Crimsoncrest (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 10), page 4
Theo crested above the highest whirlwind and hovered there, examining the Fithan landscape around the city. Further out, beyond even his Authority-tier vision, there were immense threats. According to his best estimate, Plutalgion's empire could probably fight every power on the Norron continent at once and win.
Worse, Plutalgion himself was an aeon-class threat, beyond Dominion. The tier name "Ophaon" still stuck oddly in Theo's mind, unfamiliar in either life. That was the level of power Vistgil and his enemies played at, still beyond him.
For the first time, however, it was no longer unfathomably far overhead. He knew that Vistgil considered Plutalgion a real player, and he had some direct involvement in Norron in the form of Raythe Darkblade. That was still an unpleasant unknown in all Theo's plans, since Vistgil could be lurking around any corner, responsible for any action. A person could go mad seeing conspiracies in every coincidence, spiraling into endless spurious interpretations.
Theo took a deep breath and cleared his mind. His best guess was similar to what Dave had said: Vistgil either couldn't or didn't want to act directly, and so he used agents. As near as Theo could tell, no major powers wanted to act directly in Norron for fear of being struck by their rivals.
For example, there was probably no soulcrafter on the continent who could fight Plutalgion himself, but if he ran off to attack, his enemies would either strike Tymetron or ambush him once he spent cantae. Most likely it would be Giatrice of the Gold Wastes - Theo had checked on the region and confirmed that the other aeon-class soulcrafter was still holding Plutalgion in check.
That meant a proxy war, with every power using agents to try to control the region without spending their real strength. In the past it had been the Order of the Deepest Blue, and others still feared that the Asplundat Movement was being controlled. Theo wondered if the other inter-world organizations were involved as well, since Norron wasn't a complete backwater. If they had their own fingers in the conflict, he couldn't see deeply enough to spot them.
It bothered him not knowing the true shape of the conflict, especially with dangerous lethal organizations like the Salebrante supposedly involved. Technically he had "Emperor Dave" and the Mercury Court backing him, but they wouldn't fight this war for him.
How long had he been drifting over Norro Yorthin? Theo shook himself and fixed his coat lapels that had been disrupted by the wind, though it hadn't actually been too long. These months had passed in a flash because they were just so full... taking so many weirkeys for himself meant that he needed to stay in touch and transport others in order to be a good ally.
Even though he wanted to check in with Fiyu, she was currently beyond his reach because she had taken the gate to Ichil. Since she hadn't left a message with House Blacksilver she must still be on her own journey, which meant his next stop was Senka.
Theo arced away from Fithe with one weirkey, then arced back onto another continent. This had been a risk, but the northern half of this region was completely uninhabited except by beasts and demons. Dangerous for travelers, just not likely to threaten a weirkey-using soulcrafter.
Aside from the sun jumping position in the sky, he could feel the difference in the air and earth. The sand was deeper here, red dunes across uneven rocks contrasting with the dusty planes around Norro Yorthin. Massive furrows marred the ground as well, some empty and others filling with sand. Apparently during some seasons they flooded according to some exaggerated tidal system, which meant this area could rapidly change between dust and water. Both Dust and Depths Fithans had apparently decided that it wasn't worth the effort and left it alone.
Ignoring the landscape, Theo rose into the air and searched for the lake. It wasn't a permanent lake, just water that had been left stranded when the rivers retreated. They'd used it as a landmark, since it was visible for miles around, and the question was just finding...
No, never mind. Senka flopped on her back on a tiny raft, drifting in the middle.
Instead of risking his weight on the raft, Theo hovered down beside her. "Senka?"
"Stupid fish," she muttered, then suddenly sat bolt upright. "Fumpet!"
Her wild movement tipped her raft over and she plunged into the water, immediately thrashing wildly.
"Help Senka, fumpet!"
"Are you that bad off, or are you messing with me?" Theo gestured to cast an inverted gravitational field and lifted her out of the water. She promptly shook herself like a dog to dislodge the water, aiming for him, but he floated out of the way.
