Path of Stars, Ch 10: Emerald Nagas (Patreon)

Sam’s eyes narrowed as he observed the mercenaries, evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of dealing with them. At the moment, they were trapped outside the pillars and the enchantments blocked their vision of anything inside, so it was unlikely that they knew he was here.

From the look of them, they were probably up to no good. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be attacking his defenses. Whether they knew it or not, they’d already given him a bad impression of their guild, as well as of exiles in general.

How had they found this place? He grumbled as he began to walk toward the side they were attacking.

If he could have moved the hall, he might have just ignored them and left, but he wasn’t capable of storing it in a spatial artifact yet. He needed to add a more complex enchantment to get the vast amount of stone to shrink into a dimensional space, and he would need to study how to do it.

If he did nothing, however, they would damage his forge, and that wasn’t something he would allow. He shook his head as he stopped just inside the defenses and reached out to touch one of the runic pillars. He could feel the effect of their attacks better here.

It looked like the enchantments on their strange swords were for projecting a cutting force, but there was an unfamiliar concept behind it that was doing most of the damage. It was different from the edge concept that he was familiar with.

At the current rate, they would drain the defenses in about half a day. He grumbled again as he decided that he’d have to deal with it.

They must have shown up recently, near the end of his work on the cloak, or he would have noticed them before. He didn’t get any impression of essence from them, which meant they were probably equivalent in strength to the bellisagi chieftain on Aster Fall or a bit stronger, but he only felt a moderate sense of danger from their presence. The real trouble would be if there were more of them.

Despite their attack on his hall, he was somewhat curious about them, since this was the first time that he’d met any of the younger races. He wanted to know more about their connection to the naga race of Outsiders, if there was one. If they were here by accident, perhaps he could get some information from them.

Either way, their fate would be in their own hands.

His eyes flared as he began to carve a series of runes into the air around him, and a few minutes later two gleaming bracers condensed from astral ice and crystal flame in front of him. Wordlessly, he slid one onto each wrist. He didn’t have his main bracers, but that didn’t mean he had to rely completely on ad hoc spells.

He spent a little while longer infusing a series of runic spells into the two bracers, creating a chain of stars that gleamed on the surface. Then he tapped on the surface of each, turning them to a dark sapphire hue that revealed nothing about what was within. About an hour had passed now, and he decided that would have to be enough.

With a flick of his will, he activated the defenses in his cloak, causing it to shine with a blue-white light. The stars in the interior began to move through the dark fabric, spiraling across the ethereal depths.

Then he walked through the pillars to meet his uninvited guests.

The silver barrier that covered the exterior of the hall flowed across his shoulders like water. As he stepped onto the barren stone of the asteroid, he was about two hundred feet away from where the nagas were coiled, but he was easily visible.

The nagas’ had enough human features that it was easy to read their expressions and he saw a wave of shock pass over them as soon as he appeared. Their blades halted in the air as they spun to face him, their coils writhing to stabilize their bodies.

They were holding a blade in each of their four hands and they crossed them in front of their chests in two X shapes, one higher and one lower in a defensive posture.

“Nagas…what insanity gives you the courage to attack my hall?” Sam’s voice was a low growl as he stared across the distance at them. “Your reason had best be good.”

Anger at the attack was surging through his veins, especially now that he saw them so close with their weapons raised. Since they were already exiles, he didn’t plan to treat them gently.

Shock was better.

His words came with a wave of astral energy and crystal flame that soared around him, blending with the defenses of the hall and cascading around the area. The typical warmth of his tone was a scorching heat.

He folded his arms across his chest as he looked down at them and waited for their answer. He hadn’t thought about it now, but at twenty feet tall the nagas weren’t even half of his own height. They might have come up to his waist if they stretched.

The diagonal stripes on the nagas’ cheeks flared wider as their pupils narrowed, which he assumed meant they were surprised. Their coils writhed under them as they edged farther apart and spread out. It looked like they were used to fighting together, particularly against spell casters.

“Who speaks...” the Level 315 naga in the front, the one named Asek, hissed as he took in Sam’s height and froze, studying him. He was speaking in a language that was somehow familiar, but it was different from anything on Aster Fall.

