Amdirlain’s PoV - Gate between Hrz’Styrn and Ijmti
With the circle’s alchemical silver tarnishing fast, Amdirlain set sung barriers against Death and the other energies found on Ijmti.
“Your ability to channel energy certainly reflects your age,” remarked Amdirlain.
“What do you remember, Ori? Without someone around to sing your memories back,” purred Naamah before leaning forward, the tip of her tongue pressed against her upper lip. “I know father used to call you Ori, but other than getting messages from you, we never spoke much.”
“I remember how your claws pierced your mother’s womb and tried to hook into her floating ribs,” recalled Amdirlain, the sight and smell of the blood vivid in her memory.
Lightly tracing the crushing currents within Naamah, she let her awareness shift across the net formed from Leviathan’s foreign energy.
“We never saw eye to eye right from the start, likely because I was in her womb when we started fighting. She wanted me out, and I wanted to stay,” laughed Naamah, and the vicious smile she offered didn’t need fangs to chill Amdirlain. “In the end, I went further away than she ever wanted.”
At first, the hooks of Leviathan’s blood reminded Amdirlain of the vines'' roots, but they slowly took on an appearance in her mind of long barbed tentacles. Within distant memories, flashes of a dark cloud resolved into a Dragon’s body but with thousands of tentacles instead of wings.
Unlike the vines that had clung and dug into Amdirlain with intelligent malice, the links between the bands and Naamah were Leviathan’s slowly decaying life force formed into restraints. There was no intelligence, merely strict control ordered through its energy, restricting and interacting with Naamah’s flesh. The life force itself had continued to decay over the years of its originator''s death, and Naamah’s energy confirmed that demise.
The life force’s constriction didn’t possess the interwoven effect the same way corruption tied itself to memories, and Amdirlain found gaps in its grip. The vulnerability and Naamah’s song had Amdirlain finding an unexpected use for research she’d done post some of Gail’s antics. Where Gail had channelled planar energy to save a Soul, Amdirlain now twisted a primordial source into a weapon.
With critical links within the bonds identified, Amdirlain carefully deflected the Death energy within Naamah''s aura. The bonds were already showing the price for having survived millennia of erosion, which made it easier for Amdirlain to target the flattest notes. As a dried crust started to crack off the bands on Naamah’s wrists, Amdirlain stopped. “Can you use the lid from the chest or something to capture the band when it comes free?”
“Do you want the scabs that it’s shedding as well?”
“As much of the material as you can,” replied Amdirlain. “Balnérith set no order to contradict this?”
“Contradict what? I’m taking no direct action against my bonds; there is no Spell nor attempt to attack them I can detect. I can only see them drying up like a Mortal’s wound. Guess my nature must have been fighting them off at last. Silly loopholes,” laughed Naamah.
Naamah glanced at the chest and instead tore a slab of rock off the ledge. Setting the slab atop the metal chest, she squatted explicitly with her wrists positioned to let the material drop atop the rock. Unbothered by her exposed position, Naamah nodded at the chest. “What are all these about?”
“Do you know of any way to detect True Song?”
“Detect, no,” admitted Naamah, and she seemed surprised at the question. “But anyone can feel it the same way as being hit with a Spell. By the way, what do the chests do?”
“I’ll give you more details later, but they deliver a sung diamond to Succubi possessing a particular Prestige Class and a particular sigil.”
“Carefully spoken, just in case my lips can’t tell you the truth of my restrictions, nicely played,” approved Naamah, though her gaze tightened regardless.
It was a half hour before the wristbands appeared ready to come free, and Amdirlain shifted focus to the one around her neck. “It would be best if all three could fall away as close together as possible.”
Naamah moved around the chest to the Gate’s side with a provocative smile and sat on the ground with her legs wide and back arched so her neck was above the crude tray. “Yeah, do it all at once. I’ve never gotten done by True Song; maybe after this, you can see about making my nerves sing a century or three. Though you seem a little mundane to my tastes, I could make an exception.”
After tucking her hands behind her head, Naamah''s heated gaze returned to savouring Amdirlain.
“Not what I had in mind. I’ll focus on screwing over some of our mutual enemies rather than screwing each other, in any form,” countered Amdirlain.
