Volithur collected the items on the packing list from the warehouse, rushing because he’d slept in after hosting Darius’s second birthday party the day before. Corey and Ronda had joined them with their daughter Erin. The adults imbibed much wine while the children pyed. There had even been murmurings between the girls that maybe the kids would make a good match some day.

  Such talk seemed ridiculous to Volithur, but if it would come to pass, he wouldn’t mind having friends as in-ws. It certainly beat the situation his own father had. The poor guy was despised by his wife’s family. Volithur smiled at the thought of his parents. Having children of his own, he knew in a very real way that all parents were only fwed creatures.

  “Master Harridan! Good, you’ve not left yet.”

  “I’m gone in two minutes, so whatever you want had better be quick, Len.”

  The warehouse clerk shook his head. “You’ve been summoned to the household, Master Harridan.”

  He froze at the news. “Summoned? Is it Master Zara?” He’d been te with several deliveries in recent times. Surely that wouldn’t be enough to merit a stern lecture?

  “The Lord General requests your presence, Master Harridan.”

  The packing list fluttered to the ground from his numb fingers. “Why?” Did the man discover Volithur’s betrayal? It should have been impossible.

  “The Lord General did not share his reasons with me.”

  “Right. Of course. Where am I supposed to meet him?” It had to be for some other reason than his betrayal. Otherwise Lord General Thrakkar Shaocheth would have come in person.

  Len marched before Volithur, guiding him towards the estate. They passed through the gate, went straight past the manor house, and walked up the stairs to the main pace. Guards gestured them past impatiently, their mannerisms communicating that ‘Master Harridan’ should be there already.

  “Were you deyed in finding me, Len?”

  “No, Master Harridan. I came direct. All I can say is that things have been tense this morning. You may specute better than myself as to the reason for that.”

  By the time they reached the formal receiving room, Volithur felt queasier than if he’d drank an entire jug of uncut spirits. They bowed on approach to the raised dais and stayed there. Using his other senses, Volithur noted that the Lord General stood with his retinue rather than sitting on the austere throne.

  “Master Thrakkar, Harridan is here.”

  “Finally. Stop the bowing, you.”

  Volithur straightened his posture as the Lord General approached. “You’re developing yourself into a hollow spear, Harridan. Soul at eight but body somewhat below seven. Underdeveloped aura. At least tell me you’re competent with your transits.”

  “I believe I am, Lord General.”

  The Lord General flicked his wrist. “You have leave to call me Master Thrakkar now and any time it is only my retinue present.”

  What did that mean? Volithur swallowed to restore some moisture to his throat. “Thank you, Master Thrakkar.”

  “Are you able to restore your energy reserves as rapidly as Zara cims?”

  “I am quite fast, Master Thrakkar.”

  “Stowaway, bring out the hourgss,” the Lord General commanded. “Harridan, take me somewhere by transit sphere. Be prepared to bring us back the moment you are able to.”

  Volithur stammered his agreement and formed the sphere. He stepped inside, conscious of the Lord General following him. Especially conscious of the cramped space. The other man couldn’t travel in such fashion often. Not when he was famous across all universes for his immense sphere.

  Most supply runs were between locations on Tian. The unempowered worlds had little of monetary value when compared to a true world. Because all of the spots he knew best were to musty warehouses, Volithur decided to target the fourth household on another world. He moved them to their destination and opened the sphere.

  “Another world. Excellent, Harridan. How long do you require to recharge?”

  Volithur began to draw in copious amounts of cosmic energy. “I have enough reserves to go immediately if you wish, Master Thrakkar.”

  “This test is about replenishment rates, Harridan. Don’t leave until you have restored what you used on the way here.”

  “As you say, Master Thrakkar.”

  The Lord General snorted. “Ease up on the formality, boy. You might not be my ward any longer, but I’m hardly a stranger. I like to keep things upbeat when with my retinue.”

  His heart shuddered. “Your retinue?”

  “Well, let’s see how you perform before I finalize my decision.” After a moment, the Lord General continued. “Do I recall correctly that you based your insight on my chaotic emergence?”

  “I thought I was doing the same thing as you for almost a year, Master Thrakkar.”

  The Lord General scrutinized him. “It’s not as different as you might think. There’s a definite intersection of our techniques. I bring space out of chaos. You bring cosmic energy out of chaos. A few bits at the beginning match up. Then your insight veers into drastically different territory.

  “It’s a fascinating process, Harridan. You should make lord before your first century of life. That will certainly be a record. Absolutely under no circumstances can you allow yourself to reach that level without bringing your combat capabilities up to standard. New lords are tested by their peers. Only the strong survive. Though maybe concerns about a future where you’re a lord are mispced given the tragic condition of your apertures. You should never advance without bringing each of them to the peak of your current level. Never.

  “You look like you’ve followed the rich noble’s zy path to power. True strength isn’t at the bottom of a gss vial or bottle, Harridan. Follow the cold forged method to bring your body enhancement up to the peak of level eight. I will give you advice on your aura training as well. Blocking strikes during sparring and doing regur aura cultivation gets you most of the way there. Then there are a few tricks I might share if you show promise. Are you at least skilled in use of your domain?”

