Deathseed: Chapters 25-26 (Patreon)

After a longish break we have action scenes again. I was going to say with these long double chapters you don't have cliffhangers, but...

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Chapter 25

Even though she had investigated it not long ago, Fiyu examined the city of Myufuru again as thoroughly as she was able. She noted all the locations of the inhabitants, the strange new trees, and the Deuxan woman who lived atop the giant tree stump. All within expectations. The trouble was that there were several pockets of obscuring defenses that could contain anything, from sublime materials to enemy Authorities.

"Well?" Friend Theo hovered outside the sleigh, just within her sphere. "Has anything changed?"

"The Deuxan Authority is present at the tree as before," Fiyu reported. "I have not located the Blazekindler or any other enemy Authorities, but they could be hiding. Lesser Deuxan forces, including at least two Rulers, are located there and... there."

"So unless they're preparing an ambush, they've left Myufuru mostly undefended."

Friend Nauda shook her head. "Given their alliance with the Landguard, one Authority is plenty. It's possible the Blazekindler was only here to work with those dark trees and now he's gone back to Nlukoko to keep their position strong there."

"Possible, but not certain." Friend Theo rotated in the air without even unfolding his arms. "Alright, now that we have current intelligence, we need to discuss our tactics."

"Fight!" Associate Krikree reached into her soulhome and raised four spears.

Without Ally Navim, it was only the four of them and Betrayer Senka, against an unknown number of opponents. Planning in such uncertain conditions made Fiyu extremely nervous, so she was glad to have Friend Theo decide their strategy. Fighting against intelligent opponents with more complicated malice was much worse than fighting demons.

"I'm worried about Esaire, but we can't hold back based on when he might appear." Friend Theo glowered down over the city. "For this fight, we stay together, strike hard and fast. Opposition may break us up, but don't get involved in duels, regroup when possible. Our goal is to eliminate an opponent and tip the balance. Even if they have Esaire hidden away somewhere, he could arrive too late."

"What about the Landguard?" Friend Nauda asked.

"That's another problem: we don't know how soon they'll arrive. There's no way to contact Bimanu, so we can only operate based on what he said about delaying their response. All the same, we should be cautious. We can't afford mercy against the Deuxans, but we have to sacrifice a little to protect the city from harm."

Fiyu thought that left an obvious question open and was surprised when no one else raised it. "You said no mercy against the Deuxans... what about the Tatian Blazekindler, if he appears again?"

That made Friend Nauda glanced at her strangely. "The Landguard won't care about him, it's only an organization covering the upper side of Tatian. They might even thank us if we get rid of him."

"And Ariano?"

Friend Theo waved it aside. "I doubt he left Nlukoko, but if he did, no mercy for him either. They still outnumber us two to one, so the goal is to reduce the number of enemy Authorities. And since we only have one target, we start on the tree stump."

That seemed like a reasonable plan, but at that moment Betrayer Senka raised her hand. "You want me to get involved?"

"No, you'd better not. We should save that surprise for when we're outnumbered."

"Good, because I'm still sporping wiped. I don't have a very good blast in me."

"That makes four of us." Friend Theo emerged from his seriousness to smile at them. "Fiyu, you and I will obviously be the tip of the spear. Nauda, we need you to run interference. If we do gain the upper hand, our target will try to run and you need to delay them. Krikree, your job is the same, except we also want you further out, monitoring whether they have someone hidden to turn our ambush back on us."

"Krikree scout!"

As a whole, it seemed like a good plan except for the unknowns. By all appearances, they had the upper hand and a surprise advantage, yet Fiyu still feared that everything would go wrong somehow.

They floated closer to the city, finding a spot hidden by boughs of lower trees against the side of the immense trunk. For the attack itself, it would be unwise to bring the sleigh, plus they needed to be highly mobile for Friend Theo's strategy. Fiyu experienced a flicker of worry as she flew high enough that the sleigh became visible, but no enemies rushed to attack them.

Only she and Friend Theo flew upward, over the side of the trunk. It appeared flat from a distance, but now she saw the curve she had felt, the legacy of the strange weapon that had completely destroyed the Landguard vault.