"I'm actually pretty tired." Senka shifted to her real voice and her eyes were bloodshot when they met his. "I really thought I could find one of the rivers, but I came up empty. I was going to try to search Siata, but I don't have it in me... can you take me there?"
"Nauda has that weirkey. We need to spread them out so we can all-"
"Yeah, yeah. In that case, just take me back so I can go bother the Blacksilver staff."
Theo chuckled and floated her close enough to grasp with his weirkey. He was much better at weirkeying back to Norro Yorthin than anywhere else, so they popped back into reality over the city. Senka slumped in the air, snoring loudly - either she was actually asleep or she was being obnoxious, but either way he dumped her off in the House Blacksilver complex.
She technically had greater mobility than any of them, but her curse severely hampered her ability to move between worlds. They'd tested and it seemed basically impossible for her to transport anyone else, plus her accuracy was troublingly low. On top of that, each jump drained her reserves, so they'd set up a system for him to take up half her burden while she searched.
Eventually the two of them were going to have to hunt for some caches, but for now she was obsessed with finding other rivers. He supposed that this was the time for her personal quest, since the invasion hadn't started yet.
With Senka dropped off, Theo jumped to the Dustwind Plateaus to check in with Nauda. Unfortunately, there he discovered that she was currently patrolling and had just left a message that the neutral zone remained stable. He would have enjoyed talking with her and really didn't want to spend time with the Dustwind Authority, an irritating man who wouldn't stop yammering. As soon as he had dropped off sublime materials for Nauda, Theo headed back out.
Should he go to check the Gold Wastes again? It worried him that Plutalgion and their other enemies were being limited mainly by a force he didn't know, but just visiting them didn't do much good.
As he thought, Theo realized he was running his fingers over the pale Noveni weirkey. He did have the option of returning to Ugustial and meeting with Isorales again, an option he often considered but hadn't yet taken. In the end, he put the Noveni weirkey away: better to return as a Stronghold, when he would have more leverage and could pick up the statues being soulcrafted by Isorales's grandfather. He was needed in so many different locations, he couldn't run off to visit any place he felt like.
Instead, he pulled out the Slescan weirkey. He and Nauda shared it, but since it was his turn, it was time to visit the beetles.
He spun between worlds and emerged over Acidmount, which had grown since he'd last seen it. There were beetles moving along roads in every direction, including new raised pathways and what looked like an aqueduct. Soldier ants from the nearby colonies also moved about, but they seemed to be integrating with the population. That agreement was holding, at least.
The only question was how to find Krikree amid all the Slescans throughout the city. Then Theo heard a buzzing sound and remembered that wasn't a problem anymore.
"Theo-sister!" Krikree flew through the air at top speed, colliding with him and sending them both tumbling through the air. She eagerly grabbed his head with all four hands and flicked her antennae against him, ignoring the fact that they were spinning rapidly into the sky. "Theo-sister is back!"
"That's right." Theo managed to slow them down with a few gravitational fields and patted her back. "What have you been doing?"
"Krikree help beetles build fort! Come scout!" Krikree grabbed the front of his coat with two hands and tugged them through the air away from the city.
Even after months of practice she wasn't the most agile flier he'd seen, but she was fast. She seemed to hurl herself through the air, her cantae building up like a spring and then uncoiling in a violent burst. It only took two more jumps to take them away from the city to a dark blue pile of stones.
"Krikree scout rock types. Learn from Navim-thinkrock. Krikree help beetles gather rocks, Bluepetal-bigbeetle cut with acid, build fort..."
She continued to explain the details, but as Theo looked over the operation, it seemed clear enough. On one end of the field was a pile of truly enormous boulders that Krikree must have torn out of the earth somewhere. Local beetles were crawling over them, applying acid to cut them into cubes, each side taller than he was, which were then moved into a fortification and covered with a sort of plaster.
