《Necromancer's Rise》 01 - Deaths Embrace Screams echoed down the solide stone halls as seven men and women were strapped into mechanical chairs arranged in a circle. Three women and four men waited upon the dais with uncertainty in their souls as they looked around, pointlessly trying to see through the blindfolds firmly tied around their heads. Some of them screamed for help, while some begged the people around them to let them go, while others merely waited in silence resigned to their fate after hearing the others. The one thing they had in common was that no one was quite sure why they were in the situation they were in. One would think that a gathering of seven people would be taken from a local bar, or perhaps a fishing boat returning with its catch for the day, but not a single factor of their old life was left to the seven victims. Sure, they had all the internalized wisdom of their respective years of age. Feelings of love, and loss, and all the trappings of experience that comes from your average life. But the memories of who you knew, what you had done, or even who you are? There was nothing. So the seven strangers waited, and struggled, and wailed, as they met the very fates the gods had in store for them. There was no warning, only a sharp intake of breath, the sound of movement from the side of their chairs, and then an intense pain that blossomed from every part of their body. The screams stopped, and the begging waned as seven strangers blacked out in unison. Ready to start a new life, and ready for the world of Nevitta to change with the coming of its new gods. ¡ª---- A wave of pain followed me into the black void of unconsciousness as I lost touch with reality. It was strange really, to wake up in a chair uncertain of anything other than having had a life before this one. Not like I could really complain too much about the feeling considering all I had left was nothing itself as time passed in the void. I don¡¯t know how much time passed, only that it did. I eventually took stock of myself and what I knew to be true. I was a grown woman of 24 years old who had lived a somewhat successful life up until this point. I had loved, and then seen that love turn into an ugly thing that I had to run away from, only to love again. I had managed many people at different times in my life, only to realize that leading others brought me no joy of its own merit. But most importantly, i realized that I was not leaving anything behind when I lost this last life of memories. Perhaps I was lucky compared to the woman that was screaming her head off in the room I blacked out in, or perhaps this was the greatest failing of the life i left behind. Regardless, I knew that what I had lost meant nothing to me now, and in return I could now understand what I truly wished for. Everything. Reality scraped its way back into my brain one slow moment at a time as the void transferred into a different shade of black. My eyes were open but saw nothing as I realized i could feel a cool stone pressure upon my back. My hands wandered around me, searching the new void that somehow felt real only to find that walls locked me in on every side of me. Cool, rough stone boxed me in, a couple of inches from my body in each direction and just tall enough to allow me to raise my head. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Is this, a tomb?¡± I asked myself And as though my word brought me back to reality, a sharp pain began to throb from where my heart was. I moved my hands to clutch the area, but quickly cut myself on something very hard and sharp that was protruding from my chest a couple inches. I groaned into the new void as a new stinging sensation came to my hands as they started bleeding onto the rest of my body. That''s when i started screaming. ¡ª Time passed slowly as I tried my best to get free from this hell. First I tried yelling for help, only for my screams to echo back at me and bear into my ears within the enclosed rock. Next I tried to brace myself along the bottom of the box and push upward as hard as I could, only for nothing to budge. My hands had stopped bleeding relatively quickly since it was a shallow wound, but a dull ache remained as I set to exploring my new box of reality. The bottom and sides to the prison were practically perfect, even if a little rough on my skin. I couldn¡¯t find any lips, or creases, or joints in the wall except where the top of my trap seemed to fit into place with the bottom. Only there was the faintest hint of a crack in my coffin as I could fit the barest piece of my fingernail into the crease. And so I got to work. I poured whatever will I could into this one last solution as I started working my fingernails away at the crack trying to make it bigger. The stone was certainly hard, sure, but I was also out of other options at this point and digging my way out seemed the best option. My nails slowly chipped away, and my finger tips grew numb as I worked away at the crease in the cage. After a few more broken finger nails, my blood was starting to add an irony smell to the air around me, but I was past caring at this point. My chest ached from a strange object stuck in my heart, and my hands pulsed from the earlier cuts trying to explore the object. My fingers felt like raw little burns at the end of my arms, but I had started to make progress. Slowly, a small chip of ceiling at a time, the stone wall began to flake away from the crease that I was working on. If only it hadn''t been starting to get hard to breathe. I wasn¡¯t sure how long I had been down there, but my chest was starting to hurt worse and worse as time went on until a heavy feeling started to fill my lungs like I was breathing through a straw that just kept getting smaller and smaller. Soon enough I was gasping for air as my chest quivered up and down trying to get anything at all to breathe on. Tears streamed down my face as my gasps for air quickly became sobs of resignation as I realized I was really about to die. My eyes closed themselves against the void and I settled my arms back down on my chest as I accepted the end, and fell unconscious. In the future, I would often look back on this moment and wonder how much better things might have been for everyone if this had truly been my final moment. 02 - Escape Time muddled itself as I floated through a different type of void than before. There was no longer any body attached to me as I tried to sort through my feelings and figure out where I was. I was¡­a rock? No, I was a stone. A shard that was so sharp and black it felt like I was cutting through the reality of the void around me. if I was about to fade into the unknown it seemed kinda stange to me that the one thing I could still feel was the small shard that had been shoved through my heart, but it wasn''t so simple. I was now the shard itself, stuck in the void and lost from my body. I was repulsed by the feeling. I wanted my body back, and I searched through the black that surrounded me, desperate to get any sense of feeling back. Instead, I found a song that whispered its notes into my soul, painting a picture for my mind. I looked down to see a cube of solid rock, trapping what looked like a young girl''s body that lay asleep in the grave. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were closed as her mouth hang open in one final gasp for air that never came to her. It was me. Had been me. She was clearly not breathing, and somehow I had a feeling that there was no life in her body just from the essence in my gut. But yet, I was looking down on myself, clearly conscious in some form or fashion. And now I had absolutely no sense of what to do next. Nothing outside of the cube was visible to me, even though it felt like I was an outsider looking down on the situtation. With a bit of effort i found that i could reposition my viewpoint from the top down, to the bottom up, to a side view of my body, but still there was nothing else to see outside of the immediate viscinity of my corpse. ''Not much good being a ghost if I''m stuck in a coffin.'' I thought to myself, ''Maybe this is why ghosts are always such assholes when they finally get free.'' So after trying and failing to see anything outside of my small little world, I instead started to look inward. My body was clearly a mess by this point. My chest was practically painted over with blood that stained the thin white sheet that served as a dress pink down to my hip bones. Most of the blood seemed to be coming from my fingertips, which was surprising to me considering the massive black shard that was piercing through my chest hadn''t yet drawn any obvious blood at all. Focusing on the shard, I had a strange sense of self in the object, like I was looking at myself in the mirror. Staring into the shard gave me a strange sense of feeling too, like if I looked into the inky depths of the razor edge for too long the world started to take a different hue to it, and I casually accepted whatever was happening. Perhaps I was just exhausted from spending several hours struggling against my own death, but I soon realized that the shard itself sang a slightly different song than the one I could hear in the depths of the void, and I listened. White started to fill my vision as my body and the stone around it started to fade away from my perception. The white slowly condensed itself into the shape of a rib cage, and then continued to fill out the void moving away from the black shard. A set of hip bones faded into view, then my arm and leg bones sprouted from the torso as though shining a light onto a long dead cadaver, quickly followed by a skull, hands, and feet. As the rest of my body solidified into view for me, I started to notice more white blobs in the distance. It started as strange indications of white that looked like small pots in the distance, but quickly expanded into a wide range of stars that were consolidated on the horizon. A faint couple of the stars seemed to exists far below my body, yet the majority of the small pools of white light started to fill in the sightline all around me, growing brighter and brighter with time. Eventually, my field of vision to every side turned a brilliant white that was blinding against the darkness above me where not a single star shone in the sky. As I continued to feel more and more objects pop into my vision, even when I could no longer visibly see them among the sea of white, the pain in my head started to grow. Perhaps I was still used to having a body at the time, so I tried to shut my eyes against the pain and surprisingly everything winked out at once, leaving me alone with the shard yet again. ''Huh'', I hadn''t really expected that to work. The pain was gone, and I was back in my own little pocket of nothing. This time, I opened my eyes slowly, only barely squinting in the direction of the shard as it started to fill in my skeleton again, and then stopped there without expanding to the stars. Curious, I willed myself closer to the skeleton as I took stock of the situation and what I was in for now that I must be a ghost. Small cracks shone across my shin bones and wrists from¡­well to be honest I really couldn''t remember. Otherwise, the only other major problem with the skeleton seemed to be the tips of my fingers that had been clawing at my cage so pointlessly. My finger tips looked strangly worn down, even in bone form, which was fairly concerning to myself considering how the blood had been covering the wound''s severity up until now. Somehow i had a strong sense of wrongness as I looked down on those fingers, and started to imagine what they must look like on a normal body. With that small little intention of mine, the song of the shard seemed to buzz in my ears as the finger tips resonated and vibrated under my view. Surprised, my mind quickly backed off from what I was thinking about and looked back at the shard, which immediately cut off the strange buzzing and stilled my dulled fingertips. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the shard when I stopped thinking about my bones, so I went back to what I was doing without overly worrying about the strange piece of darkeness that seemed to capture my soul. I once again thought of fixing the broken lines at the edges of my finger tips, and this time the shard trully buzzed with excitement. My fingers seemed to vibrate in place, growing both in the intensity with which i could see them, but also inheriting a sense of warmth. The cracks at the edges slowly started to fill in as the bone resumed its natural shape before my eyes. My essence took a step back from the situation and the buzzing stoped as I looked at my handiwork. ''I''m now a ghost who can regrow my own bones?'' I thought to myself, and that gave me an idea. ¡ª---------------------------- The shard buzzed its song of darkness as I set my mind to the task at hand. An assortment of bones that made up my hand started to rise into the air as I simply willed it to lift up, and it did. Slightly impressed with myself I tried to make my hand wave at me at which point the assortment of bones kind of just quivered back and forth awkwardly in the air. Maybe i just didn''t have the right sense of control yet, so I started using my imagination to bend the individual fingers in and out of a fist. This seemed easy enough as I pulled my finger tips in to touch the thickest part of my knuckle bones and quickly felt something go wrong and the fingers went limp. From my current view everything seemed virtually unchanged, but a strange curdling from the shard gave me the distinct impression that it might have been laughing at me. I looked around myself in confusion and the bone vision quickly bleeded away as I started to see my full body fade into view again within the coffin. The hand I had been playing with remained upright as it seems like I had leaned it against the wall of my tomb before I let go of the bone sight, but then I quickly saw what had gone wrong. Blood virtually pooled out of a newly opened wound along the palm of my hand as I realized what I had just done. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The tips of my newly restored finger tips shone white and slightly protruded from the skin at the edge of my fingers, which was greusome enough, but now the fingers hung limply across the inside of my hand as though I had cut off the only thing supporting them up before. it dawned on me that by closing the bones together too tightly into a fist, I had just cut through my own palm using the pressure of the bones closing together. And to top it all off the view was absolutely disgusting. Perhaps it was for the better that I was dead already when I found my ghost abilities because I would have probably passed out from the pain in my hand. Instead, i found that I could still feel a sort of something as I looked down on my body, but it was so muted it was like staring at an object at the bottom of a pool of water. Perhaps I could make out that what I was feeling was pain, but it was so indistinct and blurry from my point of view that it felt like a sense of pressure more than anything else. I reeled at the sight of the injury caused by my own experimentation, but all that awaited me was time itself. I could scream into the void with all my might, but the only lungs I had were attached to a body that wasn¡¯t fully mine anymore. I was stuck. And although everything in me wanted to curl up into a ball and just sit there, at this point even that didn¡¯t really seem like much of an option. My vision flashed to white as I once again focused on the inside of my old body and got to work. ¡ª----------------------------------------------- Using my new powers to ball my hand into a fist, I then turned my attention to slowly raising my arm up and down, bit by bit. The trouble wasn¡¯t so much that it was physically taxing to do this, but I was also trying to make sure the entire arm didn¡¯t just rip itself away from the shoulder socket at the same time. Perhaps it was a blessing that I was starting this new life in a small confined box with nothing to do but figure things out, although I still wasn''t very happy with the fact that I had just died in here. One test after another, I started to get comfortable moving my arm up and down without too much stress about the mechanism of things. Unfortunately, I had also just realized a new plan that was going to put all of my patience to waste. After spending some time truly thinking about it, I couldn''t think of anything better to do and started working my way out of this hell hole using these new powers. Fist once again balled up in my otherworldly sight, i started to thrust my arm up into the ceiling of my new prison where i had been trying to claw away at the seams back when I was still living. It was not a pretty sight as I immediately started to see cracks spread throughout the knuckles of my fist and the buzzing of phantom pain sprouted in my head. In between punches I set myself to not only recovering those minute cracks, but soon started to improvise a bit and willed my knuckles into being just a little bit more angular than they used to be. Rock rained down around my body as I continued hammering away at the one location over and over. Each new thrust gave me a second to think about how I could make a better tool, and I slowly began knitting the knuckle bones together allong the width of my hand while also extending out the sharp edge just a little bit farther into something that resembled more of a punching dagger before I was truly satisfied. Punch, rest, punch, rest, punch, rest. Thwak! Crack! The barest hint of light shone through the tiny seam I had made in the ceiling of my coffin, not the direct shine of sunlight, but still some ambient light was more than I had seen for quite some time. Finally feeling progress, my punches hardly slowed as I continued the process to widen the gap. The buzz of pain that seeped into my soul had slowed down considerably after I had formed the punching dagger, and I could now make several strikes in a row before stopping to mend over the cracks in my bones at this point. Self conscious of what I had probably already done to my poor hand, I refused to transfer my sight to the flesh based variant, so at worst when I looked down at myself it looked like your average skeleton other than the oversized fist weapon pointed at the ceiling. Internally I shook my head as I continued to work my way out, the hole growing wider by the second. First it was wide enough for a fist to escape, then the size of my head, and soon it looked just about wide enought to squeeze my shoulders through before I stopped working at the hole. Then i realized just how awkward learning how to sit up as an undead body was going to be. ¡ª----------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes likely turned into hours as I tried learning how to manipulate the bones in my spine to sit myself up without any muscle control. It was at this point that I started to get a better grasp on what I was doing with the power was less related to actually moving the bones themselves up and down, and more related to the minute elongation and shortening of the bones in order to make it look like movement. Pretty soon my spine had more or less slithered its way into an upright position with my back hunched under the hole in the ceiling when I started to move my arms upward to drape them outside of the hole first. Piece by piece, I was starting to exit my prison into what looked to be a small crypt with an open door to the outside world when I was surprised to see a skeleton casually walk through the open door. My entire body stilled, uncertain what I might look like, half jutting from a broken open stone coffin when the walking bones came to a stop right next to the hole I was making my way out of. "Well shit, I thought you would have figured out how to get out of here by now, and you''re still squirming around like a headless snake.", came a hoarse low voice. Hearing the words spoken aloud even in my bone sight finally reminded me that this was probably just a man who had walked into my forlorn crypt and not in fact a walking skeleton like me. Still, it was strange that he was so comfortable with the idea of a corpse breaking out of her cage like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. While I was still coming to terms with the situation, the man grabed me by the wrists and casually lifted my body out of the hole until I drooped like a cat in front of his face. I finally decided to shift my sight away from the bones themselves to take in the moment and immediately regretted the decision. A grizzled old man with long black hair and a tightly braided beard stared down at me from sunken eyes. He was obviously more than a foot taller than i had been in life judging by the ease with which he had me lifted by the arms to hover in the air as he looked me over. As for myself, things weren''t looking so good as it was obvious i had numerous open wounds all across my body. Dark brown crusted blood matted my arm tipped with a digustingly white shark tooth head where my fist was supposed to be. But not only that, my shoulder hung limp like it was barely connected by the skin to the rest of my body at this point, allong with several red splotches lining up the center of my spine where i had snaked my way into an upright position. More concerning than that, I think my body had more or less started to run out of blood as my skin glowed an unearthly pale hue in the ambient light from the doorway. Desipte the state of my current body, I started to hope that the man actually knew me already based on his first introduction and the fact he didn''t seem surprised to find me. That was, until he let get of my arms and I dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. "Disgusting, this is what you really look like?", the man muttered as he made his way outside. Confused, surprised, and more than a little hurt by his reaction I tried yelling at the man, yet nothing came out except for empty screams into the void as I looked down at my crumpled body. Seething as I was, I dove back into the bone sight to try and follow the man as I quickly extended my arms to grasp the thin grooves in the stone that made up the room''s floor and then pulled as best that I could to try and drag the rest of my body. It kind of worked, except that my body was being pulled lopsided towards only one of the arms as the hand with the punch dagger constricted with seemingly no effect on the rest of my bones. Oh. My shoulder ripped off. Even more frustrated now, the buzz in my head was starting to become hard to ignore at this point as I used my only remaining arm to flip my body over to its back and angled my head towards the door. Hardly trusting myself to walk without losing my legs at this point I merely tried using my knee joints to start pushing my body foot by foot towards the door and the outside world. 03 - Ascension Matthew was hardly the oldest man to have lived in the area, although he did have a good fifty years to his name at this point. And in all that time spent on this green world, very few things looked as strange to him as watching the thin corpse of a girl flop out of a crypt door and roll herself down the handfull of stairs into the forest surrounding him. He watched all of this from a short stump of wood he was using as a chair next to a small campfire. Mildly entertained by the woman that was flopping about like a fish, he continued to turn the cooking squirell on a spit as he watched her flail her way towards him. ''To think that this woman will one day rule the world'', he thought to himself, resisting the urge to shake his head. A thick volume of a book rested in a burlap sack next to his seat and he casually glanced over at it as he reminisced about the task set before him by a god. Steeling his eyes, he took the squirrel off the spit to begin cooling down, and set himself to his first task. It wasn''t his fault that a smile started to break free on his face as he thought about what would happen next. ¡ª--------------- I had managed to make my way a few feet outside of the crypt before the man stood up by the fireplace and made his way over to me. Instead of the help I was expecting from him, he promptly grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up to meet my eyes again. "You must learn control." was all he said as he walked back to the crypt door and promptly tossed me back through the door to collide with the back wall of the crypt. Without another word he turned around and left me alone to stew in my thoughts for a moment. I wont lie to you and say I didn''t cry to myself for a bit. Frustrated and alone without even the ability to make a sound outside of the essence that made up my true existence at this point, I¡­took a moment to just let it all out. I was right there. I had gotten out of this damn crypt and finally touched grass for the first time in what felt like an eternity, but that man had just thrown me back in here. A few minutes later, my frustration had subdued itself into subdued bitterness that allowed me to start thinking again. The man certainly wasn''t acting like I was an enemy of his, more like a old fatherly figure who was dissapointed in me. Resigned to the fate I had been forced into by circumstance I accepted the fact that perhaps I should listen to him and figure out what to do next. I took in the room around me a little bit more attentively for the first time, looking out at shelves of nick nacks that lined the room from floor to ceiling. Children''s toys of dolls and small wooden swords lined the lower shelves, but made way to common workers tools on the middle shelves, and then finally what looked like an odd assortment of alchemical bottles on the highest shelves. Something caught my attention on one of these top shelves as I spotted the carcass of a raven floating in a solution filling a large jar. Most importantly, I could see the bones that made up the creature as bright as a light shining from above. Out of curiosity, I reached out for the small bird bones, curious if I could control their-. The buzzing in my head rose in pitch blocking out any semblance of a coherent thought from my brain before I retracted my essence back to my main body. Yeah, controlling dead animals certainly wasn''t going to happen for a little bit, so instead I focused on the lone arm laying across the room from the rest of me where it had ripped off earlier. This time, while the buzzing increased in my head it wasn''t insurmountable. My essence easily slipped into the separated appendage and gave me control over the bones as I started manipulating the fingers to drag the arm forward. Strangely enough, my consiousness seemed to be connected to my arm now as my viewpoint followed the movements towards the door and I began to see around the corner of the doorway even though my body was far deeper in the crypt. That could be usefull, i thought to myself. The act of dragging the rest of my arm with just my fingers was slowing my progress as it grated along the stone floor of the room. With an absent thought I tried flexing my wrist in a way that might have lifted the rest of my arm off the ground if it was still attached to a normal body, but nothing happened other than the rising of my wrist bone a few inches off the ground. Frustrated for what felt like the tenth time that day, I realized that trying to drag my body around with the lose bits of skin still clinging to my bones wasn''t going to last me very long and I needed a solution. I thought back to the way I fused the bones in my hand together to fashion a bladed edge, and started experimenting with the idea of thin strands of bone stringed above and below each of the joints in my arm like a marionette. Now, instead of flexing my wrist I could take the string