Chapter 14

Stoneskin

Misandrei led Femira to the advanced training hall.

They walked along the terraced mezzanine walkway that overlooked the central courtyard where recruits were running through training drills. The heat of the rising sun had a tendency in Epilas to conjure a thick low hanging fog from the bay that now hung over the courtyard. Coupled with the golden light of the morning, it cast a yellow haze over Femira’s vision like she was inside a giant glowing earthstone.

“I hope you realise just how much of an opportunity Garld is offering you,” Misandrei said, giving Femira a sidelong glance. Her dark red hair was shaved close at the sides, and the top was kept short. She was striking, and her ability in both the sword and runewielding had always set her as an intimidating presence.

“Are you soulforged?” Femira asked with genuine curiosity.

“I have been infused with a stormstone,” Misandrei replied.

“Is that how you move so fast?”

“Soulforging in and of itself does not make you any more skilled as a fighter. It does not grant the muscle memory that you’ve developed with your blades nor instill the knowledge of how to use them.”

“But it makes you faster?” Femira pressed.

“You have yet to use any of the other elemental runestones,” Misandrei pointedly ignoring Femira’s question to her annoyance, “You are becoming skilled with your eradite, but the others are still a mystery to you.”

“What does that have to do—”

“—during the transference, when you draw material into your eradite, have you noticed the change in your body?”

“The change?” She didn’t really consider it, she pulled in rock so quickly she didn’t ever hold it in her for any length of time.”

“For eradite,” Misandrei replied without skipping a beat, “it toughens your skin. The rock or metal material literally strengthens your body’s resistance… but it makes it heavier and slower,” she replied and then added with an arched eyebrow, “you’ve never noticed this?”

Femira shook her head, “No—I just move it right into the earthstone without thinking. With stoneshaping it’s the same, I don’t hold it in my body.”

“You are quick,” Misandrei nodded to herself, “in runewielding, we call this the ‘hold’ ability. Each runestone has a draw ability, in the case of eradite it is pulling rock or metal into the stone. And finally the push ability, the push for eradite is stoneshaping, forming rock into a shape and putting force into it so that it can be used as a projectile. The hold ability is called the ‘stoneskin’ by some and many runewielders that favour eradite become guardians in battle, their enhanced resistance to attacks making them difficult to take down. These are the three types of ability that come with all elemental runestones; draw, hold and push.”

“So for stormstone, this ‘hold’ ability makes you lighter? And faster?”

“Exactly—Becoming soulforged hasn’t affected my hold ability. I could move that fast using my stormstone as it was.”

“So what did becoming Soulforged do to you?” Femira implored.

Misandrei gave her a one-sided smile, it was an unsettling feature on her otherwise impassive face. She wasn’t going to tell her. Fine then, keep your secrets. If Femira had secret abilities, she certainly wouldn’t be rushing to tell everyone exactly how they worked. She could take an educated guess though as to what an eradite infusion would do to her if Vestyr and Endrin were anything to base off—assuming an eradite infusion was indeed what they had.

“Can a person be infused with multiple runestones?” Femira asked. As Misandrei had already noted, Femira didn’t have any skill in the other runestones—not yet at least. Garld had mentioned that once she became soulforged with her earthstone, that she would be closed off from the other runestones. Was that permanent?

“Possibly, our knowledge with soulforging is still in its infancy. Becoming soulforged will make you significantly stronger in wielding the runestone you are bonded with, but it makes harnessing the others considerably more difficult. You’re aware that a person can only truly master two runestones, yes?”

“Yeah—I thought that was just time though. The time it would take to become a true master of one would take years.”

“That’s true, but when you become soulforged, there’s a change in how you runewield—it’s difficult to explain. Garld described how it is a change to your very being. This is no exaggeration, my senses have changed, how I perceive the world has changed. This has all given me far superior command of stormstone, but at the cost of using any of the other runestones in a meaningful way. There might be a way to change this, but in the knowledge we’ve gathered, there isn’t anything to go by just yet.”

Femira was quiet for a moment in consideration. She had made such minimal progress with any of the other runestones but by allowing herself to become soulforged, she would be closing the door on those forever. Was that a path she really wanted to take? She thought of Landryn fighting Karas, the way his sword moved quicker than her eyes could follow. He surely has the stormstone infusion too. Lorelei, always evading her attacks in training. Endrin puffing her dagger to dust, Vestyr trapping her in the ground.

