Chapter 178

Brinja’s birthday was tomorrow.

That was going to delay things for a little while. But her birthday mattered. She was turning sixteen. And as much as she liked to act embarrassed by us - rolling her eyes, pretending she was too cool to care - she absolutely cared. A lot.

So we were going to do everything we could to make sure it was a good one.

Most of that day was spent hunched over maps, trying to narrow down the location of the first waystation Vin had visited. Once I got close, I pulled Ashlara in to help. Then I had Vel double-check my conclusions. Between the three of us, I was reasonably confident we’d be able to find the place once we were actually out there.

Afterward, preparations for the party began in earnest.

That evening, after dinner, we all gathered together in the common room. Songs were sung. Games were played. We laughed, talked, and simply enjoyed being together for a little while. There was still work waiting for me - there always was - but for once I ignored it and followed my women upstairs instead, spending the night wrapped in their arms.

The next morning began with a massive breakfast, followed by chores and last-minute preparations before the celebration itself started.

Mirri, Grams, and Elise took over the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Meanwhile Briva and Morien had somehow gotten into the icing. Completely into it. By the time I found them, both little ones were covered head to toe in sticky sweetness.

So I hauled them off toward the baths while guests began arriving.

As usual, Elarion brought Dur and Orrik with him. He even brought his boyfriend, Syl. Naevira lingered near the edges of the room looking visibly overwhelmed by the growing crowd. And the ferals arrived as well.

Even Tansy. She hung near the back of the room, arms crossed tightly over herself, unease plain on her face.

I walked over and wrapped her in a hug before she could retreat. “I’m really glad you came,” I told her quietly. “It means a lot to everyone.”

She softened slightly beneath my arms and gave a small nod, though she still didn’t say anything.

Dinner was incredible. Enough food to feed an army covered the tables. Laughter filled the hall while candles and lanternlight painted everything gold and warm.

Afterward, Elise lit a candle in the window in accordance with Morenti tradition, and then we moved on to presents.

Mirri gifted Brinja ribbons for her hair along with basic cosmetics and a promise to teach her how to use them properly. Ashlara presented her with a matched pair of knives engraved carefully with climbing vines. Serah gave her a carved hair comb crafted in the elven style from alternating light and dark woods. Elise handed over a book on anatomy and its relation to art.

Grams shoved forward a narrow wooden box alongside a hand-bound journal. Inside the box were three yellow pencils from Earth. Honest-to-god No. 2 pencils.

I stared at them in confusion before looking at Grams.

When Brinja opened the journal, she discovered it was already filled with sketches and handwritten notes.

“It was my da’s,” Grams explained gruffly. “Ma said he used to fill books with drawings. Lotsa naked pictures of her.” She snorted. “But there’s trees and houses and all sorts of other stuff too. Pretty sure there’s even a drawing of Lunythera in that one somewhere.”

She glanced at me briefly. “That one should be pretty tame.”

Torvek gave Brinja a carved jewelry box. Issa gifted her beautiful hair beads. Elarion had crafted a case for her charcoals by hand. Tib proudly handed over a bracelet made of seashells. Lilae gave her pressed flowers preserved carefully between sheets of parchment. And Dur presented her with a metal stylus he’d forged himself.

Vel stepped forward next, offering a dark shirt that initially seemed surprisingly stylish and understated - until I noticed the hidden knife sheaths sewn discreetly into the back.

Thae, who normally observed birthdays rather than participated in them, quietly handed Brinja a collection of small glow rocks.

Tansy remained near the edge of the room, still visibly uncertain.

Nim presented Brinja with a rough handmade easel.

Then Moss stepped forward. “I found this bone in the woods and thought of you,” she announced flatly.

The small animal femur had been bleached clean and sharpened carefully into a stylus-like point.

Then Clo exploded into the room like a cannonball. She’d done her makeup again - dark eyeliner and black lipstick.

“I GOT YOU STUFF!” she shouted, eyes wide with excitement. Then, lowering her voice into what she apparently believed was a whisper, she added, “It’s from Earth.”

Everyone heard her.

She proudly produced a pair of oversized sunglasses, a glow stick, and a set of plastic vampire teeth.

“Thanks?” Brinja said uncertainly as she examined them.

“Clo!” I said sternly.

“What?” she protested immediately. “I already had them! I didn’t go back!” She grinned wildly between Brinja and me. “They’re super cool. I’ll explain later!”

Then she vanished across the room faster than my eyes could track.

When my turn came, I handed Brinja an embossed leather satchel for carrying her art supplies. The kind with more pockets than strictly necessary, all designed to keep everything organized and protected. Inside rested a small standing mirror.

“I figured it might help with braiding your hair,” I told her. “Or makeup. Or studying expressions. Whatever.”

