Bondsfungi: Chapters 23-24 (The Weirkey Chronicles)

The Rainhorn audiobook is out, so we're back to the normal chapter schedule. Please do consider leaving a review or upvoting high quality reviews, if you haven't. Best to get some positive and/or thoughtfully critical reviews upvoted before the first "1/5 lame" review appears.

One more thing before the chapters: we have another piece of fanart! This one is a CG Fiyu, made by patron Runcible Technician. I love receiving this sort of thing. ^-^

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Chapter 23

After one day with Tythes, Nauda would happily have gone back to fighting to survive alone in a hostile world. He hovered horizontally beside her, lying with his arms clasped behind his neck. Either he really was that lazy or he just wanted to show off.

"-of course the bears were actually all just costumes, but they didn't know that." Tythes gestured with his feet, as if that would help her understand any of his story. "So when they tried to use the paint, it exploded right in their faces! Of course, you must be wondering what happened to those socks I mentioned. Well, they-"

"Tythes, please." She stopped walking and grabbed his robes. Unfortunately, his flight overwhelmed her physical strength, so he began to drag her. "If you're going to force me to work for you, at least tell me why."

"I was getting there!"

"I really don't think you were," Nauda said.

"Oh, fine. I'll tell you the truth." Tythes brushed away her hand and shifted to stand in front of her. "Since the very first time I met you, I have been astonished by your beauty and-"

"You haven't."

"This is actually a long con to steal more of that delicious go-"

"It isn't."

"I'm actually three badgers working an elaborate human-shaped contr-"

"No." Nauda rubbed her forehead and walked away from him. "Fine, don't tell me."

"Do you want to know the real truth?" His voice shifted, enough to draw her attention. Tythes stepped closer to her, his face deadly serious. "The truth is that you can't make me tell you, so I won't."

Nauda struck him across the face with her staff. It was very satisfying and completely useless, since it just bounced off. Even if Tythes had taken soulhome damage as well, there was no comparison between their current states. She sighed and walked away from him, which would have felt more meaningful if it wasn't in the direction he'd commanded.

She turned back around, stabbing a finger into his chest. "You know what? I think that you need me. Your own father tried to assassinate you, then threw you into an unknown world. If you had any weirkeys, you'd be gone already. You're as stuck here as the rest of us."

"Don't be absurd. This is exactly where I want to be." Tythes folded his hands behind his back and stared down at her. "This plan has been years in the making. Seven years ago, I advised my father to acquire a Slescan weirkey. Four years ago, I casually mentioned turnips in our conversation. Then I switched my robes to three shades lighter in order to-"

"Who are you trying to impress?" Nauda turned away in disgust, only to find him walking alongside her. Instead of acting ridiculous or overly serious, he spoke in a quiet tone.

"Obviously this was unplanned, because any plan that involved such a risky and unpredictable action would be a terrible one. No, truthfully this has really set me back. I have contingency plans, but I can't prepare a contingency for every region of every world. It's taken me this long to come up with a workable strategy, and unfortunately you're the first worthwhile person I've found. Before you, it was just a few barbarians and some House Crimson soulcrafters who tragically died somehow."

"You're just concerned about getting back to Fithe? You don't care that your father tried to assassinate you?"

"That's not what's happening, and I'm not mocking you this time." As they continued walking, Tythes gestured vaguely at the sky. "He gave Roker that ruby staff, which is our House's most powerful armament. That was just as an insult to me, but Roker took it as permission to arrange a plan of his own. My dear father had nothing to do with it, aside from letting him ride along."

"But you accused your father."

"In public, and you shouldn't pay attention to anything I say in public. The purpose was to shame him in front of so much of House Crimson that he couldn't control the situation. Unfortunately, I didn't predict that the presence of that Ichili would press him to such a drastic countermeasure."

"So is this an assassination attempt? He hoped you'd die on Slest?"

"Maybe, maybe not. My beloved father can be quick to anger at times, but he doesn't throw away resources as valuable as an Authority." Tythes shrugged again and walked a little faster. "Most likely he just wanted to disrupt the narrative that was building, because it would have made him look bad. If I get back safely, my cherished father will welcome me with open arms and loudly professed relief. So, really, all of this is just a big inconvenience."

Nauda had thought he was actually being truthful with her, until that moment. She almost didn't push him, then changed her mind. "You didn't consider Gethyrue's injury an inconvenience. I saw the look on your face."