The Path is translating for you, the Titan Star announced in his mind. I am ensuring that they hear your words in their own language as well.

The naga hesitated as he studied Sam and then quickly changed what he was about to say.

“Esteemed one, we did not know this place was occupied by one such as you. We beg for sanctuary from the chaos winds.” Asek backed up another ten feet and inclined his head in a sinuous bow, his swords still crossed in front of him.

To the sides, the other two nagas seemed to catch on and copied the bow, but they stayed silent.

“Sanctuary?” Sam asked, his voice a little calmer. He could guess what it meant, since the Chaos Wild was a dangerous place, but despite their actions, his frown didn’t fade. “Why do you seek it? This is deep in the Chaos Wild and to come here you must have prepared for this place.”

Asek hesitated, his head curving from side to side as if he were thinking, before he answered.

“We are but helpless travelers who were caught in a chaos storm and thrown here,” he hissed at last. “This is far from our usual paths. The enchantments on our armor that ward against the chaos winds are nearly expired. Without them, we will die in the storms. We beg for your mercy and the time to recharge them.”

The Right of Sanctuary is recorded in the Path, the Titan Star announced. It was instituted by the Council of Nine as a fundamental right for all races to take shelter while traveling, since the Void is dangerous, but it is typically upheld only by authorities in the settled galaxy. There is no record of it being applied in the Chaos Wild.

The explanation came at the speed of thought, but the Titan Star refrained from passing judgment. Sam considered the information as he studied the nagas in silence.

“This is why you were attacking my hall?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow. The spellforged bracers he’d just made sparkled like dark gems from where his arms were still folded, making the nagas’ eyes fix on them.

“We were hoping to enter and find a safe place,” the naga hissed in agreement. He bowed again, but the shine of a sharp light in his vertical pupils didn’t escape Sam’s notice. “Should we have known your esteemed self was here, we would never have attacked your wards. Please forgive our arrogance.”

At that moment, the Level 302 Deep Hunter-Ensigiled Sorcerer called Sleset, who was standing off to the side, hissed in surprise. His attention had been fixed on Sam’s features while the first was speaking, and now it seemed he couldn’t contain himself any longer. “He’s a...”

“Silence!” the first naga commanded before it could do more than let out a brief sound. “Do not interfere!”

The second naga writhed, his coils moving over one another as if he wanted to run away, but he stayed where he was. When he looked back at Sam, the diagonal slashes on his cheeks were paler than usual.

“I beg the esteemed one’s forgiveness for my subordinate’s foolish interruption,” Asek hissed. His tone was smooth and pleasant. “Our protections are nearly drained and I fear for our lives. May we have sanctuary and enter your dwelling?”

“By all means.” Sam chuckled as he waved toward the pillars, but his tone was flat. “Enter my hall to shelter from the winds. If you come in peace, you will find it.”

If it hadn’t been for his desire to fish information out of these three, he would have already dealt with them, since they were clearly up to no good. He’d be surprised if they didn’t attack when his back was turned.

As it stood, however, he wanted to know about the local region and that meant playing along. It didn’t make much difference to him whether he fought them out here or inside his hall. His enchantments were even stronger inside.

A few moments later, the nagas coiled through the barrier and found themselves inside the hall, where they began to look around with glee. Sam followed them in as he activated a shielding enchantment that he normally left alone.

As soon as he did, the howling of the Chaos Wild’s elemental currents disappeared, leaving only a deep stillness behind. Until now, he hadn’t bothered to keep out the winds, since he liked them blowing through the pillars, but he would play host for a little while.

He caught the attention of the three nagas and pointed toward the opposite end from his forge, where he had built a large stone table and some benches for seating. It wasn’t very ornate, designed in the same understated style as the rest of his hall.

The stone looked weathered, as if it had endured the ages, but it was fashioned into rounded edges to form the table and benches. Twisting columns held them up from below as sturdy legs. There was a stone pitcher on the table and to the side was a large fireplace, which was currently empty.

When he’d created this area, he’d wondered if he would ever entertain guests, but he’d made it out of habit, since it was familiar and he’d been thinking of evenings by the fireside. He hadn’t imagined that his first visitors would be naga mercenaries with questionable motives.

