Deathseed: Chapters 1-2 (Patreon)

It's time for chapters! I hoped for the eighth book to be another with a clear central goal the entire book and tried to start accordingly. As mentioned, these chapters will be interrupted by some audiobook launches and other things, but they'll be proceeding from now on.

$5 patrons got a special preview of a potential comic project earlier this week. All patrons will eventually get a sneak peak, though, as I get the details worked out. ^-^

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Chapter 1

The city of Norro Yorthin swarmed far below. From such a height, the whirlwinds above the city rendered the population as patterns. Not individuals or even ants, sweeping lines of commerce or family. Theo floated above thousands of stories of heartbreak and boredom and revenge, with no intention to take part in any of them.

No, this time he'd returned solely to speak to the Stronghold floating across from him. Dhan had finished significant soulcrafting on his new Stronghold floor, judging from the power that pulsed underneath his mask. House Blacksilver had civilian leadership, but their strongest soulcrafter was still the gatekeeper of a great many of their resources.

The fact that he had come to meet Theo personally offered a thin silver lining to the fact that he wasn't going to get what he wanted.

"We can't justify giving you a Tatian weirkey," Dhan told him as their conversation ended. "House Blacksilver has exactly one, and we need it for negotiations with local Tatians. You can reach your destinations easily enough via the gate, can't you?"

"Many of them," Theo answered, "but that will require significant travel time. That will just keep us from contributing to Blacksilver for even longer."

"Be that as it may, we've made our decision."

"What about a weirkey to Aathal? The locations I need to visit there are nowhere near the Norro Yorthin gate."

"I personally advocated for us to give you that resource, but others disagreed." Dhan adjusted his mask uncomfortably, and for a moment Theo thought he might remove it, but the blank slate remained. "The leaders of the Ruling Cities, and in fact the entire continent, are concerned about war. We need leverage to convince all the adjacent worlds to support us."

Theo folded his arms. "So no weirkey to Arbai either, then. Would I be more likely to get a weirkey to an unconnected world?"

"I could do that, if it was essential. Do you want to call in your favor now?"

After so long without answers, Theo considered it seriously. Now that he was an Authority, a favor from a Stronghold was useful but not life-changing. But no, it was more than that: all of House Blacksilver knew that he was the one who had helped Dhan ascend and given the House its present position. Having such a rapidly rising organization on his side was something he needed, even if he thought they were still underestimating his value to the House.

So it was the same story of the past several months: he focused on obtaining Authority-tier sublime materials and didn't find any new answers. He told himself that it was necessary, given the risk once he actually got those answers, but the balance would have to change eventually. Just not yet.

"I don't want to call in my favor," Theo said, "but instead a favor for someone else. My ally Nauda spent significant time and effort finding a Slescan weirkey for House Blacksilver, but you've been holding it for quite some-"

He was interrupted by Dhan reaching into his robes and revealing the chitin weirkey. "You don't need to give me the pitch, just take it."

"So easily?" Theo caught the key and rubbed it between his fingers before putting it away.

"It's proved difficult to profit from Slest. A House of Coin Authority was actually killed while exploring unfamiliar territory." Dhan shook his head. "And the small region we're familiar with is being manipulated by Tythes and other factions of House Crimson. Easier not to take the risk."

"Very good. We'll be back once we-"

"Wait."

Theo had begun to float back down, but he heard the substantial change in Dhan's voice. He stopped and, with the slightest twist of his liquid cantae, turned back to the Blacksilver Stronghold. That left him looking up, but given that flying down meant leaving, Theo thought it was actually the stronger position.

"I want to ask you to stay on Fithe," Dhan said. "House Blacksilver is growing faster than it can sustain and we desperately need more Authorities. If you remained, we'd invest significantly more resources in you. Anything we can acquire through our connections, with no need to hunt through random worlds."

"Are things really that desperate?" Theo asked.

"Admittedly, some in the Ruling Cities are growing complacent. The Asplundat Movement has been much more peaceful ever since our battle, but spies say they're still producing bloodcrete. Enough for a war. Blacksilver is growing rapidly as the primary House on the Dustwind Plateaus, faster than we can comfortably expand. A few years ago, we didn't exist outside Norro Yorthin."

"That sounds like a problem you need administrators for, not soulcrafters."

