This Bond…you swear that it would be temporary? she asks, her voice sounding like it’s supposed to be demanding, but ending up more plaintive. Very unusual for Kalanthia, I think this is the first time I’ve heard it. I almost regret raising the possibility at all – I know that she’s had bad experiences with Bonds in the past. I’m probably bringing up all the bad memories here, and once more for the sake of the same people.

  “I swear,” trying to project my utter sincerity. “Anyway, as a Tame Bond, you can put in what you require and reject the Bond entirely if I ask for something you don’t want to give. Although the temporary Bonds I’ve had in the past have not allowed either participant to leave during the term, we might be able to put that in at the beginning – allowing you to leave whenever you want.”

  And what damage does this….Bond do when it breaks? Kalanthia asks and I sense that she forcibly directed her thoughts along the lines of Bond when they would have automatically moved towards ‘chain’ instead.

  “None, as far as I know,” I tell her honestly. “Neither Catch nor Honey showed or told me about any signs of damage to any part of them when they changed from Tame Bonds to Companion ones.”

  Kalanthia is silent for a long few moments. I dare to push myself to my feet and move closer slowly, reaching out to continue rubbing her under her chin. She growls a little, but I don’t hear any threat in it.

  You are trying to gain an unfair advantage here, she complains petulantly, sounding very much like her cub. I will think on it, she answers finally. I will give you an answer before you must depart.

  “No problem,” I tell her honestly. The Bond should be quick enough to do at the last minute. “Take whatever time you need. And Kalanthia?” She turns her head slightly to fix me with one golden eye. “Even if you don’t want the Bond, thank you for offering this at all. I appreciate it. And even if we don’t need the Core in the end, I’ll still be willing to do you a favour, just for being willing to help me out.”

  She rumbles again, this time sounding a little happier, and presses her chin more firmly against my scratching fingers for as much time as I can spare her. Which, due to our need to prepare for the journey, is less than I would prefer.

  Getting everything ready takes a good portion of the time we spend waiting for Windy and her escorts to return. Part of that is making sure that everyone – particularly Raven – has eaten and drunk sufficiently and that I have enough carcasses in my Inventory for later. We don’t want to delay things by needing to make a hunting trip later even if the meat stored in my extra-dimensional space isn’t ideal. The rest of the preparation time is spent creating a means of Raven carrying us all. After all, he might be big even in comparison to Kalanthia but we can’t all fit on his back.

  We discuss a few options, but decide that the best solution is to create a capsule which Raven will carry in his claws where some of the party can sit during the flight. That would require fewer needing to perch on his back.

  I’ve done my best to make the capsule as lightweight as possible, pouring magic into spidersilk to form the exterior walls with Joy’s help, and creating hollow bones to form the structure itself. It’s not robust at all and those inside will be at risk if anything attacks us, but it should stand up to the rigours of the journey itself.

  “We’re not likely to be attacked enroute are we?” I ask anxiously, suddenly wondering whether I should have asked that before. I realise that I had assumed that the skies were relatively empty of predators, but that’s probably a wrong assumption to make. I’ve already been attacked four times by creatures from the air which, while far less frequent than the ground-attacks have been, is still an indication that there are threats in the skies.

  Not as long as we head up the mountainside first as quickly as possible, Raven reassures me. Going deeper in would be asking for trouble, but at this height from the valley floor, few would dare attack a full-grown and Enlightened beast of my kind.

  That’s good to know, though I don’t rule it out as a possibility. As a result, I make a plan for what we should do if we are attacked and the capsule containing everyone risks being struck or getting in the way of Raven’s offence. I don’t want to have to heal everyone’s Energy channels from his acidic mana again, after all.

  After the capsule is made, it’s time to test and tweak it. We test it with small numbers and short flights, then expand the tests to larger numbers and slightly higher flights. We even test my Plan B a few times – without anyone in the capsule until I’m confident that it’s working in principle, then with others added one at a time, my stomach tying itself in knots every time we run a test.

  My claws are starting to feel cramped, complains Raven as he lands, carefully setting the capsule down on the ground before landing himself. And if I take any more than that last flight, I won’t be able to fly for very long before needing to rest.

  “That’s fine,” I say. “You’ve managed to take everyone currently here. Hopefully Windy’s help will enable you to carry the three additional samurans and Fenrir. As for your claws hurting, I’m sure Joy and I can weave the cord around your legs so you don’t have to grip the weight. Does the rest of it feel fine?”

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  It is well enough, Raven agrees slightly begrudgingly. Though I suspect that my top speed won’t be anything like what it would normally be.

  I don’t say anything for a moment, taking a step back from the situation. Should we really be doing this? The creature in the caves is a good target except for its distance. I am putting all my eggs in one basket here – almost literally if we consider the capsule as a basket and my Bound as the eggs in it. I’ve made a Plan B – and Plan C if we consider Kalanthia’s offer as part of my planning – but anything can happen. None of my present Bound apart from Sirocco and Raven can fly, so if anything goes wrong….

