It had taken us two days of constant travel to get here. The Fangs and I had dozed on the giants shoulders as they ran tirelessly all that time. The air was constantly getting colder and thinner as we climbed from low rolling hills into a true mountain range. The Fountainhead lay at the base of one of the largest mountains I’d ever seen. As we grew closer to the damn thing seemed to stretch vertically up into the sky and towered over the lesser peaks that lay scattered around it.

  The Narbolik were a different kettle of humongous fish to the other clans. They didn’t have any warning of our arrival but they responded instantly, organised ranks of heavily armoured Huskar marching out in good formation armed with long metal weapons instead of the stripped down tree trunks the other clans had favoured. I was counting them courtesy of Glimpse and I gave up when I got to an estimated five hundred. That was less than half of their ranks. “How are there so damn many of them?” muttered Jandak.

  “They have access to the Fountainhead so they have more children.” Nuk shrugged as though it was obvious and I bounced on his shoulder.

  “Put us down. I want you to form two groups to either side of us,” I ordered. Mulius and Marbo began barking orders to their faction's warriors. A mile behind us the majority of the Kalast and Pagnal non-combatants were setting up a hasty camp. The mood among the brutes was surprisingly buoyant. They were confident that we’d win despite the imbalance in numbers and the Huskar-scaled plate armour the enemy were wearing.

  “Gentleman, a word?” I said to the Fangs as I walked a short distance away from the Huskar. “Any way we can do this without nuking them?” I hissed.

  “Still don’t know what nuking means!” said Kos happily, using the English word awkwardly.

  “It means killing them from the sky, right?” asked Jandak.

  “Pretty much. But we want this lot alive if possible.”

  “Send Malius to negotiate?” suggested Mune thoughtfully. “Maybe one of their own might stop the fighting?”

  I called over the biggest giant I had and checked with him.

  “It’s unlikely. They think we’re here to take the Fountainhead. And we are so… convincing them otherwise will be tricky.” He ran a cow-sized hand over the back of his head. “Can Mars help you? You’ve got a good-mark.”

  “Not a bad idea. You and I will go forward together. I’ll show them the mark, see if Bronze Balls decides to help me out. Let’s go, bloke.”

  “Maybe you should go alone? You might need me to coordinate a counter attack so you can escape?” Malius sounded worried. I glanced up at him and pulled a mana potion out of my pouch to wave it at him.

  “I’m back at full mana and with this I can cast Burning Skies seven times in a row. They’re the ones who’ll have to escape me if it comes to it but I want them alive. You might help with that so you’re coming with me.” He grumbled but didn’t make too much of a fuss.

  “Fangs, split yourself among the Huskar.” I sent a command through the bonds of the nearby giants. I was getting the hang of it. I could instinctively feel when I was grabbing the right bond to enforce an order. “They’ll follow your lead. If it gets hot, lead them onto the flanks and mop up the edges after the fireballs stop falling.”

  Malius and I walked forward towards what looked like an army of giant statues clad in full plate armour.

  “What’s the best approach?” I said quietly as we walked forward. A squad of five Narbolik troops had set off from their side to meet us halfway.

  “Same as before. Tell them to yield or die.” I snapped his bond and he winced. “I wasn’t fucking lying, Harvester. We respect strength. You’ve got it. Use it.”

  “How would they react if say… that lot over there died?” I asked, nodding towards the right wing of the opposition.

  “They might charge or they might bend the knee. Why?” Mulius asked.

  “I need more Souls if I’m going to take control of so many Huskar. I get quite a lot for killing one of you guys. I’m having to fight back the urge to just slaughter all of you, if I’m honest.” My voice was friendly as I discussed my impulse to wipe out their species. “I want your people as soldiers though. I can’t be everywhere in the south and squads of Huskar mixed in with my regular troops would be a powerful combination.”

