Do you know of the forest which has grown up above us on the mountain side? he asks, a hint of defeat in his voice.

You mean the uh, here I hesitate, trying to remember what the quest message had called them. Suffocater, no. Ah, I remember. The vine-strangler trees? The trees which move and trap creatures?

Yes, the lizard-man acknowledges. Those. They have grown significantly in a short space of time, and several of our people have been lost to them. When he realised the threat, our chief sent some warriors to destroy them: none came back. A second set were sent; only one returned to tell of his experiences. It is from him that we know of the trees which trap and kill.

They were rather tricky to come through, I agree, thinking back to my own experience with those damn trees. If it wasn’t for my ability to light a torch, Bastet and I would be tree-food now. I’m a little surprised that the lizard-folk have had so little success with them considering how powerful they seem to be.

You made it through the Forest of Death? The lizard-man seems rather surprised, the emotion temporarily overtaking the others emanating from him. It also seems like he at least likes his drama: this is the second overly-dramatic name I’ve heard from him.

I did, I confirm, but add no more. It’s just occurred to me that possibly the difference between my success and their failure may lie more in the torch I bore rather than any higher skill on my part. Is it arrogant of me to think that perhaps they haven’t yet discovered fire? Still, whether they have or haven’t, I don’t want to give potential valuable information to creatures that are currently my enemies.

The anger and fear in the lizard man’s aura has mostly gone by this point. It’s been replaced by something that feels like a mixture of determination and tentative hope.

Do you know of a way to combat the traps of the predator trees? The question is direct and straightforward. My answer, however, is less so.

Possibly, I admit, not wanting to commit too fervently.

If you will swear to remove the threat of the trees from our upper-side border, I will serve you willingly. My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Now that I wasn’t expecting.

So easily?

Is the task of defeating the Forest of Death so easy? True. In addition, I’m not exactly inclined to help the lizard-folk after what they did. But I do already have a quest to find the cause of the vine-strangler’s growth. Perhaps it won’t be that much of a jump between finding the cause and eliminating it...

I will not be doing anything to help your tribe until Lathani is safe, I warn him. The feeling I get back at that is acceptance.

If you follow through with your promise, we will not need the cub and so her loss will only positively impact the Tribe, he replied with equanimity. I frown.

What do you mean by that?

Our shaman divined that the Forest of Death is a great threat to us. She also determined that we would need a Great Protector to combat it. I heard her talking with my master, our herbalist. They decided that the spirit of the cub of the Great Predator would be sufficient to the task.

The spirit of the cub, I repeat, a feeling of horror growing within me.

Indeed. We do not have your abilities to subdue our enemies in life, but our shaman has some power to convince and command the dead. I do not understand the process, but she believed that by feeding the cub certain herbal concoctions while alive, she will be able to eke out more power from its spirit, making up for the fact that it is but a cub, and not fully grown. My master asked whether it was not better to compel the spirit of the Great Protector itself, but the shaman was uncertain whether or not she would be able to direct it even after death.

The sheer casualness that the lizard-man uses when talking about the whole idea of killing Lathani and then enslaving her spirit is chilling. After letting the whole plan simmer a little in my mind for a few moments, I feel that I’m very tempted to just push forward and crush his own spirit the way he is so clearly comfortable with the idea of crushing Lathani’s. I hold myself back by a force of will even greater than what it would take me to just press on and complete this Battle. If I make a tit for tat approach to something that hasn’t even happened yet – I hope – then what does that make me?

No, I’ve got to be better than that. Which starts with completing this negotiation with words rather than a simple flexing of Will. I have to remember that decisions made in anger are usually followed by remorse when calm. And something broken can never be remade the way it was before.

I see, I reply evenly instead, though know that he can feel the boiling anger in me by the way his own aura flinches and fear reappears as a sourness I can sense. Trying to take the mental equivalent of a few deep breaths, I forcibly calm myself down a bit. I can feel that our time together is coming to a close, decision made or not.

It’s an odd feeling: the space around us is always amorphous, but it’s slowly gaining solidity to my senses, like it’s fog that’s being burnt away by the sun. The pressure pushing at me from the lizard-man has become but the barest trickle – no impediment. At the same time, the pressure from the environment has also significantly lessened through our conversation. Despite that, I can feel my mental energy flagging, like I’ve been through three difficult exams back to back. I think that’s probably the reason for the Skill starting to disintegrate, though I’ve never been within it this long before.

While interesting, it does mean we need to come to a conclusion. Knowing what I now do about their plans, I am even more convinced that I need to get Lathani out of that space yesterday. I’m pretty sure my determination is as clearly detectable to the lizard-man as my anger was earlier as I start to speak.

