Seth thought about Barnabas’ words for the briefest second and agreed. Perhaps he wouldn’t let Timi hurt Barnabas.

Maybe not, one of his minds piped up. But we definitely will. And can you tell us why you keep letting Barnabas hit on us? And you…

Seth pressed his lips in a thin line to keep himself from answering and his minds alerted him to Dozie’s approaching figure. He didn’t look back at the Reverend. Instead, he imitated Barnabas’ unawareness of him and stared at his sword.

Behind him, standing alongside another priest, Dozie said, “That’s a nice sword. Did anyone ever tell you why it was given to you?”

Seth had always assumed he knew. But that was all it was; no matter how sure he was, it was no more than an assumption. He didn’t know the reason.

He got up to his feet a beat behind Barnabas and answered, “No.”

“It’s because you’re soulless,” Dozie said, beside him the priest stiffened. “Oh leave it,” he told the man. “Rumors are for women and children. No point to having a moniker if you don’t know it.”

Seth held his silence. There was no point in telling the priest that he already knew his monikers. Soulless mage. Broken mage. They were names whispered about him with good reason by people too powerful for him to say anything to.

It was fine as long as the names didn’t get him killed.

“As I was saying,” Dozie went on. “The reason you were gifted those weapons was because you couldn’t get your reward for your test in the snow. Monsignor Faust spent a long time thinking about what to give you that he practically had a chat about it with every Baron in there. So he got a soulsmith to craft that as a present for you. Considering how difficult it was to craft, I personally think it was a bit too much. I mean, where did he even get such a rare material, and why would he use it on a seminarian?”

Seth watched the priest in silence. He had not been asked a direct question and chose his silence. In his head his minds complained in suggestive ideas of creative ways to punish the priest if they had the power.

After a thoughtful moment of exaggerated musing, Dozie clapped his hands gently and said, “No matter. I am here for a different reason. Gather your brothers, rouse them up. You’re all going on a bit of a hunt.”

“A bit of a hunt, Reverend?” Barnabas repeated politely.

Dozie spared him a glance with a touch of disgust. “Yes, boy,” he said, somehow managing to keep the disgust from his voice, “a bit of a hunt.”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.” Dozie shook his head as if shaking something off, then turned to Seth. “Reverend Triton over here says he spotted a set of tracks he didn’t recognize to the east. Now, judging from the description he gave me, I doubt it’s something I’ve seen. So, in the spirit of training you the Monsignor asked that I do, you’ll be heading out to track it down.”

“We’re silver, Reverend.”

And Iron, one of Seth’s minds thought but he didn’t voice it.

“And what about it?” Dozie asked.

“What if the beasts are gold?” Barnabas returned.

“Gold beasts are the reason you’ll be having Reverend Triton over here with you.” He patted the uncomfortable Reverend on the back. “Or are you unwilling to do it.”

The chance of a new beast, Seth’s mind pointed out. That’s one objective ready to be stricken from the list.

“No,” Seth answered.

“Yes,” Barnabas said at the same time, then turned to Seth confused. “We’re going to track down unknown beasts in the night with nothing but a single gold with us. Not far from us is one of the government’s forces, which means the rank of the beast isn’t the only thing we need to worry about.”

Seth agreed with his brother, but they were talking about a potential skill here. Clearing the objective of learning new beasts got him a new skill. He might not know what it was, but any skill was a step forward in the world of soul mages.

But Barnabas was right. If left between a choice of his brothers’ safety or a new skill, the answer was simple. He’d always have a chance at another skill if he…

Fuck, no, all his minds interrupted. Fuck our brothers. In fact, we don’t even like them.

Seth’s brows furrowed. “But we like Timi.”

Fuck Timi.

Dozie turned a skeptical look on him. “I take it that’s Timi,” he said, pointing at Timi’s sleeping form.

Beside Seth, Barnabas nodded.

“I’m willing to go track it down alone,” he said hurriedly, in a bid to salvage the conversation before realizing the gravity of his words.

One of his minds pointed it out immediately. We want a new skill but we don’t want it that bad, Seth. What are we going to do to a pack of silver beasts? Talk it to death?

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I admire your zeal, boy,” Dozie replied. “But I can’t sanction that.”

Thank God for that.

What God? We don’t believe in God.

Oh, we don’t, the mind replied, sarcastic. Then thank the soul beast. How about that?

“As much as I appreciate your attempt to negotiate with a Baron,” Dozie went on, directing his words to Barnabas. “This is not a negotiation. You have your orders, and Reverend Triton is here to help you carry them out. He’ll lead you to the tracks and you’ll go from there.”

He turned around and left Triton standing there with a frown on his face.

………………………………………………..

“Remind me again whose idea this was.”

“Reverend Dozie,” Barnabas answered a grumbling Forlorn.

“And who agreed to it?” Forlorn asked.

“Seth.”

“In my defense,” Seth added hurriedly, as his brothers’ scowls turned on him, “I offered to go alone.”

“Not very wise,” Timi said beside him.

They were away from the camp already, led this far out by Reverend Triton. Currently, Seth was squatted over a set of tracks that supported Dozie’s words. When he’d seen then he’d gone through his knowledge of reia beasts, then gone through his knowledge of animals. None of them fit the tracks.