Giving a pout, Naamah playfully inhaled and waved her pointed tail scolding Amdirlain. “No fair, I’m even holding still for you.”
“Indeed, but I’m sure you''re well above what I can survive,” argued Amdirlain. The slow, steady erosion of the bonds didn’t challenge her capacity with True Song since it required focusing Naamah’s energy into an abrasive cutter more than any strain from Amdirlain.
Dancing the touch between them, the three bands didn’t entirely fall away together. When the band from her right wrist first fell atop the stone, Naamah froze, eyes wide with delight, not daring to move, but the other two quickly followed.
“You’ve delivered your side of the bargain first,” panted Naamah, breath speeding up in anticipation, her hands stroking from her bare throat down her body. “Did you do that with Ebusuku as well?”
Ignoring the wordplay, Amdirlain focused on the question''s literal meaning. “No. Unfortunately, Ebusuku had to take a leap of faith with an oath before I could help her. Though the choices in the trials were all her own.”
“Now I’m free. I want some answers before your game begins,” declared Naamah, and she moved before the chest, posed ready to cast the stone tray with the remains of the bands away.
“Depends on the questions; I’d like an information exchange,” hedged Amdirlain. The threat against the remains of the blood wasn’t entirely unexpected, though it was unwelcome.
“What do the diamonds do?” demanded Naamah.
Amdirlain considered using a silent song to duplicate the remains in her previous hiding space before switching them over. The way Naamah’s nostrils flared though, Amdirlain wondered at her senses, and she decided the risk of detection was too great. Instead, she concentrated on the materials song, ready to draw them to safety if the tray got flung away.
“Nothing endangering the irregulars; it targets full sisters by using the sigil and Blood Monk Class theme. The diamonds have linked songs that cause a Planar Shift, a Planar Attunement, then an explosion,” confided Amdirlain. “I’ve got hundreds of thousands of the diamonds with linked songs in place already created if you want to deliver other chests inside Sisterhood fortifications.”
The information caused Naamah to relax, and she practically purred. “Interesting.”
At Naamah’s reaction, Amdirlain realised her earlier description had left the irregulars potentially at risk. “I had to be vague earlier in case the orders reacted to explicit threats. When I first met her, one of Ebusuku''s principal concerns was getting you free—I told her I’d help.”
“Not exactly something she can do now,” stated Naamah.
Amdirlain nodded. “Yes, but she also isn’t wanting you destroyed. Her mother? is a different matter.”
“A different matter we have in common,” Naamah said, stroking her neck where the collar had been. “Betrayal by kin ignites a powerful need for revenge; I want to flay her a claw width at a time. I’ll let the others know they are free to play soon enough. What chaos did you want to let loose with Leviathan’s blood?”
“I’ll need to see if I can pull it off. The target I’d want to use is the fortress here, so there is no risk to your kin. We’ll need to retrieve it and ensure my idea will work,” explained Amdirlain. “Embarrassing to promise something only to fall flat. First, I’ll need you to open a Gate to this location.”
The image showed a set of double doors, their surface a polished crimson shade inlaid with a twisted silver filigree. The pattern across it depicted figures involved in ritualistic sacrifices, impalements, and random dismemberments, all amidst an orgy with hundreds of succubi hungrily enjoying themselves.
“The doors to the Chamber of Bone. You aim high. There is a saying: you shouldn’t wound something you can’t kill,” Naamah cooed.
Amdirlain smiled and waggled her right hand. “Balnérith should have considered that before she stuck my hand on a spike. Can you position the Gate tight against the wall to the right of the doors? I’ll bring the block to us through the wall if this works.”
Chuckling evilly, Naamah rubbed her hands together. “It''s been a long time since I was there, but I can try it based on that image. Are you on Hrz’Styrn now?”
“Yes, but for the next step, it''s likely better if I come to your side of the Gate. Can you put concealments in place, please?”
Naamah smirked. “Please? You are an odd one, asking a Demon nicely after you ignored my open offers.”
“I know you are more a Primordial than a Demon, Naamah, and I’m not dismissive of your age and experience with magic. You want to play games, but my focus is on matters that hurt Balnérith. So my question is: what’s more important to you: playing games and winning against me when I’ve little real challenge to offer you, or getting revenge on Balnérith?”