overlining the wrist joint and reduce the size of it until it started pulling the rest of the arm up behind it. ''Its working!'', I thought to myself as the arm gradually lifted into an upright position as I tried to balance the appendage above my hand with some quick footwork, or i suppose it would be better called, fingertip work. Teetering as my new setup was, I strung a couple more lines of bone between the forearm and shoulder bones to tie the larger pieces together, and started walking my new setup towards the door using my fingers like spider legs. A few seconds later I stared out at the forest floor as my arm crab contraption became outlined by the frame of the door. Once again, the lone man looked up in between bites of his dinner as the setting sun was starting to set behind the trees. As he stood up from his meal, I started to become uncertain about his allegiances. Was he really an ally like i thought, or was he just a captor set to keep me traped in this crypt? This time, as he walked up to me, I tried to keep away from him, scrambling towards the edge of the stairs as the bulk of my arm bobbed above me, but it hardly mattered. Quick as can be the man snatched me up by the elbow of my arm and held me up like an awkward club as his eyes looked me up and down. Slightly annoyed at this point I tried to reach for him with my fingers before the man merely pushed his arm out until I was clearly out of reach of the rest of his body. Somehow he hardly seemed concerned with the fact he was carrying a disconnected arm as he cocked his head as though in thought. "Using bone strings instead of muscles isn''t the worst idea you could have thought of, but it''s still not good enough.", and with that he quickly caught my wrist in his other hand and brought my forearm down to crack along his knee, cleanly breaking my bones in two. A sharp pain that was nothing like the buzzing i had felt up until this point invaded my mind as I found my arm sailing through the air to fall on top of the rest of my body at the back of the crypt once again. ¡ª My mind, no, my essence screamed in pain as I quickly tried to knit my bones back together despite the piercing feeling in my soul. What seemed like a few faint drops of liquid essence dripped out of the open break as I brought the two halves of my arm together as quickly as I could with the awkward bone strings in the way and tried to get everything back in place, slowly willing the pain to die down as I mended everything together. Still shaking in place I almost withdrew inside my head again to try blocking out the situation at hand until I noticed the bone like liquid that had fallen onto the floor. It was less of a puddle and more like a small mound of jelly, especially with how slowly it had originally leaked out of my bones. It suddenly dawned on me that this was like the bone marrow that dogs would lick out of any bone treats you gave them. More exiting than that though was the sudden realization that I could still control the small puddle as I willed it to slowly roll itself across the floor to climb up the rest of my body. Under my spectral sight it appeared like the liquid was floating in mid air a half inch away from the rest of my bones before I realized that it was actually sitting on top of the flesh I couldn''t quite see while deep in my spectral sight. While curious as to what it must look like, I decided I didn''t quite want to see what kind of shape the rest of my body was in after I had torn off my arm and then promptly been broken in half. Regardless, my new liquidus bone puddle offered me several new ideas on what to do next. ¡ª--- The sun had finally set on Maathew as he remained by the campfire, casually warming his hands as he watched the flames. He hadn''t allowed himself to become entirely distracted by his thoughts though, as he saw a small movement out of the corner of his eye near the door. A thin smile creased his face as he lifted his gaze to meet a small hand that was clinging to the top right corner of the crypt door. It froze in place, as though she was hopeful that inaction could make him forget that she had been caught, but he continued to stare at the hand, unimpressed. The hand began to move again after some time, carefully withdrawing a barbed fingertip that had been sharpened like the tip of a sword before placing it forward across the threshold to once again sink the finger deep into the unmarked stone face. Each step, the hand noticeably twisted the finger in place once it was submerged in the wall, likely catching the barbes in place so that it couldn''t fall out while hanging. Still, Matthew would have been impressed with her progress if she had been just about any other human than the legend that she was. Regardless, he merely leaned back on his stump of wood and observed her newest attempts to explore. Now that she had been caught, the hand seemed to get annoyed at the situation and quickly shifted all its fingers at once so that they fell out of the holes in the wall at the same time. The hand fell unceremoniously to hit the edge of the top step and rebound out onto the forest floor like a stuffed animal falling from a bed. It would have almost been cute if not for the fact that the hand hardly looked human any more as her elongated finger tips cut into the ground like thin white stilletos, while the only skin and meat left to the hand happened to be situated allong the palm and back of the hand. Instead, a thin almost reddish yellow sludge seemed to connect the rest of the joints in the hand as the spiderlike contraption adapted the tips of its fingers to be less sharp so they would stop digging into the ground with every step. By the time the hand had finished approaching him, it now truly resembled some strange version of a five legged spider in truth as it came to a stop in front of him. It was fairly obvious that the creature couldn''t speak for itself, so the man decided to answer the question she was probably asking. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "Good evening Dei. My name is Matthew, and your name is obviously, Dei." The spider seemed to cock its head at him, thinking. "No, i''m not sure whether you chose that name for yourself or whether it kind of just got stuck to you given the circumstances," he shrugged. "But for what its worth, it suits you." No response from the spider hand this time as it merely stared at him. "Yeah, so I can''t quite answer that next question you probably want to ask me. I''m not going to tell you who I am or how I used to know you before you died, but I will still be helping you out in my own way. I suppose you could call me your first follower in this new life of yours, although you might end up regretting that with time." If shock could register on an creature made of bone, thats what would have shown in the eyes of the spider hand named Dei looking up at the man. ¡ª----------------------------------- With the strange man''s words, something twisted itself in her heart and she felt some sort of energy filter through her essence to flow back into the black shard implanted in the body she had left behind. With a jolt, the buzzing that had been becoming increasingly jarring with every step she took away from her humanity vanished. She felt imbued with a sense of vigor that made her feel alive for the first time since, well, since she died. She? Wait no, I. It should be when I died, not ¡®when she died¡¯. What was even happening here? I tried to shake off my stupor, but instead found myself looking back at that shard of darkness hidden away behind a wall of rock, yet clearly visibile to me despite everything in the way. My conscience was pulled away by some strange new gravity as my essence was pulled back to my corpse and a faint light that emanated from within the shard plunged through my heart. Inside the shard a single purple light hung in the air of the void that i was gradually being sucked into. This was the place I had been stuck immediately after death, most obviously due to a thin song that drifted through the place that I could recognize from the last time I was here. This time though, there was another voice singing along to the melody, a dark timbering voice that supported the rest of the song with his bass line. And all the while, the mysterious purple light thrummed along to the song just in rhythm with the bass line, and I started to actually make out some words among the song for the first time. ¡°One¡­¡­gai-.....rst Ascen¡­ompl¡­.trol fou¡­¡­la¡­ing¡­devel¡­solu¡­Detaching humanity.¡± Eyes wide in surprise, the purple light flew into me as the sollemn song melded with my soul for just a moment before it came flying right back out, only this time a little bit different. The purple flame now wobbled in the void, looking a little lost as it scanned the abyss. It turned this way, then that, then turned around to look at the essence behind it, clearly just as startled by myself. My¡­self? Two pairs of connected consciousness stared down at one another in that instant as the purple flame and the essence inspected each other. Both of them were distinctly me in a sense, yet it wasn''t quite like looking in a mirror, and both entities started to back up into the void before she, (it?) started talking. ¡°You are me¡­but not exactly?¡± the purple flame glowed as it spoke. Looking back at the original essence, she realized that it looked like a matching blue flame, suspended in the open void around them. The blue flame flickered as it spoke back, ¡°No, we are connected. That much I can feel.¡±, but after that the conversation died down as the twin sparks merely looked at each other in silence, thinking to themselves. A sharp pain pierced through the two of them as the blue spark quickly returned to the world of white and bone, drawn back to reality by the pain only to find her hand on fire. Her skin had started to melt off into an acrid stench that left the old man scrunching up his nose as he held her down in the fire using the tip of a sword. Alarmed at the situation, she tried to push herself away from the biting fire, only to find her skin catching allong the sword holding her down, sending a new screeching pain deep into her heart. Despite this, the hand was still able to roll away from the fire to come to a smoldering stop on the dirt floor. The man merely eyed her as he left his sword in the fire while the leftover skin turned into ash before wiping it off on one of the unburnt logs. If a spider could look indignant, thats the look she would have given the man in that moment, yet to any outsider the boney creature merely looked crouched down to the ground for some odd reason. The man smiled at her then, ¡°I thought we might start taking care of the rotting flesh before it became a real issue. But i suppose now that you''ve got a friend in there we might really start to make progress. Go grab the rest of your body and we''ll begin.¡± ¡ª--- After the blue light had left her behind, the purple spark wasn''t quite sure what to do anymore. In the back of her head she had the had a faint feeling that the blue spark was taking care of something important, but when she started to reach out to the spark, feelings of anger burned bright in the direction the spark had flown. So instead, she waited. She had been born in the void to a certain extent so I didn''t really seem to bother her, even though she knew more was out there, but what was the point? As long as she stayed here she could merely float in place, lulled to sleep by the whispers of a song in the breeze. It was bliss¡­ But it was also boring. The purple ember slowly stirred to look in the direction the whispers pointed her in, guiding her toward a world of light as she truly started to take in the world. Her vision blurred as she looked down on both a pile of bones on one hand, but also something that resembled a corpse that reminded her distinctly of herself. If flames could vomit, she decided that''s what she would be doing and quickly focused on the vision of bones instead. Confusingly enough, a little bit away from the rest of the body laid the better part of an arm that looked like it had lost both its shoulder and hand. As she took a better look at the arm it looked like a strange amalgamation of an appendage with several wisping strands of boney string that connected at the elbow and wrist joints. Oddly enough it looked like it had been broken already, stitched together, then broken a second time as a thin stream of gel leaked out of the broken humerous bone onto the ground. As though acting on instinct, the flame decided to make some improvisations on the original design as she made the thin strands of string receed into the arm while she willed the bone marrow gel to gather allong the elbow as well as six other points evenly spaced out on either side of the arm. A moment later twelve thin pincers of bone extended from the arm like the legs of a centipede to match the thin applications of bone marrow that were now acting as individual joints. Any passerby would be forced to think that an invasive species of giant centipeed had infested the forest, but the little flame merely hummed to herself as she manipulated the many thin legs to carry the arm back into place on the body, nestled in the crook of a very bloody and mishapen shoulder area. ¡ª-- Resigned to her fate, the bone spider thought about leaping onto the face of the man named Matthew and seeing just how much damage she could do with her razor-sharp legs. ¡®He burned off half of my hand, and he didn''t even ask for consent first! The nerve of the man.¡¯ she thought to herself. Yet even now she didn''t jump up his leg to start her attack. For some reason he said he was helping her, even though he seemed to be doing it in just about the rudest way he could. So instead, she turned on her heel and marched back towards the crypt to gather the rest of her body like he had said. As she walked away on five legs, she let her consciousness wander to look down on the small spiderling from above, even as she continued to control it. While slightly charred along the finger tip areas, the small globs of bone marrow she was using as joints between each of the knuckles seemed to remain functional as she made her way forward. As she walked over, she could already tell that the charred flesh that made up the body of her spider form was quickly wearing away, so she fused the bones in the palm of her hand together to serve as a better base for the legs as the muscle dropped away. By the time she had reached doorway it was hard to even recognize the creature as originally being a hand, instead looking like some sort of poisonous white and gray spider that was crawling up the steps. When she crested that final step, she hesitated for a moment as she took in the fact that her arm bones seemed to be reattaching themselves to her old body as she looked into the crypt. A dozen thin legs receeded into the sides of the arm as the thin pockets of bone marrow slid along the edge of the bones towards the wrist and shoulder areas. All at once, the moving arm seemed to stop under her gaze as the two of them metaphorically met eyes. How an eyeless spider and a centipede would theoretically meet eyes was besides the point in that moment as they both became acutely aware of the other¡¯s presence through their bond. After a moment of thought, the spider continued her way towards the body with merely a passing thought. ¡°I suppose Number Two has gotten to work already. Wasn''t expecting that.¡± she thought to herself. ¡°I am NOT going to be called Number Two. I am Dei.¡± a quick reply came back to her. The spider stopped in her tracks, ¡°No, I am Dei. I came first therefore I get first dibs.¡± The other flame seemed to think for a moment before it answered, ¡°Why are we calling dibs on a name that we didn''t even choose in the first place?¡± ¡°Doesn''t matter, it feels right on me now, so that''s what i''m gonna stick with¡­why don''t we call you Pei, like purple Dei?¡± ¡°Really, thats the best you could think of? That''s such a stupid way of doing things.¡± ¡°Fine, then what would you prefer to be called? Its not like i''m trying to be rude here, but we''re gonna have to tell us apart somehow.¡± The other essence took a moment to come up with an answer as the spider finished making its way over to the corpse and slotted the base of her hand into the wrist, making sure the jelly like substance had a good connection. ¡°Fei. I want to be called Fei!¡± ¡°Sure, sure.¡± Dei thought, ¡°Now mind helping me break a few bones so we can get enough bone marrow going to patch this body back together?¡± And with that the two of them got to work. Together. ¡ª--------- As the sun went to sleep behind the horizon, Matthew peered over at the open maw of darkness hiding the inside of the crypt. Loud snapping sounds echoed into the forest that sounded like a large animal chomping its way through a particularly good meal. But as gruesome as the events of this day had been, Matthew wasn''t quite afraid of the situation. No, instead he was merely uncertain about the course his life had just taken him as he attached himself to this monster. ¡°What the hell is this book trying to tell me?¡± He muttered to himself as he opened the thick grimoire once again, and started reading ahead. ¡°And why the hell do I only have two more days left to train her before something happens?¡± 04 - A Fighting Chance Several hours had past before Dei was able to stumble her way to the doorway without grasping onto the walls for dear life. She looked out onto the forest floor with dead lifeless eyes as Matthew closed his book and casually put it away for safekeeping. With a single teetering step, the girl made her way down the stairs to the crypt. Three thin stairs between her and the dirt floor, yet she still took a couple moments each step to catch her balance on uneasy joints that creaked at the effort. Her arms hung limp as she shambled her way forward over the course of several minutes, only to stop in front of Matthew once again. He looked up at the pallid beauty that simply stared down at him until he finally got up from his roost. Now more than a foot taller than her he looked down on her fine features, more than a little surprised at the interest he was starting to feel for the girl. Regardless, he reached up with his hand to putt it square on the center of her chest as she obviously looked at him in confusion. And then he pushed. Dei rocked back on both heels with the force of his push, toppling backward with all the elegance of a falling tree before she hit the ground with a dull thud. Matthew snickered just a bit as he looked down on the awkward corpse as her legs began to spasm at the knees like she had only just started to try and catch herself, several seconds after the fall was already done with. Still, he remained there, standing above her as she slowly contracted at the hips, raising her upper body into a sitting position, then started to set her feet below her with bent knees. It was an odd sight to be sure, like a puppet that had lost its string slowly learning how to get itself up, but she did manage to get one foot under her, then the other, and slowly rose back to a standing position. This time, she angled her head to stare up at the man as he looked down into those plain brown eyes that had become almost entirely red around the irises like they hadn''t been blinked in days. Then he pushed her down again. Dei was thrust onto her back another four times before she was able to even fight back. That time she got her foot back a couple of inches first before the knee buckled under the weight and she collapsed back all the same. She had stopped arguing internally with Fei after around the third drop, and they merely set their focus to trying to control this mess of a body with all the aptitude of a bunch of floating motes of fire. So it was that on the seventh fall, they managed to get the left foot back in time to really fix the joint in place. The key was letting Fei contract the knee just enough to get the foot off the ground as Dei rotated the hip joint to get the back foot on the ground. Fei then had to let go of the contracted knee to instead set the ankle joint in place while Dei angled the torso forward and down just far enough to counteract the backward force. Dei nearly contracted the neck joints in time to stare up at Matthew before the brute of a man smiled at her and pushed on her shoulder this time, sending her sideways into the ground all the same. Seething as she was, Dei abandoned Fei''s efforts to stand the body back up, and instead chose to focus on manning the monstrous looking hand that they hadn¡¯t yet turned back to normal. With but a passing thought Dei released the connection to the wrist area and started to run forward with the small spiderling towards the base of Matthew¡¯s thin boot. It seemed strange to her that piloting this small contraption was so much easier than a human body, but then she realized that the center of gravity was just so much easier to manage on five legs than it was standing upright on only two. Regardless, Matthew looked down on her impassively as his hand brought itself up to his scabbard in a flash. The man had no right to be as fast as he was, because he seemed to have all the time in the world to spin the sword in a full circle with the flick of his wrist, grab it in reverse grip, and still managed to ram it down the center of Dei''s spider body before she even reached his ankle. She could remotely feel some sort of pain in the back of her head as her creature was skewered to the ground, but mostly she just felt annoyance as her fingers continued to reach for the man, pinned as she was inches away from his boot. After a couple more seconds of this Fei began to whine that she wasn''t helping and Dei had to resign herself to returning to the main body. Matthew merely watched the couple of them stand up for the seventh time, as he left the sword impaling the hand to the ground. For the next couple of hours Matthew casually noticed that every once in a while when the girls had a particularly bad fall he would see the fingers on the spider twitch just a little bit like they still wanted to rip him apart. ¡ª------- Dawn had risen by the time Dei could withstand three pushes in a row without falling. Push, contract, post foot, pivot, recover. Push, twist, post arm, extend leg, raise chest, recover. Push, raise leg, extend other leg, one step, two step, balance, recover. Dei glared at the man where she stood a couple of feet away now as he finally pulled his sword out of the ground and allowed the hand to rejoin the rest of the body. She felt a moment of satisfaction at the recognition he was showing her in that moment, until he leveled the sword at her chest with a bent arm, and took his first step forward. If dead eyes could go wide in that moment, they would have, but by then they probably would have started falling out. With his next step forward he started to swing the sword horizontally at her right side, making the slash like it was in slow motion towards her shoulder. So slow that she was able to step backward, angling her body just out of its range. He followed up with a back handed downward slash towards her hips which caused her to take another half step back as she angled her waist out of the way. This time his hand twisted in a sweeping motion to swipe upward with the sword, all of which was still at only half speed. This time she stepped forward and to the left of his sword as she closed the open space in front of him. They continued like this for some time, each swing getting a fraction of a second faster until the swings started to look like genuine sword slashes from a real fighter. A minute passed before she messed up for the first time, and the sword glanced off her shoulder removing a chunk of leftover flesh and cutting a slashing line over the bone underneath. Regardless, after a momentary breath from the two of them, the cracks in her shoulder bone knit back together and they started the dance at half speed once again. The next time he broke one of her legs, cutting straight through the knee joint at an angle, dropping her to the ground on her remaining leg and an arm, but after a moment''s rest again this time she didn''t get up. A thin white string wound out from the knee cap to pull the rest of the leg back into place, but still the girl raised her other hand up to Matthew and opened her fingers in a stopping motion. He took a step back and set the tip of his sword on the ground as sweat dripped from his brow onto the black jerkin he wore. In another moment Dei raised her hand in an upturned gesture, raising her shoulder at the same time, but Matthew simply raised an eyebrow at the movement. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Shaking her head, Dei bent down further, already crouched as she was, to bring her finger in contact with the dirt and started drawing. ¡°Why¡± ¡°Why what?¡± matthew said. ¡°Fight?¡± ¡°Because you need to be prepared.¡± he responded. Dei cocked her head, before pointing back at ¡®Why¡¯. ¡°Because the next people that see you might not be quite as willing to meet you as I am.¡± Still confused, Dei pointed back at the second word again, ¡®Fight?¡¯. ¡°Yes, contrary to what you may believe, most corpses don''t rise from the ground to start learning how to walk again. I''ll be frank with you so we can skip the awkward questions. Five countries stand on the brink of war right now, and I just happened to find your crypt right in the damn center of where all those nations'' borders meet. So when I tell you we might run into problems the first moment we set foot in the closest town, I mean for you to know how to handle yourself. Sound good?¡± Dei took it all in, slowly standing up from her scribbles to accept the end of his explanation with a soft crouching position. A short nod of her head brought the man back into his own fighting position, and they continued the day in silence except for the whistling of a sword in the air and the soft thumps of bare feet hitting the ground. ¡ª----- Matthew had grabbed a sizable chunk of cheese from his bag in one hand and he started munching on it as he continued to swipe at her absentmindedly. What had once taken a bare couple of minutes in between breaks in her guard had now escalated into bouts that lasted nearly fifteen minutes before his sword became a blur before her vision. ¡®This isn''t just some random man who found you in the wood Dei.¡¯ Fei thought aloud. ¡®Perhaps, but he seems to mean well. You know, all that follower nonsense and trying to prepare us for war.¡¯ Dei shot back, even as they stepped around the lazy swings near the start of the newest fight. ¡®Yes, cause every princess trapped in a coffin gets a knight charming to come teach her to become a fighter while he casually breaks all her arms and legs repeatedly for a day straight with hardly any rest. Just what is this guy?¡¯ ¡®Hah, knight charming my ass. His clothes look like he stole them off a drying rack on the way out to find us.¡¯ ¡®Yeah sure, but what kind of man just walks into the middle of the woods seemingly sure of the fact he''s going to find a dead girl waiting for him at the other end?¡¯ ¡®...The type of man who also said he can''t tell us why he knows things?¡¯ ¡®Dei, this sounds insane. Even to a dead person.