Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith-Chapter 283: Long ears

Irwin dropped into the reinforced chair, watching the tall ranger almost run out of the smithy. The last thing he saw of her was her wide smile and gleaming silvery eyes.

"That's the last one for now," he said.

"A shame," Nim'dor rumbled. "I could get used to this!"

His massive size made the smithy seem positively tiny.

"Shut it, you overgrown rusty nail," Ambraz snapped. "You have just gained more purified soulforce than any Ganvil without a smith ever did. How about you tell us how close you are to rank six?"

Nim'dor laughed uproariously, reminding Irwin a lot about Hou'dor, which wasn't a surprise. They were both from the same batch, two out of thousands that managed to reach rank five.

"Another thousand or so, and I'll get it," he said.

Ambraz groaned, and Irwin couldn't blame him. They had been doing nothing but giving people their last handcard before creating heartcards for four days straight. Luckily, they were done for now, with the most important people having gotten the power-up they needed.

How many shadowwalkers do we have now, Irwin thought, trying to ignore Ambraz and Nim'dor's bickering. After a while, he drifted off slightly, only to wake when something drew his attention.

"I'll wait till they get a bit further along," Nim'dor said. "Then I'll see if one of those that are unbound wants to make the gamble."

"I thought you said you didn't want another smith," Ambraz said.

"I didn't, but do you think I want Hou to get the best of me? With some help, I might become rank six-"

Some? Irwin thought, shivering.

"- but Hou is going to go beyond it. I can just feel it."

"In a hundred years, maybe," Ambraz said.

"Exactly," Nim'dor said. "For now, there's no rush. I'll watch over the Academy and keep an eye for someone with great potential."

"What about the others?" Ambraz asked.

Irwin listened for a bit more, but slowly, his minds drifted off, thinking about the last few days. He'd just been reforging heartcards, though he had found some time to reforge the cards Zegritar had given him. The massive bird hadn't returned yet, so he'd given them to Trimdir. As he thought about reforged cards, his thoughts moved to the shadowcards he'd reforged, and Greldo and his Shadow Scouts. His friend had been starting a training schedule in Portal Keep, having been given a large area by Basil. Lisbeth had become something of his second in command.

At some point, he closed his eyes, and he drifted off to sleep, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

--

"These are what we call the Northern Isles," Daubutim said as he pointed at the map.

Irwin stood beside him, arms crossed. Almost two days had passed since he finished up with the heartcards, and he and Greldo finally had the time to talk with Daubutim about things that had happened. They had discussed the Green Bird issue and Hilda, both of which Daubutim had been surprisingly uninterested in.

Part of him was fully focused on the map, while the other part was busy with the upcoming trip across the island depicted on the wall-spanning map. Most of the map was empty, with the center showing the island they were on. It had become known as Verdant Isle, and all around it, smaller islands were shown. Each had a number that Daubutim said, showed how feasible they were for habitation.

North of the Verdant Isle was another large island surrounded by a few dozen tiny islands. It was about a third of the size of Verdant Isle.

"From what we have been able to find, we are relatively close to the north pole," Daubutim continued. "And these are the first of the icy lands. Gum'dil'ran has brought most of his people there, and they are constructing a large city. So far, he still hasn't come up with a name, so we are calling it Ice City until he does. I've sent a group of rangers with them, and we are going to be setting up a trade line right now. There's an interesting tree that lives in the valleys there, and-"

Irwin listened as Daubutim told him about many things he knew he'd likely forget again soon. Most dealt with trade routes and resources.

When Daubutim took a breath, Irwin quickly stepped forward, pointing at the side of the map. It showed the edge of what looked like a continent. That, or an island that dwarfed Verdant Isle.

"And this?" he asked.

"The eastern lands. Before he and Verd left, Jort scouted a tiny part of it. As soon the situation with the Storm and the Academy is sorted, I'll send a larger expedition. For now, all we know is that there's more wildlife there than here, some of which was dangerous enough for Jort to have to flee back to his ship."

Irwin looked at the large landmass, feeling a sudden desire for exploration. What were the chances of there being adjacent portals in that world?

