Wakespire (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 7), page 25
As she moved, Fiyu's mind was free enough that she examined Friend Theo and Betrayer Senka again. She slouched against his leg, stiff body revealing exhaustion, and Friend Theo did not shift away. He seemed to trust her, which was entirely irrational.
Fiyu had read tragedies about incompatible networks of relatives. Through unusual circumstances, some more realistic and some wildly convoluted, well-meaning relatives who cared about one another ended up with incompatible circles of trust. The results varied, but always contained great heartbreak. She did not believe that the situation with Betrayer Senka was so dangerous yet, but she did not understand how Friend Theo could trust her.
Betrayer Senka had deceived all of them. Perhaps not maliciously, though she did contain great malice, but intentionally and at times for no reason. People who lied so habitually could not be truly trusted, not even if they meant well. Nothing that Betrayer Senka had done since then changed those fundamental facts.
Eventually Fiyu reached the end of the corridor and the lever that had been mentioned. When she pulled it, the lines of fragile materials began to recede into the floor... but the mechanism clashed and groaned to a halt. Fiyu was afraid that the entire mechanism would break until it finally went silent and was simply inoperative.
"That didn't sound good," Betrayer Senka said from the opposite side. "The entrance is right beside you, can you just look?"
"Yes, I can." Fiyu entered through the door that had been partially opened by the lever. It required strength that would have been more appropriate to Friend Nauda, but Fiyu was able to twist her way through. On the other side, her senses quickly revealed a mostly empty room. "I am sorry, but there is little here. Rotted remains of what may have been blankets, perhaps some bones from food..."
"Don't be sorry, that's what we've usually found. Next I'm going to need you to look beneath the floor."
"It is solid," Fiyu said. She checked again and confirmed her previous conclusion of a solid stone floor.
"It might feel that way to you, but I had a secret compartment." Betrayer Senka took a deep breath and shook her head violently. "Okay. Start in the southwestern corner, then look eleven tiles north and... I think five tiles east. Apply cantae to that tile and only that tile."
Even though there were no visible mechanisms that could have any effect, Fiyu obeyed the instructions. When she extended a line of cantae, she was surprised to find that the tile sucked it up. Part of the floor shifted and suddenly a new mechanism appeared in her senses where there had formerly been nothing but stone. Fiyu let out a gasp as she realized her senses had been tricked.
"That sounds good!" Betrayer Senka called. "Do you see anything inside? I hoped they missed it."
"I am not sure," Fiyu answered. Once she gathered herself, her senses worked normally again. "It appears that the opening is partially broken and did not fully open."
"Well, that's to be expected, the thing is ancient. Don't worry, I didn't leave any traps in there. I'm just hoping that I did leave something worthwhile."
Fiyu knelt and pushed open the floor panels, revealing a cubical space. It contained a quantity of sublime stone and sublime wood of shocking potency. When Fiyu began to tell her allies what she had found, however, Betrayer Senka interrupted her.
"Those are just ordinary materials." Betrayer Senka had perked up and shifted her weight, as if eager to move down the corridor. "They're sublime materials beyond Dominion, but they're just for repair work. Cabinets, walls, that sort of thing. Is there anything underneath?"
"Yes, I believe so. There are several gemstones..." Fiyu picked them up and noted that they were powerful and strongly attuned to different elements. Sadly, none were dedicated to darkness. She was about to explain the set when she saw something else beneath a plank of wood and took a deep breath.
A cube that appeared to be made of living flesh throbbed with a strange power. When she moved her hand near it, lines of muscle extruded from the cube toward her. Fiyu immediately pulled her hand back. The cube extended several lines of muscle, turning only at right angles, and then retreated back into itself. When Fiyu described it, Betrayer Senka let out a cheerful cry.
"Oh, that's my fleshnexus! Very rare, but I found it too late to include in my soulhome."
"Is it suitable for an Authority?" Friend Theo asked. Down the corridor, Betrayer Senka elbowed his leg.
"Yeah, alright, this can be your payment for helping. But it's better suited for a Corporeal Floor than anything, so I don't know how it fits into your blueprint."
"Well, I'll figure out something."
"There is little else remaining." Fiyu picked up one of the small crystalline densities from the ground and confirmed her suspicions. "It seems that some craftgems were spilled across the floor."
"The thieves probably dropped them on their way out and didn't care enough to pick them up. They get less useful the further you get past Authority."
"Let's take them anyway," Friend Theo said. Even from across the corridor, he used one of his fields to lift the craftgems into the air. This saved Fiyu the trouble of scrabbling for them, instead letting her sweep them up into a bag. The number was not inconsiderable, plus the fleshnexus and the other materials were quite powerful, so Fiyu again wondered just who Betrayer Senka had been.
With everything taken, Fiyu made her way carefully down the corridor. The last question remained with her long after they had returned.
Chapter 29
After multiple wasteland caches, Theo was surprised when Senka led him to a city. It was a heavily fortified cube built into the side of a mountain, more characteristic of Arbai or Fithe than Noven. Other than the heavy use of metal in the fortifications, he wouldn't have been able to tell. Every time he thought he had a solid handle on the Nine Worlds, they revealed some new facet.
