A sense of alarm peals through me as a dark shadow passes overhead. I'm currently working with Bares-claws in the field near the lizard-deer-like stios. I recognise that the alarm is not my own even as I look up. Noir is now circling me, obviously preparing to land.

  “Sorry, Bares-claws, I need to go,” I apologise and stand up. I’ve just checked on the progress he’s made with his Energy channels in the last couple of weeks and we’re discussing what he should do moving forwards.

  The fact is that his Internal matrix is now significantly more streamlined and fits him far better, but even so he’s only at seventy percent progress towards his Evolution. Clearly, he needs to gather more Energy but absorbing too many Energy Hearts – or ‘natural’ Cores – isn’t a good idea.

  I understand, the samuran says with only the faintest hint of disappointment. I will find a hunting group to join. Thank you again for your help Pathwalker Tamer.

  “No problem,” I answer, though with only half of my attention on him. The other half is on Noir. “Actually, can you wait a minute? I may need you to take a message.” That seems likely if what I suspect is the case – they’re about due.

  Of course.

  I nod in thanks at him and then step forwards to greet Noir, scratching at his eye ridges in the way he likes it.

  “What news do you have for me?”

  Noir immediately sends a picture into my mind of the forest – and the large number of samurans he spotted travelling beneath the canopy.

  “Did you manage to get any closer?” I ask with a frown. It’s hard to see details due to the number of leaves on the trees. Noir sends me the feeling of regretful negation. “Alright, I’ll see if Sirocco can go and scout for us, then. Where did you see them?” He responds with a wordless sense of where he was when he saw the samurans.

  Closing my eyes, I focus on my Bond with Sirocco. She’s out of easy communication range, but I’m still able to send her the sense of my request. Since it’s for a scouting mission, the most important thing to know is where she’s supposed to go and that she needs to be careful. With enough concentration, passing that message over is easy enough.

  Opening my eyes, I turn to look at Bares-claws, patiently waiting for me to either dismiss him or give him a message.

  “Can you ask the council along with the rest of the Warriors and Pathwalkers to gather at my den, please.”

  Of course, he answers immediately, then hesitates for a moment, looking at me anxiously as if wondering whether to ask or not.

  “Do you have a question?” I prompt.

  All the Pathwalkers, Honoured Tamer? Or should I exclude those who joined at the same as I did?

  It’s a polite way to ask whether those who were forcibly Bound from his own birth village and the other red village should be included or not. Now it’s my turn to hesitate.

  “Include all those who have earned their places in this village,” I finally conclude. “But best leave those to the council members to identify,” I suggest.

  As you wish, Honoured Tamer, he acknowledges and then quickly hurries away. I turn back to Noir.

  “Keep an eye on the forest, please. Don’t get too close, but it would be good to know if it is a single force coming towards us, or if they’ve split into multiple groups.” Knowing how powerful pincer attacks can be, I don’t want us to be caught in one.

  Noir sends an acknowledgement and then I back off as he spreads his wings open and pushes off with his powerful hind legs, catching the air with his wings at the apex of his leap. I don’t spend time watching him, instead heading to the den myself.

  While I walk, I second-guess my decision to include some of my non-original villagers, even if only those who have come around in the last seventeen days since the invasion.

  Healer and Earth-former, the only two surviving Pathwalkers from the small village we went to help are two of those. Healer has become fast friends with Tarra, particularly since Tarra became more healing-oriented after her Evolution. I sometimes wonder cynically whether the friendship on Healer’s side is based on her wanting to perhaps ride Tarra’s coattails to her own Evolution, but figure that it’s not really my concern. If Tarra is fine with it, I won’t argue.

  Earth-former, Earth-shaper, and Jumpy have bonded together, as is natural between Earth-Shapers. Though I suppose that they could have developed an antagonistic relationship based on competition like Dusty seems to have with Water-former and Water-shaper. Though Water-shaper seems to be slowly accepting her new position in the village – lower than low until she’s earned the right to be treated otherwise – Water-former is still a pain.

  She and Windy have bonded together – I think over their mutual disdain for the changes I’ve made. I’ve had to keep an eye to make sure that Windy hasn’t been giving Water-former any special treatment, but her selfishness works to my advantage here – once it became clear that any special resources would have to come out of Windy’s own stocks, strangely enough, they dried up.

  The other two new Pathwalkers have mostly been keeping their heads down though Plant-shaper has been apparently quietly helping in the fields more often than not – if that continues then I’ll consider raising her status to that of a normal Pathwalker within the next week or so. Though with this news, my plans might have to change.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The Warriors are another matter. Most of those from Flying-blade’s village have been quite stoical about the changes – they haven’t complained much, but they haven’t gone out of their way to help either. I get the sense that they’re waiting – perhaps for the arrival of their tribe’s leader. There have been a couple of troublemakers, but I made an example of them – imprisonment turns out to be quite easy when there’s a Bond stopping the person from trying to escape. Their desire to progress, to move, to see the forest and the sky was enough to make them promise to behave without any further consequences required.

  The Warriors from Earth-former’s small village are another question, and most of them will be joining the council. The vast majority have shown through words and actions that they’ve decided to engage fully with their new village. In fact, one confessed to me when I shared a carcass with him one evening that he didn’t realise how much better life could be in a bigger village and with so many others to watch his back. I can only imagine that it’s like a small company in comparison to a medium-sized one. There are issues with organisations which are too large – I know that first-hand. But at the same time, small companies usually require everyone to wear too many hats and the benefits aren’t nearly as extensive. I suspect that small villages aren’t any different in that regard.