She thought also about the small stormstone she had hidden away in her rooms, and its unused potential. She hadn’t tried to sell it yet although that’s what she’d always intended to do with it.

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” Femira asked.

“Not at all,” Misandrei replied, “we need people with your talents, Vreth,” she used the name politely, not with spite the way that some of the other recruits had. “We’ve been training soldiers,” she continued, “but we need more like you. Agents that can move quietly in the shadows, and can make a hidden strike.”

Despite all the training she’d been given on learning to fight and using her runewielding abilities, she couldn’t deny that stealth work was where she felt most alive. “But I wanted you to be aware of what is to come,” Misandrei continued, “the transition is… It can be hard. It’s a very painful process and the aftermath… some find it difficult to adjust.”

“Do I even have the choice?” Femira tossed out lightly. Misandrei pulled up, Femira also coming to a stop and looking back at her. Misandrei affixed her with an affronted glare.

“Do you think you’re a prisoner here?” Misandrei demanded.

“Am I?”

“Perhaps Garld is right, maybe your loyalty is a concern.”

“Are you serious?!” Femira contested, “an Honorsword almost killed me last night! Before that you can’t blame me for thinking Garld might try to hand me over to them.”

“Do you think we would invest this much time in you if we were going to just hand you off to Keiran?” Misandrei accused, “Do you think I would waste my time training you each day these past few months?” Femira hadn’t anticipated Misandrei’s reaction, she hadn’t really put much thought at all into the effort Misandrei had gone to on her behalf. Same with Aden’s lessons and even Jaz’s. She realised how temporary she’d been looking at all of this. She had been acting like this was just another job and that these people were all passing connections to her. But they were real people, people who saw what she could become.

“I’m sorry, Captain,” Femira replied, looking at her feet, “I’m—I am grateful.”

Misandrei was quiet for a time, her eyes still cold. The morning drills were starting in the yard, recruits getting into formation to begin the day of training. Femira would have been expected to be there herself if she hadn’t been on assignment. She was aware of the dress she still wore as more uniformed recruits assembled.

“Get some rest, Vreth,” Misandrei said eventually, “you’ve had a long night and you’ll need strength for tomorrow.”

“But Garld wanted me to train for the infusion,” she protested.

“I’m your Captain,” Misandrei affirmed, “I decide when you need rest. Now return to your rooms.” With that Misandrei strode past her.

***

It was only when Femira finally reached her rooms that she finally collapsed under the weight of exhaustion she’d been carrying since the previous night. She stripped off the dress and crawled into the sheets of her bed. She was glad for once that her room had no windows so the warm morning sun couldn’t pester her with its intrusive brightness. The sheets on her bed were cool and welcoming. She hummed with satisfaction, closing her eyes and pressing face against the cold pillow. The past week of unease over what Garld intentions for her had been had made her sleep disturbed and restless. Knowledge that they wouldn’t be giving her over to the Honorswords had released a tension in her shoulders that she hadn’t even realised was there.

Despite the fatigue she felt in her body, her mind was alight with the information Garld and Misandrei had given her. Knowledge that was initially hidden from her, but she could understand their rationale and hesitancy to tell her.

Couldn’t she? She recognised the feeling she was having. It reminded her of when Lichtin would give her small nuggets of information on stonebreaking. She remembered with embarrassment the time Lichtin had told her that stonebreaking would only work at night, unless he adjusted her stone to work during the day. And she’d believed him, coming to him every time she needed to. She could recognise it all now as the different methods Lichtin had used to control her, to trick her into feeling that she needed him.

She grit her teeth thinking about Lichtin’s lecherous face. She’d been so weak back then, not even four months ago. A part of her wanted to go back to Altarea, to stroll casually into the crewhouse with a pair of stoneblades floating about her. She’d make Lichtin kneel and kick him in the teeth. She would scream at him for everything he’d done to her. She’d force him to apologise for manipulating her, for controlling her.

For betraying her.

Her eyes watered thinking of her brothers. It was a simple job he’d promised them, just needed to go rough up some lordling who owed a debt. Their bodies had been thrown off the cliff. Femira hadn’t gone to the execution, but some of the thugs in the crewhouse had detailed how their bodies had bounced along the rocks. She clutched her eyes shut and thought about how she would drive the stoneblades into Lichtin’s neck after he begged her for forgiveness.