The plaster was the same type of mud the leafpuller beetles used everywhere, but the boulders were a defensive sublime material. Theo experimentally extended a gravitational field and was surprised by the mass of the stone. Krikree must have chosen them for their defensive properties, though he'd have to talk to her about why exactly she was building a fortress.
"This is all very impressive," Theo said as they floated over the construction.
"Fiyu-queen okay?" Krikree skittered onto his shoulder, peering from point blank range. "Nauda-queen okay? Blacksilver beetles okay?"
"There are occasional attacks, and we think Plutalgion is hiring mercenaries, but no war yet."
"Then soulcraft! Krikree find sublime."
Insectoid hands pulled him down to the fortress, where they sat atop one of the uncoated cubes. Krikree crouched beside him, waiting for him to sit beside her, then began to pull sublime materials out of her home.
"Gravity materials for Theo-sister. Krikree scout many."
"These aren't bad." Theo looked over the materials, finding that most were gravity-related even if they weren't very strong. His basement still had some empty rooms, so he was hoping that he could fill them and begin working with sublime materials.
"And one more." Krikree skittered side to side, for the first time looking nervous. She reached into her soulhome and then thrust forward a strange green stone.
It was heavy and emanated Authority-tier cantae, but clearly wasn't gravitational. Since Theo trusted Krikree not to make scouting mistakes, he had to assume it was intentional... "Is this for you?"
"Armorstone," Krikree explained. "For queens, but Krikree find first. Problem: not strong enough. Krikree wants to be heavy."
"Heavy?" Theo tilted his head as he examined her, trying to reason through her logic. "You just assembled a lot of sublime materials that increase mass, so-"
"Not! Krikree is building nine new rooms, just like Theo-sister. Must choose materials very carefully."
"So you're saying this isn't quite what you want?"
"Theo-sister will fix." Krikree looked at him extremely seriously. "Theo-sister scouts basement, changing materials. Help Krikree?"
That was a tall order, since he was just beginning to develop his skills with fundamentally changing sublime materials. But if he couldn't imbue a material with mass, how could he think of refining them in any more complex ways? Plus, Krikree was looking at him with unquestioning confidence, and he really just wanted an excuse to get back to soulcrafting.
"Alright," Theo said as he pulled the stone into his basement. "Let's get started."
Chapter 2
Fiyu crouched in the comforting darkness, eyes closed, searching for the invading lights.
Her senses had been significantly strengthened by her ascension to Authority, yes, but she found that what had truly sharpened her was so much exposure to light on other worlds. Lights both terrible and comforting, welcomed instead of feared. She had walked under the sky-consuming Tatian sun and even on Noven, with its frankly excessive nine suns.
Those journeys had taught her not sensitivity but differentiation. As her senses rippled over the landscape and the caravan, she was able to easily set aside the defensive shadowlamps and minor soulcrafters in order to find the true threats that glimmered within.
Other Ichili might have been blinded by the faint powers of the caravan and its surroundings, small touches of light washing out the rest of the picture. Indeed, that was why they had hired her.
The Darkwheel Traders were a mixture of strange and familiar to her: they migrated reasonably, yet traveled in large groups like cavesteaders. She found them to combine reasonable caution and strange community that would have been alarming to her before she encountered other worlds. Now she understood why Relative Guchiro had only told her of them instead of assigning her to spend time in one of their caravans.
Now, however, in the absence of other options, she had come to accompany them on a journey. The one advantage of their migratory travels was their access...
Fiyu set aside her own thoughts as she felt a malevolent flicker. She leapt into the air, soaring through the darkness to the fourth of the great wagons. Even if she hadn't been given identifiers, the soulcrafters standing guard were too unprepared to stop her. Fiyu thrust her blade between two of the wagon wheels.
When she pulled back her cantae blade, she displayed the ghostworm she had skewered exactly through its middle. The creatures were unpleasantly spongy to her senses, hiding so effectively that they barely seemed to exist. But the circular mouths at both ends of the ghostworm could bite effectively enough, chewing through sublime materials or even infecting people.
