Chapter 2.12 (Patreon)

For the first time since the Woodson Fort’s inception, Flint called an official meeting of the council. He sent Ed off to fetch Seven and Twylip. On the other hand, Alais wasn’t hard to find. Winona stuck his head in the old puck’s office and summoned him to the [City Planning Table]. Flint hadn’t invited him to the council—Alais reused to be involved in decision making—but his insight would prove invaluable.

While waiting for the others to gather, Flint willed the sand to display the restored sewer system. It showed all blockages were now cleared and all the inhabited parts of the fort connected to it. The fort and gardens had stone channels connecting to the waste deposition room. The rest fed directly into the pipeline. Almost every channel had a barrier separating the sewer and water system. In most cases, levers disconnected the waste canals and water supply. Others worked off weight system.

The hole at the back of the central waste room also connected to the underground rivers. It needed a constant supply of flowing water, after all. Without movement, the greywater weeds wouldn’t filter out the waste. Then they wouldn’t grow, and the fish would have nothing to eat. Flint realised soon that he was mostly functioning on faith. Not in some divine deity but Alais’s knowledge. Flint struggled to believe it was as potent as the old puck claimed. He didn’t have any experience with essence-empowered vegetation, though, and could do little more than believe.

Ever since the Sleeping Fort turned into the Woodson Fort, Flint had learned that faith played a role in everything he did. He needed to believe in Adam to arm the forces and Twylip to manage the day to day. Finally, Flint had faith in Winona’s ability to train the defensive forces and keep everything together for the inevitable attacks. He hoped his trust in them wasn’t misplaced like the Iron Council’s on Colonel Smith.

Flint was painfully aware of the fact that he didn’t know what he was doing. As a builder, he had essential experience as a foreman, but that was the limit of his leading expertise. The only animal rearing he understood involved raising dogs, and his knowledge of agriculture was even more limited. Unless he believed in his friends, keeping the fort functional would prove impossible.

Seven arrived within minutes of her summoning, but Twylip kept them waiting for close to half an hour. “I’m sorry,” she said on arrival. “You called me in the midst of a delicate alchemical experiment. If I stopped midway, we’d have to wait another month for the ingredients to regrow.”

“It’s fine,” Flint said. “This is a last-minute meeting. I hope we’ll have the time to plan and schedule things properly next time.”

“It is somewhat of an emergency, though,” Winona added. “Perhaps we should arrange terms to determine degrees of importance in the future. It will allow us to arrange last-minute meetings whenever necessary without causing panic. The people are worried right now, and I’m not sure whether they should be.”

“That’s a concern for later—"

“What’s going on?” Seven asked, interrupting Flint. Her mastery of the common tongue had drastically improved over the past few weeks. She still had a strong accent, but Flint still understood her. “One of the goats just went into labour. I should be monitoring the birth. We need more milk, and the riders must have more mounts.”

“I’d appreciate it if we didn’t talk over one another and gave everyone a chance to speak,” Flint told the brownie. “We have found neighbours below us, and we need to discuss how to deal with them.”

“Cave nymphs or Draco-worshippers?” Alais asked, raising his eyebrows. “I hope you haven’t kept me waiting for war or diplomatic discussions.”

“Their essence carries signs of the void, Alais.” Winona’s words made the old puck’s eyes widen. “Ed!” She yelled, and the young man peeked in not long after. “Can you fetch me some paper and a writing stick?” She returned her attention to the council. “It might be easier if I just draw them. They’re not like any fae I’ve seen.”

“Are you sure it's not a creature that got trapped underground?"

"Believe me, Alais. I pray to Luna I'm wrong. It wasn't exactly the same, but the creature's essence had similarities to what we found in the Viking’s stomachs."

"Hold on a moment!" Twylip's brows furrowed as she turned to Flint. "You found something dangerous and didn't tell me?"

"I advised them to keep it quiet until I identified it," Alais said, procuring a hand-sized jar seemingly out of nowhere. The piece inside carried similarities to what Flint had seen before, but it was bigger and uglier. It looked like a tentacles tip, but instead of suckered ugly barbed hooks extended from the purple flesh. "There are as many different creatures in the void as there are species on this disk. Many are dangerous. Others are not. We don't know what this is yet. I didn't want to cause needless panic until I understood it better."

Flint pulled back his empathic senses and ignored the bloodhounds' whine outside. Instead, he focused on feeling essence and focused on the jar. The alien sensation he felt twisted his stomach and activated his gag reflex. The sensation reminded Flint of rot that looked like tar but smelled of death and sewage. He had to disconnect from it straight away.