  But then things could go wrong at any time, I tell myself. Targeting a local Guardian and walking through the forest to get to it could go wrong. And there are no good targets nearby, nor do I have the first-hand experience with them that I do with this other creature. Plus, based on what Kalanthia said when I asked her in the past, the tentacle monster is at least her level of power, meaning that its Core would almost certainly be the outright winner.

  Because that is the additional issue that the Pathwalkers have put in – hedging my bets and choosing a less powerful creature to attack might backfire on me if it turns out that the current ‘treasure’ of the lead samurans is of better quality. Based on what I’ve learned about samuran thinking, I suspect that it would be more forgivable if I went after the creature alone – as long as my treasure is better than Flying-blade’s. But since everyone now knows I’ve taken a party along with me, I really need to blow the others out of the water.

  Which all means that this creature – powerful, known, and probably trappable – is the best bet, even if it does mean needing to fly all the way there and back.

  “We will deal with whatever problems happen,” I say to Raven, belatedly responding to his comment. The fact is that with him being one of my Bound, even if only with a Tame-origin Bond, there are options. Even if he can’t borrow Ptera’s Lighten ability, I can probably help heal the strain his flight causes during the journey and I may be able to feed him stamina – I’ve worked out how to do that with Dominate-origin Bonds. Even though Raven is an Ally, as a beneficial, non-invasive effect, I hope that it will work with Raven’s Bond, despite it not being one originating in Dominate.

  We spend the rest of the time resting. At least, the others do. I can’t stop myself from fidgeting with the capsule, trying to make it a little more solid, a little more safe without increasing the weight any more. Mostly, that involves shoving in more mana, focussing on making the bone and silk more robust, more protective, less penetrable.

  I do seem to make some progress – when filled with enough mana, the bone seems to take on a different lustre, looking like it’s become metallic, even though it doesn’t increase in weight. It’s like I’ve reached a tipping point in it – so much mana forced in and not allowed out instead transforms it into something else. The section of silk directly under my hand, too, takes on a faint rainbow-like sheen.

  That effect actually alarms me – glittering rainbows in the sky is just asking for trouble. Really, we want it to be able to pass unremarked. However, just as I think that, the section of silk loses its rainbow-like qualities and becomes just slightly harder to see.

  “Have…. Have I just made camo-fabric?” I wonder with bemusement. Several of my Bound look up at my voice, but don’t comment. Reenergised, I work on doing the same thing to as much of the capsule as I can, not hesitating to borrow mana from my Bound when my own starts getting low – this task is very mana-heavy.

  Markus, we are almost there, Catch tells me needlessly – just the fact that he’s able to contact me verbally through the Bond is sufficient to know that they’re close by. I push myself to my feet and clap my hands.

  “Alright everyone. The others are only a few minutes away. Let’s get moving – the sooner we’re ready, the sooner we can get into the air.”

  The clearing soon looks like a kicked anthill as everyone immediately tidies up what they were doing and starts gathering close to Raven. I look at the capsule in slight disappointment. I was able to transform most of the fabric on the sides to ‘camo-fabric’ – one hand at a time – but I ran out of time to do the top and bottom. Hopefully that won’t be important.

  Markus…. Kalanthia approaches me looking very serious.

  “You’ve made a decision?” I ask, almost sure that that’s the reason. She dips her head for a moment.

  I will accept a temporary Bond with you as long as there are no constraints on me, it is sure to fall away after this short period, and you are not given access to any of my thoughts or memories.

  “No problem,” I say honestly. “I wasn’t planning on doing any of that anyway. But please, put in all the guarantees you feel are necessary for you. The process is a bit like that Alliance Bond we created with Raven.”

  I offer the Bond to Kalanthia. She’s tense and stiff as she quickly adds her requirements into her side of things. It’s like she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop as she accepts and passes it over to me. I don’t need to spend more than a few moments checking through exactly what she’s added before I accept – there’s nothing in there which will cause problems. Not for such a short-term Bond that’s only there for the excuse to be able to call her my Bound in case we need to take advantage of the back up plan.

  That’s it? Kalanthia asks with surprise in her voice as the Bond slips into place. It’s a gossamer-like thing, barely even present. I sense nothing from it, and it adds very little weight to my soul.

  “It is,” I answer out loud – I don’t even have the ability to communicate with her mentally as she didn’t want to risk me getting access to her mind. Which is fine by me since we’re not going into battle together. I smile at her, projecting my fondness for her as I see the party we’ve been waiting for entering the clearing. “Look after yourself and we’ll see you when we come back.”

  She seems uncharacteristically rattled, pulling backwards and becoming almost unnoticeable, half-hidden in the trees. At least that’s one thing the Bond gives us – I know where she is even when she wants to hide. But because I know she wants to disappear, I ignore her and turn my attention to my new and returning party members. Unsurprisingly, Windy looks like she’s in an awful mood.

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