Inro's hopes for a short sojourn faded quickly. Gritting his teeth, he settled in for the long game, throwing himself into learning a working vocabulary of the barbarian's tongue with the same dedication, force, and focus he turned on whatever task he deemed important or necessary.

  So far, his work earned him a hut providing nearly as much comfort as his campaign tent, a cadre of young warriors who followed wherever he went, mimicked everything he did, and wrenched his heart with memories of the soldiers rotting on the fields of Sunset. He smothered such unfittingly-soft emotions and transformed them into cool, smoldering anger to fuel his resolve further. Eager village girls fought for the right to sate his nightly urges, making up for quality in quantity and zeal.

  In the process of integrating with the tribe, Inro learned that the handful he and his Feral had fought had been an expedition scouting in preparation for a raid against another tribe called the Libwe. The Libwe, if he understood correctly, recently seized for itself the 'holy' Limn clay bed and now refused any other tribes' shaman any access.

  A smart, strategic move on that tribe's part if they managed to overcome their superstitions long enough to armor their warriors in it. Well-generaled, such a warband might give a full Legion of Inro's soldiers trouble. If Aj hadn't utterly annihilated his Sunset Legions, that is. Thoughts of what carnage and havoc Aj might be wreaking at that very moment stabbed him with despair, but this emotion too he crushed and refined into cold anger.

  He briefly debated presenting the heads of Arca and the shaman, Izbali, to the Libwe to earn their favor. Not only did he not understand these savage menials' culture enough to know how they might respond, however, but he loathed the idea of duplicating all the effort he'd expended ingratiating himself with his current band of savages. The thought of lopping Arca's competent and canny head off wouldn't give him any pleasure either.

  No, the plan he'd devised with Arca stood better chance of success.

  Arca's acuity at learning Ebonese far outstripped Inro's capacity to learn their nonsense tongue and the new chieftain quickly saw the wisdom in Inro's plans. They met substantial push-back from the tribal elders and only when Izbali unexpectedly stepped up to support them during a particularly-heated argument did the elders grudgingly give in.

  Now they stood atop a flat-topped pinnacle of red rock overlooking the broken rockland. They'd reached the spire's heights by scrambling the scree at its base, climbing steep, hand-hewn stone stairs, squeezing through narrow defiles, and finally ascending the last sheer face via a heavily-worn set of holes barely deep enough to fit a hand into.

  Six other tribes agreed to meet. Their peoples gathered far below in separate, suspicious camps while their leadership clumped about the top of the pinnacle performing the fourth hour of tedious ceremony and ritual these primitives smothered in on the way to doing anything useful.

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  Smoke this. Burn that. Tear this. Throw it to the wind. Chant this. Uncover hair. Argue about whose is longer or thicker. Compare reptile-skin headdresses. Sing that. Face the sun. Swear this oath. Turn away from the sun. Untie necklaces. Exchange. Dance. Offer a trinket as a gift. Refuse. Offer again. Take it. Sing again.

  When the superstitious gibberish finally concluded, they settled down to the boasting, chest-banging, finger pointing, shouting, long speeches, words of wisdom, and other games a group of big fish thrashed through when meeting in a small pond.

  Inro sat quietly, moving as little as possible to increase the sense of wonder and mystery about him. Also to keep from drawing a sword and killing all of these puffed-up, strutting cocks when this whole gathering posed yet another in an endless series of delays to his escaping this damned verse and returning to what really mattered.

  After conniving with Inro, Arca met each of the other six chiefs in secret the days prior, promising every one of them literally whatever they wished after their upcoming combined attack on the Libwe tribe holding the Limn beds. All this ceremonious bluster for show while each chieftain and elder gloated knowing they'd already brokered the best deal.

  After an eternity, the meeting ended.

  All present took the shared gourd to drink peace, thus sealing the agreement between them. The gathered warriors of the seven tribes would assault the Libwe in the morning. Each departed happy knowing victory, glory, and the largest share of the spoils would be theirs on the morrow.

  Arca turned to Inro, speaking his broken Ebonese since Arca took to the language like an eel to a lake while Inro could barely ask where to relieve himself without insulting someone or breaking some taboo in their stupid, convoluted tongue. "Sure this way? Bester way?"

  Inro nodded. "We need them all together for it to work, yes."

  Izbali watched them with dark, luminous eyes. Inro had never once heard the woman utter a word excepting ceremonial chant and song. He hadn't made up his mind whether the cause pointed towards wisdom, simplicity, or an intentionally-manufactured persona not unlike the one Inro wore.

  "We many to them. Libwe have Limn. Not know end." Arca paced as he spoke, occasionally glancing down at the procession of chieftains winding their way carefully down a dangerous path made even more so by the dusky sun.

  Similar doubts made Inro feel like pacing himself, but he'd be damned to a Feral before showing it. "Battles and certainty never coexist. We've assessed our strengths and weaknesses, gauged everyone else's, and aligned ourselves appropriately to stack things in our favor as much as possible. The Libwe hold the Limn and the high ground. The tribes we've assembled outnumber them several times over. Who knows how it will play out when the spears clash and the blood flows? All we can do is think it through as much as we can, plan for contingencies, commit fully to our decisions, and adapt as things change."

  Arca thrust a finger the general direction of the bluff where the Libwe awaited them. "What wrong tribes victory?"

  Then Inro escapes in the confusion hoping the Libwe don't guard their Limn beds too closely while they're murdering the men, raping the women, and enslaving the children. "We salvage what we can, regroup, and improvise."

  They stood on the pinnacle going over again every detail of the attack and their part in it until the sun's descent forced them to depart or face the already-treacherous descent in the dark.

  Next chapter: if you're unexpectedly meeting someone who knows the future, is that an appointment or...?

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a travelling musician

  Aida: MC.

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Goboro: a fat scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young", wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino)

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic"

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die

  The Fallen

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  All, The: ?

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Innoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears?

  ConMach: convoy?

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins?

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"?

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry and Keens

  Innoculist: doctors?

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption."

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it.

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast

  Kiss, The: ?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: ?

  Machine Curse: ?

  Mancers: ?

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: ?

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer?

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: individuals whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen: priests?

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: ?

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons"

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions