by Sarah Lin
Nauda hit the ground heavily, but her body absorbed the impact and she rolled to her feet. She heard someone else land beside her and Fiyu made a slight sound of pain before she gasped. "I don't... I don't see..."
Realizing they were in danger, Nauda made a split second decision. Whatever had struck their vehicle had been able to evade Fiyu's senses, perhaps a predator with a unique strategy. If Fiyu was disoriented and they were already threatened, there was no point staying in the darkness. Nauda flared her cantae around her in a bright aura to be able to see.
Fiyu struggling to her feet, sleigh lying on its side, no sign of Theo... and a strange sphere floating toward them. It was much larger than a person, yet its skin appeared nearly translucent in the light of her cantae. Though it was covered in long spikes, other than that she couldn't see arms, mouths, or anything else that it could use to attack.
Something shifted in the surface and a stream of pitch black gas shot toward her. Nauda instinctively dodged past it, closing the distance and thrusting out with her staff. She wasn't sure it would work on such a strange creature, but she managed to bind it in place.
Then the surface shifted again and a much larger stream of darkness caught her in the face. Nauda staggered back, letting out a cry as she felt it burn into her skin. When she rubbed her face, she felt a little better, but it burned in her nostrils and her eyes hurt so much she struggled to keep them open. And the floating creature was free again, floating toward her, the surface opening...
Theo dropped out of the sky and a gravitational field came with him, crushing the spherical creature against the ground. It began to emit more darkness, terrible eruptions of it, but Theo raised his other hand and cast something else.
She realized with a start that it was his "mass" technique that had been so useless when tested back in Deuxan. It still wasn't strong enough for her to feel anything, or to deflect a projectile, but the wall of expanding gas began to shift back. As Theo poured more cantae into it, the gas seemed to be pulled down into a pool near the creature, which weakly fluttered against the ground, its spines jerking oddly in different directions.
"I have... never seen such a thing." Fiyu walked up beside them, staring at it. Nauda just looked to Theo with a grim expression.
"Do you think there are more? Are predators going to be coming for my light?"
"Both are real threats," he said. "Turn the sleigh upright, and if it still works, we have to move. What we need t-"
With a sudden spasm, the deflated sphere suddenly shot its spines toward them. They weren't all that fast, so Nauda swiftly deflected many with her staff, and a fraction of a second later, Theo had applied a gravitational field that sent them to the ground. The attack had been neutralized almost as soon as it began.
Between them, Fiyu gave a soft gasp and looked down at the spine piercing through her stomach.
For a moment, Nauda was too stunned to act, horrified by the sight of the spike protruding from her back. Theo acted first, doing something that made an unpleasant crunching noise around the spiked creature. It must be dead, which barely seemed to matter compared to Fiyu slowly dropping to the ground, her fingers holding the injury.
"What..." Nauda took a deep breath and forced herself past the emotions. "What now?"
"Grab the corpse and take it to the sleigh. I can navigate, but I can't provide any medical attention without knowing what that thing was." Theo spoke with no expression or inflection, which struck her as almost monstrous.
Yet as she forced the deflated creature into a bag, she saw him kneel down beside Fiyu with great tenderness. By the time she had the sleigh upright, he was cradling Fiyu in his arms. Seeing someone touch her was almost shocking, yet the way she lay limply against him...
As soon as they began moving, Theo glanced back to her. "No more cantae aura. Use a lamp and do what you can for the injury."
Nauda grabbed one of the unidirectional lamps and then knelt down where Fiyu lay across one of the seats. They'd said using the lamps was generally a low but unnecessary risk... clearly not an issue with Fiyu's life on the line.
She lay terribly still, not even stirring, and Nauda feared for a moment until she heard Fiyu breathing. It seemed that Theo had cut away some of her clothing to check the injury, which was bleeding over her stomach. Without all the layers of clothes, her body looked so thin and fragile, the dark spine protruding viciously through it.
