Once more, an image of a humanoid sitting on a throne surrounded by piles of treasures entered my mind.
This time, the asshole looked to be composed and confident, like he had figured everything out and had found a way to be in control of the situation.
We couldn’t have that.
“Then there is no point in engaging in any kind of truce with you,” I snarled, “but rather, it would make far more sense for us to battle now. Then, after I kill and eat you, I will be in a much stronger position to deal with the idiots who are probably losing power as they are forced to trek across the desert to deal with my own armies and with all of the cities currently revolting in favor of my own rule. Shall we begin?”
I widened our stance as I continued to stare. By now, I had recovered most of my mana. Breena and Anahita were still at our back. Our other companions were on their way.
If this asshole was already stronger than us, then there was no better time to find out.
“If we battle now, you will only deal with my projection,” the creature said as it considered my challenge.
It also slowly began to change shape, the sand shifting away from that of a giant skull to a more humanoid form.
“You know very well that my true body is a great distance away.”
“I also know that I can consume whatever power you have encased in your projection,” I retorted. “Then, not only will you have less power to harm my citizens, Icons, and population, I’ll be better able to protect those people and resources from all my enemies. Not just you.”
“If you insist upon combat,” the shifting mass of sand replied, as it slowly became an indistinct, horned humanoid, with a cape as its only other clear feature, “I will accommodate you. But know that you have much more to lose. I can tell that you do not stand before me as a Scaleling.”
“Fine with me,” I growled, “but to give both of our ancestors a tiny modicum of more respect, I’ll propose the following offer. You kill any Malus Man you wish. You kill any Horde you wish. You destroy any Icons allied with their faction that you wish. You gather up all of their physical, nonliving possessions. You refrain from stalking those near me, such as the Starsown I have aided. You refrain from harming any other people, animals, or Icons, be they prisoners or neutral parties. Then, when we finally do meet, you deliver everything you gained to me as tribute, swear fealty to me, and I will grant you your life.”
“I hereby agree to the first part of your terms,” the figure replied solemnly. “We will refrain from stealing each other’s possessions, including living forces, unless said forces launch the first attack. As to the issue of surrender, I will make you the same offer: if, when we meet and you surrender your possessions and claim to this planet, I will consider sparing your life and accepting your oath of service. We will meet again, when the Hungering Void’s army has been destroyed.”
Then the figure collapsed into a pile of sand, and the magical presence left.
Phew, I heard Wrong-Me think, that was hard.
The hell? I snarled at him. I handled that perfectly! And you barely did anything!
I wasn’t talking about that, Wrong-Me replied, I was talking about Anahita’s reaction from your claiming to be lord of this planet.
Huh? I thought she was mad at us for something else? I puzzled. I was gonna try and fix it after dealing with Lord Sandpaper-Skull.
Or for the love of—Wrong-Me began, nevermind. Enough is enough. Your little talk is over now. Gimme our mouth back.
No, wait! I protested. What’s going on with Anahita? Maybe I can fix it! No! We struggled mentally, and I forgot just how determined Wrong-Me was when he wasn’t wimping out. Seriously! Let me just—
I sighed as I finally shoved Teeth back into the corner that the dumbass belonged in.
I had you talk to the Sandcastle Man so that I wouldn’t have to, I growled. But if you start fighting with me after we made an agreement, we’re going to have serious problems, problems that will probably prevent either of us from getting what we want.
Shit! Teeth spat. Fine! You have a point! But is Anahita still mad at us?
I sighed. Breena buzzed over to me and began looking at Anahita over my shoulder.
I think I cleared it up, I replied, I told her that you were just using terms that the sand-douche would understand, and that at the end of the day, whatever fancy titles we wore, we still worked for Stell, and couldn’t do a better job of running things than she could. She seemed mollified by that, and she seemed relieved when it became clear that Zereh was finally going to leave her alone. But enough internal dialogue.
I turned to speak to her.
Fuck.
“Yeah, Wes,” Breena spoke up, “she must have bolted away some time ago. I didn’t even see her leave.” The little fairy let out a sigh of her own. “I’ve forgotten how much I hate it when she does that.”
“So,” I began, collecting my thoughts, “did I make her mad, or…”
“No idea,” the pink-haired sprite admitted. “She does this sort of thing whenever she’s really mad or really happy, so it could be either. Huh.” Breena tilted her head. “Maybe right now she’s really mad and happy. That would make sense, given who she’s had to talk to recently.”
My bonded familiar gave me a sideways, meaningful look.
It was nice meeting you, humble Lord Challenger, Anahita’s quiet, smooth voice suddenly said in my mind, and to my eternal relief, she sounded amused instead of angry. But since I’m in a hurry now, I must take my leave.
