Eight 5.19: Consequences Follow Choices

I reacted before I could control myself, throwing an unerring knife into the young bandit’s neck. Using my camera followed immediately after. 

Koorein (Human, Dawn) 

Talents: Knows What’s What, A Spear in the Back, Soft Steps, Diminished Presence 

Koorein let go of his spear to grab at his neck. Blood sprayed from between his fingers; the right carotid had been cut. Unless he had a counter to it, another ten seconds or so and he’d be dead. 

Yuki pumped a Dog’s Agility into me, and I matched it with my own. Everything around us slowed, my eyes flicking from antagonist to antagonist—registering their talents, estimating their levels, sharing the information with Yuki, determining the priority list, distributing a plan to the immediate network. 

Kana had been on watch with Tru. The rest of the guides had been asleep in their bedrolls around the campfire, though they were currently scrambling to get up like I was. 

Five bandits were running at Kana. Tru was also in motion, coming to his rescue, with another three chasing after her. The enemies carried a hodge podge of weapons—spears, axes, hammers, swords, and knives. Nothing ranged, though, which stuck out even as the action was starting to unfold. 

Another twelve attackers were visible on the other side of the campfire, one of whom had the talents of a mana magician. He wasn’t casting anything and was just mixing in with the others to hide among them. 

Three more bandits hid in the trees past them, their spirits giving them away. Yuki snapped a Night Eyes into place, and I spotted the telltale outlines of crossbows in their hands. They were waiting like the magician, these hidden ambushers, for the most dangerous among of our party to reveal themselves. 

One of the crossbowmen was silvered, and I took a second look to make sure there wasn’t anything unusual about him. 

Hasa Greedy Bones (Human, Silvered) 

Talents: Crack Shot, Piercer, Money Lover, Extra Pocket, Half-Way Leader  

I added him to the plan, and he became the priority target, replacing the magician. 

Seconds. This all happened in the span of seconds—a handful of beats during which I’d grabbed my spear and come to standing. Fala flowed into place behind me, watching my back while I watched hers. 

The lad with a knife in his neck definitely wouldn’t survive. Tru jumped at him and sent the spike of that giant poleaxe of hers through the top of his head, cracking it open like a watermelon. She bellowed a war cry, then swung her weapon around in a circle to keep the other attackers away. 

Melwei rushed to join her. “Take the ten!” he yelled. 

A moment of hesitation passed through her, then she retreated, leaving Kana’s defense to Melwei. She left them to charge at the massed opponents on the other side of the fire, breaking through their line for the crossbows behind them. Our guides must’ve spotted the silvered bandit hiding there. 

A bit late, I thought. There was the breathing space to do so, because Fala and I weren’t being actively attacked. The bandits were focusing on Melwei and his team. Are we prizes to be won? A source of ransom money? 

‘We should engage,’ Fala sent. 

My beloved was likely right. Tru took three crossbow bolts to the chest, and while two appeared to bounce off of her, the third penetrated with a meaty thunk that overwhelmed all the other fighting sounds. 

It triggered a sudden cacophony of qi-infused attacks from enemies and allies alike. Butrus and Wilaeina fought like devils, but they were heavily outnumbered. The clamor and clashing of metal against metal, spell against spell.  

The bandits closed on Tru to give the crossbows time to reload. They poked at her like she was a maddened bear, ducking into and out of reach of her poleaxe. 

‘Go plan,’ Yuki said. 

And Fala and I both responded with an immediate, ‘In.’ 

She flickered as her Camouflage took effect, then she was out of sight as she flowed between the bandits assailing Wilaeina and Butrus. Freeing them up would add firepower to the rest of our efforts. 

As for me, I couldn’t act too recklessly. John was supposed to know how to handle himself in a fight, but he was also a merchant first, no matter what that knife I’d thrown might indicate. So I used my spear to distract the enemies attacking Melwei. 

The guide leader’s frustration was evident. We were only seconds into the fight, and it was already going badly. Plus, his client was now endangering himself in a well-intentioned effort to help. Yet he gritted his teeth instead of sending me away, accepting the help as useless as it appeared to be. 

Until I splashed water across the eyes of the bandit facing him and cast a Cold Snap at the same time. The water crystalized into ice near instantly. 

Melwei was a canny fighter and didn’t miss the opportunity. He sent his spear straight into the bandit’s gut, twisting it as he withdrew it to do even more damage. 

Quickly, the rest of the bandits reoriented around us, with half of them now focusing on me. “Magician!” a couple yelled, and another screamed, “Water-Touched!” 

And god damn, if I didn’t suddenly feel like death was looking between my shoulder blades. It was a good thing Fala was taking care of the threat for me. Her helping Wilaeina and Butrus was a feint. The silvered crossbowman… 

The sense of danger suddenly vanished, and Yuki confirmed it. ‘Primary target down.’ 