Blinking away tears, Nauda retrieved the bandages to do what little she could.
~ ~ ~
Tossing and turning, she strained to push her senses beyond herself, but she felt only nonsensical patterns that could not possibly be real. At times she was so delirious that she couldn't remember where she was or what journey she had been on. There had been something very important, she knew that, and a danger...
Fiyu remembered in bits and pieces as the throbbing light within her gradually gave way to calming darkness. Of course, the strange floating beast that was invisible to her. She had felt an intense pain and then a heat, which could only have been an attack. Normally she would have taken emergency measures, but she remembered that she had reliable companions with her.
At one point, when she emerged back into darkness, she found herself lying in someone's arms. It should have been quite alarming, yet she knew that it was Companion Theo. Her companions would not harm her, and this was the appropriate time for such things.
She lapsed back into confusion and when she woke, it was to intense pain in her stomach. Companion Theo gave her something to drink and it helped deaden the pain, which only made her realize that he was removing the spine and treating the wound. After so long avoiding ever making her uncomfortable by touch, he worked efficiently and without hesitation. His fingers on her skin should have inspired intense revulsion, yet instead she felt only a strange warmth. Within the delirious fog of light, she marveled at that, not quite sure what to think.
Next time she touched consciousness, she found herself lying on her back in the sleigh. It was uncomfortable and she was too weak to move, though she felt soft materials around her and assumed someone had tried to make a bed for her. Companion Nauda sat beside her, all her muscles vibrating with tension, wanting to draw closer and yet staying back.
Why didn't Companion Nauda touch her? Fiyu recognized that there was something strange about that thought, but within the bright fog she didn't care. Times of great injury were abnormal, so it was time for abnormal behavior. She could feel a tense hand very close to her, so Fiyu reached out to touch it.
Companion Nauda gasped and said something Fiyu couldn't understand. She squeezed back and Fiyu felt the same strange warmth traveling up her arm. To hold hands like this with a companion was much too intimate, but Fiyu was not sure if she would die and needed someone beside her.
Though her eyes remained closed, she felt them enter a cavern and then others descended on her. She flinched away from the touch of the cavesteaders, the clamminess of their hands seeming to seep into her. Yet she was too weak to struggle, and a warm hand of one of her companions soothed her forehead, and she felt cantae flowing into her, so she drifted back into the light...
~ ~ ~
When she next woke, Fiyu no longer felt as though her mind was blinded, but her body remained weak. There was a pleasant wind in her hair and she was aware of the landscape around her, though the ground was too far down. She was actually able to open her eyes, and was relieved when everything was dark around her. Trying to sit up failed, but produced a small noise, and Companion Nauda's tension sprang to whirl toward her.
"Fiyu?" she asked.
"Quiet... dangerous..." She again struggled to get up and Companion Nauda put a hand on her arm, but Fiyu flinched. Immediately she felt her companion's arm tense as if betrayed, so Fiyu forced herself to keep speaking. "It's okay... Nauda... thank you..."
"I need you to tell me how far I'm off course." Companion Theo spoke from further ahead, apparently focused on the path forward, but there was a pain in his neck as if h
e had often turned back in her direction.
"Really?" Companion Nauda spoke sharply. "She's barely awake!"
"If we get too far off, this could be fatal for all of us."
"I'll... help..." Fiyu lay back and extended her senses, which no longer felt burned out. Companion Theo had done a good job of navigating while blind, but he had begun to veer. She gave him directions and then settled back, exhausted.
"Fiyu, are you still with us?" Companion Nauda asked. Fiyu let out her breath as a whistle, her mind still active but her body too weak to move. Though Companion Nauda remained tense, Companion Theo understood and the tightness in his arms relaxed.
"She's stable, just tired." He twisted back to look at her, even though he couldn't see anything, which was not a mistake Companion Theo generally made. "The spine through your stomach was coated in venom. They purged it at Sweetfruit Cavern, but their healers couldn't repair the damage done to your body. I think you're on your way to recovery, but you'd be better off with Blacksilver healers."
