“Blue’s Fortress is on the move,” Rol Siw said, voice and face betraying no emotion, pale grey eyes cold and hard as winter. “According to our scrying, it is headed to the south of us, presumably on its way to Nicehapoca.” He stumbled not at all over the name, pronouncing the exotic word as if he were a native.

“You’d think something that big would be easier to locate,” Lin Sar said. He sat where Tor Kot once had, though his reedy voice and reedy body didn’t measure up to Tor Kot’s presence.

“This a briefing, Councilman Lin Sar,” Rol Siw said, his tone level and completely unchanged. “Not a forum for airing obvious platitudes.” Lin Sar visibly shrunk from the cold grey eyes, and Rol Siw looked around at the table. “At this point it is obvious that he has no intention of confronting us directly. The controlled breach is functioning exactly as intended, and there does not seem to be any appreciable increase in rift size. While Blue can still be considered hostile, he does not pose a direct threat to our core holdings.”

“After what he did to Port Anell, I’m just as glad he doesn’t seem to care about us,” another Councilman observed, and Rol Siw’s eyes flickered to him. “I hope this is not a prelude to suggesting further action against him, though. We’ve already seen that he can’t be dealt with.”

“The proposal I have is one that has been waiting for a while,” Rol Siw said, placing a small metal wafer on a section of runes. The table projected an illusion of Einteril with a number of annotations. “We are, in fact, aligning ourselves with Blue, at least by inference. In order to quickly grow our younger cores and reinforce the region around the rift, we will still have to expand to other places. Orn is clearly out of the question, and Blue is headed to Nicehapoca, which leaves Einteril. Considering Blue’s actions on Einteril, and its current state, it is both an easy target and clearly not defended by Blue.”

“How is this different from Tor Kot’s expansionist proposal?” Mil Tek asked. “We know how that one ended.”

“Despite Blue’s interference, there were a number of cores that had their growth significantly accelerated,” Rol Siw said. “Furthermore, we have some idea of how much value can be gotten in a short time frame, relative to our native population. This proposal comes with an updated operating procedure to maximize that value and minimize our time in Einteril. This is not, let me make clear, an expansion plan. It is simply a raid to gather resources.”

“May we see the revised operating procedure?” Another council member asked the question, and Rol Siw touched one of his runes to replace the map with densely-written text. It was mirrored in smaller format in front of each of the council members, and all but Mil Tek and Rol Siw focused on it. They had work to do.

That was profoundly irritating. I could turn around and head back, but I was already three-quarters of the way across the ocean after promising Tlulipechua and clearing the ocean travel with Uilei-nktik. It was more the former that weighed on me than the latter, because I didn’t consider myself a liar to begin with and as a Power even the most idle word should be considered my bond. Which was partly why I was glad I couldn’t actually talk to everyone. I’d get in so much trouble.

“Iniri, do you still have some way to talk to Tor Kot?” Obviously the concept of a neutral zone had never come to fruition, but I didn’t know whether some other channels had been kept open. There were obvious issues with sending messengers around, and the combination of depletion and normal dungeon scry resistance made ordinary magical sendings impractical. Iniri’s stellar mana, however, was immune and quite capable of surviving the depletion of the mage-king homelands. Her little messenger birds were probably the only reasonable way of contacting them.

“We haven’t corresponded but the one time,” Iniri said with a frown. “What’s going on?”

“The mage-kings seem to be under the impression that Einteril is free game. They’re not going to attack Orn anymore, thank goodness, but since I destroyed Port Anell apparently that signals to them I hate the entire continent or something. Which isn’t true. But since I can’t be in two places at once, maybe you can threaten them for me and keep them from wreaking havoc the next continent over.”

“I would be glad to threaten them for you.” Iniri’s face was thunderous. “I’ll also send messages to the countries in Einteril on your behalf, though I don’t know how much credence they’ll give us. Do you know when they’re going over there?”

“No, but fairly soon I’d imagine. I also don’t know if they’re going to be using war cores like Vok Lim, or what, but I’ll keep you updated as I find out more.” I wasn’t sure if I would find out more. I only caught the occasional gossip from the mage-kings, probably because for most of them I wasn’t relevant, and even then it was only business that related directly to me. Since the invasion of Einteril wasn’t something that related to me, or so they thought, they might not mention me at all.