¡¯ ¡®Look, it doesn''t matt-¡¯ A sword swing finally connected with the girl as Matthew sliced through the upper part of her head from the tip of her ear through her hairline. For once he seemed a little bit ashamed of the blow, as her body lifted fully off the ground to land a couple feet away in a pile. She was still getting better at reacting to these things, so she quickly rolled in the dirt to a half standing position within the moment, but a bit of gray ooze had started leaking from her open head down her face and onto her shoulder. A couple of steps quickly brought her over to the detached slice of cranium lying on the ground which she picked up and brushed off on what was left of her shirt. The twin essenses stared for a moment as they looked down at their body after what had been half a day of fighting at this point, only to realize the thin dress that had originally covered her was in tatters. Another passing glance from the third person revealed a frothy gray liquid was sloshing around in the open goblet of her head on top of everything else. Feeling at least a little bit uneasy at the sight, Dei tilted her head to the side like one would do to try and get water out of their ear, and a small mass of flesh flopped out of her head onto the ground. Raising her head back up to look at Matthew, she bent down again to scribble in the dirt. ¡°Clothes?¡± ¡°Uh, I don''t particularly have any spares right now other than what I''m wearing. And between you and me, its not like you''ve got much¡­left to cover.¡± Taking another look down at herself, Dei realized that the majority of both sides of her pelvis had already been cut away from the hip bones, leaving only a thin strip of torn skin hanging to the bottom of her pelvis. It was far too covered in blood and dirt to tell what was down there anymore, but she still felt her metaphorical eyes narrow as she stared up at Matthew once again. Without another word between them, Dei quickly walked over to the campfire that Matthew had kept going throughout the day, and sat down ass first into the coals. Mathew at least had the decency to avert his eyes as she stared him down from the fire, and then he did his best to distract himself from the acrid stench as he kicked dirt over the gray flesh that came out of her skull. Without looking back, he started making his way towards the crypt. Dei had, perhaps, not thought this through as much as she had hoped and a couple moments after she had started burning away her lower abendages something felt like it had droped out of her rib cage allong with a shocking amount of body liquid. The mass hit the coals below her as the fire quickly erupted into a blinding mass of steam that clouded her vision. Taking the moment as her cue to finally stand up, Matthew came back out of the crypt holding an old looking sword and scabbard in his hands. His smile quickly dropped when he looked up to find an ashen stained skeleton girl from the rib cage downward standing in front of the remains of his precious fire. ¡ª---- The strange man had tossed the sword into her open arms as he grumbled to himself about something like "waste of a perfectly good fireplace". Even still, as she slowly unsheathed the sword to the side of him, he ignored her as he started placing pieces of wood into a rough teepee a couple feet away from the old fire. She decided to ignore his fascination with a fire that he barely used between their sparring fights as she looked at her new weapon. ¡®That''s ancient writing isn''t it?¡¯ Fei thought as they stared down the length of the sword at a cursive script running along its side. Dei hardly answered as they both looked down at the sword, uncertain why it looked so familiar to her at that moment. She obviously could speak the native tongue of this land due to her conversations with Matthew, but why would she be buried with a sword she couldn''t even read? Still, appart from the ancient writing, there wasn''t much of note to the sword as it held a rough dull edge and a rapidly deteriorating hilt wrapped in leather strips. She took a few practice swings with the sword, and was solidly impressed by her own ability to make it move how she wanted. Her steps and arm movements certainly weren''t graceful quite yet, but the day of sparring with Matthew had obviously shown progress as her sword chopped through the air at roughly the angle she had been hoping for. Still, it was surprising how cleanly many of the lessons she had learned from moving her legs to dodge blows applied similarly to her arms, albeit in a somewhat backwards fashion. Regardless, she had reached the point where it was starting to become easier to settle into the muscle memory of moving limbs as opposed to planning out each individual joint movement. A couple more minutes passed before Matthew managed to get another fire going, and a wide grin split his face as he looked up to Dei in pride. What looked down at him at that time was a thin skelton frame that still bore the face of a young girl, and little else in the way of skin or flesh. Along every joint and connection between bones a thin gray putty had emplaced itself and glowed with faint bursts of blue and purple light as the girl raised her sword in a skeletal hand that was just a little bit too elogated to be natural, ending each finger tip in a sharp white spike. Still, the man held her dead gaze as her rose from the fire to continue their sparring. One more day. 05 - First Contact Sword strikes rang out as the morning sun started to dawn over the trees once again. Matthew was somehow still standing despite two days without sleep at this point, but even now his sword arced out and back like a solid line of iron through the air. Dei, for her part, rigidly bobbed back between two uncertain feet as she met each attack with either a clumsy dodge or a jarring block of her own sword. Matthew cut in from below with another upward slash at the girl as she spun on her heels to get inside his guard. She extended her own sword in a short thrust forward towards the mans gut, but he casually used his other hand to push the flat side of the sword just an inch away from his body before it landed, then raised his right leg into a tight kick. Caught by surprise by the sitatuion, Dei barely brought her left arm forward to block the kick when it caught her forearm and cleanly broke it in half. Half a second later, Matthew brought down his sword from the high position the uppercut had left him in downward in a clean cut that took off the girls other arm as well. Perhaps seeing a moment of weakness for once, Dei pressed on even as Fei set to work recovering their arms at the same time. Left foot posted with the thrust, she brought her right foot forward in a sweeping arc to catch Matthew''s own kicking leg just as he brought it back to the ground. A clean thump echoed as her thin bones colided with his leg right behind the knee, before the man suddenly found himself falling back for the first time since they had started sparring. A little bit anticlimactically, the old man merely did a backward roll to regain his bearings, sword arm already extended at the ready again. But to Dei it didn''t matter as she casually bounced up and down on her feet a couple of times, obviously doing some sort of happy dance. Based on the way her shoulders were up in the air, Matthew had a feeling she had intended to be raising her arms too, but it was a sight to behold as one of the arms merely attempted to crawl up her legs like a disturbing bug. When the arm finally did pop back into place the girl finally did settle down, and reached over to grab her sword once again. Her other arm settled into place a couple seconds later as the two of them returned to their fighting stances without another word. ¡ª Very few opportunties for celebration of any type came Dei¡¯s way during the rest of that day, but still she fought on, spurred by a man she hardly knew. As for his part in things, the girls were equally impressed. Two straight days of fighting had left him soaked in sweat from every part of his body, yet the man barely stopped to eat or tend the fire in between bouts of fighting. A tuft of bread here, an apple there, and did the man never need to sleep? Sure, his eyes looked a bit puffy by this point, but Dei could hardly even imagine fighting for two days straight when she was still living, yet this man did it like it was a passing whim. So when he eventually called for a stop to their sparring for the first time in days, Dei stopped suddenly to look at him with a cocked head. Matthew scratched at his head sheepishly as he quickly answered her look. ¡°I need to sleep for a bit.¡± he muttered. Looking down at the ground the man almost looked embarrassed about the fact, but Dei looked on as he merely turned around towards his bag and pulled out a rolled mat of reeds, then a thin cloth blanket. Dei was uncertain what to do in the situation as she watched the man make his bed in the middle of the forest floor. Looking up at the night sky she could see it hardly looked like any rain was coming, but still she wished she could recommend sleeping in the crypt instead of outside. Regardless, the man placed a couple more logs on the fire, removed his boots, and crawled onto the reed mat set off to the side. ¡ª Free to do as she wished for perhaps the first time since she had ¡®woken up¡¯, Dei had no idea what to do. Confronted with a man that seemed to want to do nothing more than fight her every moment had been a weird situation to deal with, yet it had at least left her distracted from her own thoughts as she stared out at the strange forrest around them. Where was she exactly? Matthew had said they were on the border between five different nations, but that didn''t really mean much to her without a map or something. Who were the nations? What kind of people ran each of the countries, and which one was least likely to burn a skeleton at the stake for merely existing? It was all so frustrating to her as she realized that these powers likely didn''t even require her to be dead in the first place. That was probably just a fluke of circumstance that she had woken up stuck in a coffin right? And to think about how much easier things might have been if she could tackle this new world as a flesh and blood human! Still, she looked out upon the mysterious forest in the middle of nowhere, with no sense of direction as she listened to the birds, and the bugs, and the chatter, and the leaves turning. ¡®Wait, did you say chatter?¡¯ Fei finally piped up. ¡®Like, other humans?¡¯ Dei focused then as she realized she was in fact hearing a conversation, muffled as it was due to distance. Standing still as a tree, the gril tilted her head to make out a group of men casually walking through the forest maybe 200 meters to the left of her crypt. From this distance, she could hardly see them as anything other than slivers of color filtering through all the trees separating them, but even still she quickly walked over to Matthew and reached down a hand to try and shake the man, but he did nothing but roll in his sleep and start snoring. Looking up, she could tell the group was moving even closer, so she jostled the man even more hoping against all hope he was merely a heavy sleeper, but even then she couldn''t seem to wake him. All at once she started to recognize the voices coming towards them as one man called out to the others. ¡°Hey John, do you see a light over there in the forest?¡± ¡°Huh, yeah. Who would be stupid enough to set up camp out here?¡± Running out of time Dei gave Matthew a quick kick to the stomach that didn''t seem to do much other than make him groan in his sleep. Resigned to her fate, she walked back over to the crypt thinking about possibly hiding in the- ¡°Hey there, you!. Stop!¡± A man called out from the group approaching her. Dei froze in place. ¡®Didn''t take you for the fawning doe type of fight or flight.¡¯ Fei chided her, but Dei just held her breath as she tried to think out her options. This did not look good in any circumstance. A barren skeleton walking towards a crypt after standing over a randomly sleeping man in the middle of a war torn forrest. Great. This was gonna go great. ¡ª As the group of five men finally approached a couple of mutters escaped from them as they took in the strange sight. A lone skeleton with half the face of a young girl stared at them as they unsheathed their weapons in the cool night air. A bright moon lit night illuminated the situation as it shone down on her blinding white bones held together with flashes of purple and blue at the joints. ¡®Platoon Sergeant, I think we just ran into a problem.¡¯ The man in charge of the group thought to himself, pinging his leader through their mental link. Still, it was around the typical dinner time right now so he wasn''t entirely surprised when his sergeant didn''t respond. ¡®Will investigate then send an update Sergeant¡¯, he thought to himself. With a small hand gesture the team leader John had his group spread out with their upraised weapons. He had certainly never seen an undead, although he had heard stories in legends of a type of magic that hadn''t been seen in decades related to the subject. As he and the men approached the creature from a hesitant horseshoe formation, the group were caught off guard by the fact it simply waited for them, silently. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Approaching the creature slowly, John caught sight of a sleeping man by the fire, practically just as out of place as the skeleton. The man was a giant, even huddled under a thin blanket as he was, but his thin shirt and pants that poked out from the edges of his covering seemed particularly out of place in the brisk fall night. Perhaps he was a necromancer like they talked about in the legends, John thought to himself. ¡°Gerard, go check out that man over there and wake him up.¡± Gerard noded at the instructions and split off from the group as the skeleton moved for the first time since they had first seen her. The unsettling gaze of dead eyes fell on Gerard as he walked over towards the sleeping man, rattling the weapons of the men that now surrounded the skeleton. ¡°I said don''t move!¡± John yelled, to which the skeleton merely cocked its head at him. It could have been described as comical if it weren''t for the dried out eyes that stared straight through him, unnerving the team leader even further. Gerard had reached the sleeping man by now and started shaking him progressively harder and harder without any response. John was just not having good luck at this point as he started to decide the man looked like he was already dead. No one can sleep through that much jostling, surely! But that must mean the skeleton killed him in his sleep, making her a rogue monster at this point. A certain steel flashed in the man''s eyes as he finally made his decision on how to handle the strange events, and with a flick of his wrist, the horseshoe started to close in on the monster. ¡ª ¡®Oh, they are so not friendly.¡¯ ¡®Shush, we can still save this!¡¯ Dei thought as she started to bend her legs to reach for the ground, intending on writing a message out for them. But it was too little too late. The armed men must have taken her crouched stance to be a fighting position because they all started to charge at once as she bent down. Cursing internally, Dei decided to sprint back in the direction of Matthew where she had left her sword laying on the ground earlier. A single man with a sword and shield stood in her way as he seemed to set himself behind his shield at her approach. Shoulder raised, shield pitched, and sword laying across it in a thrusting position the man awaited her response until she casually ran past the man towards the fireplace. ¡°Stop it!¡± the man in charge of the group yelled, but she had already made a few thudding steps to finally snatch up the sword and scabbard she had left behind. She could hear several barreling steps behind her as she turned around to meet the charge of a shielded man that was barreling in from her left side. Head ducked, shield up and sword sticking out like a small barb to the side of the shield charge, it was fairly evident to Dei that the man couldn''t see a thing ahead of him charging like he was. She slipped to the left of his charge and casually allowed her sword to slice through his leg as he ran past only for his leg to buckle a couple steps later. Looking back at him, it was evident that she hadn''t sliced straight through his leg like Matthew tended to do with her, but even still her attack had left a gaping wound on the unguarded legs as he lowered his shield to protect the wound with a grimace. Dei looked up at the other men who had now set their faces in determination at the sight. This time, they approached slowly and evenly as four matching pairs of sword and shield surrounded the girl once again. She took the time to look between them as she noticed the symbol of a clean green lightning bolt was painted on the front of each of the shields. Likewise, their shoulder padding was painted a dark green hue under the thin layer of chainmail each of the men wore. Their legs were largely vulnerable as they seemed to wear matching leather boots with metal plates strapped to the sides of them, but otherwise only wore a thin cloth pair of pants. And finally, their apparent leader, John, wore a thin leather helmet with a green stripe running down the center of his head. It was as she was looking at him that she noticed the man click his tongue and the men started to move in tandem. ¡ª Gerard and Philip pincered the skeleton as they had practiced a hundred times before at the command from John. They were taught that fighting as a group only held an advantage if you could attack simultaneously, so the men were paired off to fight as teams in situations like this, making it easier to manage. Gerard seemed to get her attention first as he came in just a fraction early with a sideward swing that the skeleton parried then turned into her own downward blow on his raised shield. Philip took the chance to dart in from behind to bury his sword straight through the shoulder meat on the skeleton where her heart should be, but isntead his sword seemed to glance off some strange black object that was suspended between her ribcage. The beast turned away from Gerard to send a sweeping strike towards Philip until it rebounded off of the shield he had already placed in position. ¡°Sweeping strikes, not piercing! We need to break it apart piece by piece!¡± John yelled into the melee. Cue taken, both Gerard and Philip backed up as John and Morgan entered the fray. The skeleton obviously was trained on Philip now as she continued her assault on the mans shield, throwing blow after blow at the man''s left side even as he backed up. Still, she was forced to respond as John and Morgan took simultaneous swings at her from either side. The monster managed to block Morgans blow along her right side with her sword, but John was able to make a clean cut through her left arm with a small whoop. Philip took the chance to re-enter the fight from her back and cut a nice upper cut straight into the pelvis of the skeleton where the sword embedded itself in the bone. The men smiled at the turn of events until the skeleton turned away Morgan''s sword in a circular pattern, then used the momentum to swipe backwards into the outstretched arm of Philip as his sword remained stuck in her pelvis. The blow put a gnarly dent in the man''s chainmail as he yelped in pain and dropped the sword from his hand as he clutched it back to his chest. With that, the skeleton now twisted in place and rose her sword up for a one armed strike down at the man before casually throwing a kick instead that ignored his upturned shield and dropped the man with a sickening crack as his knee bent backwards. John attempted to follow up on his first blow at the creature, but instead felt his eyes drawn to the remnants of the arm her had cut off of the girl as it grew pincers and started to march back towards the skeleton and up her legs. ¡°Sergeant! Calling for immediate back up at the two mile mark in our patrol route! there''s some sort of Necromancy monster out her-¡¯ The man was cut off as the skeleton rounded back on him after dealing with Philip, and she sent a low sweep of her sword at his legs. John posted his right leg in order to catch her sword with the plated part of his boot which almost worked except for the burst of pain that ran up his leg as the metal pieces slamed into each other. For his part, Morgan stepped in to take the heat off of him, and the skeleton backed up a step as she avoided his blows and pulled the sword back into a ready position. ¡°Gerard! Kill the sleeping man! He must be a bone mage!¡± John yelled at the man closest to the fire and the sleeping figure, but the team leader''s heart fell when he saw the skeleton look up at his orders like she had heard his command. ''Can this creature understand us?'' The man thought to himself. Uncertain as he was, the skeleton spun away from an exchange with Morgan to run in a dead charge after Gerard. The older soldier was weighed down by his sword, shield and armor as he spun around at his team leaders command and rushed towards the sleeping figure, already raising his sword for a downward slash at the man. Almost reaching the sleeping body he started to slow his pace just a bit when a blinding pain like a hundred bee stings erupted from his core and he came to an immediate stop. Looking down, a thin blade had erupted from the center of his chest, clearly cutting through even his chainmail shirt as the tip broke through the smaller chain circles. With a jolt the blade withdrew back through his chest, and then a new pain came a moment later as a lancing heat drew across his neck. Nothing was left to support the man as he fell to his knees, then sidewards into the camp fire, knocking aside the carefully errected teepee as his head rolled away in the dirt. ¡ª John looked on in horror as the skeleton withdrew her sword from Gerard''s spine, then neatly split him apart at the neck with a fluid motion. Philip was screaming on the ground clutching at his broken leg and arm, while Tray, the first man she had taken out of the fight, looked like he was about to pass out from blood loss as he merely crouched on the ground like he couldn''t even stand up anymore. John shared a quick look at Morgan that was supposed to impart a decision to fight to their end, but Morgan had obviously had enough and dropped both of his weapons only to run in the direction they had come from. Shocked at the turn of events, John merely stared back at the running form of his second in command as his own sword slowly dropped to the ground. The soft sound of approaching feet shook him from his moment as he looked up to meet eyes with the beast that had just fought her way through his entire team, and he stared down at the bloody sword that she dragged along the forest floor as she approached him. Was¡­was that for dramatic effect? John dropped to his knees as he tried to come up with a plan, ¡°Please, oh great herald of undeath. Please spare me, i''ll do anything if you just let me live!¡± he cried at the skeleton, bringing just about everyone short in that moment. A spasm of pain obviously washed through the man like an electric jolt and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell face first into the dirt. It only took another moment before the wounded men around him remembered to start screaming again. 06 - Pledge Dei was certainly confused as she watched the man stuff his face into the dirt after a grimace of pain, obviously having done nothing to cause this herself. Still, she walked over towards one of the wounded men with the intent to shut him up before he sputtered to a stop as she stood over him. Big eyes looked up at her, streaked with tears as his jaw continued to move up and down, even as nothing came out. Content with this response, she merely walked over to the next man who she had kicked in the knee of near the end of the fight. This time the man was entirely focused on his own wounds as he could do nothing but stare down at his broken leg. He then tried to put his weight on his one good leg, shifting backwards. Was he trying to run away from her? Still, he ignored her even as she came to stand next to the man. Muffled yelps and groans of pain continued to escape him as he tried to continue fleeing the situation, one small push of his leg at a time. Disappointed with his antics, Dei took the hilt of her sword and casually punched the man in the temple, knocking him out cold. ¡®Might as well avoid letting them wake up Matthew at this point, considering he''s still managing to sleep through this.¡¯ Dei thought. ¡®Ah yes, cause the mysterious man who trained us for 48 hours straight just casually decided to sleep through an entire sword fight next to his cot.¡¯ Fei replied, shifting her perception back to the still sleeping man. ¡®Hah, wait till he sees what happened to his fire again!¡¯ ¡ª-- Several miles away, a camp tent bustled with activity despite the off hour of the night. The tent was stretched across a wide room that fit at least twenty thin desks under the tarp cover, all of them lined with reams of paper, maps, and an assortment of letters from every corner of the princedom. Men and women milled around the area, writing reports, hurrying in and out of the area, and sometimes arguing over the current state of the map when an armored man slightly different from the rest rushed into the tent. A few tentative glances were shot his way as the intelligence workers checked whether he worked for them, but he quickly walked through the press until he found a thin man sitting in front of one of the maps depicting the nearby forest of Marren. Dropping to a knee, the armored man made his report. ¡°Sir, sergeant First Class Ozwald of the 13th Company. One of my patrols just sent back a signal that they encountered an undead in forest Marren near grid sector 2943.¡± The man bowed his head after delivering the report, averting his eyes from the Major in front of him. ¡°And the result of this encounter?¡± ¡°We have lost contact with the team leader and no one has returned yet, Sir.¡± Major Helm raised a single hand to readjust the reading glasses nestled at the edge of his nose as he looked back to the map with a frown. After thinking for a couple of seconds, he looked over his shoulder to call to one of the aids. ¡°Antonio, please message counselor Jerond and tell him we might have just found the sixth shard in Marren. And let him know that we did not make a good first impression.¡± A man saluted in the background to the affirmative before rushing out of view as Major Helm looked back at Sergeant Ozwald still waiting in the kneeling position. ¡°As for you, please go find this creature and see whether you can find a shard bearer. Let your commander know to come find me for more instructions on your way out. And Sergeant? Only engage if you''re sure you can bring the shard back to the Princedoms in one piece. Dismissed.¡± Ozwald stood to give the officer a salute before he left the tent with eyes down and jaw set for the task before him. He was halfway to the company command area before the feeling of watching eyes settled on his neck and the severity of the situation started to click in for the man. A moment later a voice started to speak directly into his mind. ¡®Sergeant Ozwald. I will be watching your mission. Represent your country well.¡¯ Trained as he was, Ozwald didn''t allow a single bit of hesitation to hit his steps as he continued on his way like nothing had happened. ¡®Yes, my liege.