by Sarah Lin
"I know." Nauda couldn't last much longer, but she glared at him with everything she had left.
"Okay then."
With that, Tythes brought down his hand and slammed Nauda to the ground with just as much force as before. That left everyone in the courtyard bowing except the House Ruler, who seemed to have retreated off to the sides. Most of them stared up at the rogue Authority, wondering what they could do if he started killing people, but at that moment Tythes threw up his hands in an elaborate shrug.
"Looks like everybody fails! Go away and stop disrupting my sleep."
As soon as he landed on the balcony, his power veiled itself again and the oppressive force lifted. The vast majority of the former contestants scrambled to flee, while a few looked over to the Ruler as if hoping this had been part of the test. But the other man simply looked shaken and didn't respond, so they soon retreated as well.
Theo found himself alongside Fiyu as they rushed to help Nauda. The column of light had come down on her hard, but he judged the force had been somewhat evenly distributed. She lay on her back with no sign of broken bones, though she was bleeding from her nose.
"Nauda, are you alright?" Fiyu bent down beside her and Nauda gave a low groan.
"He didn't kill me, but... the pressure felt like it was crushing my chest. I think... I should see a healer."
"For now, you must rest. We will take care of you."
Fiyu gingerly touched the other woman's robes, then looked to Theo for help. He neutralized Nauda's gravity so that she could remain floating on her back, then the two of them slid her out of the courtyard between them. As he went, Theo glanced back over his shoulder, trying to evaluate what he'd seen. Parts of it felt like a performance, but he was also certain that Tythes had wanted the trials to end and would be willing to strike anyone else who ignored him.
That meant no challenging House Crimson, but their position had unquestionably worsened. Even if Nauda's injuries proved minor, it would take time and effort for her to recover, plus their strongest option for a House alliance had closed. Then again, given what they'd seen, staying out of House Crimson might have been for the best.
A glow behind them made Theo start to move for cover, but it wasn't the rogue House scion again. Instead, he saw a robed woman descend from the sky beside the soulcrafter who had first been crushed, then bend down beside him. Violet light flowed from her hand over the man, who suddenly sat up gasping.
It had obviously been a healing, but Theo was more interested in what he had seen. The woman's soulhome was expertly hidden, so his only chance to examine her strength had been in the moment of healing. There, he'd felt an Authority's cantae and gotten an impression of a highly polished soulhome. Perhaps this was another ranking member of House Crimson come to clean up the mess.
"Theo, should we avoid her?" Fiyu asked the question softly, but they didn't have a choice. In another moment, the woman was standing beside them.
Up close, Theo realized that he'd gotten the wrong impression of her age. Though her back was straight and she looked reasonably young, the wrinkles in the corner of her eyes and mouth suggested that she was far older. Perhaps she had soulcrafted excellent health for herself, but not yet true immortality. They would have to hope that her experience had made her less volatile than Tythes.
"I must apologize for my nephew." She spoke in a quiet voice that still seized their attention. "Please forgive his youthful indiscretions. The House has placed a great deal of pressure on him, and it causes him to lash out."
"He is your relative?" Fiyu asked. The old woman responded with a practiced half-shrug.
"I used the term in the sense of being my junior within the House, as we are not actually related. However, I trained him when he passed beyond the abilities of his parents and his tutors, so I bear the responsibility for his actions."
"Never mind that," Theo said. They might not have any leverage except the woman's honor, but he thought that could be exploited. "Are you going to heal our friend?"
"Yes, give me but a moment." Again he caught a glimpse of an Authority's soulhome as a violet light spread over Nauda's body. When Theo relaxed the gravitational field, she returned to her feet with wide eyes, no sign of her injuries except a bit of dried blood above her lips.
"Thank you." Nauda gave the woman a friendly touch to the arm, but she immediately shook her head.
"We do not deserve your thanks. For now, I suggest that you depart. It may be quite some time before House Crimson conducts future trials, so you will need to be patient." She disappeared in a blur, back into the House grounds. Whether she was going to reprimand Tythes or clean up after more of his messes, Theo couldn't be sure.
As they wearily put some distance between themselves and House Crimson, Theo considered the encounter. It seemed plausible that Tythes was simply lashing out, and if he was really so essential to the House's future, there might be no one to stop him. Many Authorities were like the old woman who hadn't given her name, managing to break through later in life and unable to soulcraft further. Soulcrafters who could ascend to Stronghold and beyond at a young age were rare, which gave them entirely too much power. The fact that House Crimson hadn't anticipated such behavioral issues spoke poorly of them.
"Our first attempt has not gone as we'd hoped," Nauda said mildly. "Tell us, Theo, where will your enlightened guidance take us next?"
"Hey, I'm not sure anyone could have predicted that." Theo glanced at the other two, but was glad to see that their spirits hadn't been broken. "Let's try a House with a calmer reputation next, shall we?"
Chapter 8
Several days later, as they entered another House complex, all they'd essentially done was narrow their options. The House of Coin was stable and well-managed, but he judged they were too canny and well-staffed to offer them much of an advantage. House Teal hosted many trials, but they were trying to prop up their own position and had nothing to offer. When Nauda had convinced them to at least try one of the small Houses, it had been so limited that she'd agreed that was a dead end.
