I said it would take two days, and I’m true to my word. We assemble on the morning of the second day at first light so as to maximise our daylight hours. The days are lengthening again but the nights are still significantly longer than the days so we need to get moving as soon as possible.

  I’m glad that the rainy season has mostly passed, though – the weeks between the Festival and the hatching of the eggs were pretty miserable. As Kalanthia had predicted, there was a huge amount of rain, and it was cold besides. I was very grateful for my spider-silk leotard underclothes and even doubled its thickness and added in a layer of feathers to keep me warm enough.

  These days, I’m considering taking off the leotard entirely as I’m beginning to get a little hot. Thank heavens for magic which makes such adjustments so easy! At this time of the morning, though, I’m still grateful for it which makes choosing when to take off the extra insulation a little difficult. I’m also wearing my snazzy new armour – as are my party members.

  In addition to River, Yells, Dusty, and Windy, Shrieks has assigned me a complement of seven Warriors, including Catch. He would have given me more but I insisted that he should keep the rest to guard those we’ll be leaving behind. I pointed out that I would be taking most of my combat Bound with me too, which would both add firepower to my party and remove fighters from Shrieks’ command. He didn’t like it but subsided when he heard my logical arguments.

  Most of the last two days were spent preparing for the journey and the potential fight ahead. Fortunately, we’ve been making preparations for an eventual battle for far longer than two days.

  The samuran members of my party are now outfitted in their own forms of armour and it stands as a testament to what our village is now capable of when we work together. Each samuran is covered from neck to knees with a tabard-like piece of armour which serves to protect their torso and the top of their legs, just like my own does.

  They refused to have trousers or boots of any sort, but they do each have greaves which protect their shins and their calves. Arms are unarmoured to allow for movement, but we managed to make a sort of helmet which protects the top of their heads and the backs of their necks. Letting their spikes through the helmet was a requirement to get any samuran to wear it, and it’s only a piece of boiled and shaped leather, so it’s not as protective as my own bone helmet, but it’s better than nothing.

  We haven’t been able to outfit everyone yet, but half of the Pathwalkers and a third of the Warriors have at least some armour – those on guard duty get priority to the armour in the communal pool. The Unevolved either have nothing or just simple boiled leather, but we’ll get to them soon enough. The hunting parties have obviously been prioritised and most of them have at least boiled leather tabards and helmets.

  The Warriors have metal plates made by Happy attached to the hide; the Pathwalkers only have light chitin or bone plates that were partly made by me, partly by other samurans the old fashioned way. The difference is because otherwise the Pathwalkers wouldn’t be able to carry the weight for long with their minimal strength. The actual defence value of both types of armour is significantly more than the raw materials would permit: Hunter’s work.

  Durability is obviously one of the main runes she used, but she’s managed to create a combination which helps impacts to be diffused across the whole of the armour rather than just in that one spot – it works with both crushing and piercing force though better with the first. For piercing force, it just serves to blunt the attack a bit, which usually stops the attack from getting through to the skin, but may leave a nasty bruise or crack a bone nonetheless.

  For the Pathwalkers, she’s been experimenting with a rune array which is supposed to draw in Energy more quickly to increase mana regeneration. As far as I know, it’s been somewhat successful – mana regeneration is increased, but not very significantly. She’s been more successful with incorporating a Core into the design to store the wearer’s mana – the limitations are that the Core must be touching the user’s skin, and if it’s cracked in any way, it tends to explode when mana is fed into it. Violently explodes.

  As a result, each Pathwalker has a modified Core as a bracelet on their off-hand which they know to tear off and throw away if it becomes cracked. Even if they don’t manage to do that, the worst that will happen is that they lose a hand. With Flesh-Shaping, I can heal that later easily enough. I have one of them too – so far they’ve worked pretty well in hunts, able to hold about half my mana pool again.

  Looking at the group of eleven samurans arrayed before me, I can’t help but whistle quietly in admiration. It all still has a very primitive vibe to it, but when I consider what my first set of armour looked like, this is practically professional in comparison.

  And the samurans aren’t the only ones armoured. The raptorcats and Lathani don’t like being encumbered and require flexibility, but they still have spider-silk protection over their backs and around their bellies and chests. The silk is also enhanced by the runes that Hunter used on the Pathwalkers’ armour – I had to carefully copy her design into the silk as a kind of embroidery.

  Hunter checked my work, told me to correct a few things, and then poured in magic and activated the runes when she was satisfied. It was difficult to get the runes as perfect as they needed to be, but far easier to magic them into being than try to sew them. It’s a pity that Hunter hasn’t been able to learn any Shaping Skill – it would probably save her a lot of time.

