Arthurian Cultivation

So death and dreams had a lot in common. There was even a name for the subset of glamours that fit under the title, ‘Soul-touched’. Soul-touched glamours were those made most often by living, thinking beings. This imparted some of their will into the glamour, which I understood but didn't realise was the same principle as when cultivators took control of regular glamours.

When a flame gifted took hold of a flame they were influencing it with their hearth, or in other words their soul. If an opponent wanted to take control of that flame you had to break their grip over it. Which took some of your own energy. In theory, you could absorb this ‘soul-touched’ flame into your hearth if you had the right gift and your opponent let you, but if you did you were basically allowing their willpower into your soul.

It was such an unpleasant thought it made me shudder just thinking about it. Part of the reason the blood curse had been escapable was it bound to my blood, the entirety of which I lost in my rebirth. If it had been bound to my soul instead even resurrection wouldn't have saved me. Thankfully your hearth was very picky about what it let in, you had to intrinsically trust the source to let in any glamour with willpower attached to it, and it was near impossible to fool.

What had settled my mind was that not all glamour was soul-touched, I'd feared that my current cultivation was setting me up for disaster, as I absorbed background glamour regularly. Well less regularly now, I was only going to cultivate privately till I could work out a new cultivation method.

Thankfully a few hours later Elaine had arrived and swapped out with Lance. She went outside to cultivate, as the pounding sound of the waterfall was a great natural source of moon glamour. Elaine had taken over my instruction and was now teaching me the method they used to cultivate dream glamour. It was a strange whistling practice, the note and tone told you a lot about how quickly you were absorbing glamour. The entire focus was to control the flow of glamour, ensuring you picked up only what you wanted to absorb and control the speed at which it entered so it didn't go straight into your hearth.

I decided I was going to come clean with Elaine about my gift. Besides I needed to tell her and Ban about the Divine Cultivators and for that, I needed a lot of trust. The Lady's attention on me gave me a seal of approval most kings couldn't equal, but I was going to tell them that one of the ruling families of their House was corrupted.

Elaine's presence in the house meant I had no doubt I was safe from the rot here. The Covens and the Divine got along like a house on fire, lots of screaming, and someone was getting burned. The Divine saw witches as a threat to stamp out and did so ruthlessly, and the witches responded in kind.

I had decided I'd check in with Miss Peaches about this cultivation method tomorrow. I didn't want to discover that death had a whole list of rules that would make this pointless. I liked to think that the Lady wouldn't do that to me, but she was a Fae. The seelie in particular were fond of tricking you into building the gallows on which you would end up swinging.

“Your whistle is fluttering, you're not keeping your breathing steady. You should try focusing on breathing in without the whistle to ensure the breath remains consistent.” Elaine's direction corrected a mistake I could hear. It irritated me to hear the wavering notes, I'd never had much luck with wind instruments but considered myself proficient, so to be struggling was frustrating me.

“Thanks, I need to take a break, I feel as if I've been active all day.”

“Well you have an opportunity to rest, it's about time for Ban to get back. You mentioned you had something to tell us. We can do that after dinner.” I was about to argue, but it wasn't like my news was going to be any more palatable on an empty stomach, and after the fiasco of dinner last night I wasn't keen to ruin another. Besides the food here was exceptional.

Ban was in a poor mood, the day had been full of small frustrations as Fosburg dealt with preparations for the Founders Day celebrations. The food was excellent even if it churned in my stomach as I ate it. I briefly considered skipping telling Ban and Elaine, I could justtell Miss Peaches, she would undoubtedly resolve things. That though could leave Ban and Elaine in a difficult position and would imply I didn't trust them when they had been nothing but pleasant and respectful to me.

The urge came because the family was so sickeningly pleasant, and I felt like I was turning up to throw corpses upon their table.

As the meal wrapped up, we retreated to the sanctuaryand I prepared myself.

“So there is a reason I have called you both here today.” I directed this to the seated Ban and Elaine. Lancelot was not invited, she was currently cultivating in the moonlight.

“You seemed stressed. I gather you encountered the worst of the Fos today, you did well to avoid a battle, thank you for not involving Lance in it. I don't like how that boy looks at my daughter” Ban's face promised death.

“It's worse than just a man who doesn't know his place. I must explain something so you can appreciate that this is not some passing insanity. I spent some time captive with a House of Renown from Albion, this is how I have my knowledge on moon glamour and my general knowledge of its origins.”

“We'd guessed as much.”

“Well, I must now add another detail. The house that held me was corrupted, believers in the ‘Guiding Star’. I do not like thinking on this time, but must mention it because the memories were pulled to the surface today when I examined Barclay Fos.”

“What about Barclay reminded you of such vile people.” Elaine's voice snapped out. Ban's face was a mask of shock.

“He wore numerous corrupted talismans, and most critically wore a star inside his armour. I found the Star when I was trying to understand why he seemed so confident in battling Lancelot.”

“You are certain of this?” Ban leant forward, his voice low like distant thunder.

“As sure as my name is Taliesin.” I nodded to Elaine, who got the weight such conviction conveyed, she had not forgotten the name was given to me by the Lady.

“This is another of the reasons she set you on this path,” Elaine murmured to herself.

“That damn fool. He's entirely too confident that his father's dead.” Ban roared standing from his chair and pacing the small room. I felt the weight of his frustrations boil over and had to strengthen my defences or be scalded.

“Is one of the Fos brothers dead?”

“Barclay would not fill a chamberpot without his father's say so. No Roland Fos his father, the damn swine. I knew he was desperate but this is insanity. He believes the Bear has fallen. His Fae gate closed almost a year ago, and Roland claims his father is dead, while Bromley and I maintain he is just coming back on a different path. He would do anything to be crowned the next Lord but would never hold the position. We are vassals to the Chox and I know the Raven Queen would not stand a meek Steel like him.” Ban was stomping around thinking things through.

“She would not stand a Divine Cultivator, you heard she declared war upon them with the slaughter of the Harkleys,” Elaine added, I could see her similarly processing the implications. I fought down the urge to wince at that, I didn't need the reminder.

“I have a meeting with Miss Peaches tomorrow. I will have to mention this. I did not dare go to her before then, as after I mentioned I was close to her, Barclay became very worried and did more to hide his glamour. I figured if I went straight there it might trigger an alarm.”

“Wise. It is stupid to have let Barclay wear it, I trust you showed no reaction.”

“If there's one thing I excel at most it's deceiving Divine Cultivators.”

“He was there with the two Krakens, were either of them wearing it.” Ban's full attention rested on me.

“I didn't get a read on Gareth, but the other one wasn't.”

“Roland controls the cultivator district. There could be an entire army waiting there. This is a nightmare.” Elaine said the fear aloud.

“We must prepare for a war.” Ban clenched his fist.