"Believe me, we wouldn't be putting you in offices, we have enough problems that require Authorities." Dhan paused and reached under his mask to wipe his eyes, barely giving a glimpse of his face. "Are you familiar with the Wavefront?"

"Of course I am. The third major power on the Norron continent."

"Forgive me, outsiders often pay little attention to our politics. The tribes of the Wavefront are a fierce people who could be invaluable in any war, but they respect strength more than trade. We need elite Authorities for ritual combat with their soulcrafters to attempt to forge alliances."

Which would mean that Blacksilver would feed sublime materials to Theo and Fiyu until they had reached the peak of Authority. Tempting in one sense, but Theo judged that was the easy path. Before he could answer, Dhan continued.

"And that is hardly all. There are smaller nations on Norron, not among the three great powers. We need to make alliances with them before things get bad. There are a dozen potential missions that would offer both great risk and great rewards."

"Why are you so concerned?" Theo asked. "Is Tymetron preparing to invade?"

"They're promising war while not actually mobilizing - still deadlocked in the Gold Wastes, I believe. It's gone on long enough that some in the Ruling Cities believe they'll never actually attack." Dhan's eyes tightened so sharply that Theo could practically see his scowl through the mask. "I believe this is all short-sighted. Tymetron is sending more spies and saboteurs, probably more than we know. When they funded the Order of the Deepest Blue, they nearly set off war with the Asplundat Movement. It's clear they want to soften up the continent for invasion."

"But they're not actually moving yet?"

"Not so far as we can tell. We don't exactly have spies on such a far-off continent."

"Then trust me, we're more use to you traveling." Theo gave Dhan his best smile. "We may not be Fithan, but we're members of House Blacksilver. We won't simply leave you and disappear into the Nine Worlds. But if you really expect a continent-wide war, then you don't need a couple of new Authorities. You need us even stronger than that."

"Always with the ambition." Dhan sighed and turned away as he accepted the conclusion. "Very well, we'll assume you're gone for the near future."

"We'll check back in regularly, don't worry." Theo nodded one more time and then began flying back toward the ground.

His promise was actually true regardless of his intent, because they didn't really have a choice. Even though he was an Authority and theoretically had the Nine Worlds at his fingertips, that didn't mean he could simply teleport anywhere. He only had three different weirkeys now: Noven, Siata, and Slest. Three dangerous worlds where careless weirkey use was likely to cause death, none of which contained any of his main objectives.

The potential was still staggering. With a thought, he could explore three entire worlds, filled with dozens of continents and hundreds of nations. There were literally thousands of events and millions of lives available to him. He faced a corridor of endless doors, each of which contained enough for an entire lifetime.

But he couldn't. Vistgil was still out there, hunting down people from Earth, manipulating the Nine Worlds, and most likely inspiring the war that threatened to destroy the entire Norron continent. Theo might have reached the next major tier as a soulcrafter, but he couldn't relax.

All of that meant he still needed to use the ordinary gates between worlds, which was the real reason he'd need to return to Norro Yorthin. The gates there were his fastest connection to Arbai, Aathal, and Tatian. Without weirkeys to those worlds, the wisest strategy was to begin in familiar territory and then explore normally.

As Theo's descent took him to the outskirts of Norro Yorthin, his mind returned from the lofty heights of long term strategy to more practical concerns. He needed to pick up his companions and gather more mundane supplies in preparation for their trip. It had been just over six months since they'd left Noven, so there had been a lot of time to work.

Earth months, he had to remind himself, not Fithan months. Sometimes he wished that soul translation handled time as easily, but then again, he wouldn't want all the substance of the Nine Worlds to be abstracted away.

When Theo landed amid the exterior camps, he was given a wide berth. The Fithans living outside Norro Yorthin were hardly unfamiliar with Authorities, but he was still given great respect. This wasn't Noven, where many sub-par Rulers were pushed over the edge to Authority, so many of them likely didn't know a single Authority personally. Fortunately, the city was cosmopolitan enough that they didn't give a strange outsider unnecessary attention, they just steered clear.

Sometimes it was tempting to just fly everywhere, but Theo made himself walk. He also activated his shielding wall, making himself look like a Ruler. As much as he enjoyed his new power, it was good to walk in the city and enjoy the Nine Worlds as part of an anonymous crowd. At times like this, near people but not actually interacting with them, he felt a sort of peace that-

"Fumpet!" Senka ran directly into his leg and bounced off. "Watch where you're going!"