The enemy Deuxan woman was not visible at first and Fiyu struggled to track within the shielded Deuxan building. Before she could worry, the woman walked back out to the edge, almost toward them. Long silver hair trailed behind her and Fiyu took a moment to analyze the woman she intended to kill. Aside from Esaire's lean build and narrow face, she looked like most Deuxans. She wore a silver and black uniform covered in dense embroidery, likely an armament. Nothing seemed particularly hateful about her, but Fiyu remembered all of the enslaved Tatians and how sad Friend Nauda had been.

"Ready?" Friend Theo glanced over at her and Fiyu nodded. "You strike first, I'll be there a second later."

There was nothing left to do but the attack. Once they got as close as she dared, Fiyu leapt forward with a cantae blade flying for the woman's neck.

She pivoted and deflected it with the back of her sleeve.

Fiyu should have struck again, but she flinched. Their tactics had been excellent: Fiyu would still be hidden when she flew forward, which meant that Theo would appear first. While the enemy Authority was distracted, Fiyu would land a strike that might decide the battle. And yet the woman had reacted. Not as if she had known they were there all along, just prepared and immensely fast.

"I saw that trick before." The Deuxan woman shoved Fiyu's blade away with a lazy grin. "You can't ambush m-"

Specialized bolts from Friend Theo struck her in the face and chest the next moment, sending her staggering back. Her armament clothing deflected one and she was tough enough not to be injured by the second. Worse, Fiyu felt a long line of density begin to form, no doubt the woman's manifested sword.

But her companion's attack had restored Fiyu's focus. She unleashed bands of darkness from her own shadow, wrapping around her target's legs and waist. The Deuxan woman sneered and began to break out... but Fiyu had finished soulcrafting more Authority chambers since the first encounter in Nlukoko and the darkness didn't break so easily.

Her target was trapped. Fiyu raised her hands and prepared to unleash the most powerful lightstorm she could.

A line of green flame burned across the top of the stump. It would have struck Fiyu if Friend Theo had not created one of his deflection points. Even that barely turned the line of flame aside, and Fiyu realized that the Blazekindler was bursting out of one of the armored points. Not only was he going to attack them on their flank, his sphere of flame would set the city alight.

So Fiyu pivoted, instead unleashing her lightstorm at the new opponent. He dodged and deflected, but the Tatian man was still pushed backward, higher into the air. Friend Theo flew after him, trying to eliminate him while he was still off-guard.

Too late, Fiyu felt the massive sword swinging toward her back. Even though it was highly dense to her senses, it moved as if made of air. It was all she could do to turn and raise her arms to block.

The impact sent Fiyu skating off the side of the stump, flying out over the city. Her arms trembled from the impact, but she was mostly unharmed. That wasn't the worst of it.

Before they had struck even one target, they were all scattered over the city. The battle had barely begun and the plan had already unraveled.

~ ~ ~

Opponents who used flames were less affected by gravitational techniques, so as soon as Theo warded off the Blazekindler, he returned to the stump. There was no sign of Fiyu and the others had scattered instead of regrouping as he'd hoped.

No time for criticism: he needed to stop Esaire's relative before she got that giant sword swinging and reshaped the battlefield.

It might have been manifested by her cantae, but the weapon still had mass. When she pulled the sword back over the stump for a broad swing, Theo projected a gravitational field to flatten it to the surface. Most likely she could dismiss and re-manifest her weapon, but how quickly she did so would reveal something about how costly the technique was. Theo was fully prepared to cast torsion bolts, anti-mass points, or portals when she attempted to recreate the weapon and surprise him.

Instead, she looked up and gave him a broad smile.

"That gravity really is a problem." She grunted and began burning her cantae against him, trying to lift her sword. He had to increase the gravitational field's strength many times to keep it down. "You're strong. Esaire gave me the impression you were a gimmick fighter."

Was this an attempt to distract him? Theo kept all his techniques ready, but decided to answer. "And who are you?"

"My name is Amaeli ai Armeau! Ever so pleased to meet you." Despite still being locked in a power struggle with him, she swept an elaborate bow that made her hair spin behind her.

If she was trying to wear him out, the strategy would fail against his cantae reserves, so Theo maintained his gravitational field to keep her sword pinned. Amaeli only grinned up at him, but he presumed that she might be able to manifest other weapons and was preparing. While they were both locked in place, he focused fully on his senses.

He could feel the Blazekindler and Fiyu like a point pressing into his back as they fought in the air. Ariano's Rulers twitched up his legs as they began to join the battle, then were intercepted by Nauda and Krikree. The Tatian peasants who had noticed the battle were more like waves sliding away from his feet as they scattered away from the city center.

