrafting, Theo walked to sit down next to her. He waited until she finished eating whatever she had found, then pulled one of the strongest myrm bones from his soulhome and handed it to her. "Krikree, this is for you."

"Krikree guard!" She grabbed the material happily in all four hands and... just held it.

"I don't mean for you to guard, for you to add to your soulhome."

"Not!" Krikree dropped the bone and flinched back from it.

Kathina was doing her own work perched on the side of the sleigh, but apparently had been paying attention, because she stepped closer. "If I tell you that it's alright to soulcraft the material, does that make it okay? Or do I need to order you?"

"Kathina-queen!" Krikree immediately flattened in front of her. "Krikree is good soldier! Krikree not greedy, not steal!"

"This place..." Kathina shook her head and then waved to Theo. "I'll leave it to you."

Even after Kathina retreated, Krikree remained trembling in place. Theo had no idea how or if ants comforted one another, but he tried rubbing along her back. This seemed to have a little effect, so he slowly shifted up and scratched her head near the stalks of her antennae. She flicked her antennae out of the way any time he got close, but pushed her head against his fingers when he stayed near the bases.

For a moment he thought of it like petting a cat, but her hair felt completely human, not like fur. And that forced him to face the fact that Krikree was a sapient being who had been raised to live in constant fear for her life.

"It's okay, Krikree, no one is going to punish you. Are soldiers not allowed to use sublime materials in Blue-Red-Blue colony?"

"All colonies." Abruptly she pulled her head away and began rubbing her antennae with her hands, but she remained close by his side. "High materials are for high castes. Never challenge higher castes. Futility. Futility. Fut-"

"That's not how things will be here." Theo picked up the bone slowly so as not to alarm her. "You call me sister, don't you? It's okay for me to use sublime materials, so why shouldn't it be okay for you?"

"Ivo-sister." Krikree stared at him for a long time, face completely blank but her hands still running over her antennae. Eventually she crept forward and gingerly poked at the sublime bone.

In the end, he wasn't able to get her to take the bone or any of the strongest materials. The only one she would accept was the sublime meat from the myrm, which she reluctantly consumed while constantly shooting glances back toward the sleigh. He wondered if that method of induction was the key difference and planned future tests once she'd calmed down more.

Within her soulhome, Krikree sat and chewed for a while before abruptly spitting the meat out onto her walls. Yet while she'd chewed - more likely while her soul processed the material - the meat had transformed and now appeared very similar to the mud that formed the rest of her soulhome. That answered a question he'd been idly curious about, so Theo watched carefully as she began to soulcraft.

Getting her to ascend was going to be a challenge, even if the spheres of her soulhome were reasonably close to her sky. Theo developed a plan to slowly increase her potential and just hoped that Fiyu wouldn't whistle an emergency before they were ready.

Over the next several days, he slowly helped Krikree build her way up. She wouldn't soulcraft at all if Kathina was too close, and wouldn't attempt anything complex unless he was soulcrafting right beside her. When she proved reluctant to take certain materials, he focused on the bones that she was willing to take and helped her build a shielding wall. It curved inward like a partial dome, reinforced along the arc of the myrm's ribs. Not the ideal structure, and he wasn't sure how well it would hold up, but it was remarkable just how fast her mud technique could put up walls.

Instead of sleeping when they did, Krikree fell into an odd schedule. She would guard or soulcraft intensely for about an hour, then lay down wherever she was and instantly fall asleep. After a short time she'd pop up again and return to work as if she'd never stopped.

Those were his only chances to talk to Kathina easily, so when Krikree next fell asleep, he headed over to the other side of the sleigh. 

"It's asleep?" Kathina asked. When he nodded, she smiled and drew a sword. "Good, I've been wanting to spar."

Theo enjoyed the physical activity to offset all his soulcrafting, even if it went pretty much the way he had expected. If he used his gravitational techniques Kathina didn't have strong counters, but without them he struggled. She could close the distance remarkably fast and was able to strike his torsion bolts out of the air with her blue sword. He wasn't helpless up close, but he couldn't compete with a Ruler who was a physical specialist.

Once they were both worn out, they sat on the same bench of the sleigh, facing opposite directions. Kathina sighed heavily and rubbed her face for a while before leaning back and staring skyward. He almost wondered if she just wanted to sleep before she spoke up.

"Did you know that we're missing the Ruling City Wargames?"

"Really?" Theo thought back, trying to count all the days since they'd entered Slest. He'd been so focused on other objectives that he hadn't really considered it. "How long will they last?"

"It probably won't matter. If someone came today, maybe they could still add us in as surprise participants. But it looks like we'll be here even longer, so the Wargames will all be over. There will be some secondary conflicts and some duels later, but nothing like the main event."

"You've never seemed to hope that the House of Coin will rescue you."

