[Beastborne: Voracious] (Book 5) Chapter 29

That came as a bit of a shock to Founder Tristal.

As far as she knew, the tribes of the Shiverglades were the most insulated beings on the planet. They were, to a man, aggressively against any outsiders. And yet Hal and his group had managed to make a home here.

Not only that, but there was a tribe looking for them to pledge loyalty to now? If he’s not just straight lying to me, maybe I can be of greater use than I thought. Negotiations are my jam.

At least, she liked to think they were. She was rather good at finding people’s weak points and levering a metaphorical crowbar in there to get what she wanted.

Most of the time, with her own people, that meant figuring out what they wanted despite what they were saying, and then trying to give it to them without making it seem like they had been manipulated into wanting it.

And so, to the sound of tons of crashing stone, Tristal made her plea to the Founder. She hated that it sounded like a plea, but that’s what it was, and her mother always told her to face the truth with both eyes open.

She wasn’t a coward, no matter what people thought of her. It wasn’t her fault that she specialized in Silver illusions. The Silver Mark could do a lot more than just illusions, but it was what she was best at and finding new Sigils was such a pain.

Besides, sometimes it paid to come across as the weaker of the two parties. She didn’t sense a cruel streak in Hal, at least not yet.

A cruel person had others do their work for them. They called it “delegating” but in truth, it meant that they just didn’t want to do the damned work.

Hal was different. He got his hands dirty and just after facing down one of the best magic users this side of the Ashpeaks, he was walking and talking as if nothing had happened. He was building something here, something permanent.

That was another clue in and of itself. It told her that he wasn’t thinking about running away anytime soon. He was in it for the long haul, and she needed to plan accordingly.

She told him about her home, the Direlands, how they border the Fallmark, and a little about the other Founders. He was insatiable, which she would not have guessed at first blush.

Hal asked about the other Founders with carefully probing questions that would have had her head spinning if she wasn’t already tiptoeing on eggshells.

As it was, she found herself offering up more information than she wanted. Being truthful was all well and good but telling him everything would be a mistake. He only knew about Fallmark, and not much of it at that.

The Anvil, for example, wasn’t directly under the control of the Founders. He seemed to have an inkling about that, but he’d never been there. The same with the northern reaches above the ruined lands.

Fallmark was larger than the Direlands, but then again it was also mostly empty, and the Mana Storms ravaged this place more frequently than just about any other land.

“But not in the Shiverglades,” Hal pointed out to her. “There are no Manastorms here.”

“Yes, but there is something worse,” she countered.

“Unfortunately,” Hal agreed. “Not for long, however. The Shadesblight will be dealt with in due course.”

Tristal shifted her weight to one leg and cradled her elbow with her palm. “You sure don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“No.”

There was such a finality to the word that Tristal heard the warning bells loud and clear. She wasn’t about to go pressing him.

“Then wouldn’t it make the most sense to have some friends? I mean true friends, people who understand you.” She motioned with a jerk of her head toward the Kinslayers peacefully resting on their knees. For all the world, acting as if there weren’t two massive dragons within biting distance.

In fact, she recognized the same cool, detached stance in them as in Hal.

Which instinctively made her remember the rumors surrounding the Kinslayers, and that only made her more unnerved. But Tristal had stared eldritch things in their faces and many-layered eyes. She could do this too.

“Regardless of how you feel about them, that one is a Beastborne. Like you. Not many of your kind out there.” She immediately regretted the way she said that as soon as it was out of her lips.

The way Hal froze for a fraction of a second, then set his shoulders, told her she’d made a mistake. It also, unfortunately, told her that some of the rumors must be true.

“And?” was his only response.

“I won’t confess to know much about the Class, but it’s Fabled right? Thought so. You could learn together, which seems a whole lot easier than learning on your own, doesn’t it? She probably has some spells you don’t, and vice versa. Why not teach her? You’re clearly stronger than her if not more experienced in the nuances of the Class.”

“And what of you? You wish to be my friend?”

Tristal frowned at the way he said it. “You can choose to believe me or not, but I have not told you a single lie in this entire conversation. Can you say the same of others? You have loyal adherents. I’ll give you that. Not many people would march into the Shiverglades to follow just anybody. Many have tried and failed. You’re not the first.”

“No,” Hal agreed. “I’m just the first to succeed.”

The way he looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he shaped another side of the mountainside into a sheer castle wall suggested that his bravado and confidence might not be real.

Oh, he had them in spades. That was obvious enough. But he wasn’t usually flamboyant about it, though every now and then he would toot his own horn and watch her reaction without making it too obvious.

Of course, there were only so many ways you could watch somebody, and Tristal was well versed in all of them. Still… it was a little unsettling that he was toying with her, pushing her this way and that as if trying to keep her off-balance.

