Aeld nodded to Bregg, who rose to his feet and walked over to join us. “Come with me,” the shaman said, walking out of the camp. I followed, looking suspiciously at Bregg, but the big hunter’s face was utterly impassive. Aeld led me out of the camp, stopping maybe twenty feet from the edge of the camp. “Have a seat,” he instructed. I settled into the snow, and he jammed the end of his staff into the ice, dragging it to create a line.
“What are you doing?” I asked suspiciously.
“This circle will keep the spirit contained within,” he explained. “It knows what you intend to do, Freyd, and it will want to either fight you or flee. This circle will keep it from doing the latter, forcing you to chase it across the High Reaches.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, then pointed at Bregg. “And what’s he here for?”
“I’m here because if you fail, Hemskal, the spirit might take you over utterly,” he growled. “If it does, it might try to attack the letharvis. I’ll make sure it doesn’t succeed.”
“You didn’t mention that,” I muttered as Aeld completed the circle.
“The chances are exceedingly slim, Freyd,” the shaman said apologetically. “However, it’s possible. Very unlikely, but possible.” He paused. “Now, close your eyes.”
I hesitated at that. I hated sitting around with my eyes closed, especially with someone like Bregg so close. Plus, I was pretty tired, and part of me just wanted to drop off to sleep as it was. It occurred to me, though, that with my new ability upgrade, I might not need my eyes to track the two Menskies. I let my eyelids slide shut, activating See Spirits as I did so. Despite my closed eyes, the world around me lit up with glowing spirits, including the pair of deep brown blobs representing Aeld and Bregg. Now, I just had to stay awake…
“Now, turn your thoughts inward. Seek the place inside you where your spirit hides. Know that it may be hard to find. It knows what you intend, and it will try to hide from it.”
Great. I was already fighting to stay awake, and he was telling me to look down inside myself. There was no way I was going to do this without some snoring.
“It’s right here, John.” As Sara spoke, a warmth filled the pit of my stomach, one that beckoned me to dive into it, to sink into its cradling heat… “Oh, sorry. This might be better.” The warmth faded, and a sharp cramp rippled through the same area, bringing a spike of pain that instantly woke me up.
“How do you know?” I fought free of the lassitude that threatened to overwhelm me and focused my thoughts.
“I can see it. Aeld’s right; I think it’s trying to hide. It can’t hide from me, though. Just follow the uncomfortable cramping, and you’ll get it.”
I sank down into myself, reaching toward the knot of discomfort below my navel. Ephemeral fingers raced through my body, and the pain shifted, moving to the left. I followed it as the cramp slipped to the right, then around to my back, making my kidneys throb with discomfort. At last, though, I felt my mental fingers sink into something firm but yielding.
“You’ve got it, John.”
“Found it,” I said to Aeld through gritted teeth.
“Already?” he asked, his voice surprised sounding. “Are you sure?”
“I’m holding onto it right now, so yeah. Unless there are two of these things running around inside me right now.” I almost bit my lip as I said that; technically, there were two spirits inside me at the moment, and I really didn’t want to call attention to that fact.
Silence reigned for a moment before Aeld spoke. “That’s unlikely, Freyd—at least, I hope. For the moment, let’s assume that you have the hunt spirit. Now, you have to force it into spiritual combat.”
“How?”
“Bring it up and pull it out of you. Be warned; it will resist you, and if you can draw it out of you, it will attack you immediately.” His voice turned graver as he continued. “To bind it, you must overwhelm it in combat, force it to submit, and then compel it to serve you. Be certain to demand your stolen power back as part of the bargain, but offer it the spirit’s tithe of your power in return. Be careful with what it offers you, and consider its terms carefully, as it will try to keep as much of your strength as it can.”
I was fine with that; I’d gotten used to looking for the loopholes and traps in contracts a long time ago. I hadn’t really thought of my earlier arrangement with the spirit as a contract, but now that I knew what was happening, I would be a lot more cautious.
I gripped the spirit and pulled, trying to haul it up. It felt like trying to drag a boulder up out of a well. I could almost hear its snarl of defiance as it refused to budge, but I set my will, tightened my mental grip, and yanked. Again, it resisted, although I felt it slide the tiniest bit toward me. I jerked on it again, pulling with all my metaphysical might, straining against its unyielding bulk—and after a few seconds, I felt it tear free and surge up from my depths. The speed of its rising startled me, and I almost let go, but I kept my grip as I jerked it up into my chest, then pushed it to the edge of my skin and beyond.
