The Libwe tribe gathered atop a rocky ridge anchored by a steep bluff on their right and a patch of scrawny, gnarled trees on their left. The rising sun back-lit a hundred Libwe warriors dancing, yelling, and whacking spears against wicker shields atop the ridge. Wild paints smeared across their naked bodies gleamed brightly in the cresting morning light. Or they'd dredged up enough Limn to completely paint all of them, in which case outnumbering them even five-to-one would mean little.

  At the base of the ridge, the seven tribes that Inro and Arca had unified on the pinnacle the day before performed their own varieties of warrior dance, their garish paints matching the Libwe in form if not function. Each tribe held part of the line, clumped together with their own people rather than forming the combined horde Inro had expected. Hopefully the chaos of battle would cover over that alteration in Inro's plans.

  Arca shot Inro a glance as he led his warriors in an energetic, deafening ritual. Inro nodded as though calm and certain. Only when Arca looked away did he risk a glance at the high bluff where the first stage of the battle would hinge. Nothing to be done for it now.

  When Inro thought the air couldn't become more saturated with racket, yelling transformed to rhythmic chanting, accompanied by thundering hide drums and shrill bone whistles. This went on for a tiresome stretch of time and when it ended, no smooth transition marked the beginning of the battle. Instead, amid the chanting and banging, random warriors grabbed up jagged rocks, rushed forwards, and hurled them at the enemy lines.

  Distance limited any real effect beyond building up the savages' courage, though a few rocks thrown downhill by the Libwe struck home here-and-there. Then the seven tribes spontaneously decided to begin advancing up the ridge, each chanting their own war song. Wicker shields raised high to ward off the thickening hail of stones.

  Several members of Arca's tribe slipped out in front led by Arca's sister Cairin, dangling the leather thongs Inro taught them to fashion into slings. Each slinger dipped into their pouch of rounded-off stones. The flanking tribes stared as Arca's new slingers whirled and loosed. While most sling-stones thudded into the dirt or caromed off boulders, a few struck their marks, shattering spectacularly against the Libwe's gleaming Limn warpaint. This utter lack of real military effect might have disheartened trained legionaries, but the savages merely saw the stones striking, somehow interpreted it to mean they were winning. They roared and launched into a futile charge uphill over broken terrain.

  Inro nodded to Arca. The warchief nodded back and set to leading his tribe uphill behind the other six who winded themselves before the battle proper even started. Arca's people lagged the others, preserving energy for the actual fighting.

  A glance at the bluff.

  Hand-picked members of each of the seven tribes had crept out the night before with orders to seize the heights from the Libwe placed atop it to rain down rocks and boulders. The largest of the seven tribes won the "honor" of the far left advance which must cross the base of the cliff. Inro saw many craned necks among their warrior's ranks as they approached the killing zone beneath the bluff.

  If that position couldn't be taken, the seven tribes' attack would almost certainly fail.

  As anticipated, the surge up the hill lurched to a halt as men's endurance slacked along with their courage. To make matters worse, the sun crested the rise, blinding them. Inro raised his hand to shield his eyes, nodding at the strategic acumen of the Libwe Warchief. Custom demanded that battles between tribes commence at dawn so their leader chose this position over several steeper ridges nearby knowing the light would rise directly behind his warriors.

  A hail of stones flew between the now perilously-close ranks. Many among the seven tribes dropped, but if any of the Libwe fell Inro didn't see it. One huge brute dropped his weapons, laughed, and strode forward. Dozens of rocks hurtled his way to shatter harmlessly against his radiant paint as the whole Libwe line whistled and jeered.

  Leering, the brute held his arms out, unflinching as the rocks pelted him. He turned, removed the lizard-skull from his head so its long, tattered tail wouldn't hide his huge glutes. When he bent over to wave his ass at them, Cairin wound up, spun her sling, and released. As the man stood, her stone struck the base of the skull where the man's thick hair prevented painting. He crumpled instantly.

  Cairin turned and caught Inro's eye, grinning fiercely. Inro nodded back and she quirked an eyebrow. Inro randomly realized she'd never once come to his skins at night. Her lithe nakedness beneath the paint briefly distracted him.

  When he snapped back to the battle, the tribe on the far left reached the base of the bluff. Painted figures appeared atop the height, lifting stones, raising them high, and clattering them together. A cheer arose from the seven tribes at the signal and all across the ridge they charged again.

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  Inro watched closely.

  With a riotous yell, the warriors atop the bluff hurtled the rocks down onto the onrushing tribesman. Crunches and screams echoed off the bluff, projected and distorted by the jagged stone wall. All across the battlefield, the seven tribes faltered just shy of the Libwe line in confusion. Arca turned to face Inro, sweat smearing his paint.

  Inro nodded, raised his fist, and jerked it backwards.

  The Libwe roared and hurled themselves towards the seven tribes. Arca's tribe collapsed entirely, dropping their spears and shields as they routed. The closest tribes yelled at them in anger and derision before absorbing the brunt of the Libwe charge. Inro ignored them, running with the others back to the combined camp. The narrowness of the canyon leading to the ridge had forced the seven tribes to camp in tight proximity at the base of the ridge.