Now they sat in another courtyard, this time for House Blacksilver. The group along with them wasn't nearly as large as those hoping to join House Crimson, but the group was reasonably large and unusually diverse: he spotted Ichili and Arbaians along with Fithans. Around him, he noted that the grounds weren't particularly luxurious, but they were practical and well-maintained.
It had taken the two of them teaming up on him to attend the House's trial event. He felt that any organization that devoted as much energy to appearing benevolent as House Blacksilver must be attempting to cover something else. They hadn't figured out the city's black markets or smuggling operations, which must exist, so perhaps they were the local mafia. But Nauda believed they had good intentions and Fiyu had been attracted by their Ichili facilities, so now they were giving it an honest try.
"Do you think their name comes from this material?" Fiyu had pried up one of the stones beneath her and examined the glossy black surface. "It is a worthy material for a name, but I cannot tell if it is silver as well as black."
"Oh, it definitely is." Nauda bent down beside her, shifting the flagstone to reveal the silvery sheen that merged with the black, producing a color Theo hadn't seen on Earth. "Can you not see that part of the color?"
"I could, but not through my mask." Fiyu smiled to herself, as if pleased she had uncovered the reasoning behind the name. Then someone from House Blacksilver marched into the room and she guiltily replaced the stone and straightened back up.
The woman conducting the trial was an unremarkable Fithan, wearing a Blacksilver uniform but otherwise exactly like many of the other functionaries they'd met. None of the trials they'd seen or heard about had gone as explosively as the one Tythes had ruined, which at least suggested that the city wasn't ruled by power mad Authorities, but simple officers doing their job bored him.
"Thank you all for coming to House Blacksilver." She gave the assembled group a polite smile th
at was as much a part of her script as every other word. "We do not consider ourselves an elite organization, but because our resources are limited, we can only afford to pay a certain number of soulcrafters. For that reason, we need to conduct this trial. I will explain the terms, then you may all choose whether or not you wish to participate."
As the woman walked to a table, a number of House servants brought out several heavy cases and began to set them up. The functionary unlocked the first, then slipped out a vial of liquid that glistened an unnatural purple.
"This is granitebile. It's a sublime material from one of our mines, but it's considered a waste product because it has few productive uses. In pure form, it's a poison that could damage an unprepared soulhome. We've severely diluted this, but consuming it isn't without risk. The trial is to consume a single vial without defending yourself, and we will evaluate how well your soulhome resists the effect. If you're not confident in your ability, please decline the trial."
Depending on the exact properties of the "granitebile" the test was either brutal or cleverly designed. Without more information, Theo wasn't about to go first, and fortunately several soulcrafters immediately moved to the table. Judging from their lack of hesitation, they must have attempted the trial before, or just be idiots. The House functionary forced them into a line, so a broad Fithan Archcrafter drank the first vial.
With his defenses lowered, it was easy to get a sense for his soulhome, and Nauda reached over to touch Theo's knee so he could take advantage of her telescope. They peered into the man's soulhome, getting a glimpse of a squat building formed from common Fithan stone. He might have an Archcrafter's cantae, but his floors were too short, and the stones forming his wall were set together poorly.
An instant later, purple liquid flooded in from the edges of his soul, the sublime material magnified within his soul. The man flooded his own cantae outwards, attempting to sweep back the tide, but that was a weak maneuver that barely pushed some of it aside. Purple liquid flooded past him, splashing up against his soulhome, leaking through the cracks in his walls and splashing into the windows.
As the granitebile flooded through the man's soul and dissipated into cantae, Theo understood the brilliance of the test. A true poison could have dealt devastating damage, but the diluted granitebile only left deep purple stains, revealing all the man's weaknesses in stark color. There was no way to deny that his soulhome had handled the test poorly, so the man cursed and stalked out of the room without arguing.
Others continued with the trial, while Theo slid into his own soulhome and began to work. What impressed him about the test was that it favored quality over strength: any idiot with enough money and willpower could have forced their way to Archcrafter, but the trial wouldn't turn away skilled soulcrafters who lacked the means to ascend. There were multiple viable options for dealing with the staining poison, so it let all potential candidates show their worth.
His soulhome could have kept out the flood, but Theo wanted to do better, hence it was time for some last second soulcrafting. He began by creating a barrier to cover his technique window, just in case, then began to soulcraft barriers from his leftover hearthtree wood.
While he worked, the others made their way through the trial, most failing. Some couldn't lower their defenses enough, immediately burning away the granitebile, which revealed a lack of fundamental control over soulhome techniques. Most who succeeded did so with simple good construction, though it clearly wasn't an exceptional result. One candidate with a barrier wall around his soulhome was ushered into another room. No one succeeded with pure cantae - it would take a Ruler or better to actually push aside a poison directly, and they didn't need trials like this to prove their worth.
