Lindon couldn’t wait. The sooner he could get a grasp on his abilities, the sooner he could begin thinking of new applications. Maybe new solutions.
He swept the table clear, moving his rolled-up map of Sacred Valley carefully to the side in case he spilled some water…and then he stopped with the map in his hand.
The ground shook beneath his feet.
“A few mornings from now,” Lindon agreed. “That should be plenty.”
Orthos glanced nervously at the earth aura beneath his feet.
Eithan cheerily raised his mug. “Plenty of time! I can’t think of a single reason why we might need a Sage in the next few days.”
Lindon snatched the mug back.
When everyone had returned and gathered around the table, Dross materialized in front of Lindon. He clapped his boneless arms together, projecting a deafening clapping noise into everyone’s mind.
[We’re going to make this quick, all right? Just listen to me, I’ll give you your assignments, and everything will go smoothly. Focus…actually, that’s too much, that’s embarrassing. Everyone looking at me. Give me about eighty percent of your attention, that should be plenty.]
Little Blue, seated on the table, turned slightly so that she was only halfway looking at Dross.
[That’s perfect, keep that ratio exactly.] He gestured, and a purple light shone over the map of Sacred Valley spread across the table. It lit up Mount Venture, the sacred peak to the west.
[There are four schools here, one on each mountain, and three clans splitting the valley part of the…valley. The school over here, to the west, is the Golden Sword School.]
He gestured again, and the purple light indicating the Golden Sword School was crossed out by a red slash. [They’re gone! They’re out. Vanished. Complete ghost town over there.]
The Fallen Leaf School had several methods of contacting the other schools, and some of the Akura Golds had techniques or constructs intended to spy on far-off locations. They were often slow or blurry because of the suppression field, but they all indicated the same thing: the Golden Sword School had left days ago, if not weeks.
“Where did they go?” Mercy asked, concerned.
Ziel sighed. “Anywhere’s better than here.”
“Yeah, but can a school full of Jades make it in the real world on their own?”
“They’re going to have to,” Lindon pointed out.
[Forget them, they’re already dead. Probably. But who cares, really?] Dross waved again, and this time a light shone over the mountain to the south. The Greatfather.
[Holy Wind School, not gone yet, but going. At least there are some smart people in Sacred Valley.] A few images floated in the air, showing the mass exodus of the Holy Wind School. Most of them were carried on the back of a huge floating raft, not a cloudship, that inched its way south.
“They’ve been trapped here for generations,” Orthos rumbled. “That doesn’t make them idiots.”
Lindon felt a surprising amount of irritation from Orthos on behalf of the inhabitants of Sacred Valley, which was touching. Lindon rested a hand on the back of the turtle’s head and just enjoyed having him back.
[Oh, of course, yes. Not idiots. There are two more schools of non-idiots: here at the Fallen Leaf School—] A light shone on the north mountain. [—and the Heaven’s Glory School. The most…wisdom-challenged…of them all. Then, of course, we have the three clans.]
Three more lights shone in the center of the valley. The Kazan clan to the west, the Li clan to the south, and the Wei clan to the northeast.
[We need somebody on each of these lights, not counting me, because I’m trapped inside a living skull.]
Yerin leaned against Lindon’s side like he was a doorpost, arms crossed and Goldsigns fortunately retracted. “Don’t think I’m jumping anybody to say we’re going to the Wei clan. Can’t head anywhere on my own, because I’m two seconds from falling on my face, and Lindon’s been talking about going home since the day we left.”
Lindon nodded silently. That was the most obvious assignment.
The violet light over the Wei clan turned into a little picture of Yerin. And Dross.
[All right, that’s one taken care of. Good pace. Someone will have to stay here—]
“Apologies, but are you planning on leaving me behind?”
Dross gave an annoyed sigh. [Anywhere I go, you go. It’s implied. But if it bothers you that much, I can soothe your ego.]
A tiny model of Lindon hovered next to Yerin. And over them both, like a fat moon, hung an image of Dross. He was much more detailed than they were, too.
[Now, who wants to make sure the Fallen Leaf School makes it out the eastern exit?]
“I will,” Orthos said. “The exiles are here, and they know me.”
And, Lindon knew, the other options required much more flying.
Little Blue piped up, standing up to her full foot of height and sticking her hand in the air. Lindon was shocked. She had never volunteered to be apart from him before.
She turned to look at Lindon, whistling a question, and he nodded. If she wanted to stay with Orthos, there was nothing wrong with that. And Orthos could protect her.
Then again, she had grown alongside Lindon for a long time now. Maybe she would be the one protecting him.
[Okay, Orthos and Blue here at Fallen Leaf.] Dross waved his hand and the northern mountain light changed to a model of Blue sitting on Orthos’ shell. [Heaven’s Glory, anyone? Yerin, how about you? You don’t need to go with Lindon, and we didn’t do a headcount of whatever Jades they have left. We probably wouldn’t notice if one or two went missing…]
He let that temptation hang there in the air, but Eithan had already raised his hand.
“I would be delighted to secure Heaven’s Glory myself. It’s very important that we hold that exit and soothe relations between the school and the Golds, and you know what they say: if you want something done right, get Eithan to do it.”
[Done!] The purple light shifted into an image of Eithan sweeping something into a pile. It looked suspiciously like a pile of bodies. [That leaves the Li and Kazan clans for Ziel and Mercy. Who wants which one?]
“The Li clan!” Mercy said brightly. “I like their name!”
[Which leaves the Kazan for you, Ziel. You think you can handle it?]
“I know literally nothing about either of them. Just tell me where to go.”
[I like you, Ziel,] Dross said. [You’re so…compliant.]
9
Ziel took his host of Golds and marched for the Kazan clan territory.
Well, they took him.
He didn’t mind his role here. He was saving people from a Dreadgod attack. That was worth his time and attention, so he was more than willing to do it. It’s just that there wasn’t much he could do that his bunch of Akura Golds couldn’t handle on their own.
That suited him just fine. He would throw his weight around if necessary, but he didn’t need to do much other than be there.
Ziel drifted along on a borrowed Thousand-Mile Cloud, letting the Truegold woman in charge of his retinue drag him after them.
The Kazan clan had a solid series of walls around their territory, large bricks mortared by layers of old scripts. Their gates were hammered bronze, lined here and there with halfsilver or goldsteel to disperse attacks.
Ziel’s Golds declared themselves to the sentries, negotiated their way inside, and arranged a meeting with the leaders of the Kazan clan while Ziel laid back on his cloud, half-asleep.
The people here seemed…sturdy. That was the best way to put it. They were generally stocky, looked as though they were no strangers to a hard day’s work, and the badges on their chests were almost the size of breastplates.