“Please do,” Iniri said, playing with Marin’s fingers.

“One thing, though. Tor Kot isn’t actually on the mage-king council so threatening him, specifically, isn’t going to help.”

“That’s a shame. I’ve had time to think of some very inventive threats.” Iniri smiled and I laughed. It was good to see her unbend a bit. “If he’s just a messenger though, I can work with that. The impersonal can sometimes be more threatening than the personal.”

“That’s why I count on you,” I told her, and had the satisfaction of seeing her preen, just a little.

“I’ll start writing it up as soon as I put Marin down for a nap,” Iniri promised.

“Sure, I doubt there’s too much of a rush. It’s a long journey.” I would know. I’d been crossing the ocean to a distant continent for two days straight and still wasn’t there.

“I’m just not sure how much defense Einteril could mount at the moment,” Iniri said with a frown. I had paid a little bit of attention to Einteril’s state of affairs for the simple reason that I was partly responsible for them, but it wasn’t a mess that I could help untangle in any way. The power vacuum and economic disruption of the Anell Family’s collapse, along with Port Anell’s destruction, had caused a rather nasty snarl over there, and the various countries were quite occupied with sorting that.

“We’ll just have to take it as it comes.” I had been feeling pretty confident, watching Shayma in action, and making sure neither of us took any chances like the one that had resulted in her dying before. Now I was somewhat less so, mostly because it looked like trying to clean up the mage-king’s messes before they got any worse only emboldened them to make more of a mess. I knew I couldn’t take them all on at once, for a variety of reasons, and if they started running around behind my back it was going to make things difficult for everyone.

I couldn’t [Starlance] all my problems away.

Really, what I needed was another Fortress, or preferably, several more Fortresses. Maybe not as large, but just some way to have a presence. Unfortunately, that meant another dungeon seed, and that was a minimum of three months. In real terms, much longer than three months. I was hesitant to ask Taelah and Iniri, considering that I’d kind of ignored them for most of a year, and Shayma’s spirit form couldn’t support the gestation. She had to maintain her corporeal form for that, which was a good thing to know before Shayma started thinking about children.

For the immediate future, I had Tarnil, The Caldera, Shayma, and the Fortress, and it would have to be enough. Even if the Fortress was a bit sluggish compared to Shayma or even the Chiuxatli, it could still move faster than most would believe something that size could go. It had occurred to me that it was possible to send Shayma out first and have her anchor a truly massive portal, but I actually wasn’t certain I’d be able to support one for something as magical as the Fortress. Not to mention, that fell into the category of unacceptable risk, since that would pin her in place for hours on end.

Despite the speed it was going, it was still being paced by a few curious Leviathans far below. I was a good kilometer up at least, but I could still spot them due to their incredible bulk. The ones that far east seemed to have more serpent in their makeup than squid, but they were still recognizable. I was tempted to show off a bit, but I wasn’t sure that I could without it looking like an attack. I still mostly just had [Starlances], small and large.

I compromised by dropping it closer to the water, just for a little bit, letting them get a better look at the star-speckled underside and the wards parting fog and spray where it sprung from the waves. Amusingly, one of them actually breached the surface, flying out of the water a good five hundred meters or more to peer at one of the sides before splashing back in with a truly spectacular plume of water.

Eventually though, they got either bored or tired and dived back down into the depths. I put the Fortress back up at its proper height, because after seeing the Beast of Tarkelion I didn’t want to tempt fate by dangling the Fortress over waters I couldn’t see through. I’d cleared my route through Uilei-nktik and the Leviathans probably kept things relatively safe, but if something the size of the Beast existed on land, even larger things had to lurk in the depths of the sea.

Of course, I didn’t actually see anything particularly exotic. There were enormous plant-mats, little floating islands with their own ecologies, enormous birds, rays that seemed as much at home flying through the air as the water, and in one area a series enormous, kilometer-thick trees rising out of the ocean depths like an oversized mangrove swamp. It was all very scenic, but nothing that made me worry about the integrity of the Fortress.

