Skyvenom: Chapters 42-43

Here are your chapters for this week.

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Chapter 42

All at once it was the melee again, except this time Fiyu stood alone. She didn't wait for them to taunt her, simply unleashed every technique at once. For just a moment the outpouring of cantae, enhanced by all her materials, managed to throw them back.

Then the terrible man with the bronzed skin pushed through her lightstorm, grinning like a skull. Fiyu wanted to use her incorporeality skill to escape him, but at that moment Enemy Esaire used his new lightning armament to hurl a deadly bolt at her. She barely managed to avoid it and instinctively disappeared into her stealth technique.

Yet she hesitated... Associate Krikree was also present, revealing her weapons to try to distract the attackers despite being hopelessly outmatched. It would be wrong to abandon her, but could she be easily taken away? When Fiyu took a step in her direction, she suddenly cried out as a force pierced her soulhome and her sphere of stealth disappeared.

No outside force could destroy her technique, yet one of the new armaments the enemy controlled caused all the cantae in her stealth chambers to seize up. Enemy Esaire must have known the exact location, since he had fought her before she built her shielding wall. Without stealth, she had no chance of escaping the enemy, which left her with few options. She realized there was one other: Betrayer Senka was present, doing nothing... would she betray her now as well?

Because, unless someone came to assist, Fiyu did not think she could survive this ambush.

She still gave everything she had. Thanks to all her training, it was easier for her to use darkness alongside lightstorms and her other techniques. She deployed tendrils to grab the armored Deuxan's legs, slowing him down, while she used her lightstorms to bombard the Siatan mercenary so he could not disable her techniques. If only she had finished her new soulcrafting, she might have been able to do even more. Once she even nearly cut through another Deuxan, her blade stopped only by his new cloak armament, then she was driven back by a flying sword.

Even with Associate Krikree at her side, she was only buying time. The true problem was Enemy Esaire, always throwing lightning from a distance to keep her off balance and rushing to save anyone she threatened. He intended not only to kill her, he would do it without losing a single one of his allies.

Rage filled Fiyu's heart, but that was not enough. If only she could get free of the anti-weirkey stones... she had been working her way closer, trying to gain subtle advantages...

Then she saw the red-lacquered armor as one of the Demon Court Strongholds descended to block her path.

"All of you can't defeat one girl?" the man said in a rough voice. "This continent is an embarrassment."

"We're wearing her down," Enemy Esaire called angrily.

"You're wasting time. If you could only lure her this far, others will be coming soon. I'll handle this."

Before Fiyu could react, the overwhelming cantae slammed her to her knees. She cried out in despair as she struggled to rise, but the Stronghold would soon destroy her. Against Authorities, even a great number, she would try to fight, but alone against this...

Her last thoughts would be of Friend Nauda... and then Fiyu saw a small ragged form in front of her.

An enormous torrent of cantae shot from Betrayer Senka, driving her backward so hard she smashed into the ground. But the beam tore through the Stronghold's torso and burned into the sky over the city. Fiyu caught only a glimpse of it before a shockwave drove them all to the ground.

While she struggled to fly again, Fiyu saw the chaos left in the wake of the blast. The Stronghold lay dead, his lacquered armor shattered, and several of Enemy Esaire's allies had been knocked flying. Others stumbled or struggled to return to their feet... but they were indeed returning.

Her life had been preserved by Unknown Senka, but Fiyu did not know for how long. Enemy Esaire was back on his feet now, directing the lightning spear toward her, and it took all her concentration to go incorporeal for an instant. She had been pushing herself so hard, then been struck by overwhelming cantae twice in succession, her head was spinning as she saw the threats closing in...

"Not hurt Fiyu-queen!"

Associate Krikree rushed forward in a green blur, striking at all of the enemies and knocking them away. Enemy Esaire dodged her swipe and backhanded her to the ground, but even as she fell, Associate Krikree hurled her spear. The tip traced a line of blood across the enemy's cheek and he stared in shock for a moment before his expression turned to rage.

The match should have been over in an instant, even more lopsided than Fiyu's struggle, and yet Associate Krikree defended her with sheer ferocity. All four arms wheeled in blow after blow and she even kicked off opponents with her legs. When her pickaxe shattered, she kept fighting. When a sword cut through her side, she grabbed it in two hands and swung it against her enemies. Enemy Esaire grabbed her arm and broke it, yet she only savaged his arm with her teeth.

Fiyu struggled from her knees, throwing out what light and darkness she could, but every technique was a struggle. Then she saw the lightning spear and she was too slow: the force tore through her, sending her tumbling across the ground like a child's toy.

Just when Fiyu thought that it was truly over, she saw someone else descending from the sky. For the first time in her life, she was glad to see a Deuxan.

"Enough of this," Associate Nourise said in a commanding voice. All the Authorities in the battle immediately froze in place.

"You can't enter this fight!" Enemy Esaire shouted. "You're locked by the convocation!"

"That didn't stop you from bringing one of your own Strongholds to try to kill an Authority. Please, try to attack me. See how well you can fight when you aren't ganging up on a single person."

As much as Fiyu wished that Associate Nourise would kill all of them, she could sense others approaching as well. This had been an assassination attempt, nearly successful in its audaciousness. Her vision was blurring as the pain through her torso increased, but Fiyu could dimly see Associate Nourise speaking to others. If she knew the treacherousness of Deuxans, there would be no punishment for this.

She took a painful breath as she examined herself. Her body ached, but her soulhome had not been harmed: the second floor had prevented damage, and the reinforced shielding wall had been polished enough to ward off all the powerful cantae. Without all of her polishing, she could well have suffered permanent damage like Friend Nauda once had.

Suddenly a Slescan face appeared in her vision. "Fiyu-queen okay?"

"I think I will live." Fiyu tried to reach up to touch Ally Krikree's head, but her arm felt so very weak. And yet her wounds were small compared to her ally, who held a gruesomely bleeding torso and at least one broken limb. "Are you...?"

"Krikree injured, but will heal. What do now?"

"Go and... pick up what they left behind... when they fled. Later they might argue, but... anything we take now will be ours." At least they would get something from this disaster. Fiyu could feel her body attempting to shut down to recover and forced herself to remain conscious a little longer.

She blurred in and out, so it didn't seem long at all before Ally Krikree appeared over her again. A large red object waving overhead in two of her unbroken arms.

"Krikree take most sublime, but this too strong. Fiyu-queen take?"

"Alright..." Fiyu marshaled herself to grasp the object and realized, as she painfully pulled it into her soulhome, that it was a fragment of the Demon Court Stronghold's armor. The metal was powerful, even the lacquer was a sublime material, and there was a massive ruby still burning in the center. It strained her soulhome, but would be manageable.

"Enemy hive leave this behind." Ally Krikree waved the staff from the armament competition, nearly striking Fiyu in the face. "Gift for Nauda-queen?"

"Yes, that's good..."

"Not leave lightning spear. No weapons." Ally Krikree showed her the broken pieces of her pickaxe, her antennae drooping.

It was a small thing, but Fiyu owed her life to this companion and didn't want to see her sad. Thought of weapons made her think back to something she had not considered in a long time. Fiyu's spirit felt scorched, but she could move it more easily than her real body, so she limped into her soulhome and searched the back corners of her storage room.

When she emerged, she held out the long black sword she had once won in a Fithan competition. Ally Krikree's antennae jerked upright and she reached out, then hesitated.

"Gift for Krikree?"

"A gift for an ally," Fiyu said weakly. She smiled as Ally Krikree took it eagerly.

"Also, Senka-food broken." Ally Krikree held up Unknown Senka by one arm and she dangled limply. "Theo-sister fix?"

"I think she just needs time."

Ally Krikree dropped Unknown Senka beside her, which ordinarily would have been distressing for Fiyu. However... she reflected that Unknown Senka's original betrayal had not been so terrible, not by the standards of all that she had seen. She could not be trusted, but the Deuxans could not be trusted either, and she still worked with them. In the end, she would trust Friend Theo's judgment: Associate Senka was not so bad.

Fiyu lay back for a time, her breaths coming slower. It was good that they were alive, but now all she wanted was to see Friend Nauda...

~ ~ ~

Nauda had a lot on her mind, which was both an unpleasant and in other ways welcome distraction from all her emotions.

Her personal soulcrafting was going very well. She didn't intend to use the ward gauntlet long term, but she had made changes to her staff tower to accommodate it such as reshaping her wardplate, and it worked well in her sparring sessions with Theo. So she had placed her staff into the base of her tower, vowing to pick it up again when she had ascended further. It sat opposite the staff that Fiyu, or rather Krikree, had given her after the melee.

There were far too many bricks needed for the entirety of her fourth floor representing her hips, so for now she focused on finishing the central chamber. In the future she could have more elaborate floors, but Theo agreed she could keep it simple while she unified things: one chamber for life, one for death, and a central one merging the two. Until she could find something to fill her corporealbottle in the center, she used gemstones from Theo, or rather Senka.

All of that was great progress... but when she looked at Theo working away on his basement, she felt as though she was still far behind. They were on the same tier now, but they weren't equal. He'd tried to tell her that she had her own strengths, but she wasn't sure she believed his encouraging words.