"I can see how you destroyed my little brother's soulhome." Amaeli was beginning to sweat now as she pushed more energy into her sword, but she was still smiling up at him. "I'm not upset, mind you. He needed someone to check his ego and you motivated him to work smarter."

"If there are no hard feelings, why are we fighting?" Theo asked. "Why are you even here?"

"I should ask you that, outsider. Are you sure you wouldn't rather join us? Once we get what we want, we'll leave the foolish little Tatians alone. A soulcrafter of your talents would be well-compensated."

Pretending to agree would be pointless and Theo doubted she even meant her invitation. The sword was beginning to tremble off the ground now: her cantae was strong enough to overcome his maximum gravitational field. Before it ended, Theo decided to ask one more question.

"Why did your family chase me across worlds? Does Esaire hate me that much?"

"You think it was a rivalry?" Amaeli's eyes widened in what looked like honest surprise. "No, no, our grandfather slapped down Esaire's little vendetta. It's just that if you know what we think you do, you could be our family's ticket to greater things."

Theo's eyes narrowed sharply. That conflicted with the explanation the old man had given him after the duel. Just as he'd suspected after investigating his old companion from Noven, there was something more there, something different about Brigana and Deuxan.

"Well, your companions are proving more resourceful than predicted. Buying time is no longer in my best interest." Amaeli sighed theatrically. "Little Esaire is going to be so disappointed when I beat you."

Despite her elaborate display, her attack held nothing back. Three swords appeared around him, smaller than the first but far faster than he'd expected. He barely managed to twist out of the way and his focus on the gravitational field wavered. In an instant the largest sword swung upward, nearly cleaving him in two. Amaeli raised both hands, prepared to conduct an orchestra of blades.

A wall of cool cantae passed over Theo and he recognized Fiyu's stealth a moment before Nauda collided with him. She caught his arm and pulled him down as they slipped away from the range of the flying blades. They leveled off and he had enough time to see that Nauda and Krikree had gathered together in Fiyu's sphere.

Krikree began jabbing arms in different directions. "Queen! Fire prince! Ants!" The ants seemed to be the Rulers, advancing up the damaged staircase around the tree to join the battle. She was right, the battle was definitely getting out of hand.

"We need to stop the Blazekindler from setting the entire city on fire," Nauda said, and Fiyu nodded.

Aside from the risk to the local population, Theo agreed with her from a strategic perspective. Amaeli was clearly a veteran Authority; even if she couldn't beat Theo and Fiyu in an extended fight, she would never be taken out quickly. Their best hope for a combined strike was the dark Tatian.

"Krikree, you attack the Rulers," Theo said. "Nauda, wait until she does, then bind one of those flying swords. Our goal is to distract Amaeli before Fiyu and I take on the Blazekindler."

No discussion or argument, the group just nodded and scattered. Once he might have been glad they obeyed his orders, but they weren't really commands, the group was simply united in purpose. They needed to end the fight quickly, both for its own sake and because the Landguard might be approaching.

In the absence of an opponent, the Blazekindler had flown lower over the city. Within his great sphere of flame, he appeared to be generating a denser fire around his hand. He could already have used it to attack, but it seemed like he was considering his targets. Not only the fighters... was he looking down at the city? They might not have a lot of time, then.

Fire was a plasma, with so little mass that it would barely be affected by gravity. The Blazekindler's technique likely included a small effect to resist natural gravity, so Theo's first thought was to neutralize gravity and see if it deformed his sphere. But the flames flowed so regularly, ignoring all effects... it was probably wrong to think of them as a spherical candle flame. The man probably used cantae to enforce his fire on an area all around him, so it would resist attacks.

"Theo...?" Fiyu had seen the same threat and gestured nervously.

Instead of speaking, Theo whistled for her to begin a frontal assault. She slipped away, then unleashed a storm of light.

The flames seemed to have grown denser and they merely rippled as they deflected the bolts. Immediately the Blazekindler retaliated by releasing a comet of green fire, but Theo intercepted it with a torsion bolt. Fiyu continued her assault, and she might have overcome the flame sphere eventually, but they didn't have any more time for long contests of strength.

Theo started by casting a point of mass behind the sphere and a point of anti-mass in front of it. He'd hoped to push the sphere of flame, but the sphere only rippled as it resisted his cantae to remain in place. The only upside was that the Blazekindler seemed startled and glanced toward him, drawing his attention away from Fiyu.