"That's true." Tythes turned on her abruptly, no hint of a joke on his face. "Gethyrue helped raise me, and I never wanted her to be harmed in my schemes. One of my primary goals is to find her, because I owe her more than I can repay."

She blinked and took a step back, taken off guard by his sincerity. There was no turn, either, no cruel joke. Someone who mattered to him really had been injured, and he really was at a disadvantage. Nauda wasn't sure how that made her feel.

They traveled until midday, when Tythes suddenly declared that it was time to stop. Since Nauda had nothing invested in their progress, she was happy to comply and sat down to return to her soulcrafting. While she worked on building her second floor, Tythes began pulling things from his soulhome: two tents, a low table, a statue of himself, a cooking pot, another statue of himself, a set of silver-inlaid plates, and a third statue that he spent a while adjusting beside the table.

Doing her best to ignore him, Nauda very nearly missed when he did something more subtle. Tythes slipped something very small from his soulhome and dropped it by his feet. She had only a moment to see that it was some kind of stone sphere, inlaid with complex designs that reminded her of the Chasm of Lamentations. It disappeared into the ground a moment later... and she saw that Tythes was watching her.

"You saw, huh? If you were somebody else, I'd have to kill you, but I think you can guess what it is."

"An armament from the Chasm?" Nauda asked.

"Got it in one. I thought that opening the door would be the path to endless riches, but everything within has been a real pain to figure out. This defensive sphere is great, but it's the only thing that I've made usable." Tythes sat down cross-legged beside the table and began pulling out more food.

Nauda watched him from her soulhome, certain that he was lying about how many armaments he'd mastered. Whatever the sphere did, she felt cantae flowing strangely around them. It would have been entirely invisible if she hadn't been looking for it, similar to how Fiyu's stealth skill worked. She decided that she could live with it, especially if they were moving into a more dangerous part of Slest.

After inhaling some food, Tythes began soulcrafting without moving away from the table. Nauda was actually surprised, struggling to remember if she'd ever seen him soulcraft. His control was among the tightest she'd ever seen, not offering the slightest peek into his soulhome, probably even if her telescope had been undamaged.

As she worked, Nauda thought back to what Kathina had said. Was it possible that the entire story had been a ploy, or had his soulhome truly been ruined? If so, there was a parallel between them that she'd never considered before. She would have asked, if she wasn't sure that he would react negatively.

By the time she grew tired, Nauda had made major progress on all the rooms above her death chamber. Part of her thought that she should focus more on her heartoak chamber, but she could always trim the tree back later. The rooms in her death column would significantly increase her physical strength, which she would likely need as soon as Tythes drew her into his problems.

Once she realized that she needed a break, Nauda was about to leave her soulhome when she caught a glimpse of the gloves from the Chasm. They were from a different set of ruins, but still...

"I found these in the Chasm." Nauda tossed them onto the table. "Apparently they're a neutral armament that needs to be charged, but I haven't figured out how."

"I might be able to help." Tythes poked the gloves gingerly, as if he expected them to snap at him. "But right now, I think you need to work on your core chambers. A physical fighter like yourself needs a lot of supporting rooms to survive in a place like this."

"Can you really see through my shielding wall so easily?"

"Not at all. That's just my estimation based on what I've seen of your fighting, before and after your injury." Tythes flipped the gloves back to her. "Focus on yourself for now. As soon as we get in range of something that matters, I'll need you to take a risk, then I can help with the gloves as payment."

That was about as good a deal as she could expect from Tythes, so Nauda accepted it. She ate the remaining food while he was resting, got in another hour of soulcrafting, and then fell asleep in one of the tents.

Over the next several days, they did exactly as Tythes had said. He frequently flew off for no apparent reason, always taking the stone sphere with him. She just kept marching south with no idea what he actually intended. At least in the meantime she made significant progress. Though part of her was tempted to soulcraft her staff tower to prepare for the gloves, she resisted the urge and kept working on her death column.

Eventually, Tythes returned from a flight with a smile on his face. "No more meandering!" He arced down just beside her but didn't land. "Unless you're injured or otherwise unready, we're going right now."

"Going wh - aah!" Nauda's question was cut off as Tythes grabbed her by the back of her dress and lifted her into the air.

"No time to waste! I'll explain on the way."

She hung awkwardly from his hand, likely more awkwardly than was necessary. They flew at great speed over the landscape, some of the bushes coming troublingly close to her feet. At least the aura of his cantae blocked the wind from her as well, otherwise the flight would have been miserable.