At least she felt like she was more effective when it came to the people of Western Ostic. Nauda had been working with the leaders, the villagers, and especially Victon to see if she couldn't help them, and made more progress than Theo had. They might know everything about agriculture in their difficult environment, but she had something to teach them when it came to fertilizers and use of other outside components.

So all of that seemed to be going well... until Nauda heard about Fiyu and none of that mattered anymore.

She rushed back to Accilonia by weirkey, actually so quickly that she abandoned Theo. There she physically tossed aside a guard who was trying to get in her way and finally discovered Fiyu. The other woman was even paler than before, lying in bed with heavy bandages over her torso.

"Nauda." The weak smile of relief almost broke her heart. "It is okay, they have healers here."

"As if I'd trust them with you." Nauda dropped beside her and fumbled for her healing honey, then carefully fed it to Fiyu.

As the other woman explained the full story, Nauda's emotions swung wildly. Sometimes she was horrified that she hadn't been there when Fiyu was in danger, which was always choked off by giddy relief that she had survived. Often she cursed herself for focusing on the skills she had: what use was warding when she had neglected her healing ability and could do so little for Fiyu?

"Do not feel that way, Nauda." Fiyu seemed to sense her discomfort and reached down to pat her hand. "We all must focus in order to help the group. Even if you had far more healing, you cannot bring me back to health immediately."

"But you'd be a little better, and like this I can't-"

"You can strike back." Fiyu gripped her hand with some of her old strength. "It is just as Theo said, Esaire will continue to be a problem. We must take care of him now."

With all the politics and courts and noble connections, Nauda didn't see how that was possible. It seemed that no matter what they did in Deuxan, they would just earn new enemies, always sowing seeds of future hatred that they would reap eventually.

Still... when she looked at Fiyu, Nauda clenched her gauntlet so hard that the metal creaked.

Chapter 43

In the wake of the attack, Theo was awash in more emotions than he had expected.

First and above it all, fury at himself for allowing them to be lulled into the sense of complacency that had allowed Esaire to attempt the attack. He should have known that one Authority wasn't enough, should have realized that it would be possible to arrange an assassination even in the capital, should have done more to help them prepare.

Of course there was relief and pride, that Fiyu and the others had survived the battle. Fiyu had recovered enough to soulcraft and use a few techniques, but would not be fully combat capable for some time. Krikree was already back to normal, eagerly testing her new sword. Senka had woken up with bloody eyes just long enough to confirm they'd survived, then relapsed into gibberish.

Beneath all the other emotions... a sense of shame, because part of him simply thought that all of this had worked out well for them.

Rumors abounded, many of them false, but what everyone knew was that Esaire had attempted an assassination against an Authority and somehow lost one of his Strongholds. He argued about the legality of it, but all the leaders in the court agreed that if he managed to lose an ally this way, it was his fault. When the Demon Court attempted to replace their fallen Stronghold, the Mercury Court intervened and the new status quo was preserved.

It even made Theo's negotiations with Sartozi easier: negotiating with Authorities was much less shameful when they had demonstrably killed a Stronghold in the middle of Accilonia. Even Nourise seemed a bit surprised and less inclined to call him on his double dealing. She didn't need to know that Senka couldn't repeat a blast like that any time soon.

Because everyone else was so occupied with recovery, Theo took it upon himself to run interference and handle everything else. It cut into his soulcrafting time sharply, but the incident had just proved that there was value in things aside from personal strength. And if it made him feel a little better, he'd take that too.

Most of their attempted guests were minor nobles or other factions scrabbling for advantage. Three days after the attack, however, Theo was visited by a small delegation of Deuxans wearing immaculately creased uniforms he'd never seen before.

"We represent the Accilonian Bank," the lead man said as soon as they'd sat down in the meeting room. "Prior to this point, we have not considered your cause likely to achieve success. As a matter of full disclosure, another branch has provided a loan to your opponent."

"Something seems to have changed your mind," Theo said with a mild smile.

"You're aware of your rising reputation, yes, but the convocation of souls still remains closer than we would like. With both the Mercury Court and the Demon Court watching closely, we would very much prefer if this was resolved decisively, without an expensive war."

"I imagine you could do something to contribute to that."

"Yes. The Accilonian bank would like to extend to you a loan of one hundred thousand Silver Crowns."

Theo frowned. "You've seen what we've done, you've already given money to our enemies, and all you have to offer is a loan?"

"You were expecting a gift?" The bank official regarded him coolly despite the difference in their power. "Noble houses have given you small sums or gifts, as is their prerogative, but you must understand that these are simply attempts to buy future favors. This is not our business. What we offer is a considerable sum on reasonable terms, in order to resolve this war to our mutual benefit."