"Irwin… First, go around Verdant Isle," Daubutim said, looking at him. "If you weren't as strong as you are, I'd ask you to remain here and reforge cards and scout the world for adjacent portals, but... We have to be efficient. With more smiths here, I need you to reforge cards so more people can locate the places the adjacent portals are, and reforge as many heartcards as possible. After that? I know you want to explore our new world and that every two days you spend here, only one passes in the Portal Gallery, but you can't risk waiting too long to find out what's happening. You are the only one strong enough, a hundred percent trustworthy, and who can find out what is going on out there. And we need to find out both why those smith hunters are doing what they do and what is happening with that distant war."

Irwin didn't respond, thinking about what Daubutim had just said. It hadn't occurred to him that Daubutim had thought about him staying here. The idea made him uncomfortable, and it took him a moment to understand why.

I want to keep exploring, he thought.

Part of it was to find Scintilla and their kids, the other part was that he just enjoyed exploring new places.

He was jolted by a loud yawn from behind them, and Daubutim and he turned around. In the middle of Daubutim's cozy study stood a low table with a few chairs. Greldo was lying sprawled out on one of them, staring at them.

"Sorry, I just woke up and only heard the last bit," he said, rubbing his eyes theatrically. "You actually think some war a dozen years travel from us is going to be a problem?"

Daubutim's eyes became swirling balls of lightning as he seemed to think about the question.

"We have too little information to know for sure, but there is something that bothers me," he said. "When I was in the Library, I read two thousand three hundred and nine books about the history of the Portal Galery and the Galadins. Although there were descriptions of conflicts between guilds and wars between nobles and worlds, there was nothing like the attacks on the Smiths. There were, however, a few books that dated to the time of the first great Galadin war, and they mentioned storms and attacks. That was so long ago that even Gelwin knew barely anything about it, as it was ancient history when he was born, but I recall a reference from that book-"

Daubutim stood a bit straighter, his voice becoming sharp and clear- a thing that barely happened anymore.

"It started with the loss of Sacridor The Vibrant, the world that will never be replaced. How I will miss that world and its beautiful beaches! Then, like a swarm of Ricrust they came from the darkest regions of the Portal Gallery. Hidden by these seemingly never-ending storms, they are swallowing worlds and shattering barriers. By the time those bloody Councils realized it wasn't just some new species they could swat back in line, centuries of established Twigs were gone. All that profit! Destroyed by storm and skill!"

Irwin stared at his friend, whose swirling eyes slowed again as he stopped regaling a story he'd read many years ago and still recalled perfectly.

"So you think the storm and the attack are like what happened then?" Greldo asked, sitting upright. "Did the book say what those attacks were about or how the storm ended?

"No, nothing of either. It was one of the last entries in the diary of a merchant called Joob," Daubutim said. "The rest were just angry ramblings about lost profit. It was from the time before people had cards when the Galadin empire was just one of many. Even the library had little information on that, though it is possible it was within the restricted sections."

"No other books about the same period that said how long the storm lasted?" Irwin asked.

"No, this was one of the few books about these times," Daubutim said. "Gelwin had me read them, including some others, and at the time, I didn't understand why they were amongst the other more recent ones."

"More recent, he says," Greldo muttered. "How old were those more recent books?"

"The earliest one was eleven thousand merchant years ago," Daubutim said. "Those were from the height of the Galadin empire when they were the dominant force until they were hunted by the unknown enemy."

"And the book with Joob?" Irwin asked.

"I don't know," Daubutim said with a frown. "It refers to dates and timescales other than those currently in use, which means at least a hundred thousand years ago. It was from before the library was established, and even when it was added, it was ancient. It was found in a cache on a re-discovered world and brought to the library."

"Okay, and how is this relevant again?" Greldo asked. "It was a million years ago, and all we have are the rambling journals of a merchant. Besides, you just said this book was written before there were even cards. There's no way it has something to do with the smiths!"

Daubutim's eyes swirled. "No, and I haven't read every bit of history from then to now. But this is the only reference that I know of to a storm on Portal Galery scale."

"So, what do you think is happening?" Irwin asked, looking between his friends.

"I don't know," Daubutim said. "Which worries me. If we could activate our Central Registrar without anyone finding out, we could get access to the library entrance. There has to be something more in there, or perhaps Gelwin knows. But it's not worth it. Not right now. Our obscurity is more valuable now, with everything going on, than it ever was."

The three of them were lost in their own thoughts until Irwin sighed.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that now. So, what else before we go and search for the adjacent portals?"

Daubutim relaxed slightly.