Here’s my offer. You accept my Bond, and help me successfully get Lathani out, alive. If you succeed, I will then do my best to help you and your tribe solve your vine-strangler tree problem. Deal?

The lizard-man takes a moment to consider the ramifications of my proposed deal. I don’t blame him, but I can’t help but feel impatient – not only is my Skill not far away from timing out, but I’ve also found out that a friend is in terrible danger.

And what if you cannot help? It’s a fair question, but due to the time limit it does nothing but irritate me. I do my best to stay calm – losing my temper at this point will only be counter-productive. Often in negotiations it’s the one who can keep the coolest head who wins the most benefit in the end.

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If I cannot help in the end, I will release you and you will be free to help your tribe try other possible solutions. Like wiping them all out so that they don’t have to worry about vine-stranglers or anything else. See how they like trying to kill and enslave innocent baby nundas then.

But this is our solution, he points out. If I help you retrieve the cub, but you then fail to eliminate the threat, we will be left worse off than before: no solution but less time before it engulfs us.

Listen, I tell him, bringing all my resolve and fury to bear. You came to my friend’s home, hurt her, stole her cub, and are now planning on torturing, killing and enslaving her. Believe me, I say, re-energising the scraps of Willpower that remain in me through sheer determination and focusing my full Will on him, that I will be getting Lathani out of there. I’m already offering you a deal instead of just forcing you, because I don’t want to stoop to your level. If I have to do it without your help, I will. Even if that means going through your tribe one by one. I’m willing to pay that price – are you?

He quails a little, his aura weakening a little under my Will, then calms. He is silent for a few moments, moments during which I feel the space around us tearing itself apart just that bit more. If the space is a fog bank, the sun is already visible, and close to spearing through it.

Very well, he capitulates eventually. I will throw my bones in with you and hope that you can achieve what the warriors of my people cannot.

At the moment of his acceptance, the space finally completely ruptures. I’m dumped back in my body with the biggest headache I’ve ever had. I close my eyes against the sunlight, even putting my hand over my eyelids when just the light filtering through my skin is too much for the sensitive orbs.

“Ow,” I moan a little. I’m not stuck in place like I was after I intentionally failed the Battle of Wills with the bird, but I’m certainly not feeling great. When I eventually manage to open my eyes without feeling like being sick, I notice that my health bar has actually decreased. My eyebrows shooting up in surprise, I quickly check my status page.

Name: Markus Wolfe

Race: Human

Class: Tamer

Level: 3

Energy to next level: 37%

Energy absorption rate: 23u/hr

Energy towards debt: 4%

Intelligence

16

Mana: 160/160

Wisdom

14

Mana regeneration rate: 350u/hr

Willpower

19+3 (+20%)

Health regeneration rate: 22u/hr

Constitution

15

Health: 134/150

Strength

12

Stamina: 60/60

Dexterity

14

Stamina regeneration rate: 140u/hr

Class skills

Dominate – Beginner 7

Tame – Beginner 4

Fade – Novice 9

Non-Class skills

Lay-on-hands – Initiate 3

Stealth – Beginner 9

Animal Empathy – Novice 4

The first thing I notice is that my health points have actually taken a hit – apparently pushing myself too hard in the Battle of Wills space can have a detrimental effect on my health. Good to know…

The second is that both Dominate and Tame have increased again – is it because of the way I’m conducting the Battle of Wills, then? That despite using the non-consensual Skill, I’m still seeking willing agreement? Well, somewhat coerced willing agreement, anyway. Not that I care much about that right now. Animal Empathy has gone up too.

I notice that I have a new message waiting for me in my message box. Clicking over to it, I’m unsurprised to see that I’ve earned a status point. After pushing my limits like I did there, I damn well should have.

Congratulations!

You have worked hard on your Willpower and have earned a point. Would you like to apply this to your status?

Y/N?

I willingly accept the point, checking back on my status page to see how it’s changed. To my delight, I see that I’ve now jumped from twenty-two points in Willpower to twenty-four: thanks to the twenty percent increase from Kalanthia’s gift, I’ve received a two-for-one deal on points here. Definitely worth the sixteen percent of Energy it ‘costs’.

That’s probably the last of the points I can earn in Willpower, though, now it’s reached the twenty points mark. I dismiss my status screen, quickly chanelling a Lay-on-hands to help my health go back to normal. Most of the energy travels to my head, so I guess that’s where the damage happened. Did I actually give myself brain damage?

Perhaps immediately coming from a successful Battle of Wills should mean that I have better things to do than go through my status screen and notifications, but frankly I needed a few moments to recoup. It was rather strenuous. Feeling up to the task now, though, I push myself to a sitting position and meet eyes with my new Bound.