"Hey, Senka." Theo ignored her pouting and just looked down at her. "You're back too, huh?"

"Dumb Theo, forgetting Senka. Give Senka yummies!" She leapt up to his coat and crawled toward his shoulder, thrusting a grubby bag at his face. "Senka tooked something! Pay for yummies!"

So she'd stolen something again, hopefully while in her right mind instead of her current state. Theo accepted the bag and reached inside, only to recoil when he realized it contained nothing but a rotting piece of fruit. Senka cackled madly and he shoved her off his shoulder, but she only tumbled back through the air as she began to fly.

"So it's really you," he said, fixing her with a flat gaze.

"I've choked down so much of that sporping curse," Senka said. She stopped feigning ignorance and moved to float beside his shoulder as they moved forward. "I should be clear-headed for a while now."

"Does that mean you found another river?"

"I have some leads, but this one isn't in the middle of nowhere, it seems to be controlled. Too risky for you guys. Either I need to find another entrance or you need to get stronger."

A grim warning that there were many parts of the Nine Worlds where an Authority's strength wasn't enough. Theo barely needed the reminder, since he remembered dying as a Stronghold so clearly. For the moment, his primary goals were to finish his fourth floor while getting Nauda up to Authority as well. A full team of Authorities was less likely to succumb to most threats.

"Oh, and they finished working on the sleigh." Senka pointed off to the east. "You might as well pick it up before getting the others, right? Travel in style."

"Sure, let's go."

Theo changed course toward the workshop. Not all of the structures outside Norro Yorthin were well-built, but Blacksilver was funding an increasingly large neighborhood of sound buildings. One of those was a workshop for sublime crafters, including many immigrants from across Norron. Ever since the battle, Norro Yorthin had been increasing in prominence, so it had more citizens than it knew what to do with.

He wanted to chat with Senka along the way, since he enjoyed their private conversations, but they arrived too quickly. The Blacksilver workshop was a cluster of square buildings around a peaked roof that shielded the vehicles from dust storms. When he arrived, several smiling workers immediately rushed inside to retrieve the sleigh.

"We finished it to your specifications." A middle-aged Fithan man emerged from one of the buildings with a smile. Theo didn't remember his name, but he was an Archcrafter specializing in vehicles. "The work took some specialists from across the continent."

Theo cast the man a glance. "This isn't an attempt to increase the price, is it?"

"I wouldn't dream of it! No, I just wanted to reassure you that Blacksilver crafters investigated all the work thoroughly at the end, just like you asked. We can promise you there's no sabotage and no tracking devices. Just the best craftsmanship we have to offer."

He received proof the next second as the sleigh levitated into the courtyard. At its heart, it was still the racing sleigh they'd stolen on Deuxan, but it had received some upgrades. The most visible was the sleek black paint that would repel minor attacks, while the most important was invisible: the interior workings had been upgraded so that it could endure an Authority's cantae for higher speeds.

"This is good work," Theo said as he investigated. The interior had also been improved, with cushioned seats, a secure storage area, and hinged panels for sleeping while traveling.

"It was a pleasure to work on, truly." The Blacksilver official followed after him, beaming from ear to ear with each feature. "Everything here is chariots, chariots, chariots. This gave us an opportunity to really flex our skills. I'd say that we should pay you for the privilege... but we really do need your generous payment."

Theo waved off the matter without looking up. As an Authority his days of needing to scrabble for funds were over: it was easier to acquire money at the exact time that it became harder to buy sublime materials powerful enough for him. Considering how much they'd be traveling, he considered an upgraded sleigh to be a good investment.

Getting out proved slightly annoying: he needed to field the craftsman's thanks while also not being too unfriendly to all the workers who watched their project glide away. It would have been more gratifying to just snap at all of them, and he probably could have gotten away with it. But no, best to stay on good terms with Blacksilver, so he settled into the front seat and drove out politely.

When he'd first arrived in the Nine Worlds, he'd wandered naively, acquiring "friends" on all sides who had likely been planted by Vistgil to control him. On his return, he'd planned to do everything alone and rely on no one. Now, he hoped that he could balance the two.

The truth was, he couldn't have upgraded the sleigh so effectively and securely without support from House Blacksilver. Simply stealing everything he needed or ruling an organization through fear were fantasies, as silly as his youthful idealism. Even though Blacksilver was no longer essential to him, it was useful to have allies. Pleasant, even.

