The guards lingered at the gate while servants crossed the grounds close to the walls. Ben walked to the main hall beside his father. Neither spoke.
There had been no further word from the Shens since Ben and his grandfather returned from the mountain. Ben had counted on their help against the delegation. Now, when the clan needed it, he had no way to reach them.
The hall was full. Tian took a place at the side, and Ben sat beside him. At the head, Tiexin sat between Grand Elder Wang Feng and Elder Hongwei. The patriarch waited for the last of the clan to settle before he spoke.
"You have heard the Bastion's demands. I believe they mean to drive us out of Redstone, and we cannot fight a domain power on our own. But the kingdom has a use for us. Prince Huo wanted our formation work before the delegation came."
Feng sat with his arms folded, watching him.
"The kingdom stands above the domain," Tiexin continued. "If the Prince needs our work for the war, he has reason to oppose what the Bastion wants. We must give him that reason. I have decided to go to Azure Dragon Fortress myself."
Feng lowered his arms.
"Then you leave us without the man holding this clan together. Who takes your place when the Bastion comes again?" He leaned toward the patriarch. "Send them formation masters. Do not send yourself."
Beside Ben, Tian shifted forward. He looked toward Hongwei, then hesitated before speaking.
"Elder Hongwei could go in your place. Redstone knows his work. With some of the clan's younger hands to help him, he could give the kingdom what it needs."
"I will go," Hongwei said before Tian had quite finished.
Tian fell silent. Hongwei turned to the patriarch.
"I am only a grade below you, and I have been there forty years. At the fortress I would have work I cannot find here. Arrays broken under siege, raised again before the next attack. Perhaps that is what I need to break through." He rested his hands on his knees. "The clan can spare me more easily than it can spare you."
Tiexin listened without interrupting. When Hongwei finished, he looked toward Feng.
"I know what my leaving would cost us. You are right to object. But we have nothing to bargain with beyond the work we can offer."
Ben looked at Hongwei. He had spoken of what he might learn, but Ben could not stop thinking that Hongwei might never return from the fortress.
"Then let me go with him."
The men nearest Ben turned. He was the youngest in the hall, and his grandfather waited for him to continue.
"The Prince needs formation work. Elder Hongwei could take enough of us to do it. I could help him."
Tiexin's voice softened.
"No, Ben."
He held Ben's eyes for a moment, then turned back to the elders.
"I am a grade-seven formation master and a core formation cultivator. Of those we can send to do this work, I have the best chance of surviving it. I will go."
Feng's eyes narrowed, but he let the patriarch finish.
"While I am away, Grand Elder Wang Feng will lead the clan. Elder Hongwei and Ben will see to our formation work. The rest of you will help them keep the clan's affairs in order until I return."
Hongwei bowed his head. After a moment, Feng did the same. The others gave their assent, though the room remained subdued.
Ben went out beside his father. He wanted to speak, but every objection he could find had already been made in the hall.
...
By evening, Ben's arms shook each time he finished a form. His grandfather had made the decision hours ago. Ben had spent the afternoon trying to find another way, then gone to the courtyard when he could no longer bear sitting with it.
He set his feet and began again.
The demands went far beyond compensation for the dead. Someone wanted the Wangs gone from Redstone. Ben could see what that person stood to gain, but he still had no name.
Zhao Yu came out of the dark carrying a blade. He stopped at the edge of the lamplight and waited for Ben to finish.
"Still at it?"
"It is better than sitting."
Zhao looked toward the wall. "I have spent days looking at that. I could tell you where every crack is."
Ben lowered his arms. "Have you been helping at the forge?"
"Trying to. I ruin every blade I touch. Even the simplest ones." Zhao turned his own blade in the light. "Father had learned to shape them in a season when he was a boy."
"You have other gifts. I've seen you fight."
"I know." Zhao lowered the blade. "I'll never be the forger he is. I have stopped hoping for that."
"Then use what you have. Your talent for fighting is as plain as his for iron. We both need to grow stronger."
Zhao nodded. "Put a blade in my hand and I know what to do with it. No one has to tell me. At the forge, my hands never do what I want."
He looked down at the hilt.
"I haven't advanced since we fought those two. They were trying to kill us, and I grew stronger. Now I can practice all day in here and gain nothing." He glanced at Ben. "I think one real fight would do more for me than a year behind these walls. It is a strange thing to want."
For a while neither spoke. A bell rang beyond the courtyard wall, and the patrol changed.
"Father has no time to be restless," Zhao said. "Half of Redstone wants weapons before marching west. He's turning out grade-eight work faster than ever, and he still has to send people away."
"Even now?"
"Fang Wei came last week. The broker from Jade Mist. He wanted a vat for medicinal baths, with fine fittings, and offered to pay double. Father told him to come back when the war was over."
Ben looked at him. Zhao gave a small shake of his head.
"I never thought I would see him turn away that many spirit stones."
Ben took his stance again. Zhao moved beside him and joined the forms, his blade passing through the lamplight as they practiced.
Ben kept his next question to himself. He had heard the Prince make his claim and his grandfather choose to rely on it. Could it hold the Bastion back?
He asked the System.
[ANALYSIS: Crimson Bastion intent sustained and hostile. Kingdom's claim currently opposes it, conditional on continued kingdom interest. Outcome cannot be determined. Deciding actors beyond Host's perception.]
For all it could tell him, it could not answer that. Ben let the words fade and followed Zhao into the next form.
They were moving more slowly when the patrol changed a second time. Neither stopped.