The pitcher on the table was currently empty, but with a gesture, a shining blue column appeared from the air and filled it with water. Elemental Mastery made such things simple.

Another gesture brought the fireplace to life with a bright red-orange glow as twisting flames filled the bottom. The nagas hissed in surprise behind him, but he kept his back to them as he brought out some haunches of meat from an Ironclaw Wildling and placed them on a stone spit above the fire. They were the most edible-looking of the ones that had attacked them.

Since he was using the fireplace, he wanted to do it properly, but he didn’t have any spices. It would have to be a natural roast. As soon as the meat was in place, the flames twisted up to sear it and the spit began to rotate through his connection to Stone.

Caring about the fire right now was probably a sign of his mind wandering, but for the most part he was just waiting for them to act. Until they proved their ill intent, a thin sliver of civilization kept him from killing them. With the basics of being a host in progress, he turned back to the three nagas and gestured to the benches alongside the table.

They had sheathed their blades on the crossed bandoliers on their chests, but the hilts were still in easy reach. Now they were hissing amongst themselves, but it didn’t translate. It seemed to be the equivalent of nudging each other and nodding.

They had been watching him as he worked, but they followed his gesture and moved over to the table. Their movements were quick and fluid as they coiled along the stones and took their places. Instead of sitting on the benches, they wrapped their tails in a spiral and leaned on them.

“The water is pure and the meat will be ready soon,” he announced as he sat down on a bench across from them. He could have changed his height, but he didn’t. Even seated, he towered over them. “It is simple fare, but it has been a while since I’ve been on a world with more complex choices. While we wait, why don’t you tell me where you’re from?”

“There’s no need to discuss that, honored giant,” the leader said with a low laugh, his hisses more prominent this time as a light gleamed in his eyes. His vertical pupils were gleaming as they reflected the light. “I’d much rather have your meal on my terms, along with everything else here.”

At that moment, the other two nagas began to slide around the table toward Sam, drawing blades with their lower arms in an instant. The sorcerer naga looked hesitant about it, but it didn’t stop him from moving.

As close as they were, it was less than an eyeblink for them to close the distance and then four blades were pressed against Sam’s cloak. Given the height difference, they couldn’t have reached his neck without jumping.

Their upper hands glimmered with purple mana and the edges of the blades shone with the same strange concept that had been doing so much damage to his defenses, but Sam only raised an eyebrow as he watched them.

“Those enchanted blades can cut through the hide of a Void beast,” Asek boasted. “Even if you’re fifty feet tall, they’ll cut through you like cloth! I’d heard that Wild Giants were simpleminded, but I didn’t expect that it was really true!”

“I suppose this speeds things up,” Sam replied as he reached out and casually picked up the pitcher of water. A section of stone flowed up from the table and formed a cup that he filled. It seemed the naga had mistaken him for some other race, but he didn’t bother to correct him. “Are you sure this is the path you want to take? You could just answer a few questions and go on your way.”

“Haha,” Asek laughed again, more coldly this time, as he pulled a small metal disk from his bandolier. “I admire a good bluff as much as the next naga, but this little artifact tells me you’re only at the Second Evolution. Something may be blocking my ability to analyze you, but it’s harder to trick this toy.”

Sam shook his head. He ignored the blades shining by his sides as he glanced at the artifact. Information on it sprang into his mind.

Limited Sensing Medallion. Elite.

[Refined from mana-sensitive hygir ore and shards of beast bones at the First, Second, and Third Evolution. Provides a limited analysis of an opponent’s Evolution. Range: Thirty feet.]

It seemed he was obscured from abilities that relied on direct sensing, but not from ones that used a more simplistic system. The Path’s influence was widespread, but not everywhere. The medallion probably used a resonance of his strength compared to the three beast bones to tell what he was closest to.

“Interesting,” he said with a nod. “A useful artifact if Analyze doesn’t work, but it looks like it only gives you a general idea of an opponent’s Evolution, not of their actual strength.”

He was a bit intrigued by the item, since it was sensing his evolution itself rather than the strength of his attributes. That meant there were shared and recognizable traits for each evolution. He’d have to study it later.