"So who are we getting next?" Senka asked. She'd been quiet throughout the transaction, but now hopped into the seat beside him. Her pose leaning back against the seat looked strange in her doll-like body.

"This is earlier than I'd planned to meet Nauda and Fiyu," Theo said with a glance at the sun. "I hadn't intended to enter the city, but I suppose we could check in with Navim and Krikree? We haven't seen them since checking in after Noven."

"Oh, I had a better prank in mind that involved those two, but I didn't find them earlier. The Arbaians say that Navim went traveling somewhere and Krikree must have gone with him."

"Huh. At least they're getting along."

"But it's easier this way, right? That Slescan is so clingy."

Theo nodded, even though in his heart he didn't agree. It was easy to scoff at Krikree and her questions, but the truth was that he missed the little bug. Last he'd talked to her, she'd been dutifully remodeling her soulhome. Working with her on the next step could have been fascinating... and he wasn't so insecure that he couldn't admit that he just enjoyed her company.

On their way out of the city, Theo chatted with Senka about where she'd been. His conversations with her had become surprisingly easy ever since Noven, gaining a relaxed nature he hadn't expected. Over the past half year he'd spent almost all his time with Fiyu and Nauda, which was also easy. Yet as much as he didn't want to go socialize with random people, perhaps he did want a little more. The two women had been spending more time together ever since their awkward announcement of courtship.

At the moment, however, they were at least somewhat separated. Theo spotted Fiyu seated atop one of the last Blacksilver buildings at the edge of the outskirts. She was soulcrafting as he approached even though she surely recognized his arrival. When he pulled up beside the building, she left her soulcrafting haze and smiled down over the edge.

"Hello, Theo. I am glad to see you again. The sleigh was finished early?"

"Finished and double-checked." Theo gestured toward the seat behind him and Fiyu gracefully flew down into it. She wasn't as familiar with every aspect of being an Authority as he was, but she'd taken to flying quickly.

"Then we must go acquire Nauda. She is in one of the agricultural caves, in that direction." Fiyu gestured over his shoulder and then settled back into her seat. "Your travels have been successful?"

"Well, as usual I ended up focusing on sublime materials instead of getting more information, but I'd say successful enough. What about you?"

"Sadly, I have still not acquired an Ichili weirkey. It appears I underestimated the difficulty of such a thing. My relative always made it seem so easy to acquire weirkeys..."

Talking about Guchiro made Fiyu morose, so Theo distracted her with questions about soulcrafting. It sounded like she had proceeded on her previous plan: she had continued polishing the first two rooms of her fourth floor to perfection and was working on filling them with sublime materials.

The two of them had taken different approaches to their soulcrafting since ascension. For the first three floors, soulcrafting bricks was easy enough that anyone could finish a whole floor with a bit of training and hard work. Starting at Authority, construction required some more strategic thinking. Fiyu intended to finish two rooms built from her dark stone, which would allegedly strengthen her new darkness technique substantially. Apparently she would then move on to her ice and magma sections, acquiring one advantage at a time.

It was a sensible strategy, but Theo was more systematic about his soulcrafting. Or, if he was honest, he had a bit of a design problem. His first three floors formed a single sphere, the design of which had made him one of the strongest soulcrafters on his tier. For his next three floors, he needed a design that was no less exceptional, and the truth was that he was plagued by doubt.

So far, he'd built all nine of his new rooms. The central chamber would continue his heart column as soon as he found a sufficiently powerful singularity material, of course, but the design of the others was uncertain. Somehow he needed to balance enhancement chambers, techniques, and the Five Transcendent Monuments. He could think of endless good designs, but he needed something extraordinary.

Unlike all his soulcrafting up to that point, he actually had an overabundance of sublime materials for his tier. The excessively powerful lostflesh, the mountainheart from Noven, the fleshnexus from Senka's cache, an ifritbraid, and even more. Not to mention the exotic materials he'd found in the Archive of Misery, some still baffling.

So as not to lose ground, Theo had placed some of these on movable plinths in his chambers. This made him an exceptionally flexible Authority, but he needed to integrate them with carvings and secondary materials to bring out their full potential. And he didn't dare start on that until he had a design that was every bit as good as his foundational floors.

