Deathseed: Chapters 29-30 (Patreon)

At first I thought the formatting on the post was screwed up, but apparently Patreon changed the editor so it's even further from WYSIWYG. =/ Why do you do this, Patreon.

Anyway, the Krikree exchanges in these chapters read differently without the fully context. Krikree fans and Slest-enjoyers will hopefully enjoy where we're headed.

-

Chapter 29

It ended up taking them three entire days to check with local informants, scout the region, and pick their best targets. Theo tried to convince himself that it wasn't wasted time. The whole reason they'd gone to this part of Slest instead of randomly jumping between worlds was so that they could carefully choose their best opportunities.

When he got everyone together with their goals decided, he actually started to believe it.

"Krikree and I will be ranging through this whole area." Nauda bent over the regional map they'd drawn on the ground and waved a finger. "The beetles are complaining about sublime beasts, and even some soldier ants have been lost. Hopefully Krikree and I can track them down, and hopefully they have sublime materials, and hopefully no one else has harvested them. Whole lot of hope."

"Predators hide." Krikree sat stiffly at Nauda's side as she reported. "Run from queens. Krikree and Nauda-queen hunt."

"And they won't run from me?"

"Nauda-queen look like queen, but not Authority."

"In theory, I could help you as well," Fiyu said, "as I doubt the sublime beasts would be able to pierce my stealth technique. But I believe you will be fine on your own, and it seems there is a higher priority, so there should be no trouble."

That made Nauda cast a strange glance at Fiyu. There was something going on between them and Theo wasn't sure what it was. Maybe they'd had an argument, maybe they were just fumbling with their emotions, either way he didn't want to get involved. He had to remind himself that they were both in their mid-twenties by Earth standards, and he'd definitely had a lot he still needed to figure out back then.

Before they could get the meeting off track, Theo took control. "Fiyu and I will be headed to the ancient termite city here." He had to tap his foot off the edge of the map. "Only accessible by weirkey, obviously. Based on what Nauda and Bluepetal reported, there's probably a lot more left to find. Now that we have Authorities, we can try to loot the entire thing."

"I believe that my senses will be able to map the entire region," Fiyu said while probing in Nauda's direction.

From the other side of the circle, Nanjuma unfolded his arms. "I do not know this world, but the inhabitants here have been welcoming so far." He smiled at the group. "Please, pursue your own paths while I amble toward ascension. I will monitor the situation, exchange messages if this takes longer than expected, and of course take care of the other Tatians."

"And I'll horko around!" Senka popped up from behind him. "Just meandering all on my own, contemplating how useless I am, forlorn and-"

"Alright." Theo clapped his hands together as he interrupted her. "Now that we've gone over all the important parts of the plan, there's just emergency measures. If things get rough, we regroup at one another's locations or the beetle city. If things go really bad, our backup is still Ugustial. Any questions?"

There didn't seem to be any, and they'd all brought their supplies to the meeting in their soulhomes, so there was no sense wasting any more time. Since they only had one Slescan weirkey, and Nauda's group didn't have an Authority anyway, he'd need to play taxi.

Since he wasn't as familiar with Slest, Theo took his time as he activated his weirkey and pulled them into the void. Even though he'd bet on himself against almost all the queens and princes he'd met, there was no sense getting involved in unnecessary fights. Plus, it was impossible to know the situation in any given colony and he didn't want to cause chaos in regions that were moving along fine without him.

They returned to Slest in the middle of a wind-swept blue plain, many days away from the beetle city. Nauda pulled a cloak out of her soulhome against the wind and turned aside to speak to Fiyu. For his part, Theo bent down beside Krikree.

"Don't take any unnecessary risks, alright?" He rubbed the base of her antennae and she didn't respond as much as usual. "Try to track down all the categories of sublime materials that we talked about. When I get back, we'll do some direct soulcrafting."

"Krikree help Nauda-queen."

Her antennae stood bolt upright and he wasn't sure how to interpret it. She had definitely been more subdued since they returned to Slest and he hadn't pursued the issue. Hopefully it was just readjustment and the long period of scouting and hunting would make her more comfortable.

But that was an issue for another time, because they needed to move on.