“It’s close enough!” Asek laughed again, as he gestured to the two next to Sam. “It tells me you’re not my equal in a fight. I don’t know how you’re surviving out here at the Second Evolution, but I imagine it’s due to this outpost. I’ll be taking that from you, as well as the means to use it, or your death will be a lot harder than it needs to be.”

“I didn’t think we’d run across such a treasure out here in the deeps,” the third naga hissed in agreement as he waved a blade at Sam gleefully. He was the Spatial Seeker-Treasure Master called Naota, and until now he’d been reserved, but apparently the idea of the hall got his attention. “I’ve been through this side of the system a dozen times, but I’ve never noticed this hall before. The asteroids hid it well. It has to be an artifact from antiquity to have survived here for so long.”

“It’ll sell well when we auction it off later,” Asek replied with a pleased hiss, as if the deal were already done. “The buyer can figure out how to move it. It’ll just be a pain to get to the nearest transfer point from this side of the system. Either way, the boss is going to want to know about this. I’d heard that Wild Giants were naive and loved to host guests, but this was too easy!”

While he was speaking, he kept his eyes locked on Sam and now he waved his blade threateningly.

“Now, unless you want to find out what happens when those Curving Blades touch your skin, you’ll be giving me the method to control this place and telling me where more of your kind are. I can’t let other easy marks like you get away from me. These blades are designed to sever mana, and they’ll cut through you as easily as through a beast.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Sam said as he pushed back from the table and stood up. His movement triggered the mercenaries at his side to lunge forward, their blades stabbing toward him, but the curved edges only crashed against the blue-white aura rising from his cloak and ricocheted away, their edges covered with white frost crystals.

The nagas were veteran fighters and didn’t stop there. The Spatial Seeker coiled and hissed as he struck again, and this time mana surged around him as his blades were covered by a dim purple aura. Space warped around the blades as he struck toward Sam again.

Unfortunately for him, he was so close that he didn’t have time to prepare something better. A dark mist obscured the edge of the blades as they tried to slice through the Cloak of Frozen Stars, slowing their movement until they were barely inching forward.

It was an effect that came from enhancing the Frostscale Cloudwolf’s hide. The beast had the ability to change its size and now the edge of the cloak was able to bend itself into another dimension, similar in some ways to a spatial bag, and create a layer above the surface that was larger than it seemed. The naga’s blade was trapped trying to cross it.

As for the Ensigiled Sorcerer, instead of attacking again, Sleset was trying to run away, coiling as quickly as he could across the floor toward the pillars where they had entered. It looked like he thought that was the exit. Since he wasn’t causing trouble, Sam ignored him.

A blade of astral fire shimmered into life in his hand as he turned to the left. The Treasure Master tried to raise its upper set of swords to block, but the blade sheared through them and a thin edge appeared on the naga’s neck. A moment later, his scaled head toppled to the ground.

“What is this?!” Across the table, Asek’s eyes were wide as he slithered backward a few dozen feet, but he didn’t hesitate as he drew his own blades. “I’ll have your eyeteeth for that! Sleset, get back here! There’s no way I’m letting a score like this go!”

“I tried to warn you, Asek-kar!” Sleset hissed without looking back. “Horns, talons, silver eyes like stars, flames, and as tall as a mountain!” It was almost spluttering as it slithered back and forth in front of the pillars, trying to find the exit. Panic was clear in his voice. “That’s not a Wild Giant! He’s an Astral Titan! We must run! Curse you and your stupid greed! It was my misfortune to be born in the same clutch and to hatch a moment later!”

“Astral Titans don’t exist!” Asek roared back with a booming hiss. “He’s only at the Second Evolution! If he were a Titan, he’d be stronger than that! But now he’s killed our transport! How are we supposed to get home without Naota? Killing him is the only option left! We’ll have to stay here until we’re rescued.”

The leader’s blades shimmered with a bright gray mana as he ignored the sorcerer and focused on Sam. The edges of the blades extended, turning into streaks a dozen feet long as he slashed them in a cross. As the attack sped toward Sam, the streaks multiplied.

Two turned to four, then to eight, and then to sixteen, creating a web of gray destruction as they closed in.