That gave Theo time to finish his real goal: a portal lit up beside the Blazekindler and moved closer to encompass part of his sphere. The encompassed section appeared in the distance away from the city, emerging from the other portal. The Blazekindler's head swung sharply to stare and Theo could imagine his shock: his flames that were supposed to remain around him were now split across spacetime. It must have been surreal, and Theo wasn't willing to bet the effect would last.

It didn't need to. Theo flew to the side and hurled a torsion bolt, trying to drive the Blazekindler toward the portal. When he attempted to dodge away, Fiyu renewed her assault, pinning him in place.

Their strategy would have worked perfectly... if there wasn't a sword rising in the air toward him. Amaeli had clearly broken free from Nauda's distraction and she was coming in hot.

Instead of defending himself, Theo turned all his attention toward finishing the current fight. Taking out just one enemy Authority would render the war for Tatian winnable. He cast another gravitational field at the same moment his next torsion bolt arrived, knocking the Blazekindler through the portal.

He had a split second's gratification seeing the Blazekindler hurtle out of the portal, far away from the city, then Theo felt the sword tear into him.

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Chapter 26

[Theo-sister!]

Nauda had winced when she saw the giant sword hit Theo, but her worry couldn't match the flood of pheromones from Krikree beside her. The Slescan leapt away, smashing through one of the attacking Deuxan soulcrafters on her way. Theo appeared to be falling from the sky, trailing blood, and Nauda could only hope that Krikree would catch him.

Meanwhile, she couldn't pull her attention away from her own battle. There were multiple Deuxans, including two Rulers, who were trying to take positions on the tree. Given time, they could easily tilt the scale in the battle between Authorities, so stopping them was her job.

She threw herself into the fight, darting across the stairs that curled around the giant trunk. Everywhere she landed, she left behind lines of wards for her opponents to run into. With the warding necklace helping, it was easy to generate quick wards. One or two cantae bolts got through to her, but her notemerald belt was barely even warming up.

As she engaged the two Rulers together, her staff against their swords, Nauda realized that she was keeping up. She wasn't just a rebuilding Ruler anymore, she was strong for her tier.

That alone wasn't enough, not with the battle overhead turning against them.

So she went for a sacrifice play. Nauda rushed in, letting one of the swords hit her side. Her belt flared brighter, but its defensive aura held. That gave her enough time to grab one of the Rulers with her nullification glove: she unleashed a wave of nullification and briefly canceled all his cantae defenses. At the same moment she pinned the other Ruler in place with her staff.

Archcrafters were trying to reach her position, hacking at the wards, but they were too late. Nauda hurled both Rulers at them and let all her wards explode. The resulting eruption of cantae sent all the Deuxans tumbling down the stairs and off the side of the giant tree.

With the lesser soulcrafters at least temporarily neutralized, Nauda had her chance to make an impact. Somehow the Blazekindler had been knocked far away, leaving Fiyu and Amaeli to fight overhead in a swarm of blades and lightstorms. Unfortunately Fiyu was at a disadvantage, because she couldn't fire downward or risk harming the city. The Deuxan woman was benefiting from staying low and she could probably exploit her leverage even more once she realized.

The problem was that Nauda wasn't sure how she could help. Her earlier attempt to bind one of the flying swords in place had been broken laughably easy. Fiyu was moving much too quickly for wards to do her any good. Nauda grimaced and realized that she couldn't help directly.

Instead she looked for Theo: she saw no sign of him, but she extended her life senses for any sign of him or Krikree. Unfortunately, all the inhabitants of the city, not to mention the vitality of all the plants, turned it all into a swampy haze. She needed more control or her new senses would be useless.

Abruptly something stood out starkly, a negative against the warm light: there was a large black tree growing in the Landguard orchard. It had looked out of place from the beginning and now she realized that it radiated some sort of anti-life. The tree itself had Ruler-tier cantae, and something growing within it was easily the most powerful sublime material in the city.

Nauda leapt toward it before her mind had finished making the connections. Their opponents also had something they needed to protect. If Nauda could take down the three, at worst she would distract the enemy and at best she might remove their reason for holding the city.