"To leave Slest, we obviously need to find a weirkey," Tythes said. "The problem is, though this region can produce a large number of lesser soulcrafters, Authorities are actually relatively rare. I made trouble over a large area and didn't get any satisfying resistance. But my investigations have revealed that every colony needs to have at least one person who is an Authority: the primary queen."

"Do you mean a monarch, or is this a bug thing?"

"Most of these insects are sterile, you know. Only the queens have the ability to reproduce, and the lesser ones do so in great numbers. But each colony has a primary queen who only has select children who become the next general of elites, and she also serves as the primary leader."

"That sounds like a monarch."

"Hush, there's no time for that." Tythes swung her back and forward in the air. "This region is divided into two... queendoms, you might say. Almost all of these hives belongs to one or the other, aside from a few independent colonies. I'm not sure about the soul translation, but they seem to be called the Blue-Red-Blue hive and the Gray-Blue-Gold hive. We need to approach one of them, and we need to do it carefully."

So he had a decent plan after all. Nauda squirmed enough to get a look at him and saw that Tythes appeared completely serious. "So, we're going to approach a hive?"

"Of course not, where did you get that idea? No, getting anywhere near the lower castes just leads to a lethal response. What we need to do is attack the queen directly."

"Uh... that doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Trust me, I think it will work. Now, this plan is going to require me to act like I'm betraying you, but you should remain calm because I would never actually betray you. That way you'll stay all nice and passive while you march to your doom."

Nauda grimaced and accepted that she didn't really have a choice. They soon began flying over a region spotted with larger mounds, hundreds of the war-like bugs swarming below. So far it seemed like Tythes's sphere kept them completely hidden, but they were approaching a much larger mound. She had a feeling that their stealth wasn't going to last.

Though still lumpy and made of natural materials, the central hive also had hard surfaces of worked stone and several regions with glass windows. Nauda half-expected to see banners showing the colors of the queendom, but there were no signs of ownership at all. Even a Tatian village might have local signs or symbols, but the hive appeared completely anonymous.

Tythes landed on a nearby hill and pushed Nauda to step forward a little, then without warning shouted loud enough to hurt her ears.

"Queen Ahyona of the Blue-Red-Blue hive! I have come from far-off worlds because I've heard of your majesty!"

The only sign of a response was swarms of bugs beginning to emerge from most tunnels, many approaching them. That wasn't exactly comforting to Nauda, and everything was made much worse by what Tythes said next.

"In accordance with your customs, I have brought you a servant from my world! She will serve you well and help bridge between our hives."

So that was what he'd meant. Nauda glowered at him over her shoulder and he cast her a cheeky grin, but his attention was mostly focused on the central mound.

Then someone burst from one of the large doors, sweeping into the air on an Authority's cantae. Nauda didn't know much about Slescan species, but she immediately suspected that the figure was not a queen. He looked more human than even the humanoid bugs, with fangs and antennae atop a head that looked distinctly male to her. Male and angry.

"You dare try to deceive my queen with such words?" Even more cantae built up within him, massive wings of purple fire erupting from his back. "You will die and your bodies will feed our young!"

In a single blinding movement he released an arc of violet cantae. Tythes deflected it with one hand and reached the other into his coat, pulling out something small. A scepter. It pointed at the enemy Authority and Nauda didn't see anything happen, but a moment later his wings spluttered out and he spiraled to the ground in shock.

"Well," Tythes said with his hands on his hips, "this is going exactly according to plan!"

"By that, do you mean...?"

"This is the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen. Improvise! In this context, improvise means run!"

The bug Authority burst to his feet, furious and building up even more cantae. As Tythes lifted into the air to confront him, Nauda sprinted for her life, directly into the swarm surrounding them.

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Chapter 24

Issak had lost track of the days, instead counting by recruits. Journeying through the foreign world, he'd repeatedly come across other members of the tribes, and they'd all fallen into line. All but one, and he had been killed, same as the city dweller who had attacked them. Now he led nearly two dozen soulcrafters, almost half of them with some strength at the second stage.

It wasn't enough to rule yet, but he was on his way. What he needed to do was figure out how to enslave the lesser inhabitants of this world. The larger bugs, that looked like proper humans, clearly had many of them subjugated and obediently working for them. So far, all his attempts had just required him to kill the monsters in the end.

The first land they had traveled through had been weak, sending them flying bugs that declared they needed to leave the "Gray-Blue-Gold" domain, whatever that meant. Issak and his warriors had simply ignored the messengers and continued taking what they wanted.