Her smirk hadn’t lessened until the last question, and Naamah’s smile turned feral. “How much pain will she be in?”
“How many of her sisters would you like to Planar Lock?” asked Amdirlain.
“All of them, but I doubt we could hunt down the trillions of them quickly,” huffed Naamah.
“Trillions? That is a lot more than I’d expected,” admitted Amdirlain. “I thought the Sisterhood was small; Ebusuku said the irregulars outnumber them.”
“It is a small faction,” insisted Naamah. “If you’ve not seen a Brood Mother pop out succubi, then you don’t know how quickly we can breed. I’d swear some of them are perpetually pregnant. I’m not sure which of my lineage gained that Class first, but another Demon can give them a bit of side-eye, and they’ll have another child on the way.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Are you exaggerating on that?”
“Not by much,” grumbled Naamah. “I think it''s a weird version of Protean combined with a pregnancy craving.”
[Demon Lore [M](20->21)]
Amdirlain swallowed at the notification and rechecked her protections. With all the barriers in place, she stepped across the protective circle, and her Death barrier immediately registered a steady pressure from Naamah’s aura. Setting nine more chests at Naamah’s feet, Amdirlain motioned to them. “There are two thousand diamond traps in each chest and far more in storage. Do you want to help steal the Leviathan’s Blood or Planar Lock sisters first?”
“Will we get to see them explode?”
“Sorry, I hadn’t considered it necessary. I could add something to the traps to record their songs and help you hunt them down,” offered Amdirlain.
At Naamah’s delighted laughter, Amdirlain suppressed an eye roll and added a new link to the crystals; each would record the target’s song into a memory crystal array on Culerzic. When Amdirlain stopped singing, Naamah gave her a questioning look. “Now it will also make a record of all the sisters it detects, even if it has no traps left to utilise.”
“And you’ll help me hunt them all?” Naamah asked with a widening smile.
“I’ll create a device to let you track them,” proposed Amdirlain.
Naamah darted in to steal a kiss only to stop, her lips not quite touching Amdirlain. “You’ve got a Skill that passively entices, yet you’ve no desire for contact?”
“I’m not interested in the female form,” replied Amdirlain.
“I could become male,” Naamah glibly offered, and she brushed a fingertip down Amdirlain’s ear that sent a shiver of desire along her spine before setting her lower stomach on fire.
Amdirlain gritted her teeth, the heat showing how pale Viper’s provocations had been. “I’ve someone.”
“I tried that once. It''s such a waste of opportunities,” chided Naamah.
“That might well be the case, but I’ll wait until I know for sure,” replied Amdirlain. “With your one, how long before you branched out?”
Naamah tsked. “A day or two, I got bored.”
“Thanks for not pushing the kiss onto me,” said Amdirlain, though Naamah’s proximity still had every word caressing Amdirlain’s skin.
“They forced me for many millennia. You’re giving me my tormentors, why would I force you? Unless you’d like me to?” Naamah smiled, and she moved to check on each chest. “Is there a need for these coins?”
“To cover the false bottom, the crystals teleport the traps from within the chest. If someone takes them out, they’ve no ammunition. The presence of the coins will at least delay someone digging,” explained Amdirlain.
Tapping the nearest chest lid, Naamah contemplated it. “How did you plan to distribute these?”
“If you weren’t interested in helping by opening Gates to fortresses, I’d somehow get them added to cargo deliveries,” explained Amdirlain.
Naamah’s theme gained intensity, and concealments that pressed down on the surrounding Plane snapped into existence. “Let’s see about getting that blood you wanted.”
At the ledge’s edge, a Gate opened with a bland stone wall in front of it, and Amdirlain could hear the fortress'' wards. Beyond the wall, a wailing chorus of power screamed out within Resonance''s perception. Most songs were repeats of the same theme, and Amdirlain filtered them out, hoping for a more manageable weight that didn’t come. The blood’s song, no longer concealed by the hissing static, filled her awareness and obscured its exact location.
Considering her options, Amdirlain sighed. “I need to touch you to make it easier to borrow from her glyph.”
“I already offered to go deep into you or let you into me. Are you going to be daring and grab a bit of tail, or will scandalously holding hands do?” questioned Naamah, but she stepped up beside Amdirlain’s position at the Gate and held out her hand.
