Unbound

Pit tilted his head at the plant as the Alderman scurried off. "What's that? Why do you have a plant?"

"It's our GPS.” Felix held it up, inspecting it in the waning sunlight. A dark green shoot sprouted ten inches from the dark soil, and it had a clutch of leaves that wobbled with every micro movement of his hand. The leaves were tinged with seawater blue and faintly translucent, each one a spade-like shape with serrated edges. The pot was no more than a handful, but it was inscribed with several arrays that increased its durability and vigor, making the contents within that much stronger.

Pit sniffed at it before promptly sneezing. "I know this plant! Wait, why does it need water? Doesn’t it have enough, being a cutting from—”

“I was told it needs water every few hours. Not much, but a steady supply, otherwise its connection will degrade.”

“Huh. Magic is so weird. So you sent Rogier off to get some. Why not just shape water outta the air? You said it’s full of the stuff.”

"It is. But I needed something to help him feel a bit important again."

"Why bother? They’re all jerks here." Pit chirped apologetically. “Present company excluded.”

Uvan inclined his head.

Felix turned the potted plant in his hand, admiring the blue sheen of sigaldry. "Why bother making pointless enemies?"

Pit hummed to himself, eyes tracking where Rogier had disappeared between buildings.

"Now, Tusknight Uvan…”

The Orc captain straightened, as did all of his men. “Your Majesty?”

“I appreciate your help during all of this. You’ve given me a lot to think about."

Uvan bowed. "Of course, your Majesty. I know that the Governor asked the same, but I would still extend our services to you.”

“What services do you mean?”

“Considering your interest in the Mountain Princes, you are clearly headed into the Peaks. We can send guides to speed your travel and guard your person. They are high Tier, more than capable of holding their own.”

“I appreciate that. Really. But I don’t need extra hands or guards. All I needed was enough information to get me started.” Felix smiled, turning to include all the Tusknights. “You gave that to me already.”

“Sir,” Kuval started, before clearing his throat. “Your Majesty. Is what you said to the Governor true? You will handle our defenses?”

“It is.”

“How?”

Felix brought up his Authority map of Andiva, turning it so the Orcs could all see the pulsing dots he’d added. “I’m headed across the whole range, but every Nest and Domain you detailed was added to my map. I’ll cross them off as I go.”

Uval stared at the map as grunts of disbelief echoed from his people. “All of them?”

Felix shrugged. “As many as I can. I’m on a bit of a schedule right now.”

Uval licked his lips, unnerved as the map faded away. “And the Queen? What if you find her?”

Felix bared his teeth.

When the water arrived, it came in droves.

The Alderman returned, sweaty and smiling, with several massive drums of the stuff. They transported it on wagons pulled by heavy-built Avum, their feathers dull but thick across backs made for hauling lumber. It seemed that Rogier had corralled a great many of his fellows to help, and by the way he strode about, his standing among them had returned to some shadow of its former glory.

"Here you are, your Majesty.” Rogier gave a flourishing bow as the first of the wagons creaked to a halt. “If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to ask."

Pit hopped aboard one of the wagons and they listed dangerously to the side. “You don’t need all this, right?”

“It could come in handy.”

Pit groaned. “I gotta carry this?”

“Buck up, bud.” Felix snagged a single oversized skin that hung from one of the Avum’s saddles. He unlatched it and poured a careful splash into the pot. “There we go.”

The seawater leaves flushed a bright blue, so vibrant that they glowed. “You like that, huh?”

The entire sprout flexed, as if it were stretching.

"Uvan.” Felix lowered the pot back to his side, where his Garment had formed a special satchel for it. “Your high Tier warriors you mentioned…are they willing to fight for my new empire?"

The Orc captain straightened and his tusks caught the waning light. "Yes, your Majesty, you have ended the Hierarchy. For non-Humans, the Orders have been a deadly threat for far too long. I speak for all Tusknights when I say that we would join any fight if you but command it."

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"Ah, the same," Roger said, clearly unwilling to be outdone. The Aldermen around him started, but couldn’t quite say anything. "The city, of course, is yours to command, Emperor."

"Good, then you can encourage any others that are Master Tier or higher to join my people as well."

Rogier puffed out his chest. "I will ensure that all high Tiers know of their duty."

Felix frowned. "Their choice," he corrected. "No one is to be punished for refusing. This will be the fight of their lives, and I won’t have them go into it in chains."

The already sweating official broke out anew, but the Tusknight beside him merely grinned. "Let the blood flow fierce, your Majesty. The Tusknights will ride with you."

"Good." Felix leapt into the air just as Pit cast aside his Mask. The Dire Hound pup vanished into white light, forcing the people around them to fall back with scattered shouts. Rogier especially clutched at his chest, staring in horror at the looming visage of the dark tenku before him.

"Your Majesty, what is this?"

Felix grinned from atop Pit's back. "My Companion and the Guardian Beast of the Fiend."

Pit crowed, pride and joy bright against the others’ Spirits.