That side of the fire then lit with the incandescence of Lightning Hands, my beloved and the hidden mind casting together to make the spell happen. It was an incredible energy hog, but the mana wells of my allies were deep—so much deeper than anyone had a right to expect. 

Meanwhile, I sent more tendrils of water at the bandits in front of me, with Cold Snaps following after them. My enemies moved to protect their eyes, but even that created chances for us. I pinned a rough-looking woman through the hip, sending her sprawling and out of the fight. Melwei shifted closer to stick another in the side, the spearhead piercing between the ribs to puncture a lung. I heard the air hiss out after he pulled his spear free. 

The camp echoed with the crack of Fala’s Thousand Spears spell, and a panic crept into the spirits of our opponents. A couple of them broke for the trees. 

‘Status magician?’ I asked. 

‘Dead,’ Yuki said. 

That must’ve become obvious in the aftermath of Fala’s spell, because the bandits’ eyes widened at what they saw behind me. The panic spread, a sickly yellowish-red emerging across their spirits. 

More of the bandits ran, one actually tripping an ally to sprawl him in our paths so that she could get away clean. I sent an unerring knife into her back. It was cover for my first-ever attempt at the Silent Kill spell. The runes didn’t quite come together, though, so Yuki cast it for me. 

No one seemed to notice how quietly she went down. Melwei was preoccupied with stabbing the tripped one with his spear. 

Eventually, the sound of fighting died away, leaving only the moans of the injured bandits and Kana’s ragged panting. Tru rushed over, but Melwei pushed her aside. “Guard!” he commanded as he got a Nature’s Spring flowing into the injured dolbec. 

Tru had a crossbow bolt sticking out of her, which made me think he might be treating the wrong injury. But she seemed to stiffen then and turned her attention outward. The retreat might’ve been fake, after all, a way to lure the guides into letting down their guard. 

She moved to the camps perimeter, and Wilaeina and Fala joined her in keeping watch, while Butrus moved around the camp to slit the throats of any bandits still alive and retrieve their cores. 

I didn’t think we’d be attacked again. From what I’d observed of the bandits’ spirits, they’d run and keep on running, but the Melwei and his team didn’t know what I knew. 

Tru needed care and soon—the sooner the better. Her spirit around the crossbow bolt was turning a purplish black, and I had zero doubts that she was poisoned, so I knelt to look Melwei in the eyes. A merchant would know to make a deal when a potential customer was in need, right? 

“We’ve earned a share,” I said—a statement, not a question. 

Give him credit, Melwei didn’t grumble. “You have.” 

“Good, then we’ll treat this like one of our own fights.” I got up to retrieve a couple more skins and unstoppered them to pour water on Kana’s wound. After two healing spells later, the flesh had knit back together. He also breathed easier. 

Melwei’s eyes got all big and round. “I saw your magic, but you… you also…” 

“Made a deal with the spirit of the land called Ikfael, yes. It was a fantastic offer. A healing spell like this one, I would’ve been a fool not to pursue it.” 

“You’re not afraid of the Healer’s Lodge?” Butrus asked. From the state of his spirit, I saw he was just as shocked. 

“They don’t know what they don’t know,” I said with a smirk. “Unless one of you will tell them?” 

“Not us,” Melwei said. “We pledge it so.” 

“We do,” the others said, their voices overlapping. 

“Even so,” Butrus said, “you risk much. If the healers discover you using the spell on those not family…” He left the rest unsaid. 

Interestingly, it was Wilaeina who responded. “The man’s Water-Touched and dealt with that Ikfael. He could go to any village or town, and they would bow to him like an ancestor. They’d treat him like gold itself, even with the healers angry at him.” 

Melwei shook his head in amazement “No wonder you can travel with just two; the both of you are mana magicians.” 

“And John is Water-Touched,” Wilaeina reiterated. “Which is wasted on a merchant if you ask me, but no one did so I won’t say anything more about it.” Then as if to punctuate her commentary, she stabbed a dead bandit at her feet in the chest to retrieve his core. 

Meanwhile, an examination of Kana’s spirit confirmed that he was mostly healed. The wound would likely be tender for a few days, but our guides could finish that off on their own. Instead, I focused on Tru next. 

I approached her and grabbed a hold of the crossbow bolt. “Let me help with this,” I said, yanking it out. 

The poison required three casts of Healing Water to deal with, after which I feigned exhaustion. Between the healings and the Cold Snaps earlier, I’d already demonstrated a remarkable capacity for mana. Melwei and his crew didn’t need to know how much deeper the well went. 

Still, I noticed him looking at us in a new light. 