Then, after being silent long enough for me to think she was no longer speaking…
Catch me if you can.
CHAPTER 24: INVESTIGATION
This was frustrating.
On the one hand, I really wanted to follow this exotic, surprising, extremely deadly woman. It was literally my job to help her, and it had been a lot of work just for us to all arrive at the same city at the same time. What’s more, she had seemed like she was on the end of her rope, mentally.
And even with the mindlink, I didn’t know whether she was currently bouncing back into a healthier mindset, or if she was still dealing with the inner darkness all the recent despair had given her.
‘Catch me if you can,’ she had said.
But if I went after her now, I would be leaving my retinue behind. That was potentially really stupid, and definitely irresponsible.
But so was sitting here doing nothing.
I sent an image of everything that had happened through the mindlink, including Teeth’s conversation with Steel-Armor Zereh. When I told them that Anahita had bolted off and messaged for me to follow her, their reactions had surprised me.
Go ahead, Eadric said without any of his usual sarcasm. We’ll catch up.
Huh? I asked intelligently, before recovering. I mean, that seems like a really dangerous idea.
It does, Karim added, but after seeing and studying the last Horde Pit, it will likely be much safer for you.
The Horde is tracking you, Salima interjected, her tone just as serious as the Testifiers’. And they are tracking you based on your past behavior. They know now that you travel with a large group. They know that you announce your presence explosively. They also know that you are working your way from the north, and are likely already in Tajam, or on your way.
How did you learn all that? I asked.
We actually kept the last Spawn alive before blowing up the Pit, Eadric answered candidly. Then we helped your adopted sister brutalize the ever-living hell out of it until it was either angry or frightened enough to tell us every bit of useful information.
Sorry, Val said sheepishly, I kind of got motivated to step up my game. But yeah, they’re looking for you pretty hard, now. And…I think we might be too big to really move together anymore. At least, not right now. Especially with what Ball-ee’s doing now.
Go on, I said, wanting her to just tell me what new thing Ball-ee was doing without me having to ask.
Right, right, Val
sent quickly. Ball-ee, um, got really big after that last Pit. Like, bigger than beachball size, big enough to where I finally had to admit I couldn’t keep stuffing him in my pack anymore.
I didn’t need the mindlink to know she was sad about that fact.
You see, pretty much everyone here had been reduced to the little ball forms, she continued. I don’t know why. I guess everyone else was just turned into those zombies we saw at the city. But after Ball-ee purifed the Pit, he absorbed all the little orbs, too. He also wrapped them inside some kind of mist that shrunk them further. Then he um, split in half.
A jumble of emotions I couldn’t process tumbled out of her.
I suspected she couldn’t either.
Kinda like a cell doing that mitosis thing from science. I uh, can’t tell which was the original Ball-ee. Both of them seem to remember me and act just like the old one. Anyway, they wanted us to return with the people-orbs to Tajam, so we kind of did.
Already? I asked, surprised.
We flew back, Weylin explained. Because everything we needed to hide from was dead now.
Fair enough, I admitted. What happened next?
Your sister’s little jelly friends hunted out all of the Pit Slaves, and covered them with mist.
And now they’re um, spraying their mists throughout the city, Val continued. It’s making everyone walk to their basements, lie down on some pillows or something, and then…disappear.
Disappear? I asked, giving up on not asking questions. As in, fade from view, or fade from existence?
No, they’re all still there, Val said quickly. You just can’t see them. Ball-ee has to point them out for us. But they’re not hurt or anything. Our detection magic says they’re in a form of suspended animation.
So they’re stable, invisible, and therefore safe from Malus Order retaliation for the foreseeable future? I asked, because that was incredibly and suspiciously convenient.
We think they’re stable, Karim specified, forestalling Val’s premature confirmation, but we’re going to spend some time making sure. Then we’re going to do what we can to conceal everyone further. Then, we will have to acquire more horses. So if Lalla Anahita has given you a way to quickly reach the next location on your own, we advise you to take it. It will be safer for the both of you, and give us a way to stay in contact with her. So go ahead. We will all follow when we can.
Just keep us posted on how you both are doing, Val added, and uh, let me know when she does more cool stuff. And maybe tell her hi for me?
I grinned, privately happy that my sister had found another woman to look up to, and took off for whatever trail Anahita had left behind for me.
She had a good headstart, but mindlink conversations occur far more quickly than verbal ones. The whole thing had taken less than ten seconds.
She hadn’t made it obvious, and Breena had gone suspiciously, and grumpily silent.
But I saw a footprint on the sand, and one a few feet beyond that, that the wind was just now sweeping away.