Irritated as Theo was, he heard them out as they discussed the terms. Their rates weren't as usurious as he expected, perhaps because they had to fear Authority clients simply leaving Deuxan. In the end Theo promised he'd consider it and ushered them out, assuming he'd never call them again. The idea of taking out such a massive loan at all, much less from a Deuxan bank, just irritated him.

As soon as he was alone again, Theo began to think through the convocation and the Strongholds involved. If a conservative institution like the Accilonian Bank was this apprehensive, the balance must look different to them than it did to him.

Esaire had one bedrock ally: if the Demon Court hadn't abandoned him after losing one of their Strongholds, they wouldn't now. He had a less firm ally in Urmandix - Theo didn't know much about that court, other than the impression that they had been recruited by Amaeli. That was something else he would need to look into.

On his side, Theo had Nourise and Nanjuma's new Stronghold. There was also the dubious question of whether they were permitted to vote as a Stronghold because they'd been recognized early on. The death might have reinforced that, but if it came to a vote, Theo wasn't willing to bet his life on that.

Two against two... except for Sartozi. Currently he still officially stood with Esaire, but Theo was making progress. If he could peel him away, to neutrality or even to his side, that would swing the vote and give Theo's side a clear advantage.

Unfortunately, that calculation assumed that Esaire would remain passive, which would be a fatal assumption. At minimum, Theo was fairly sure that Esaire would pay the Treasurer to join his side, since Theo was definitely not willing to spend that much money to buy a supporter so mercurial. No, that was even less an option than the Accilonian Bank.

But if that happened, it would mean three Strongholds on both sides. Everything would devolve into open warfare, exactly as Tabrien and the bank and every other party didn't want. Would any other factions be willing to pay to avoid that outcome? If they did, would they choose Esaire's apparent dominant position, or Theo's momentum?

With so many forces on the table, Theo didn't think they'd win by raw power, and they wouldn't want the consequences if they could. But as he thought about the balance, he realized that they needed to fight just a little more. On their terms, this time.

~ ~ ~

As soon as Fiyu was well enough to travel, they pretended to hide the fact that she was being moved to Western Ostic. Such deceptions made Fiyu's head hurt, but her understanding was that Friend Theo only wanted it to appear secret, while everyone would actually know her apparent path. The goal was to convince Enemy Esaire to pursue to finish her off, which could hopefully be used against him.

Instead, just in case he took the bait immediately, they went to the city of Occoire. The talisman armaments they had earned in the competition, which were nearly useless otherwise, allowed them to take on the appearances of Deuxans and slip in without being noticed.

There, Friend Nauda introduced her to an inn which she had apparently noted before. It was cooled by channels of liquid metal that were fascinating in their density, like a crystal that shifted between liquid and solid. In any case, it made the building pleasantly cool, and Friend Nauda had purchased a room that was less desired because it lacked windows. Of course, for Fiyu the environment was perfect, and Friend Nauda bustled around lowering the lamps.

"I can cope with light now," Fiyu told her, though she could not remove her smile. "I will not be harmed by a bright environment."

"But you're more comfortable this way, aren't you?" Friend Nauda leaned over her to touch her shoulder. "We deserve some peace after all that, don't we? I thought this could be a nice place for us."

"You still need to communicate with our allies, do you not?"

"Yes, but you just focus on recovering. You have your weirkeys, right? This inn isn't covered by any of the city's anti-weirkey defenses, so you can always escape if need be. I'll be back soon, so rest up."

While Fiyu did not require so much help, she was happy to accept it from Friend Nauda. It reminded her of the comforting days when she had been a child and her elder relatives had cared for her every need. That was not how adults should behave, but in the future she could care for Friend Nauda. This was appropriate for lifemates.

Once she was alone, Fiyu returned to her soulcrafting. Her spirit still felt a bit burned, but she didn't need to exert herself overmuch: instead, she experimented with the large ruby that had been taken from the body of the Demon Court soulcrafter. It had immense power, likely fueling the armor, though it had not been enough to protect him. She judged that, though it was not exactly what she had expected, it would serve for her newest lightstorm chamber. Almost everything had been waiting for the right sublime material, so now she needed only replace it and make modifications.

On one side lay the ruby, granting new offensive power. It flowed from one chamber to the next along the ifritbraid, which channeled and intensified the cantae, and eventually reached the flickerconcentrate, which had been carved into the new shape of her lightstorm. There, all of her secondary materials would focus her lightstorm out her newest window.

When Friend Nauda returned with news of the politics outside, Fiyu wished that she could recover more quickly and join them. All she could do was listen and wait for her opportunity.

