Sesako hated that the other had been right: A discussion with the emperor had been a good idea.

But at the same time nothing was changed — only a new worry was added.

They flew back into the fortifications, and then rushed through the tunnels to the interior of the dragon’s great valley. There, surrounded by enchanters, stood all seven of the dragons. There were thousands of enchanters, everyone who could be confidently expected to either not make a serious mistake in the scribe work, or to notice it if they did.

The size of the raid was still too small.

Only the silver-scaled eldest daughter, and son with a long white line running up his tail had agreed to participate.

Two dragons were not enough to ensure that the raid would be a success. The largest numbers of enchanters surrounded them, but the work was being done to all of the dragons.

As Sesako looked out over the great valley, he was filled with a love for all of the dragons, and for all the warriors of the Yatamo, and above all for Hinete who had stumbled upon the idea that might give safety to the dragons.

The runework had been thoroughly tested early on, by throwing first weak, and then heavy stones at the tails of the dragons.

The power flows involved would have killed a profound cultivator in an instant.

The deflection was not an efficient spell — and under the bombardment of an army, even the great cores of the Great Ones would be exhausted without too long of an effort.

But fortunately, while dragons were far easier to hit than a cultivator, they were far harder to hit than a city.

The preparations for the battle were moving apace — Fitzuki oversaw the strapping of the heavy stones and launchers to the body of the silver-scaled dragon. While her body was far too large for a saddle or a harness, there were various protrusions around which ropes could be firmly tied. The cultivators would hang tightly onto those ropes to keep from falling off the dragons.

While they were far, far less agile than the greatest human cultivators, the dragons when they set out in a long flight could reach speeds of a little over seven hundred miles an hour, and on the back of the great dragon, they would leave the emperor and his armies far, far behind for long enough to thoroughly destroy the island base.

If a cultivator fell off the back of the streaking dragon, they would not be injured, as the cultivator was perfectly capable of flying on his own. But they would never catch back up.

Sesako and the other switched control of the body.

It was something they had become increasingly skilled at doing, but this felt easier than ever before. Sesako realized that this was because the tension that had continuously grown between him and the other for the last month was no longer felt by him.

Somehow… even though it was not a true apology, the emperor’s words that the death of his mother and brother and sister had been intentional, and had been a mistake… It was not better. The emperor’s apology did not make it better. They were still dead, and the past could not be changed.

What was better though was that… Sesako couldn’t even explain it to himself. But the emotion around that terrible memory. That inscribed day. His father murdered, and upon his return to the city, he found his mother and siblings murdered as well.

That day defined him.

Sesako at last realized that what had changed his emotions was something the emperor had said when he wasn’t trying to apologize: I made you much of who you are. It was not a favor to you, and you should curse my name. But you would have been different.

This whole war… would have been different.

The island would have been fiercely defended by Fitzuki if Sesako had still been an immature profound soul, or even if he had only managed to purify his core.

But their defense would have been far more hopeless, and the dragons would already be dead.

No matter what happened today, no matter what happened tomorrow, or next year, or during the rest of their lives, that horrible fact of his mother’s murder had shaped him into a man who could deflect destiny from its destined course for at least a week.

Sesako flew to where Fitzuki hovered, nodding approvingly as he watched the work proceed with speed and efficiency.

“Eh, Sesako. Eh? How did the whole talk to his grandness go? Did it do any good?”

“No. He wants to offer the other a job, after the war is finished.”

Fitzuki laughed. “Old asshole. I have seldom heard anything that matches his mind more precisely than that. Fuck him though. We’re going to leave him miserable and unhappy — is it any more likely than before that he’ll retreat when he sees the island blown up — Or is this forever war to last forever?”

Sesako cast his mind back over the conversation.

The things the emperor had said.

This belief that both he and the other fully subscribed to that something might be discovered eventually that could cause a disaster beyond all enduring, a disaster that could overthrow the magics of the most powerful, the wardings of the warders, and the wisdom of the wise.

Sesako understood the idea they both had: It was possible that they would discover something dangerous that would then not be managed correctly.

It was a prophecy which had prompted the whole thing.

That only made Sesako despise the idea of trying to see futures more. Attempting to see futures led to mistakes and dangers. Everything was always uncertain. Everything was always possible.

