Taming Destiny - a Tamer Class isekai/portal survival fantasy.

By the time the Pathwalkers come to join the Warriors, I’m standing near the gates with the rest of my Bound arrayed around me. Bastet and Catch are on one side, Lee and the three Warriors on my other. The rest of the samurans are behind me, mixed with my non-samuran Bound.

I’d withdrawn from Joy’s senses when the discussion devolved into more mundane matters and sniping. I asked her to let me know if they started discussing anything interesting. She didn’t, and the Pathwalkers are here now.

I’ve been trying to use my time wisely, both in devising a strategy and gathering information to help with it. I’m a bit nervous, I have to admit. The thing is that, even with their numbers reduced, it’s going to be a lot of fighting. Even if four of the village’s Warriors and one of their Pathwalkers are already Bound to me, that still leaves nine Warriors and four, now five Pathwalkers.

It means that I won’t be able to use Dominate to win my battles for me: I struggled to use it five times in succession when dealing with the hunting party. Even if I’ve increased my Willpower since then, there’s no way that I’ll be able to do thirteen Battle of Wills in quick succession – since I definitely won’t be using it against Runs-with-the-river.

All that means I’m going to need to find other ways of defeating beings who have been fighting for their lives a lot longer than I have. Fortunately, I do have a good few advantages and I’m going to have to use all of them to pull this one off.

Information is one of those advantages. Though I don’t want to risk tipping any of my targets off, my more discreet Inspect has been feeding me information about all of the Warriors currently arrayed before me, which is almost all of them.

The information it gives me is not as good as if I’d been able to use the more blatant one, but it is a whole lot better than nothing. Knowing health points is only vaguely useful since I’m not intending on killing them, but since health points tend to go along with toughness, they do give me a good clue as to how hard it will be to take the samurans down.

Being Warriors, their mana points are uniformly low, so their special attacks must feed off something else or be very limited. As for special abilities, I notice a small range. Most of them enhance the body – its speed, its strength, its dexterity. Another few enhance the Warrior’s use of their chosen weapon – increasing aspects of it in similar ways to the body enhancements. Then there is one with something similar to Fade, who I’ll have to keep my eyes on at all times.

As the Pathwalkers walk towards me, I take the chance to use my discreet Inspect on them too. The results are much as I expect – high mana, though Runs-with-the-river seems to outstrip all of them – and low health. As for their actual abilities, they reflect the Pathwalker’s names well enough that there are no real surprises. Grower is the only one other than the herbalist with two abilities: one seeming to be geared to growing things, the other more linked to fertility, from what I can tell. Not likely to cause me issues in combat, I would guess.

It seems that I’m not the only one to feel nervous about the coming trials: I notice a hint of hesitation in Wood-shaper’s bearing as she walks with her sisters towards us.

The Pathwalkers exchange some quiet clicks and grunts with the Warriors, presumably informing them about what’s about to happen – I don’t even try to listen in. Then, Grower steps forward a few steps, Wind-whisperer at her side as if she cannot bear to let the other Pathwalker take the lead in this moment. From what I saw of the meeting, that is most likely to be the explanation, anyway.

“We have made a decision,” Grower announces neutrally. Wind-whisperer eyes me in unconcealed disdain and anger. I remember what she said in the meeting – she intends to try killing me. I mark her down as one that I will definitely attempt to use Dominate on if I get the chance. I’d rather not kill her since her ability is useful, but she’s clearly an enemy I don’t want to be working behind my back. Not even for the few days it will take me to enter into a Battle of Wills with all of the leadership.

“You will have a chance to prove your strength,” the more neutral Pathwalker continues. “These are exceptional circumstances and so we will offer an exceptional solution. You will be allowed to join a ranking fight as one of us. Win, and we shall obey you as we would any of our own leaders. Lose, and your fate shall be in the claws of whoever wins.”

“Or you’ll be dead,” adds Wind-whisperer spitefully. “And all of this shall be solved very neatly.”

Grower shoots a quelling look at her sister but the other doesn’t look away from me, her jaws gaping open slightly to reveal her teeth.

“Do you accept the challenge?” Grower asks me bluntly.

“I do,” I say immediately – I’ve had enough time already to second-guess myself. Ultimately, this is the best way to achieve my ends – if I’m up to it.

“Then you may enter; your beasts may not.”

“And us, Honoured Pathwalker?” Lee rumbles from next to me. Grower looks over at him, considering. For the first time, she looks slightly uncertain.

“Do you intend on taking part in the ranking challenge?” she asks him. Wind-whisperer hisses.

“They are corrupted, stolen. They are no longer part of the village.”

“We already covered that, Wind-whisperer, when discussing whether to give Weaver a seat around the carcass,” the herbalist tells her with irritation, stepping forwards to join the rest. Wood-Shaper and Joy, not wanting to be left behind, join their sisters. Belatedly, so does Runs-with-the-river, though I notice a gap between her and the others – clearly she still hasn’t been fully accepted by the group. Then again, that’s the other reason for this ranking fight, isn’t it?

“They have committed no crime against the village; as long as they pose no threat to it, they should still be considered as members of it,” Grubs-in-the-dirt continues. She eyes Lee and the rest of my Warriors carefully. “Can you fight against the…him?”

Lee, in turn, eyes me and stays silent until I give him a short nod, sending agreement for him to speak down the Bond.