  The steady stream of words had a calming effect on Volithur. This seemed like the Lord General was grooming a young protege. Though he preferred not being around this murderous tyrant if at all possible, Volithur at least did not have the sense that his life was in danger. “My domain is a weakness of mine, Master Thrakkar.”

  “That’s a true shame. I’ve always had the knack for it, fortunately. Not having an offensive externality is a liability, you understand? No one can deny the value of a transit sphere, but it cannot be used to attack. I make up for the ck with my domain. I took the head off Lord Shane when he tried making a name for himself by challenging me. And Gunboat Jane. I tore her metallic form in half while she tried to line up her schism beam.”

  The Lord General paused and squinted hard at Volithur. “You just keep going at that insane pace, Harridan. I’m satisfied with your regeneration rate. Perry will run tests to determine your exact capabilities ter. Let’s see how accurate you are now. Bring us back to the throne room.”

  Volithur reversed their journey. While they were standing in the dark between worlds, the Lord General hummed a jaunty tune. “This is going to work quite nicely,” he said as Volithur began to reverse the process. They appeared exactly where they left from.

  “Only half an hour, Lord General,” a man said.

  “I didn’t see a reason for the full test. Harridan will be joining us. Perry, tomorrow I want you to do a full assessment of Harridan’s regeneration. I want to know how long it takes him to go from empty to able to travel. Also how much we can speed that up with spirits.”

  “First thing in the morning, Master Thrakkar,” Perry agreed.

  The Lord General spun to point at the dour man. “Stowaway, pull out a steel bone elixir for Harridan. Radish, give him a pep talk. He’s to empty his soul reserves before tomorrow.”

  The dour man, Stowaway, pulled a double vial from thin air, shocking Volithur – on close examination, Stowaway had no cosmic energy whatsoever. A cheerful, chubby man took the vial in one hand and dragged Volithur from the room by the scruff of his neck. When they were in a nearby sitting room, Radish pced the vial onto a small table.

  “Ass to cushion, Harridan. Time for blunt talk.”

  Volithur gingerly sat, not sure what to make of the gruff attitude on dispy by the formerly affable man. “I’m listening, Radish.”

  “Good. You know why you’re recruited to the team?”

  He couldn’t say it was because he would one day be a lord. That would be too presumptuous. Radish was his superior, both in status within the established hierarchy and due to being level nine. “I’m not quite sure of that.”

  “The Jinn are proving a hard nut to crack. We’re going to change tactics. Big armies are a liability, so we’re not doing that in the near term. Our strategy will be elite teams with a high degree of mobility. You’re one of our porters.”

  “I see.” Volithur understood perfectly well what was going on. He’d screwed himself over by offering intel to the Jinn. The Lord General recruited Volithur because he couldn’t win by his usual tactics. The fact that he would one day become a lord didn’t matter all that much for this day.

  Radish nodded, happy to see the serious contemption. “I wasn’t there the day of your wedding, but I heard you mixed well with the group. Certainly you should contribute to the levity when we joke around. Keep your mouth shut most of the time. You’re not a key pyer of the retinue. The old hands keep things running smooth. Me and Perry and Yowl set the tone. Understand?”

  “Yes, Master Radish.”

  “Good. Next order of business. Your body enhancement is garbage. Not the best idea before a war. You’re going to start fixing that right now.” Radish leaned forward and tapped his nail against the vial. “This is going to be some right nasty shit. It’s bones and almonds and dandelions and lemongrass mixed in marrow juice. Pinch your nose or whatever you got to do to swallow it down. Then empty your entire soul training the cold forged method. Big bones first, yes?”

  Volithur took up the double vial, popped the cork, and took a sniff.

  “You really don’t want to smell it, Harridan.”

  With a heroic effort of will, Volithur did not empty his stomach in that room. He sat back to get himself back under control. When he felt somewhat composed, Volithur pinched his nose and threw back a portion of the vial like a shot. He swallowed the oily, chalky, chunky, bitter, and vomit-sour concoction as soon as it hit his throat. Then he sat there and breathed with his mouth open, trying his best to avoid letting any air pass through his nostrils lest he smell something.

  “I’ve used the steel bone elixir myself. It’s a tribution. Works, though. As you rise in level, the difficulty of body enhancement gets extreme. At eight, you’re just at the start of the hard times. Lords often spend centuries trying to reach the peak of level ten body enhancement, then give up. They say even the emperor of the Zing nation doesn’t have his body at that level, and he achieved eleven in his soul. I’d call the man a hollow spear, but he commands the rgest army on all of Tian.”

  Volithur slowly finished the elixir. His method was to take rge, sudden gulps, then wait out the aftermath until his gut settled and his willpower regenerated. It took close to an hour. Radish chatted at him all the while. When he finally emptied the vial, he felt immense relief.

  “That elixir won’t do the work for you like some of the others. Go home and forge your skull bone. If you manage to finish, move onto your femurs.”

  He excused himself from the pace and returned home. Khana, initially happy to see him home early, became ecstatic at the news that his station had been elevated. Volithur hid his disappointment from his wife and shut himself away in the bedroom to work on his bones.