If the Pathwalker continued to glare at me intermittently, that would help. Unfortunately, she seems to be determined not to look at me as she puts all her limited efforts into trying to escape. I’ll definitely need to do something catch her gaze before she falls asleep from the poison. Still, there is something else I want to do first.

Inspect Fauna

Samuran: Shouts-joyfully

Tier 2 Beast (Evolved)

Special abilities: Weaving

Health: 580u

Mana:1050u

Minimum Willpower recommended to Dominate without other impacting factors: 68 (52)

Open to a Bond: No

Impacting factor: Power

Member of a samuran community; one of its leaders. While this beast is mostly suited to non-combat activities, she can apply some of her special abilities in combat if necessary. Social Beast with a strong capacity to form bonds.

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It’s my first time being able to see any details about one of the Pathwalkers. I’m quite taken aback by just how high my Willpower would need to be to Dominate this one at least in a straight battle – higher even than to Dominate the danaris. Though I suppose that shouldn’t be too surprising: the danaris wasn’t nearly as sapient as the lizard-folk – or samurans, as I should remember to call them. The danaris must have focussed more of its Evolution into its bodily power based on how much health it had had. Not to mention that I have to guess that sapience also has a significant impact.

I’m abruptly glad that I decided to pour six points into Willpower yesterday: now with sixty-five points in it, I reckon that I’d have actually stood a pretty good chance of Dominating her successfully even without trapping and poisoning her. As it is, it should almost be a piece of cake.

Indeed, the fact that my current trap has brought the requirement all the way down to fifty-two points is interesting, and indicates that if I’m smart about how I approach the village as a whole, having really high Willpower isn’t absolutely necessary. At least, that’s what I assume the fifty-two within brackets means. It makes sense, anyway. I have to guess it’s coming from levelling either Dominate or Tame, not that it’s said anything about that in the information boxes.

It all bodes well for my upcoming battle with the other Pathwalkers. I mustn’t expect it to be a doddle – for all I know, this is the weakest of the group and the shaman is the strongest – but it’s heartening to think that I’m probably not all that far off. If I can tilt the odds in my favour by having already defeated my opponent in a physical battle, or by trapping them like I have here, then it should be fine.

If I get the opportunity to level up again before tackling the lizard-folk’s village, I might double down on Willpower, but I want to explore what that challenge in my soul space was about first. I managed to gain an extra point in Willpower without expending Energy, I think.

Anyway, that’s for later. Right now, it’s time to see what this battle has in store for me.

Waiting until the next time the samuran looks directly at me is irritating; Murphy seems to be on duty as now I want her to look at me, she’s dedicating all of her failing focus on her attempts to weave a way out of the pit. Her fluttering eyelids indicate that I’m running out of time.

Clapping loudly doesn’t draw her attention; moving to stand over her head and making flame flare from my hand does. Her eyes widen and spikes flash a deep blue. I immediately take the opportunity her rapt gaze offers me.

“Dominate.”

Immediately, we enter the usual greyish space. I’m hit by significant pressure from the start, but it’s nothing like Kalanthia’s. Hers was a waterfall of snow melt that beat me down and forced me back with every stinging drop. This is more like the crocodile-like nere’s was, except there’s one big difference: like it was when I faced Persephone, the pressure feels empty.

It’s a gust of air trying to be a river of water, a paper bag trying to pretend to be a concrete wall. The consequence of me doing this while she’s trapped and poisoned, I would conclude. But even if it didn’t feel hollow, the pressure doesn’t feel anywhere near as insurmountable as facing Kalanthia had been.

Pressing forwards, I barely have to lean into the wind to make progress.

The figure on the other, the Pathwalker, is clearly not a happy bunny as I approach her.

Stay away, prey, she hisses at me, attempting to strike me with her emotions. Interestingly, she’s the first to have tried to use that as a weapon in this space, and it’s surprisingly effective. I hiss in pain as her lash of anger lands, her disbelief that something she has designated as prey would dare to try to force her to submit.

I will not, I say through gritted teeth as she lashes at me again. I try one last attempt at diplomacy. River spoke true: I am going to save your village from the Forest of Death. I shove my sincerity at her, as much of a weapon as her fury had been.

As if inferior prey could offer us help! Even if you do have some sort of trick with something that looks like the life-devourer. Her scathing words and tone rub me all up the wrong way. I grit my teeth even more – if I was actually here physically, I’d probably have risked cracking my teeth. However, since this seems to be a projection of my soul, I guess I don’t have to be too concerned.

Instead, I just put my whole will into moving forwards, the lashes of her anger and outrage falling with every step. As I get closer, though, they weaken as I sense fear creeping into them, making them brittle and sharper, but less able to pierce my steady determination to advance. I even start deflecting them, finding that my rock-hard Will is a good defence against the attacks.

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Step by step, I move towards my opponent. The pressure is great, but fails to keep me at bay. Like with Persephone, as I approach a certain point in the distance between us – in this case two thirds of the way towards the samuran – the pressure builds and builds until it actually threatens to make me pause.

Taking a moment, I focus my attention, imagining it like a blade: if the samuran can use emotions as a weapon, why can’t I? I visualise my will becoming the blade that has become as familiar to me as another limb, then strike the space in front of me.

Like the paper bag of the kiina’s fearful will, the lizard-kin’s resistance caves, pressure streaming past me, unguided. In its wake rises fear and disbelief, lingering like a miasma in the air between us.

Impeded even less than before, I stride forwards until I am six inches away from the Pathwalker. There, I stop. Meeting her eyes with my own, I see the mixture of fear and rage and disbelief that are echoed in the emotions surrounding her. She can’t believe that a prey beast she and her sisters ordered caged could have cut through her will like the knife I imagined it to be.

