Sheets of rain drenched them and made the footing treacherous as they descended toward a river, of all things. The water had forced it to swell over its banks, frothing the currents into fast moving rapids. Regardless, Felix still caught the gut clenching sight of jagged fins and barbed spines threading the water.
Were crossing that? Atar asked over the storm.
Our destination lies on the other side, yes. Wyvoras voice was matter of fact, as if the thought of fording the raging river was nothing more than a stroll across the room. We will have to ford it at its most narrow, which is several leagues upstream.
Joy, the fire mage deadpanned.
Think of it this way, Sparky, Evie said with a companionable slap on his shoulder. Youre already soaked. Cant get worse!
A winged insect the size of a big dog buzzed across the river, barely audible over the wind. Without warning, two long, narrow jaws snapped it deftly from the air. Both creatures disappeared with a splash.
Atar groaned and Alister swallowed audibly. Even Evie looked disturbed.
Nothin for it, Harn said. He ambled to the water. Lets kill us some fish.
Ah but this is too deep?
Harn didnt pay her much attention and other than a smirking shrug from Evie, no one else did either.
The river was perhaps five hundred feet wide and only ever got to seven or eight feet deep at the center. Certainly not impassable, but very annoying and likely deadly had this been Earth.
Fly? Pit inquired.
These winds are too strong, bud. Felix watched several trees get nearly bowled over further down the river. The sky was black. Youd get swept away faster than the river.
Pit grumped but stayed put.
Felix walked up to the rivers wild edge. He sent his senses questing through the waters, past large, writhing fish monsters and into the bedrock. His Mana followed after, lifting from the two rings burning at his center, until red-gold and blue-white light poured from him like water of his own. It sank into the earth in a blink, turning it to gel until Felixs Will and Intent took hold.
And then pillars speared up from the river.
Blessed darkness, Wyvora whispered.
Right, Atar tapped his stave on the rocks. Forgot hes a big bag of Mana.
Once several feet above the churning surface, the tops of the pillars began to spread and widen, forming into a walkway three feet across and extending in an arch over the entire five hundred foot span.
Stone Shaping is level 59!
By the end, Felix had burned through around half of his Mana but had produced a structure that would, at first glance, impress any engineer at his old firm. He was certain it wouldnt last long, however. The supports and design would hopefully be enough for their crossing, but the rampaging monsters and violent weather on the Continet would bring it down in months. At best.
He stepped forward and tested it with a foot. It neither wobbled nor creaked, and Felix risked putting his full weight on it. It held, remarkably. At his last estimate, Felix was clocking in somewhere around six or seven hundred pounds thanks to his Journeyman Body.
The guard quietly marveled at the feat of magical engineering, and Wyvora wasnt as good at hiding her surprise as she thought. His friends, however, were a different story.
Couldnt make it a bit roomier, huh? I can barely swing my chain in here, Evie complained.
Couldve done with a roof. Be nice to get out of the rain, Alister said.
Right?
Felix rolled his eyes and followed them across, Pit right behind him. Other than a couple jumping Snapjawed Pike, the crossing was uneventful. Those few aquatic monsters that attacked, they were dispatched by Vess and Alister with ruthless efficiency.
Ten minutes later they were across and no worse for wear. Felix nodded to the Henaari. Where from here?
Wyvora licked her lips. We progress through there and up the winding crevasse. She pointed to a darker portion of the forest ahead, where it butted up against a set of pale cliffs. This one mustmust express her dismay, Pactlord.
Hm? Felix said. He didnt fail to note the tension rising on her Spirit. Behind her Vess loomed, partisan leveled.
This bridge is a wonderbut it will allow this ones enemies that much closer to this ones people. Her wide eyes and elongated head threw off Felix interpretations of her expressions, but her Spirit didnt lie. She was terrified of what she was about to say. I would ask that youthat your destroy it.