Before he could come to any solution, they arrived at the entrance to the agricultural tunnels. Fiyu floated out of the sleigh first and eagerly went to find Nauda, while Theo lingered by the sleigh a little longer to check the defenses. They couldn't stop someone from blowing up or hacking apart the sleigh, of course, but new sublime materials locked down the control section so that it would be unusually difficult to steal. Theo himself couldn't figure out any way to do so outside of brute force.

Senka slept with the sleigh anyway, so he went to catch up to Fiyu. They didn't travel down the lit tunnels with Fithan workers, instead venturing into dark abandoned passages. As the light faded, Theo automatically switched over to his gravitational senses.

Using them had become mostly natural, but seeing Fiyu at Authority reminded him of how far he had to go to utilize his new senses like an Ichili. Gravity was too weak as a fundamental force to use carelessly: if he did that, his senses would be overwhelmed by Fithe underneath him.

Instead, he had tried to integrate his gravity into his sense of proprioception. Just like he was aware of his arms and legs moving in the darkness, he could feelFiyu's mass as she walked ahead of him. When he really concentrated, he could make out greater detail, distinguishing her movements. He figured if gravimetric sensors could finely distinguish movements on Earth, he should be able to do the same thing with enough training.

Something seemed to tickle at the end of his arm - no, that was wrong, it was his new sense. Theo realized that he was feeling Nauda in the tunnel ahead and smiled. Just like he wasn't distracted by the majority of his body that was walking normally and instead only noticed changes, he managed to ignore the mass of the stone around them and focus on the relevant difference of Nauda.

Unfortunately, his gravity senses weren't enough to give him any great information about her, other than that she was sitting cross-legged. No doubt training her own new sense, which had been more of a challenge. There were small lizards and insects wriggling through the walls, no doubt the reason that she had been sent to train here.

"Hello, Nauda." Fiyu's smile was audible as she crouched down. "Did you sense us coming?"

"You two are easy," Nauda said. "I can always feel powerful soulcrafters."

"This is good, but you must be cautious not to accidentally sense us with cantae. It is very easy for a new sense to rely heavily on others and never fully develop."

"I know, but your... life force feel stronger, I guess. Which makes sense, right? You're much more energetic than any of the little animals around here."

Theo had participated less in Nauda's development of her new sense, but he understood that she monitored something like life force or vitality. Once she mastered it, he thought it would round out their group well: Fiyu felt density with immense precision, his gravity sense was exceptionally long ranged, and Nauda could check for hidden threats.

"Actually, I had a question for Theo." Nauda's voice shifted in his direction and he thought he could feel her pivot toward him. "I'm running out of rooms, so it's time to make some final decisions."

"We can talk about them once we're in Tatian," he said. "We should have a long ride ahead of us."

"Right, long trip through the outskirts." Nauda sighed before making a broad motion he thought was brushing her hands off on her dress, then began moving out. "Thank you again for coming with me. I've been wanting to properly visit for a long time."

"We should be able to get more out of it this time, so long as we don't anger the Landguard."

They discussed strategy as they headed out of the tunnels. Though Nauda was the least certain, she could orient herself between the two of them and walk with confidence. Soon enough, darkness and other oppressive environments would barely even slow them down. Once they reached that point, and gained a little more power, Theo wanted to really explore the dangerous parts of Ichil.

But they needed to go one step at a time. Improving their overall capacity meant making sure that Nauda wasn't a weak link. She had polished up all three of her towers, and the bondsfungi in her soul had naturally coated them, glowing powerfully. The problem was that she didn't have as many powerful sublime materials as they did, having lost some in her soulhome collapse. Aside from gathering those, she also needed to finally make some design decisions permanently.

Just like he did. Theo pushed the thoughts aside and focused on chatting with his friends as they leapt into the sleigh and traveled to the gate.

Almost no one wanted to go to a desolate region of Tatian, so they didn't need to wait long. In an instant, they traded the red Fithan sun for the warm Tatian orange. Instead of focusing on that, Theo couldn't help but look back, toward the unfathomably large cliff.

Even not at the edge, the way the earth simply fell away was ominous. With his gravitational senses he could feel massive beasts like the eryo they had fought crawling along the massive cliff. He could feel some caverns and shallow tunnels in the sides, but nothing extended very far into the upper side of Tatian. It was as if someone had really divided the planet in half, with nothing allowed to cross over. The power required to do such a thing was still insane to him.

"Do you wish to visit... below?" Fiyu asked the question very quietly, even though she likely already knew the answer. Nauda also stared out over the edge toward the dark half of Tatian, but shook her head.