According to Associate Chlira, the Stronghold of Urmandix had old but weak connections to the entire Armeau family: apparently they had a trade agreement which had brought them the sublime materials for the Corporeal Floors that both Enemy Esaire and Enemy Amaeli built so effectively. The rumor was that Enemy Amaeli had somehow convinced their Stronghold to join the war, even though it seemed they did not have enough to pay.

Could that be changed before the convocation? Fiyu was uncertain and could only leave such manipulations to her allies. She focused on her healing during her times with Friend Nauda, then returned to her soulcrafting whenever she was absent.

The gemstone glowed with a murderous crimson light. At first Fiyu began soulcrafting screens that would modulate the power, but as she thought about the enemies attempting to kill her friends, she removed them and let the light shine harshly.

~ ~ ~

Theo and Krikree arrived in Western Ostic by weirkey after he finished checking on the others. Only a few months ago he'd been eager for a single Deuxan weirkey, now he wished they had more. Several people had tried to sell him one, but he decided that he couldn't justify the expense.

He swept his senses over the landscape around the city, searching for the only Rulers in the entire region. It should have been easy, but to his surprise he only felt the two elders. Just when Theo was beginning to wonder if something had happened to Victon, or if he had left, he spotted a familiar herd of wubbos. Victon really did have an excellent shielding wall, to make himself seem like a simple soulcrafter.

"How are you doing?" Theo asked as he flew down.

"It's strange how everyone treats me differently now." Victon shifted next to his wubbo and awkwardly patted its fur. "And there's so much to do. Having three floors and new materials means there's so much soulcrafting ahead of me..."

"I'd tell you it gets simpler at Authority, but it doesn't. Unfortunately, I'm not here to talk about soulcrafting." Theo gestured toward the city. "I don't know how long it will be until trouble comes here, but the amount of time can only be counting down. We need to be ready."

"What can we do? You've already changed so much..."

"They need someone to lead them. To represent Western Ostic as a real power."

"Me?" Victon took a step back, as if his wubbo would shield him. "I don't know. I'm so much stronger than I was before, but after seeing so many sublime materials... I don't understand half of them at all, and I haven't grasped any of them as deeply as I have wubbo materials."

"Practically no one understands sublime materials to that depth, but that doesn't matter." Theo reached into his soulhome and revealed one of the two remaining heavenspears. He started explaining it eagerly, but watched Victon's expression shift from incredulity to uncertainty to denial.

When the explanation was done, Victon shook his head firmly. "I'm sorry, but I can't take that. It isn't worth it."

Theo sighed and accepted that he might have misjudged. He'd let his standards be too skewed by the high stakes politics he was engaging in, but the truth was that Rulers seemed incredibly powerful to the average person. In Western Ostic or many other cities, a Ruler would be an uncontested leader with countless privileges. He supposed he couldn't blame Victon for not wanting to take on all the responsibilities that would put him up against Strongholds and worse.

Still, with so much at stake... "You do realize," Theo said carefully, "that without someone to represent them, Western Ostic will be swept aside in all this? I can't stay here forever."

"I understand that, sir." Victon gave him his best bow, which was sloppy by the standards of Deuxan. "But using that material will halt my future growth, won't it?"

"That's true, but it wouldn't stop you from finishing your Ruler floor and becoming an Authority."

"But it would prevent me from ever becoming a Stronghold, right?"

Abruptly Theo grinned as he realized that he'd actually misjudged twice. Victon might have been from the back end of nowhere, he might not have seen more than a few sublime materials before last month, but he had a hunger for soulcrafting that wouldn't be quenched. The young man saw Theo's expression and shifted back again.

"I'm very sorry, my lord, but I just can-"

"Don't apologize," Theo said as he stepped forward to put his hands on Victon's shoulders. "I'd have given the same answer, and in fact I did once. If you want to do this yourself, just prepare fully before you make the jump to Authority."

"I'll do my best." Victon seemed to straighten a little under the praise. "But I understand what you said... what will happen to the city?"

"I'm not sure. I'll figure something out."

When Theo left, for a while he was adrift in uncertainty. He really had been counting on having an Authority in Western Ostic in order to make all his schemes turn out properly without causing too much suffering. The fact that it would have been unfair to Victon didn't change the fact that he had a problem.

Theo didn't have a solution at the moment, but he did have plenty of other irons in the fire. Soulcrafting and politics were both disciplines that rewarded multilateral thinking, so it was time to finish up something else. A very different ascension, as it happened.

Krikree had been following behind him silently but now her antennae perked up. [Time for Krikree?]

[It's time.]