And the worst part?

He was succeeding.

With a sigh, Tristal shook the thoughts free of her head. “I’m offering an olive branch. Don’t think for a moment that most other Founders would do the same. You may have more power than I, or any other Founder possibly, but you’re still one man. The armies of all the Founders together would crush any one of us. The Council exists to keep the balance, Hal. And with my help, I think you could play your part.”

“What happens if a Founder tries to take the lands of another?”

Tristal was ready for this. “The Council convenes to determine the balance of the action. Sometimes, it is justified, others are not. It is a decision made together, excluding the Founders who are feuding.”

“And if the Founder keeps taking lands?”

“Then they are defeated by the combined might of the others.”

“Which means everybody gets to keep their little slice of the pie and nobody ever really grows or does anything interesting,” Hal said. “Got it. I think I’ll pass.”

Tristal goggled at him. “You can’t be serious. If they offer you a seat and you refuse, they’ll think you mean to do just what you said!”

“Then let them convene and make their decisions,” Hal told her. “I’m done dancing to somebody else’s tune. They can make their decisions and I can make mine. I’ll work with them, if need be, but I am not going to be shackled again. Not ever.”

The coldness in his voice sent shivers down her spine. “All right, all right,” she said, holding her hands up in surrender. “No Founder Council. Not that it matters until Rinbast is dealt with anyway.”

“That’s a personal matter,” Hal told her. “We have… a meeting soon. I can feel it.”

She knew well enough not to ask him what that meant.

“At the very least, you must see that I can help you.”

“Must?” Hal said, turning his full attention on her for a moment. It felt like a blowtorch turned on her inches from her face. “I ‘must’ do nothing. This is my land. My home. My people. I will do as I please.”

Swallowing hard, Tristal said, “I only meant that you are not stupid enough to spurn a gift just because you don’t like the giver. I am not your enemy, Hal. I would like to be your friend, but I will not sit around and beg. I will not wait forever for your answer. We either go into this as partners or not at all. I will not be a slave to anyone, not even you.” Her tone softened slightly.

She wanted to reach out and touch his arm but felt that would be a horrible mistake. Especially considering the dark-haired woman glaring daggers at her from over a dozen yards away. “Hal. I am not asking you to be subservient to me. Only to join in a mutual alliance. The other Founders will not bother with you until this feud between you and Rinbast is settled. I am offering my aid now.”

“And the Kinslayers? What of them. You said you came here under a guise in order to get to me, but then you walk into my home just moments after I’m attacked. It reeks of somebody who tried manipulation, failed, and is now trying something more.”

“That… much is true, regrettably, but I am not in league with Hirash. Don’t lump me in with a man so full of himself the Tower can barely hold his ego.” She folded her arms and snorted. “He’s not dead, but I can tell you’ve already worked that out. One of the Kinslayers over there, the big guy, told me. I do not know what your past is with them, but these two have severed ties with Rinbast.”

“Good.”

“Yes, but if you turn them out, where will they go? Who will take them in? They might be strong enough to survive here, but you know there is more to life than just surviving. Would you do that?” She had to take a risk here, partly because she had to know, and partly because she was tired of him pushing her around. “Could you do that to your own blood?”

Hal stopped cold. The copper lightning faded, and all that was left was the rumbling of the stones as they rolled and collapsed down the mountainside. His eyes were like two bits of the Abyss staring at her. “What did you just say?”

“So you don’t deny it,” Tristal said. “There are… rumors, nothing more. And I am better than most at putting rumors together into something more than mere speculation.”

She was forced to take a step back when he rounded on her. He loomed threateningly and she could feel something happening in the air that her senses screamed at her to stop.

Instead of fighting back, which was the sane and rational response to such overwhelming murderous intent, she took one more step back and then held her ground even as Hal stood so close she could feel the heat coming off his skin.

“If you breathe a word of that—” he started to say.

“Then I don’t think I’ll be breathing very long, do you?” She tried to smile sweetly at him, and it didn’t work. “Listen, I know things. I’m not trying to blackmail you. I don’t care what sordid past you do or do not have with the Kinslayers, but it would help to have somebody to talk to who understands. Don’t you think?”

“I have friends.”

“I’m sure you do,” she said placatingly. “But do you have a Founder? You mentioned you use Experience to fuel your Sigils?”

Hal turned away and resumed his work. Lightning lanced out, blasting away rock and stone by the ton, leaving a vertically smooth wall that would be impossible to climb. “And?”

“What if I told you that you were doing it wrong? So wrong, in fact, that I’m quite honestly surprised you’re still alive. And that I am offering to teach you a better way. The proper way.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because that is what friends are for,” she said simply.