"It's still a major risk," she said, "and I don't have any leads on powerful sublime materials down there. No, we should go back to the regions we know."

"This is reasonable," Fiyu said. She seemed content with that, but Theo couldn't help but look over his shoulder one more time.

His gravity sense detected massive cities down there, filled with dense stone and metal unlike the natural Tatian cities above. Even the most knowledgeable travelers he'd asked about Tatian didn't know the reason it was split so starkly. They seemed to view it as a fact of life, like asking why the land and ocean were different, but he was certain there had to be a reason.

One more mystery he might resolve one day. Theo couldn't help but smile as he guided them away, over the scarred lands toward the softer side of Tatian. When he'd first arrived, he'd found it boring, but now he hoped to discover more that he'd missed the first time.

"How many days do you think it will take?" Nauda asked from the back seat.

"At least two," Theo said. "The sleigh is taking my cantae well enough, so we can push it harder, but it's still a long way to any land a Tatian would consider farm-worthy. So we should have a long, boring trip to talk about our soulcrafting goals."

It was sound logic, and that should have been how it went. Instead, they only traveled half a day before Tatian guards swarmed out to face them. Theo stared over the hard faces and weapons, wondering just what had happened in their absence.

Clearly, their return wouldn't be so peaceful after all.

Chapter 2

Over the course of his life, Theo had been faced with groups of Tatian Farmguards on multiple occasions. As a whole, they were among the least menacing guards in the Nine Worlds: usually just local men and women who took care of occasional demons and settled rare arguments. Even if they were shocked by arrivals from other worlds, they hoped to make peace and settle community.

This group didn't. He saw suspicion in place of welcome, numerous edged weapons instead of the conventional staffs, and a surprising number of scars. Given the frequency of healers on Tatian, Farmguards shouldn't have so many ugly remnants of wounds. Whatever this was, he didn't like it.

"Stay where you are!" The leader of the group was a man wearing ragged leather armor, without a weapon. Theo realized why a moment later when he burned his cantae, revealing himself to be a Ruler.

The unusual thing was that he had no shielding wall and not even a blueprint that hid much of his soulcrafting. Theo could see his soulhome at a glance, even without Nauda's telescope: it contained numerous enhancement chambers and what appeared to be several elemental rooms, but nothing remarkable. Most likely a Ruler blueprint designed to enforce power against weaker soulcrafters, not someone likely to compete with others on the same tier.

In most situations, this sort of mob would have the advantage. As they got a good look at the three people they were facing, even if they didn't see the shielding walls, they began to reconsider. Several of the Farmguards looked torn between fear and a strange desperation. Likely seeing that, the Ruler took another step closer and gathered more cantae.

"We don't want any outsiders in our community!" He jabbed his finger at them, then back into the borderlands. "Just go right back to whatever world you came from!"

"I'm guessing you come from Nlukoko city," Theo said as he looked over the group. "We have no interest in going there, we're just passing through. We can stay out of your territory if you prefer."

He was lying through his teeth, of course: the two cities Nauda was most eager to revisit were Myufuru and Nlukoko. To her credit, Nauda didn't even blink at his lie, and she would probably go along with him. Fiyu had retreated back in her seat as if prepared to throw a stealth bubble over all of them at any second. Regardless, his answer wasn't enough to mollify the Farmguards.

"Go back!" The man almost yelled the words and his voice gained a ragged edge. "If you keep going, we'll be forced to throw you out. Even if you escape us, we have ways of contacting the Farmguards in Nlukoko and they'll come stop you."

"I don't need to avoid you." Theo deactivated his shielding wall, revealing himself as an Authority at the same moment he lifted into the air on a current of raw power.

The effect was instantaneous. Most of the Farmguards shrank back and a few dropped their weapons before picking them up again with shaking fingers. The Ruler at the head of the group didn't even considera fight between them: Theo could see the calculation change in the man's eyes. Yet, despite the fact that they were clearly outclassed, they didn't flee.

"We mean no offense, travelers." The leader stopped burning cantae and took a step back. "But our orders stand. We cannot allow you to interfere with our community, as these days we face many threats from the outside. If you will come with us, we could bring you to speak with the Landguard representatives. They could grant you passage around our lands."

"That seems reasonable," Theo said to buy time while he glanced back to the others. Fiyu sat quietly, pointedly not revealing her own soulhome, while Senka had straightened from her sleeping position. But it was Nauda he was most concerned with.