I lurched out of my body as the spirit rushed out of my chest, and I once more felt the odd rising sensation I now associated with fighting as a spirit. The world took on a misty, hazy feel as globular blobs of spirit energy swirled all around me, all half-shades by a ring of luminous energy that surrounded me in all directions. My pain and exhaustion vanished as I left my body and its frailties behind, leaving my thoughts sharp and clear for the first time in hours. I reveled in the lack of discomfort for only a moment before I fixed my gaze on my waiting foe.
The hunt spirit had grown larger since I’d last seen it. It crouched at the edge of the circle directly opposite me, a morass of crimson and green in a roughly lupine shape. Its head rose nearly as high as mine, and its body was significantly longer, making me realize that the circle looked a lot larger from the spirit world than it did in the mortal one. I didn’t know if that was because I was smaller or the scale of everything shifted—and honestly, it didn’t matter. There was room for us both in the circle somehow, and that was good enough for me.
“Why?” The thought rippled through the circle, a low growl that emanated from the spirit without making a sound.
“Why what?” I asked, projecting my intention into the air the way Aeld had taught me.
“Why do this? We were more! Greater!” The spirit’s speech seemed to have improved since we last spoke, which I supposed meant it was probably more intelligent, as well—and more dangerous.
“Because you’ve been fucking with me,” I replied with a shrug. “Affecting my thoughts, drawing creatures to attack me…”
“To strengthen you!” it growled. “I felt your power grow with each death! You gained as well as I!”
The thing had a point. I’d gotten a fair bit of XP from those battles, which made me stronger. “You’re right. And if I were alone, and all you were doing was bringing me things to kill, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Hell, I’d be cheering you on. Messing with my head, though—that’s over the line, buddy.”
“And if I stopped affecting your thoughts?”
I chuckled at the thing’s offer. “For how long? Until you thought you could get away with it? We’d have to go through this all over again, and this isn’t something I want to do twice. Sorry, but the only way to trust you is to bind you.”
“Then we will see who shall be master!” the thing roared, seeming to clench itself for a moment before it raced toward me. It was fast, much faster than it had been, and while I tried to dodge, it slammed into me like a freight train, hurtling me backward. I crashed into the solid wall of the circle and rebounded, catching myself on what felt like solid ground despite being nothing but air. I rolled sideways as it lunged again, hoping it would crash into the barrier as I had. Instead, it twisted its body in midair, striking the wall with its feet and springing off it to slam into me once more. I flew across the circle and landed hard, rolling with the impact to come to my feet. The moment I regained my footing, though, it crashed into me again, this time bearing me to the ground.
Its ephemeral jaws flashed toward my throat, and I barely got an arm up in time to block. It snapped sideways, grabbing my arm, and I hissed in pain as its fangs sank into my spiritual flesh. I lashed upward with a fist, crashing my knuckles into the side of its head twice in a row, and it twisted its neck, dragging me by my arm and flinging me sideways as it let go of me. I tumbled through the air again, managing to regain my feet as it stalked toward me from the opposite side of the circle.
“Easy for you to say,” I muttered, favoring my throbbing arm. “This thing’s a lot stronger than it used to be!”
“SILENCE!” The roar that came from the spirit’s throat drowned out the shaman, and a shimmering barrier rose around the wall, seeming to cut Aeld off. The spirit moved slowly and menacingly toward me, and I could sense its hunger and amusement.
“I have grown strong from the power you gave me,” it practically purred. “Too strong for you, flesh-thing. Submit, and we will be joined once more, a greater hunter than either of us could have been alone.”
“Not fucking likely,” I shook my head. In response, it roared once more and flung itself at me. I’d been expecting the charge and dove to the side, but it moved swiftly, following my dodge, and I grunted as it slammed into me. I tried to brace myself, but its momentum was inescapable, and my back crashed into the hardened air beneath me. Before I could move, its paws came down on my chest, crushing me to the ground and pinning me in place. Its head solidified into something half feline, half canine, with a dog’s heavy muzzle and a cat’s slitted eyes and sharp fangs.