So he squatted and studied them, committed them to memory, then rose. They had a new species to track.

Before his pastoral year, his tracking skills had been second only to Timi who didn’t even track the way trackers should. His brother’s method of tracking was in sniffing the air and listening to nothing. Actually, if he really thought about it, to those not inside his head, his might look the same.

Seth stood up and allowed his minds follow the trail. On dry solid ground cracked from the heat, it wasn’t the easiest thing, but they led him, regardless. And he led his brothers and one Reverend.

The tracks led them into a valley flanked on both sides by mountains of red stone under a veil of brown sand. So they walked over a rocky topography and uneven grounds. At silver and gold, his companions had no problem traversing it, each one placing their feet accurately enough. There was no worry of stumbling.

“You’re an odd one, aren’t you?” Triton said, coming up beside him.

Seth turned to him. “How so?”

“The way you walk. They don’t teach that at the seminary.”

“The way I walk?” Seth mused, he spared his brothers behind him a glance, then turned back to Triton. “Did you expect me to struggle?”

“Not at all. You just seem to glide over the ground. If you could see yourself, you’d know people don’t look like that when walking on uneven ground.”

He wondered where or when he’d heard similar words. It took a moment for it to get to him. He’d thought something along those lines when he’d evolved to Iron. He’d thought it while watching Jabari walk the mountain path.

His mind bade him take a left and he turned abruptly.

“And there’s that, too,” Triton added, following him.

“That?”

“You aren’t even tracking anything. You’re just walking.”

Two steps in front there’s a rock on your left, one of his minds thought. Use it to cover the hole.

“And you’re following me,” he replied Triton, raised his hand and moved a piece of rock as large as it over the hole beside him without breaking stride.

A moment after there was a sound of tiny scuttling legs, then a thud. The rock shook once but stayed.

“Well, your brothers are following you despite that so I take it this is how you track… I guess.” Triton looked back at the rock then looked at him. “And I’m a better tracker than you are. I know where I’m going.” He paused. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a dangerous seminarian? The second most dangerous of your group?”

Seth didn’t need to think on it. In the last few days, Timi had proven he was the most dangerous, a terror in human flesh. He was not born for the hunt; it was born for him. It was an undebatable fact. But him being second was not.

“I’m still iron,” he answered.

“I know. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“No.” Seth shook his head as his minds led him on another turn and he squeezed through a tight space between two boulders.

He came out the other end and found himself alone. He turned back to the boulders and was halted by a thud and a quake. He backed up from the them slowly, staring as another thud boomed and they quaked again. One of them shattered on the third strike and Triton walked in through the large space it left.

Must be nice to be gold, his minds thought.

He agreed.

Triton shook out his hand and they continued on. In this path of the mountain, the tracks were everywhere. There were blood stains of red and scrapes and scars running the length of the mountain. Some small boulders were broken or displaced. Their edges fit perfectly with some broken parts of the mountain. Beasts had fought here not too long ago, and whatever they were, they had enough power to rip chunks of the mountain out. His minds picked each piece of information out, guiding him as he continued to indulge Triton in conversation.

“If you’ve not been told before then you’re either unapproachable or not very liked,” Triton said, massaging his wrist.

In Seth’s senses he noted the frown on the man’s face and asked. “Does it hurt?”

“I just punched through a boulder, what do you think?”

Seth made a thoughtful sound. “I thought that’s supposed to be normal for your authority.”

Triton shook his head. “You’re thinking of Barons. I’m gold.”

They walked on a moment longer in thoughtful silence as Triton acclimatized himself to his pain. When he was done and his hands were back to his sides, Seth spoke again.

“And why do you think I’m the second most dangerous?”

His minds alerted him to the proximity of their quarry. There was a cordoned off area just around the corner ahead of them. According to his minds, it was cut off by a line of boulders they didn’t believe was naturally occurring. It suggested a level of intelligence if it had been done by whatever beast they were tracking.

Triton slowed his steps and Seth was forced to agree the man was a good tracker. Then again, he was a gold mage.

“The thing that makes you the second,” Triton said, eyes now moving, watching for something Seth could only imagine were enemies, “is you’re the only one that can command the most dangerous… But now I believe stealth would be our best choice of approach. Stealth and silence. What do you say?”

Seth nodded once.

He raised a halting hand at the same time Triton did and gestured the hand sign for stealth. His brothers obeyed without question.

They took the intended turn, moving quietly and came upon the boulders. Triton raised a hand and signed to Seth.

This isn’t supposed to be here.

True, Seth signed back, approaching a space large enough to look through.

On the other side he found their quarry and smiled. They were a new species of beasts. One he’d never seen or heard of before.

But there were only three of them. Whatever they were, they looked powerful. Each one stalked from one point to another, paws casually taking them across the distance.

They looked feline and stood as tall as a Nooman at their shoulder. He was still watching when another walked into the scene. This one was larger than the rest, its fur pink with stains of red where the others were purple. But what stood out most about it was the man sitting equestrian on its back.

He was garbed in form fitting armor of black metal that didn’t gleam. His helmet was the same and reached out on both sides of his head like blunted horns. However, when he turned his head, Seth found he was wrong about the armor.

He felt a cold sweat run down his back as five eyes stared back at him