Companion Nauda started to reach out to touch her and then pulled back, not habitually as she had once done, but as if she had done so many times while Fiyu was asleep. Fiyu was not sure how she felt about that, and her mind was growing hazy again, but she wanted to keep listening to them, especially since Companion Nauda was talking.
"Can you soulcraft for us, Fiyu? I want to check if there was any damage."
She couldn't nod, but Fiyu managed to reach out to touch her soulhome. That was another layer of pleasant darkness around her, so she drifted further from them. Outside, she heard Companion Nauda breathe a sigh of relief.
"None that I can see. Her soulhome really is durable."
Remembering the accident again, Fiyu tried to apologize, but she was much too weary and slipped away into the bright fog. This time, some portion of her mind remained, and she suspected that a long time had passed. When she returned, she could move a little more, but she was desperately hungry and thirsty.
"I..." When she tried to speak, Companion Nauda hurried to give her food and water, before she could even ask. While she partook of those, Fiyu checked the environment again and gave Companion Theo more directions, though he had stayed mostly on course toward the gate.
Once she had drunk her fill, Fiyu managed to speak. "I apologize to you for my ignorance. I had never encountered such a creature before. This is why it is irresponsible to range in unknown areas, but I wanted to send a message to my relative..."
"You have nothing to apologize for, Fiyu." Companion Nauda said swiftly. That was untrue, but Fiyu did not have the strength to press her point.
She had been a responsible child, and had only rarely thought that Relative Guchiro was too strict with her. Now that she had encountered a beast that she had never imagined existing, she felt especially grateful for his guidance. If she ever cared for children, she would be just as careful with them. It was fortunate that Child Senka had not joined them on the journey.
For a time she rested, then she returned to her soulhome to test for damage. Fortunately, there really was none, it was only her body that had been injured. Relative Guchiro had told her that her soulhome would resist damage and she had never truly tested that statement until now. She hoped that he would find her message soon, and return to her, and she could introduce her companions.
"You're soulcrafting again," Companion Theo observed. "Now that you have more stone to build with, I think you could easily ascend to Archcrafter."
"Theo!" Companion Nauda spoke louder than she should have and tried to swat at him in the dark. "This is not the time for that!"
"I'm just saying that she could."
Though Companion Theo was too polite to speak it, she understood what he did not say: if she had ascended to Archcrafter long ago, she would not have been injured. It was true that she was delaying, while the two of them soulcrafted further and further away from her. Yet she hesitated to ascend without her relative's aid, especially after seeing how poorly things could go wrong when she took risks on her own.
However, her companions were about to argue, so Fiyu spoke up. "I do not believe I am ready. I would need to build a structure above my first floor."
"Not with your base skills," Companion Theo said. "The first two ascensions aren't actually that hard, relatively."
"What would you suggest?"
"A pillar with supportlines." She did not know his word, but thought she understood his meaning. "You take a single narrow material and force it upright, then tie ropes from it to your roof and the ground. They all pull on it, and the pillar stays stable in the center. Someone with your willpower could easily climb up it and ascend."
"I see." She understood what he meant, and even possessed some appropriate materials, but the idea of plunging ahead remaining too troubling. "Thank you for the suggestion, Theo, but I do not think I am ready. My relative had a specific plan to help me ascend, and now that he is coming, I can wait for it."
"If you insist, but there's no disadvantage to doing it now."
After that, Companion Nauda made very clear to Companion Theo that he should stop lecturing, but Fiyu only smiled at the two different ways they tried to care for her. His suggestion was a reasonable one that she could not bring herself to attempt. Still, since she could do little but soulcraft, she felt inspired to return to work.