"They're terrified," she said too quietly for the Farmguards to hear. "I think we need to see what's going on."

"Will we do that with an escort? I suggest we have Fiyu hide us all and then go investigate ourselves."

Nauda shook her head. "I don't want to upset the local Farmguards, and getting into a conflict with the Landguard could be a serious problem. Let's cooperate for now."

Theo wasn't nearly so confident that this group really represented the leaders of Tatian, but he was willing to go with Nauda on this. Whatever the method, they needed to find out what was wrong in this world before traveling too much further.

"Lead on, then." Theo turned back to the Farmguards and gave a smile he hoped looked disarming instead of predatory. "We don't want to disrupt your community, please just allow us to move on to our own."

"Thank you so much for your cooperation." The Ruler actually bowed, something that was rarely done on Tatian. "If you'll come with us, we'll escort you through and it should be no trouble for anyone."

Not likely. Theo sat down and followed the Farmguards as they headed back over the borderlands. While getting annoyed at how slow their pace was, he noticed that many of them had poor footwear. That was unheard of on Tatian: the lack of amenities was usually balanced by a high standard of living for even the lowest peasants. Nauda was definitely right that something had been twisted.

Soon they reached a guard outpost, and even in the short time it took to pass the squat building, Theo realized it lookedwrong. Normally Farmguard outposts were sturdy and comfortable; this one was covered in defensive metal and yet looked nearly unlivable. He'd never seen war conditions on Tatian, at least not on the upper side. What could have happened while he was gone?

In any case, they didn't stop by the outpost for long. The weakest Farmguards returned to their posts, while a few others took out some of the saddest flying vehicles Theo had ever seen. Basically rickety wagons with a few floating sublime materials strapped to the bottom. That allowed the Farmguards to travel slightly faster than walking, so their pace picked up.

It was still quite some distance to Nlukoko. At first they passed the time the way they'd originally planned, with soulcrafting and blueprint discussions, as well as some catching up after recent travels. None of it was as pleasant as it should have been, given the newly hostile environment. At one point when they were left alone, Theo asked Senka if she had any insight, but she only shrugged and then went back to sleep. She seemed to think it was trivial, while Nauda grew increasingly distraught.

Many hours before Theo expected to see Nlukoko on the horizon, he saw something break up the landscape. At first he thought that the lake Nlukoko floatedatop had flooded, then he realized that it looked more like farmland. Not the standard Tatian agriculture that cultivated the abundant land, instead large blocky farms that tore up the landscape.

When they got within sight, Nauda let out a gasp. Tatian peasants worked the fields, dressed even worse than the Farmguards. Some of them had wooden shackles around their legs that severely limited their movement. There didn't seem to be any overseers, but given Tatian community, they might not be necessary. If Theo wanted Tatian slaves - and he was pretty sure they were slaves - he would take the peasants' families and let their social bonds do the rest.

"It's so much worse..." Nauda lifted a hand to her mouth and blinked away tears at the corners of her eyes. "I've never seen it like this, not up here. Ariano must have enslaved them for his own profit."

Fiyu shifted uncomfortably on the seat beside her, and her hand rose slightly toward Nauda's back before retreating. Clearly she was unsure how to comfort Nauda, but Theo had no time for their awkward relationship. This problem had quickly gone from an inconvenience to a potentially serious threat.

"What are they farming out here?" Theo called to the Ruler. The man edged closer in their wagon and lowered his head.

"Everyone must work for the sake of Nlukoko's community. Sadly, we have faced leaner harvests, so the workers need to work overtime in the fields. This is the only way we can feed Nlukoko. Please, leave us to our customs and think nothing of it."

"Thanks, just curious." Theo sat back as if he didn't care, then turned a cool gaze to his companions. That lie might work with local Tatians, but it was worse than nothing with them. He thought he could sense sublime seeds in the fields, like fragments of a more powerful material.

"Have they been conquered?" Fiyu asked. "I cannot sense any Deuxans, but some of the metal has a similar density to Deuxan silver. They could have come through the gate and enslaved the city."

"That shouldn't happen." Nauda rubbed her eyes forcefully and then stared toward the city which only now glinted in the distance. "The Landguard can travel over the entire world and they stop exactly this sort of thing."

"Then the conquerorshave made an agreement with the Landguard?"