Lightly clasping Naamah’s hand Amdirlain spun out the glyph’s energy in a false wall around them. Pressing her palm against the stone, Amdirlain almost sighed in relief when the ward didn’t react to her minimal intrusion. Using the one time she’d seen the chamber burned in her memory, and even without Resonance to guide her, Amdirlain reached out through the stone and the carved sections of Leviathan’s skull to where the blood rested.
The simple block shouldn’t have weighed much, but when Amdirlain absorbed it, the impact hit Inventory hard. Amdirlain had barely absorbed it before she released it on the ledge behind them, and the rock ledge cracked and groaned under the blood’s weight. Ready to leap away, Amdirlain let out a sigh of relief when no further noise or motion came from underfoot.
[Inventory [Ad] (38->39)]
The dark ruby block rippled in the still air, its existence straining against Naamah’s muffling concealments. As Amdirlain turned, she caught Naamah’s predatory smile, and her grip tightened around Amdirlain’s fingers. “Fallen, I couldn’t tell that until you touched my skin. You’ve such concealments about you; even with Protean, there should be a smell of Power. Yet you smell like a Wood Elf. Were you J?"
“Does it matter?”
“Now that I no longer have to play word games to avoid that Dretch sucker’s orders, I’d like to know. Were you J? How are you now Fallen?"
“I don’t know if there are constraints she inserted into you outside that blood, so let''s focus on the next stage.”
Not releasing her grip, Naamah’s tail coiled loosely around Amdirlain’s waist, and she pulled Amdirlain close, folding a wing around her. “Tell me.”
“I thought you wouldn’t force me,” noted Amdirlain.
“I asked ''why would I'', never said I wouldn’t,” corrected Naamah. “Right now, I want some answers.”
Amdirlain absorbed all the chests from the ground and placed them within the Chamber of Bone. She released a slow breath as the crystals within them hummed and started delivering the diamond payloads. “Close the Gate, it''s tight against the stonework, but the sound might leak.”
Naamah followed the instructions but didn’t release Amdirlain even though the ledge groaned again from the blood’s weight. With the Gate shut, Amdirlain released the sigil’s false wall around them. With that concern removed, she reformed on the other side of Naamah’s wing. Amdirlain, having severed her hand, the flesh remained in the ancient primordial’s grip. A rush of experience started, and Amdirlain shut down the combat notifications that tried to keep her informed—a distraction she didn’t need with Naamah beside her.
“Shall we move along?” Amdirlain calmly asked, her body having recovered from shedding her lower arm.
Naamah’s laughter rang the air, and she tossed the oozing mass of the unprotected flesh and bone towards the nearest tree. The mass carried enough force that the tree exploded on impact. “You like to act as calm as can be, little one?”
“You scare me, but being scared isn’t new. I’m unlikely to win against you, but I will not lie down and accept your shit. A question: do you want to be on my list when Ori’s Power is mine again? Because I will not stop until I reach that point or even after, Naamah.”
“She was the strongest Anar, but don’t think I couldn’t end her. How long is your list?” demanded Naamah, letting out a wave of desire that pushed against Amdirlain. “Is getting your brains screwed out on it as well? Wouldn’t you rather we indulge that hunger I can taste within you? How many years of suppressed desires do you hold on to?”
Amdirlain''s mind spun with the thrust of desire licking and tugging at her flesh. Rather than meet it head-on, Amdirlain flowed with the ignited passion and deflected the heat that burned through her into the opening notes of a song. A booming salvo rang out unheard but not unfelt, and Naamah drew back rather than continue her languished attempt to seize Amdirlain’s wrist.
[Mental Hardening [S] (26->30)]
The song pulled on the Death energy that Naamah’s aura cast off, leaving a void in its wake. Amdirlain didn’t absorb the energy but twisted it to fill the mental image of a scalpel slicing through the bonds holding the blood together. Crimson dust erupted from it, and Amdirlain continued to sing as she moved. The tempo felt awkward and displaced from Amdirlain’s steps, but she concentrated on the vestiges of decaying life that remained and slowly put them into a grave.
The dust caught at Naamah’s gaze, and she growled. “Don’t ignore me.”
