Surprisingly, Fei didn’t object. She waved at her fellow Champions as they dragged him to his tent.
It was an enjoyable night. It was also a long night. Both women made up for lost time.
“It’s morning. Haven’t you had enough yet?” Nathan groaned. He’d gotten in a few hours of sleep when the two of them had slipped off to the baths together.
Presumably, they had gone to sleep when they came back. The idea was to attack Tartus today. Being exhausted hampered that plan.
Sunstorm pressed herself against him and smirked, her black bangs falling over her face. “You’ve been enjoying somebody new while we’ve been busy. We could keep you here all day. Right, Sen?”
“I want to say no, but she’s right,” Sen said. She cradled Nathan’s head in her lap and ran her fingers through his hair. “A few more hours will be fine, right?”
“Where do you even get the stamina?” he asked.
“Well, I have this magic gem in my chest and she has a timeless spirit possessing her,” Sunstorm said.
“Thank you for your illuminating explanation, Choe,” Nathan drawled.
Sunstorm blushed and ducked her head. “Don’t call me that in front of others.”
“I’m the only one here,” Sen said.
“And I don’t want you to call me that either,” Sunstorm muttered.
It took a little while, but Nathan managed to negotiate his way out of their embrace. Although it involved a trip to the baths that the soldiers had set up. The battlemages summoned water in large pools that the soldiers dug. Normally, this was an unspeakable luxury. Wasting so much effort on temporary bathing seemed ridiculous.
But Nathan hadn’t known how long they’d be camped outside Tartus. Close to a week had passed since arriving, and it could have been another week if things went poorly for Sen’s march.
Bathing kept morale up. Soldiers remained clean. They had somewhere to congregate and wash off the filth from a day of patrolling in heavy armor. The beastkin especially loved a chance to wash their tails and clean each other, as most of them came from villages with cultures that deeply valued physicality.
Nathan had even allowed the battlemages to heat some of the water once it became clear that the Federation wasn’t going to attack. This was a huge waste of magical power.
On the other hand, he wasn’t going to complain about the chance to rinse off in a heated bath. Winter was recent enough that the ground chilled the water far below body temperature.
Once clean, and not in the lewd way—the baths weren’t segregated by gender but were too public for public shows of affection—Nathan joined his cabinet in the command tent.
“Oh, you’re finally joining us,” Vera said, raising an eyebrow. She flicked her long red hair. “We had wondered if the assault was tomorrow. You seemed busy when Fei went to fetch you.”
Fei smiled and shrugged at his questioning look.
“More to the point, we think that Torneus is still in Tartus,” Narime said. Seraph nodded in agreement.
“Of course he is,” Nathan said.
He joined them around the table. There weren’t any maps on it, as they were capturing a city and there weren’t any accurate ones of Tartus. The city was an urban sprawl that had slowly grown to its current size over the course of millennia. Nobody had planned anything, and city blocks morphed in and out of existence every few years.
“Why do you think that?” Narime asked, tone accusatory.
Because Torneus had refused to leave his palace during Nathan’s timeline.
Somehow, Nathan felt that wouldn’t fly. Fei looked at him expectantly.
“Because Torneus is prideful and arrogant. He’s holding onto the last vestiges of his power, even as the other regents betray him. We’ve been camped outside Tartus for days. Our scouts have reported no movements from the other provinces,” Nathan said. “There are armies on the borders, just in case we pull something, but the regents have abandoned Torneus.”
“Isn’t that more reason for him to hole up with Theus in the castle?” Anna said. “It’s the safest place here.”
“Imagine that you’re the Emperor. Or the Empress, if you really want to self-insert yourself,” Nathan said. “Your enemies are at the gates of the capital. You’re outnumbered. All of your nobles have betrayed you, because they think they’ll become Emperor next. Nobody is coming to save you. Even if you somehow survive the battle, what do you think happens to you in that situation?”
“Well, I don’t think I’d be Empress for very long,” Anna said. She grimaced. “In other words, Torneus knows this is the end. Even if he defeats us, he’s lost.”
“Yes,” Nathan said. “If he wins here, the other regents topple him from power anyway. All that cowering behind Theus achieves is prolonging the inevitable. But if he stays in the palace, he can appear strong until the end. He goes out on his own terms, in the place of his greatest triumph and power.”
Seraph and Narime stared at Nathan.
“You’re rather good at understanding Torneus, Nathan,” Seraph said. “I can’t help but think that you would do the same thing.”
“I wouldn’t,” Nathan said.
“No, he wouldn’t,” Vera agreed. “I got a taste of that in summer when he said he’d turn my tower into a crater if he thought he had no way out.”
The tent fell silent.
“What?” Seraph shouted. “Why in the name of the goddess didn’t you mention that to me any time in the last few months?”
“I didn’t feel it was important.” Vera smirked. “Besides, Nathan and I had a long chat about last stands and walking into traps.”
Seraph shouted something, but both Narime and Anna spoke at the same time. Nathan’s other Champions looked bewildered by the revelation. They looked at each in confusion, before staring at Nathan. When they began to talk as well, the tent became a complete cacophony of voices.
“Enough,” Nathan shouted.
Everybody shut up.
“Like Vera said, we spoke about what happened and I realized I was hasty,” Nathan said. “That’s why I’m planning for more contingencies now. Torneus is in this spot because he didn’t plan far enough ahead.”
Although he certainly planned for a lot. Enough that he fooled Nathan into thinking that the future was fixed.
“I’m still rather lost,” Anna said. “Why is everybody freaked out over blowing up Vera’s tower? I know we were worried about a trap and, uh, Vera admitted to the whole spy thing.”
“The what?” Fei said, eyes wide.
“I’ll explain later,” Nathan said, placing a hand on top of her head.
“He was going to overload the cairn below my tower. Big explosion of magic. Everybody within hundreds of meters would have been vaporized,” Vera said. “I’ve heard of accidents where that happens, but I didn’t know it could be done intentionally.”
“I’m amazed you even know magic like that,” Seraph said. “No wonder you recognized my plan instantly. You’re like a repository of heresy.”
Everybody except Narime looked at Seraph.
“Overloading a cairn isn’t heresy,” Nathan said calmly.
“That depends on how you do it,” Seraph said. “Because cairns don’t simply overload. If they could, they’d explode every time a cascade happened.”
Narime nodded. “They have emergency releases on them. Cairns only overload when somebody is interfering with the flow of magic within them.”
“Which is what I would have done,” Nathan admitted.
“That was heresy in Kurai,” Seraph said.
He raised an eyebrow. It was? “That sounds more like a law, as I know it’s not regulated here. Although I know why somebody would consider it heresy. A lot can go wrong. It involves some fairly complicated binding stone magic.”
It was also the foundation of Nathan’s method of detonating binding stones. Destroying a binding stone or cairn was permanent. No life grew within the radius of the explosion and no magic could
be cast. If somebody ever detonated a binding stone or cairn in the way that Nathan knew how, every nation on the mainland would immediately label it heresy.
His eyes widened. “Oh. Somebody fucked up, didn’t they? I don’t know much about the Kurai Peninsula, but you had a wasteland there, didn’t you?”
Narime and Seraph looked at each other, then stared at Nathan with wide eyes.
“I think we’ll drop this topic for today,” Narime said.
“For today,” Seraph repeated for emphasis. “Because it’s rather terrifying that you know the potential consequences and still dabble with the magic.”
Yes, dabble. That was exactly what Nathan did.
He wasn’t looking forward to that conversation when it did happen.
A cough from Vera drew the meeting back to the primary topic. Looks were thrown at Nathan, but he ignored them.
“If Torneus is in the palace, we can bypass the army, and hopefully the entire battle,” Anna said. “Narime can teleport. And she can bypass anti-teleportation wards.”
Nathan knew where this was going. He let the conversation play out for now.
Although the sense of deja vu he received bothered him. Even with different people present, events tried to play out the same way.