Before they covered half the distance, Sam caused his cloak to shine with frozen blue-white light that filled the area around him for a hundred meters. It was so blinding that it covered the hall, bringing everything to a standstill.

When the light faded away, sixteen streams of grey blade light were frozen in the air, their surface glassy. On the edges, a thin layer of shining and translucent ice was visible.

Past that, Asek was also frozen in ice, his form coiled and covered in a translucent layer that clung to his scales. A dusting of snow covered his shoulders and the top of his skull, making him resemble the statue of a naga that had been left out in a storm. He was no longer moving. Even the mana in his veins and heart had frozen, leaving him still in death.

With a wave of Sam’s hand, the grey streams and the statue shattered into fragments that collapsed to the floor as the naga’s body disintegrated. His frozen equipment landed with a series of dull clangs, including the pouches on his bandolier, which were apparently far more durable than Asek himself.

The only naga still alive was the sorcerer who had escaped to the other side of the hall.

“What was that?!” Sleset shouted in fear as he looked at Sam and slithered backwards. He threw both sets of his blades to the ground as he crossed all four hands over his chest and bowed. “Spare me, your majesty! I didn’t attack. I’m not a threat to you! The others didn’t know, but I do. I would never insult your eminence!”

Sam only folded his arms and stared across the hall at the naga. Asek had died due to the Field of Frozen Stars from his cloak, which sealed everything in a nearby area in Astral Ice, but he didn’t feel like explaining it. Instead, he glanced down at the runeforged bracers on his arms, debating if he should kill the last mercenary.

“Spare me, lord!” Sleset hissed, as if he were aware of Sam’s thoughts. “I never wished to be a thief! I advised against this foolish attempt. I can tell you everything you want to know! I’ll serve you faithfully!”

The naga’s words made Sam fold his arms again as his cloak billowed around in legs in an unseen breeze. He studied the naga with a hard gaze as he debated what to do with him. The enchantments around the hall were shining with light, ready to restrain the sorcerer if he tried anything.

As Sam looked down at the corpses, something strange caught his attention. The remains of the two nagas were gleaming with retained experience. Seeing that gave him a shock. Except for the bellisagi, he’d never received experience for killing something like a civilized race before, and that had only been because they were punished by the World Core.

At that moment, the Titan Star spoke.

In the stable half of the galaxy, the Path prevents experience gain from civilized races, similar to the World Core, but exiles like these nagas are an exception. If they are found within the border, a bounty is placed on them and their deaths will grant experience.

Here in the Chaos Wild, it’s different. The only rule that governs experience gain is your own ability. Killing a member of a civilized race is the same as killing a beast. Both will grant experience. It is one reason betrayal is so common here, and also why the punishment of exile is feared. It means leaving behind civilized protections.

Sam frowned, but then he waved his hand, calling the experience to himself. His only options were to take the experience or let it dissipate, and this way, at least it would do him some good. The energy poured in as a torrent from the two Third Evolution nagas and he felt the change as he gained a level or more, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he focused on the present.

With a gesture, he gathered the remaining equipment from the two dead nagas on a stream of Wind. He scanned through the items and the interior of the bags before he tossed most of it into the depths of his cloak for later study. There were a few things he incinerated, since he wanted nothing to do with them.

Of the things he kept, there was a collection of food and drink, a few common beast materials, some small personal items and enchanted artifacts, the armor and blades, and a few stranger things. One of the most interesting was a collection of strange coins, which were in a range of translucent copper, silver, and gold.

The material was unfamiliar to him, more like crystal than metal. Each of them had a nine-pointed silver impressed onto the surface. As he analyzed them, the simple name astral coin appeared in his mind, as well as the classification into copper, silver, and gold.

There were a handful of other coins as well, but they looked like rough variants of the astral coins. They were made from a range of things including bone disks and metal, and there were imprints of different figures and symbols on them that he didn’t recognize. They seemed to be local coinage from the Borderlands.

Near the coins, there were some colored crystals. Most of them were a bright blue color and radiated with the same sense of essence as the local star. The rest felt like they came from more distant stars. The blue crystals were about six inches long and roughly faceted, as if they’d been mined from a larger stone.