She landed on one of the lesser trees in the orchard with enough force to tear its roots from the ground. Nauda leapt off that tree and swung her staff as hard as she could, shattering one of the thick branches of the largest tree. It was durable, but not enough to endure a sustained assault. Her arms rang painfully when she swung at the trunk itself, so Nauda continued breaking apart the branches.

"Enough!" The voice arrived at the same time as a line of green flame and Nauda had to throw herself backward to avoid it.

The Blazekindler floated down into the orchard, no longer surrounded by his sphere of flames. She had hoped to distract Amaeli, but attracting him at least prevented the enemy from outnumbering Fiyu. That didn't help Fiyu in her losing battle, but there was no time to think about that. Nauda just kept in mind the bright point of Fiyu's vitality and focused on her enemy.

He had taken a serious wound to one shoulder that looked like one of Theo's torsion bolts. Unfortunately, he was still more than capable of fighting her. That line of green flame had been almost too fast to dodge and he could throw out more at will. The line had avoided the dark trees, but set alight one of the walls of Tatian wood. Nauda retreated back toward those flames.

"So you figured it out." The Blazekindler grasped his wounded shoulder, which sizzled as he cauterized the wound. "You're not as stupid as the other peasants."

"What are you doing here?" Nauda demanded. She retreated in feigned fear, but kept her staff up out of entirely real worry.

"Your soil is so rich up here. Time that we take some of it for ourselves, hmm?"

She was curious whether he might reveal more information, but with the other battles going poorly, Nauda didn't want to waste time. When she got closer to the growing fires, Nauda finally unleashed her plan. One blow broke apart the burning wall, then she used her staff to grab the flaming wreckage and hurl it into the largest dark tree.

The maneuver seemed to surprise the Blazekindler and the wreckage broke across the tree. But he only laughed, and Nauda realized that the flames weren't catching on the dark wood.

"You think I'd use fire that would risk the deathseed?" The Blazekindler laughed louder. "Poor naive peasant. Your kind should stick to our fields."

Green flames lit up around the orchard, blocking every exit. Nauda could probably jump over the flame walls, but then he would shoot her out of the air. She grimaced and backed away as she tried to come up with a new plan.

The Blazekindler blew apart one of the smaller trees while trying to hit her. That meant he probably only wanted the largest tree and the sublime material it contained. She hadn't heard of a deathseed before, but presumably it was powerful enough for all this investment.

So her plan to destroy the tree had been correct... it just seemed impossible. Even dodging through the trees, Nauda was hard-pressed to stay ahead of a powerful Authority. If not for his injury, she would have been in even worse trouble. The fact that she had enough space to come up with a plan meant nothing if there were no good plans available...

Just when Nauda realized she was pinned in a corner, she spotted a brown blur out of the corner of her eyes. It struck the Blazekindler from the side, smashing him through several of the smaller trees.

"Nanjuma?" Nauda gaped as she saw the old Tatian man.

He'd always been overflowing with vitality, his muscular body flexing underneath the large beard. Nanjuma was still a Ruler, but he burned with more cantae than she'd remembered. Though he smiled back at her, his smile didn't last long.

"Destroy the tree?" he asked.

"He has to defend it," Nauda said. "We go through him."

The Blazekindler rose into the air, gathering more emerald flames. His lip was bleeding from where Nanjuma had struck him, but he was far from defeated. This was going to be rough... unless her two-sentence plan worked.

Nanjuma began by launching a bolt of cantae at the deathseed tree. Nothing fancy, just more powerful than Nauda could manage. The Blazekindler leapt to block it, and though he slapped away the first bolt contemptuously, Nanjuma was releasing more.

He couldn't keep up with an Authority, of course, and the Blazekindler would soon be unleashing more of his fire. Before he could, Nauda ran closer and slapped the ground with her glove. Her wave of neutralization briefly pushed back his flame techniques, and in that moment Nauda thrust her staff toward the trunk.

Of course he moved faster than she could, easily blocking her attempts. Exactly as she'd hoped. Nauda switched to her binding technique to lock him in place, just in front of the tree. The Blazekindler sneered and shrugged off her technique by rolling his shoulders.

Nanjuma hit his chest with both feet first.

The blow might not have harmed the Blazekindler much, but the force passed directly through. When the trunk cracked, it sounded like thunder and a wave of anti-life expanded out from the broken tree.

"No!" The Blazekindler tumbled away from the impact and now stared in horror. He rushed toward the tree, desperate to retrieve the dark seed glistening there.

