“It certainly might go a long way toward explaining why it would become a sort of nesting ground,” Sidonie ventured, after everyone had taken a moment to think on Sakari’s words. “Assume the common characteristics of mana beasts in any rift: accelerated growth to a size substantially greater than normal –”

  “The damned things are big enough on their own,” Kaija grumbled. “Big enough to ride, at least. If the ones in Godsgrave are bigger than that, we could be in for real trouble.”

  “I would be more concerned about their intelligence,” Liv said. “I talked some of this over with Silica, before the fight at Nightfall Peak. She seemed fairly confident that traces of Iravata’s power would draw less wyrms there, and she also said that the rest of the first clutch died there with the V?dim. I’m less worried about fighting the kind of wyrms that get trained and ridden into battle. Something that can think and reason, like Silica, would be more dangerous.”

  “In the end, we will not know until we begin to scout the area,” Soaring Eagle said. “And the danger will not stop you, will it?”

  “No,” Liv agreed. “No, it won’t. I made your people a promise, and we’re going to keep it. Whatever we find along the way, we’ll deal with. But it may help to have an idea of what dangers to expect.”

  “According to the stories, Asuris, Iravata, Ractia, and Antris died there,” Keri said, following Liv’s meaning. “If traces of their power remain, we should expect to contend with manifestations of darkness, blood, wyrms, and perhaps Antris’s war-machines.”

  “Even if Ractia’s power went away when our people stole her corpse and brought her back, that’s still a lot of danger,” Wren said, speaking up. “We’ve fought Antrians and wyrms before, so we have some idea of what to expect. It’s whatever is leaking out of Asuris’s body that I’m worried about.”

  “I can tell you a bit about that,” Sidonie volunteered. “Duskvale was one of his homes, supposedly, before he was attacked there and had to flee. I went there for my first culling. The sun sort of dimmed, overhead, and it was cold inside. The deeper you went, the darker it got, and you had to bring lights with you if you wanted to see anything at all.”

  “So – enchanted scarves to breathe,” Liv said. “Lights. Plenty of oil lanterns, and enough oil to last us. Keri, Soile, I think we’ll want to identify any soldiers who came from Mountain Home and know how to use Savel, in addition to people with experience boating. We won’t know how cold it gets until we have scouts along the shoals, but we should be ready to bring in winter clothing, or clothing enchanted to keep people warm. The Crosbies use hammers when they fight the scavenger machines out of the Foundry Rift, we should commission as many warhammers as we can from the local blacksmiths and begin training people to use them. Can anyone think of anything else?”

  “I’m curious to see just how well Savel will counter this gloom,” Keri admitted. “I’d like to try to prepare a few enchantments using the word.”

  “I can help you with that,” Sidonie volunteered.

  “I’d like to have as much anti-venom as possible on hand,” Arjun said, looking to Sakari. “We can get that from House Iravata, I assume?”

  The former ambassador nodded. “It would be good to have a few people with the word of poison with your healers, as well. I’ll see who I can bring.”

  Steris, who had been mostly silent throughout the meeting, stirred. “It is a word that my family occasionally arranges to learn from the Iravata, for obvious reasons,” he said. “I will send for a few healers who specialize in treating such wounds. But I must emphasize that speed is of the essence. Wyrm poison kills quickly.”

  “Dā can slow it,” Miina said, speaking up. “Hold it off long enough to be treated, sometimes. Sometimes not, if it's a large dose close to the heart or the head.”

  Liv thought of her grandfather – how her grandmother had been able to keep him alive long enough for Liv to get there and say farewell, but how even Arjun hadn’t been able to save him. If they’d had someone with the word of poison there, would things have been any different? But in the days after Calevis had let Iravatan warriors in an assault on the Hall of Ancestors, who would have trusted them?

  “It sounds like we have a plan, and that we know what preparations still need to be made,” Liv said. “Unless someone has something else?” She took a moment to look up and down the table, and was met by either silence or shaking heads.

  ?

  Soaring Eagle and Wren left immediately, while Soile and Keri made preparations to get the army moving. They’d warned Liv that would take about two days, so she took the opportunity to go into Whitehill with Kaija and Ghveris, where she met with the blacksmiths, including Emma’s husband, Dustin. In addition to warhammers, she wanted axes and saws, for taking down trees.

  Mistress Ethel was able to show her the first scarves: not enchanted yet, but embroidered with the sigils. They would be going out for enchantment as soon as she, her daughter, and Melody had enough to ship. That was fine: Liv didn’t plan to actually need them until after they’d cut a road through the jungle, and that would be no quick task.