In hindsight, the almost casual conversation held in the middle of a camp stinking of blood, meat, piss, and feces was surreal. For the people present, violence had become ordinary—a background upon which they lived their lives. 

Oh, there were ghosts too. They clung to their bodies, either not understanding what had happened or afraid of what came next. I surreptitiously helped them to move on. I discovered it was possible to do so without a mist rising; I just had to focus on suppressing it. 

Once the bandits were picked clean of their cores and loot, Melwei led us away to establish a new camp elsewhere. His team took pains to hide the signs of our travel to make it harder for anyone to track us. 

### 

The new camp was a cold one—no fire to warm us or to give away our location. It was quiet too, with voices replaced by signs. We sat in a circle around the jumbled cores in the center. Field rules were in effect, so we didn’t need to fast or meditate before taking our shares. 

Everyone was present except for Tru and Kana. As soon as we’d stopped, she’d asked me, “My Kana won’t break if I bend him a little, will he?” 

Then, when I’d replied that he was mostly fine, a fire had lit in her eyes, and she had dragged him off into the bushes. Their sex was surprisingly quiet, proving that it was possible. I’d wondered. 

I shook my head free of the distraction and returned my attention to contemplating the cores. 

“Do we know who the bandits were?” Fala asked. 

“Their leaders’ name was Hasa,” Melwei replied. “The crossbow gave him away. The land soldiers have a bounty for his death.” 

My beloved leaned forward, wanting to learn more. “So he wasn’t the bandit from your story?” 

The guides’ leader shook his head. “No, no. That was long ago and done with. I’ve heard… it doesn’t matter what I’ve heard. It’s good enough to know these are not the same people.” 

With a sigh, Melwei pulled a small scale from his pack, then presented it to me so that I could ensure it wasn’t rigged. With my approval, he started on preserving the darklight. 

The conversation continued as he worked. 

“I’d seen some of them in Bashtotwei a few times,” Butrus signed. “They hung around in the taverns drinking.” 

“Spying no doubt,” Wilaeina added. “Looking for their next targets.” 

“Like I said before…” Butrus paused to spit. “The only good bandit is a dead one.” 

“Do ambushes like that happen often?” Fala asked. 

“More than we’d like,” Wilaeina replied. “Whether it’s for taak or light, there are those who look for shortcuts.” 

“Because they think people aren’t as scary as monsters,” Butrus signed. 

“More the fools them,” Wilaeina answered. 

“A truth,” Butrus signed. 

A pile of treated cores began to build between the people gathered. They’d gotten mixed up, so the experiences from absorbing our shares would likely be muddled. Melwei would receive two as the guide leader, with the rest of us getting one each. 

As soon Kana and Tru returned to the cold camp, we reached for the piles in front of us. 

1,388 silverlight gathered. 463 absorbed. 

463 silverlight absorbed via your beloved. 

We shifted the silverlight around between us to make sure the split was even. The guides didn’t know about Yuki, so we were technically shortchanged a share, but we didn’t quibble. I expected to earn a good deal more silverlight now that Melwei knew he could depend on us to hold our own. 

As for the post-absorption rush, there was mostly a desperation to grow stronger, leavened by roughly equal portions of greed and the flaunting of society’s rules. There was an aftertaste of reluctance, perhaps from a few of the bandits who would’ve preferred a different occupation, but consequences followed choices. They would hopefully find a way to do better in their next lives. 

### 

That night, Yuki collected enough body power to complete another extension of themselves. Focusing on my connection with the Deer God, I sent an intention to meet. 

### 

The next morning was unseasonably chilly, and the cold camp hadn’t helped. All of us were bundled tight against the cold, even with our superhuman bodies. Our guides were slow to get going, their bodies also still tender from the injuries they’d sustained fighting the bandits. The scent of Nature’s Spring wafted from the ones who knew the spell. 

Only Tru seemed ready to fight the day. I caught her several times chuckling to herself. 

“In a good mood?” I asked. 

She winked in response and made the sign for “a secret kept.” 

Her spirit did seem fuller than before. I took a second look with my spirit camera and saw a new talent ripening: 

Tru the Frenzy (Human, Dolbec, Dusk) 

Talents: Debauched Allegiance, Stronger than Stronger, Berserker, Skull Cracker, Simmering Rage 

Nascent Talents: Resilient Body 

Nice. Given her fighting style, anything that minimizes injuries is going to be a blessing. 

I asked Yuki to pass the information along to Fala and took the time to check the other guides. There didn’t appear to be any other changes among them. 

So, I excused myself to take care of my morning business, making sure to move well away from the camp for my meeting with the Deer God. Yuki’s extension danced in my hand while we waited for him. Fortunately, it wasn’t long; he’d been close by. 

