Chapter 53

We left the city before midday, as time was of the essence. Tarun had sent our requests to their quartermaster, who had prepared our packs for us, and had them waiting by the gate. We only needed to pick them up and go. The guards who were mustering there saluted as we passed, Tarun foremost among them. That group would not leave for hours yet, I was surprised they were even attempting to move out today at all.

“These are guards, not soldiers.” Hati noted, seeing my puzzled look. “Tarun needs to keep them occupied keep them moving, or else their momentum will fade. Once that happens, morale will fall.”

“And fallen morale means fallen soldiers,” came from my other side. It had the feel of a quote.

“Exactly so, Mytan. Exactly so.” Hati’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and while she was clearly pleased by Myta’s recitation, I thought perhaps the sentiment was something the sergeant knew all too well from personal experience.

We headed out of the city quickly, following the path of our quarry. The Pure and their mysterious benefactor had left a wake of **** when leaving the city, but the guards had still marked their path. It wasn’t until we were an hour gone from Bani that I cursed at my own blindness.

“Master?” Myta was giving me a concerned look, unable to sort out the source of my frustration.

“The patron, the one who had the Pure admitted to Bani’kari’s home in the first place. Who were they?”

“Tarun never said, and I… never asked.” Myta’s brow furrowed.

“Minister Yatek surely knew, but he didn’t say. And I never asked either.” My voice was grim. “He said we wouldn’t need to concern ourselves with the other sorcerer, but now I have the feeling that is the exact person we need to be concerned with. I cannot believe it’s a coincidence that both of us failed to ask such an important question.”

I could feel Myta’s mind racing. “Yatek said we should bring only our most trusted. Ket pushed me toward those with the strongest bonds. If this sorcerer can influence minds, could they turn the bond against us?”

We all exchanged a wary look, but then a different thought occurred to me. “Perhaps not, perhaps it was the opposite. But they were unwilling or unable to say.” I very carefully did not look to Ket, though I could feel her attention on me.

“It seems to me that the bonds we’ve formed would help us to strengthen our minds against such sorcery, rather than weaken us. If so, we should do all we can to build on them, before we encounter the enemy.” The spirit didn’t give voice to it, but I could feel her approval, like a rumbling purr at the back of my skull. Ramana’s spell likewise pulsed with warmth in my spirit. While neither was an implicitly trustworthy source of information, Ket had never steered us wrong so far.

“We should, Jito’s spirit still has not been fully tempered,” Myta echoed my thoughts. “Assuming you are willing?”

Jito nodded his assent. I reached out to my vasra, trying to gauge their feelings. Hati was worried but it was a familiar worry, comfortable to her like well-worn leather, the worry of impending battle. Denu was resolved, but panic tried to spark in her veins. A scar from Futa’s attack that she was fighting through. Jito was oddly calm, almost amused. He had chosen this life, and the danger was spice for him, proving out his choice. But none of them thought of turning from our course.

*Your court does you credit. You will hunt well together.* Ket’s thought was approving, but also strangely wistful. Now I did look in her direction, but she disappeared before I could ask about it. Not that I couldn’t still reach her, but I knew she wouldn’t answer, and wouldn’t thank me for prying.

“We can set our camp early, and perform the ritual for Jito then.” I said. “Bear in mind, at that point you will all have the strength of weak sorcerers, use it carefully.”

“Could we become sorcerers after?” Hati asked, sharing a glance with the others.

“You could.” I replied. “But that would require training and practice, ideally under a skilled master. I might have time to cover the basics with you, but Mytan and I will probably need to leave after the Pure are dealt with here.”

They all looked thoughtful, but we let the conversation die as Denu led us. She’d picked up a trail that she was confident in, and I could detect the fading traces of a passing ward as well. Ket concurred, and I traded notes with the spirit to help us both improve our spiritual tracking skills.