Leaving behind two more of their number, it was just him and Fiyu. That made it even easier to maintain his discipline as the fabric of Slest folded, then reenter the world above the termite city. If it had been dangerous and uncharted territory even for hive queens, hopefully it would contain worthwhile materials.

When they reappeared in the air over the fallen city, Theo's eyes widened. The descriptions from Nauda hadn't prepared him: the ancient termites had built skyscrapers on all sides that had endured the decades since their extinction. Unlike termite mounds on Earth, these seemed to be built from reworked stone. In a few places where damage had been done to the surfaces he saw grids of sublime materials, almost like rebar. How advanced had this civilization been?

"Oh my, there are a great many tunnels." Fiyu drew her legs up underneath her and began to focus. "This will strain even my ascended senses. However, we can begin our explorations immediately, perhaps starting with the largest towers."

"Sounds like a plan." Theo cracked his neck and flew to start the work.

~ ~ ~

Even though Nauda had been a Ruler the last time she'd explored Slest, and hadn't ascended since, she felt entirely different. She was no longer broken and desolate, she'd rebuilt her soulhome from the ground up. Instead of consuming her alive, the bondsfungi added to her strength. The landscape, while every bit as brutal as it had been before, was now a challenge instead of a hellscape.

It might help that now she was predator instead of prey. She and Krikree had developed a working relationship within the first day and now they hunted smoothly.

[Nauda-queen! South!]

The pheromones wafted through the air and managed to reach Nauda's mind. Strangely, Krikree had become much easier to understand than the beetles. At first she'd thought that it was just that Krikree was more humanoid, but she'd gradually realized that Krikree was modifying her pheromones to make them more comprehensible to her.

In any case, their instruction was clear. Nauda kept low to the ground and edged her way around another spiky blue bush.

According to the plan, Krikree would lead their target to the south, hopefully into the trap. This newest predator was a small bug: Nauda had caught a glimpse once before it escaped and didn't think that it looked impressive. Even rounder than the beetles, with a large blue sac on the end. But apparently it could interfere with targets and pursuers on many levels, including mental and pheromonal.

There would be no more messages, just the opportunity to strike. Nauda's fingers were getting sweaty on her staff and she idly wondered if there was a way to stop sweating. Probably her Nine Worlds Feast, once she improved it a little more.

Suddenly a blue shape flickered ahead of her. No more time to think, only hunting.

Krikree chased after the round bug, menacing it with her weapons. Abruptly the bug turned, and a [Confusion] pheromone smothered the entire region. Nauda managed to shrug it off, but Krikree slumped to the ground, eyes dull. She remained there, even as the bug crawled toward her and extended a sharp proboscis.

Nauda's binding grabbed around its central body and tugged it into the air. The bug thrashed and emitted disruptive cantae, but it slid off Nauda's defenses and she pushed through. A split second later it disappeared, as if it had escaped. Compared to Fiyu's stealth the attempt was sad: Nauda kept it bound in place as she walked closer.

[Death] and [Confusion] pheromones flooded out and Krikree cowered. All Nauda needed to do was stop focusing and she could ignore them. She'd almost reached the bug now and it hadn't wriggled free, so the hunt was nearly over.

Suddenly a wave of pure terror struck Nauda's mind. Even though she knew it must be artificial, she still stumbled. The bug was in her head, seeming to expand in the air, those soulless little eyes boring into her own as it consumed her mind...

She jerked down her staff and smashed the bug into the ground. Not hard enough to splatter it, just to break all its influence. Before the bug could recover, Nauda closed in and struck it on the head with the butt end of her staff.

All the unnatural effects ended. Nauda took a few heartbeats to catch her breath while Krikree crawled back to her feet.

"Nauda-queen strong!" Krikree skittered to their target and began cheerfully dissecting it. "Look, look! Sublime material for hunting."

Even though the last thing she wanted to do was mess around with bug guts, Nauda accepted the gift she was handed. Krikree seemed to have pulled out a spike that looked like it was made of purple crystal. On reflection, Nauda realized that it had been beside the bug's antennae and contributed to how it sensed its environment so carefully.