Brinja immediately rolled her eyes and pretended to be embarrassed, just like she had after every other gift. But every time she thought no one was looking, a small smile crept back onto her face anyway.

“Alright,” I announced. “Ready for the next part?”

“What’s that?” Elise asked suspiciously.

A flat square box sat in the center of the table wrapped carefully in ribbon, a small envelope tucked beneath the bow.

I looked around the room. Nobody claimed it.

Immediately suspicious, I picked it up and examined it with my Faith while opening myself to the flow of mana. Then I gave it a gentle shake.

Nothing seemed wrong.

Still unconvinced, I handed it to Thae. She inspected it silently for several long moments before handing it back with a faint shake of her head.

“I guess there’s one more present then,” I said cautiously.

Brinja opened the envelope first. Her brow furrowed slightly as she read the note before handing it to me.

For the girl who hides behind thorns.

I frowned immediately.

Inside the box were imported pastels from Caldris, black paper from Morentis, and a small bottle of silver ink from Dumrath Kol-Varn.

Brinja tried very hard not to react.

And failed completely.

The excitement in her eyes was impossible to miss.

Once presents were finished, we all headed outside.

Using magic, I recreated the greatest fireworks shows I’d ever seen. The magic itself was simple enough - mostly controlled bursts of colored sparks - but it was a novel display. The real surprise was the explosive boom accompanying each eruption of light and startled everyone every single time.

Eventually the celebration wound down. Guests drifted home. And after we finished cleaning up, I wandered back into the common room.

Brinja lay asleep on the couch with Briva and Morien curled against her. Tib, Lilae, Mak, and Issa had all claimed spots on the floor nearby, wrapped in blankets and dead to the world.

Mirri slipped quietly up beside me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Cute, aren’t they?” she whispered.

I nodded softly. “Tonight was nice,” I murmured. “Peaceful.”

My eyes drifted toward the strange anonymous gift still sitting on the table. “Except for that.”

A faint unease settled in my chest again. I sighed quietly.

“I hope it stays that way.”

* * *

The next morning the ferals and I headed out to find the new waystation - the one not listed among Amberleigh’s records. The one Vin had visited first.

It took some searching, but by midmorning we found Wheatbarrow, a small village near the Caldris-Arvellian border. There wasn’t much to the place besides hard fields and harder people. Generations of farmers had slowly cleared most of the stone from the soil here, piling it into endless walls and crumbling heaps around the edges of their land.

From there we moved northeast.

We traveled quickly - far faster than mortals could. At this point we weren’t really searching anymore. We already knew something waited ahead. And by late afternoon, we found it - the stream Vin remembered crossing.

It wasn’t especially wide, but over time it had carved a deep gully through the hills—maybe six or seven feet down and a dozen across. Thae spotted the bridge from the air almost immediately.

After that we spread out and slowed our pace. Now we needed actual signs. Trails. Landmarks. Anything.

By sunset we entered a cedar forest. The scent hit me immediately. Sharp. Dry. Resinous. Like wood shavings.

Vin had been right.

Like most forests in the region, the ground beneath the trees was relatively clear. But unlike elsewhere, the cedar’s dead lower branches tangled thickly enough to limit visibility to maybe fifty feet in any direction. Dry needles carpeted the earth beneath us.

Even so, we moved almost silently. My footsteps were little more than whispers. The ferals made no sound at all.

Then the sulfur smell reached me - rotten eggs - thick and unmistakable.

“Hot springs,” Clo announced as she abruptly appeared beside me. “This way.”

Then she vanished again just as quickly and quietly as she’d arrived.

The smell intensified as we approached.

The springs themselves weren’t dramatic - no towering geysers or beautiful mineral pools. Just steaming streams that bubbled in places where heat rose from beneath the earth. The water carried a strange pale green-blue tint, and bright yellow and green algae coated the muddy banks.

After a bit more searching, we found an old trail. Mostly overgrown, but recently disturbed.

We were close.

For Vin riding in a wagon, it had taken another hour or so to reach the waystation from here. For us? Minutes. Still, we proceeded carefully.

The last time we’d rushed into Covenant defenses, Nim and Vel had stepped on landmines and Tansy had nearly died batting away a grenade. I had no interest in repeating that experience.

Ten minutes later we found an old weathered barn, a collapsing forester’s cabin, and several charcoal pits.

The cedar smell was stronger here, though older somehow. Everything about the site suggested a failed charcoal operation. Foresters would cut cedar, burn it slowly beneath packed earth, and convert it into charcoal over several days.

Clo quickly located several tripwires surrounding the property.

And mines. Several of them.

I had absolutely no idea how to safely disarm landmines, so instead we had Moss eat them.