"You need to memorize the exact numbers," Senka said as they flew in. "Messing up even once will bring us attention we don't want."
"If it's that serious, why don't you handle it?"
"An Authority knowing the bank code is no surprise, but whatever I am now? More of that attention, which again, we don't want."
"If you insist." Theo thought he'd memorized the numbers well enough, but he wasn't sure about engaging in negotiations in a culture about which he knew almost nothing.
Allegedly the Great Bank of Avn Kovor was a straightforward organization that served high tier soulcrafters of all types. According to Senka, they asked no questions and were accountable to no greater powers. The fact that they seemed to have survived for so long did speak well of their institutions. Their city itself was too much of a grim fortress for his taste.
Flying was forbidden in certain areas, so they needed to walk the rest of the way to the bank. While they walked through the blank streets, Senka examined the inhabitants curiously.
"There used to be a lot of Deuxans living here," she said. "I don't see many these days."
"Would they be thrown out?"
"It's not likely. There was a gate to Deuxan that must have been destroyed. Sometimes that happens, and even if people try to maintain connections via weirkeys, it never lasts."
"Speaking of that, do you know how gates are created?"
"It's an advanced technique... but my memories are fuzzy and I don't think they'll get clearer. That's soulcrafting knowledge that could actually have benefited me."
He wanted to ask more about the Deuxan community left behind, but at that point they finally came within sight of the Great Bank of Avn Kovor from the ground. It was a remarkably standard building by Noveni standards, just a dull metal block. What struck him most was that it was business-like. No ornaments or balconies, not in any of the styles he'd seen across a dozen cultures while traveling. Not even any ostentatious doors: just a practical entrance with utilitarian handles.
Inside, he was certain of subtle wealth from the very first step. It was more than the plush carpets and understated walls, it was the sublime materials underneath his feet. Not only was the entire building reinforced, there was some kind of spatial barrier that could likely be used to expel him.
"Do you have an account?" The Noveni who spoke to him appeared to be a normal official in a bank uniform, but remarkably the man was an Authority.
"I do." Theo rattled off the bank codes as if he'd done this before and wasn't an outsider. The official didn't so much as blink.
"Very good, sir. This way."
They were taken to a small room with even more security around it. Several officials set down a cup of tea and a plate with small pyramid-shaped pastries, then asked him to wait. Theo settled into the drab but extremely comfortable chair when Senka spoke up again.
"Oh, don't eat anything they give you. They poison things here."
"They what?"
"It's a weird cultural thing." She shrugged. "Something about not trying to poison someone being a gesture of disrespect. Anyway, the fact that they just handed you a poisoned drink is a sign of how classy this place is."
Theo stared at Senka, trying to figure out if she was joking. That seemed the most likely explanation, but she looked deadly serious. Before he could test the matter further, the official entered the room carrying a dull metal cube. He set it down on the table and then touched a long series of points on one side. Carefully remembering the opposite key he'd been taught, Theo entered his own code and was relieved when the cube cracked slightly down the center.
"Close the vault when you are done, sir, and it will be firmly locked." The official gave him a deep bow and then vanished from the room.
"Alright, let's get it over with." Senka gripped the slight crack in the top of the cube, threw it open, and then sighed.
"Nothing?" Theo leaned over to look and saw that the cube was mostly empty. There was a small glint at the bottom, however, and when he picked it up he discovered that it was a pale white key. "A weirkey?"
"Just to Noven, which means it was left practically as an insult." Senka emitted a growling sound that shouldn't have been possible for such a little body. "The number of people who had access to this vault was very small. The fact that they stole my things must mean they thought I was dead or at least taken out of the picture."
"Does the bank keep records of who took what?"
"No, it's all absolutely anonymous. But if it's not in use now, the others must be gone. They can't have died or left more than a century ago or the vault would have been closed. They weren't a part of my organization... but they also weren't people who would surprise me if they got themselves killed, if you get my drift."
"Still, this one wasn't a total loss." Theo pocketed the weirkey with a smile. "I won't have to share with Guchiro anymore."
"Sure, sure, weirkeys all around." Senka grabbed his coat to pull him from the bank. "At the rate we're finding out institutions are destroyed, we're going to need a lot more than that."
~ ~ ~
Theo was popping in and out at all times these days, so Nauda had needed to lie in wait to catch him. That wasn't too much of an imposition, since she had plenty of soulcrafting of her own to do. When he finally landed on their balcony and began making plans for another journey, she intercepted him and touched his shoulder.
"Theo, it's almost time for the next Wakespire." She made sure to get him to actually meet her gaze so he didn't stay in his overly focused mode. "There are some things we need to talk about."
"Are they moving the date up?" he asked.
"Nothing like that, but tensions are rising between the Dortorus and Terefilia teams. I think maybe you should stay, and apparently Isorales really wants to talk to us."
"We could still..." Theo paused and then sighed. "No, you're right. You can take a break for now, Senka."