Nauda drew the spike into her soulhome and climbed up her life tower. Ever since they started ranging, Krikree had been shoving materials at her to make her a better hunter. At first Nauda had wondered if it was an implicit insult, but now she suspected it was just to be helpful.

This spike was one of the few materials that actually matched her soulhome. It was dark and calm enough to match the shadowmind, so Nauda figured out a way to merge them within a wooden shell that could hang from her branches. With this, hopefully her vitality sense was sharpened. Despite the difficulty in finding materials, Nauda thought it was the right direction for her soulcrafting: she wasn't just passively feeling the warmth of life around her, she was a hunter tracking down the sources.

So far Krikree had refused to soulcraft any of the sublime materials they'd discovered. It had taken an order just to get her to store them. Nauda wanted to ask her about why her emotions had shifted, but Krikree seemed reluctant to talk and there was plenty of work to do.

Including in her own soulhome. After so few of their targets had materials that could fill her empty rooms, Nauda had decided that it would take a miracle for her to ascend in time. Instead, her highest priority was to find a sublime flame for Fiyu. It would be a perfect gift, since Fiyu needed something in her fourth heart chamber. That would increase their collective strength more than her own soulcrafting.

Honestly, finding materials for Krikree might also be a better use of her time. The Slescan was further from ascension, but more lethal in a fight. She might have been neutralized by the round bug, but Nauda had been shocked at how much raw force she could deploy in previous hunts.

[Nauda-queen approve?] Krikree twitched nearby and Nauda realized that she had assembled all the sublime materials from their quarry.

[Of course I approve.] She did her best to send reassuring pheromones even as she looked over the materials.

A few of the remnants of the sublime beast might be useful, just not to her. The most powerful was a crystal with mental attributes, no doubt useful for a Corporeal Floor or certain fancy techniques. In other words, the opposite of what she needed, and not even a good gift for Fiyu. Well, at least this bug had Ruler-tier or better materials.

She didn't want to hint any of that to Krikree or she would flinch. It was sad to see the Slescan regress from being so full of life on Arbai to subservient now. Maybe it was the atmosphere or maybe old patterns were just reasserting themselves. Everyone liked to pretend that life was a smooth path upward, with lessons and improvements, but in her experience there was plenty of backsliding and forgetting as well. Too much.

[What hunt next?] Krikree sat frozen beside her, but her antennae twitched anxiously.

"Let's try the invisible spider beast," Nauda said. Trying to plan in pheromones would just make her sound like an idiot, but she had a new idea. "I was thinking, instead of chasing it, let's start by laying several wards..."

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Chapter 30

It had been one week since Fiyu had seen Friend Nauda. She had no idea whether that was good or bad. For her, that seemed a reasonable amount of time to be away from companions, to make their reunion sweeter. Would it be painful for Friend Nauda? Would she feel alone, or would she begin to lose her desire to be lifemates?

Normally Fiyu would have managed to push away all such thoughts. Unfortunately, in between excursions exploring the termite city, the work she most needed to do was soulcrafting bricks, so her mind was free to breed doubts.

Despite the difficulties, she was grateful to Friend Theo for allowing her to make such progress. He could easily have requested her presence on every trip, and he technically took on additional risk venturing into the tunnels himself, as his senses were less potent than hers. But she needed a great deal of time to finish the rooms of her fourth floor, so he had advised her to focus on it.

So far the exploration of the abandoned city had been productive. Melancholy at times, but productive.

Her reflections were interrupted when she felt Friend Theo emerging from the hole in the center of the city. In order to reduce time traveling through tunnels, they had cut a square entrance in the center. Now he rose from it, carrying a sack filled with dense stones on his back. A familiar material. She didn't need her senses to know that his forehead would be tense with irritation.

"More anti-weirkey stone," Friend Theo said as he dropped the sack beside her. "Those beetles better be grateful for all this."

"You do not think it might be better to give to House Blacksilver?" she asked.

"They could use it, but I think they have enough Fithan materials for defenses. Besides, I think anti-weirkey materials work better in their own worlds, so all the work to transport them isn't worth it."

"Did you discover anything else?"

"Not in the sense of sublime materials, but we did break through into the dense area you mentioned. I think you should come look at this." Friend Theo stepped out the side of the tower, so she hastened to follow.

