Chapter 794 (1/2)

Shal stood with his hands behind his back. “My disciple is gone, as you requested. Are you prepared to tell me why?”

The room was cold and bare. Stone floors and a still hearth kept the temperature low. Which, considering the steadily cooling days, pushed the room toward uncomfortable. For the past several days, he had willingly made plans to send his only disciple away. All because of a favor. It wasn’t even an order. Just a favor.

Of course, the treasure that he offered his disciple was true: if Versault yet lived, he would be the most knowledgeable individual regarding Tellus’ history. Aside from the Oracle, but even now, Shal suspected the Heart School would let no one near their precious Oracle. Such was their pride, even as Tellus inched closer to disaster.

A different disaster than most people expected, but a disaster nonetheless. Were actions like this truly the kind of actions they believed their champion should have…?

Rumera’s smile was sad. “He is not of our world, Shal. Isn’t that reason enough?”

Shal looked at Rumera. He loved her. She had asked him this favor. And she was right. Randidly was not of Tellus. For a long time this had confused Shal, but very quickly he realized that it didn’t matter. For all that the boy was from another world, he had been the inheritor of the Spear Phantom Style that Aemont would have wanted. Capable and determined. Confident without falling prey to arrogance. He was ideal.

But this is not your battle, Shal thought sadly as he turned and looked East. May you find what you seek, boy. And may I still live when you return, triumphant.

“What next?” Shal asked. “How am I to help Tellus ascend?”

“Unfortunately, we wait,” Rumera said with a shake of her head. “To ascend, your Path must emerge victorious against another’s; the second Path has not yet emerged. As such… we can only wait, and allow it to grow in strength.”

Shal frowned. “It seems foolish to allow an enemy to grow strong. Why is this necessary?”

“An old story. One so old not even I know it.” Rumera walked to stand with Shal and also looked out to the East. “And, I think, the very story that your disciple seeks. I hope he finds it. I do not like-”

“Wait a moment,” Shal said, mock seriously. “Older than you? Are you trying to tell me that my woman is older than I am?”

“She obviously isn’t,” Rumera said with a smile tugging at her mouth, “because you have no woman. Just daydreams and arrogance.”

*****

Randidly allowed a ghost of a smile to flit across his face as Platton hissed in obvious displeasure. “They truly expect us to push off onto the Hallat River on this glorified driftwood and survive until we reach the Eastern Sea? They will tear us to shreds. The Psychic Venom bombardment alone-”

“I’ll handle it. If they had given us anything of actual use I would have worried that Hastam would fall to Wight attacks after we left. With your troops, there are almost ten thousand of us- that’s not a small number. Longboats like this will serve us best.” Randidly said reasonably.

‘Longboats’ was perhaps a generous term for these. Truly, they looked rather musty and old, as though most of them had come from ancient interspatial rings. They were, however, long and thin ships with a small cabin for individuals to rest in. Which would do nothing to stop the Psychic Venom that would incapacitate most of the crew on hit, but still...

Platton’s expression grew sourer. “Mmm. You may be right. But this will also mean slow going. A seaworthy clipper would take almost a week in order to cross the Eastern Sea. About half that to navigate from here to the open waters. But if all we are doing is floating down with the current…”

“We should have teams rowing, yes?” Io interrupted.

Randidly turned to face Io. She was a squat, powerful woman with hands that could crush an apple to a pulp. Of all of those who had passed Randidly’s test, Io had seized the position of leadership for herself. Partly because of her gruff, no-nonsense demeanor, but also because she passed the Emerald Essence portion of the test, and all her fellow passers readily admitted Io’s insight into the far was far beyond theirs.