We camped before sunset, and performed the spirit tempering ritual for Jito. I had lost enough mana in healing Yatek that I was still recovering it. Still, I was surprised when I didn’t need to shed any of my personal mana in order to contain his discarded anima.

*You have begun forming your domain.* Ket informed me. *Do not be alarmed, the process is natural, and will only strengthen you.*

“I thought only gods had domains?” I asked, hoping to tease more information from her.

*No, any being who touches on the Radiant Sea can form a domain. Many vethris do. It takes a powerful combination of will and intention to shape the sea to your vision.*

“Then I can’t have done it accidentally,” I furrowed my brow, before the obvious struck me. “My inner world. I’ve been refining the vision of my inner world for decades.”

*What you call your inner world is practice.* I felt the spirit’s smirk *Some being left the knowledge to you deliberately, I think. To give you a head start on your path.*

“To visualize your soul as a place… that was a Mithali practice for their entire history. My teachers claimed that other sorcerers learned it from us.” I trailed off, not sure how to finish that line of thinking. While it was interesting, it didn’t really change anything. ‘The Mithali may have had a benefactor who knew more of the Radiant Sea’ was too vague to be meaningful. Before meeting Ket, I would have said that meant they were supported by a god, but even that didn’t tell me anything new. Most countries and religions boasted some kind of spiritual backing.

*I’m curious, vethris. When you speak of the Mithali, your words are confused. Sometimes you say we, and sometimes they. Are you Mithali, or not?”

“What’s in a name?” I quipped, but I could feel the spirit’s confusion. “The country off Mythal is gone, its temples and schools were all destroyed. Without a Mythal, can there be any Mithali? Few enough even remember the name.”

*Among the spirits, a court continues for as long as one veth remains.*

I nodded. “There’s sense to that. One leader or teacher can spread their beliefs and influence anew. And I suppose I am a teacher again. Then the question becomes, what do I want to teach? Do I try and carry on their old teachings? Risk a new alliance coming to destroy me?”

I tried to shake off my melancholy, turning my attention back on Ket. “You never did explain how I connected to the Radiant Sea.”

*It’s simple enough, though not easy.* She accepted my diversion. *Your aspect must be refined enough to cover many concepts that are dreamed of, and then you gather enough mana to bridge the divide. That is all. But it is impossible to know before your trial if your aspect is refined enough. And the amount of mana is always enough to threaten your spirit’s destruction.*

“So it was right before we met, when I first worked to heal Myta’s sickness. It was my becoming veth that drew Kubek’s gaze in the first place.”

*Just so. The corrupt mana that threatened Kubek’s lands was the very same that allowed you to cross the divide. Once crossed, the connection remains.”

“And I am Myta’s connection to the sea. That is how she ended up with vas of her own.”

*Yes. That, and you also had an influence on their spirits. Should you die, she might retain the connection, or she might not. Such things depend on the whims of the divines.*

I guarded the camp for the first half of the night, trading with Myta near midnight. The others had recovered enough to wake easily in the morning, and I checked over their spirits for any signs of trouble. There were none. Hati’s aspect of earth, and Denu’s aspect of air were both clean and pure. Jito, oddly enough, had developed something closer to my own spirit. Not as all-encompassing as my aspect of refinement, but certainly related to improving himself. Like most conceptual aspects, it was difficult to get a precise read on.

Our progress had been rapid. Kubek’s blessing was subtle, but powerful. None of our party had tripped or fallen, the underbrush parted for us at the slightest touch, and our footing was always certain. We walked through the densest jungle as though it were a well-paved road. Because of that, I wasn’t concerned about getting a late start in the morning, I expected Jito, having just been tempered, to need extra rest. In fact, we all awoke early.

The second day we ate up the ground, the increased stamina of our group allowing us to push even harder. Ripe fruits practically fell onto us to ease our hunger and thirst. That night we barely made camp before falling onto our bedrolls.

On the afternoon of the third day, we caught up to our quarry.