Since the Fortress only needed my occasional attention, aside from the incident with the Leviathans, it gave me a good excuse to spend serious and uninterrupted time with Taelah and Iniri. I couldn’t exactly lavish attention on the children, but I could at least by proxy. They were my children, yes, but there was a disconcerting gap between me and them. Part of it was the inability to talk, touch, or interact, but I was pretty sure there was some issues with dungeon biology, too. Or maybe I was just looking for something to blame for my lack of fatherly bliss other than my own preoccupation when they were born.

I couldn’t even make magic baby toys, because it was for the best that infants be kept in low magic areas and anything I made other than mundane stone or wood might be dangerous. So I could make blocks, for example, but honestly they already had those, whittled by people with Skills. It took a lot of scraping about in the recesses of my mind to recollect things they didn’t already have. The shape box, the ring stack toy, interlocking bricks, and a few other odds and ends. By the time they were older I might have more complicated and robust things, though I’d have to consult on how to make a toy that promoted magical development, but at least I had something to gift them.

“I know that one of your Power things is unusual knowledge, but I never thought it’d extend to baby toys,” Iniri said, more than a little amused.

“It’s comforting to me,” Taelah said, watching Eva and Grant flail about with the shaped blocks that were meant to be slotted into their matching holes in the box. “If all that knowledge was just about weapons and destruction, I’d have to start worrying about his intentions.”

“It’s really just that it’s amazingly easy to weaponize a lot of knowledge. Destruction is pretty easy, in the end.” The pair of them were in Iniri’s tower in the Palace, but they traded off. In fact, I thought that they might spend more time in the Caldera than at the Palace, but that was probably because the Caldera was quieter and more secure.

“I imagine that’s why so many high level Classers have combat Classes. Fighting is easy and straightforward,” Taelah observed.

“Yes. If it weren’t for the opportunities during the fighting, my Class would never have made it to fourth tier,” Iniri agreed. “Though I imagine the Caldera will let crafters from the Village reach high levels, considering what’s available. You could dominate the world’s top crafting in a few generations, if you really wanted to.”

“I don’t think we do,” Taelah said, shaking her head. “We’ll work hard, of course, but our Village would change too much if we tried to do something like that. Better to keep ourselves quiet. Especially since we’re protected by Blue, and we don’t have to worry about someone else trying to exploit us.”

“Yeah, nobody touches my Village.” Taelah and Iniri looked at each other at my pronouncement, then burst into laughter at the same time. That drew wide-eyed stares from the toddlers, and another round of laughter. I rather wished Shayma was there too, but she was spending time with her own family while I got the Fortress into position. With Keri and Annit, too, since they seemed to be an anchor for her, helping make the lost year more real. She hadn’t experienced it at all, and for me it was a bit of a haze, so she needed contact with people who’d actually struggled through it.

I had another sixteen hours or so of talking with my Companions, and giving each of them proper lascivious attention, before the coast of Nicehapoca came into view. The southern section of the continent rose from the ocean in enormous, jagged mountains, with breathtaking white slopes. There were spots of vibrant green near the bases of the mountains, but what really stood out were the winding threads of luminous orange twining up to the peaks. It was only when I got closer that I saw the origin of the color was some form of plant, clearly lining mountain trails, and the white wasn’t just snow but also some white-leaved tree that grew from the mountainside.

“Looks cold,” Shayma said. She didn’t use my senses to see, but instead stood on the top of the fortress and looked out at the approaching terrain.

“You say that, but I’m pretty sure you’re immune to cold weather by now.”

“I am, but it still looks cold.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Even the green valleys were probably quite chill, with all the water coming from melting snow on the mountains. “I guess it’s time to get the Flight-Alpha?”

“I think so,” Shayma agreed. We were already close enough to see a number of vessels in the waters, and what looked like a seaside down, cut into the cliffs. If we could see them, they could see us, and if I got much closer they’d be justified in getting quite upset. While I wasn’t going to cede any ground to anyone anymore, that wasn’t the same as provoking people on purpose, and it was always better to start out polite. Escalation was easier than the reverse.

She shifted to Chiuxatli form and teleported into the Fortress interior, flying toward where Flight-Alpha Tlulipechua was reading a story to a number of fledglings. I actually didn’t know if any of them were his, or if it was normal for the leader of an entire country to spend time teaching a class of children, but it was a heartwarming scene nonetheless.