  Catcalls and angry shouts from the women and old men in camp assailed them, but the tribe's rout halted just before entering the sprawl of lean-tos and crude huts. Arca's warriors dropped to dig away heaps of stone and dirt covering the weapon caches they'd buried days before the tribes arrived here. Armed again, they split into six groups, each driving quickly and precisely through the camp. Inro and Arca waited.

  Arca lifted his lizard skull to wipe his brow. "Good yet."

  "It's not over." Inro glanced between the battle and the increasingly-riled camp.

  At the ridge, things went poorly for the six remaining tribes. What was left of the far left tribe fled the plummeting boulders still crashing down from the bluff. The gap left by Arca's tribe filled with Libwe warriors. They rapidly poured through to launch attacks against the adjacent tribe's flanks. Inro wished them all courage. They just needed to hold up there a few minutes longer.

  Several of Arca's groups returned quickly, herding specific clusters of women and children to the front of the camp. An angry, confused throng trailed behind.

  "Break now." Arca pointed his spear at the rapidly-disintegrating battle. Aside from the tribe on the far right still fighting among the gnarled trees, the Libwe assault put the others to full flight.

  Five of Arca's six groups returned with their hostages, forming a ring around their captives.

  The first warriors routed from the battle reached the edge of the camp, panting and still focused on the Libwe behind them. Though the Libwe warchief bellowed and cursed at his warriors to pursue, they stopped to take trophies from the fallen, granting time for the growing swell of routing tribal warriors to regroup at the edge of the camp.

  "Here they!" Arca shouted as the last of his warriors wrestled and shoved their way clear of the camp with their captives.

  Not a moment too soon.

  A swarm of warriors converged on Arca's people, many still carrying weapons or rearmed with rocks after fleeing the Libwe. The surviving warchiefs pushed their way to the front, anger turning to fear and doubt as they saw who exactly huddled inside the ring of Arca's warriors. Arca stepped out to meet them, arms raised, quieting them enough they could hear him.

  Inro glanced up the ridge, sweat trickling. The Libwe warchief berated his warriors back into action. They resumed a slow, measured advance down towards the camp. Too slow.

  Arca shouted in their gibberish language. Inro barely understood one word in five, but he already knew what Arca said as they'd planned it out days ago. "Warchiefs, tell your men to surrender your weapons or we kill your families. Come any closer or attack us and we'll kill them first then fight to the last. Our women stand ready to put the camp's food stockpiles to the torch, those not already fled with our children to safety. We and the Libwe will not harm you if you do as we say; you will be allowed to go in peace."

  While Arca spoke, Inro stepped through the nervous but steady ring of Arca's warriors, selecting a cowering young woman. Before he could grab her arm, an older wife stepped in his way. She stared him down defiantly, slapping his borrowed spear aside when he pointed it at her then brushing his hand off when he tried to drag her with him. Instead, she walked as regally as a Dynast before him as though he followed at her pleasure.

  Inro gritted his teeth as he saw the belly bulge beneath her long hair. Perhaps a pregnant woman would offer better leverage, whatever the taste it left in his mouth.

  A great clamor went up among the tribesmen as Arca finished speaking, the warriors arguing with their chieftains and among themselves. Inro watched, wary and ready, his spear leveled at the woman. She stood calmly, hands folded over her belly as she scanned the warriors. She called out to someone she knew and the man's face fell as he replied.

  Not all the warchiefs survived the battle it would seem. Grief tightened the woman's features yet seemed to strengthen not weaken her. Inro gripped his spear tighter. Grief destabilized as surely as rage or terror.

  The Libwe continued their plodding advance as the arguing escalated towards a breaking point. Arca's men clenched their spears and glanced about nervously. Inro worried Arca's savages might lack the resolve and discipline to carry out their threatened executions and bolt. If even a few did, they'd all probably rout, be hunted down, and die.

  All at once, spears and rocks piled before them. Disgusted, bitter warriors marched forward to throw their weapons to the ground, casting dark looks at their warchiefs and Arca both. Inro relaxed. Arca's warriors began to breathe again.

  Then the widowed chieftain's wife unleashed a mournful cry, grabbed the end of Inro's spear, and drove herself upon it. He tried to pull away, cursing himself for dropping his guard. Victory fell from his lap and shattered on the hard, stony ground.

  He stared into her hateful, dying eyes and released the spear. "Damn you, woman."

  A deafening roar shook the canyon as the six tribes' warriors snatched back up their weapons and charged. Seeing this, the Libwe charged also, but their distance from the camp was still great.

  Inro put his back to Arca, drew his swords, and fought for his life.

  Next Chapter: Aida faces a horrible realization, one that changes everything in an instant.

  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"

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida

  Cairin: Arca's sister

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

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eth: a young Imminent

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

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

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction?

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  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.

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

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe

  Ryk:?

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate

  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: ?

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number"

  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

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  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"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

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

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other"

  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

  Imminent: seers?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  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

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence"

  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. Alternately, albinism

  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: Lineage 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 four-hundred years ago 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

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  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: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  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