  Reaching the den, I start preparing it for the upcoming meeting. Considering how many samurans are likely to be coming, I lay out plenty of carcasses and put some nuts and berries on the snack table off to the side. I even drop a few Energy Heart fragments on each carcass – the downside of keeping the meat in my Inventory is of course that it comes out empty of Energy. I wouldn’t normally offer Energy Heart fragments in replacement, but considering this is a war council and likely to be full of nervous people, I figure that getting them into a better mood to begin with can only help.

  Expecting company? Kalanthia asks, poking her head into the large underground space. Lathani, who’s been spending time with her mother this morning, steps in and starts sniffing at the closest carcass.

  “Don’t eat that,” I reprimand Lathani lightly. “If you’re hungry, I’ll give you something, but these are for the people coming to the meeting.”

  Lathani loses interest, instead stepping daintily through a shadow and appearing just behind me. She pouts when I don’t jump – I can feel it through our Bond even if her lips aren’t capable of working like that. I scratch behind her ear and she purrs happily, forgetting about her displeasure.

  “Sorry Kalanthia,” I apologise to the patiently waiting nunda when I realise that I never responded to her question. “Yes, Noir warned me of a large number of samurans travelling through the forest from the valley. I suspect it’s the response we’re expecting to the message I sent.”

  Raven came back briefly to drop off the Warrior about ten days ago, but hadn’t even landed properly – ‘drop off’ was rather literal in that case as the Warrior was obliged to slide off Raven’s back when only his hind-legs were touching the ground. I barely had a moment to wave at Daphne and Ivor before they were urged by their father to fly down into the valley. I can only guess that his rush was because of the limited time before I need them to be back to make their decisions about whether to come with me or not.

  I see. Lathani and I will be careful when we go hunting this afternoon, then.

  I stop scratching Lathani’s ears as I turn to look at Kalanthia. Lathani protests against that by head-butting my hand until I start scratching again.

  “Can I convince you to stay here?” I ask Kalanthia carefully after swallowing down my first protest. Hopefully Kalanthai didn’t pick it up with her telepathy.

  Why should we? Kalanthia challenges me.

  “Well, first of all I don’t like the idea of you getting hurt,” I say honestly. “At the moment, I can’t be sure whether she’s coming to fight or to negotiate, though they seem rather too numerous for the latter, unless she’s hoping to negotiate from a place of strength. If they come across a Great beast in the forest, they’re likely to do their best to kill it, if only to make sure that they don’t have to fear you if they need to retreat later.”

  They can try, Kalanthia commented lazily, but I suspect that she’s not as sanguine as she’s trying to appear – she’s been taken down by samurans before. And yes, I know that she was weakened at the time, but the fact is that samurans have some of the advantages of humans – access to tools and weapons. They didn’t whittle down her health; they attacked her stamina, which is her weakest resource and if they used the mana regeneration inhibitors that Tarra prepared for the party that set out to capture Lathani, they could attack that too.

  The fact is that even the biggest giant can be brought down by an ant with enough time and leverage.

  “I’d also like to negotiate with you over potentially defending this area and the refugees who will stay in the cave if the worst comes to the worst and we have to retreat here,” I continue.

  Hm, Kalanthia hums in response. I want five natural Cores. Earth-aligned. And one lightning-aligned.

  “Earth I can do. Lightning is a different matter,” I respond thoughtfully.

  You have a lizard Bound to you who is capable of calling it, she rebuts. I grimace.

  “She’s not a Lightning-Shaper, exactly,” I point out. “And I don’t exactly want her calling lightning around Pure Energy.” Not that I want her anywhere near the Energy Heart production line at all, but I know that that’s something I’ll have to relax on before I leave in just over forty days’ time. Otherwise I’ll be leaving behind a village which depends on Energy Hearts for its economy, and with no way of getting them. A bit of a catastrophe in the making, that. “How about a couple of air-aligned Energy Hearts, instead?”

  Kalanthia considers it, and then gives an imperious assent to my request. She’s cheating me a bit in that she’s supposed to defend the den as part of her agreement for living here. But, as we discussed last time, she’s not necessarily responsible for those within the den and she’s certainly not responsible for the village.

  “Alright, for five earth-aligned Cores and two air-aligned ones, you’ll defend the den and those within, and help cover a retreat to it if necessary?” I verify. Kalanthia gives me a narrow look, making it plain that she’s noticed the little addition I’ve snuck in there. I give her a cheeky grin and hopeful look.

  Fine. I will cover your retreat from the edge of the developed land, she agrees, sounding much put-upon even if I know it’s mostly manufactured for my benefit. Now, stop lavishing my daughter with your attention and give me my due.

  I laugh and then happily walk over to her, ignoring the way Lathani pouts as I desert her to scratch beneath her mother’s chin. She perks up again when I beckon her over and start scratching her again when she gets within range.

  By the time the two felines are satisfied with the petting, I sense my Bound approaching the cave. Exiting it, I see a whole group running up the path. A dot in the sky is approaching too. Fortunately, Sirocco’s flight is faster than the samurans’ running, and so I’ve managed to get her report from her before the first Warriors and Pathwalkers approach.

  “Welcome,” I tell them, doing my best to suppress my sudden concern about what Sirocco has said. “We have much to discuss.”

  here!

  here!

  here!

  here