"That isn't supposed to happen either. Maybe the harvests really were that bad, though I've never heard of that happening. Something is horribly wrong."

"What are they farming?" Theo asked. He realized that it sounded like a stupid question and gestured toward a group of slaves dumping wheelbarrows of vegetables into a pile. "Look, they don't seem to care much about the food they're supposed to be harvesting, and the workers are digging too deep. You have any idea why that would be?"

"Good point." Nauda sat up straighter and shoved aside her emotions to focus on the problem. "It looks like the harvest is a secondary concern. If I had to guess, they're looking for something."

"Like what, buried treasure?"

"No, more likely a special seed of some kind. There are some sublime vegetables that rarely include more potent seeds, which can be used to grow even more potent plants, and so on. Look at how they're coring out those vegetables by the tables... that's oddly sloppy. It only makes sense if they're searching for something specific."

None of them noticed any more clues as they neared the city, as the landscape was an entire horizon of grim slave farms. The closer they came to the lake, the better the land and the small villages looked, but all of it was a far cry from the warm communities he remembered. Only Nlukoko itself was little changed: the panoply of docks, bridges, and islands still glistened on the lake and there were even more watery pathways spiraling overhead than before.

New guard towers rose from the lake, bristling with weapons.

Years ago, Nauda had been horrified by how Nlukoko had an organized guard. Theo could only guess at what she thought now seeing the militarized city, but he saw the pain harden in her eyes. They weren't getting out of this easily. Nauda wanted to fight to protect her home and he only hoped that whatever had done this was actually something that they could fight.

With the Farmguards going ahead of them, they didn't have to deal with any hassles and glided into the city. They headed toward the grand palace ruled by Ariano of the Golden Wings, but then turned southeast. An artificial wooden island floated nearby, cut into a very Deuxan-looking building instead of the local flowers. Their suspicions were confirmed when a Deuxan attendant emerged to look at them.

"A Tatian, an Ichili, and whatever you are." The woman scowled over their group and shook her head. "You terrified our guards half to death. Just what are you doing here?"

"Just passing through," Theo said. "We took a gate from Fithe and we're hoping to find another one further south, maybe to Siata."

"And why would you do that?"

"We've been polite so far, but you're wasting our time." Theo stood up, and he had planned to reverse gravity for small objects, but no demonstration was necessary. Just an Authority making any kind of threat display made the woman's eyes widen and all the Farmguards flinch.

"We don't want to disturb any foreign Authorities." The Deuxan woman bowed low to him and began fumbling with a wooden binder of papers. "Let me get you a few documents. You'll need to travel further west, but you should be able to pass through without trouble."

That was a step in the right direction as far as he was concerned. While Theo waited, however, Nauda leaned forward and nudged him. Her eyes flickered around the city and he thought he knew what she meant. So before the Deuxan official could create documents for them, Theo spoke up again.

"We've been traveling for some time with few accommodations. Why don't we rest in your city while you take care of the paperwork?"

"Oh, we would normally be happy to do that." Another bow, another nervous fluttering of papers. "I'm not permitted to invite guests, just approve travel. Please don't be impatient, my lord, it will just be a short time longer."

So much for the plan to investigate the city on their own. While no one could stop them there, Ariano was an Authority and he likely had allies, plus there was still the unknown reason the Deuxans could upend the natural order of Tatian. Theo was beginning to agree with Nauda that they needed to approach all of this cautiously.

While the documents were put in order, several more Deuxans came to stare at them. Some from inside the official building, others from nearer the palace. None of them were wearing shoddy clothing and they didn't look anywhere near as hungry as the slaves outside the city. If the harvests really had been bad, the suffering was not equally distributed.

Most of the people who came to look at them were just curious, as if visitors were uncommon. There was a Tatian boy on the roof of a flower-shaped building who stared curiously at them. All ordinary enough, and many of the onlookers retreated once they realized the guests weren't going to do anything unusual and got bored. It seemed as though they might pass through with nothing but a little bureaucracy, up until the moment a shout rang across the lake.

"You!"

Theo looked up sharply, his body recognizing the voice before his mind caught up. He already had his cantae prepared for a fight by the time he spotted the source: there was a Deuxan man standing on one of the balconies of the palace. Despite the distance between them, the man was staring directly at Theo, and Theo didn't need to squint to recognize him.

Esaire ai Armeau rose into the air and launched himself across the city at Theo.