Each of the blue crystals felt like they had about a hundred points of essence in them, which was similar to a mana stone. The naga had kept them with the coins, which implied they were valuables or another type of currency.

Chaos Essence Stone (Medium).

He hummed thoughtfully as he tapped a talon on one of the stones. The type of crystal it was made from was unfamiliar, but it must have absorbed some of the local star’s energy over the ages.

The other crystals were a range of colors from red to yellow and white, and the majority of them were smaller. The essence in them was also less. If his guess was right, these were probably in high demand among the civilized races in the Chaos Wild.

With a mental shrug, he stored the coins and crystals away for later study, and then he turned his attention back to Sleset, who was still cowering on the other side of the hall. The sorcerer didn’t look at all surprised to see him deal with the corpses. His head was bowed as he stretched out his hands in front of himself in a pleading gesture.

With the clear advantage to be gained from killing him, his fear made sense. Sam studied him for a moment and then he gestured to the bench where the naga had been sitting before.

“Sit,” he said. “Tell me where you are from and how you found my hall.” He’d make his decision about the naga after he got the information he wanted.

Without looking to see if Sleset was coming back, he turned to the fire where the roast wildling was still turning on the spit. It looked like it would be done in a few more minutes.

The next several hours passed by as Sleset fearfully spoke, telling Sam about the Curving Blades, their place in the Chaos Wild, and something of the politics in the Borderlands. By the time he finished, Sam could only shake his head in disbelief.

He was glad he hadn’t killed him. The information the sorcerer had was very useful and went a long way to explaining the local area, but he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when he discovered how the nagas found him. It seemed that if they hadn’t come here today, he would have run across them soon enough.

“I came to this system to find a quiet place to stay, but it seems you had the same idea.” Sam’s words were heavy with irony. “You’re telling me that your mercenary guild’s main hideout is just on the other side of this star?”

“Yes, most honored Titan,” Sleset agreed at once, his head bobbing. He was acting very subservient, since he was still terrified that Sam would kill him. “The Curved Blades call themselves mercenaries, but they are more like bandits. It is something that I have always despised about them, but I had no choice but to follow. The laws of my clan required that I obey Asek-kar, even when we were exiled to the Chaos Wild a hundred years ago.”

“You’re innocent, is it?” Sam asked with a dark chuckle. The naga had been repeatedly insisting on this idea every few sentences and it was becoming tiresome.

“Of course, my lord,” the naga hissed in reply, bobbing his head in agreement. “It was only Asek-kar’s greed that brought us here. I counseled him every day to change his ways, but he never listened to me. If my lord grants my life back, I will serve you with honor. My people have always respected those with great power and nobility.”

The naga was quite the smooth talker, but Sam ignored the rest of Sleset’s protests and claims that he would be a useful servant as he considered what he’d just learned. Then he asked the most pressing questions that came to mind.

“How did you travel here?” he asked with a frown. “Can I expect more unwelcome visitors soon?”

“No, my lord, no,” Sleset shook his head. “This side of the system is barren and only full of rocks. Naota was our spatial mage, and he was able to teleport us from one transfer point to another. When we found the lord’s hall, it was only by accident. We truly were blown here from the other side of the system by a ferocious chaos wind. That part of Asek-kar’s story was true.”

“What is the transfer point you’re talking about?” Sam asked. “Some type of teleportation enchantment?”

“A portal, my lord,” Sleset agreed. “It can only be activated by spatial mages. It is the common method of traveling around the Chaos Wild and the Borderlands. It is not easy to build, not at all, but the Curving Blades hired many spatial mages to create one and then secretly transported it here for their use.”

“Where does it go,” he asked, “and how many mercenaries are at your camp?” Ideas were flickering through his mind as he considered the portal. He didn’t want to take on an entire mercenary guild, but the portal was tempting.

It could also be dangerous if someone powerful came through. If he wanted to keep his location here secure, he'd have to take care of that.

“The transfer point connects to the closest border system, honored lord,” Sleset replied quickly. “It is called the Emerald Sea due to a large green star and a river of Wood mana that is present there. It is one of the larger regions on the border of the Great Divide.