¡¯ ¡ª Matthew woke up with an exaggerated yawn as he stretched out his arms above his head and squirmed in place for a handful of moments, enjoying the morning. An old man was allowed to enjoy that thin bit of time where you were still halfway between the dreams and reality, especially when he had¡­no, better not to think of those things. Brought back to reality, he rolled over onto his side to crack his eyes and take a look at the state of his fire. Instead, a detached head stared back at him in the morning air as he noticed a distinct lack of a warm feeling in his body. Sighing, Matthew raised himself on one arm to look over the area and found a small skeleton crouched to his right, laying logs in a small teepee in what would be a third new firepit at this point. She looked around as he stirred and leapt to her feet as soon as she noticed he was truly awake to put her hands behind her back. Besides her a headless corpse looked mildly charred in the center of his oh so beautiful second campfire, or what remained of it. Off in the distance a man with a helmet was planted face first into the dirt while another man was watching the pair of them with his back to a tree, face nearly white as he clutched a wound on his left leg. Further in the back another body lay face up, not entirely clear whether it was a corpse or not. Still, it was clear that Dei had had a fun night without him. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Matthew slowly sat up to at least greet the day with some grace as he looked back at the skeleton that looked like she had gotten over her momentary embarrassment and was approaching him. As she reached him, she reached out a single finger to poke him in the shoulder, pointed in the direction of the bodies, then crossed her arms and sat down in front of him. ¡°Ugh, guess I should have told you i¡¯m a heavy sleeper? Did I snore?¡± She uncrossed and recrossed her arms more pointedly at him, dead eyes doing nothing to help explain her expressions as they were starting to look oddly deflated as time progressed. ¡°Come on girl, use your words,¡± Matthew got out with a smile. ¡°So I fell asleep and you decided to go killing a couple of people? Hardly civilized.¡± With an inaudible huff, the girl reached out for Matthew''s hand and tried to pull him up for something, which he promptly refused. Instead, she was forced to point at the man lying face down a bit aways and started writing in the dirt in front of Matthew. ¡°Pledged¡± Matthew stared at her, genuinely not sure what she was trying to get at so she continued writing. ¡°Pledged life. What do I do? ¡°Well, guessing from the helmet, he seems like he was in charge of this group that attacked you?¡± She nodded in response. ¡°Then you''re telling me that a man pledged to a foreign army lost a fight to you then pledged his service in exchange for you sparing his life? Seems like you either accept him without any consequences and get stabbed in the back, or you get him in too deep to ever drag himself out of.¡± When Dei tilted her head at this he continued on, ¡°Umm, have him kill his friends, or cut off his balls and tell him you''re the only one who can make him whole again, I don''t know.¡± Dei just sat there in stunned silence as she heard these recommendations from the old man. He seemed to have had his fair share of waking up, as he casually started putting on his boots while she thought to herself. ¡®Have him kill his friends? How barbaric is this old geezer?¡¯ Fei asked. ¡®I mean, he does have a good point about the backstabbing part.¡¯ ¡®Seriously? And you think that having him stab his soldiers is going to make that not happen?¡¯ ¡®Well, maybe it''ll make him feel guilty enough he won''t feel comfortable defecting back to his home country.¡¯ ¡®And if he has a family waiting for him back home?¡¯ ¡®We can make him kill them too?¡¯ ¡®You really are starting to become a monster.¡¯ Fei admonished her. Matthew had started humming to himself as he sauntered over to the makeshift fireplace Dei had started building for him earlier in the morning, clearly ignoring the girl as she sat there arguing with herself. ¡ª-- John coughed into the dirt as he woke with the worst headache of his life. Immediately he tried to recall the last night of drinking he must of had as he kept his eyes shut against the blinding morning light, but he couldn''t seem to remember anything clearly. Raising his head just a little, he started to look around trying to get a feeling for the situation before he really got up, only to find something written in the dirt in front of him, ¡°Kill¡±. He looked around, finding more and more scribbles in the dirt, surrouding his body and head on all sides no matter where he looked. ¡°Kill. Kill. Pledge life. Kill. kill them. Kill? Kill. Follow? Kill. Kill. Have to. Kill. Die. Prove. Kill. Kill. Kill¡± Startled, John quickly raised himself on his arms, head peeling with the residue of whatever phantom pain he was suffering from before he saw a pair of crossed boney legs sitting in front of him. It sat there, less than three feet away from him watching him sleep as its hands rested on the top of an old looking sword laid across its thigh bones. There was practically no skin or muscle left on the creature as he looked up to see those sunken eyes that obviously couldn''t see anything anymore. John swallowed as he met his new master. ¡ª The man had woken suddenly enough that Dei wasn''t quite sure what to do next. She had spent a couple of minutes preparing the writing on the ground around him to try and get ahead of things, but suddenly looking into the eyes of a man who was begging for their life, it was kind of hard to ask them to just casually kill their friends, you know? He started moving all of a sudden as he scrambled back on his hands and feet to pull out his sword and point it at her, still seated on the ground some six feet away now. She merely cocked her head at him, deciding to try and disarm the situation since he was clearly confused. Dei raised an arm to point at the many instructions she had left for him, then turned to point at the man sitting against a tree breathing wheezing breaths in the background. John''s eyes went wide as he finally started to really take her in and the realization seemed to dawn on him. He shook his head, ¡°No, I can''t do this.¡± She pointed downward, ¡°Have to.¡± ¡°N-no¡­why?¡± She pointed again, ¡°Pledge life.¡± And a cold feeling over despair truly started to wash over John in that moment. Staring down death itself as it tried to bargain with him. ¡ª Matthew looked on at the pair, playing charades in the dirt, from the comfort of his newest and greatest fire to date. A small smile played across his lips as he saw the newest member of their little group resign himself to his fate as he got up slowly to his feet. In truth, he looked like a depressed child as he slowly crossed the distance between the girl and the other man posted up against the tree. His sword wobbled in his fingers, hardly staying above the dirt ground as he brought it up to rest on the chest of his former companion. Matthew could have sworn he heard the wheezing man say ¡°Help¡± before John shuffled forward to impale him on his sword. Blood splattered from the dying man''s lips onto the sword in front of him as he met his fate. Even still, the boy looked back to the boney girl who hadn''t moved from her seat all the while. With a passing wave, the girl only pointed over at the other body lying face up in the dirt, clearly telling the man his task wasn''t done yet. This time, the man looked even more dejected as his feet shuffled slowly over to the upturned body. Perhaps to the killers benefit, the last man never even woke up as he placed the sword to his throat and made a quick chopping movement through the neck. Done with his task, he looked back one last time at the sitting girl who merely gave him a thumbs up as she started to finally rise to her feet. Done with the task, the man promptly started vomiting to the side of the upturned body as it started gargling in the last throes of death. As for Matthew, he watched the girl as a soft glow of blue and purple seemed to suffuse her chest for a moment before it died back down into darkness. She only hesitated for another moment before walking over to join him at the fire, a faint pep to her steps as she came over. 07 - Pursuit Two figures sat unmoving and silent before a mild campfire as someone moaned in the background. Neither of them so much as looked at the other given the circumstances, but they each had finally started to grow comfortable in the other''s presense, perhaps due to the time they had spent together. ¡®So we just gonna sit here and think about what happened?¡¯ Fei thought. ¡®We wait for matthew to tell us what comes next.¡¯ ¡®Sure, just place all our trust in the mysterious man of the woods.¡¯ ¡®We don''t even know where we are, so what direction do you think we should start goi-¡¯ ¡°We need to run.¡± The man in the background had finally made his way up to the campfire, announcing his arrival with a simple statement. When no one answered him he continued. ¡°Morgan ran away, so he''ll be able to lead them straight to us as soon as they can put together a hunting party.¡± The man took a moment to look at Dei then, ¡°And the last time anyone has seen an undead has to be at least half a century ago. I''m sure they''ll want to do nothing more than put a stop to the situation as soon as possible.¡± If Dei had cared enough she might have noticed a sneer on the man''s face as he said these words. Even just based on the tone of his voice, he sounded halfway hopeful they would get caught within hours. ¡°We''ll go Southwest.¡± Matthew interjected himself. ¡°Straight into the open arms of the Arcanists? We''ll die.¡± ¡°No, we won''t. Half the legends your nation tells about the Golden Monarchy are practically ghost stories. They''re just mages after all.¡± ¡°Men almost entirly devoted to the pursuit of Greed!.¡± ¡°Doesn''t matter, it''s not our choice to make anyways.¡± Matthew used this as a chance to look at Dei pointedly. ¡°Seriously, you''re following the skeleton here and not the other way around?¡± Matthew willfully ignored him as Dei slowly looked up from the fire. With the barest of efforts she reached over to write in the ground. ¡°SW¡± Matthew grinned in what Dei was starting to think he meant to be a mischievous way, before he looked back at the other man. ¡°Looks like you''re about to meet your worst nightmares kid.¡± ¡°The name''s John!¡± The other two ignored his complaints as Matthew started putting away his bedding and Dei took a closer look at the dead men''s clothing. ¡ª It had taken Sergeant First Class Ozwald only a couple of hours to gather the remainder of his Platoon and requisition the necessary supplies for a protracted chase before his group set out into the Forest Marren. Half of that delay had been due to the sudden arrival of one of the men that had first made contact with the undead monster. It had taken them some time to try and calm down the man, but it seemed like it would take far longer before he could manage to tell his story without clamming up as soon as he focused on the beast for too long. Regardless, Ozwald was sure that the medical team they had left the man with would eventually get something out of him in due time. Thirty men set out at his back, all on foot considering the subtle nature of this mission. Even then it seemed too few to Sergeant Ozwald as he thought about the unique goals laid out ahead of him. A shard bearer. No one had ever really killed a shard bearer before so it wasn''t technically impossible to do so with a group of thirty men, but somehow Ozwald got the distinct feeling he had been put out to dry on this one. After a short discussion his commander had been able to make it clear that they were only sending a small group of men since the shard bearer was firmly in the middle of no man''s land and they couldn''t risk an innoportune war with the other countries by sending a larger force. But considering that meant they would prefer to send a bigger force in other circumstances left Ozwald feeling reserved. Still, the men marched forward. The mood was dour as they traced the route of the Echo team patrol route to the point where they were said to have encountered the monster. No one spoke a word as twigs cracked underfoot and the first leaves of fall rustled in the wind. Perhaps they had walked just a little bit slower than usual, just a little bit more cautiously than they needed to on your average day, because several hours had already passed by the time a forward scout returned to report a small gray outcropping in the distance. The group approached cautiously, Ozwald calling for the group to split up into a lopsided L formation as they approached the strange structure. He was fairly certain this building hadn''t been here a couple of days before when the last patrol came through, but soldiers did have a tendency to go blind on their daily patrols into no man''s land. Thankfully, nothing out of the ordinary happened as the group finally closed in on the remnants of a brief battle. It was obvious that no one was left in the area except for the three bodies that had been left behind. Strange, what had happened to Sergeant John Cane? He hadn''t reported back with his soldier who had run from the battle so he was half expecting to find his body with the rest, so just what was this man up to? The platoon quickly settled into a circular defensive position as the key leaders withdrew to the center to review the situation. Two full force mages were assigned to the platoon allong with three messenger trainees that were serving as the squad leaders for the platoon all met with him to discuss the way forward. ¡°They stripped the dead, scavengers.¡± ¡°Means they could be impersonating our men.¡± ¡°Just means they''ll be taken prisoner as soon as they enter one of the other nations.¡± ¡°Did y''all notice there are no tracks out of this place? It''s like they''re ghosts.¡± The leaders stopped their discussion at this point, taken back by the lack of actionable info as they looked to Ozwald for guidance. With a moment he made his decision, already having a feeling it would come to this as they had may their way to the crypt in the first place. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Two alpha team will recover the corpses to base camp then use the messengers to catch up with the rest of us. One Alpha will cover the north east sector to infiltrate Freland. One Bravo will go east towards the Broken Tribes. Three alpha will take the Southern Marches, and three bravo will take the Golden Monarchy. Remember that the primary goal here is to get a pinpoint location on the shard bearer, so don''t get yourself killed in any pointless battles with the natives.¡± To a man the squad leaders and mages nodded, and after a handful of further instructions on reporting timelines and retreat points, the platoon broke up to go their seperate directions. Now armed with only a half squad of five men at his back, Ozwald looked towards the southwest marshes with a set jaw and distant eyes. If he had ever doubted it before, he was now sure that this mission would see the end of him. ¡ª-- As Dei let Fei take over control of the body as they continued down the forrest path, she started to look inwards, looking into the abyss that had firmly taken the place of her heart within her open rib cage. Inside this place that was starting to feel almost homey to the girl, she looked over at a small orange flame that had started to flicker in the darkness. Try as she might, no matter how much she talked to the new essence it wouldn¡¯t seem to wake up for her like Fei had done. No ethereal voice echoed in the void alongside her, nor did she have the distinct feeling of growth, and yet she was still sure this flame was somehow tied to John in some way, but not quite complete for some reason. Pulling herself out of her inner void she looked over at the man trailing their awkward trio as they made their way through the woods. She almost opened her mouth to ask him a question before she remembered that she couldn''t really do that anymore, lacking even the lungs required to form a whisper. Crossing her arms as she walked, Dei decided that she definitely needed to do something about figuring out how to talk one day. Not like she had any idea where to really start on that. Fei abruptly stopped walking forward and Dei was suddenly brought back to reality as she noticed Matthew had stopped at the front of their group too. Looking past his back, she could just make out a dilapidated stone monastery just barely in view of their direction of travel. ¡°Hey John, you heard any reports about a random church in the middle of no man''s land?¡± Matthew called back. ¡°Uhh, yeah actually. Probably that weird cult that we keep finding out here. They''re mostly harmless though.¡± ¡°Mostly?¡± ¡°Yeah, they just get angry if they notice our mages are around.¡± Dei bristled at this just a little bit, annoyed that she couldn''t join in on the conversations like everyone else. She dropped down quickly to write in the dirt as John came over to look over her shoulder. ¡°Mages?¡± The group started to walk forward again as John answered her, ¡°Huh, guess you must have died a long while ago if you don''t know about mages. They started popping up around twenty years ago when the five shard bearers graced the world with their presence.¡± Matthew seemed to scoff at that, but John continued. ¡°Well, ordinary people started to get access to a small portion of the power granted by the shards if they hang around the shard bearer long enough. So the arcanists in the south west started getting access to elemental magic, the messengers started getting mind powers, the southerners have skin changing, the eastern tribes control emotions, and the Freland cult is a bunch of loonies.¡± ¡°How descriptive.¡± Matthew drolled. ¡°Not like you¡¯re one to talk big man.¡± The man paused before continuing a few steps later. ¡°I was actually training to become a messenger in the princedom. I think I may have lost those powers when I surrendured to you, but the gist of it is that most of the leadership in our army is made up of people who can communicate telepathically. Kinda makes the army what it is today.¡± Dei thought she could hear the pride the man had for that army, even now. No one answered him as Matthew continued to lead the way and Dei settled into her thoughts to think about this all. Dei eventually decided it wasn''t worth stopping to ask follow up questions as they continued their journey, and soon enough they made their way up to the stone monastery they had been walking towards and a grand oaken door that seemed to open into a small courtyard. No one stopped them as they casually opened the door and Dei started to fumble with a cowl she had taken off of one of the dead soldiers as she tried to pull the hood down just a little bit further. The rest of her body was also covered by thin leathers boots and a cheap looking tunic and pants overlaid with some only slightly broken chainmail, but it was servicable. Even still, she worried as they finally made their way into the smal cloister in the woods as the door opened on a pair of robed men standing over a well in the middle of the yard. As they turned around at the noise of the opening gate, they seemed to freeze in place, and Dei froze with them, terrified that they had caught a glipse of her face from under the hood. The men with her continued forward like nothing was out of the ordinary, John resting his hand on the hilt of his sword as though to let free an unspoken threat in the greeting. ¡°Hail there friends. It''s been a while since we''ve had the pleasure of finding a place to rest so I was wondering whether I could buy some food off of you?¡± Matthew led for the group. The robed men exchanged glances, and as Dei finally started to catch up to the group she noticed that they were wearing wooden masks over their faces. ¡®Strange lot¡¯ she thought to herself. ¡®Cultists?¡¯ Fei responded ¡®Cultists.¡¯ After a moment the duo seemed to come to a decision and the one in front responded for the both of them. ¡°Apologies sir, but we are but a humble cloister at the service of the sixth god. We don''t have extra stores of food available at the moment for trade. ¡°Ahh, alright then.¡± Matthew replied, ¡°We''ll just be on our way I suppose, still got time before sundown.¡± A gust of wind blew over the cloister walls at that moment, thrust downward at a strange angle by the difference in pressure caused by the nearby walls. The monks would later call it an act of divine providence, but Dei quickly decided it was just plain bad luck as the wind yanked upward on her hood raising the cowl up and back on her face. Somewhat expecting this after the windy walk over here, Dei quickly snapped up with her arms to grab at the hood and pull it back over her face, but it still caught the attention of the robed men in front of her. Matthew kept talking about nothing important as the monks stared at her without making a sound, and John looked back at her as he followed their gaze. All at once one of the men sprinted towards the church proper while the other man fell to his knees to prostrate himself on the ground. Matthew stopped talking, as John took off after the sprinting monk, and Dei looked down at the overlap in her tunic and her gloves that had pulled back to show the stark white shine of her bones. ¡°An undead has come! An undead has graced the-¡± John flew into the back of the running monk as he screamed his way towards another set of oaken doors, and they went down in a tumble of legs and arms. John eventually got out his sword and put the tip of it to the back of the monk''s hood, whispering something into the man''s ear, but then the wooden doors began to open as several other men looked out curiously. There was a momentary pause as the five new hooded monks took in the scene, before the one in the center with a decidedly more interesting mask than the rest dropped to his knees like the first monk by the well. ¡°Oh Herald of Death, thank you for your pressence on this fateful day! We welcome you to our sanctuary and ask of you your blessing!¡± The man droned on, clearly not done. John looked back in confusion as Matthew looked a little bit too at ease with the situation considering he hadn''t moved an inch since it all started. As for Dei, she merely took the moment to pull her tunic arms just a little bit more tightly into the cuffs of her gloves. ¡®Maybe we can play this one off as a prank?¡¯ Fei thought. ¡®Or, maybe we can inherit some easy followers from this cult!¡¯ 08 - Monastery Several of the monks ushered them into the main room with open smiles on their faces although not everyone was in such a good mood. One of the men was still limping from where John had tackled him down, while some of the other monks appeared more reserved than the others, throwing furtive glances over at Dei every few seconds. The monks had all removed their masks shortly after greeting the confused skeleton and her friends as the head monk explained their actions. ¡°Now that your highness has graced the land with your pressence, we need not hide ourselves in obscurity. The masks of the forgotten god need only be worn until you reveal yourself to mankind once more.¡± Matthew nodded allong while John studied the faces of the monks as they withdrew their masks, taking particular note of the one woman among their number. The head monk continued on as Dei made it apparent she was still listening. ¡°We have waited so long for your awakening, highness. Our forebearers of the mask had deduced that there were more gods waiting for us, but many among us had lost faith during the long wait.¡± They passed decrepit pews that linned the main pathway down the church''s main hall, as Dei saw scattered sleeping areas set up haphazzardly around the room. At the end of the walkway a grand wooden table was setup with half open books strewn about and a forgotten dias behind it. ¡°So I apologize that we may have, neglected, our prayers over the years as we focused on study and food. Our earlier companions used to put their faith in the gods to see to their bounty, but with the years we had to make due with manual labor and scavenging.¡± The group finally came to a stop at the end of the room as the head monk finally turned around to adress them in front of the dinning table. ¡°But uh, to whom do I have the pleasure of adressing as shard bearer?¡± the man asked a bit sheepishly. Matthew looked over at Dei, but then John cut in before anyone could take the hint. ¡°Hold on a second. How can you tell that there even is a shard bearer around here?¡± he demanded. ¡°Well uh. We had our guesses as to the nature of the sixth god''s powers based on some of the prophecies given by the other shard bearers after they spread the faith. The next to appear would either be able to manipulate time, or have control over death itself. And considering the somewhat detereorated state of your friend here¡­¡± No one answered him outright until Dei finally decided to pull back her hood considering they already knew, then took off her gloves. She might not feel heat or cold anymore, but wearing gloves sure made it more difficult to do just about anything with finnese in her opinion. In doing so, some faint flashes of magic were revealed in the manipulation of her wrist joints and the monks decided to take that as their cue. All seven of them bowed as one at her display, and the head monk started talking once again. ¡°Thank you great lord for the display of your powers on this-¡± ¡°I think she used to be a lady.¡± John cut the man off. ¡°...Lady. Herald of Death, we exist now to serve you as you see fit. Please allow us to follow in your footsteps so that we may be granted even a modicum of your power as you take your first steps into this grand world.¡± Dei had stopped listening to the man as he continued his rather obviously well rehearsed speech. Instead, she felt a surge of energy as seven bolts of energy seemed to sink into the core of her heart at the same time. Eager to see what had happened, she withdrew into the void to take a closer look, trusting Fei to maintain their body until she got back. Inside her void space she found things noticably different as five orange lights now danced in a circle, and three Green lights flickered in the background. Looking over the number of new embers in the space it was fairly evident that the seven monks had now pledged their service to her, since that was what seemed to cause the creation of sparks, but what did the different colors mean? She focused on the orange lights for a half moment and their spinning dance seemed to stop under her attention. Together, they approached the center of the circle they had been spinning in, and appeared to merge into a single flame about the same size as herself and Fei as the chorus of the melody erupted into song once again. ¡°Five Followers gained. Ascension complete. Followers found lacking. Developing solution. Orders of Death.¡± Dei tried to cock her head at this before she remembered they were bodiless in here. While all the words came across her ears in a sing song type of manner, they didn''t seem to care at all for rhymes or any sort of musical flare other than the soft whispers of the tune all the words followed the notes of. Regardless, Dei set her sights on the orange light as it seemed to wobble in her view, suddenly moving just a little bit differently than it had before. Two eyes shifted around on the orange flame to look at her, and yes they were quite obviously eyes this time as the essence took her in. The thing that really surprised Dei though was the fact that this flame had a noticeably masculine voice for once. ¡®Goooooooood morning beautiful.¡¯ ¡®Why do I already hate you?¡¯ ¡®Well thats hardly fair. Its just that when we tell men what to do they prefer to hear the words from another man. Seems more fitting, don''t you think?¡¯ he replied in a cold, if charming voice. ¡®I cannot believe this is happening right now.¡¯ ¡®Heh, sure, whatever. Oh, and I am definitely not going by Oei just cause my color is orange. Trust me, I heard how you almost started off our naming scheme.¡¯ ¡®Okay sure, what''s your name gonna be then?¡¯ ¡®Hmmmm, how about Xei?¡¯ ¡®Uh, sure. Not like anyone else has to hear your name right?¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m going to treat that like it wasn''t supposed to be an insult.¡¯ Far off in a monastery lobby, an orange ember shone brightly in the chest of the skeleton, casting a dull light out in every direction even through the light tunic laid over her torso. In that light seven new hopeful followers awaited her orders, while two men looked over at her with a mix of awe and uncertainty for the future. ¡ª-- Knock, knock, knock! Sergeant Ozwald used the massive metal door knocker to leave a resounding echo throughout the courtyard as his team made their presence known. Four shield bearers and one mage stood by him as they all awaited an answer at the mighty gate style door. It seemed a little odd to Ozwald that the church here was built as though to allow a large number of guests despite the, well lets just call it remote location. But maybe the original builder was less inclined to be aiming for customer throughput and was more focused on building up the whole grandeur of the building. The whole idea was undermined a bit as Ozwald started looking at the lichen making its way up the side of the gateway, a decent representation of the rest of this obviously long forsaken building in the middle of the woods. ¡°Maybe no one''s home?¡± One of the soldiers said aloud. Ozwald would have agreed if he hadn''t seen dozens of footprints and trails obviously making their way in and out of the cloister in at least somewhat of a recent timeline. it didn''t hurt to test though, so he took hold of the door handle and tried pulling only to find the door obviously barred. Letting the iron ring fall back to the wood, he took hold of the door knocker and gave his customary knock one more time. Knock! Knock! Knock! No one answered. ¡°Alright Felix, would you mind blasting down this door for us?¡± Ozwald finally relented. ¡°Of course Sergeant.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Everyone backed away a good five paces and two shield bearers stacked up against the stone wall to either side of the door with their shields up, trying their best to stay out of the way of any imminent splinters as a lightly armored man took center stage. Sergeant Ozwald decided to stand a step behind the mage, shield ready as the man seemed to reach out into the air to make contact with nothing. Hands outstretched like this the man grunted as the door ahead of them started to groan under an unseen weight before suddenly it folded in half, inward towards the center of the building as the wood cracked in two. Ozwald was always impressed by the force mages work as the lower half of the door had collapsed entirely inward like a broken sandcastle of wood and metal chunks, while the upper half of the door was suspended in place only slightly bent by the pressure. The soldiers rushed in hardly a second after the door had collapsed, only hesitating until they could confirm the top wouldn''t fall on them as they piled into the room. A cloud of dust had been picked up by the collapse of the door, preventing Ozwald from seeing much else within the room proper, but his men called out to him after they entered. ¡°Four left!¡± ¡°Three Right!¡± ¡°No combatants!¡± The men called out, and Ozwald started to make his way into the room. A couple of steps brought him past the cloud of debris as small shards of wood shifted uneasily under his feet and he took in the great room. A smattering of bedrolls lined the room haphazardly, as it appeared that the monks here lived their daily lives within the confines of this room, more or less. He noticed that his men had each reached a robed figure only to put their shield into the square of their shoulder and place the tip of their swords to the monk''s throats, but no one made a sound despite the hazzardous entrance. Towards the center of the room a single man in full robe and an eerily carved wooden mask depicting a skull turned to face Ozwald. ¡°Why do you bother us during our time of prayer soldier of the Federation?¡± ¡°You could have just opened the door when we asked nicely you know.¡± Ozwald replied cooly, walking closer to the man as he talked. ¡°And interrupt our sunset sermon? That would hardly be proper for our dedication to the faith.¡± ¡°Ah yes, and how is your faith taking you these days Priest?¡± ¡°It suffices us in times of need, as do all faiths to the shard bearers.¡± ¡°And how does your faith suffice when you''ve been missing your god for all this time?¡± Ozwald had finally reached the man in the center of the room, casually unsheathing his sword as they continued the conversation. ¡°It would not need to be a mere faith if we had someone to worship, sure, but that is the route we chose to follow." Ozwald chose that moment to look over at the monks held at sword point as they looked perhaps a little bit too comfortable with the situation. ¡°Do you not fear death?¡± ¡°Why fear death when it will only bring us closer to our god?¡± Ozwald brought his own sword up to rest on the nape of the monk''s hood, bringing his face up within inches of the masked man. ¡°So you wouldn''t happen to be hiding anything in here, oh priest of death?¡± ¡°Hiding anything?¡± The man asked, unbothered by the blade at his throat. ¡°We only hide our faces in anticipation of the sixth gods coming, to better aclimate ourselves to the shard bearer who has not yet revealed themself.¡± ¡°Sergeant, I think there''s a trap door under the table.¡± The mage called out as a flick of his wrist sent the table sliding against the ground towards the open dias. ¡°NO! The holy relics will not be-¡± The head priest made to lunge towards the mage, but the blade at his throat suddenly opened another airway for the man, stopping him short. Ozwald looked down at him as he fell to his knees, clutching at his throat with wild eyes as blood came up in heaving sprays across the wooden floor. ¡°I had asked if you were hiding anything from me. And you lied. My people do not tolerate lies, priest.¡± But the man had already fallen to the floor, spasming in place. ¡°Round up the remaining monks in that corner and post two guards over them while we investigate the trap door.¡± Someone among the monks started to sob as they were shuffled around and forced into the back of the church, but no one overly resisted his soldiers. The mage Felix walked over and casually pushed in the trap door using his powers along with a bit of the surrounding floor to make for more visibility before two of the shield bearers dropped down to do a sweep. ¡°Clear!¡± ¡°Clear!¡± They yelled up, one after another. ¡°Just a bunch of boxes down here boss.¡± ¡°Open them up.¡± Ozwald called down before stepping into the hole himself, casually making the ten foot drop with his feet only stinging a little bit at the end of it. His soldiers were already at work, thrusting the tip of the swords under the lids of the nearby boxes and wrenching down to pop the lids. Some dried herbs over here, some salted meat in the barrels, and finally a singular box filled entirely with bones. The soldier that opened that last box recoiled a bit after he looked in, but a quick search through the contents revealed that none of the bones were animated and the team moved on until they had gone through the entire basement. Ozwald scratched at the back of his head for a moment, slightly uncomfortable with the idea that he had killed a man for keeping his store room secret. A hand descended from above to help them jump back up, considering the ladder down had collapsed as the mage punched in the entrance, and soon the whole team was back upstairs taking in the subdued monks. His men said nothing as Ozwald took one last look around the church then signaled for them to start backing out of the area. Taking a single gold coin out of the pouch on his belt, the man bent down and placed it on the chest of the head monk he had killed barely ten minutes ago. ¡°Apologies for the inconvenience, but thank you for your cooperation today. Long live the Princes, and peace be to your sixth god.¡± He addressed the gathering before turning on his heels and leaving with his men The sun was starting to set by the time they left the courtyard, and Ozwald turned a watchful eye over his team. ¡°They must have passed by the monastery without stopping. We¡¯ll search through the night to catch them while we still have a chance.¡± ¡ª Sitting in a dark crawlspace just wide enough to fit the three of them, Dei decided to fall into her void space just to pass the time while she was scrunched between the two men beside her who took up far too much space. ¡®Ah, pleasure to see you again back home so soon. Remind me, why is it suddenly my job to operate the legs on our body?¡¯ Xei greeted her. ¡®Because you missed the fun part where we got our teeth kicked in for two days learning how to use those legs.¡¯ Fei rolled her eyes at him. ¡®Yeah, and how do you think I know the skills to operate the legs without looking like a complete fool like you two did? Its not like I just completely forgot everything when I split off. We are me!¡¯ Xei started yelling a bit. Dei sat sillently as the other two flames kept going back and forth, content to merely take in the void for a moment or two and listen to its song and watch the blue embers bounce back and forth in anticipation. The three burning sparks seemed to be playing a strange game of keep away until one of the sparks suddenly winked out of existance. ¡®What the.¡¯ Dei muttered as she continued watching for the third spark to reappear any second now. Surely it was just playing hide and go seek right? But stare as she might, the third spark just wasn''t coming back. ¡®Now where did that little thing go?¡¯ She muttered to herself. CRASH! In the distant reality outside of the void, Dei had the distinct impression the ceiling had just imploded above them. Sure enough, when she pulled her way back towards the light, it was evident that both Matthew and John were looking intently towards the main part of the basement as several thuds could be heard behind the thin layer of wood concealing them. ¡°Clear!¡± ¡°Clear! Just a bunch of boxes down here boss.¡± ¡°Open them up.¡± A cold voice answered as several men got to work in the background until they eventually opened the large box that was hiding the trio''s hiding place. A bit of shuffling around happened as the soldier searched the box before deciding enough was enough and moving on without any issues. With her bone sight, Dei had the distinct pleasure of watching both Matthew and John tighten their hands around their weapons in that moment. ¡®Wouldn''t it be fun to watch them let loose like wolves with their backs to the wall?¡¯ she thought to herself. Eventually, the soldiers moved on from the basement and only a few muffled words from above stairs could be heard before the church went quiet once again. Dei had just started to get bored, sitting in the dark, before Matthew decided he had had enough and set his back against the wall to push the massive crate away with his legs. Several objects tumbled around in the box making an odd hollow sound that Dei only started to understand once she had left their small hole to see the box was full of bones. ¡®Huh.¡¯ She hardly had time to register the meaning of this before Matthew had wrapped his hands around her waist and started throwing her up towards the open lip of the upper level. Not quite expecting this, Dei flapped her arms a bit before she caught the edge of the wood with her boney hands and started sliding backwards on the tractionless wood. A momentary bit of effort from Xei helped modify their hands until they were a little bit more claw like, and the sinking feeling in her stomach stopped as Dei finally caught a grip. ¡®I''d say that was the action of someone that doesn''t deserve leg duty.¡¯ Xei chirped, but the other two just ignored him. Soon enough the rest of the trio had managed to help each other out of the basement to stare down at the body of the head monk as the rest of the clergy group gathered around them with passive faces. The woman among them seemed to take the lead then and reached down to the deceased priest to remove the mask from his face. With a few quick movements behind the back of her head, she had quickly replaced her own mask with the more ornate one and let it rest on her chest as she promptly went to her knees facing Dei. ¡°We live to serve, and we die to serve. Herald of Death¡± The five other monks promptly fell to their knees as well. 09 - Charity Dei had the impression that she would have once felt distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of a room full of people bowing down and worshiping her, but now she felt none of that. Looking down at the people gathered around her, half of them bowing, and the other two following her just as faithfully, it dawned on her just how right this moment felt. It was like there was something coming together in her life, or rather un-life, that felt like she was becoming more of herself by gathering these people. If she had been a little more humble she would have referred to it as fulfilling her people''s need to become a part of something greater than themselves, or something else grandiose and pointless. No. It was so, so much more primal than that as she felt the embers in her cold, dead heart grow bit by bit. She decided then that the one thing that at least felt like it still made sense in her un-life was growing more into herself, or whatever else that might be whenever she manifested a new light. So without a single word truly shared between the three flames of her heart, they all agreed on the direction of their journey. To grow. The group of monks had slowly started to rise from their bows as she stood there contemplating things, eventually settling into a mild conversation with Matthew about travel preparations as John stood awkwardly to the side. Dei was instead drawn towards the dead body of the head monk as she contemplated what must have happened earlier. ¡®So, that spark must have snuffed out when the monk died?¡¯ ¡®Seems like the obvious really.¡¯ Xei said ¡®But if we were made from our followers, would that mean that we would die if they die?¡¯ Fei asked. ¡®I do not want to test that out.¡¯ Xei cut in. Dei continued to prod at the body of the man, casually filtering between her bone vision and reality as she took in the man and his death wounds. A cut throat seemed like such an awkward wound to her, so much blood. and gore, and coughing, and do we even know if they really died to the wound itself or did they just drown on their own blood? Ugh, disgusting. And totally not the type of wound she could just casually fix in a follower like a broken bone, or a misplaced rib or two. ¡®What do you even say to someone when you could fix a dozen different maladies except the one problem your follower actually had to deal with? Like, why couldn''t you just LIVE-¡¯ Dei''s words were taken from her as she abruptly felt something change. The body shook. Vibrated actually, as the man''s wound took on an orange glow to it that bled out from the one part of exposed bone in the back of his throat. The body really started to take on a life of its own though as the man suddenly put his hands on the ground to start pushing himself up. His head couldn''t support its own weight and promptly fell off the body as the surrounding monks started to back off uneasily. ¡®Just wanted to mention that John looks like he''s totally gonna throw up too!¡¯ Xei cut in on the moment. The body stood up over the course of a couple seconds then reached down to grab his head off the ground and tried to put it back in place. It promptly fell back down with a rather sickeningly wet thud, before the body tried doing the exact same thing one more time. ¡®He''s not the brightest now is he?¡¯ Dei thought to herself. ¡®Oh, i''ve got an idea!¡¯ Fei had a burst of excitement, and the room was quickly filled with a horrible crunching sound as every bone in the corpses body seemed to distort, one by one as Fei worked on her project. The monks had now decided to spend their time doing just about anything else as they left the hall to conduct any chores they could come up with, but John just looked on in abject horror. Matthew for his part just looked bored, the old weirdo, as he watched blood start to pool on the floor around the dead man as the flesh on his body broke apart in a hundred different fractures. Perhaps a couple minutes later, the purple flashes across the mans body were starting to slow down as Dei realized she was almost done molding all the bones together using bone marrow like they had with their own body. The end result was grotesque, downright ghoulish even, as the man barely even resembled a human being after all the muscular trauma of having all his bones broken and reorganized like this, but he did certainly look a bit stronger than a moment ago. And his head wasn''t falling off anymore so that was a plus. If only you could have seen much of the head under all the blood. John did finally start vomiting by that point, bending over one of the nearby pews to look away. ¡®Uh, maybe we shouldn''t do this in front of an audience next time.¡¯ Fei offered the idea. ¡®Oh? What makes you say that? You don''t want our followers to know what likely awaits them in the event they meet their untimely end? Total bodily mutilation?¡¯ Xei responded. ¡®Are you ever nice?¡¯ Fei asked. ¡®Possibly? Maybe? Probably. Seems like now is a bit of a tone deaf moment to play nice after what you just did to this poor man''s body.¡¯ Xei bit back. ¡®Don''t be like that! Its for the greater good!¡¯ ¡®Sure, the greater good is,¡¯ Xei hesitated ¡®this.¡¯ Only half paying attention to the two of them, Dei suddenly reached a conclusion on what must have happened. ¡®Orders! Xei, you came with some sort of speech about giving orders!.¡¯ She focused her attention on the corpse for a moment. ¡®WALK¡¯ Dei thought, but something felt like it had flowed from her into the corpse at that moment as another orange glow overtook the many more visible bones compared to the last time. The body started shambling its way down the center aisle of the room, slowly dragging its own bloody stain up the length of the room. John decided this was a perfect time to go help the monks with their chores as he bolted outright through the ruined gate doors while Matthew had craned his neck to continue watching while still seated in the pews. ¡®I also agree with the assessment that he''s a weirdo.¡¯ Xei threw his two cents in. ¡®COME back.¡¯ Her thoughts fizzled out this time halfway through the command as Dei realized that this wouldn''t be quite so easy to figure out. Despite the lacking feeling as she entered the second half of the command the corpse still spun around and started making its way back to her only to stop once it was only five feet away. Dei then walked a little bit backwards, and the corpse started following her now, doing its best to maintain that minimum distance from her. Next, out of mild curiousity, Dei extended her bone sense to Matthew and started to push on his hand and-. Dei was pushed back as though she had just tried to run into a solid brick wall, both mentally and physically rebuffed to the point that she staggered back several steps as her vision went hazy. ¡®Oh, lets not try that again on someone living without a very good reason.¡¯ Dei thought through the pain. It felt like she had compressed an entire migraine into the span of a second, and she had to mentally claw her way back from whatever terribly unright feeling that had just washed over her. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A bloody horror stood silently looking over her as Matthew chuckled a bit and pulled out a book to start reading. ¡ª- John stared down at another pile of bile on the ground outside as he started to wonder just how many more times he was going to lose his lunch in the next 24 hours. A cool breeze had settled on the small courtyard as the night sky started to darken the twilight hour. It was pretty, serene even as John started to take in the nature around him. The sounds of life as even the trees rustled in the wind felt like a welcome reprieve after what he had just witnessed. ¡°What the fuck have I just gotten myself into?¡± He muttered to himself, looking up in the trees as they disappeared into the dark around him. ¡°You¡¯ve been blessed as one of Death''s constorts.¡± A smooth female voice replied from his right. John started, and jumped to his feet as he whirled to meet the gaze of the woman standing next to him. Solid brown eyes peered at him from underneath her hooded robe as it cut a stark contrast against the noticeably blonde hair that was tied back behind her head. ¡°Uh, I wouldn''t call myself her consort persay.¡± John tried to get out. ¡°We all interact with death soldier, but you''ve looked into Death''s very own eyes and bent the knee, just as we did after you. Being a consort does not always have to be a sexual thing.¡± ¡°I. Well.¡± John stammered for a couple moments before he could find the words, then steeled his eyes to really look at her for the first time. ¡°How can you follow that thing after what it''s doing to your friend?¡± ¡°Turning him into something greater? Allowing him to serve her even unto death itself as he would have willingly chosen to do while he was still alive?¡± ¡°Something greater? And willingly?¡± John started to yell. ¡°You want to tell me that you still want to serve that monster after what she¡¯s just done? What she''s probably about to do to all of us?¡± The woman took him in for a moment before answering. ¡°Have you heard about what happened when the other shard bearers first came?¡± ¡°No. I hadn''t even been born yet.¡± John replied. ¡°Ah, I suppose that the shard-bearers tend to keep their origins quiet.¡± The woman began. ¡°They say that the Conqueror of the southern marches appeared in an unimportant bandit camp at the start of his reign. He marched right into the middle of their camp and said nothing but challenged the leader of the gang to a duel. When the leader told some lackeys to take care of the Conqueror, its said that the man ripped their limbs off and beat them to death with their own arms and legs. Then, when the leader had been sufficiently cowed by the display the Conqueror walked up to the man and crushed his skull with just his bare hands.¡± John felt the color draining from his face as she continued her story. ¡°The rest of that bandit camp ended up following the conqueror, mostly out of fear, but they followed none the less. And as the Conqueror traveled through every small farm and town in the southern Marches the same thing happened. He would kill those who resisted, and allow those who bent the knee to continue on. Even as those conflicts started to escalate into full scale battle on the open plains, the same thing continued to happen. Those who resisted died, and those who followed lived a relatively normal life. Kingdoms and duchies fell one after another, but what did it really matter to the common man whether they were following a noble or a god at the end of the day? Their lives were pledged to another''s banner either way.¡± She paused to look him over, somewhat dismissive of his shoulder pads. ¡°And your own Prince of whispers that you still wear the armor of even now? Do you really think his rise was any different? No, he merely crushed the leader¡¯s around him with his bare thoughts instead of his bare hands. The only thing that really stopped the growth of the shard bearers was the other shard bearers at the end of the day.¡± ¡°The five gods who now rule the lands.¡± John finally offered as he started to guess what came next. ¡°No. We may call them gods now, but don''t forget that they were only men and women at one point in time like any other, just like your own Herald of Death. She may seem a little, different, already but even then she still pales in comparison to the spawn of these other shard bearers. For now.¡± John was surprised by the turn the conversation had taken, as he hadn''t expected such an obviously devout woman to express such doubt in the skeleton. She caught his expression though, and quickly continued the conversation. ¡°I''m rambling, sorry. But that''s why we follow, soldier. Because at the end of the day we would end up following one liege or lord anyways, so why not pursue the chance to become one of the first to follow someone new? Maybe pick up some perks like positions along the way.¡± She gestured to the ornate mask that rested on her chest. ¡°And do you really think any of us would still be living if we told her no at this point? Would you?¡± Memories of his own sword flashed in John''s mind as he remembered pushing it into armor and chainmail painted the same color as his. He wanted to forget. Wanted to leave that all behind. But he felt tied to his choices now. He had chosen to live, no matter what. ¡°Good! It is better for Death''s consort to show resolve in his face! You look far more charming for her.¡± ¡°My names John.¡± He finally decided to share. ¡°Charity, nice to meet you.¡± ¡°So, those stories you just told me. Are you old enough that you were around when the shard bearer¡¯s first came here?¡± Charity''s smile dropped as she decided to ignore his question, crossed her arms, and after a few moments of thought, walked away. John''s eyebrows rose as he evidently missed whatever he had done wrong, and tried to stumble after her. ¡°Hey wait!¡± ¡ª-- Charity had been milling around the courtyard well, patiently waiting for her liege outside after she had rather unceremoniously left with the rest of the group. It still stung at her that she had almost immediately regretted leaving the goddess during what must be a rather trying time in her development. Thankfully, she was eventually drawn out of her self rebuking nature as footsteps started to approach through the gaping doorway. The skeletal shardbearer stepped out into the faint moonlight and dancing shadows of a handful of lit torches lining the courtyard. Behind her two large figures trailed after her, a tall and sturdy looking old man, as well as a rather grotesque looking creature that Charity decided to ignore as best she could. Cutting a rather small image between the two statues that loomed behind her, it struck Charity that Dei, as John had named her, hardly looked like the most important person present. No, instead she looked almost childlike as the Herald traipsed around in clothing that was noticeably too big on her boney frame. The strange image was only expanded upon as Death finally came to a stop in front of Charity, only to duck into a crouching position to write with her fingers. It gave Charity just enough time to peer down at the young skeleton''s head as she took in the gashing sword wounds that left the rest of her face looking like it was about to peel off at any time now. Dei looked up at the girl as she finished writing her point out, ¡°Pyre for body.¡± ¡°Uh, yes Herald. Right away!