"I have categorized and created an optimal distribution of the cards you brought for the Academy. I'll have it brought to Trimdir so none of the cards are wasted. My calculations show it should be enough to last us for ten years if the only smiths that use them are those with Ganvils. This does mean their growth will be severely hampered. It also accounts for Trimdir taking a large portion to boost his growth as fast as possible. With you gone, we need a smith here that can reforge heartcards, and I'd prefer that person to be as invested in our world as possible."

"That might be for the best," Irwin said. "Although I trust Montain and the others, when the storm stops and the Smith abductors are killed, they will probably leave."

"Are you sure?" Greldo asked before Daubutim could respond.

Irwin looked at his friend, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, this is a rank-six world, remember? They are Graniations… what if we promise them one of the adjacent worlds?"

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Irwin grunted as he thought about handing off another world as if they were apples when his mind caught up with what Greldo was implying.

"It will create more bonds and investment in Eluathar," he said. "It's a good idea. Though, we will have to find these worlds first. We have already promised one to the Ganvils and some of our other allies."

"Rank six worlds can have a hundred or more adjacent worlds, and each of those is stable enough to have many of their own," Daubutim said calmly. "It is unlikely that we will run short of worlds for the foreseeable future."

"Which just means we need to find them," Greldo said as he got up. "And hope there's not green birds on all of them."

"Alright, what else did you want to talk about," Irwin said.

"How is your idea of creating cards from ambient soulforce coming along?"

Irwin hummed, wishing he had some better news.

"Not as good as I'd like. Playing my soulstrum guitar influences the surrounding ambient soulforce, but it's hard to pinpoint which part of it does it. Currently, the best I can do is create waves, like throwing a stone in the river. Ambraz says I should get more control when I finish my next soulcard."

"Could you create another heartcard after this that fully focuses on sensing soulforce?" Daubutim asked.

Greldo snorted while Irwin laughed. He quickly raised his hands when he saw Daubutims frown deepen.

"Let me tell you what my current heartcard does," Irwin said.

Normally, he'd never even think about telling people the details of his cards, but besides Ambraz, two of the people he trusted most in the world were currently in the room.

When he finished, Daubutim's eyes were gleaming.

"Good. That means that if there is any chance of your plan, you are working towards it. What did you have planned for your next card?"

Irwin glanced at Greldo, who was wiggling his eyebrows.

"I'm going to find a card that increases my physical size and strength," Irwin said.

Daubutim's eyes swirled like lakes of lightning, and he was quiet for a lot longer than Irwin thought his tiny revelation warranted.

"Do you know if your carded abilities improve if you become bigger?" Daubutim asked after a while.

"They don't," Irwin said. "Physical size has no influence on your soulscape or soullake. I did some research, but I couldn't find a card that connects those either."

"I see. You want to increase your size due to the size of the demons and chaos monsters we have encountered?"

"Yes," Irwin said. He could see that Daubutim was hesitating, and he continued. "Also, the effectiveness of my first soulcard will improve a lot. I'd be able to throw even larger hammers, and if I could grab something…"

"Have you thought about increasing your soullake size or getting more of those soul clones?"

Irwin wasn't surprised that Daubutim was thinking along those lines, as he and Ambraz had discussed them at length. So, he quickly explained the issues and shortcomings of the idea.

After another bit of brainstorming, Daubutim still seemed unhappy with the idea, though he didn't say so. He did say he would think about it, and Irwin was curious to see what ideas his friend would come up with.

"Then I guess it's time to leave now?" Greldo said, seeming rearing to leave.

"Almost," Daubutim said, ignoring Greldo's groan. "You brought many Ganvils and even transported people with your soulscape. I have attempted this, and having anyone or anything in my soulscape for longer than a few hours was draining. Even inanimate objects gave me a headache within a day. Is this difference due to your cards or their power?"

"Both, though mostly the stability my cards grant my soulscape, and the size of my soullake are the main reasons," Irwin said. "But I can't do this indefinitely. The Ganvils only worked because they were inanimate and suppressing their own soulforce. I could probably transport things… why?"

"Could you move a large amount of ore from one city to the other?" Daubutim asked.

Irwin nodded, not hesitating. "As long as I get teleported, sure, it should be fine."

"Good. Moving the ore from the mines above New Malorin across the country is taking too long. The carded miners are building up a stockpile much faster, and transport is hampered by the lack of charbulls. After you return, would you be willing to move the current stockpile around? Both of you?"

Irwin and Greldo nodded without hesitation.