“Submit,” it snarled, snapping at me. Once again, I brought my arm up, and again, it seized that arm in its fangs, shaking its head to tear open the wound. I growled in pain and punched it in the eye, forcing it to let go, but it drove its muzzle down again. I reached up and grabbed its throat with both hands, pushing it back and holding it at bay for the moment, but its strength was greater than mine, and its head slowly sank toward my throat.
“SUBMIT!” it roared at me. “I am the greater hunter! Submit or die, flesh-thing!”
I admit it, part of me wanted to give up at that moment. I was hurting, and the thing was faster and stronger than I was. However, that sort of surrender wasn’t in my nature. Plus, this thing thought it was a better hunter than me, and that was just absurd—ridiculous enough that I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You think you’re the greater hunter?” I asked disbelievingly. “I’ve killed things you can’t even imagine, fucker. I’ve hunted the most dangerous game in worlds you’ve never heard of, fought creatures that would make you piss yourself and hide in a cave somewhere.” As I spoke, a mixture of anger and disbelief rose up inside me; disbelief that this thing compared itself to me, and anger that it had the fucking gall to do so. Those emotions seemed to lend strength to my muscles, and I began to push its head away from me. “You want to see a predator, you piece of shit? I’ll show you a goddamned predator!”
Those last words came out in an icy hiss as I relaxed the restraints around the hard, cold place in the center of me. Power rippled through my body, and I felt myself swelling and growing beneath the spirit. I pushed it away easily with one hand, and my other flashed up, slamming a fist into its exposed throat. The spirit yelped as my blow tore it free and hurled it backward to crash into the far side of the circle. I rose to my feet in a smooth motion, all of my pain, doubt, and fear vanished in an instant.
I didn’t know what Aeld had been trying to say, but I understood how to beat this thing. It was a predator. To defeat it, I had to be a greater predator, to tap into the part of me that hunted and killed. I couldn’t beat it as John Gilliam; I had to become the Faceless Man.
That fucking spirit was about to find out what a predator really was.
The spirit gathered itself and lunged at me, its jaws snapping and snarling. Instead of dodging, I moved toward it, racing forward with my weight perfectly balanced and my hands already darting outward. A snap of my fist knocked its head sideways, while the other hand smashed down, cracking the top of its skull and driving it downward. I jammed a foot into its leading leg, and it stumbled, scrambling to catch its balance. I never gave it the chance as I grabbed the sides of its head and twisted, yanking downward at the same time. Its skull slammed into the ground beneath us, and its own momentum carried its body around to crash hard into the solid air.
It tried to snap at me, but I grasped its muzzle with one hand, pinning it shut, then plunged the stiffened fingers of my other hand into its throat. I felt warmth surround my fingers as they dug into its spirit flesh, and I curled them as I yanked back, tearing out a hunk of its throat. Its body felt solid, as if it had bones and muscles, but the scoop of meat I ripped out came away like pulling free a glob of thick dough or wet sand. No trachea or blood vessels got in the way; while the beast seemed to have a normal body, it was just a mass of spirit, without the structure that flesh would have.
I lifted that chunk of spirit to toss it aside, but as I did, it seemed to liquefy in my hand, running through my fingers and coating my arm. The liquid sank into the wounds in my arm, and I watched as they sealed themselves shut, the dim pain there vanishing instantly. That froze me for a moment, and in that moment, the spirit twisted out from beneath me and lunged upward, going for my throat. I slapped its attack aside and kicked the thing, lifting it into the air and crashing it into the wall. Absorbing that bit of spirit seemed to empower me, and I swore that the wolf looked a tiny bit smaller than it had before. I grinned viciously as it scrambled to its feet; I knew how to beat it, now.
The spirit circled sideways, not attacking me but seeming to size me up. I didn’t wait for it to decide what to do. I ran forward, and it lunged at me, its fangs ripping toward my legs. I lashed a knee upward into its lower jaw and cracked its muzzle shut with a loud clack, then bowled into it, knocking it over. My arm snaked around its throat as I took its back, my legs wrapping around its lower ones and pinning them in place so they couldn’t rake at me. It thrashed and squirmed, but I just tightened my grip and held on, keeping it from biting or clawing me. I didn’t think I could choke it out, but I didn’t have to. Instead, I plunged my free hand into its throat and ripped out another hunk of ephemeral flesh. The spirit howled in pain as I repeated the action, and I could feel it shrinking beneath me as I tore away its very essence.