"Because they won't. It's a basic cost benefit analysis." Kathina pulled one of her swords from her soul and began carefully examining the edge. "If they had a good way to rescue me, they definitely would. I don't want to give you the impression that we discard our members. But weirkey travel is expensive, and no one could calculate exactly where we went, so... no, they won't be searching for me."

"That sounded more personal than just marking time," Theo said. "Was there something specific that you needed from the Wargames?"

"There were all manner of prizes, including some that I needed to ascend to Authority. That's what I hoped, anyway." Finding some flaw invisible to him, Kathina shifted into her soulhome for a moment before returning with an oiled rag she wiped along the blade. "Unfortunately, power tends to accumulate, same as money. If war finally arrives at Norro Yorthin, the House of Coin will focus its resources on those who are already Authorities. They'd invest more in me, but as a peak Ruler, not anything beyond."

"I know that you're a competent soulcrafter, but if I knew more about your goals, I could try to help."

Kathina examined him skeptically, then abruptly shrugged. "After going through all this, I suppose it would be foolish to take advantage of one another. My blueprint is all about dualities. I have two towers with a balcony wrapped around both of them. I can give you the details, but what I'm lacking is hard to find."

"Fire and water?" Theo asked as he thought about her dual swords. He was actually fairly curious about how exactly she situated her towers and divided them into chambers.

"Earth and water. Representing Fithe itself, I'm sure you see."

"Then is it hard to find enough water materials?"

"Only to a degree." Kathina frowned at another flaw in her blade but continued speaking. "Truthfully, the House of Coin would like to expand into the oceans if possible. We already trade between cities and nations that are at war, so eventually the higher ups began to think that it was foolish to have any biases against 'mud Fithans'."

"So you're all working the long term angle."

"I guess you could say that. But I have to ask: how are you so calm about this? I know you're ambitious, so I can't figure out why you're not troubled to be trapped in situation after situation where your only option is to gain more strength. I get anxious when I feel like I don't have any control."

Theo had never considered it that way, but in a sense his entire life was under pressure: Vistgil stood high above him, along with the demons and the Cleansed Lands and so many other threats that might destroy him. The only action he'd ever had available was preparation.

"I guess I'm just used to it," he said. Kathina cast him another glance but didn't push further.

After several more days, Theo had convinced Krikree as far as he thought he could and instead had her focus on building a tower to ascend. Meanwhile, he was more than pleased with his own progress.

At long last, he had carved every single chamber on his third floor to his satisfaction, even the ones still lacking materials. To facilitate flow between floors, he carved several vents through his floors, not based on  his blueprint but entirely based on experimental data for what felt best. Adding glass might be an improvement, at least once he'd finished this step. He then removed all the displays currently on the third floor, taking particular care with the armament chamber for his coat. Once everything had been cleared and the floor was nothing but pale stone, he retrieved the miniature sun from his storage chamber.

It was another material from the Chasm of Lamentations that he'd never learned the exact identity of. That didn't matter, because its potential was obvious. Theo tried to pull his singularity up to the third floor and felt the familiar shaking of his new walls, then began the process again.

Unlike the first two times, the implosion of the miniature sun didn't completely overwhelm him. He was actually able to watch as it fell in on itself, fueled a far greater power in its core, and then exploded in all directions. The majority of the raw power was absorbed into his singularity, but the explosion also cast off violent layers of darkness.

When it was done, every surface on his third floor was coated in the same glossy black surface. Ready to be filled, in other words. The inner surfaces of his central column were still a bit rough, which he'd need to spend time on later, but his hands ached too much to try using the Esoteric Chisel on them.

Instead of replacing materials or running any other tests, Theo decided to try something much simpler. He edged close to the center of his heart column and summoned the singularity, pleased to see it rise and fall smoothly. When he reached out to touch it, the power resonated with him... and this time it was enough to lift him.

If he cradled the singularity in his hands, Theo found that he could move along with it, easily stepping off on the floor he wanted. Before, it had never been powerful enough to lift him within his soulhome, but the addition of the miniature sun seemed to have crossed the boundary. It was actually a relief, since his blueprint would have been flawed if he'd needed to add in another method later.

Theo was about to throw away the ladders he'd built when he hesitated. In his first visit to the Nine Worlds, he had always discarded old tools that were useless to him. It had never come back to bite him then, but he wasn't so confident that he'd be spared this time. Some unknown effect could weaken his singularity or his soulhome might undergo a direct assault. Since he still had room in his storage chamber, there was no sense in throwing away something useful.

But as soon as they were gone, Theo put them out of mind. He lifted himself into the heart of his soulhome and let his cantae flow. At last, it swept in a perfect sphere around him with no need to force its path with his mind. In the privacy of his soulhome, Theo smiled like he hadn't in years.