"I don't mind." She jumped off his shoulder and flopped down onto the table in the center of the room. "It's not like we've been finding great treasures. I'll think hard about any remaining caches and we can take care of them later."
"Great. So where are we headed, Nauda?"
As it happened, they didn't end up needing to go anywhere. After Nauda told Isorales that they had all returned, he came to meet them directly. Not just himself, but at the head of a whole group of Jadadictus soulcrafters. They were mostly Archcrafter guards, who didn't seem so menacing given the current stakes of the Wakespire. Given that all his Ruler allies were injured except for the gruff bearded man who had fought along with them on the mountain, perhaps they were running out.
They met in the first room of the chambers they had been given, just the three of them. Guchiro was actually in the next room obscured by darkness, no doubt listening in. But for now, this was supposed to be a discussion between their teams.
"I wanted to discuss an alliance." For once Isorales didn't hem and haw around the subject, he just started with business. He didn't look injured from the battle, either. "Not like the previous round, something more serious."
"What changed?" Theo asked. Even though Nauda was more positively inclined toward Isorales than Theo was, she thought it was a good question.
"Two things. First, my lineage's goals have changed. My parents and grandfather believe that no one else is likely to ascend to Authority, so they want to win more rounds for the prestige of it. Second, attrition has taken its toll." Raising his slender fingers confidently, Isorales almost looked like a different man. "It would be difficult for us to raise a single competitive team, much less multiple."
If this group was the best they could assemble to help guard their new Authority, Nauda believed him. When she looked over the soulcrafters, she saw a mix of fear and anger. It seemed like Theo was about to press Isorales harder, but Nauda thought that a gentler approach would be best, so she spoke up first.
"Last round we forfeited our progress for you," she said. "But we actually want to win this time, because this part of the sublime legacy is essential for my soulhome. If you want us to give that up, you'll need to offer something remarkable."
"I can do better than that. What I propose is to combine our members to create one team with a better chance of victory than either separate group. If we do, you'll receive all the rewards we win... so long as the combined team is under the Jadadictus name."
The way he spoke, he seemed to think that was a major compromise. Judging from what she'd overheard in the training hall, Nauda suspected that it would be a sticking point for most Noveni. But for them, it meant almost nothing and she just hoped they didn't give away that they didn't care about the concession. Fiyu was listening with absolutely no expression on her face, while Theo briefly met her gaze with mild amusement.
"We might be willing to accept your terms," he said, "but we need to ensure the sacrifice will be worth it."
Isorales shook his head. "I wish I could offer you more, but I don't have the full confidence of the lineage. I don't have much to negotiate with. All I can offer you is my word that we'll all be grateful to you if you can help our lineage win."
"The team can be in your name, but we want control of the strategy. And the team members."
"I wanted to discuss that anyway." Isorales smiled around the group. "What if I joined you in the place of the fourth member you've always had forfeit immediately? That would be quite a strong team, I think."
"Ridiculous!" The bearded Jadadictus surged forward as if he couldn't contain himself any longer. He didn't grab Isorales, but his hand slammed down on the table as if he wished he could. "I can understand the Authority, my prince, but will you really do this? It will barely be a Jadadictus team at all!"
"Jarikius, calm yourself. The Dortorus teams are already accusing us of collaborating, so what difference will it make? Besides... who else would you put on the team? You, Jarikius? Which one of them would you replace?"
The large man's eyes shifted around the table. He didn't stay on Fiyu for long, which was no surprise. Nauda did her best to look confident when he looked toward her, because she expected that would be the real argument. To her surprise, Jarikius lowered his gaze.
"Joining with the foreigners would be the best possible team," he said, much more quietly.
"Thank you. This is for the sake of the lineage, after all." Isorales smiled at his guard, then turned back to them. "And thanks to all of you as well. I truly hope that this will benefit all of us. This is the penultimate round, after all, and the other lineages appear to be taking it quite seriously. We'll need an optimized group if we want to win."
Isorales remained a while longer and discussed various details with them, from changing their registration to their strategy in the Wakespire itself. Once the business was done, he seemed more anxious, which was more like his old self. He clearly wanted to stay longer, but his guards were encouraging him to return and Fiyu was getting antsy with all the company.
As they all filed out, Nauda thought about what that meant for them. This would be the first time they would enter the Wakespire with a full team, so that should have been encouraging. It was a very non-Tatian feeling, but she felt a little pride that she had been chosen. Maybe she wasn't so far behind other Rulers anymore, even if she hadn't fully recovered from the destruction of her soulhome.
Before they split entirely, Nauda caught Theo by the arm and drew him aside. "Are you going to try to squeeze in more trips across Noven?"
"I was thinking about it, but I guess not." He gripped her arm in response and smiled. "There will be plenty of time for everything else later. Let's win this."
Chapter 30
As the teams gathered in front of the entrance portals, Theo found himself actually analyzing all the competitors. Even though the Wakespire wasn't truly important in the grand scheme of things, he was going to have fun. And it would earn them some valuable sublime materials, so he didn't even feel guilty.