“We can fight the one who holds our Bond, as long as he agrees to it,” Lee tells his kin matter-of-factly. “However, I, for one, would not choose to.”

“Why not?” asks Wood-shaper, seeming confused.

“It seems rather pointless when the fight only goes on as long as my Binder wishes it to,” remarks Lee, slightly ruefully. “What does it prove about strength when one party can stop the fight at any time with a single word?”

“That’s a good point,” admits Grower.

“But we would still like to prove ourselves against our kin and perhaps earn a new place in the ranking,” Lee continues.

The Pathwalkers exchange glances and then clicks and grunts ring out, almost too quiet for me to decipher them. From what I can hear, they’re having a quiet argument about what to do.

“It’s decided,” says the herbalist eventually. “You are still considered as members in good standing of our village. You have the right to take part in the ranking challenge, just as you have the right to choose to submit to an opponent without fighting. You may enter, but the rest must stay here.”

She seems to think that that is the end of it all and starts turning away, but I step forward, my hand held up before me to stop her. She tenses and abruptly turns back to face me, perhaps concerned that I’m about to attack her. We pause, both unmoving.

“I wish to bring some of my Bound with me to help in the fights.” Several scornful grunts ring out from both Pathwalkers and Warriors – predictably, Wind-whisperer is one of them, and indeed expresses her disdain verbally.

“You cannot fight your own battles and yet you wish to rule us?”

“Would you have forbidden the shaman from using her invisible spirits?” I ask coolly. “Did you ridicule her for being unable to fight her own battles?”

“That was different!” exclaims Wind-whisperer. “That was one of the key parts of her Evolution-given abilities – controlling spirits. Denying her the use would have been like requiring Weaver not to weave.”

“Precisely,” I say with a thin smile that they probably don’t understand. “While I am capable of controlling fire and a number of other abilities, I have learned to do those. The ability to Bind and control beasts is as intrinsic to me as controlling wind is for you. If I am not allowed to bring any of my Bound with me into the fight, then should I expect you not to use the wind against me? Should we instead fight only with claws and teeth?” Not that I have claws, exactly, but better to use language they’re used to.

“But if you bring all of your beasts with you, what chance do the rest of us stand?” demands Wood-shaper. I let the silence drag a little just to let that sink in.

“I am not unreasonable,” I say after a few moments. “I recognise your need to test my strength – my individual strength as well as what I can bring to bear as a Tamer. I will bring only two of my Bound with me.”

“One,” argues Grower swiftly.

“Two,” I say firmly. “But I will only have one fighting with me at any one time.”

The Pathwalker considers this, then looks around at her sisters. Finally, she looks at the leader of the Warriors. When he, too, agrees to the suggestion, she turns to me.

“Fine. You may bring two of your beasts with you, as long as only one is fighting with you during a battle – and you must choose which one before beginning the fight.”

Good enough. The first choice is obvious.

“Bastet,” I say, no more needed to be expressed between us. The second…. I would have chosen River if he had still been with me. Without him…. Komodo would be a good choice – he’s a powerful tier two with impressive venom. The problem with him is that we haven’t fought together much and lack of teamwork could be our downfall.

Fenrir is also a possible choice: he’s practically a moving tank, though far more agile than one. Plus, he’s got the ability to destroy a target’s own agility, either by biting and holding on or by crushing bones. The problem is that his size won’t do much good against the strong Warriors, and his lack of speed will be his disadvantage against the quick ones. I don’t know how he would stand up against the Pathwalkers.

Lathani is almost as powerful as Bastet is physically, though she doesn’t have the magical bits – apart from an odd kind of stealth which doesn’t show up as an actual special ability on her status sheet. I’d be more concerned about her hot-headedness, though. It’s improved, for sure, but I just don’t know if she would be able to control herself in fights with those who have hurt her so badly. I wouldn’t blame her for losing her cool, but I wouldn’t want it to be what lost me the match either. It’s probably better not to bring her.

Running through the list of my Bound currently with me, I find lots of possibilities, but none who are perfect.

Then someone I wasn’t considering turns to me.

Would you let me fight with you? asks Catch politely and slightly anxiously. I eye him.

“Don’t you want to have peace with your kin rather than fight them?”

You have done so much for me, Honoured Markus. Please let me show my devotion to you by helping you conquer the village I once called my own?

I hesitate, looking at him. He’s Unevolved, meaning that he will be at a disadvantage when it comes to speed and strength. He also doesn’t have the health pool of Fenrir or the lizog’s defensive capacity. However, he does know samurans. He knows how Warriors fight better than any of my other non-samuran Bound. He’s crafty and adaptable – the fact that he’s survived so long with such a defect to his eyes is proof of that. And he has that stealth ability which might help me pull out a victory against a difficult opponent. Plus, it will be a good demonstration of my point that the Unevolved are not worthless.

“Alright. Catches-leaves will be my second Bound.”

That sets off a minor uproar and more debate about whether that is permissible or not. Finally, though, with Catch remaining steadfast about his decision, and me not moving an inch either, it is decided. I’m tempted to make a snide comment about whether they’re afraid of the little Unevolved, but decide that it would be undiplomatic.

I enter the village with Catch and Bastet to my sides, mentally preparing myself for what may be the most gruelling sparring session of my life.