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  Fenrir, Pride, Hades, and Persephone are also armoured and more heavily than the felines. Pride was too difficult because of the large sail projecting from his back which he refused to have pierced in any way. In the end, Collects-stones – the lead tanner – just used boiled leather to give him some head and neck protection and left the rest of him as nature intended it. The other three are another question, their backs, heads, necks, and chests all now armoured with boiled leather and bone plates in the most appropriate places.

  We’re an impressive looking group and the Warrior envoy’s reaction when he sees us walking towards the main gate is gratifying. He actually takes a couple of steps back and tightens his hand around his club handle.

  “Ancestors smile on our meeting. This is your warband, Pathwalker Tamer?” the Warrior asks politely after the briefest of greetings. I’ll forgive him for it – I’m sure it’s out of surprise or amazement and not disrespect.

  “Ancestors smile,” I respond, just as briefly. I see his moment of affront before he remembers that he was just as curt and looks slightly shame-faced instead. “Yes, it is.”

  The Warrior doesn’t seem to know what to say. His spikes flicker with a range of colours before he manages to think of his next words.

  “Then, shall we start the journey?” he asks. I’m slightly disappointed – I was hoping for something a little more interesting than that. But I suppose it’s a valid question.

  “One moment,” I tell him, then look at the Pathwalkers. “Better call them now.”

  Three of them tip their chins up briefly and pull out a token from the pouches attached just inside the flap of their armour. Windy just stands still, looking into the far distance in that pose I’ve come to hate. She thinks it makes her look like she’s contemplating matters far beyond the ken of mortals. I think it just makes her look like her head is empty of any thought at all.

  “Not going to ride, Windy?” I ask with my eyebrow raised. “I didn’t know you would prefer to walk.”

  I intend to fly. As an Enlightened samuran, I am capable of such feats, Windy answers with such pomposity that I almost rethink bringing her along. She’s useful, don’t get me wrong, and damn powerful. But she’s only become a bigger pain-in-my-arse as time has gone on – her new powers really have gone to her head. The way so many of the village look at her as a god among mortals doesn’t help either. Her ego definitely didn’t need any more feeding.

  “Sure,” I tell her a little caustically. “You can fly. You can also walk when you run out of mana after a short journey. You’re not riding anyone else’s mount if you choose not to bring yours.”

  She contemplates this for a moment, then makes an irritated sound and pulls out a similar token to that used by the other three Pathwalkers, looking much put out.

  In the meantime, Hades comes up to stand next to me and I lean against him, scratching him just behind his wings – he’s told me before that it’s a place which constantly itches and which he can never scratch to satisfaction. In response, he rubs the bottom of his jaw against the top of my head – fortunately, I don’t currently have my helmet on.

  Persephone has gone up to River and is nudging her for similar treatment. River grunts in amusement and starts scratching her under her jaw – Persephone’s preferred spot.

  I should have the Evolved mount, Windy mutters mutinously, sending fulminating glares River’s way – fortunately not literally. I sigh gustily.

  “And we’ve discussed this multiple times. Persephone likes River. Get your own mount to Tier two and you will have an Evolved mount. Keep neglecting to give her Cores or Energy Hearts as you have been and you’ll be stuck with a Tier one mount forever.”

  I don’t even need a mount – I can fly. Windy argues. I shake my head and ignore her. It’s the only way I keep my sanity sometimes.

  Dusty and Yells are already on their own mounts. The creatures are smaller and weaker than Hades and Persephone are but are otherwise very similar. For good reason – they’re from the kiinas’ brood. Two months after being turned out of the den, half of the baby kiinas came back. Bigger than they were when they left, and wiser. Wise enough to know that they’d had a good thing going and keen to regain it.

  Hades and Persephone would have driven them away – they had no desire to be looking after their children any longer – but I stepped in and offered them another option. They could become mounts for the Pathwalkers in the village and be rewarded by their chosen Pathwalker in Cores and Energy Hearts or they could take up another role as beasts of burden.

  Several chose to become mounts. In fact, Windy’s went straight for her and warned off any of her siblings who dared to come close. I wonder whether the kiina is regretting it now – Windy hasn’t even given her a name. And where Dusty’s and Yells’ mounts are both bigger and stronger than they were when they arrived. Windy’s seems a little…small. I make a mental note to check in with the kiina later – I won’t put up with abuse.

  For now, though, it’s definitely time to go.

  “We’re ready,” I tell the messenger Warrior – speaking of names, I should get his already. He goggles at us, apparently never having seen a samuran using a beast as a mount, and then turns to lead the way. Such is his distraction that he almost stumbles. Embarrassment flashes briefly through his spikes and he smartens up. I don’t have a Bond with him, but I have to guess that he realised that he needed to get his head back in the game and proceeded to do so.

  I exchange an amused look with River and Catch, and then we’re off at a cracking pace.

  here!

  here!

  here