Busy with his soulcrafting, Theo didn't realize that Fiyu had stepped into the line until he saw her at the front drinking a vial. The purple flood rushed through her soulhome, lapping at the sides before washing away without leaving a trace. Her perfectly polished walls retained their true colors, so finely honed that they rejected the outside influence.
Though the woman leading the trial tried to take her into another room, Fiyu shook her head and sat at the side, waiting for them with a smile. Nauda went next, stirring up a circular pattern of cantae from her heart chamber. It didn't attempt to strike back the flood, just redirected it slightly. Her soulhome easily repelled the portion of the flood that reached it: a few stains remained, but she'd proven her worth with the advanced cantae flow.
That left him, but he was adept at ad hoc constructions like this. There weren't many left in line, so Theo was able to walk up to the table and get a vial easily. He checked the granitebile, just in case it contained something more sinister, then lowered his defenses and allowed the poison into his soulhome.
As he'd known it would, it swept in from one side, meeting the V shaped dam he'd constructed. The flood of poison split in half against the hearthtree wood, flowing to the sides and out of his soulhome without touching his central building. It left the wood horribly stained, but Theo was surprised that the yellowed grass of his foundation actually drank in the poison without harm.
"It's certainly enough to pass, but..." The woman regarded him oddly, eyes unfocused as she peered into his soul. "Soulcrafting something so quickly is impressive, and your soulhome looks like it would have performed well regardless. But to simply waste resources to pass the trial..."
"They're not wasted." Theo entered his soulhome again and picked up a piece of the stained wood. Though he didn't let the Blacksilver functionary look directly into his soulhome, he took a fragment of the dam inside and fed it into the singularity in his heart chamber. She might not understand the exact technique, but her eyebrows rose slightly as she realized he could absorb the material harmlessly.
"Very well, then. Normally we would take you aside to discuss terms of employment with House Blacksilver, but since you seem to have companions waiting for you, we'll address the three of you at once."
Theo went to join Fiyu and Nauda, who smiled back as they rose. Though there were other Blacksilver employees around, it was actually the trial proctor who led them into one of the buildings around the courtyard. The office they entered was simply furnished, like the rest of the complex.
"House Blacksilver attempts to be generous but fair," the woman explained once she was behind her desk. "We evaluate each of our members by a system of merits based on their contributions to the House. Every month, one hundred merits will be deducted from your account, and in return you'll be given your salary. If you do not contribute sufficiently in a month without informing us, it will be viewed as a... lack of commitment."
"What's our salary?" Nauda asked. The woman pulled a stone slate from behind her and set it on their side of the desk, so Theo leaned forward to glance at the listed positions.
"It's based upon three things: your soulcrafting tier, your total contributions to the House, and other confirmed positions, such as being a stoneshaper or armament crafter. I think you're capable of calculating your salaries for yourselves, but let me determine how many merits we'll grant you based on your demonstrated skill in the trial. Presuming that you agree to the terms, of course."
That was less important than Theo's question: "What if we acquire more than a hundred merits in a month?"
"This slate will explain the tasks you'll be expected to perform as a member of House Blacksilver." The woman found another in her desk, then handed over both. While they drew back to examine them, she continued with the familiar speech. "Soulcrafters are expected to harvest sublime materials, serve as guards, handle demons, and hunt sublime beasts. If you truly contribute to the House, you will be well-compensated."
The slates revealed a system that seemed simple and fair. He and Nauda would receive one hundred and fifty Fithan Discs per month, while Fiyu received only eighty. But if they continued contributing to the House and increased their merit rank, the difference between tiers declined, which would discourage moochers but allow first t
ier soulcrafters with other talents to earn a better wage.
Most importantly, the merit values listed for the various tasks suggested that one hundred merits was far from an impossible goal. That meant it would be possible for a group like theirs to accumulate many, both increasing their salaries and likely trading the merits in return for other rewards. Theo had heard rumors of some Houses granting Chasm Invitations to their most productive members, so this could well be the path they needed.
"How much money is that?" Fiyu asked quietly as they huddled up. "I have purchased nothing since we arrived here."
"It's a lot." Nauda chewed her lower lip as she looked over the slate. "Too much, I think. There must be a catch."
"I will ask." Fiyu turned back to the Blacksilver official before they could object. "Excuse me. Do you directly give us this amount each month?"
The woman shrugged without looking up from her notes. "There are adjustments. If you damage House property, there could be deductions, but if you contribute something significant, it could be increased as well. You can also use your salary for services: we offer highly secure rooms for a reasonable price, for example, if you wish to stay here instead of an inn."
"I will require a complete list of all such adjustments."
"We don't exactly keep lists like that. There are too many unknowns... for example, if you bring us unusually valuable sublime materials, you can be paid in merits or in coin. Your paid salary will be lower than the value, but not much, so-"
"Please let me see the most complete list you have." Fiyu's frown made her disapproval obvious, actually seeming to shame the woman slightly. "I would like to join House Blacksilver, but it is important to know the exact terms of any commitment."
Grumbling under her breath, the woman sorted through her desk before coming up with a partial list. As soon as they looked over it, Theo realized that their caution was entirely necessary. The monthly cost for room and board was quite reasonable, but all the other fees...