The truth was that Sesako simply did not think that this hypothetical, odd, possible thing that would not happen for centuries was an important matter to worry about. What mattered was now. What mattered was that the Great Ones lived through the next years. What mattered was that his nation succeeded in driving the invaders from its shores. What mattered was that when the time came, he would successfully help Hinete to open her second dantian.

And even the things that the other usually talked about mattered: Helping children in other nations awaken their sparks. Providing pills so that those who needed them could break through barriers. Feeding people, healing people — making the world a better place right now.

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Developing his own abilities, building up the fourth foundation, and then establishing and maturing the core.

These things mattered: A hypothetical worry that neither of them could point to as anything more than a simple logical argument for why it should one day be a problem didn’t.

“The conversation was of use.” Sesako at last said. “I learned things… about the emperor, and even about myself. But he is determined to kill the Great Ones, and we are determined to stop him.”

“Was there ever a question about that?”

“Never. Never, never, never — we did realize a problem. If we succeed at making the heating element within the island blow up violently, it will poison the whole bay and the city.”

Fitzuki scratched his chin. “Eh, will it now? Is this from Isaac or from the emperor — shit. There isn’t much time for him to react but did you —”

“No. If he deduced our plans from the discussion, it certainly is beyond my knowledge to say how.”

“Eh, he still might have. Clever old fucker that fellow. I’d like to run him through with my spear. But I don’t expect to ever manage.”

The two great cultivators grinned at each other, both of them imagining striking the blow that killed the emperor.

“You might though.” Fitzuki added. “You might get that chance, especially since he seems determined to not have off with you.”

“It hardly seems fair if I one day manage to kill him just because he didn’t want to kill me. But on the other hand…”

“Fuck him. He’s done enough to deserve it if unfair things happen to him — now this explosion and poisoning. Well, the fish have been dying near the island: What are the precise details?”

“We don’t know.”

“Okay: What are the precise guesses? Yes, yes. Guesses aren’t precise. Is there, in the view of your passenger, any chance that this poison will cover the entirety of the island of Yatamo, killing the dragons along with everyone else?”

Sesako sunk into himself, to listen to that voice that echoed out from the other.

“He doesn’t think so — or to be more precise, he doesn’t know anything, because the deep metal here produces magical power, while the deep metal in the world he was from did not. But if it was something like this in his world, the explosion would spread poison thickly around the area, and then wherever it was blown by the wind. The oceans and the fish would be contaminated extensively. But the poison however fades away within a few weeks, leaving behind traces that can still make people sick if they are unlucky, but that doesn't sound too bad to me — especially since the sort of illness he describes would not actually hurt those with a developed foundation. I mean I was sick, and Takue was prostrate for two weeks. But we all received a dose that would have killed anyone without a foundation a thousand times over.”

“From what you said, in the end it would have killed someone with a purified core a dozen times — hmmm. Fades away. We can just hide in the tunnels, use spells to clear it from the air through the ventilation shafts. This is not a problem.”

Sesako nodded. “The poison may end up in the plants and fish and make people sick who eat them.”

“We can buy food from Parelei and elsewhere. There is enough money. We can provide healers for the sick. And if people die, they die. It's already happened to a lot of us.” Fitzuki tilted his head. “Ready for some fun?”

Sesako nodded.

Sesako sensed that the other was extremely unhappy at the idea of ignoring the potential for poisoning the world with deep metal. But really, nothing he said actually sounded like it was bad enough to avoid striking a great blow against the emperor.

Anyways, if it poisoned the seas and land around the city, that would harm the emperor’s logistics more than theirs.

The other felt a strong taboo against the idea of using deep metal as a weapon which seemed frankly arbitrary to Sesako, but the emperor also shared that hesitance around using it as a weapon.

The thudding from the stones being hurled at the towers to the southwest began again.

The emperor had not waited long.

He would soon break completely through into the valley, they needed to launch this raid now, and then the Great Ones would be able to retreat elsewhere.

Fitzuki nodded as he watched the final items being piled onto the two dragons who had agreed to defy their mother. In just another minute, Fitzuki would shout out with his powerful voice the command to take flight.