Nauda moved faster because she didn't need to be delicate: she reached the tree and stomped on the deathseed as hard as she could.

It might be a sublime material filled with cantae, but that didn't mean it was durable in the physical world. Nauda's foot crushed it into pulp and the flow of anti-life vanished. Given how much damage their battle had done to the orchard, the entire reason for occupying the city might well have been destroyed.

Which left Nauda and Nanjuma facing an enraged Blazekindler. He might have wanted the deathseed, but he looked like he'd be satisfied with vengeance.

~ ~ ~

For a few seconds, Theo had wondered if he was going to be injured for life. Taking the sword blow had seemed like the right decision before it hit him, but he'd still been underestimating Amaeli's strength. He'd plummeted, blearily seeing the blood trailing from his side.

But she had underestimated him as well, or at least not been able to kill him. Theo's coat had blunted the impact before it was cut open and his body was newly enhanced by all his Corporeal chambers. By the time he fell below the trees, he was fully in control of himself and simply falling to get out of sight. When he stopped himself just before the ground, his back ached, but it wasn't disabled.

None of that stopped the Slescan scurrying around him. [Theo-sister! Theo-sister!]

"I'll live, Krikree." He rolled his shoulders again, seeking the pain to give him focus. "But we need to help the others or this will turn bad."

Nauda and the Rulers had vanished from the side of the massive trunk and he couldn't find them. It seemed as though Fiyu was attempting to fight Amaeli, likely to a stalemate at best. The Blazekindler wouldn't be gone for long either, so he only had a short time to make an impact.

Unfortunately, he couldn't focus solely on the battle. Lines of flames and cantae had lit a few fires around the city, which would soon spread out of control. Theo began casting gravitational fields, lifting water out of any source available and sending it toward the fires. It took some delicate work, but that would keep Myufuru from burning down.

As soon as he did so, he felt some of Amaeli's attention shift. She noticed the difference and she was trying to find him, even while fighting Fiyu. Clearly she was good, so if they wanted to win the battle they needed to leverage their coordination.

"Krikree, I'm going to open a portal just behind her."

She finally stopped vibrating and stared up at him. "Krikree attack queen?"

"That's right, but it will be a feint." Theo didn't have time to comfort her, so he just treated her like an equal. "We have to take risks or we can't win this. You jump out, attack her, and then jump back into the portal. Understand?"

"Krikree fight." She didn't look happy about it, but she reached into her soulhome and replaced two of her spears with her Fithan pickaxe and an Arbaian warhammer he hadn't seen before.

Even though he should have been fully focused, Theo couldn't help but remember how the Fleshmasker Authority had torn off one of Krikree's arms. He couldn't send her into danger like that again. So when he created his first portal, he used it to hurl torsion bolts at Amaeli from behind.

She moved one of her smaller swords to block and he saw her turn around to look at him through the portal. Just as she started to smile, Theo opened a second portal for Krikree.

To her credit, she leapt through, all four weapons flailing. She struck at Amaeli over and over, even landing some blows through her efforts to defend with her armament coat. There was another sword rising up behind her... Krikree leapt back through the portal the next instant and then he closed them all.

With luck, it would take Amaeli time to find them. Theo was considering his next move when Fiyu's bubble closed over them.

"We must help Nauda." It looked as though Fiyu was just tired, not seriously injured, but emotionally she was beside herself. "The enemy has her pinned!"

"Easy, easy." Theo began working on another portal large enough for all three of them, even as he tried to find Nauda's location. The old orchard, judging from all the flames. "The enemy is just supporting one another randomly, but we're companions. Our coordination is our advantage against them."

Fiyu calmed and took a deep breath. Just in case anyone was listening, Theo gave them his plan via whistles and pheromones, then they all stepped into separate portals.

Theo floated into the air above the orchard, pretending he didn't care about anyone below. Not only was Nauda there, Nanjuma had joined them. The old man was a little burned, but still combat-ready. No time for that: Theo intentionally ignored Krikree sneaking out to grab them and pull them back through the portal.

Instead he put his hands on his hips and glowered. "Your flames are nothing next to my gravity!" He cast a gravitational field as if trying to pin the Blazekindler to the ground.

"Fool." It didn't look like the Blazekindler was in the mood for any banter, because he simply turned and prepared to unleash all his flames.

A blade of cantae cut through his back.