“Many honest merchants travel there, and they make up the majority of the bandits’ targets. The Curved Blades are truly rapacious, my lord. It is good that you have eliminated two of the worst offenders.”

More details and protests of Sleset’s innocence followed. It sounded like the leader of the mercenaries was the highest level at around 350, but there were nearly thirty weaker ones in their base at any time, ranging from Levels 250 to 320 or so.

Another two dozen were away in the Borderlands on rotation, divided into two squads that looked for easy targets and transport missions. If no work was available, they turned to banditry.

For all that the mercenaries lived in the Deep Wild, they did so with great difficulty. The mercenaries lower than 300 had to protect themselves with heavy enchantments to resist the pressures of the Void, an effect that actually was woven into their armor, as Asek had claimed.

Not all of the mercenaries were nagas, but they were the largest group in the band. All of them came from the same Emerald Naga race, which sounded like it was heavily involved with illicit activity in the stable half of the galaxy. Many of them were exiled to the Chaos Wild when they were caught and there wasn’t enough evidence to execute them.

As for the essence crystals he’d found, Sleset explained they were a common currency throughout the Borderlands and one of the primary exports to the stable galaxy. Mining them was an effort that every border nation engaged in. They could be traded for a large number of coins.

They were also the primary way the mercenaries recharged their enchantments while traveling. The Curved Blades had lucked into finding a dense vein of them in this system, which was why they had set up their base here.

“You are confident that no other mercenaries will come here soon?” Sam asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“Definitely not, Lord Titan,” Sleset shook his head adamantly. “None of us come to this side of the system. If it had not been for the chance wind blowing us here, we would not have seen the light shining from your hall and become curious. Also, without a spatial mage to teleport across the system, it is a very long journey to cross it.

"Naota was one of the few spatial mages in the Curved Blades and his loss will be heavy once it is discovered. If I return without him, I am sure to be killed for failing to protect him! Please shelter me, great lord. I beg your wisdom and mercy!”

“Silence,” Sam growled as he raised his hand. The naga was on the verge of giving him a headache with his flattery. “You present a problem. I am considering the options.”

He tapped his talons on the table as he considered what he’d learned and studied Sleset. The naga might be troublesome if he left him alive, but after all of the information he’d gained, he was disinclined to kill him. The claim that he would be punished if he returned could be true.

He could send the naga home anyway, but one way or another, that would mean dealing with the mercenary hideout, and he didn’t want to do that yet. He would in time, since otherwise he would worry about the threat they presented, but he wanted a few more levels first.

He could also leave the naga here while he went out to gain strength, but that meant the sorcerer would fiddle around with his forge. He wouldn’t be able to use it, but who knew what might get up to. Plus, he didn’t trust him not to try to escape.

Unfortunately, if he took him with him while he was hunting, the naga’s poor reputation as an exile and mercenary would affect the opinion of anyone he met. That might ruin his efforts to explore area near the Borderlands or cause unintentional trouble.

None of the options were perfect.

“I have a solution for you, my honored lord,” Sleset said with a graceful hiss, as if he knew the difficulty on Sam’s mind. “You are a Titan, and therefore you are an esteemed individual. There is a ceremony that is common to my people that will work to ensure you believe my words and can trust me. The Emerald Naga race worships those with great power. I am willing to follow you with my life and to serve you.”

The naga reached up to touch the purple chevron that was part of the scales on his head. The naga hissed with conviction as he touched the scale and bowed his head, showing off the mark to Sam.

“This is my honor mark. As you can see from its basic purple shade, I have never sworn to a lord. When the correct blood oath is made, the color of my crown will change to match my lord’s, marking my allegiance clearly for all to see.

“If I were to betray you after that, my scales would break and become dull, displaying me among all of my own people as a worthless and base traitor. They would kill me on sight, even those in the mercenary band who were part of my own clutch. With this, my lord can be sure of my loyalty, and I will change my fate to a better one.” Sleset kept his head bowed, his head lowered toward Sam.

“What is more, if I swear this honor oath to follow you, I will only be seen as your servant. I will leave behind this life of banditry for something better.” The naga’s voice was hopeful, almost wistful.