“I’m merely ignoring the game you want to play. You’re far too dangerous to ignore,” corrected Amdirlain. “Conquest or revenge, which do you want today? I’m not afraid to die, but will that get you what you want? Our window of opportunity to hurt Balnérith isn’t infinite. How soon before you have to rip her glyph away?”
“Hurting Balnérith isn’t all that drives you. I can taste all the suppressed desire within you,” growled Naamah, and she stalked the ledge after Amdirlain. Licking her lips, she gave a sultry groan. “Such purity from you is intoxicating; I could eat you all up and come back for seconds.”
“Many things drive me, including getting payback on dozens of enemies. There would be more names, but some died or aren’t worth bothering with,” replied Amdirlain. Her words came out amid the background of the song’s thrum that continued to draw on Naamah’s killing shroud.
“Are you still using my energy?”
“Yes, what you’re throwing out through your aura,” admitted Amdirlain, and catching Naamah’s gaze narrow, she started composing a different approach. Before she could determine how to pull the life away from the block instead of cutting it apart, Naamah stopped stalking her, and the energy surged higher. Lichen that covered the ledge’s rocks turned to dust, and Amdirlain reverted to her original song. She spun hundreds of musical strands to twist the surge into more blades, slicing a wedge deeper into the block’s top. “We’re going to need a Gate open into the fortress.”
Amdirlain’s words were barely audible over the din she was unleashing, but Naamah’s reply was to the point. “Why?”
“When this comes apart, even you don’t want to be standing close. Unleashing its contents should level the fortress,” stated Amdirlain, and she was glad Naamah''s chaotic nature seemed roughly running alongside her plans again. Still, Naamah wasn’t making it easy, and another death wave surged off her skin, causing Amdirlain to scramble to channel it completely.
A Gate opened at the front of the ledge again, revealing a room strewn with broken furnishings and cracks that ran deep into the walls’ stones crisscrossed everywhere. Sure that the noise would alert those within, Amdirlain pushed True Song to dig harder into the block even as she sliced the stone beneath it into a sled. A concentrated push sent the sled begrudgingly through the Gate, and Amdirlain filled the room with Naamah’s aura of Death.
Her music''s cruel, dry notes kept the energy focused on the links holding the curse within the block in place. As the tempo of the pulsing beat within increased, Amdirlain sang to match it. Flecks of dried blood cascaded from the block’s sides and began to coat the floor like an ash wave spilling from a volcano.
When the block bulged outwards, the drying blood created a lacquer around a rapidly expanding gauntlet threatening to fill the room. At the sight of the armoured hand forcing its way clear, Naamah shot Amdirlain a look of disbelief, and the Gate snapped closed. Amdirlain’s songs continued to reach the block despite its sudden distance, and she felt it rupture seconds later. Taking full advantage of the flaws Amdirlain set, the pressure from within focused on them. The notes Amdirlain’s song remained focused on strained and shuddered, and finally snapped with an explosion of force that travelled to everyone linked to the block’s power.
[True Song Genesis [Ap] (11->12)]
[Achievement: Breaker of Bonds (Tier 7 Achievement)
Details: The destruction of the last glob of Leviathan’s Blood destroyed the ties binding the Sisterhood of Blood.
Freed:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400">An Aspect of War (Laodice) (Curse) </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">40,000,000,000+ succubi (True Name Oaths) </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">120,000,000,000,000+ assorted demons (Oaths of service to a now-defunct organisation)</li>
</ul>
Reward:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Tier 7 Prestige Class Unlock: Second Rate Songbird.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">160,000,000,000 experience.</li>
</ol>
Note: Hope you like the name of the Prestige Class I just created; not like you’ve brought life to a dead space rock.
Note: You’ve crippled her income stream with that trick. You still weren’t subtle, but at least you included a vague use of surgical precision this time.]
[Achievement: Planar Class Warfare (Tier 7 Achievement)
Details: You’ve destroyed the Prestige Class: Blood Monk once held by trillions of demons and altered the balance of power on dozens of planes. The Class requirements are impossible to meet with Leviathan’s Blood unavailable to empower members.
Reward:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Prestige Class purged from all possessing succubi. (As per Profile Master effect)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">1,500,000,000 experience.</li>
</ol>
Note: Here I’d predicted the next cataclysm might take a while; then you went to Hrz’Styrn.]