Tlulipechua’s guards didn’t let Shayma wander around unaccompanied on a matter of principle, but they also didn’t attempt to impede her progress in any way. In fact, they guided her to the proper cloth pavilion, flickering an announcement in subdued colortongue. The Flight-Alpha flashed an acknowledgement with his crest, finishing the story before turning his attention to Shayma

»The Fortress has arrived?« He inquired.

»We’re off the coast, « she told him. »Blue thought it’d be better to stay a safe distance until we have you to vouch for us. «

“Speaking of, I already see some boats headed my way.” Most of them were clearly small fishing boats, nothing mounting any weapons or defenses to speak of, which made me question the sanity or perhaps the intelligence of the people aboard. Sure, I didn’t have any ill intent, but they couldn’t know that.

»Yes, the Xicoatli can be difficult to placate once roused. I find it unlikely they would be able to do the Hedron harm, but they could certainly make things difficult.« Tlulipechua stood, flashing a farewell to the young ones, before I opened a portal to the top of the Fortress. He and Shayma stepped through, and one of the guards had to block an overly-inquisitive fledgling from following before the Flight-Mother corralled them again.

On the top surface of the Fortress, Shayma and Tlulipechua took flight, flanked by the Flight-Alpha’s guards, diving down toward the ocean below. On their own wings, without using Skills, Chiuxatli were fast, just from their native wind Affinity mana. They were skimming the surface of the waves in no time, passing by boats and giving me my first real look at the Xicoatli.

They were as much serpent-folk as the Chiuxatli were bird-folk. While the Chiuxatli were slightly smaller than human-kin, the Xicoatli were slightly larger, though it was difficult to tell since they didn’t have any legs. Rather, they had a large, scaled tail for locomotion, and four arms located on their torso. It was difficult to say they were humanoid, since they had serpentine heads as well, faintly like a dragon muzzle, but they were certainly more familiar than Leviathans or Leyn.

Unlike conventional reptiles, each Xicoatl had a thick mane of fur around their neck, just below a serpentine head, joined with a thick stripe of more fur along their spines. Clearly, they weren’t cold-blooded. For most of them, the fur was white, but some had brown or red, but the scales varied more widely. All of them had vibrant colors, blue and green and orange and yellow, edged with darker ones that made each scale stand out.

Some of the sailors waved as the Chiuxatli passed, which seemed pretty friendly under the circumstances. It was possible waving meant something different in Xicoatl culture, though Tlulipechua didn’t seem worried. Either way, nobody threw things or cast spells at them as they headed inland, though if anything more ships turned in the direction of the Fortress. They weren’t sailing vessels either, the low-slung hulls being full of fire Affinity to my sight. I couldn’t tell if they were using steam turbines or something more esoteric, but they certainly moved without regard to wind.

Shayma and Tlulipechua reached the shore in just a few minutes, heading inland. I was glad Tlulipechua knew where to go because the Xicoatl settlements were generally not obvious from the air. Only their roads, liberally laced as they were with some kind of vine that gave them that distinctive orange glow, gave any indication of their civilization. The only reason I’d spotted the cliffside village was because the docks of the harbor weren’t camouflaged and hidden under the white-leafed trees.

He landed at the edge of one of the roads, and through Shayma’s senses I could actually see one of their inland settlements. The most noticeable feature of all their buildings was that they were round. There didn’t seem to be any sharp corners anywhere, which was part of why they weren’t obvious from the air. The other part was that the white trees grew on top of the buildings, covering arrays of domes and screening the smoke from stubby chimneys so they weren’t visible from the air.

A small coterie of Xicoatli were waiting at the edge of the village or town or whatever it was, dressed in wraps that wound about their upper bodies and a sort of drape braided into their spinal fur that covered their tails. The visible scales were brilliantly colored and distinct, reminiscent of poisonous vipers, and it made me wonder if they actually did have fangs or if they’d lost them in the rise to sapience.

