Chapter 209 Houses of the Ninth Valley (1/2)
They had already traveled several miles from Alder's Farht revealing the densely populated lands of the Ninth Valley
As far Arran's eyes could see, the rolling fields were speckled with fares At a guess, he thought it would be ilesoht that made him uncomfortable Even in the Empire, he had never been in a place like this — a place with no room whatsoever for real solitude And more importantly, no place to flee or hide
Before he could give the htblade's voice interrupted his s ”Now that we're on our way, let me fill you in on the situation”
The words iht Arran's attention, and both he and Snowcloud turned toward Brightblade, anxious to hear what she had discovered in the previous days — and more importantly, what lay ahead for them
”To start, the House of Swords is just one of an ”The Ninth Valley is filled with different Houses, each of which with different aioals”
”Like the Sixth Valley's factions?” Snowcloud asked, understandably wary after the things they had faced the previous year
Brightblade shook her head ”Not quite The Houses are ic While they do have disagreee ones, at that — their original purpose was to bring together the Ninth Valley's experts to coe”
Snowcloud nodded slowly, although her expression suggested that she thought the whole idea quite strange
”At the top stand four greater Houses,” Brightblade said, ”with reater Houses have al amassed experts in the others' disciplines as well The same is true for the lesser Houses, albeit to a lesser extent”
Arran listened intently as she spoke, his interest growing as he understood that the Ninth Valley was very different frohtblade cast a look at Arran and Snowcloud, looking as if she was expecting questions
When no questions came, she continued, ”The first of the Greater Houses is the House of Seals This is the largest and most influential House by far, and its traditional focus is on seals and formations”
”Their focus is on seals?” Arran's curiosity was immediately sparked He had yet to unseal his Destruction Real more about seals would certainly help hiest House, shouldn't we join thehtblade replied curtly ”The House of Seals is firmly under the control of the Matriarch If ere to join the House of Seals, ould irrevocably ally ourselves with her And given the state of the Ninth Valley, that is soned nod, though he could not help but be disappointed
”Second is the House of Flahtblade went on ”It was founded by experts on offensive ic, and these days, it holds the Matriarch's most vocal critics Naturally, we cannot join the ourselves with the Matriarch's opponents would be unwise”
Neither Arran nor Snowcloud had any comments about this That it would be a bad idea to join the Matriarch's eneave them another look, then continued ”Third is the House of Creation Its members are mostly craftsmen — alchemists, enchanters, scribes, and so on The House of Creation tends to avoid Valley politics, re neutral when it can”
Snowcloud's eyes lit up at the oal in coer, not to becohtblade said, ”there's the House of Shadows As the nath lies in Shadow spells, particularly those meant for concealment They're predictably secretive, so I haven't been able to discover much else about them”
They briefly went silent as a farmer passed theave them a friendly nod, but otherwise barely appeared to notice their presence
Some moments later, after the farmer passed out of earshot, Arran asked, ”Then the House of Swords is one of the lesser Houses?”
”Correct,” Brightblade said ”The House of Swords specializes in physical coives it soth rank well below those of the greater Houses”
”That's why you chose it? You want us to focus on studying physical coht