“I submit!” it shrieked as the barrier it had built around us shimmered and faded. “I submit!”
Yeah, fuck that. I had a better way to deal with this thing, and it wasn’t by binding it. Every chunk of it that I tore free made me stronger, and in the end, that was the whole point. I didn’t care about binding the spirit; I wanted its strength, and I was going to have it. I reached down, ripping away another hunk, and the hunt spirit howled in despair and terror as it shrank even more in my grasp.
It thought it was a predator, a hunter. It wasn’t. In the grip of the Faceless Man, it was nothing but meat, prey to be devoured.
I released its neck and tore into it with both hands. It screeched and tried to flee, but I followed it, plunging my fingers into it and shredding its flesh with ease. I waded into its dwindling body, stomping it with my feet, pummeling it with my knees and elbows, and crushing it beneath my weight. Its essence flowed over me like liquid, covering me like a second skin and sinking down into my body. My strength swelled with each droplet of its power I drew, and it shrank to the size of a normal wolf, then a large cat, and finally a mouse wriggling in my grip.
“No!” it screamed in my mind, its voice high, panicked, and shrill. “No! I will serve!”
“You’re goddamned right you will,” I snarled. “You’ll serve as dinner, mother fucker. Meat for the Faceless Man.” I clenched my fist, and its body exploded into a spray of liquid that curved in midair to coat my hand, flowing down into my flesh. As the last vestiges of it vanished, I sank back into my body, the misty spirit world vanishing from my vision.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
I opened my eyes and groaned as the aches and pains I’d forgotten about crashed into me once more, along with a bone-deep weariness that begged me to fall into slumber. A notification blinked in my vision, though, and I wearily pulled it up to see what I’d done.
Ability Gained: Spirit Melding
Active Ability
Benefit: When Binding or Bonding a spirit, you can initiate Spiritual Combat to instead meld with it, taking its essence completely into yourself. This increases any bonuses you gain from this spirit by 100% but also makes it impossible for you to sever the spirit in the future.
Spirit Melding: You have Melded a Predator Spirit!
Spirit Rank: 3.2
Spiritual Power: 56
Spirit Type: Hunt
Benefits: Perception +6, Vigor +4, Skill +2, Predator Senses
Note: These bonuses replace rather than stack with the bonuses you received for bonding this spirit.
Ability Gained: Predator Senses
Passive Ability
Your sight, hearing, and sense of smell are increased by 100%.
Note: this ability is an upgrade of and replaces Enhanced Senses.
Profession Unlocked: Undtharvis
Extraordinarily Rare
A letharvis who steals spirit energy and makes it their own
Note: This profession is an upgrade of the Letharvis profession. Adopting it will replace that profession, and it will begin at the current level of Letharvis.
Profession: Letharvis has gained a level
New Level: 3
With each level of Letharvis, you gain:
Intuition +1, Charm +1, 1 Skill Point
Partial Adaptation!
You have partially adapted to the Doorworld of Sojnheim!
Current Adaptation: 25%
Benefits: Physical Stat penalties reduced by 25%
I dragged open my eyelids, blinking at the sudden brightness of the snow-covered world. Apparently, the sun had started to rise while I was fighting, and its dim light provided more than enough illumination for me. Everything seemed sharper and crisper; I could smell the scent of the nearby hunters on the wind, and I could hear their soft snoring. My vision, though, was dominated by the sight of Aeld looking at me with a grave expression on his face.
“Are you well, Freyd?” the shaman asked, his voice almost exaggeratedly neutral.
Before answering, I turned my thoughts inward. “Am I okay, Sara? Did I do anything to hurt myself by melding that spirit?”
“Not at all, John,” she assured me. “You simply took more of the spirit’s energy into yourself, that’s all. That should also have taken care of your problems with it—considering that I don’t think there’s enough of it left to affect you anymore.”
“I’m not feeling any odd predatory urges,” I agreed with a tired chuckle. “I’m not sure about the aura thing it was doing, though. Can you tell?”
“I can’t be sure, no, sorry. That aura radiates out from us, so none of it reaches me to sense.”
“It—it’s gone,” the ojain said in a quiet voice.
“You can tell that the aura is gone?” I asked, surprised that it could sense that when Sara couldn’t.