Narime faced Nathan and said, “I can teleport you and the other Champions directly into the palace. Once there, we can capture Torneus. No field battle outside the city. Theus likely has only a single Champion protecting him.”
“Sounds smart,” Sunstorm said. “Although I still feel we should take out Theus.” Her fingers brushed her short swords.
“If he surrenders, then he gets to live,” Seraph said. “If.” Her eyes gleamed.
“And that’s precisely the issue with this plan,” Nathan said. “You’re assuming the Federation army will surrender.”
Anna raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why wouldn’t they? We’ll have their regent. Haven’t we all agreed that Theus is only a puppet? Why would they keep fighting?”
“Last time I checked, we’re invading their home,” Nathan said. “Armies don’t shrug their shoulders and go ‘well, time to give up on everything I know and love’ because we captured a politician.”
Seraph and Narime opened their mouths to disagree but closed them a moment later. Thoughtful expression crossed their faces.
The teleportation strategy worked, in a sense. Torneus was likely still in the palace. Nobody was defending him, save for some loyal guards and retainers.
But Nathan’s memories were of a furious argument with a ruler who had lost everything he had gained in his life. At some point, it became clear that Torneus wouldn’t come peacefully. He would see everything burn before he gave in. Weapons were drawn. Narime turned Torneus and his retainers into ash.
Killing him solved nothing. If anything, it made things worse. Tartus burned, and the Federation was lost within a few short months. The Gharrick Mountains became a line of desperate defense against a horde of demons as refugees streamed into western Doumahr.
“Bastions decide battles,” Nathan said. “Theus is an idiot, but he’s also an arrogant and prideful ass. Without Torneus, who will protect him? Who will stop him from fighting to the end?”
Seraph grimaced. “You’re saying that Theus is the real threat.” She cursed. “So long as there’s a Bastion backing them, the Federation army won’t surrender. Three duogem Champions is a lot of inspiration. Most armies would rally behind one.”
“Politicians and rulers can scheme and plot all they like, but on a battlefield, the only people that matter are the Bastions and Champions,” Nathan said. “That means we need to eliminate Theus first. Once he’s gone, the Federation army has nobody to lead them. And Torneus really will have nothing left.”
Nathan didn’t know if this would work, but he needed to try something to change the future. Everything he had done had something looped back around. Stopping the war had prevented the Empire from collapsing, but now he faced the collapse of the Federation.
Maybe this wasn’t predetermination. But changing the future required real effort. Changing a few key actors in history and preventing a few events from happening wasn’t enough to prevent disaster. Like Ifrit had said, there were people behind the collapse of Doumahr. It took a concerted effort to create such an awful future.
Naturally, it took as much effort to create a better future.
“So, we teleport inside Theus’s fortress?” Narime asked.
Nathan nodded. “It’s a lot more dangerous. We won’t know what traps he has. Attacking a Bastion inside a fortress they control is extremely dangerous. Fortunately, I have three binding stones to counter him with.” And a lot of experience battling rogue Bastions, but he left that part unsaid.
Narime and Seraph shared what they knew about Castle Tartus, which was the fortress Theus controlled. As everybody formed their attack plans, Vera pulled Nathan aside.
“We discussed this idea before, but I wanted to bring it up again,” Vera muttered. “When we defeat Theus, that means there’s going to be two binding stones available, right? One here, and one farther north.”
“Yes,” Nathan said. He knew where this was going.
“What would it take for me to claim one?” Vera asked.
“Training,” Nathan said. He held up a hand before Vera said anything. “You still don’t know how to be a Bastion, even though I’ve taught you quite a bit about the magic we use. I’ve been avoiding that, given Leopold’s…” he trailed off.
“Disapproval of me?” Vera suggested.
“That,” Nathan said. “But if I give you a binding stone, I’m responsible for what happens. Becoming a Bastion means you need to defend it against demons. Sometimes that’s easy. Other times, it means facing down almost certain death. You saw what happened to Leopold.”