"That reminds me," Greldo said. "You can bring the supplies we need in your soulscape! Keeps us from having to lug them around."

The three of them left Daubutim's study and entered his lounge room, which doubled as a library and dining area. Lisbeth was sitting at the table, reading from an ancient-looking thick tomb.

"So, you didn't fall asleep," she said as she looked up, her silver eyes dull compared to those of Greldo and Daubutim.

After carefully closing the tome, she rose and walked towards them.

"You are leaving now?" she said, focusing on Greldo.

"Yes. The trainees know and should already do whatever you ask. If you need me, you know how to find me."

"No problem, I'll keep the shadow punks in line," Lisbeth said.

Irwin and Daubutim shared an amused look. Ever since Lisbeth had started working with the other shadowwalkers, she'd started showing a whole new side of herself.

Greldo just nodded and walked beside Irwin.

"Ready? I'll move us to the supply room, and then we can head out."

"Wait, take this," Daubutim said as he walked to another table and came back with a large sheet of paper, which he handed to Irwin.

Irwin saw it was a map with dozens of tiny markers all across the island at almost regular intervals.

"These are ranger towers you can use to rest at," Daubutim said, pointing at the markers. "And these are the five cities, with the surrounding villages."

Irwin looked at the five squares that were very close together on the northwestern side of the island. A few dots sat around them, and he'd initially thought those were just splatter marks. There was a river along the top square, and compared to the size of the island, the group looked almost attached.

"How big is this island?" he asked, not sure if he'd asked before and simply forgotten.

"Larger than Clour Peninsula back home," Greldo answered. "Didn't I tell you last time that you should take some time to explore instead of remaining in the smithy?"

"You are right," Irwin agreed, looking at the map and feeling the same itch he'd felt when watching the unexplored potential contentinent on the east.

"Good!" Greldo said, grabbing his arm. "We should be back in a few weeks!"

Irwin heard Daubutim shout something that sounded like 'One week!' then the world changed into a shadowy swirl. The next thing he knew, he was hovering in the shadow realm inside a room filled with supplies. He was ejected out of the shadow realm, and Greldo briskly walked forward, grabbing what looked like a pack before he started stuffing things in.

"Go grab enough food for a month," he said. "I've got tents ready, just in case."

Irwin looked at his friend, wondering if he was being serious. He had lots of other things to do: teaching Trimdir and some others how to forge heartcards, teaching the junior smiths, reforging lots of cards for those who needed them, and doing his own experiments.

As he thought about it and then looked at Greldo rushing about excitedly, he realized something else. It did feel like that—as if he had to do all that—just like he'd had to do a lot of things the last few years… or well, ever since he'd left home for the sorcerers, what felt like a hundred years ago.

Part of him was looking forward to reforging for himself and trying out different things, but if he had to be honest, he wasn't at all looking forward to most of the rest. He knew he would do it… It had to be done, but perhaps it was fine to postpone it for a few weeks.

Or a month.

"You know what… you are right," he said, causing Greldo to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I am!"

Irwin laughed, then walked forward and took the half-filled bag from Greldo.

"I'll get us everything we need. Can you go find Ambraz?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Greldo said, vanishing instantly.

"Alright, let's see what we need," Irwin muttered to himself as he looked around.

Definitely have to go back to get a few more cards for a few tests, he thought, as he began packing multiple bags and storing them in his soulscape.

--

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Irwin watched the shadowy, dull world flit by as Greldo rushed below the trees deeper into the island. They had decided to go to the most distant ranger tower first before making their way back, trying to canvas most of the island.

Even with the speed at which Greldo was going, it took a while to get to the other side of the large island. They had been moving for hours and still weren't there yet.

As time passed, Irwin guessed it was another hour before the world slowed.

Irwin watched as the trees came back into focus, and a simple stone and wood tower appeared across a small clearing. An enormous tree that had stood there had fallen, shattering across a rock and clearing out all the small trees as it rolled from it.

Suddenly, the world regained its color, sound returning in full force: the rustling of leaves, the soft howling of the wind, and the pitter-patter of rain on the ground. The gentle song of ambient soulforce came from all around. Soulforce ripples moved around like waves while less dense clouds of it drifted by, unbothered by the rain. A fresh scent wafted around them, and Greldo grunted.

"Great, first time out again, and it's raining! Let's head inside!"

"How did you even know where this was?" Irwin asked.

"I've been here before," Greldo said as he looked around, wiping the rain from his face. "It was sunny that time though!"