“No. The spirit is gone. It—it doesn’t exist anymore. You ended it.” Her voice sounded emotionless, but I could sense the edge of terror filling it. “You destroyed one of the timeless ones! How could you do that? How is that even possible?” Her voice grew higher as she spoke, more panicky, and I winced at the shrillness of it, pushing her down to where the sound was dim and muted once more.
“I think she’s right, John,” Sara said quietly. “I think that spirit more or less stopped existing. It can’t affect you anymore.”
“I guess that’s all that matters,” I sighed. “As far as this new profession—any downsides to taking it?”
“Well, it’ll certainly level more slowly than Letharvis, obviously, but it’ll give you new and more powerful abilities, as well. Otherwise, it should draw XP form the same sources that Letharvis does, so—no, not really. It’s just a rarer, more powerful version of it, is all.”
I quickly added Undtharvis to my list of professions, and a new box popped up before me.
Profession Chosen: Undtharvis
Extraordinary
Primary Stats:
Intuition, Charm, Perception, Vigor
Ability Gained:
Dominate Spirits
Ability: Dominate Spirits
Active Ability
Benefits: You can freely communicate with the spirits of the world. You can attempt to dominate any spirit you perceive, forcing it to obey you as a willing servant until released or it breaks free from domination. The chance of success depends on your Undtharvis level and Charm stat. Stronger spirits are more difficult to dominate and more likely to break free of control.
Profession: Undtharvis has gained a level
New Level: 3
you gain:
Intuition +2, Charm +2, Perception +2, Vigor +2, 4 Skill Points
Note: As this Profession is an upgraded version of the Letharvis Profession, these gains are the difference between what you would have gained had you leveled this class rather than Letharvis.
Ability Gained: Draining Aura
Active Ability
By activating this ability, you passively draw in spiritual energy in a sphere around you to restore and replenish yourself. The radius of the sphere depends on your Undtharvis level and Perception stat. The rate of drain depends on your Intuition stat.
“Wait, how does that work?” I asked silently.
“Basically, you can tap any spirit in range for power, John,” Sara explained. “Right now, that range is fairly limited to about fourteen feet or so, and while the draw depends on the strength of the spirits inside it, it’s fairly low. You could draw energy equal to what you took from the hunt spirit in about three hours or so.”
While that didn’t seem useful, I had a feeling that once I learned how to tap spirits for the power to cast spells, it would be. I dismissed the notifications at last and turned my focus back to Aeld to answer his question. Was I okay? It seemed that I was quite a bit better than okay, in fact!
“I think so,” I answered the shaman. “I’m exhausted, my body hurts, and I want to sleep for a day or so, but I’m not feeling as aggressive as I was. I can’t tell if I’m still radiating an aura, though.”
“You aren’t,” he said simply. “And you won’t, not unless you choose to do so yourself.” He paused, and his voice turned slightly somber. “Freyd, do you know what you just did?”
“I fought the spirit and absorbed its energy. I assume that means it doesn’t have the power to affect me or call predators anymore.”
To my surprise, the shaman responded with a low laugh, one tinged with a hint of ruefulness. “In a way, you’re correct, Freyd. It lacks the power to affect anyone anymore—the power, and also the will.”
“The will? What do you mean?”
“I mean, you obliterated that spirit’s will and made it totally your own. For all purposes, it no longer exists.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked a little nervously. The Menskies seemed to have some deeply religious beliefs about spirits, and killing one might affect them pretty strongly. “Killing a spirit, I mean?”
“It’s impossible to kill a spirit,” he corrected me calmly. “Spiritual energy can’t be destroyed, and as long as it exists, so does the spirit.” He hesitated, seeming to ponder how to explain. “However, while spirits can’t die or be destroyed, they can change. The more powerful a spirit becomes, the more awareness it gains. The weakest spirits have no concept of themselves or their surroundings and simply exist, but as they gain strength, they become self-aware, then realize that there’s a world around them. If they grow powerful enough, they begin to understand concepts alien to their natures and even develop what we might call intelligence. Elder spirits are typically more aware and understanding than mortals in a very specific fashion, and high spirits have an intelligence that we would struggle to comprehend.”
His face twisted as he spoke. “That hunt spirit, though, no longer has any sort of awareness or consciousness. You reduced it to the barest level, below any sort of intellect. It exists, and when you finally leave this world for whatever awaits us beyond the veil, it will be free once more. However, it will be a weak and frail thing, utterly bereft of power. You claimed all its energy for your own…” He paused again, and it seemed like he came to a decision. “And I would be willing trade a great deal if you would explain to me how you did it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, slightly confused. “Can’t you do the same thing?”
“No, Freyd. I can’t. No letharvis I know can.” He sighed a little bitterly. “I can compel a weak spirit to serve me, or bargain with a powerful spirit to gain some of its strength. I can draw on that power and project it into the world. However, no mortal can take more than a small fraction of a spirit’s power, no matter how weak the spirit is. It’s believed that some part of a spirit exists beyond the reach of mortal will, and that part is inaccessible to us. That’s what I assumed to be the truth—at least, until now.”
“And you want to learn how? It seems like something that might upset the other letharvisa, won’t it?”
He laughed again, this time sounding generally amused. “Every letharvis in the Haelendi would give their right eye for the ability to fully draw on a spirit’s power like that, Freyd. As it is, we are forced to beg, bargain, and plead, often accepting deals that aren’t very favorable to us for the chance to touch some small portion of a spirit’s power. If we could simply take that power and use it, we could bargain from a position of much greater strength. It would be a huge boon to every valskab.”
I chuckled. “You probably shouldn’t have told me that before I agreed to explain how I did it, you know, Aeld.”
He grimaced, then sighed. “You’re right. As I said before, I’m not good with words, Freyd. I much prefer to act than to bargain, which is one reason I was the letharvis sent on this mission. However, the fact remains that I would give a great deal to learn how to do what you just did. So, name your price.”
I thought for a moment, but as far as I could tell, there wasn’t a whole lot I needed from him. Of course, that might not always be the case, and if I needed his help in the future, having some leverage over him would be nice.
“How about this?” I asked slowly as my tired mind came to a decision. “I do my best to teach you what I did, and in return, you teach me how to use magic the way you do.”
“Magic?” he echoed, his face puzzled.
“You know, the way you made the rockslide happen, or the way you set that ojain on fire. I want to learn how to do that.”
“To turn spiritual energy into mortal energy?” He paused for only a brief moment. “Yes, Freyd, I can do that. It’s part of a letharvis’ normal training, after all.”
“And you teach me enough about spirits that I learn which ones are safe for bonding, which aren’t, and which will be most useful for me,” I added.
“Again, a normal part of a letharvis’ instruction. I’m willing, yes.”
“And…” I hesitated. “And you owe me five favors that I can call in sometimes in the future as need.”
“Favors?” His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What sort of favors?”
“Ones that will help me and won’t hurt you.”
“One favor, and it can’t hurt the valskab,” he countered.
“Three, and while they can’t hurt your valskab, they can go against your valskab’s wishes if doing so is the only way to keep me from harm.”
He frowned. “None of the valskab would offer you harm or injury, Freyd.”
“You haven’t so far.” I glanced at Bregg. “What about you, Bregg? Would you leave me behind if you thought it was best for your hunting party? For the valskab? Would you kill me if you thought I was a danger to them?”
“In a heartbeat,” the big man replied evenly.
“That’s what I thought.” I looked back at Aeld. “And in that case, I could ask you to order him to simply let me leave, and you would do it, so long as I wasn’t an actual threat to your valskab, just a possible one. That’s the kind of favors I’m talking about.”
“I—I agree, Freyd,” he said after a few seconds of thought. “By all spirits watching, we have a bargain. My instruction and three favors, in return for your instruction on how to utterly tap a spirit.” A pulse of power rippled out from him, and I felt it wash over me, settling into my skin with a feeling like tiny hooks grabbing at the pit of my stomach.
Part of me rebelled at that sensation and pressed back against it. I remembered being bound by the Sun’s Peace in Soluminos, and I didn’t really want to be magically bound again. I had a feeling that between my Resist Magic ability and my apparent talent at manipulating magic, I could throw this off if I wanted to, but Aeld would probably know it, and then he wouldn’t be obligated to teach me. If I wanted him to train me, I’d have to endure the binding, at least for now. Later—well, I’d deal with later when it came.
“The elders might be furious at this, Letharvis,” Bregg growled. “When you return to the valskab, they’re likely to punish you for taking this one into training without being part of the valskab.”
“They might, Bregg,” the shaman said tiredly. “However, I’m not returning to the valskab—at least, not yet.”