Fiyu greatly enjoyed the termite city for its own sake, as a work of art. Her senses slid over all the tunnels in pleasure. At the largest scale, she could sense the rationality of it all, the organization that allowed the city to function. Yet in the twists surrounding the terminal caverns there was a disordered organic structure as local desires predominated.

No doubt others might have been nervous to descend into the dark shaft and explore the tunnels where all lights had long ago flickered out. Apparently queens hesitated to explore such abandoned tunnels because they would lose too many soldiers in ambushes, by ancient mechanisms or lingering predators.

Such things did not concern Fiyu. The darkness itself was peaceful, she could easily sense any ambush, and Friend Theo had cleared out the tunnels ahead of them.

She was more interested in what he had found that deserved her direct attention, inside one of the regions that resisted her senses. As she got closer, the obscuring stone gave way and she began to feel pits of varying densities. There were intact stairs leading to a chamber, in the flat style she'd come to think of as termite architecture. Given the sharp edges of the stone, this region had not been eroded like many others.

"Take a look at the containers," Friend Theo said. He no longer displayed much tension in darkness, he simply hovered relaxed within his aura. "They're obviously reasonably powerful, but none of them are exactly conventional sublime materials. I was hoping you could determine more."

"Yes, I can." Fiyu could tell enough from any position, but she knelt beside a pit to touch the thick liquid within. "I suspect this was a chamber for experiments. This, for example, is similar to the edible material the beetles produce. Despite being abandoned for so long, it does not appear to have spoiled."

"That sounds like something that the beetles would care about, and no one else."

"Most likely. But this section... it is organic, yet similar to stone. I think we should take some to Navim and see if he could produce something useful with it."

"Then we'll put it on the list."

There was more tension in his muscles now as he crossed his arms. Clearly, Friend Theo was irritable that most of their discoveries had not been directly useful to him.

"Were you hoping to find more?" she asked.

"Basically." Friend Theo rotated to face her by instinct, even though his eyes were useless in darkness. "You can increase your strength just by finishing your walls, Nanjuma will probably ascend, and Nauda has most of what she needs. I feel like I'm not pulling my weight."

"None of this would be possible without you." Fiyu knelt to begin collecting some of the most useful materials. "And we have not explored all of the city yet. I believe we will find more relevant materials as we delve deeper, into the restricted sections."

"Probably so. Thanks, Fiyu."

It was always so easy to speak to Friend Theo, even when he was experiencing strong emotions. Unlike Friend Nauda, where Fiyu often tripped over herself. She wondered if it would be appropriate to ask him about their relationship, or whether that would be upsetting somehow. Tatian customs could be shockingly open and yet they were filled with emotional pitfalls.

Much easier to focus on work. Fiyu extended her senses and enjoyed the city.

~ ~ ~

Nauda raced over the Slescan plains, leaving aside all the thoughts that troubled her. No confusion, only the hunt. Her heart beat steadily and powerfully, her soulhome empowered her body, her senses sharpened until there was nothing but her prey. In those moments, she actually felt like a predator.

The swarming insects retreated in front of her, desperately fleeing. According to Krikree, they ate their prey in a thousand small bites while they were still alive. That sounded like an awful way to go, but when the hand-sized bugs had attacked Nauda, they'd realized that they couldn't get through her skin. Now they fled, trying to protect their larger queen in the center.

One thing she'd give the bugs: they were fast. Even running flat out, Nauda was only barely closing the distance. She continued pushing her body only because of the pheromones she scented ahead of her, promising that the trap was close.

Krikree sprang from underneath a mat of Slescan grass, her weapons spinning. Her lance tore through the ground in front of the swarm and her hammer smashed into their ranks. The queen stopped, twisted, and tried to run, but Nauda was already on top of her with her staff ready.

After that, it was over in seconds. Nauda dropped down to sit on a rock and catch her breath while Krikree cheerfully cracked open their find.

Most likely only the queen would have a powerful sublime material. That was slightly disappointing, but a larger part of Nauda didn't care. Imagining her beetles crying out as they were swarmed by these bugs made her heart ache, so killing them was worth it for its own sake. Over the past weeks, they'd cleared a frontier region of most of its major threats.