  She managed to squeeze in a meeting with Edwin Teller, who assured her that the banking guild was pleased enough with the revenue stream from the year’s taxes, along with word that she’d come to an arrangement to produce enchantments with the merchants guild, that they were willing to approve a loan to fund the expedition.

  And of course she couldn’t leave without seeing Matthew, Triss, and baby Henriette – which meant bringing Calm Waters and her daughter along, so that the little girl could meet the infant. So far as Liv could tell, they hadn’t encountered any problems visiting Mountain Home, but she wasn’t going to press. As far as she was concerned, it was enough that Blossom and Rei had made friends.

  On the morning that the army was to leave for Varuna, Liv rose early and looked over her armor. It had been months since she’d fought at Nightfall Peak, and both Kaija and the smiths at Al’Fenthia had done everything they could to repair all the wear and tear that came with fighting her way from Coral Bay to the Tomb of Celris, and then the battles at the south pass and against Ractia’s forces. Since then, it had, expect for the occasional bit of oiling and polishing, remained on the armor stand in one corner of her temporary bed-chamber.

  Many of the damaged leather pieces had been completely replaced - but then, there was significantly more metal now than there had been when Kaija had first made the set. The breastplate and backplate, the pauldrons and vambraces, and the helm were all now of enchanted steel, enameled white. The tassets, which were attached to the breast and backplates, were of white boiled leather, and hung down over her hips like a sort of skirt, providing a bit of protection for her thighs. A new set of greaves had been forged to go over the enchanted boots she’d been given by Tej Mishra, after her time in Lendh ka Dakruim. The gloves she wore beneath her vambraces were of soft white leather, and her helm had been fitted with fresh white horsehair.

  The days when she’d balked at wearing trousers were gone, now, and she had a pair in deep, midnight blue that was nearly black. They matched with her padded gambeson, which helped to keep the armor plates from chafing, as well as providing an additional layer of protection.

  Compared to what knights had worn a generation or two before, she was still somewhat underarmored; but Liv had no intention of being at the center of a cavalry charge, or holding a pike on the front line. Her armor was there to stop a chance crossbow bolt, a knife from behind that she didn’t see coming.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  By the time Thora joined her, Liv had her boots, trousers, and a linen shirt on, and was just settling the gambeson into place. “I didn’t miss being a squire,” the other woman grumbled, though she got to work strapping Liv’s greaves on over her boots easily enough.

  “I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay here, can I?” Liv asked.

  Thora shook her head. “We won’t actually be inside the rift, as I understand it. The camp, that is. I can put up with this horrid jungle you’ve all been talking about, as long as I’m behind walls with a good bunch of soldiers to keep the mana beasts out.”

  Liv nodded, and held her arms out so that Thora could get her into the breastplate.

  Keri, Kaija, Miina and Ghveris waited for her in the corridor outside her rooms, all armored. Liv hadn’t actually seen Miina geared for war since they’d been together in Varuna, where her cousin had acted as a sort of squire. She smiled when she saw that the other woman had gotten a particularly sturdy gorget added to protect her throat.

  They ate in the great hall, with Liv’s guards. Everyone set their gauntlets and helms off to one side, leaned their swords, polearms, or crossbows against the wall, and tore into the food as soon as it was brought up from the kitchen. The only ones not wearing armor were Sidonie, the Red Shields, and the healers, and Liv saw that Arjun was sitting with Calm Waters and her daughter, deep in conversation, at one of the lower tables.

  Keri nudged Liv’s arm, and she turned to look at him.

  “Before we leave,” he said, keeping his voice low so that their conversation did not carry, “I should remind you that you aren’t truly required until we’ve set up a camp at Godsgrave. The journey down river, building the road, all of that can be done by scouts and the army without you present.”

  “I know.” Liv looked down at her cleared plate for a moment. “But I can’t really figure out how we’re going to handle the rift until I see it, Keri. On top of that, some of the mana beasts may leave the shoals, especially if there’s an eruption while we’re there. I want to get a sense of what they can do, and I don’t want to show up a month from now to find they’ve killed dozens of our people when I could have stopped it.”

  “As long as you know your reasons.” Keri nodded.

  For a moment, Liv regretted not throwing caution aside and inviting him to her rooms the night before; it would be the last chance until all of this was done. But Elder Aira’s words, up on the ring, came back to her: The last thing anyone should be bringing into that place is a new life.