The guards, catching up to her action, turned to her in alarm. They were doing the best they could to protect their community, so Fiyu tried not to startle them too much: she held forth the dying ghostworm as explanation.
"It was chewing through the floor," she said. "It needed to be eliminated."
"I can't believe you find these things so quickly," one of the guards said with a shake of his head.
"Please have someone repair the wagon, as at least the outer coating was damaged."
Her task accomplished, Fiyu floated into the sky. She had examined the caravan thoroughly from the side, so now perhaps an aerial position would be better. The Darkwheel Traders had Authorities of their own, but they missed a troubling percentage of ghostworms.
As she returned to focusing on her senses, however, Fiyu found herself unable to find the same meditative focus. The truth was, she was increasingly restless during her time with the caravan. Even if she still felt her reasoning was sound, she wished that she were working toward her ascension more directly. Or perhaps, even though it had only been a month or two, she missed Friend Nauda.
This would have been an excellent environment for her: if Friend Nauda had been able to train her life sense to a sufficient degree, it would have been even better suited to finding ghostworms than Fiyu's own senses. It was regrettable that they couldn't travel together... but Fiyu agreed with Friend Theo's analysis that it was better to finish their own business now, before the conflict in Fithe grew truly difficult.
In theory, her time with the Darkwheel Traders was very close to paying off, and then...
Over the course of the next week, they moved into the most dangerous part of the journey: the Illuminated Ice. At first the landscape was broken by razor sharp icicles that any adult with real senses could avoid, but as they progressed, the ice began to resonate with some deeper light from below. When Fiyu extended her senses downward she could only make out filaments of liquid trailing to some phosphorescent source.
That light blinded many, and worse, it corroded defenses and even flesh. This was where the shadowlamps showed their real value, holding back the light from the caravan. The wagons proceeded slowly, spheres of shadow menaced on all sides by light. Most of the travelers and even many of the guards retreated into the carriages and the safety of true darkness.
This was where Fiyu could again show them her worth, remaining outside and eliminating the ghostworms that seemed to thrive on the ice. Normally during this portion of the trip the caravan accumulated many, necessitating repairs later, but she held them at bay. The other Authorities protecting the caravan began to miss more and Fiyu picked up the slack, so she made sure to ask them for assistance whenever possible so that she would not disrupt the community. Sadly, even with her efforts a few people were infected by ghostworms, and all she could do was escort them to healing Authorities.
Amid the constant work and tension, Fiyu found happiness and melancholy swirling together within her. She enjoyed the landscape, which her relatives had never allowed her to visit before due to the risk, and at the same time wished that she could have journeyed together with the others, because they would have enhanced her journey.
Friend Nauda, of course, always Friend Nauda. What colors would she see in this landscape? Fiyu removed her mask to try to appreciate them as the Tatian woman would, admiring the blues and blacks instead of the densities around her.
If Friend Theo had been present, perhaps they could have uncovered the mystery of the glowing ice together. Ally Navim would have been pleased to investigate, and perhaps they could analyze the shadowlamps together. Ally Krikree would leap from icicle to icicle, investigating with a child's sense of wonder, yet enough power that she was not at risk.
Associate Senka would also have been present, and that would be... acceptable.
Overwhelmed by the melancholy, Fiyu retreated into her soulhome to soulcraft whenever she was not engaged in her duties. She was working on bricks atop her roof, preparing a stairway to Stronghold, and yet whenever she examined the dark heavens above her, she hesitated.
Could she truly be within reach of ascending? Fiyu believed that she had the strength of will to accomplish it, yet was plagued by uncertainty. Relative Guchiro had spent decades at Authority, polishing his soulhome in order to attain his true potential. Even Friend Theo, always so hasty in soulcrafting, spent a long time making sure to eliminate all flaws at the critical Authority transition. So how could she possibly think that she was close?