And then, coming with the other five of her children, the matriarch swept down, glorious and beautiful. She settled heavily on the mountainside above them, causing a splattering of walks to roll down, where they were then diverted by defensive spells.

“Wait,” she called out with that penetrating and commanding voice. “Wait. I have determined that I shall accompany you upon this raid, but you shall give the defenders of this island an opportunity to flee.”

Fitzuki grimaced.

He faced her, and Sesako knew that Fitzuki hated that this demand had come in front of the vast number of his men, where he could not simply pretend it had not been made.

While both Sesako and Fitzuki knew the Great Ones as individuals, and understood them, for most of the people of Yatamo they were mystical creatures whose words ought to be law.

With a replying shout, Fitzuki said, “Great Mother, what you ask is impossible. To delay in such a way would invite destruction.”

“If the Fates demand that destruction, then fate cannot be avoided. But this raid shall not occur without my presence. We will not act without this act of mercy. I have been told there are tens of thousands who are camped upon this island, most of whom are not amongst the great, but who rather are simple men without any spark of magic. I have determined that this island is close enough to my land that they belong to me now, and I will not see them wantonly slaughtered.”

The smile that spread across Fitzuki’s face was wholly false.

Sesako was fairly certain that at this second their general was tempted to switch sides and help the emperor kill her.

“This is my command — not to you, for I can only request of you. But to my great children. You shall not let this be a murder raid.”

The two dragons who were to go with her bowed their heads.

“I have seen it in the mist of the future. There is more to hope for from this than before. But we will not murder wantonly. Death is always bad.”

The ground underneath them shuddered in time to the impacts of the heavy stones striking the opposite side of the mountain.

Fitzuki started shouting, “More equipment. More equipment — fast. We’ll delay an extra hour, but anything more is too long. Fill out the parties — each clan will bring a third of their finest men to join us. Quick, quick, quick.”

Rather than the quick and oiled loading that had just finished, now the loading was a rush, rush, rush of confused melee all round. People heavily burdened ran into each other. Shouts and effort. The whole time the five dragons were being laden down and surrounded by hordes of men.

Fitzuki swept over to Sesako. “I blame that other fellow and your woman, Hinete. They put her up to this. Damn, damn, damn.”

“I do not think that the other did,” Sesako tapped his head. “I was there the entire time.”

“Eh, are you always both in each other’s heads? Sensing what each other senses? Even when you are with a woman? — never mind. This is doomed.” Fitzuki rubbed his hands together. “Doomed. But I’ve no better notion what to do.”

“With the extra men that can be supported on five dragons, we ought to be able to simply overwhelm the defenders at the island.”

Fitzuki stared at Sesako, as though he was stupid.

“Not many of them, and —”

“And we will give a pretty perfect warning, and out of the forty minutes of the time we have before the emperor arrives, this will take twenty — they’ll be properly arrayed to deflect the stones by the time we start hurling.”

“The emperor alone cannot defeat us. He’ll need to wait for some important portion of the army to catch up.”

That disbelieving eye again. “Sesako, you’ve not a proper ounce of pessimism. If you cannot see that we are doomed without a shadow of doubt, you do not have the proper personality for any greatness in the field and art of war.”

A loud crack sounded clear from the other side of the mountain, and Fitzuki swore. “That was one of the towers. The rest won’t last more than twenty more minutes.” He turned to the army. “No more time. Up my fellows! Up! To war! Men this will be difficult. This will demand the best from each of you. We might all die, and it would be an honorable death for our enemies are powerful. But fuck! This time we’ve got a chance. A proper and real chance. We’ll be there before the emperor. And what is more, the Great Ones fly with us! If each of you fight to your utmost, we’ll destroy that island, and once it is gone, it’ll be a simple matter to drive the emperor from our homes, our land, and our beautiful island! For the Great Ones! For Yatamo! For our future! Up, up, and let the hurlers of war spit forth all their violence!”

Fitzuki turned to Sesako and said with that accelerated mumble that only powerful cultivators could hear from each other, “You are with Her. No hope of success, but we’ll be able to flee in good order.”

Sesako flew up to the head of the great matriarch, and he settled next to one of her ears. “Hello old friend,” he said. “I am glad you are coming with us.”

“I saw in the fates that I might do some good through an offer of mercy.”

And they flew up.