“Know a place where we can see the fortress from a distance?” asked Amdirlain.
Naamah pointed up the slope towards the ridgeline, and an earthquake hit. Boulders and rock slabs slipped free, and it was Amdirlain’s turn to get the mother cat treatment. Naamah’s Teleport set them level with the ridgeline, with a second Spell to create a floating platform beneath them.
“Who was in the blood?”
Far ahead, a giant fortress supporting hundreds of towers trembled and shook. Sections of its towers cascaded away, the released Mana in their wards ripping stone to dust. The place split like a lightning-struck tree following another ground hop, and a figure clad head to toe in solid, metal armour burst upwards. Quickly dwarfing the fortress, she grew until a single foot covered where the structure had been. The armour wasn’t the mediaeval knight the glove had hinted at; instead, it had an organic appearance with whorls and ridges, preventing strikes from landing true.
Amdirlain felt Laodice''s senses wash over them before her eyeless helm focused in their direction. With the fortress already shattered and rubble falling from her back, Laodice’s single pair of glacial blue wings flexed, throwing rubble to either side. Given the sonic booms that battered at a barrier Naamah placed around them, it was just as well Laodice had turned.
Naamah cursed. “You released another of the four?”
“Only one more to find,” replied Amdirlain.
“Oblivion’s still unaccounted for?” enquired Naamah, and she grimaced at Amdirlain’s nod. “Good luck getting close to him, even if you can find the absence of everything.”
Amdirlain smirked and gestured towards the still-growing colossus. “An aspect of War is now on the loose in the Abyss again. You might want to spread the word about your lineage; all the Sisterhood lost their Blood Monk Prestige Class.”
Half expecting Laodice to vanish, a flourish she made with her right hand took Amdirlain by surprise. A moment later, another sonic boom flattened the surrounding forest as a spear the size of a skyscraper appeared in her extended hand.
“Solars have six wings, so why do aspects have two or none?” muttered Naamah, even while she sent off a barrage of messages.
“As you said, they’re aspects, not celestials,” announced Amdirlain, and she gave Laodice—still scores of kilometres away despite her expansion—a casual wave. “I’d say she was saving up her energy.”
The spear spun in Laodice’s grip, and seizing it in a two-handed grip, she planted the tip into the ground. From the strike point, the ground rent apart and crevices large enough to swallow supertankers zig-zagged across the landscape, consuming swaths of the toppled forest.
“I think she’s saying ''I’m annoyed'',” said Naamah.
Despite Laodice being nearly sixty kilometres away and looming high overhead, Amdirlain directed a declaration at her. “There is at least one underground location I need to stay intact on this Plane. Can you vent your annoyance on other planes? Naamah could provide you with a list of Sisterhood fortresses.”
“You just volunteered me?” grumbled Naamah, but despite her objection, she made no move to flee.
“I said you could, but go right ahead and say no,” countered Amdirlain. “We were involved in starting this, so we’re within her theatre of war.”
Laodice vanished with a bang caused by the air rushing in, and with barely a pause, a now Human-sized version joined them on the platform.
Giving a quick nod, Laodice intoned dryly. “Amdirlain.”
“You were a bit of a bitch breaking our connection, but regardless, I thought I’d free you. Was there a reason you opened up the crevasses?” enquired Amdirlain.
“Keeping you company while you fought Viper was one thing, but helping you fight or find yourself wasn’t something I could do without changing us both. I opened the crevasses because there were prisoners I could sense underground. Some I’d prefer to kill, but I’d not leave worthy combatants sealed away,” explained Laodice, and she regarded an unfazed Naamah. “You have locations?”
“Planning to devastate planes again?” enquired Naamah blandly.
“As Amdirlain might say, I think I’ll take the scenic route home, but I’ve only a few key destinations in mind.”
Naamah gave a predatory smile. “I would have thought you’d have gotten a better taste in armour over the aeons, Laodice. What sort of key destinations did you have in mind?”
Shifting her spear to her left hand, Laodice planted its butt on the platform and rested the haft against her shoulder. “War is brutal; I see no need for fancy armour. As for my desired targets, only every Sisterhood stronghold. I will destroy as much of her progress as possible. Leviathan was the weapon she’d pointed at the Anar; if I’d known that earlier, our pursuit would have taken a different route.”