Not with further polishing to her first floor, instead something more daring. Her relative might not have shared his full plans for her ascension, but he had described certain advanced techniques to prepare for it. Walking up her stairs to her roof, Fiyu began to shape the stone around the edges into an arcing ridge. When she ascended, however she did, it would help capture the cantae from the process and make her more able to assist her companions.
By the time their journey was complete, Fiyu felt strange only when she exerted herself physically. Able to assist with the navigation, she quickly guided them the final distance to the gate. Terrible as Fithe could be, she would be glad to see that world again.
When the red arch in the sky finally came into sight, Fiyu thought back over everything that had happened and was overwhelmed with emotions. As soon as they stepped out of the sleigh, she grasped the sleeves of Friend Theo and Friend Nauda and led them back through.
Chapter 30
Less than a full day after Theo had returned to Norro Yorthin, he found himself racing back out of the city in their sleigh. The damage to the back hadn't even been fully repaired yet, though it worked with his gravitational fields helping. There'd been time to get Fiyu to the Blacksilver healers, since that was essential, and time to unload their cargo, since the House had insisted. But there was absolutely none to rest or recover, much less to adjust back to the normal pace of his schedule.
Instead, they needed to rush back to the quarry to take part in House Teal's contest. It felt a bit petty compared to the expedition into Ichil and Fiyu nearly losing her life, but the three hours in the quarry couldn't be replaced with any other three hours. So off they went.
Two months. It felt like another lifetime, but the fact was he had just under two months until the duel.
"Do you think I could ascend to Ruler?" Nauda asked the question abruptly while they were still on their way and he glanced at her in surprise.
"You might be able to force it, but I wouldn't suggest trying this soon." He tried to meet her gaze and she refused, though they both knew what she was thinking. "I'm not sure either of us could have defended Fiyu as a Ruler. The higher tiers are much better at surviving themselves than helping others."
"Maybe that's how it usually is." For a while Nauda didn't say anything else, then shook her head sharply in the way that always sent her hair shifting. "It doesn't matter now. I think I feel confident about the whirlwind this time, so if I can do well enough, then we'll talk about options for me to ascend. Deal?"
"Deal, but I'd just suggest something similar to what I did for Fiyu."
When they arrived beside the quarry, almos
t too late for the beginning of the competition, there was no one sinister waiting for them. Just a normal crowd of first tiers and Archcrafters, hoping for whatever the prize was. They leapt out practically before the sleigh had stopped moving, and Lady Baryara frowned disapprovingly, but it seemed they had arrived in time.
"I will not repeat any instructions, but the rules will apply to all, tardy or not." She sniffed and then looked over the rest of the crowd. "There is little more to be said. Anyone who reaches the top of the summit will receive the esteem of House Teal, but the first three will receive additional compensation, and the first to scale the summit will be awarded this month's prize: a sublime skull from the fabled direstorm, directly from the vaults of House Teal."
"That actually sounds like it might fit." Nauda tossed her staff from hand to hand and shifted her weight. "I'll help you gather those gems for a while, but support me when I make my attempt."
There was no need to for her to ask: after what they had been through in Ichil, working together was a foregone conclusion. Theo actually had more tornadogems than he needed for his current design, though he intended to collect more just in case. Overall, he was mostly interested in seeing how well he could dodge the rocks with his new speed.
"Begin!" The instant Lady Baryara started the contest, Theo and Nauda sprinted for the side and skidded down the slope.
Moving at his full speed and with Nauda beside him, Theo reached the bottom without hitting a single rock. That part had been easy, but he wasn't so confident with the central whirlwind. Nauda moved in first, spinning her staff freely and batting aside everything that came her way. She seemed a bit more confident striking rocks she couldn't see clearly, perhaps due to all the time straining her senses in Ichil.
For his part, he was just concerned with raw speed. Yet as he stepped into the whirlwind, he was surprised that the rocks no longer seemed to be moving as quickly because his perceptions had changed. That was the real danger of higher tier soulcrafters: not raw power, but a massive increase in functional speed.