Now, however, they faced more serious opposition. There were always war-like bugs traveling in lines, mostly toward some conflict to the south. When they got too close, Issak would kill them, but mostly he let them be. More trouble than they were worth.

"Got a flier!" One of the warriors in back was shouting and pointing, as if he needed the help. Essan. He was strong and thought he was a leader, not that he had a chance. Problem was, people like him would join a mutiny in an instant.

"I'll take care of it." Issak drew all his cantae together and formed a lance of yellow power. No tricks, no gimmicks, just the full power of his soulhome concentrated down a single line.

Overhead, one of the huge flying bugs was buzzing around. Several of the other warriors were hooting like idiots, or even trying to shoot bolts of cantae. Issak waited until the bug got closer to overhead and he could see the beady little eyes of the bugs riding it.

His lance tore through the basket, one of the riders, and the larger bug without stopping. The surviving riders were thrown in different directions, while the beast itself drifted slower, its damaged wings struggling to keep it aloft as it dripped blue ichor. Shame they couldn't ride the fliers. He'd captured one earlier, but it refused to respond to any commands, even on pain of death.

"Now attack! Finish them all!" Issak pointed at the fallen warriors, not because it was necessary but just to get his warriors used to following his orders. They deferred to him for now, but he needed to have their absolute loyalty.

He stayed back and watched them cut down the bug survivors, emphasizing his superiority. Too many tribe soulcrafters reached the third stage and thought they were important just because their cantae was strong. His spear should have reminded them of the difference between someone who had ascended twice and someone with a true soul fortress.

"Most of them are rough." One of the warriors from his own tribe came up to stand beside him, folding her arms tightly. Rebkha, he thought her name was. "We need to whip them into shape. That means we need strong materials."

Issak glanced at her with a frown. Rebkha had never been one to make trouble, and she understood that they needed a good leader. Problem was, she was smarter than most of the warriors. If she ascended to his stage, she might try to challenge him for leadership.

But that was a problem for another day. Issak grunted and nodded to her. "Starting tomorrow, we send out a few groups to scout. There have to be strong materials in this place."

For the next week they searched more than usual, finding three new warriors but only a few materials worth anything. They ran across a mound of fat bugs that put up surprisingly little resistance before being cut down, which was the only cache. Within the disgusting tunnels they discovered some goop with a decent amount of cantae. Issak wasn't going to touch the stuff himself, but he forced it on the weaker warriors to increase his army's strength.

Most likely, if they wanted the best materials, they were going to take on one of the bigger hives. They weren't ready for that, not yet. The bugs might not be strong, but there were a lot of them.

Just when he was about ready to give up scouting, one of the warriors reported that there was some kind of pit generating cantae. Unfortunately, there was another group already there: city dwellers with a vehicle of some kind.

A flying vehicle could be just what he needed: let him ride while all the others had to walk. Since he'd said that every warrior could take what they earned, Issak declared that he and a few trusted allies were the only ones strong enough to investigate. That way he could take the vehicle for himself, as well as any powerful materials. If there actually were any.

Just getting close, he could immediately tell that this pit was something different. It wasn't a mound or tunnels, but a huge hole taken out of the earth. Similar to the mines the city dwellers loved so much, but this one had slick sides. In fact, it looked like nothing so much as a mud hole to him. But the cantae... there was something strong down at the bottom, worth investigating.

"Issak, do w-"

He raised a hand to cut off the warrior. "No talking. We need to find the city dwellers first."

At first he saw only a few bugs, toiling uselessly on the muddy slopes. Eventually he spotted them: several people in a long and flat vehicle, mostly hidden in the trees on the other side of the hole. One of them walked out and Issak immediately stared at him.

The man wore an elaborate white coat that trailed behind him. He would have looked like every other fancy city dweller... but the way his eyes stared down into the hole made Issak hesitate. Those eyes held a ruthless ambition that he didn't want to challenge. When he tried to investigate the man's soulhome, he ran into one of those walls that city dwellers loved so much, hiding their strength when they should have showed it to everyone.

That man was going to be a problem. It looked like he'd already figured out how to enslave the bugs, because he had one of them crawling behind him. If he was allowed to take the sublime materials there, he might become even more powerful, so an ambush was one option, but it could also cost them too much.

Before he came to any conclusion, Issak saw the other occupant leave the vehicle and join them. She was stunningly beautiful, her curves managing to make even the city dweller armor look good. Strong as well, no doubt about it. Suddenly Issak had a much harder choice to make.

"Boss? What do we do?"

"Shut up. I'm thinking."