  They all walked down to the waystone together, where Soile had the first few groups of soldiers lined up at attention, and Liv saw that several of her students had found some excuse or another to gather and watch them leave. Karina even dashed forward, which caused two of Liv’s guards to step into the young Elden woman’s path and cross their halberds, until Liv waved them back.

  “I know you’re taking people to deal with the wyrms,” she said, brushing a strand of her sickly-yellow hair back over one ear. “I can command them, and I can control poison. I’ve got both the words you want. Can I come with you?”

  “You came here to be part of the college,” Liv pointed out. “The college is in Bald Peak, not Varuna. And you aren’t a journeyman yet.”

  “Were you a journeyman when you fought that war-machine on the bay?” Karina asked.

  Liv narrowed her eyes, but Sidonie and Arjun laughed at her.

  “Finally!” Sidonie pushed her glasses back from the tip of her nose with one gloved finger, and grinning at Liv. “I’ve been looking forward to the day you have students who act just like you. Not that any of you first-years should use this one as a model,” she continued, turning back to the Elden student.

  “Now I know how Jurian felt,” Liv grumbled. “He’d probably be laughing along with you all if he was here.” She looked over her student. Karina wasn’t actually any younger than she was – just a bit less experienced. “I’ll tell you what. If you can test up to apprentice by the time the road is cut, and we have the base camp set up, you can come along with a few of our best healing students.”

  Karina grinned, and backed up from the waystone. “I will. Thank you!”

  Before anything else could interrupt them, Liv stepped up onto the waystone, where her friends and companions crowded around her. Her personal guards made a perimeter, along the edge of the white stone, and four of them kneeled down to share the burden of activating the ancient device.

  There was a flare of light, and that familiar stretch of timeliness darkness between places. Liv wondered whether the shades of the three V?dim who’d died at Godsgrave were lurking somewhere in the vast, empty nothing, and whether they might discover a functioning waystone amidst the ruins. Then, light and warmth returned, and the scent of fresh air, wet earth, and rain.

  The bridge rift – though it was more accurate to name it a dam – had seen construction since Liv had last been there. Make-shift fortifications had been reinforced or replaced by House Isakki masons, and a semi-permanent garrison of a hundred Elden warriors had remained behind to hold the waystone. Liv and her friends were expected, since Soaring Eagle had come through only a few days before, and Wren was waiting for them by the canoes, beneath the dam. They’d been dragged down to the edge of the water and arranged in neat rows; Liv could see packs of supplies from Al’Fenthia already wedged inside, and paddles set out.

  “These are still in decent condition,” the huntress said, kicking one of the boats. “I’m a bit surprised that none of them rotted.”

  “Valtteri always made certain they were well taken care of, in case we needed to use them again,” Keri said. “None of those log-looking lizards are about, are they? We lost good people to them when we took the rift.”

  “Cipactli?” Wren asked. “From the boots I’ve seen some of the Eld wearing, I think they killed and skinned them all. I haven’t seen any since getting here. Anyway, Soaring Eagle’s somewhere between here and Clearwater Cenote, but I flew with him partway, and we marked where to leave the river. We can leave as soon as we have enough people to fill twenty canoes.”

  Ghveris carefully made his way over to the bank, where his immense feet sank deep into the mud with audible squelching noises. He examined one of the canoes, and then shook his head. “There is no way I will fit in one of those,” he admitted.

  “That’s why the plan for you is the same as when we went to Feic Seria,” Liv told him.

  It took an hour to be ready to launch, during which time Liv mostly stayed out of the way while Keri organized things, with the aid of Ghveris’s booming voice. Up above, the brilliant light of the waystone shattered the sky repeatedly, and with each activation of the ancient magic, another load of soldiers shortly after came trooping down from the dam to the riverbank. Soile, Liv knew, would be remaining at Bald Peak until the last of the army was ready to move out.

  The canoes could hold five people and their gear, if not comfortably, then without too much hardship. That worked out to seventy soldiers, split evenly between crossbowmen and pikemen; Liv’s personal guards; and her friends and companions. She found herself waiting by one canoe with Thora, Miina, and Kaija, while Keri hurried around getting everyone ready to be underway.

  She was a bit taken aback when the first thing he did, upon approaching their canoe at last, was to begin pulling off his armor, his gambeson, and then even his linen shirt, leaving him bare-chested.

  “What are you doing?” Liv asked.