I bounded out in that direction, writing a seeking Script in front of my eyes and softly humming the tracking song that I had heard the Wealthwalkers teach Weylin.
Almost immediately, I noticed another footprint that was just about to vanish into the wind.
Yes! Breena hissed triumphantly in my mind, before recovering. I mean, don’t mind me. Go ahead and win me the bet—I mean find the trail.
She went silent again, but I decided that was because I had been given a test.
Anahita wanted to see if I could find her on my own, without help.
And as far as I could see, she had intentionally left behind clues, figuring I wasn’t anywhere close to her equal in stealth.
She was right, of course.
But I could still prove I was far better at tracking her than she realized.
As I sang and leaped across the sand, I made small, purposeful exhalations, like I had seen the Wealthwalkers do inside Nedjena.
It wasn’t enough to read the intent in Anahita’s own exhalations, but, combined with my Script and Saga magics, it was more than enough to read where she had recently been.
I found every intentional footprint she left. The magic she had put forth to preserve them made them shine like a torch to Teeth’s dragon senses and my script-enhanced eyes.
Eventually, though, I didn’t need the obvious clues. There was a trail of magical residue that lined up with the magically preserved footprints. It was faint, so faint I wouldn’t have found it without using every trick I had, but together, it was enough to help me track Stell’s Satellite across the desert sands.
It still didn’t explain how she had gotten so far ahead of us, I thought to myself.
I wasn’t any slower than she was.
In fact, I was at least a hair faster, when I went all out, or I never would have caught up with her to begin with. And there wasn’t anywhere to hide in this vast desert, under a clear sky. I should at least be able to see her as a small dark speck in the distance.
But I wasn’t able to, and as far as I could tell, she wasn’t using any invisibility magic.
So she had some other way to get far ahead of me, one that she hadn’t felt confident in using before.
Good thing she had left a trail for me to find out what it was.
The trail disappeared in front of a small outcrop of rocks and desert cacti.
There was one more footprint beyond it, but I disregarded it immediately. There was no magical trail leading beyond it, and it looked so deliberately beyond the rocky outcrop that it practically screamed ‘distraction.’
Breena seemed smugly proud of me for ignoring it.
The rocky outcropping actually extended to my north and south as a scattered ring. None of the rocks were large enough to come past my shins, in fact they reminded me of little islands in a sea of sand, with the cacti providing the few signs of life.
The Breath and Song spell led me to one spot of two rocks jutting out next to each other. At first glance, the rocks didn’t look any different than the ones around them.
And they didn’t radiate magic, either.
But if I looked carefully, I could recognize small spots where Shaping magic had been used, along with Earth and Air Ideal magic.
I stepped toward them, moving very carefully—just because I couldn’t sense any magic didn’t mean there wasn’t any magic present.
Right before I stepped next to them, everything around me went completely still and silent.
A moment later, small vestments of Iconic power manifested.
I felt the power regard me carefully, as if it were weighing me as a friend or foe.
I did the same to it, and as I did so I gripped Breaker’s handle and instinctively projected a tiny tendril of my power as a Planetary Lord.
The Iconic power withdrew immediately and submissively, wiping the veil it was projecting over the stones.
I looked at the shimmering air that hung between the two shin-high rocks, and it reminded me for all of the world like the inside of one of the many Pathways I had recently traveled, focusing into one tight direction that curved just above the ground.
That explained some things, or so I thought, but I had to make sure how to use it.
My senses and magic didn’t detect any traps.
But they did detect small, magical footprints, with the same signature Anahita had left behind.
Breena, I sent to my bonded familiar, should I be asking anyone to help me figure out how this thing works, or should I just go with my current idea?
I sent her an image of my plans, because the whole thing still felt like some kind of secret scavenger hunt.
Yeah, I’d go with that, Wes, she said, still sounding smug and proud.
I shrugged, covered my body with a cloak of Air magic, and walked between the rocks, putting my first step on the footprint Stell’s local Satellite had left behind.
My next step covered over a hundred feet of distance.
Iconic
power hummed all around me, as I crossed mile after mile without so much as breaking a sweat. Invisible momentum helped me move as quickly as I could while flying at full speed with my Air magic, without costing me any mana at all. Even my stamina pool went largely unaffected.
Ha! Breena sent to me as she raced as a tiny speck alongside me, propelling forward in sync with my steps. I totally won that bet! And I forgot how fun this was! Wheeee!
The ground continued to speed under me with every step.
As I bounded forward in mile-long leaps, I tried to figure where we were going, how far Anahita was ahead of me, and why she had kept this wonderful method a secret.
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