I had expected Tlulipechua to meet with some local governor or the like to send word forward, since it wasn’t likely that Tzicue just happened to be near the shore, but I’d forgotten that the Chiuxatli had more magitek than I was used to. Perforce, so did the Xicoatli, and the leader of the delegation merely bowed to Tlulipechua before producing a long, heavily enchanted obsidian rod. He channeled fire Affinity mana into it and a simulacrum of another Xicoatl appeared above it, made out of colored flames.

“Flight-Alpha!” It was obviously Tzicue, and he seemed to be in a good mood. “I see you’ve come back to our shores. That doesn’t seem to be your kind of construction out there, though.”

“No, indeed,” Tlulipechua, using his wind magic instead of colortongue. “That is Blue’s great fortress, the Hedron.” As he spoke, Shayma shifted from Chiuxatli form to her normal fox-girl form, and Tzicue’s fiery simulacrum tilted its head to look inquisitively in her direction. “And this is Blue’s Voice, Shayma Ell,” Tlulipechua said by way of introduction, and Shayma nodded at Tzicue.

“Greetings on behalf of both Blue and myself,” Shayma said.

“And greetings to you in return,” Tzicue said. “Though I could make some guesses, given Tlulipechua’s presence, may I ask what your intentions are off my shore?”

“We’re headed to Chiuxatlan, to clean it up,” Shayma told him. “I’m not sure if you’re having border issues there, but Blue has unique advantages against blightbeasts, and can purge the blight and depletion from the area.” Tzicue made a soft hissing noise, tilting his head the other way as he eyed her.

“I have heard tell of such,” Tzicue said. “I don’t see any reason to doubt the claim, and it would be welcome. It is no secret that the doom of Chiuxatlan has been encroaching on our northern passes. We have been mostly keeping them closed with a healthy helping of molten rock and fire, but it is certainly not a solution. We dare not push any deeper in, though there are only roving packs testing our barricades.”

“I imagine that the mage-kings haven’t had another breach in that direction since they’re sending all the blightbeasts our way,” I told Shayma. “Still, if they’ve spread out over the whole country, that’s a lot of cleanup.” It was one thing to purge a few hundred hectares, or a kilometer or ten of lowway. It was quite another to try and take on the millions of square kilometers involved in a proper country, to scour the taint of depletion from every nook and cranny.

“Blue can take care of it, though it might take some time depending on the scale of the effort.” Shayma informed him.

“Forgive me for being blunt, but what would this help cost?” Tzicue didn’t seem suspicious, merely certain that such a service wouldn’t come for free.

“This is Blue’s business. That it helps you is merely incidental,” Shayma explained. It was true, especially since I could mark progress toward my next level by destroying blightbeasts. Aside from my Companions, absolutely nobody got anything for free, but at the same time I wasn’t going to extort people for something I was doing on my own.

“Ha!” Tzicue hissed a laugh, the sound more sibilant from his muzzle than it would be from a human-kin mouth. “I admire that kind of brutal honesty. I will pass word about the Fortress so you can proceed across Xicoatlan undisturbed. Perhaps at some point we can meet in person.”

“I’m certain we will,” Shayma said.

“And Tlulipechua, when this is all over, maybe you’ll rethink my proposal. Even if my people couldn’t have stopped such a wave, having a Xicoatli fortress at your Underneath access would at least have given you warning.”

“Perhaps,” Tlulipechua said, but that was all. I hadn’t much considered it, but given the degree to which the Chiuxatli were creatures of the air, it shouldn’t have been any surprise that they hadn’t had much of a presence under the earth. I had seen vast spaces in the Underneath, like where Kallindakari hung, and there were definitely flying monsters down there. Maybe it was more their color sense, or they just preferred sunlight.

“I’ll have Governor Iztli give you this seal in case we need to talk again, or if someone gives you trouble.” The simulacrum turned around to look at the Xicoatl holding the obsidian rod.

“Understood,” Iztli said, and stopped channeling mana into it. The flames died, and Iztli extended the rod to Shayma. She took it, vanishing it into her pocket space, and smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Governor Iztli. Do you want to send out an announcement before Blue comes further inland?”

“There a bunch of fishing boats clustered under the Fortress now,” I told her. “It’s not bothering me but I’m not sure what they’re doing other than gawking.”