  Keri shrugged. “It was fine to wear the armor marching through Bald Peak,” he said. “It made for a pretty picture, with the army leaving; and it meant that if we found something unexpected here, everyone was ready. But it's too hot to keep all that on while we go downriver – nevermind that you’ll sink like a stone if you fall into the river. Let’s get it all stowed.”

  Liv contemplated leaving her armor on anyway – or at least the helm. After all, she’d seen what happened to people who took their helmet off in battle too many times. But then, they weren’t actually in battle, were they?

  “Give me a hand, and then you can help Miina and Kaija,” Liv told Thora. Within moments, she’d stripped down to her boots, trousers, and linen shirt. Keri showed them how to pack the armor at the front and rear of the canoe, to balance the weight, and Liv could see soldiers doing the same in each of the other canoes. Keri held the boat steady long enough for the women to climb in, and then, with an oar in hand, gave it a shove out into the water. He splashed after them for a moment, then jumped in, settling in the back, just behind where he’d had Liv sit.

  Wren’s canoe was already in the water, just ahead of them, and behind splash after splash signalled the other eighteen boats following. Liv drew her stormwand, flicked it back toward Ghveris, and waited until the enormous war-machine had stepped onto her pane of conjured mana before she lifted it out over the river, drawing it behind them a dozen feet above the water.

  “Can you really keep that up all day?’ Thora asked, craning her neck and leaning to the side to get a look, in a movement that made the canoe rock back and forth dangerously.

  “I can keep it up as long as I need to.” Liv grinned. She’d considered just flying south, but she wanted the soldiers to see her travelling with them, rather than separately. It was about sending a message: that she wouldn’t make them do anything she wasn’t willing to do herself.

  Now, she was glad she hadn’t decided to fly: there was something calming about the motion of the boat on the water, and all she had to do was lean back against Keri’s knees and watch the flowers go by on the banks to either side of them.

  When they reached Godsgrave, Liv knew there would be plenty of fighting. But for now, she was happy enough just to have made a beginning, so long after she’d given her promise.

  volume eight is finished! They'll be getting the first chapter of 9 today as soon as it's written!

  here. I am more available there than I am here.

  Dramatis Personae

  Livara T?r Valtteri Kaen Syv? - Guildmage, former scullery maid at Castle Whitehill, the bastard daughter of Maggie Brodbeck and Valtteri Ka Auris. Mountain Queen, and Lady of Winter. Now knows how her professors felt. Jurian's spirit is laughing at her. [36+ Rings of Mana, not counting mana stored in items.]

  Arjun Iyuz - Journeyman Guildmage from Lendh ka Dakruim; his jati specializes in healing magic. Would like to please not lose any more patients to wyrm venom. [18 Rings of Mana]

  Ghveris, the Beast of Iuronnath - Formerly a Great Bat in service to Ractia, now the remains of his body form the heart of an Antrian juggernaut. No mere canoe can contain his power! [Mana Battery: 10 Rings]

  Inkeris "Keri" ka Ilmari k?n B?lris - A young warrior of the Unconquered House of B?lris, father to Rei. Does not know just how close he was to getting laid the night before departure. [20 Rings of Mana.]

  Kaija - Former Armorer at Kelthelis, captain of Liv's personal guard. Not a fan of fighting wyrms. [21 Rings of Mana]

  Karina of House Iravata - First year student at Bald Peak. Determined to do whatever she has to do to come on this trip. [16 Rings of Mana]

  Miina t?r Eilis, of House D?ivi - Daughter of Eilis, niece of Eila, cousin of Liv, Lady in Waiting. Lady in Waiting / Badass. [21 Rings of Mana]

  Sakari of House Iravata, Ambassador to Lucania — Has, unfortunately for him, been drafted into this madness. [21 Rings of Mana]

  Sidonie Corbett - Guildmage. Conveniently has previous experience that is now relevant. [19 Rings of Mana]

  Soaring Eagle - Husband of Calm Waters, father of Blossom. Red Shield Tribe. Was a little worried for a moment that this is just too big of an ask, and people would back out.

  Steris - Healer of House Esteri. Consulting. [18 Rings of Mana]

  Thora - Lady's Maid to Liv. Going on campaign!

  Vivek Sharma - A priest of the Trinity from Lendh ka Dakruim. "No one expects the Whitehill Inquisition!" [21 Rings of Mana]

  Wren Wind Dancer - Daughter of Nighthawk, cousin of Calm Waters. 100% committed to this.