He came out from between the trees with a bit of old man’s moss hanging from his antlers. His steps were soft on the loamy ground, his eyes unreadable. The Deer God had once again barred the way, so that I couldn’t read his intentions. 

He was here, though, and he knew why I’d called him. My intention and the fuchsia-colored lichen in my hand were both clear signals. 

I’d half-expected him to be like Fala and delay taking the extension of Yuki’s network for years, but being forced to eat and sleep and piss and itch and just grub around in the dirt like any other mortal creature was changing him. The needs required for living were completing the transformation he’d begun. 

“This is Yuki,” I said, making a formal introduction. “They’re my best friend and a valuable ally too. I’m the only one with a permanent bond. Everyone else can take them in or ask them to leave as they will. There’s been no harm found from their presence, only good. We’ll understand if you say no, but you should consider this offer seriously.” 

And I then listed all the benefits of having a silvered, hyper-intelligent, spell-casting lichen who can facilitate telepathic communication and give you entry to a dream space for safe training. 

I mean, seriously, you’d have to be a fool to not see the benefits, and if the Deer God was anything, he wasn’t a fool. He took Yuki into his mouth to swallow them down. 

How is it? I asked, feeling anxious. This was the Deer God, after all. A being mis abuelos had revered. A power in my old world. 

‘We… we’re not sure. It’s like we’re in the maze of mirrors at the funhouse, except the mirrors are also trees. The qi is dense, as rich and thick as pudding yet also lighter—a cool breeze on a hot and humid day.’ 

Yuki went silent for a time, and I couldn’t help shifting from foot to foot. That riled up my authority, ready to clamp down on my body for the expression of nervous energy, but that was silly, so I shushed it. It wasn’t even something I thought about. I just did it while my attention was on the connection to Yuki. 

Then came a voice I never thought I’d ever hear: ‘I greet you, child of the line of Catalina and Alejandro.’ 

And my jaw dropped. He somehow sounded both rock solid and much mellower than I’d expected. The timbre of his voice was so pleasing; my first reaction was to want to cast him as a narrator for Southwind’s next documentary, until I remembered I didn’t do that kind of work anymore. 

After my initial surprise, I, of course, greeted him back. It’s good to finally be able to speak to each other. I have many questions. 

The Deer God turned his head to eye me. ‘In the old world, wisdom was to be won with merit, but things are different here. Very different.’ 

Do you regret coming with me? I asked. 

He ducked his head; there was a sense of… amusement. ‘Regret is a poison, and we two are smart enough to recognize it as such. Do you regret coming here?’ 

“I didn’t exactly have a choice, did I?” The words were said aloud, too strong to be held only in my thoughts. 

‘You may not remember it,’ the Deer God replied, ‘but there was an offer made and a choice accepted.’ 

“What? Is that true?” 

‘Sorcerers lie,’ he said. ‘I do not.’ 

I scratched my head and thought back to the day I’d first arrived on Diaksha. I’d had no recollection of how I’d died—walking out the office door one moment and then waking up on the hillside below Voorhei the next. The only clue had been the message Diriktot later sent of how he’d come across my dead body and become interested in the phone that had fallen out of my hands. My new life was supposed to be a reward for facilitating that discovery. 

‘It’s no wonder you don’t remember,’ the Deer God continued. ‘The choices made after death are intentionally obscured.’ 

“To give people a fair shot at their new lives,” I said. “A chance to start over.” 

He nodded, his rack dipping as he did so. ‘It is as you say, though not completely in your case, the gift being what it was. And you needed every advantage you could get surviving those first days in this world.’ 

“No kidding,” I said with feeling. “If it hadn’t been for Ikfael, I would’ve been dead many times over.” 

‘That woman and others,’ the Deer God said. 

“Of course. I’ve been blessed to be supported by many.” 

“Yes. You have.” 

I looked the Deer God and couldn’t help smiling at the imperious bastard. Because, when all else was said and done, he was my imperious bastard. 

‘We can’t read deeply into him,’ Yuki said. ‘We hear him when he speaks, but the rest is a tangle of thorn bushes we can’t penetrate.’ 

Which sounded just like him, to be honest. As I’d mentioned, he had been a power on Earth. Not a “real” god per se, more of a guardian, but he was still due a fair share of respect, including a respect for his privacy. 

Is there anything you’d like to tell me? I asked. 

His eyes were unreadable as he turned them toward me, then he swung around to walk away. ‘The others are no doubt awaiting your return. You should head back.’ 

Distance doesn’t matter to Yuki, I thought. We can continue talking even if we’re separated. 

His antlers dipped in acknowledgement once more before he disappeared among the brush. Then, while he out of view, his voice whispered in my head: ‘You’ve avoided your path for so long; it’s good you’ve finally found your way. A strange detour it’s been, but you’re walking a true path at last.’