Seven's expression suggested that she felt the same as him. Her pale-green face had contorted into a disgusted grimace.

"That essence doesn't feel friendly." She growled, turning away from the container. "Remove it from my presence, Alais. You bring pieces of void monsters into our home and hide them. I understand why the other fae didn't want you leading. Your curiosity is more important than safety." She turned her attention to Flint and Winona. "I expected better from you."

"Flint didn't know what he's dealing with," Winona said. "I'll take responsibility for the silence."

The room quietened when Ed returned with the wiring stick and paper. Alais had removed the jar from sight, and Flint couldn’t feel any trace of the essence either. Ed curiously glanced at the council before leaving.

Everyone waited in silence while Winona drew Schleb. At first, Flint was surprised by her sketching skills. The lines proportions were exact, and precision accompanied every line. Then he reminded himself of Winona’s age. She had lived for well over a century. He doubted every single minute of it had gone to arcane and combat training. She had likely found other things to fill her time. As the drawing approached completion, Flint felt something stir deep inside. It wasn't just the morning's unsaturated hunger for Winona but a deep respect and appreciation too. He liked the fae woman a lot more than he was ready to let on.

"That is a strange specimen," Alais said, examining the specimen. "If they understand the terms river, bat and have tools for hunting, they're not stupid. Rich essence signature means they have aetherite in their blood too—"

"Fae have aetherite in their blood?" Twylip asked, seemingly excited by the revelation.

Alais nodded. "It's what makes us better at storing, conducting and refining essence. Much like the iron in your blood, it gives ours the red hue too." He didn't seem to mind the interruption and gave Twylip a moment to scribble notes before carrying on. "We need to figure out two things. Are they outsiders trying to settle on our disk? If not, how long have they been in the caves and what made them how they are? It must've been outside influence."

All eyes moved to Winona’s drawing as Qlais highlighted parts of it. "The lack of eyes and monstrous ears suggest they almost exclusively in the depths without light," the old puck said. "I doubt we're in danger of them coming to the surface and contesting Flint's claim on this territory. If they're really connected to bats, they're most likely comfortable in deep cave systems where they see best using sound too. Despite the unusual essence signatures, I doubt they're dangerous."

"Is it a chance we can take, though?" Winona asked. "They're living under our feet, and my gut tells me that they're voidlings. What if they have a tentacle monstrosity down there with them? We can't ignore such a threat."

"We won't," Flint said. "Instead, we'll start a dialogue with Schleb's chief and start a dialogue with them. Besides, do we have enough people that can breathe underwater and fight?" Winona shook her head. "Precisely, even if they mean us harm, there's nothing we can do about them yet. Instead, I propose we befriend them—"

"If their essence tastes anything like that thing's, they can't be friends." Seven's tone carried venom, and spittle sprayed from her mouth. "We need to keep them at a distance."

"Friendship doesn't mean we invite them into our home," Flint told her. "Schleb was interested in fruit and offered us fish. They have access to places we can't reach. I think the smartest thing to do would be to trade with them. It will give us the opportunity to learn more about them and figure out whether they just have unfortunate lineage or are dangerous as well. Perhaps we can use them to guard the tunnels and waterways around us so our enemies can't use them to attack."

"I'm with Flint," Twylip said straight away. "I know nothing about these Black River Bats, but we are in no position to fight them if they live in darkness and can breathe underwater. We need to learn more about them and buy time. In the meantime, I can arrange deterrents if they do prove dangerous."

"I can live with that," Winona said after taking a moment to think about it.

"I don't like it one bit." Seven appeared to have calmed, but her voice had risen in pitch. Flint could sense the fear and annoyance radiating off her. It was a swirl of yellow and violet. "I can't fault the plan, though. Suppose any of them do step foot on our lands. Ensure they don't enter the garden or the fort. I don't want their corruption reaching the children."

"Understood." Flint nodded. "Let’s arrange a peace offering of our products and perhaps some of our sweet preserves too. Let's ensure the childminders keep the little ones within the internal defences until we know more. I'll do the same with pups."

The council agreed and dispersed not long after. Even though Flint would have to delay the current objective's completion, he left the meeting feeling good about the results. He hadn't just followed advice and done what everyone else wanted. Instead, he had come up with a solution and ensured everyone heard what he had to say.