"Use the Shadowgate," Felix ordered, as Pit's wings spread. "Seek out the center of the city within and find Karys in Elderthrone. My Chancellor. He will direct you from there."

With a simple surge of air Mana, the pair of them took off, shooting straight into the sky before they angled into the distance.

South. Directly into the Sunsend Peaks.

Monsters filled the sky.

Hundreds of the creatures swarmed Felix and Pit, beasts that were all the worst parts of wasps, mixed with a helping of fleshy muscle and too many teeth. Gnawlings, according to the System, each one stronger than the burning Skyfliers by a solid margin. They buzzed toward them, six feet long and curled into twisted shapes, their barbed stingers thrust forward.

They got close on each pass, whirring past Felix as he sat atop Pit’s back. Their ungainly construction belied a high Agility and Dexterity, affording them a preternatural accuracy as they shot toward Pit’s belly or Felix’s unguarded head.

Felix yawned.

“Nimbus of the Moon!”

Mana flashed from Pit's wings as silver beams of moonlight pierced from the heavens, stabbing through the horde at a dozen different angles. The Gnawlings died by the dozens, and those that remained nearby were torn open with his claws or fried with the Mantle of the Storm Lord.

"More incoming," Felix said offhandedly.

"I see them."

They were soaring over the Sunsend Peaks. They'd made it perhaps five leagues into the mountains before the Gnawlings had attacked, which matched the tentative notes Uvan had given him. The Gnawlings were the spawn of Mountain Prince Bhaan, who prowled this portion of the forested slopes. They had risen in thick waves from the snowy forests below the moment Pit had flown within range, screeling and buzzing away with a mindless sort of aggression. If Uvan’s notes were accurate, the Nest would be somewhere close by—they just hadn’t spotted it yet.

“The mountains are weird,” Felix muttered to himself. Pit spun them in a roll, but he ignored the motion and focused on the odd formation of crags where the ground had split wide. “Those chasms don’t seem quite right at all.”

It was like something had picked up each mountain and shoved them back together. If nothing else, it was more evidence that Uvan’s story held some weight.

No more than an hour ago, they had still been walking through the streets of Korsk. Pit was downing the rind of some glacial fruit and several of the Tusknights were enjoying meat skewers of their own. Felix had spied a dozen shop names, each sign weathered by countless years of brutal cold and unblemished sunlight. A tailor’s, a tavern, even a worn cobblers, all sharing a name with the nearby mountain range.

"Sunsend. Why are the peaks called that? They’re to the east, and last I check, the sun doesn’t end its day there."

Uvan nodded, the question taken far more seriously than Felix had intended. "Because long ago the peaks were in the west. Then they moved."

That had gotten his attention. Felix settled at the nearest stoop, sitting down and inviting the captain to do so as well.

The man leaned against the curved railing beside the stair, adjusting the sword at his hip. "This was in ancient times, well before this Age. It's an old story, one my gran told me when I was still stealing sweets from her, but it persists. No one calls the Peaks by any other name."

They moved.

The final screams of the Gnawlings pulled Felix from his reverie. Perfect recall didn’t often catch up his attention like that, but he supposed he was feeling a bit lax—with Pit to do all the dirty work, it left Felix’s Mind to wander. “All dead?”

“Best I can tell, yeah.” Pit swooped lower, gaining speed as his paws brushed the tops of several conifers. “I can’t shake any more free, at least.”

Idly, Felix flared his Empyrean Embrace, consuming the remains that still swirled in the forest below. All of them leapt to his Will, consumed utterly in a moment. Within him, the Beast rumbled with pleasure.

Pit grumbled aloud. "Where’s the Prince, though?"

"Don't know. Keep an eye out for him, though. I need to make a call."

"Got it."

Felix pulled free his potted plant from the holster at his hip. He settled it before him on the saddle, wedging it between the pommel and his thigh, and with his free hand gripped the hilt of his Inheritor's Will. "Karys?"

"Yes, my Lord." The voice came, tinny and slightly echoey, through the weapon.

"Good. One second, let me get our friend online here." Felix tapped the leaves gently, as if they were a microphone. "Paxus, are you there?"

The spirit of a Nymean scholar materialized beside the plant, perhaps a quarter of his full size, and looking entirely real, save for the fact that he floated over the empty air, and his banded robes were unmoving in the wind.

“Your Majesty. The cutting of Abundance is working I see.”

"It is.” Felix frowned as another swarm of wasp monstrosities hurtled from below. Pit twisted, bolts of frozen lightning already spearing their formations. Hundreds died.

“They’re coming from that cave!” His Companion bolted forward, wings shearing through the frigid air. “I think—I think I see something big coming out!”

Paxus tracked the chaos around them, unflinching as wasp-things hurtled close enough to brush up against his form. “Is this the right time, your Majesty?”

Felix bashed several out of the sky with an idle shaping, clearing a space around Pit even as the tenku flashed with his Mantle.

“It’s fine. Pit’s got this. I've got some interesting news to share with both of you.”