“I could force the Bond right now, you can feel it, can’t you?” I ask her levelly, though it’s less of a question, and more of a statement that I’m demanding she confirm. My eyes bore into hers: both River and Catch have indicated that strength is the only thing their society recognises. Well, I might not like that, but if I wish to change it, then I’m going to have to prove to them that I have the strength they require, before I can teach them that there are other ways of measuring people’s worth.

She doesn’t answer me, but I feel the rage around her flare.

“Look,” I tell her, equally firmly but not allowing my own anger at what these people did to Lathani and me any rein. “Either you respond to me and we can have a nice little conversation here, or I can Bind you here and now, and we can have the conversation after when you have no agency to deny my wishes.”

The fear and rage both flare in equal measure as she takes in my words, but she doesn’t respond. I sigh in disappointment, but reach out towards her nonetheless. She can’t move, can’t avoid my hand, and all her resistance up until now has been fruitless.

I don’t want this, but she’s forcing my hand. Almost literally.

Stop, she says, my fingers only a couple of centimetres away from her forehead. I pause, but don’t back off at all.

“Will you converse with me?” I ask, not letting emotions come through my voice, though she can probably read the hope in my aura: it’s hard to hide what you’re feeling in this space, perhaps even impossible. But I generally don’t mind too much: it’s better that both parties are honest with each other, I think – I’ve seen the consequences of contracts made in bad faith, and I reckon that this would probably be even more damaging.

I will converse with you if you will release me afterwards.

“The Bond is non-negotiable,” I tell her firmly. Quite apart from the fact that Kalanthia expects me to take control of the lizard-folk village if I wish to keep the members of it alive and protected from her wrath, I suspect that Bonding at least the Pathwalker of this little band is the only way to keep the others in line. And since I suspect she’d reject any Tame Bond which didn’t favour her far more than I’d be willing to accept, Dominate is the only option for now.

Then why do you wish to converse with me? she demands. Or perhaps you are unable to carry out your threat and wish to convince me to accept the chain I feel hovering around me, she suggests scornfully.

“I am not bluffing,” I tell her. “Feel my sincerity in my aura.” I instruct, waiting patiently for her to do so. The fear in her aura grows, even as she tries to deny it.

No, you must be bluffing! And even if you are not, it is only because you have trapped me and poisoned me. If you met me at my full strength, you would fall before my might! she insists. You’ve cheated and this contest is worthless for it.

I can’t help laughing.

“I used my advantages against you. You are a Weaver; I am a Tamer. I used my Bound to scout for you, to create the trap, to lead you into it. How is that cheating? If you and I faced each other, would you stop yourself from using your magic to attack your opponent?”

She gazes at me, frustration in her eyes and aura, but doesn’t answer. She knows that I’m right.

“And frankly, even if we were matched face to face with no poison or trap or numbers, I give myself better chances of winning than I would give you. Do you know why?”

No, she mutters reluctantly after a moment.

“Because, as River said and you rejected, I am not only a Tamer; I am also capable of controlling fire and flesh.” While I recognise that the Pathwalker is probably much stronger in her single area of magic, I think that fire would probably be a hard counter to whatever she could weave, unless she can weave the air itself. And if I could get close enough, with how close our Willpower stats are, I reckon that I’d be able to cause her some serious harm, enough that Dominate would be easy afterwards.

My strength of conviction is clearly obvious to the samuran and I feel her aura quail away from mine for a moment.

Then I do not understand why you have not yet closed the noose on me, she challenges, her defiance empty. If you are so sure of yourself.

“Because I would prefer not to be Bound to someone completely antagonistic to me,” I say honestly. “If you force my hand, then I will Bind you regardless, an inevitable consequence of what your shaman and herbalist did. But this is your opportunity to decide to cooperate. You will find that I can be amenable, though don’t test my patience and ask for too much or I will press on regardless,” I warn her.

The thing is that even if I can force my Dominated Bound to do anything, I don’t want to be obliged to dictate their every move. I like my connection with my current Dominated Bound because all of them desire to work together, rather than only doing so begrudgingly. Adding someone into the mix who is constantly looking for a loophole or a way to escape is like putting a rotten apple in among good ones. I’ve seen it happen before with teams of people.

So if, by making some small concession, I can buy her goodwill, then I’m willing to do that.

What do you mean by your words about inevitable consequences of the Shaman and Herbalist’s actions? They have done nothing but try to help and protect our people! the samuran demands, her tone indignant, completely failing to address the other parts of my declaration. Very well – I’ll play along for now.

“They were working on a solution to the issue with the vine-stranglers. Did you know that?”

Of course!

“Then did you know what the solution was?” This time, she hesitates.

Though Shaman and Herbalist have refused to clarify, they have said that it is a long-term solution which should combat many threats which might face our village in the future, not only the threat of the Forest of Death.

“Then let me tell you. They kidnapped the cub of Kalanthia, the being you know as the Great Predator, and brought her back to your village,” I tell her bluntly, my calm words not showing the rage which threatens to boil over the limits of my control. I fight it back, not wanting it to derail what is slowly becoming a decent negotiation.

“They fed her a series of potions which somehow drew on her future potential, ageing her and making her more powerful in the present, but at a cost. That cost was one they were willing to pay as they were intending on killing her and enslaving her spirit, using that somehow as a weapon against the vine-strangler’s encroachment.”

I forcibly force myself to calm, even in this non-physical space feeling my breath quicken and heart beat faster.

“Now, how does that sound as a plan to you?”

Horror has taken over the Pathwalker’s being, though I can’t tell what she’s horrified at. The treatment of Lathani? The fact that it was the Great Predator’s cub? Or that I, a ‘prey’ creature, knows about it when she doesn’t?

I’ve laid some cards on the table; time to see how she responds.