  “We’re just pieces on a board to you. Just like we were to Narbo.” None of the Huskars had spoken of their Maker in anything other than reverent tones. I made a note to quiz him about this later but currently I had five gigantic, armoured knights coming to a stop ten metres away from me. Shit.

  “You will surrender to me now or I will kill all the warriors on your right flank,” I declared in a flat voice.

  “Ho! He really does fancy himself as the new Legate! Leave in peace little Harvester, come back when you’re stronger. You cannot face the Fountainhead and live!” The speaker was smaller than his four escorts which struck me as odd. All the other major players among the Huskars had been the biggest and baddest. Maybe these guys favoured brains over brawn.

  “You know what I am and what I’m capable of?” I asked. He had taken the wind out of my sails somewhat.

  “Of course. The ferals lack the eyes to see but we haven’t lost the knack of the artifacts.” He raised his twenty foot long spear towards the sky and a blast of brilliant light shot up towards the thin clouds above us. I checked Glimpse had been well away from the attack and was reassured that he was floating above our own forces and had been away from the danger.

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  “Enchanted equipment won’t save you from me,” I growled but internally I was reassessing my options. If they had powerfully enchanted artifacts from previous Shikrakyn my chances of steamrolling them with sky-fire had dropped significantly. Mulius had growled at the word ferals.

  “You’ve stolen our birthright and hoarded it for yourself! You’re not true Legionaries, you’re just thieves!” My escort had stepped forward. “Take off the fancy armour and let’s see who’s really the strongest!” he snarled.

  “Enough, Malius!” I plucked his bond and he fell back throwing hateful looks at our interlocutor and myself. “I want to preserve these people but I’ll kill them if I must.” I turned a flat look towards their leader. “What’s your name?”

  “I am Pertabon. You?” He spoke politely.

  “Mond.”

  “That is not your true name, Exile. What did your mother call you?” he replied.

  “Raymond Cobbler,” I said.

  “Better. You aren’t as powerful as you should be but perhaps we can make an exception. The rest of your brothers and sisters are far away and won’t come to the Source for many years. If you live you will be in a better position to face them. You’ll probably still be pathetically weak compared to some of them but it will help even the scales a little. It is dangerous though.”

  Bloody hell. So these guys had an idea of where and how powerful the other Souls were? I needed them more than ever.

  “I can offer you magic if you’ll help me,” I offered.

  “If you pass the Fountainhead you can make that offer again but we won’t accept the soul bond before then. Take your troops back to their camp over the hill and come forward with your closest allies.”

  “Don’t trust this bastard, Mond!” snapped Mulius. “The Narbolik are all lying shits! They piss on all of us that live downstream!” Pertabon removed his helm and shook his head as his eyes emerged from the shadows. He blinked slowly as he looked down at me.

  He was young. At least as far as I could tell. All my Huskars were gnarled and scarred but his face was smooth and clear.

  “We will return to the Hold. If your troops withdraw there will be no bloodshed. I swear it on the Source. I alone will escort you to the Fountainhead and I’m hardly a threat to you on my own.”

  I locked eyes with him and I couldn’t sense any deception in them.

  “Will you accept the bond so I can know you’re telling the truth?” I asked. He rocked backwards as booming laughter echoed out over the hills and bounced back from the sheer face of the mountain.

  “No little lord. I will not. Trust cuts both ways, no? Pick your guardians and send the rest away. No harm will come to you from my clan, I swear by the Source.” I glanced at Mulius who shook his head but I checked the bond with a light touch, then he reluctantly nodded.

  “The Source is significant?” I asked my bonded giant. He struggled, tried to keep his lips shut but the words spilled out anyway.

  “It’s the Source! It keeps the river pure and lets us grow ever older! You’ve seen how many of these bastards there are? They get the pure water! We get the piss and the shit filled dregs so we're always weaker, not true immortals like the Maker intended!” His mouth slapped shut with a clomp as he finished his rant.

  “Fine.” I turned back to Pertabon and craned my head back to look him in the face. “Give me a minute to make the arrangements.”