Again, she didnt wince but she may as well have. Shed even forgotten to do that annoying this one thing. It made Felix feel like a bully, for all that shed tried to kill them earlier. He nodded.
Not unreasonable. I can do that, he said.
It took less Mana to destroy the bridge than it took to create it, which made sense. Felix know it had several weak points, and he simply dissolved the stone at those sections, letting the entire thing collapse on itself.
It did, however, give him a terrible migraine and a sudden despondency that worked between the cracks of his mood. The bridge fell, but it felt like it didnt even matter. If he could cross the river, so could his own enemies. It was a delaying tactic, nothing more. The Archon would come and theyd all die. Nothing he made would last.
No.
It felt like shifting the weight of a mountain, but his Willpower grappled with it. The mood moved, inch by inch, lifted by pure force of Will and bullheadedness. It was as insidious, but hes spotted it. That was half the battle. Once he had recognized what was happening, he could fight it off.
Oof. He literally panted from the mental exertion. Mind strain and Spirit strain. Worse than ever before. Felix stared at his shaking hands. Way worse.
To the others, and especially the Henaari, he simply nodded as the rushing waters consumed the stone bridge.
Control. Maintain control. He clenched his fists. Dont let them see you sweat.
Keep moving.
The cliff led through a winding crevasse and into a box canyon completely filled with snakes.
Are you kidding me?
This time the outburst was from Evie.
How many obstacles are there? She demanded.
Beyond this there is one other, Wyvora said. She walked forward, into the snake pit without hesitating. This is the easiest of them.
She stopped in the center of the canyon. A few snakes lunged at her but she didnt move her long limbs at all. Eventually the snakes gave up and ignored her.
Felix narrowed his eyes and flared his Manasight. Violet Mana clung tightly to the ground, shaped so exquisitely that hed never have noticed it if he hadnt looked directly for it.
Illusions, he said.
Wyvora inclined her head to him.
They moved on.
The canyon fed out into another forest, though this one was encased in tall cliff walls and the beginnings of mountains ahead. The last range before they reached the Archons Domain. From Felixs vantage, however, all he could see were the thick trunks and dark foliage of the forest.
This way, if it pleases you, Wyvora said.
Up through the forest, they followed a hint of a hint of a trail that switchbacked up an increasingly steep incline. Felix flexed his Tracking Skill, hoping to spot something of their hostsall he found were animal prints and scat, tree markings and bird nests. Of the Henaari he saw nothing, and had he not watched Wyvora walk ahead of him he could not find her footprints either.
High level Stealth or some woodcraft Skill?And do they all have it? A handy Skill to pass down for a nomadic community that, if Vess reaction was any indication, wasnt well tolerated. So I guess the entrance to their camp is gonna be camouflaged and hidden. No one goes to all this trouble to just hide in the open.
The path curved around a high cliff, and when they rounded it, Felix gasped.
Wyvora gestured. The last obstacle is one few can match. The Matriarch praised the Raven for three entire days when we found a place such as this. Only truly ancient ruins can do justice to the Ravens munificence.
Before them, perched on the edge of a cliff was a face. It was overshadowed by a forest of redwood-sized trees, but the darkness only made the Mana of its form glisten. Felixs eyes rounded, filled with the gentle swirl of complex, gorgeous Mana.
This is
Nymean, Felix said. Wyvora looked at him askance. Weve seen something like it before.
Truly? Her voiced lifted and curiosity sparked in her Spirit. She nodded to the massive, moss coated head, through whose mouth a wide, dark cavern could be seen. That is
Oh no, another one of these? Alister said. Last one almost took my head off.
Lets hope theres no crystal for Felix to drop on us this time, Evie said, slapping Felix on the back.
That just means he will get creative, Vess added with a dimpled smile.
Felix smirked and Pit trilled a bright laugh. Yeah yeah, laugh it up. He let the smile drop from his face and tried to scrub it from his Spirit. Game face on.
They all entered the cave.