¡± And charity was already off to gather the rest of the group to set up a pyre for the monk¡¯s corpse. ¡ª It hadn''t taken them very long to gather the materials needed, as the monastery had a rather sizable stock of logs pre cut for the coming winter. Some small bit of dried hay from the pasture was used to help get things going, and suddenly a blazing fire had been lit under the night''s sky. A part of Charity was worried that this might draw the attention of any other groups looking for the Herald in the area, but the girl hardly seemed to be concerned with the possibility. What had given Charity a bit of trouble had been figuring out why the bloody corpse following the Herald hadn''t been laid to rest on the pyre before setting the blaze. She had tried gesturing with her eyes to the girl, then even voiced her concerns about laying the corpse on the stand, but Dei had simply shook her head without comment. As they all stared into the fire, the herald started to rustle in place next to Charity, slowly removing her chainmail over her head. Then she started removing her leather jacket, boots, and pants until everyone''s eyes were fixed to the small figure as she stood there without a single article of clothing left to her. Despite this there was hardly a flicker of sexuality about the scene in any way, as virtually everything from the bust downwards was practically missing other than the bones. The only main piece of meat left on the girl appeared to be her neck and head, as only patches of skin here and there remained anywhere else on her body. The girl held up a hand tentatively, until the hulking corpse behind her lumbered up to take her hand in his own. They stepped forward together as Charity finally realized what the Herald had written earlier hadn''t just been referring to the monk''s body. So it was that the little girl reached up onto the pyre to prop herself up on her arms and twirl around to sit on the pyre, lithe as could be. As for her corpse, he casually pushed one of his legs into the brunt of the fire, raised the other knee up as high as he could, and then fell into place as several burning logs gave under his weight to leave him seated in the fire like a massive throne. Watching the two of them perform these antics in the guise of monsters that could haunt any children''s nightmares, Charity was suddenly brought back to earth from her fears at the well earlier that night. Even if her charge wasn''t actually a child, it was evident that the Herald of Death was not the impeccable symbol of grace that she had expected of a new goddess. And perhaps that bode well for Charity too, as she felt at ease for perhaps the first time since picking up the mantle of head priest. Perhaps her measly 40 years of life or so weren''t as impressive as the practiced wisdom of their last leader, but it would still be of use to this group, she was sure. As the smell of burning flesh and hair rose high into the air, Charity caught sight of the Herald''s unmasked face for the very first time as matching orbs of blue and purple fire shone from the holes where her eyes had used to be. As for her newest skeletal guard, his eyes shone a vibrant orange that could be distinguished even among the flames he sat in. Together, they watched the humans who had gathered around them in witness. 10 - Rise ¡®Gerald, lets name him Gerald!¡¯ Fei coo''d. ¡®Since when do you get to name him? Its my power that gave us the control-¡¯ Fei cut him off, ¡®Yeah, but who went through all the effort to build him into what he is today? Me! I practically gave birth to him.¡¯ ¡®How do you give birth to something that''s already died?¡¯ Xei sneered at her. ''Doesn''t matter, his name should be Gerald!'' ''What about Magnus?'' Dei finally interjected herself into the conversation. ''Hmm, i''m not opposed.'' Fei answered. ''You know we don''t always need to agree with her just cause she was the first flame right?'' ''I agree with her because she''s usually right, unlike you.'' Fei cut back. Dei looked over her newly risen soldier as her inner void settled into the near constant bickering that she was starting to view as common between the other flames. His bare skeletal bones matched hers in a way, only different in the fact that they appeared to be tied together by patches of glue that shone orange as he walked instead of her customary blue and purple. Some simple tests that morning had revealed that the skeleton, her neweset guard as she liked to think of him, was able to be controlled directly as well as via commands. Without that direct control he reacted to things rather awkwardly, rellying on brute force to accomplish whatever goal had been set for him. But when Xei put in even the barest of effort to loosen up the joints, the body responded well as he gave the skeleton more direct task and purpose. Add to that the fact that the flaming trio had made several alterations to the bones over the course of the morning, lengthening and enlarging the bones where they could without completely distorting the human shape. They had tried bending the bones into unnatural shapes as well, sharpening the right arm and fixing the bones together until it resembled more of a blade than a human appendage, but then the corpse had stopped responding to basic orders. More testing over the course of the night had left the trio fairly sure that whenever the guard stopped resembling human anatomy, it hampered his ability to recieve and follow orders without direct control. Sure, Xei could use the sword arm when he was totally focused on controlling the body himself, but that didn''t do them any good when it served them just as well to have the guard trailing Dei under a FOLLOW command while looking far more natural. Regardless of their disapointment with the restrictions placed upon their control, there was more than ample time to expiriment on the guard while her more mortal followers slept after the night''s events. Tonight was honestly the first time that Dei realized just what a lack of sleep might mean for her after she had spent several hours playing around with the new body at her control. It was tht realization, half way through the night, that even though she had taken what felt like several hours to selfishly commit time to her own pursuits, even then her companions were still asleep. Judging by the angle of the moon at this point, she likely had another four or five hours before even the lightest sleepers rose with the morning sun, yet still she had time. It would almost be lonely, if it wasn''t for the constant chatter between the other flames in the background of her head, audible to her now even outside of the confines of the void. But tonight was the night that Dei realized just how much free time she was going to have to herself in a world of mortals, and she couldn''t have been any more happy about it as she got to work figuring out every single detail to the extent of her powers. ------ The group rose with the morning dawn as several of the monks peeled off to start the daily chores. The sound of wood chopping echoed across the courtyard as goats bleated in the background as they were cared for in the faint sunlight. As for Charity, John, Matthew, and Dei, they crowded around the large table at the back of the church after Charity had pulled out a rough map of the surrouding countires. She pointed out the different kingdoms surrouding them, giving a brief orientation to the area that Dei had a distinct feeling was primarily for her bennefit, even though it was directed at the group. "To the west here you have the marshlands that comprise most of the Golden Kingdom''s domain. iIts nor particularly well populated there except for the major cities allong the coast line over here." She pointed at a vast coast line that lined the majority of the western side of the map. "To the north of the golden kingdom lies the Princedom Federation, mostly comprised of rolling hills and home to the army that seems to be chasing you down, Herald." John frowned at that, but said nothing as Charity continued, "To the northeast we have the Frelands, dominated by the Searing Moutain range that takes up most of their territory before you get up north to the frozen wastes. It may seem like the Free People''s Cult is in charge of the greatest territory on the map, but the majority of it is useless land." "South of them, allong the eastern wastes lie the Broken Tribes and their craggy canyons lined by the endless desert on the eastern edge of the map. Then, finally, we have the Southern marches and their massive grassland run by the Conqueror." Charity began to point at a massive forrest that broke up the center of the map, spreading out like a cnacer to border all the nations. "The Marren Forest. Largely considered to be a no man''s land situated in the center of all these groups. And here''s where we are, on the western edge of the forest between the golden lands and the princedoms." Looking done with her small speech, Dei nodded, the mismatched embers of her eyes going up and down in appreciation of the general layout of the area. John then took the moment to question Mathew across the table, "So, why are we going to the Golden kingdom again?" Matthew replied evenly, like he had been ready for the question. "Two reasons. First, to get Dei away from the Princedoms now that they''re actively hunting for her. And second, because the golden king is the shard-bearer least likely to kill her the moment they meet." Stolen novel; please report. It was Charity''s turn to question him, "You think the Greedy King is really going to let another shard bearer just set up shop in his land''s without questioning it?" "Oh, he''ll question it for sure. But as long as we can get to him in person I think he''ll see reason if we propose that Dei works with him, tipping the scales in the stalemates that plague these lands." "He wont just see her as another rival?" John asked "Would you? Dei''s retinue has a total of what, eight people to her name? King Logan might have forged his kingdom piece by piece, but its not like it happened overnight." "King Logan? You talk as though you know him." Charity responded. "I did know him, at least a little bit." Matthew''s lips settled into something of a grimace. "I watched him take over the golden lands, one noble at a time while I was still John''s age. He''s ambitious as hell, sure, but he''s also not stupid enough to let an opportunity like Dei pass him by. We just have to pitch it the right way." No one else seemed particularly happy with the plan, but they also weren''t bringing up any other ideas at the moment so Dei just nodded along. In her opinion it didn''t matter much where she was going either way, since she was far more concerned with finding more people to grow her ranks. This Golden King didn''t sound like he would enjoy her plans very much no matter what she did in the long run, but maybe he would be willing to work with her for the short term. Matthew and Charity settled into a discussion about the logistics of which route to take through the marshland as they all settled into the idea of making their way to the city of Portsmouth. ----- After half a day of preparations the group had decided to delay their travel plans for one more day and leave the next morning. The rationale was that at this point they were already going to be traveling behind the groups searching for Dei so they might as well wait a bit so they weren''t chasing on the forward group''s heels. Matthew took the chance to slink back into his customary solitude, taking a pew to rest the day away. Chastity, for her part tried her best to settle things at the manastery as she reorganized the daily tasks for the monks and restructured their purpose after the sudden changes. Meanwhile John seemed to just disappear entirely after he told Dei he was going for a walk. As for Dei, she found herself annoyingly voiceless as everything started moving around her. It was like she was a ghost in truth as she roamed around the grounds observing the people around her. The monks would all bow slightly as she passed by, but then awkwardly stand up after they seemed to realize she wasnt going to say anything and returned to work. One team was working on the front door while the other tackled the broken cellar entrance, mostly focused on just clearing up the remnants of the last evening first. Eventually she started to get bored again and started taking a round about the complex just to find something to do. The previously plodding footsteps that used to follow her had changed since the last day, no longer as heavy with leftover body parts. As she started to focus on her guard''s footsteps, Dei was suddenly facing the fact that her own walk wasn''t all that much better. Sure, she had had practice since working with Matthew those first couple days, but she honestly could have been doing more. If only the old man wasn''t so intent on studying that book of his. Twirling on her foot, she turned around to face her guard perhaps ten feet away from the courtyard wall as they had been slowly making their way around the outside perimeter. ''Xei, how would you feel about getting a little fighting practice in?'' ''Oh, I thought you''d never ask.'' He''d moved some portion of bone marrow to the inside of the skull''s mouth and it started twisting up with a flash of orange until it resembled something at least resembling a smile. Fei audibly made a note to herself about wanting to work more on the whole smiling thing as Dei unsheathed her sword and started taking off the set of monk''s robes she had been wearing that day. Xei had already raised his own sword that they had taken from the monastery store room the other day, marking the begining of the spar as the two of them started to circle each other. Dei gave the unspoken command to the skeleton to ''FIGHT'' as they had discovered the other night that the command system allowed Xei to focus on making minute adjustments for precision instead of having to worry about each and every movement. Xei opened their exchange with a short horizontal strike from the side that Dei casually parried and used to step further into the man''s range. He quickly read the situation and threw out a forward kick at her stomach which she tried to side step but failed, pushing her back several feet as she slid across the ground. Xei had only just started to raise his sword back into a guard position when the gruff voice of Matthew interrupted them. ¡°No, if you''re going to practice you''re not going to practice against another novice that will only teach you bad habits. Dei, don''t try to close in to your opponents guard unless your weapon is free to actually take advantage of the situation, otherwise they''ll just overpower you with their weight. And you,¡± he turned to face Xei, ¡°you need to lean in to the strengths of the body you''re using right now. Bigger builds change the dynamic of your approach so the agile style of things i''ve been pushing Dei into wont quite work for you.¡± The two of them had lowered their swords to look at him when he spoke as Dei realized there were still things in this world worth occupying her time. As for Xei, he took the chance to bend down with what he was quickly starting to claim as a permanent body to write his name on the ground for Matthew to see. ¡°Huh, did she choose that name for you or did you honestly think that was a good choice for yourself?¡± Dei started clutching at her ribcage while bending over in mock laughter as Xei stomped his foot in indignation before shooting a glare at the girl. ¡ª-- The team had settled in for another night of silence as Dei was left alone once again. Things didn''t feel quite so bad as that first night though as Xei had seemed to have taken to inhabiting their new body pretty much permanently at this point. Dei had long since stopped giving orders herself to the body as Xei constantly sent out a light heared list of instructions. ¡®FORWARD, STOP, LIFT, PLACE, CARRY, DROP¡¯ could be heard over the mental link as Xei tested out different wording and variations to figure out which command''s worked best without any major adjustments from his own control of the body. As for Fei, it seemed that she was doing her own testing as well as Dei started to notice purple flashes of light among both of the bodies in quick succession as Fei simultaneous adjustments to multiple bones at the same time. Dei was keenly aware of the fact that over time she had gotten more and more comfortable manipulating multiple of her own bones in sync, but the fact that this could be used across bodies opened up multiple ideas within her head. Dei started to wander away from the rest of the group as they slept, perhaps because she was finally starting to get more confident in her own abilities after the last couple days, but mostly because she was curious about something. Stepping outside the cloisters¡¯ thin walls, she opened her vision to look for bones, and quickly found something quite interesting allong the far side of the manastery. Small columns of stacked stones rose in a haphazard row some fifty meters away from the rest of the monastery allongside thin trails in the forest floor that indicated that many people had come by and through the area over the years. Decayed flowers could be seen at the base of some of the stones, obviously having been placed there long before the fall weather had started to settle in to the area as Dei looked down on a row of white forms laying below the surface of the ground. Keenly aware that what she was doing was quite possibly wrong, or at the very least rude, Dei had made up her mind on the matter long before in the day as she spotted this location halfway through her sparring session with Xei and Matthew. Even still, the bone marrow she had laced through the gaps in her teeth started to shine a soft glow of a burning blue smile as she looked out into the dark night. ¡®RISE¡¯ she ordered, and she could feel the attention of Fei and Xei immediately return to her body as the cult of the sixth god started to grow once more. 11 - Dreams Dawn rose over the quaint monastery walls as Charity stretched on the small cot that she had slept on for the last decade of her life. She wouldn''t have expected to have lived this type of lifestyle when she was growing up, but times had changed in the world since her youth, and as she had finally made her way into adulthood everything around her world had changed. A dozen wars, bloody rebellions, and civil unrest had ripped their way across the dozens of small kingdoms and territories that made up the known world. Then, after the better part of five years of fighting, the world had stilled into the current state and silence that felt like the calm before the storm. Five individual humans had turned the very foundations of culture upside down within a blink of time, before settling into a cold war of tense borders and half threats against one another. This was the state of the world when she had felt so powerless to do much of anything in the sight of such grandeur that had forced her into exile. Truth be told, she had traveled as much to heal herself as it was meant to hurt herself, having had her business cut out from under her feet by an unfortunate fluke of fate. Still, it had given her time to explore herself and what she stood for before finding it in the unclaimed forest of Marren. There she had met a man who had given her purpose for perhaps the first time in far too long as he took her in for what had only been meant to be one night of rest under a solid roof at first. ¡°Charity, to be honest with you I don''t think your problem is a lack of purpose. I think its a lack of the means to meet that purpose.¡± She hadn''t expected the words to cut into her heart like they had, even when she left the monastery later that afternoon after bidding everyone goodbye. But then, at the end of a good day''s travel as she continued her search for more, she finally took the time to truly explore the opportunity that the head priest had offered to her. It was a promise of easy advancement. Of a sixth god¡¯s coming that would rock the world to its very foundation, just like what had happened during her coming of age. And the idea that she might be able to ride that wave this time? To anticipate the next change in the market and bet everything on the idea that she would be there to see it come? Well that was a dream worth clinging to, even when she turned back to make the awkward journey to join their monastery the next day with open arms. Her faith had been tested then, by the years themselves. The turning of time had at once made her bitter, defeated even, as she was forced to confront the idea that maybe she had been wrong to bet everything on the words of a single man and some passed down prophecies. But what kept her there after the months turned into years of waiting for the next shard bearer to come, had been the bonds she forged over that time. It was hard to spend every waking moment working beside the men at her side without forming somewhat of a connection, and it wasn''t like she was trying to avoid developing friendships so of course something was bound to happen. Even as she was given these years to formulate her own sense of purpose in the wait, she also found the bonds to the men on her left and right to be comforting as they all pursued some sort of similar awakening through their daily toil. So when the prophesized day finally came and cut through their group, opening the possibility of the future just as easily as it had cut down the man that had once opened her mind all those years ago, she was surprised. She was surprised that no one else had stepped up in the moment of uncertainty. That no one else had seemed to be committed to the group due to the same sense of ambition that still burned inside her heart even to this day. Surprised that even after the sixth goddess had graced them with her wave of possibility, it seemed like no one else was willing to grab a hold of the ship with her. It was with this fact in mind that she rose for the day¡¯s travel with a certain grimace on her face, all at once conflicted about what she had realized was a turning point in her life as she made her next choice. Sure, she still cried as she hugged the five monks that would be staying behind in the monastery, understanding the fact she might very well never see them again. But they weren''t committed to the same ideal she had, not exactly. Their devotion to the sixth goddess had been formed out of the very basis of her distant presence, as Charity finally realized that what they truly wished for was solitude from the world more than anything else. She turned her back on the monastery to walk alongside her new traveling companions between an old man and a gangly soldier, all of which followed a pair of half clothed skeletons down the western trails. And without a single glance back at the men she had spent her last decade getting to know, she at last realized that there was probably only one man among their number that had truly understood her, and his bones were now walking ahead of her, still leading her on her path. She smiled at the skeleton¡¯s back while a heavy weight settled on her soul as she set her mind on the task at hand, devoted to the Herald of Death and the waves she would bring. ¡ª Dei had been somewhat surprised as she watched the group form up for travel that morning when the vast majority of the monks had elected to stay behind from the group to continue to live their lives in seclusion. They had given Charity some non-committal answer about how the soldiers searching for the Herald might have found it suspicious if the monastery was unexplainably empty if they ever doubled back to check on them, but it was all but obvious they simply didn''t want to leave their comfortable life behind. Dei had been thinking on that moment as they walked away, uncertain of her past as she was, she felt some form of attachment to the monks and their thought process. That wasn''t to say that she actually wanted to stay with the monks, but more so that she felt like she could empathize with the desire to do nothing more but settle into the ennui of a stable life. What had happened in her first life to cause this reaction? It felt almost like a sense of grief washed over her as she thought to herself, distinctly aware that the person she had used to be had tried incredibly hard to accomplish something. And then failed. Voices drew her back to reality as the group continued to walk down the path. Dei realized that the trio of humans had taken to the front of the group, presumably to allow them to take the lead and guide the group considering they had the best idea of where to go. Dei and Xei settled into lock step, burning eyes watching the humans lead them down a new branch of the forest trail to their left. ¡°-and just what do you think will happen if they come back to the monastery?¡± John seemed to be aggravated by the conversation, ¡°We''ve just left those men to die.¡± ¡°Death means nothing in the-¡± Charity began before she was cut off. ¡°You know damn well that those men don''t give half a rat''s ass about our little ¡®Goddess¡¯ compared to you.¡± John said. Matthew craned his neck while they continued walking to look back at Dei with a strangely knowing look in his eyes before he spoke, ¡°I don''t think that those men will face much in the way of danger considering they have the goddess''s blessing watching over them.¡± John threw up his arms in exasperation even as Charity nodded along to Matthew''s words, but Dei could do nothing more than narrow the embers of her eyes into thin slits as she stared at him. ¡®How does he know?¡¯ Dei asked herself. ¡®He was asleep throughout the entirety of the night, i''m sure of it. My body would have seen him moving if he even rose for a midnight piss.¡¯ Xei insisted. Dei felt Fei leave the group for a moment as the ember seemed to zip away at high speeds following the light tendrils of smoke that extended away from Dei back in the direction of the monastery. Thankfully, these markers of sorts were only visible to herself in her bone sight as the purple flame disappeared from sight in only half a second of blurred light. A couple of seconds later Fei rushed back to make a report, ¡®They''re still posted around the church and following the GUARD order as best I can tell, but I have no idea how the old bastard managed to see them even as we walked out of the place. They''re practically posted so far out from the monastery you can hardly see the walls with all the trees in the way!¡¯ Matthew had returned his gaze to face forward as Dei took his measure for what felt like the tenth time just today. ¡®Just who is this man?¡¯ she thought aloud, desperately wishing she could actually talk like a normal person again. She had tried questioning the man at one point during their short stay at the church, but between the annoying fact that she had to try and write out any questions she had for him, and his deft ability of avoid telling her anything of real worth, she had given up on the attempt after only a short while. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. He certainly seemed to be helpful, practically serving as a guide for their group in most of the key decisions, but was that really what was for the best here? Dei had wondered at multiple points whether she should have taken more direct control of the decision making since she was theoretically the de facto leader they were all following. And yet, it just felt so easy to let Matthew lead the way as she let herself become a passenger along for the ride. The day''s travel ended up giving Dei far too much time to think to herself as she second guessed every decision or lack of decision she had made so far. Thankfully, the journey was fairly uneventful even as they moved to make camp at the end of the day, and the girl resigned herself to the understanding that she didn''t know what the right choices were even now, no matter how hard she tried to think about it. ¡ª-- It had been raining for some two or three hours or so by the time Sergeant Ozwald reached the small farm house along the main road leading into the Golden Kingdom. He had made the call for his men to compress inward at mid day, drawing them in from their one mile wide spacing as he had seen the storm clouds approaching; but even then it had taken them far past sundown to reorganize into a single group once again. The rain had left his uncovered hands a pale color as he knocked on the heavy wooden door holding back the light of a flickering fire that could be seen illuminating the cracks. A pair of voices that had been conversing on the other side of the door skittered to a stop as the sound of a moving chair could be heard followed by muddled footsteps. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°We''re a group of weary travelers who were caught in the storm. Would you be willing to let us stay the night? We''ll pay for the chance to get dry.¡± Ozwald replied in a light voice, letting the hope of a good night''s sleep bleed into his weary demeanor. The door stayed closed for another couple moments before some sort of locking mechanism could be heard on the other side of the wood and it started to open inward. After a couple of inches, a face of a hardy man with a bald head and a thick mustache peered through the half closed door at the group as he took them in, soaked through to their very bones in the early hours of the night. Ozwald quickly held out a few golden coins, cradled in his cupped hand as an offering to the obviously hesitant man while he looked them over. The squad had taken great care to stow away their painted spalders and helmets shortly after they had left behind the damn church after the awkward situation, so they looked merely like a group of well armed men of no affiliation. For better and for worse. ¡°And why should I trust a group of fighters to enter my home?¡± The man asked. Ozwald looked him back deadpan and stuck his foot into the crook of the door as he responded. ¡°Because you''re smart enough to know we could always just decide to kill you if you say no. So are you going to take my coin or not?¡± The man looked down at the thinly armored greave forced into the way of the door as he took only a single moment to answer by swinging the door wide open to reveal the inside of the main room. A middle aged woman was clutching tightly to her cutlery at the table on the far side of the room, flanked by a young boy who peered over at the men with curious eyes. The man looked down at his boots as he spoke under his breath, ¡°My family means you gentlemen no harm, and we hope you mean us no harm in return.¡± Ozwald merely clapped the man on the shoulder and entered the room in response, quickly walking over to a short bench nearby a softly burning hearth in the corner of the room. His men followed him just as quickly, finally smiling for the first time in what seemed like hours as they made some sort of thanks to the man at the door and started taking off their packs. The sergeant was just barely able to reach over from his seat on the bench to slap the golden coins down on the table the family was eating at before settling into a content position with his pack resting against the wall like a pillow. The main room wasn''t so big as to casually accommodate the addition of 6 men alongside their ration packs without being a little tight for space. The owner of the house had to weave his way through their fallen bags after closing the door, taking up a defensive seat alongside his wife and child. ¡°I mean it, my coin is good and my men just want their rest after a long night. We''ll be out of your way as soon as daybreak comes.¡± The man said nothing as his wife seemed to come to her senses all at once and started ushering the boy to pick up his plate and come with her to the other room. The boy made some faint resistance as he wanted to stay with the adults, but his father quickly shushed the boy and helped the mother gather their things into one of the side rooms quietly. The man then quickly returned to the table, swiped the handful of coins into his hands then left the room to make his way to the bedroom his family had presumably barricaded themselves in. ¡°There''s some leftover stew in the pot as well as whatever bread is left on the table. I hope you all have a wonderful night¡¯s rest and safe journeys on tomorrow''s road.¡± he quickly snapped out even as he closed the bedroom door on the group of men stripping out of their wet clothing. A couple of the soldiers laughed at the man as they started opening the top of the pot hanging over the fire, helping themselves to a hearty dinner even as the sergeant closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall. As awkward as the situation might have been, it was still preferable to causing the deaths of innocent farmers. Ozwald thought back to the most recent kill to his name, some unnamed priest that had tested him in an awkward moment, the man so obviously trying to become combative with his force mage. Even still, after the fact it seemed like such a pointless death to him. Sure, he could react to the moment with all the deftness of a man who had dealt with similar situations in the past, but it didn''t mean he liked it. Shaking his head, he forced his mind onto other thoughts as he sped through the last couple of days'' memories. They had spread into a searching pattern, raking through the northern border of the Golden Kingdom for the last two days straight, not even stopping to rest overnight. Every fifteen minutes he had sent mental checks to his men, spread out in a fan over a distance five miles wide as he monitored their spacing and speed to keep them all on line. But even those frequent checks did little to distract him from the sheer monotony of walking in a straight line for thirty-six hours straight, alone. Every twelve hours had been punctuated by a short report from his other four search teams as well, each continuing to say the same thing each time. Nothing. No sight or sign of the skeleton or the men accompanying it, even as one of his squads got attacked by an angry bear they had stumbled upon in a cave. Nothing to see for their efforts even as they combed through the miles upon miles of several days worth of travel. Eyes still closed as he enjoyed the heavy warmth of the open room as rain pattered against the thatch roof, Ozwald categorized the day''s events before he made his own report. He let his mind wander to that other place that let him send magical messages as he tugged lightly on the mental string that he knew connected him to his commander. ¡®Sir, SFC Ozwald reporting for the daily sitrep, over.¡¯ Ozwald paused for a moment to see if he got cut off, but soon continued after no one stopped him. ¡®Currently at thirty-nine hours traveled so far and an estimated eighty miles traveled No sign of our target yet across all five search teams as my squads hunker down to wait out tonight''s rain. One minor injury so far in sector Three-Five-Nine-Zero of Marren forrest, but we already called him up for pickup last night. Current plan is to continue movement in the morning once my men get some sleep, over.¡¯ He hesitated again, waiting for the response that soon came back to him over the link. ¡®Roger that sergeant Ozwald, report received. Current guidance is to slow down your pace to a sustainable rate and spread out your forces to infiltrate the border towns of-¡¯ Ozwalds eyes snapped open as he quickly reached into his bag to grab some paper and charcoal that were both kept in a thin leather portfolio to guard against the rain like tonight. A couple seconds later he hurried to write down the names of the fifteen border towns the commander listed off, charcoal held at the ready to continue writing as the voice continued on, audible only to him within the room. ¡®-, Tefton, Fordton, and Camp Miller. These are the most likely ingress points to the four border nations, and our last chance to catch the shard bearer before they slip away, understood? Over.¡¯ ¡®Understood sir, will post our soldiers in or near-¡¯ he listed off the long list of towns written on the sheet, ¡®-as soon as possible. Over¡¯ ¡®Happy hunting, sergeant. Our lord is counting on you. Out.¡¯ ¡®Roger sir. Out.¡¯ Ozwald replied dryly. He only waited for a moment before plucking on his mental strings to relay the same message across to his various squad leaders before he allowed himself to really confront the moment. Then, after another handful of minutes of quick discussion as he read off the list of towns in front of him, he finally returned to himself again as he watched the men around him as they finished off their food and started taking off wet boots to place by the fireside overnight. The rank smell of pruned feet started to spread through the cozy room, and even as the first of his soldiers began to set up a place to sleep he was content with the fact that he knew they had already defaulted to the same order of watch shifts like normal as corporal Benny posted himself up at the kitchen table without taking any of his clothes off like the others. Ozwald met the corporal¡¯s eyes, and the tired bags formed below them even as he looked alertly over the group and nodded his head in thanks, receiving a short nod in return. Then, sergeant first class Ozwald finally allowed himself just a moment of rest as he closed his eyes for a well deserved reprieve at the end of a stressful day. Stomach empty, boots still on, pack hardly opened other than the writing materials in front of him, the man drifted into sleep as he fell into dreams of himself chasing something constantly out of sight. 12 - Birds A bird called out in the dawn air, right above the sleeping heads of a handful of people until John shot straight up in his sleeping bag with bleary eyes. As he looked around in alarm, first taking in the prone forms of Matthew and Charity to his right, he soon found himself looking up at the slight form of the skeletal girl staring up at the tree above them. A thick woolen robe hung over her shoulders as a thin wooden mask hung from a leather cord around her neck and a heavy hood fell almost entirely over her eyes, completely obscuring her skull-like forehead. Seeing her like this it was almost funny to watch the girl as she appeared to be staring right into the hood draped over her head as she looked nearly straight up, but John had a strange feeling that she was actually seeing something even through the object obscuring her vision. He looked up to match her gaze and eventually found a thick looking black bird sitting in the top of the tree above them. The bird seemed to catch his eye in that moment, turned its entire body to address him specifically, and used the full power of its chest as it let out a massive ¡°Caw!¡± then flew off without another word. Dei watched it fly away, face not really betraying any emotion that John could tell as she looked into the sky absently. If he had to really guess, John had a feeling the girl had been trying to pull down the bird from its perch using just her mind powers to make the animal implode into a small ball of meat and bones that she could toss to Xei. Where was the guard anyways? John looked around, grumbling about why he was the only one who woke up to the bird calls as he finally found the Herald''s guard standing like a scarecrow some fifteen feet behind him. This time he really was startled to match eyes with the second skeleton of the morning as the apparition stared straight back at him with burning orange eyes. A row of spiked horns lined the front forehead of the skull alongside several jutting spikes that had formed along his shoulders and forearms looking like a particularly strange set of white armor had been draped around the skeleton. Xei finally started to grin then as the spikes receded into the skeletons upper body within only a couple of seconds and he bent down to pick up the leather cuirass and chainmail the guard had taken from Dei when they swapped outfits a couple of days ago. ¡°Damn skeletons just like messing with me.¡± John muttered to himself as he started to untangle his legs from the sleeping bag. Truth be told John wasn''t quite sure what to make of the two of them as he thought about the strange individuality to the two skeletons that he had started seeing over the last couple days. Matthew had told him and Charity that the orange skeleton had started calling itself Xei, and that was only the last clue John had needed to realize that the two corpses weren''t quite the same person. Dei always seemed to look through him whenever he caught her eyes, like she was thinking a million miles an hour and her vision was stuck on the horizon. Meanwhile, Xei would stare back with the intensity of another soldier trying to challenge John with his gaze whenever he so much as looked in his direction. Then the damn skeleton would spread that shit-eating grin across his face just to really drive the point home. John had pulled out some dried meat from his bag to munch on as he waited for the other two to wake up, and when he looked up to glance in the skeletal girl''s direction he realized she had moved much closer to him than he noticed. A pair of blue and purple eyes peered at him from under her cowl as she pointed down at something scrawled in the dirt. ¡°Favor, spar?¡± Matthew read, and tried his best to swallow down a tuft of meat he had been chewing that suddenly felt very, very dry going down his throat. ¡ª The sound of ringing swords drew Charity out of her sleep in all but a moment as she whirled around in fright, trying to find the source of the sound. Twenty meters away from her a naked skeleton hammered down on John with heavy sword blows. Dei was obviously enjoying the fight as she formed a small robed ball sitting down with her knees to her chest watching the two of them fight. The skeleton, Xei she thought based on the orange flashes, swung down repeatedly with strong overhead blows that rained on the upraised guard position of John as he grasped his sword in two hands, hanging on for dear life. Every blow knocked the sword more and more out of place, until John committed fully to the guard and took his metal plated left glove hand to grasp the meat of the sword by the tip to get some better leverage against the blows. It appears this was what the skeleton was waiting for because at that moment Xei stopped his overhead chops to hesitate for just a moment then threw out his left arm in a punch aimed at John''s head. That half moment of hesitation had been enough though because John whipped his sword downward just in time to snap its edge into the incoming arm and send it wide, missing his body entirely. Strangely enough, the bone didn''t break as Charity watched a more vibrant orange glow suffuse the wrist as John connected with it before winking out to the more subdued glow throughout the rest of the body joints. John didn''t seem to be distracted by the lack of a shattered bone, and instead punched forward with the pommel of his sword to connect with the center of the skeleton''s chest, knocking it back and off balance. The skeleton toppled to the ground, its left arm still raised in the punching position like an awkward caricature of a human being, before it finally settled into a slow attempt to get up. John wasn''t about to let that happen though. As the skeleton struggled to rise, John took two steps forward to throw his own heavy downward slash straight into its skull, once, twice, three times in a row. The first two times the heavy orange glow returned once again as Xei was evidently working some sort of effort to reinforce the bones even as the blows landed, but the third strike broke through and sheared itself straight through the top of the head only to get caught halfway through the jawline. Everyone paused at that moment as the skeleton stopped getting up, and gravity slowly pulled the head of the skeleton back as it slid off the edge of John''s sword to fall back into a pile of bones at his feet. The soft orange glow that had been emanating from the many joints of the skeleton growing softer until nothing remained. Then everything lit a brilliant Purple color as the skeleton came to life once again. Charity still wasn''t quite sure what the purple flame meant, since she now associated Xei with orange and Dei with her customary blue joints except for the fact that every once in a while her movements would alternate to purple. Still, she felt the influx of power as the skeleton reached up to grab John''s sword far faster than it had been moving just a moment ago, then kicked out a leg even from a prone position towards the back of John''s knee, sending him sprawling to the ground. The purple skeleton then pushed on the swords edge causing it to obviously cut into the open bone of its hand, but also pushing the pommel of the sword back until it punched into John''s gut as he fell to the ground. Then with a wrenching movement the purple skeleton stole the sword out of his hand and twisted its body to stand up with something resembling grace as it rolled into an upright position. A moment later and the skeleton glowed orange once more as it blazed far brighter than the dull glow she had seen coming from the body earlier as it twirled the blade in a half circle, raised it above its head, and plunged it several inches into the ground right next to John''s head. John rolled away quickly, scrambling to his feet, but it was evident that the bout was over as Xei made no moves to follow the man as he retreated from the killing blow. Dei applauded with sharp smacks of clacking bones from the sidelines, but Charity was having a strange realization that in this moment Xei felt more like the Xei she had been getting to know the last couple days than the dimly lit skeleton that she had seen at the beginning of the fight. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Every time she had looked behind her at the male skeleton the last three days they had been walking so far, he looked back at her with a strange grin on his face, so she had started to get a feel for how sharp his typical movements looked and that certainly wasn''t anything like the clunky skeleton that had been seen pounding down on John''s guard. ¡®Just what are they getting after at this point?¡¯ Charity thought to herself. ¡ª ¡®Huh, the braindead FIGHT order almost had him beat.¡¯ Xei pointed out. ¡®Yeah, but then you got your half effort corpse taken out even with your new reinforcement method. And in front of Charity too.¡¯ Fei got out with a laugh in her voice. ¡®What?!¡¯ The skeleton turned around to face the wide eyed human woman as she was caught looking at him with frazzled hair that she hadn''t yet pulled into her customary bun. ¡®Damn it. Why''d she have to wake up?¡¯ ¡®Hah, and I even had to step in and save your ass as you started losing control of the body right in front of her!¡¯ ¡®Fei, that''s not even true and you know it. I was letting go of direct control on purpose so we can see how long the passive orders get deactivated. You know, the things that''s like half the point of that whole fight?¡¯ ¡®Doesn''t matter, you still got beat in front of your girlfriend Xei!¡¯ Fei responded in sing song as the now orange skeleton almost looked a little sheepish as it started putting on its leather padding in preparation for the day. Dei merely listened to the other two as they continued their verbal spar, content to let them play among themselves as she had long ago realized the two were practically siblings in a way. The dynamic between the trio had developed over time, as Dei continued to speak less and less directly with the two others, even as they had started to defer to her judgment more since she was the ¡®first spark¡¯ as they called it. Its not that she hadn''t wanted to speak with them more. It just felt inappropriate in a way. Like she felt some sort of moral detachment from the conversations that they were pulled into and couldn''t quite find any interest in involving herself in their fights. Still, the day''s sparring with John was definitely a success, and now they had solid proof that their skeletons could be incapacitated if they suffered enough damage. It was another thing that Dei had to add to the list for further testing as she made a mental note of things. A heavy ¡°CAW!¡± sound echoed from the treetops as she settled her gaze upward, quickly locating the bird with her bone vision as she watched it take shallow breaths in between its loud cries. ¡®Now why am i having such a hard time finding a bird corpse in the middle of a marsh?¡¯ she wondered to herself. ¡ª Matthew woke from his uninterruptible night''s sleep shortly after the rest of them and they set off on their fourth day of travel as Charity let everyone know that they should be reaching the first outpost by the end of the day. They had made their way outside of the Marren forest close to the end of the second day, and now they traveled along a solid dirt road raised several feet above what had become a wet marshland of chest high bushes that spread out in every direction. Last night the group had set camp in a small outcropping of trees rooted on top of what could only be described as an island among the endless knee high waters that made this land so inhospitable, counting themselves lucky to stay dry as they slept. Still, the endless highway of the main road through these parts was in of itself a measure of the engineering the people of the Golden Kingdom so prided themselves on. By this point they had started passing several other groups of traveling merchants and farmers bringing their stock to market before the winter started to really bite into the land. Both Dei and Xei had taken to wearing their wooden masks more or less permanently while traveling at this point, as they covered the rest of their bodies with far more mundane clothes. The other traveling groups they passed had often looked curiously at the two of them, silently trailing the rest of their companions like a duo of lost children following the group. Thankfully, when someone had actually called their bluff and asked the two why they wore those funny looking masks, Matthew cut in to explain for them. ¡°Excuse me sir, but my children had a rather unfortunate experience in a house fire that stole their ability to speak as well as most of their faces. I¡¯d appreciate it if you didn''t bother them.¡± The elderly man that they had been passing at the time looked surprised by the explanation as he quickly stammered out some sort of apology to the two as they continued walking past. Behind her, Dei heard the man mutter to the younger man carrying goods by his side, ¡°Damn shame to have your life stolen away from you like that when they''re so young.¡± ¡°Looks like they''re in good company though, so I wouldn''t worry about them too much uncle.¡± The two skeletons exchanged a glance as they had both heard the exchange, slight glowing grins playing across both their faces as they silently thanked Matthew for his forward thinking regarding their backstory. Several more hours came and went as the group traveled in near silence down the barren dirt road until Dei suddenly stopped to snap her gaze out towards nothing in particular off to the side of the road. The three humans in front didn''t seem to notice her strange actions until they suddenly heard a splash behind them as Dei all but jumped straight into the water to start wading out into the depths. Somewhat at a loss for words, the rest of her group watched her continue further out into the muck until she stopped maybe twenty meters from the side of the road and reached down for something. A second later she pulled up a small ball of mud the size of her head and started walking back towards the road. John started to look up and down the road, suddenly thankful that no one else was in the area to watch the girl''s antics as she finally climbed back up the dirt embankment to re-join them on the raised road. Still, it was hard not to smile at the girl as she nearly hopped behind them in glee, holding up the small ball of grime and feathers in her gloved hands. Xei had evidently seen the question in all their faces, so he bent down on the girl''s behalf and wrote something out for them on the road. ¡°Bird experiment!¡± ¡ª Dei had quickly deposited her newest prize into her bag as the group continued their journey, content as she was to figure out what she could do with the creature while the rest of them slept that night. It was almost funny actually, to think that she was carrying a bag just like the rest of the group even though there was no food or sleeping pad in her travel sack like the others. Matthew had insisted that it would do the skeletons some good towards looking like the others, since people would notice if the two of them were less burdened by travel equipment. Now that she had her first prize though, Dei was far more content to look like an average human traveling down the road now that her travel bag could now be used to store a sizable amount of bones if she wanted to. Day dreams of setting her bag down only for a squad of boney soldiers to leap out of it filled her mind as the group finally started to catch glimpses of something large blocking off the road in the far distance. As they drew closer, the wild looking bushes lining the road started to fade away to be replaced with line upon line of thin grass stalks jutting up from the shallow water in uniform rows perpendicular with the road. Matthew took the time to explain to John that the farmers in this area relied upon wet water crops such as rice fields, azola, and certain edible reed plants to bring in a yearly harvest despite the terrain. Thankfully for the people around here, even in the winter the temperature never got quite so cold that it froze over the great body of standing water, allowing them to more or less continue to plant year round despite the limited options. Dei however was far more interested in the wooden palisades that were becoming more and more clear at the other end of the road. A massive wooden gate cut off the raised dirt pathway, walls extending outward from the road in both directions nearly a half mile wide as she realized the fort was cut into a roughly circular shape in the middle of the swamp. Soldiers soon became visible, pacing along raised platforms hidden by the wall and holding long pikes raised to the sky that nearly doubled the men in height. When the group had finally made their way up to the gateway proper, and stopped to wait their turn in a small line of people making their way into the doorway, Charity turned around to address the group. ¡°Welcome to Camp Miller!¡± 13 - Camp Miller Private Redmond had been posted to Camp Miller two years ago, nearly halfway through his term of mandatory service to the Golden Kingdom army that every man and woman his age served. He had started the posting by being immediately assigned to pike duty, taking eight hour shifts to walk up and down the walled battlements and stare off into the distance until he nearly went mad with the boredom of it. When he was reassigned to gate duty he was actually somewhat overjoyed with the decision, happy to have the chance to actually talk with another human being while on duty without getting yelled at for shirking their patrols like they were on the walls. Still, as the days turned into months of serving in the same position day in day off as he was, Redmond started to get complacent. It was at first interesting to meet all these new people and learn about what brought them to Camp Miller, but eventually he just couldn''t bring himself to care about the four hundredth band of traveling merchants and performers that made its way through his gate. Today was a particularly annoying day however as the weather had started to feel brisk as the seasons started to change, yet for some reason or another his commander had not yet chosen to let them wear gloves or jackets yet, despite the growing cold. He remembered his sergeant''s short words that morning about how it hadn''t yet met the book definition of ¡®glove approved weather¡¯, but that did little to make Redmund feel any better as his fingers started to ache as he rubbed them together for warmth. So after he had stood at the front of the gate for some eight hours a day without moving from his spot, Redmond craved just a little bit of warmth in his life. On this particular day, Redmond happened to be getting a little bit loose with his duties as he started to near the six hour mark in his shift as he stared up into the sky, trying to guage how much time was left by measuring the ball of fire with his fingers. ¡°One, two, maybe three hours.