“What do you mean?” the hunter growled, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “You can’t stay here in the High Reaches, Letharvis. The Bright Season is past, and Flikkur’s Battle is ending swiftly. The Rise is coming soon, and with it the High Reaches will become uninhabitable.”
“No, I’m not staying here, Bregg,” the shaman laughed tiredly. “Freyd found some documents on that ship, and we need to see if they’re important. I only know a few letharvisa who can read Oikithikiim, and all of them are part of the rashi—who are also the ones who’ll most appreciate Freyd’s talents.”
“That helps clarify that word, John,” Sara interjected. “With that, I can guess that ‘rashi’ means something like ‘high council’ or ‘gathering of elders.’”
The hunter’s eyes widened. “You mean to take him to Aldhyor?” he said disbelievingly. “The heart of the Haelendi?”
“You saw what I did, Bregg,” Aeld said quietly, pointing back toward the saddle. “Whatever the Oikithikiim are doing, it’s beyond the concerns of a single valskab. The Council needs to know—and if I can show them how to fully draw the power of a spirit, they’ll want to know that, too. I might as well simply take him there, rather than reporting to the elders and being summoned.”
Bregg’s face looked troubled. “Letharvis, the hunters—none of us are acclimated to the lowlands. It’ll take weeks for them to be able to make the trip.”
“I can ease the discomfort, Bregg. Besides, I wasn’t planning on taking them. They completed their mission; they should be allowed to return to the valskab to rest.”
“You mean to travel alone with this one?” Bregg demanded, his voice disbelieving. “Letharvis, no! I forbid it! He isn’t of the valskab; he can’t be trusted!”
“It’s not trust if you know what the other person is thinking,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes.
“Exactly! If you were of the valskab, then fine, I would allow it, but…”
“But I’m not, so you can’t trust me,” I finished. “Despite the fact that I’ve had no real choice but to trust all of you this whole time—and I don’t have any valskab to help me with that.”
“That was your choice, Hemskal,” Bregg growled. “You could have left at any time…”
“Could I? Or would you have hunted me down if I tried? I’ve only got your word for that, Bregg. I don’t know it to be true; I just have to trust it.” I pushed myself to my feet, anger fueling my muscles as I stepped up into the much larger man’s face and stared up at him. “And I have. I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt. I also think I’ve earned that in return by now. I’ve killed predators that would have hunted your people; I’ve shared those kills with you; I’ve respected your beliefs and not tried to force Aeld to tell me things he doesn’t want to; I even fought and killed beside you! At what point, exactly, do I earn trust from you, Bregg?”
“At no point, Hemskal,” the man growled. “You want trust? There’s none to be had. We trusted once—once only—and as a result, most of our people died, and we were forced into exile. We won’t trust again.”
“Both of you, enough!” Aeld stepped up between us, gently pulling us away from one another. “There’s no reason for this!” He looked at me. “Freyd, you obviously don’t know the history of your people, or you’d understand why we have the valskab—and why trust among us is so hard-earned.” He turned to Bregg. “However, this decision isn’t yours, Bregg. I’m the letharvis; it’s my duty to interpret the correct path for the valskab in this. I believe that path lies far to the south, at the Aldhyor. You can disagree, but if you refuse me, then you’re setting your path against the valskab’s. Is that what you want?”
The hunter fumed silently, then tore his gaze away from me and glared at Aeld. “Fine. You are the letharvis; I have to acknowledge that. However, I’m the Huntmaster, and the hunt ends when I say it does—and I say that this hunt continues on to Aldhyor.”
“You’ll force your hunters into warmer lands, Bregg?” Aeld questioned softly. “Just to keep an eye on Freyd?”
“No. You’re right; they hunted well, and their part in this is over. They can rest for a day, then return to the valskab. I, however, will be staying with you.” He stared at Aeld challengingly, and after several seconds, the shaman sighed.
“Very well, Bregg. It’s your right as Huntmaster to declare the hunt unfinished. Your path and mine continue along together.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Just the three of us. How fun.”
“Fun?” Bregg laughed darkly, glaring at me as he spoke. “Oh, you have no idea, Hemskal. We’re going to be taking the harder path, and if we don’t hurry, we won’t make it before the first snows of The Rise blow in. I’ll be shocked if you’re able to walk by the time we reach the Halendi.” His mouth turned up in a vicious smile. “So, yes. It will absolutely be fun—for me.”