This time Fiyu's surprise attack worked just as they'd hoped: it cut deep into her target's flesh. He was so taken off guard that a vicious fissure broke across his shielding wall. Given time, Fiyu could hack it apart, though his body would give out first.

They wouldn't get that chance. Floating blades slashed down over the orchard, forcing all of them to retreat. The Blazekindler struggled to push himself back up to his arms, blood pouring down his back.

"Such a pity..." Amaeli observed them all from her floating position, then shook her head. "It seems our objective has been destroyed, and the odds are against us, aren't they?"

"Retreat and we'll let you go free," Theo said. She immediately wagged a finger at him.

"And let you kill our Tatian ally? Oh, I'm afraid we need every Authority we can get."

She immediately attacked with multiple smaller floating blades, but those were nothing but a distraction. Fiyu annihilated several, Theo shattered one with a torsion bolt, even Krikree had reemerged to tackle one and smash it into the ground with her hammer.

Theo desperately looked for her giant sword until he realized why it wasn't attacking them: it was targeting the city. He saw the blade pulling back, burning with more cantae than ever before. She'd loaded it with enough power to resist his techniques and now she was planning to swing it directly through a massive swath of the city. Desperate Tatians within clung to one another with no idea of their impending death.

Amaeli was watching him to see what he'd do. Theo realized he didn't know.

He couldn't possibly kill her quickly enough to stop the attack. If he pushed himself to create a larger portal than ever before, he might be able to transport the sword, but that was unlikely to work. Fiyu and Krikree were both fully occupied, while Nauda and Nanjuma had been moved out of range.

So it was up to him, and he really had only one choice.

Another portal took Theo to the giant sword. He began by striking it with cantae bolts, but they couldn't dent the burning cantae. As the sword began to swing, Theo threw himself at the flat of the blade and grabbed it, driving the weapon downward.

He'd hoped to push the tip into the street, but the entire blade flipped with surprising speed. Instead of cutting through the buildings, it slammed him between the flat of the blade and the ground. The force hammered his chest and cracked the entire street.

The impact took enough out of him that Theo wasn't sure how quickly he could react, but then the sword began to dissipate. As he stared upward through the dissolving cantae, he realized that it was over. Amaeli flew away with the Blazekindler over one shoulder, faster than anyone was likely to catch her. Soon she was lost in the glow of the Tatian sun.

Was this a victory or a defeat? Theo sat up with a groan and decided that this might be the victory that cost them the war. They hadn't defeated either enemy Authority, presuming that the Blazekindler would recover. Defeating a few of the lesser soulcrafters and taking back Myufuru were achievements that meant very little in the end. They could even be worse than nothing, if the Landguard reacted poorly.

Despite all that, when he saw Nauda, he felt relief that all of them had survived. She and Nanjuma were walking toward him with pleased expressions.

"The battle is over!" Nauda called through the street. "Myufuru is free!"

Tatian peasants were beginning to emerge now, including a few ashamed-looking Farmguards. A middle-aged man shuffled closer to Theo, lowering his gaze.

"You saved us," the Farmguard said. "I saw that sword overhead and I knew it was going to kill us all. You jumped directly in the path of the swing."

It hadn't been exactly that stupid, and Theo opened his mouth to say as much, but at that moment Nauda reached him. "Indeed he did!" she said with a bright smile. "We apologize for the damage done to your fair city, but it was necessary to protect you."

"Let me know if there are any other fires." Theo forced himself to smile as he stood up beside her. Time to play politics so the Landguard didn't come murder them. "I put out those I could, but we can't afford to miss any."

"Tell me, friend," Nauda leaned in closer, "what were you thinking when you threw yourself in the path of the sword?"

Theo stared at her, then forced a smile. "I had to protect the community, of course."

Nauda's eyes sparkled maliciously. "Indeed, indeed! If I know one thing about my friend here, it's that he loves nothing more than sacrificing for the community."

They had Tatian peasants all around them now, as the word of the battle's end began to spread. An Archcrafter who had been helpless during the battle was perceptive enough to notice that the orchard had been destroyed. He was surrounded on all sides, cheerful peasants approaching to thank him or even beginning to offer food.

Theo gave them his brightest smile. When he looked over at Nauda, he tried to put all his hatred into his eyes. She laughed in response, and despite everything, Theo honestly laughed with her.

