Threads 390-New Peace 1

That revelation brought a new round of whispers and disbelieving sounds. It was hard not to join them. Ling Qi had seen a good number of ith up close. While they shared some features, it was very hard to think of them as humans.

“It is one thing to call the cloud tribes human, but are ith not a step too far?” a thin man in Jia colors whose name floated just beyond her reach asked. “Even if they were once, they are clearly not any longer!”

Dzintara shrugged. “That, I leave you to determine. They are great artificers, though feeble of body, and spread easily through the bowels of the world carved by the primordial’s flowing blood. It is these rivers under the earth which they build around. In most places, they live deep and do not bother the lands which live under the sun. In Nidavellr, the men who live in those barren peaks swear fealty to them, and they are said to bear great and powerful works of arms and armor with which they subjugate and raid the surrounding lands and draw their own tribute or which they might trade on their sky ships to the men of lower lands in exchange for dark favors. These thralls of the maggot men are dealers of death, warriors and merchants as the whim takes them.”

“The matter of the rivers matches our own accounts,” Ling Qi said, leaving unsaid that she had been one of the makers. “If this place is so far though, how do they come here? Did they arrive with your new tribes and burrow down, or do these rivers go all the way under the northern ocean?”

“It is known that the shadow under the earth stretches far.” Luo Jie leaned forward on his stick. “It is also known that the deeping pits know no proper geometries.”

“Frustrating business,” Wang Lian grunted. “Having to account for distances and angles not being as they should be. It’s troubling all of the tunneling efforts.”

“It is so,” Dzintara said. “We do not fully understand this aspect.”

“They are distant here though,” the Jia man—Jia Shu! That was it—said. “Else they would have called for aid when Her Grace subjugated the cities beneath Xiangmen. Interrogations on the matter showed that they were not subordinate to other powers before her.”

“True enough,” Wang Lian said. “The source is interesting but not too relevant at the moment.”

Dzintara gave a sharp nod. “Yes. We ourselves intend to investigate the underground geography of our lands now that this has been pushed to the fore. Better understanding is necessary. Regardless, the indications and studies show that their greatest strength is in what we call rune work and what you call formation craft. That said, the degree to which they deploy themselves as weapons seems to be against our evidence.”

“No proxies under the eyes of the sun here, traitorous exceptions ignored,” Luo Jie said.

“Likely what they are trying to build with the aid of certain cloud tribes,” Cao Chun said, breaking his silence. The man’s expression was pinched, and his eyes fell on her now and again. When they did, his wrinkles deepened with his scowl. “If these creatures are the broken off periphery of those from Nidavellr, then they likely lag behind in many areas. Neither a group of cities nor a province can match the united output of a civilization.”

There were quite a lot of implications in his statement, not all of which Ling Qi had the time to unpack now.

“I propose we add dissection of ith artifacts and rune craft to the items which we may both benefit from studying,” Inzha said.

“What examples of ith artifacts and rune craft there are reside in the same vaults as void objects,” Dzintara said sourly. “Those the archivists release may be used as such.”

“That would be very helpful,” Meng Deming, who still appeared wan and exhausted, said. “There will be many academics here.”

“I find no fault with the proposal,” Wang Lian said.

“So long as we are certain it is of maggot make and not the void demons,” said one White Sky priest, echoed by his peers.

“Do not like knowing there are foes beneath.”

“Forbidden ways, tapping into things close to the void…”

“Should census every mine, just to be sure.”

“Have your people asked your new subjects about the disposition of the rest of their people?” Jaromila asked.

“They have. We know the polity at war with us lies primarily under the Wall and the southern Emerald Seas. There is another polity beneath the Red Jungle, and there are others in the northeast of our lands,” Cai Renxiang replied. “Their knowledge grows foggy further than this; communications outside of their city groups are less reliable. They do state that there are further ith groups south of the mountains.”

More whispers and grumbling among the White Sky contingent arose at this. Jaromila nodded sharply.

No one on their side reacted much. That information had already been dispensed among the province and shared with the capital and other provinces.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

In the end, Gan Guangli was the one to formally stand and receive the great tome that Emissary Dzintara had made. There would be much more to go through in it, but not by them.

“That is well and good that we should cooperate against enemies,” Luo Jie said. “This, you cannot be doubted on. However, there have been rumblings of more forces arriving from your lands.”

“It is so,” Jaromila admitted. “The recent incident, despite its good handling, remains unsettling to us. Although our guardian, the Weeping Sentinel, was able to assist, she wishes for the support of her temple rather than a single Voice if she is to remain here.”

The twisted tree woman looming over their delegation creaked loudly as her gaze shifted away from Xia Ren, the sunken pits of her eyes roving over the table. “Four Voices in chorus multiply. Without voices, action in the realm of men is limited.”