“You might also want to tell your fishermen what the Fortress is so they can get back to work,” Shayma added with a laugh. “I’m afraid it’s proving quite a distraction.”

“Yes, it would,” Itzli said with a sigh. “It may be for the best if you start moving it now, else you’ll get people trying to harpoon it so they can climb up.” Shayma threw back her head and laughed.

“I think they’d find that difficult, but I take your point. Blue, if you would?”

“Yeah, I don’t want anyone to hurt themselves.” I started the Fortress forward again, and upward just for good measure. Not only did I have to clear those mountains, apparently Xicoatli were so compulsively curious that putting the Fortress anywhere near them was begging for visitors. Odd, considering that they went to so much trouble to disguise the evidence of their civilization, but Tlulipechua had warned me the Xicoatli were weird.

“I would invite you in, but you seem to be in rather a hurry,” Itzli observed. “Tzicue of the Green will ensure nobody gives you trouble further in, but if someone does raise an objection, the seal will satisfy any questions they have.”

“It means you bear the same authority as one of his governors,” Tlulipechua explained. “It is quite an investment of trust.”

“Sounds like he already had figured out what to do if we stopped by. That, or he’s a very fast thinker.” I doubted Tzicue actually had that much trust in us, but it was a smart play to keep us out of his fur. He no doubt knew who we were, and giving us extra authority just meant there’d be less friction. It wasn’t like he could stop us from doing what we wanted. Besides, having Tlulipechua along was an endorsement.

“I wish the Anells had been that smart,” Shayma said with a sigh, though she masked it from everyone else.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Perhaps I’ll visit after we get established in Chiuxatlan.” That time Shayma said it aloud, and Itzli bowed again.

“We would be honored,” he assured her.

After a few more rounds of pleasantries they returned to the Fortress, right about when it was starting to pass over the area. Even directly overhead I would have had trouble figuring out exactly where along the orange-lit roads the town was. It made me exceedingly curious what they were afraid of, or if the aesthetic was just a remnant of older culture. If every sapient race came out of a Great Dungeon, I could see hiding as something they learned early on.

Either way, I didn’t really get much of an impression of the Xicoatl and their lands as the Fortress floated through them. It looked almost like untouched wilderness, save for a few vessels on rivers and one caravan I spotted traveling through one of the green valleys. I could tell Shayma was disappointed.

“They were nice, but it feels like we’re just flying over empty mountains,” she said. “I was hoping for something like Kallindakari. You know, something amazing.”

“Maybe they will have something like that once you actually get into their cities. When you think about it, just the fact that they’re practically invisible is amazing in its own right.”

“Maybe, but it’s not exciting to look at,” Shayma said, shaking her head. “Ah well, I suppose that Tarnil wouldn’t look like much from the air before you came along.”

It took a few more hours to make it across Xicoatlan, which seemed to be mostly composed of mountains. It was more evidence that the world didn’t generally stick to normal geography, since it wasn’t so much a range as a blob of mountain peaks and valleys, a network of rivers flowing out in all directions. Fortunately the Fortress could easily go as high as I wanted it too, otherwise I would have had to skirt around a few of the larger mountains, which rose to truly heroic heights.

Eventually, though, we reached the northern border, where the jagged mountains sloped down and down into a huge basin, where I finally got a firsthand view of Chiuxatlan. Rivers plunged from the mountain valleys and cut canyons through red sandstone, winding among spires that looked like the ones in the Chiuxatli chambers of the Fortress. The spires weren’t the only feature of Chixuatlan, with plateaus and pits and a lot more greenery than I had expected from the descriptions. Unfortunately, it was full of blightbeasts.

I managed to damp down the surge of ANATHEMA rage and surveyed things carefully. It wasn’t a massive carpet like the waves I’d been seeing, but rather that they seemed to have replaced all the usual wildlife that would have been evident. Blight didn’t destroy plants or anything that constituted the native mana field, though it did taint them with depletion.

I couldn’t see the entire country at once, but what I did see was more than a little terrifying. The blightbeasts hadn’t just tainted Chiuxatlan and destroyed all its infrastructure, which would have been bad enough. They’d settled in and were reproducing. The blight was spreading. If I didn’t take care of things quickly, they might compromise the entire continent.