~ ~ ~

In the wake of the battle, Friend Theo insisted that they all remain as close together as possible. That was somewhat awkward, with Tatians menacing hospitality from all sides. Only Friend Nauda's protestations, something about different communities, prevented the locals from being offended. They had threatened a feast later that seemed to be inevitable.

Friend Nauda was clearly in her element, reassuring and making promises to the Tatians. It was nice to watch her, so vibrant and cheerful amid everyone. In an ideal world, Fiyu could just observe her from a distance and then they could be alone together later. Sadly, that was not possible, especially not here. Friend Theo performed the social rituals alongside her, apparently irritated. Fiyu observed them for some time and decided that it was some new form of lyingwit.

After the battle Associate Krikree had sat down and immediately gone to sleep, remaining unwaking even when moved. That left Fiyu with only one other known person near her: Ally Nanjuma. She was honestly glad to see him, after so many years. They had not been close, but he had assisted them on multiple occasions and he knew her well enough not to embrace her like he had the others.

"I am glad you are well, Nanjuma." She smiled at him and edged closer in the hope it would ward off other Tatians.

"I'd say the same, but..." Ally Nanjuma looked her over and laughed. "When I last saw you, you were a base soulcrafter - ascending to Authority is doing much better than well!"

"I am also glad we were able to save Myufuru. You do not think the Landguard will be offended?"

Immediately Ally Nanjuma's good humor vanished. "Why do you say that?"

"Because they threatened us earlier. One of them said that they wanted us to help Nlukoko, but the others would react. I do not know how this battle-"

"Wait." Ally Nanjuma reached into his tunic and pulled out a small flower, which he examined before muttering under his breath. "I thought this was the first time you'd returned. If the Landguard already... Nauda, this way!"

He called out to her in a different tone of voice and Friend Nauda immediately stiffened. Friend Theo noticed as well and they all gathered closer together. The knot of known individuals felt more comfortable to Fiyu than the raucous celebration, but her social anxiety had begun to slide into fear. She made sure to note the position of the sleigh in case they needed to retreat and drew everyone closer to it.

"I can't contact Bimanu," Ally Nanjuma told them, "but the Landguard may be coming. You should leave, if you can."

"We have weirkeys," Friend Theo said. "Information might be more important: will they view this as an attack?"

"There's no way to know their internal politics. Even I might be brought before them for judgment, since I've already angered the Landguard twice. It would be safer for all of you to leave at once. I'll cover for you, just go."

Before they could agree on a plan, several more Tatians approached. Normally Fiyu would have hoped her companions could ward them off, but this group was different. They looked serious and they carried a heavy barrel. She could feel ordinary Tatian dirt packed within, surrounding a denser sublime material. One they wished to contain, she presumed.

"We wanted to give you something," the woman at the head of the group said. "Please, take these away from Myufuru."

"What are they?" Friend Theo asked.

"We do not know what the invaders called them, only that they wanted the fruit. They are said to be sublime materials. Perhaps vile ones, but we would rather you have them."

"What kind of materials? What were they doing here?"

Ally Nanjuma was still shifting his muscles anxiously and Friend Nauda reached out to take Friend Theo's shoulder. "Are you sure we have time for this?"

"We need information," he whispered back, then he turned to the delegation. They spoke to one another inconclusively before an older man with dirt-covered clothes answered.

"They took over all the fields," he explained. "They planted a thousand dark seeds, from which they harvested a dozen vile pods. All in a search for one seed, the one they planted in the old orchard. But there were others, potent seeds they didn't notice... we kept them here."

Friend Theo opened the barrel and sifted through the dirt. As soon as he did so, Fiyu could feel the anti-life cantae radiating out into the air. Ally Nanjuma flinched, but Friend Theo appeared even more interested. "You hid these?"

"We were keeping them for the Landguard," the woman said. "They said they wanted anything that wasn't fully grown. But they never did anything to help us, not once. And I have a cousin up north who says-"

Her sentence was drowned out by a roar of power as light erupted in the sky. Several Landguards blazed overhead, fully drawing on their power. Fiyu realized with a start that they were not coming to negotiate, they would be unleashing terrible attacks soon. Worse, Friend Theo was kneeling beside the barrel, examining the new materials, and entirely taken off guard. He would be too slow.

Fiyu reached into her robes and grasped her weirkey. She was completely unprepared, but there was no time, so she hurled them into the void.