Vera grimaced and looked away. “I still can’t believe what happened. He… I thought for sure that Messenger killed him. It was terrifying. Nurevia didn’t even react. She just kept fighting, as if she knew it was coming.”
“And you still want to become a Bastion?”
“If anything, that reinforced my desire. Idiots like Theus will be the death of everybody if a Messenger attacks them. But I get your point.” Vera sighed. “I want one of those binding stones. I’ll do whatever it takes to become a Bastion and to help you. Surely, you don’t plan to do this alone? The cascade proved that you can’t be everywhere at once.”
Part of Nathan wanted to ask Leopold.
But that was cowardice. He had been left with ultimate authority by Leopold. If that wasn’t a gesture of trust, then nothing was. The decision was his to make. And it wasn’t as though Nathan didn’t trust his own judgment.
“Fine. After this, you’ll become my apprentice,” Nathan said. “If you prove yourself, you’ll get your own binding stone.”
“So, you’ll transfer me one of these?” Vera asked.
He frowned. “I don’t know. Binding stone connections are permanent. While other Bastions can claim a binding stone, the original connection remains. Theus is still connected to the binding stone under Castle Forselburg, for example. I’ve cut him off from it, but he could wrest it back if he physically went there. No amount of wards could stop him.”
In Falmir, many binding stones were granted to apprentices by their masters or another powerful Bastion. Officially and culturally, this gave the appearance of experienced Bastions welcoming new Bastions into the fold.
Behind the scenes, it also allowed Falmir to easily remove new Bastions if necessary. Should a new Bastion prove troublesome once he was no longer monitored by his master, his binding stone could be taken from him with minimal effort.
Given Kadria had been able to sever Nathan’s connections to his binding stones in his timeline, he knew that binding stone connections weren’t truly permanent. But his mental magic was too weak to sever them yet.
It was easier to simply kill Theus for now. But he planned to learn
how to both protect his binding stones better and sever connections of Bastions when he claimed new binding stones.
“I’ll think of something,” Nathan said.
Vera shot him an appreciative smile. They rejoined the strategy meeting.
Soon, they readied themselves for their assault on Theus’s fortress. Fei gave orders to the beastkin knights. They’d be out of contact for some time, which left the army vulnerable. That meant Fei’s knights were the best defense the army had, and Fei left her officers in overall command.
A lot of beastkin tails wagged violently. Anna’s nobles tried not to look too displeased.
Notably, Lord Fleitz didn’t seem to mind. He returned as Anna’s captain and had assisted Sen in organizing her troops. While the other nobles quietly muttered and tittered about Fei’s orders, Fleitz enjoyed a tankard with a couple of beastkin to the side.
“He’s discussing his brewery, isn’t he?” Nathan asked Anna.
“How did you guess?” Anna asked.
“His lips are moving, he’s drinking beer, and he looks happy.” Nathan smiled. “Do you think he’ll return as your captain next time?”
“Probably. He doesn’t need to do much, and he uses the campaigns as a chance to recruit salespeople and market his ale. Right now, I think he’s doing both.” Anna gestured to the beastkin. “There’s a lot of cashed-up beastkin roaming Gharrick County right now. Plenty more are looking for work outside of the army.”
Well, that was a pleasant surprise.
Narime walked up to them. “We’re ready to go.”
With a wave of his arm, Nathan called everybody close to him. Anna moved away, so that she couldn’t be caught up in Narime’s spell. Her teleportation didn’t work that way, but Nathan understood Anna’s concern.
Narime’s tails glowed, and a pentagon appeared below her body. Moments later, a soft blue glow appeared around the bodies of everybody being teleported.
Nathan, Fei, Sunstorm, Sen, Narime, and Seraph were going. Only Vera stayed behind, because duogem Champions were far beyond what her sorcery could easily handle.
The golden pentagon filled with light. The next moment, Nathan’s vision shifted. The tents, fields, and distant view of the city vanished, and was replaced by a gray stone chamber.
Heretic Spellblade 2 Page 34