[Nauda-queen! Hunt materials!]

"Thanks, Krikree, but I think I have enough. You've really helped me sharpen my hunting section... why don't you take them?"

[Not! Krikree guard sublime.]

All the hunting had finally ingrained her vitality sense into her natural instincts. Nauda expected that she'd have to train with Fiyu later, but she thought the new Slescan materials had finished the soulcrafting side of it. Provided that her finished work passed Fiyu's approval, anyway.

It was easier not to think about her, so Nauda instead inventoried everything they'd collected.

Would any of it be enough? After so many years promising herself that she would go back to save Nlukoko from Ariano, she was going back carried by her friends. Nauda didn't feel any need to kill Ariano herself, she only wanted Nlukoko to be free, but she wanted to find enough sublime materials so that she could at least contribute to a battle between Authorities. If she couldn't fight herself, she could at least contribute to the victory.

One of her strongest tactics for taking down Ariano might be supporting Fiyu: they'd retrieved many stealth materials that Slescan predators used to reach their prey, but they simply weren't good enough. Nauda knew at a glance that none of them would be adequate for Fiyu's highly polished blueprint. There hadn't been any sublime flames, either, except a burning acid that was all wrong for a heart chamber.

She'd resolved not to think about Fiyu and immediately backslid. Nauda rubbed her forehead and refocused, as she'd attempted so many times before.

The mental enhancement crystal had proved so potent that Nauda had actually tried to find a way to integrate it into her soulhome, but it just felt wrong - too cold, too mathematical. Maybe they could at least trade that one for something useful. They'd also stumbled across a rare purple flower that Krikree had called a foreverose, which allegedly had uses in Immortality Conduits. One of the predators they'd hunted down, a beetle that sprayed acid everywhere, had sublime blood that allegedly helped immortality as well.

If only an Immortality Conduit would help them survive the coming fight.

One of their most difficult hunts had led to their strongest sublime material, and also her greatest frustration. That predatory bug had an absolutely lethal ability: it could make its body immaterial so that blows slipped directly through it. When the time came to strike, its fangs could still connect, as many bleeding wounds across Nauda's arms and legs had proved.

They'd hunted the elongated ant unceasingly, even as they grew fatigued. Eventually Krikree had tried to defend Nauda and ended up flailing uselessly against her incorporeal opponent. For a moment, Nauda had actually feared they might die.

Somehow she'd managed to grab the ant with her nullification glove. When its ability failed, Nauda had torn it in half and the hunt had ended in a shower of gore.

The sublime beast's heart was a powerful green mass, almost pure sublime material. It was so potent it threatened to slip through her hands and even out of her soulhome before she'd soulcrafted a special chest to contain it. One more reward from all their efforts, one more she couldn't actually use.

[Nauda-queen want material?] Krikree offered up the gem-like scales from the swarm queen.

"Store them with the others," Nauda said, then immediately changed her mind. "Unless you think any of this could be useful for Fiyu?"

[Nauda-queen give Fiyu-queen gift?]

"Well, I hope so. If I can't find enough materials for us, at least I should find some for her."

[Nauda-queen want mate?]

That made Nauda hesitate. Krikree crouched stiffly beside her, mostly frozen, but that was more personal than she'd been for most of the hunt. Nauda turned toward her fully and decided that she might as well ask. Maybe bug logic was what she needed to sort out her thoughts.

"Do queens mate with one another sometimes?"

"Queens do whatever want." Krikree regarded her, unblinking eyes revealing nothing. "No children, but strong alliances. Happens."

"Huh." Nauda rubbed at her arm where she'd received a small bruise. "Do you approve of us, Krikree? I mean, do you think it will work out?"

"Krikree is scout."

They weren't going to get anywhere that way. Nauda sighed and moved on. "Alright, Krikree. In your opinion as an expert scout, do you think we should stay out here much longer? It feels like we're running out of targets."

Krikree stared at her silently before reverting to pheromones. [Few predators. Weak.]

If it was good enough for Krikree, it was good enough for Nauda. Time to find their way back and hope everything they'd found was enough somehow.