There wasn’t much left inside the barn, but Clo found recently disturbed dirt - the hole Vin had dug.

I sang softly and pulled mana into the melody, coaxing the earth to rise and loosen. A moment later, buried barrels and crates emerged from the ground.

The barrels contained ordinary supplies - salted meat, grain, water, and an enormous amount of lamp oil. Far more lamp oil than a waystation this size should reasonably need.

And the food? Enough to feed dozens of people for months.

If this cache was standard for the Covenant, then they potentially had hundreds of people moving through these sites. Far more than I’d expected.

The crates were even worse.

Weapons. Not enough for an army, but more than enough for a cell - assault rifles, pistols, ammunition, grenades.

And medical supplies.Not herbs or healing tonics. Real trauma equipment from Earth - packaged bandages, sutures, bone saws, and morphine. These were people expecting severe casualties. Not accidents. Not minor injuries. Battlefield wounds.

Which meant one of two things - either they lacked healers… or they planned to throw shock troops at a problem until it went away. And knowing the Covenant? I suspected the latter.

I stepped the supplies into the demesne. No sense letting the food rot, and I definitely didn’t want those weapons lying around for someone else to recover.

Meanwhile, Vel and Thae searched the cabin. It was empty.

Fresh mud tracks - maybe two days old. Signs something heavy had been dragged or loaded recently. Whoever left had cleared the place out thoroughly. There wasn’t even broken furniture remaining.

Then Clo found an old mine entrance behind the cabin.

We approached carefully. Nim took point.

We hadn’t made it far before a gunshot cracked through the tunnel. Then a dozen more.

Rounds slammed into Nim hard enough to rock him backward, though he never actually stumbled.

Before I could react, Clo and Tansy vanished. Both scaled the tunnel walls like monstrous spiders and rushed forward with terrifying speed.

Vel grabbed my arm sharply and pointed downward.

Tripwires.

I nodded.

The fight ended almost before it began.

Eight Covenant operatives. Entirely unprepared for the kind of violence the ferals unleashed once they closed the distance.

Two survivors.

Moss consumed the remaining mines and we moved deeper into the tunnel - cautiously.

By the time we reached the carnage, Tansy had already collected the weapons. She checked each one methodically - pulling back slides, ejecting magazines, clearing chambers. I made a mental note to ask where exactly she’d learned all that.

One survivor was a boy - maybe nineteen - pressed against the mine wall and drenched in blood that I didn’t think belonged to him. Tears streamed down his face. Every sudden movement Clo made caused him to flinch violently. Which wasn’t helping, because Clo kept making sudden movements intentionally.

“Clo,” I said sternly.

She looked at me, then back at the boy. She threw devil horns and stuck out her tongue, then trotted back over to me.

“Good work,” I told her more quietly.

The second survivor was older - mid-thirties maybe. Fit, but badly injured. One arm was mangled almost beyond recognition, a deep jagged cut split his face, and his breathing wheezed wetly in his chest.

I crouched beside him first. “I can heal you if you answer some questions,” I told him calmly.

He spit blood directly into my face.

Moss stomped down on the ruined hand attached to his mangled arm.

He screamed.

I glanced at her.

She backed up slightly.

“Sorry about that,” I told him. “They get a little over protective sometimes.”

I began humming softly, channeling enough mana to slow the bleeding. I didn’t want him dying before I could question him.

He grit his teeth and tried weakly to pull away.

A single hand against his chest kept him pinned easily.

“I’m trying to help,” I pointed out.

“I know you,” he wheezed. “I know what you are.” His breath rattled painfully. “Disposable. Replaceable.”

I stared at him, unimpressed.

“I…” He struggled for air. “Was told… to tell you…”

The sad sound of piano drifted around me as I pushed more mana into the healing. He was fading fast.

“That a new age… is coming.” His breathing steadied slightly. “The end… of gods.”

Then came the metallic plink.

His eyes glared at me. His hand clenched shut.

Moss reacted instantly, hurling him toward the tunnel entrance while Nim surged forward to shield as much of the passage as possible.

The grenade detonated in a spray of gore.

Shrapnel hammered into Nim. Tiny fragments of stone and metal bounced harmlessly from his face as he turned and wiped blood from his eyes.

“Well,” I sighed. “Shit.”

I looked toward Clo. “Check the other one again.”

She appeared beside the terrified boy instantly and began aggressively searching him - shaking out his clothes, ripping open his shirt, pulling off boots, and nearly tearing his pants off entirely.

He screamed the entire time.

“Seems clean,” Clo announced as she backed away.

I approached the boy slowly.

“Let’s hope,” I said tiredly, “that you’re smarter than your friend.”