  “I’ll send my forces back as well as a show of good faith. I’ll stay behind and wait for you and your escorts.” He pivoted and barked orders. His own guards sprinted off at a speed only possible to someone casting Haste on themselves. A high level version of the spell judging by the tufts of soil that flew behind them.

  “Mulius, go tell the rest to go back to camp. Bring the Fangs and Nuk with you when you return. Quickly!”

  I pricked his mind and he leapt to obey. As my forces withdrew and the Narbolik troops filed neatly back into their town I looked up at the big friendly giant that I didn’t trust as far as I could throw him.

  “So what’s the plan? This prick surrender?” grumped Jandak. Jesus, I needed to find a way for him to get Haylin up the duff to fix his mood. I thought about it for a moment and concluded that a wise man would stay the hell out of that kind of thing and just put up with his friend’s bad mood.

  “No. he’s going to take us to the Source and I’m going to be tested.” I cocked an eyebrow at the armoured giant who nodded and chuckled.

  “Something like that Harvester. Follow me.”

  He led us up winding paths I wouldn’t have thought the Huskar would be able to use. Nuk and Mulius trod very carefully, keeping themselves as close to the sheer wall of the mountain as possible. The further we went the greater the drop to our left became. Mune had gone green twenty minutes ago and was practically hugging the cliff face, as far away from the drop as he could get.

  “This is the place.” Pertabon seemed to vanish into the stone but as I caught up I saw it was a tall, narrow slit in the stone. It opened out on the other side and was dimly illuminated by what looked suspiciously like electric light bulbs.

  “What is this place?” My voice echoed back to me. Nuk and Malius were both shrunk down on themselves, like sinners in a church. The Fangs stared at the steady lights in shock.

  “Old magic?” wondered Kos as he walked to the wall and reached up to touch one of the light. As his fingers grazed it the flight fluttered and he snatched his hand back with a squawk. “Don’t touch them!” he snapped.

  “I recommend you don’t touch anything in this place. There are secrets that cannot be shared and if you stumble on them our truce is over. Harvester, your fate awaits in the deep. We will wait here.” He waved a hand at the receding darkness that swallowed the cave deeper into the mountain.

  “Jandak, you’re in charge. No fucking around.” Damn, bad choice of words. “Just make sure nothing happens ok?” I quickly corrected. He nodded and looked around at the cavernous walls that stretched up above us.

  I strode forwards and quickly lost sight of my companions. The tunnel narrowed until it was too small for an Ur-vile to pass through. It became increasingly uncomfortable, the sense of being enclosed with millions of tons of stone poised over my head waiting to smash down… not helpful, Ray. The passage was lined with just enough of the glowing lights that it never became pitch black but I found myself hurrying from light to light and lingering next to them before moving for the next one.

  The tunnel wound downwards at a steady angle and curled to the left constantly. I had no idea how long it took me. Time quickly loses it’s meaning in this kind of sensory deprivation. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty so it couldn’t have been too long but the shadows and loneliness combined with a claustrophobia I didn’t know I suffered from to leave me tense and fearful as I finally stumbled out into a larger cave.

  This space wasn’t smoothly carved like the walls above me. It was ragged and jagged. It was sharply lit by a six foot hole in the mountain but that wasn’t what caught my attention. Sat on a pedestal, with crystal blue water spewing from it sat some kind of… it looked like a pearl? But pearls didn’t do this. As my eyes locked on it I felt a wash of power flow out and waves battered my mind.

  I was flotsam on the tide, battered one way then another. Stones were ground to sand under this kind of force. I recoiled but found I couldn’t move my feet.

  You’re committed now Mond. Poseidon won’t let you go. You have to survive the trial. The first step is reaching the Luminant.

  Great. Aresk finally decides to actually speak to me outside of my dreams and it’s only because I’ve stumbled into a trap left by the sea-witch.

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