Irwin watched him run towards the tower and followed him at a slow pace.

"I still can't believe how dense the ambient soulforce is here," Ambraz said.

The Ganvil flew from his shoulder and shot after a few of the densest ripples, moving through them before returning as fast as he'd left.

"I can't wait till we find a real volcano with a lot of fire-type soulforce."

"According to Daubutim, there are only mountains here," Irwin said. "But we can dig down and see if we can find some rare metals."

"Good idea! A rank-six world is bound to have something good. Perhaps even some more Purperion.

The building was as tall as most trees around them and taller than he'd expected, especially now he knew there were so many on the island. Another benefit of having carded crafters and stone and wood shapers.

I wonder how Bronwyn felt when he saw them create the towers so fast, he thought.

Long ago, his brother complained that his training period consisted mostly of rebuilding or building new towers.

He walked inside to examine the small room. It had a table against one wall, with a few simple stools and a small fireplace with a stack of dry wood near it. On the other side was a door, and a quick look showed it led to a storage room. The final thing in the tower was the circular staircase that led all around the wall and up to the next floor.

"Alright, how about you put some fire in that place, and I'll get us something to eat," Greldo said. "It will probably take us a day or so to scout the entire area, and we can use this one as our base."

"Didn't we only eat a few hours ago?" Irwin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Probably, but nothing beats fresh kill," Greldo said as one of Coal's shadow clones appeared in the room, lying down and closing his eyes.

"I'll be back in a bit," Greldo said as he ran out of the tower.

Irwin heard him sprint away, the sound quickly vanishing. Shaking his head, he looked at the shadow clone.

Well, It's not like I couldn't eat some more, he thought.

He walked to the fireplace and tossed some dry wood inside before lighting it on fire with his flame.

Wondering what he should do now, he wandered up the tower, finding that the next floor had some beds and slits to keep track of what was outside. Some type of creature had made its nest among the rafters of the next floor, but he didn't see it anywhere. The floor above that was empty and had larger windows, which gave a reasonable view of the area, at least as far as the trees didn't block it. He continued to the top to find he had been mistaken. The tower was slightly taller than the surrounding trees, making it look like he was in the center of an ocean of leaves.

"Do you see any adjacent portals already?" Ambraz asked.

Irwin looked around, focusing on the ambient soulforce and trying to detect anything out of the ordinary.

"No. But that would have been a bit weird, finding one right away."

"Weird? Yes. But trust me, kid, weird things keep happening around us, so who knows," Ambraz said.

They remained atop the tower for a while before heading back down, but Greldo hadn't returned yet. Irwin didn't worry about his friend, not in the least, because the most dangerous thing in the forest was the Bullfrogs, and those posed little trouble to Greldo.

He pondered reforging a few cards, then decided against it and instead summoned his soulstrum guitar. With one part of himself keeping an eye out, the other part of him began playing the guitar. He didn't have anything in mind, letting his fingers drift across the snares, but slowly, he realized he was playing something.

It was one of the Galadin songs he had adapted for the guitar, one of those that were already almost perfect to play.

As he lost himself in the music, Irwin lost track of time. Only when his other self heard someone approach did he slowly stop the song, listening to the footsteps.

"You didn't have to stop for me," Greldo said as he walked inside with a creature with two overly large ears over his shoulder." Though, I do think you want to take a look at this."

Irwin blinked, trying to place it and failing.

"What's that?"

"I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure it's not indigenous to this island," Greldo said as he put the dead animal on the table. It was large enough to fill most of it, and as it lay there, Irwin realized what he was looking at.

"It's like a rabbit!"

"A very big, carnivorous rabbit that wasn't alone," Greldo agreed. "Also, a group of them managed to take down two Bullfrogs. Also, look at this-"

Greldo took the hind paw and splayed the toes, revealing membranes.

"They can swim pretty well with this, I think," he said. "But I don't think they are always in the water."

"Something that swam across from another island?" Irwin thought out loud.

"Yes, and if that's true, we should probably check where they came from," Greldo said innocently.

"And why is that?" Irwin asked, already having a good idea why but deciding to play along.

"Because if they are capable of killing bullfrogs and roaming in packs, they could hurt people."

"True. Shouldn't we just warn Bronwyn and his rangers?"

"We could… but where's the fun in that?" Greldo said before laughing softly. "Now, let's see how this thing tastes!"