¡±, he muttered to himself as his gaze returned to the line of people as the next group came up to him and he started his customary speech, marking the fact that none of them had the subdued badge of permanent residents. ¡°Alright there, welcome to Camp Miller. Please be aware that this area has strict prohibitions on violence of any sort and you will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law if you break the peace and order of this camp during your stay. If you have any trade goods you intend to sell here then you''ll have to pull off to your left, my right, as you enter the gate. If you''re only here for the night''s stay you''ll have to pay one royal gold per head for a visitors badge that will be pinned to your chest and must stay visible during your entire stay. Requests for permanent residence can be made at the requisitions office on the north side of town. Any questions?¡± A rather large bearded man with long black hair shook his head as he palmed five gold coins and made to hand them to the guard. Redmond accepted the money quickly to drop into a coin hole with no obvious way to open it behind him, then reached over to grab five small yellow ribbons tied to sewing needles on the nearby desk. He handed one to the man, followed by a blond woman in a thin robe, a gruff looking man in light chain mail, and finally two strange looking individuals wearing wooden masks that didn''t even look like they had eye holes. Redmond stopped as he looked at the last two, not quite sure what to make of them even as he handed them their visitors passes. The sight of them stirred something in is mind, wasn''t there someone who had been asking about some masked figures earlier that day? While they walked past the man with their strangely thin legs, he noted the fact that they looked like they could at least see just fine through the masks in some way, and he merely shrugged. The rules didn''t expressly prohibit masks so who was he to stop them? Still, even those masked weirdo''s had the right to wear gloves whenever they wanted in the cold weather, and Redmond settled in for the last couple hours of his shift as he fantasized about getting back into a warm room at the end of his shift. ¡ª Dei wasn''t quite sure what her expectations had been when she had heard that they were making their way to a place called Camp Miller, but it certainly would not have matched the small town she found waiting for her now. Merchants lined the main street in small wooden stands posted on wheels as their group made their way deeper into the town. ¡°Fresh crop of Emel rice!¡± ¡°Get your clothes straight from the Princedoms at my shop!¡± ¡°Five silver for a dozen eggs right here!¡± ¡°Adventurers, you look like you could use a new sword!¡± A never ending stream of men and women called out to her group as they passed other shoppers stopped here and there trying to peruse the wares or haggle down a price. It all felt keenly familiar to the girl, like she had half remembered experiences of a similar event happening in her past, but the cacophony of human voices was still a press on her senses just the same. Mathew and the rest of the group seemed to be casually ignoring the merchant''s calling out their wares, even though Charity eyed some of the food stands with a certain excitement in her eyes. While the merchant stands were numerous, they eventually faded behind them as the hundred meters of open market made way into a quieter section of town. Here, Dei was more focused on the many houses around them that seemed to be made of dried mud and roofed with swamp reeds laid over the ceilings. Instead of market stalls, small groups of children ran along the hard packed dirt streets and in between individual men and women that were making their way in and out of different buildings with a sense of purpose. Dei was caught staring into some of the opened doorways trying to place just what kind of shop was within, when their group found what they were looking for and made their way into a large building that had a sign with a picture of a bed hanging from the front doorway. She hurried to catch up as they shuffled through the door. A thick man greeted them from behind the bar as they entered the dimly lit interior with a softly lit fire in the corner of the room allongside several pots of food hanging from a metal wire lining the edges of the brazier. A pair of armored men sat at a table near the fire, casually talking to one another as Matthew took the lead with the barkeep and paid for a night''s stay at the inn for the group. John and Charity took their seats at one of the empty tables as the disguised skeletons were led up the stairs behind the bar by Matthew as they tried to find their rooms. It seems that Matthew had gotten three rooms for the group, one double room each for both the living men and the skeletons, and then a single bedroom for Charity, as they tested the keys the inkeep had given them. Finally alone in the room that Dei and Xei would be sharing, Matthew turned around to address the two of them in confidence. ¡°Let''s be honest here. I might joke that you both are my kids to keep you out of trouble, but the two of you have enough power stored in your heart that you could easily tear through the majority of this town if you really wanted to. The thing about that is, we don''t really know for sure if there''s anyone, or anything, strong enough to stop you in this town yet. And we probably don''t want to find out. So while you both go out exploring tonight, at least try to stay out of trouble until we get to the capital, will ya?¡± The skeletons nodded together, both understanding what Matthew was getting at, even though it felt a bit like they had a chaperone trying to tell them what to do. ¡°Alright, and last word of warning. Don''t mess with the arcanists in the area. If you see a man or woman wearing a metal chain around their throats with a fancy gem hanging from it, just stay away from them as best as you can.¡± If Dei didn''t know any better this felt like it was going to be an awkward premonition of things to come, but even still the two of them nodded in understanding. Matthew might be unexplainable at times, but it didn''t mean he wasn''t worth listening to whenever he opened his mouth, and the two of them really did take his words to heart. Or perhaps whatever was left of their hearts. ¡ª After Matthew and the ¡®twins¡¯ returned downstairs to rejoin the rest of the group, they settled into a casual night of fun as they shared a variety of dishes served from the boiling pots in the corner. The main dish had been a liquidy risotto of rice and steamed vegetables toped with an unplaceable spice that none of them could pin down. Next they had been treated to some sort of warmed cider like drink that had left the majority of the group talking animatedly between themselves across the table. Charity laughed heartily into John''s shoulder as Matthew recounted one of his more unfortunate nights out on the town in the country¡¯s capital, drawing some curious looks from the pair still seated in the back corner. Regardless, all three of the mortals within their group quickly retired to their rooms with smiles on their faces soon after the sun had set on the day. The skeletal duo had then waited inside their room for an hour as Dei finally decided to play with her new toy. The small bird shuddered awake after a softly spoken order to ¡®RISE¡¯ given to the ball of feathers situated on the bedside table. it felt strangely heavy in Dei''s mind, like it took up more mental effort to raise the bird than it had for all of the seven human skeletons currently tied to her soul combined. Still, she had managed it, and after a few sickening crunches of broken bones, the ember¡¯s within her reformed the bird into a more sturdy shape using their customary method that was tried and true at this point. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡®FLY¡¯, Dei bid the bird to do as she said, prompting the small skeletal mound to quickly spread its thin wings and make a small jump from the side of the table top. The ball of feathers immediately fell to the floor in an awkward thud as the wings caught a whole lot of nothing between the tattered remains of the feathers still clinging to its outstretched arms. The two skeletons stared down at the small beast judgingly as it continued flapping its thin appendages over and over as it toppled onto the ground repeatedly with an awkward lack of balance. ¡®STILL¡¯, Dei commanded, as she strung thin bands of hollow bone between the outstretched prongs of the bird''s arms, hoping to herself that this might be able to solve the problem. But upon giving the bird another ¡®FLY¡¯ command, this time it could only hop awkwardly to hover in the air for half a second, only to crash back down into a pile every time. After a few more minutes of testing between the two skeletons, they eventually stole back the presence they had imbued into the bird and tossed the piled of bones into the back of Dei''s pack for testing at a later time. The mental heaviness on Dei''s mind immediately vanished with the dismissal of the animal figure, granting her some measure of relief that they could in fact render skeletons inert with only a bit of effort. At least that meant she didn''t have to worry about getting burdened down with anything too big for her to handle quite yet. Regardless of this small disappointment, the night was still young and the skeletons decided to make the most of it by going out on the town to explore it. Thin steps echoed into the dinning room as more travelers had come in for dinner while the two boney creatures escaped into the open night air. Little did they know that two pairs of eyes had trailed the duo from a small table at the back of the inn by the fire. A few seconds later, the armored pair stood up to follow them out of the inn. ¡ª Dei had hardly made it down the first alley way since leaving the inn before she realized what her goal was that night. Immersed in bone vision as Fei leaded their body along, Dei watched around her as several hundred animated sets of bones walked the city streets, ate their dinners, and generally settled down for the night. Then, out of the corner of her eye she finally noticed the grand beacon of white light that shone like a calling card to her from the northern edge of the city. With some inaudible commands to Fei and Xei, the skeletons changed direction to start heading north towards that bright light. If she had cared to look around at the people to the left and right of their path of travel, she might have noticed the large number of stares that people shot at her and Xei whenever they passed. Muttered grumblings about masked cults and religious zealots could be heard in the background, but no one really put in the effort to stop them as the wraith-like figures continued their way through the city. As the alleyways opened up into more open tracts of cobblestone road, it was evident that they had reached something resembling a higher class district of the town. Dei was almost surprised by this, considering it was hard to believe that any nobles would willingly live in the middle of a swamp, but she was far too intent on merely following the sizable glow that they were approaching. The two did their best to actively avoid the groups of guards that could be seen patrolling this section of the city, dipping into side alleys and crossing the street at opportune times to avoid the accusatory glares the city guards shot at them whenever they noticed the masked and hooded figures. At one point the trio were almost certain a group on patrol had taken to following them for a bit until they eventually lost them as they did a full loop back and around a larger stone building before continuing on their way. Then, finally close to their destination, Dei stared straight down through the ground ahead of them to take in the sight of what must have been a thousand or more bodies suspended in even rows one atop the other far below the buildings around them. Dei finally released her attention from her prize as she looked up at a massive stone building that seemed to be placed directly over the mass of corpses. A stained glass window shone with light from the inside of the temple, portraying a four sided star with circles of red, blue, brown, and green allong the outside tips, and a bright yellow circle in the middle. Below it a pair of tall red wooden doors were set into the solid stone wall, permanently left open as several people shuffled in and out of the building in any given moment. The two skeletons took the chance to follow the crowd into what turned out to be a massive stone building large enough for several hundred pews to line the thin walkways up and down the center aisle that ended in a large dias. There, a lone man stood at the front of a large group of seated church goers as his words droned out to echo their way to the back of the room where Dei and Xei stood near the wall. ¡°-the god''s have thus saved us from our turmoil at the hand of the elements. Giving man the keys to their own destiny in this time of strife so that we might take for oursel-¡± Dei had started to shuffle along the outside wall towards a smaller set of doors that lined the outside edges of the room after she had seen someone go down stairs after opening one for a brief moment. Soon enough she had reached one of the doorways and opened it to reveal that there were indeed a set of stairs winding downward on the other side which she happily started to make her way down, letting the echoed voices disapear in the background. She passed the first door at the bottom of the pathway as she continued down another flight for two or three levels until they were starting to come to an even height with the mass of bones she had seen through the ground. The doors had become far less ornate as they went deeper and deeper into the building, eventually turning from the brilliant looking redwood gates into simple brown barricades that marked the next stop in their journey. The door they chose to open was conveniently left unlocked, and on the other side of it Dei found herself in a new type of room as she looked down a hallway lined with hundreds of stone hewn cubbies cut into the wall. Each opening was approximately two feet wide by a foot tall, and blocked off with a simple wooden piece of wood that fit perfectly into the cutout with a small handle on the edge of it. Dei started to wander further into the room, practically hopping from step to step as she avoided the large cracks of interlocking stones that made up the floor while she bounced deeper into the room. Xei followed after her solemnly as they both took in what waited for them in the walls of the room with otherworldly sight, as it revealed body after body arranged in perfect fashion in each of the cubbies. ¡®Is this what heaven feels like?¡¯ Fei asked. ¡®I think we''re about the least capable dead people to actually answer that question.¡¯ Xei responded almost wistfully as he continued to stare at all the bodies around them. ¡®Sure, that''s true, but damn isn''t this the motherload!¡¯ Fei quickly shot back. Dei had nothing to add as her look of awe started to waver when she thought about the situation they were in. With a thousand undead soldiers, what could she really do? Sure, she and Xei had been feeling almost unstoppable at this point compared to the likes of John, but they had still failed to best Matthew up until this point in a fight. And if Matthew had told them that they should be careful of these arcanist people in the city, then what else was waiting for them out there? Would a thousand bodies be enough? Even when she knew that they weren''t even close to as durable as she could be herself. Dei was dragged out of her thoughts as she started to hear footsteps approaching them from the other direction as a robed human turned the corner in the distant torchlight. The skeletons shared a glance before Xei suddenly kneeled to the side of the passageway, reaching out to place his hand against the wooden barricade between him and the cubby. Dei realized what he was doing and she quickly turned her back from the approaching man and bent over to place her hand on Xei''s shoulder, rubbing in circles in what she hoped looked like a comforting motion. They heard rather than saw the man''s footsteps falter for a half step before continuing on, evidently surprised to see them. As the footsteps grew closer, Xei bowed his head and started to lurch his shoulders back and forth, making him look like he was taking inaudible sobs under his massive hood and mask. The footsteps had just reached them and started to pass by when they stopped for a moment to address the pair of them. ¡°Acolyte, I wasn''t aware that our visiting hours had gone this late into the evenings.¡± The man said. Dei realized that he was talking to her, and she quickly shrugged her shoulders, further turning her face to the man but bowing so low he wouldn''t even be able to make out the mask under her hood. ¡°I don''t think that-¡± Xei cut the man off by thrusting his head forward in a quick motion until he was downright heaving in sobs against the wall with his forehead pressed into the cubby. The man behind them went silent as Dei turned back around to continue silently comforting Xei as he cried silent tears into the wooden coffin. ¡°Uh¡­I suppose we can forgive this one''s late visit considering the¡­¡± he trailed off as he started walking past them once again in silence. Both the skeletons stayed in position for another five seconds, hoping against all hope that their little charade had gotten them out of things before the man stopped walking down the hall once again. As he turned around to look at them, Dei looked up just high enough to make out a thin metal necklace that hung from his neck, with a small brown stone hanging from the very bottom of it. ¡°I''m sorry Acolyte, but I can''t just let this go. You know that visitors aren''t allowed to bring their weapons down here, even during the proper hours. He will have to just come back during tomorrow¡¯s visiting period like the rest of them, and without his sword.¡± The two of them almost shared a look, but Xei stood silently as Dei relayed to him what she had just seen on their guest''s neck. They both kept their heads bowed as if in mourning as the duo slowly started walking towards the man, but he then chose that moment to finally get annoyed with their behavior. ¡°Acolyte! I''m talking to you! You will address a superior arcanist with respect when you are spoken to!¡± the man started to raise his voice as the two of them continued to walk towards him. Together, they started to raise their heads, knowing that the game was pretty much over at this point, and twin masks carved to resemble the skeletal face beneath them raised up to take in the arcanist waiting for them. ¡°Y-you aren''t an acolyte!¡± The man yelled even as Xei unsheathed his sword and ran down the hall towards him. 14 - The Arcanist WHAM! A column of heavy stone speared out from the side of the wall and crunched into Xei''s side as he ran at the man, sending him flying into the opposite wall. Dei had been following right after the skeletal guard herself, and now she dropped to one knee, sliding below the outstretched stone fist that had taken Xei in the side. The arcanist''s eyes grew noticeably as he saw her appear from below the column as he backed up a couple steps while raising one hand towards her. The massive flagstone ahead of her started to rise quickly towards the ceiling, but for some reason the large stone wasn''t moving quite as quick as the last strike at Xei, and she found herself rolling over the column as it threatened to crush her against the roof. Dei contorted her body over the other side of the raised stone, and she all but fell on the man as he grasped for a weapon that was noticably absent from his hip at that moment. The skeleton threw a sword slash at the man as he finally accepted that his weapon was missing, and raised a single arm to accept her blow head on. His chain necklace glowed softly as the arm of his robe turned to stone to block the attack with hardly a chip in his defenses as her sword bounced off pointlessly. Still, Dei had at least anticipated some sort of resistance like this so she whirled her sword in a small arc to try and reach around the man''s guard. Behind her she could feel Xei sending out some type of non-verbal command that reverberated around the room, but she was too intent on the mage to really pay attention to what he was trying to do. The arcanist wheeled his arm in place, blocking her next two or three sword strikes even as she could see the man''s robes form into a strange articulated gauntlet that surrounded his arm and was slowly spreading out to the rest of his body. Thankfully, Xei finally had the chance to catch up with her and came running out from one side of the column behind her. The man faced them both head on now, as his earthen gauntlet forced away their sword strikes with quick swipes of his arm, while his off hand started to make grabbing movements for the walls. Both the skeletons had at least seen what was coming as additional spears of rock started shooting out of the wall at them as the man manipulated his off hand. Xei swung in a small semi-circle, cutting through one of the thinner earth spears as it shot at him, then sending a pommel strike at the arcanist that landed pointlessly on the gauntlet. Meanwhile Dei had taken the chance to duck under the spear aimed at her chest, then swung upward towards the man''s groin only to ricochet off the rocky breastplate that had extended down past the man''s hips at this point. The duo exchanged a wordless agreement that all the rock based armor seemed to be weighing on the man at this point as the full chestpiece and arm seemed to be preventing him from moving very far, but that wasn''t about to help them get through his defenses either. Both of them threw attack after attack at the man as he merely moved his body in small shifts and turns to match each strike with an armored piece of his body. Unfortunately, the man''s free hand was starting to do its work as he left the jutting earthen spears sticking out of the wall and slowly obstructing the movement of the two of them as he started trapping them in place. Dei''s eyes burned as she soon realized that the man hadn''t truly been aiming for them directly as thick stone bars started to block her in from the left and right, thick enough she could no longer swing through them with her sword. Xei was caught in a similar situation as the two of them were now forced to back off from the Arcanist while more and more pillars of stone restricted their ability to even throw a decent sword strike at him. The man had started smiling, even as sweat worked its way down his forehead as he continued to manipulate the stones around them, and he started talking. ¡°So, are you two from the Southern Marches? I¡¯m fairly certain no normal human could have survived that first punch at the start there.¡± The two skeletons failed to reply from behind their wooden masks, even as they twisted back and forth to avoid the continued assault even as the man spoke from behind the earthen fence he had made in the hallway. ¡°But to think that you even had the gall to impersonate one of my acolytes performing a sacred right! You will not leave this temple alive!¡± Dei was starting to run out of room now as her back started to press up against the massive stone column behind her. Another spear shot up at an angle this time to intersect with her even as she tried dodging a different attack, and the rock cut cleanly through the center of her spine. Somewhat surprised by the attack, she hesitated for a moment then allowed her chest to slump forward even as the man sent another two spears to pin her left shoulder and hips to the wall as well. The audible cracks of several other bones reverberated throughout the room even among the distant thuds of flying earth. Xei lasted a couple moments later, but soon met a similar fate along one of the side walls as a particularly well placed spear jutted out from behind him to intersect with another spear coming from the front, immediately locking him in place. The arcanist seemed to deflate now that the two of them were subdued as he released the rock armor across his body to fall onto the floor. His robe had flaked off from the man to reveal a thin cloth jerkin resting over his chest, and sleeveless arms that could be seen through the holes in his sleeves. ¡®Curious, it seems like he turned the actual fabric of his clothes into rock.¡¯ ¡®Yeah, but he couldn''t change it back to cloth. Guess it¡¯s got its own flaws like our magic.¡¯ Xei replied ¡®So who do you think takes him out first?¡¯ ¡®Fei, for sure.¡¯ The man had leaned over to rest with his hands on his knees as he made sure not to drop his gaze from the pair of them even as he rested for a moment. It was as though he wasn''t quite sure whether they were truly dead yet as he stared over their constricted bodies, ready for them to start moving again at any moment. Some soft footsteps finally rapped across the stone behind him and his shoulder''s finally relaxed a little bit. ¡°Glad someone else finally made it here,¡± the man said as he turned to face his friend only for a glowing purple spike of bone to catch him straight through his skull. The necklace at his chest finally dulled as a half desiccated corpse withdrew its sword arm and swung the weapon from the elbow down in an attempt to get the blood off. The arcanist''s body tumbled to the ground even as Dei and Xei started to perk up once more, manipulating their bones to contort their broken bodies out of whatever traps the man had thought they were forced into. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡®Took you long enough.¡¯ Xei shot out at the corpse as it walked over to start chopping at the thin stoney bars blocking up the passageway. ¡®I was trying to find a good chance to gather some bone marrow without making too much noise in the process.¡¯ she shrugged at them, ¡®I didn''t really have a chance to make it sound natural until he started catching you with the attacks.¡¯ After Dei had formed her body back into something usable she almost swung her sword at the pillars around her before she realized that using her bare fist might work better after what happened during the fight. A couple of fused together knuckle bones mixed with some reinforcement, and suddenly she was punching her way through the pillars with minimal effort. Xei quickly copied her method as the three of them broke through the earthen prison bars and started walking towards the entrance. Dei made a quick nod towards Fei as the temporary corpse for the girl slowly crawled into the open cubby she had come from before Dei gingerly replaced the wooden covering that closed off the hole in the stone, hiding the skeleton within. With an unspoken order to ¡®STAY¡¯, she felt the ten or so bodies in the room that had responded to Xei''s earlier ¡®RISE¡¯ command go still within their crypts. Fei, meanwhile, had traced her connection back to Dei and once again rested within their shared body as they divided up control in their usual fashion. The two skeletal warriors quickly made their way up the flights of stairs without meeting anyone else, and snaked their way through the open pews of the church without anyone seeming to notice the open holes cut through their armor. Far below the ground, several acolytes started yelling for help as they found a lone earth arcanist that had been murdered after what looked to have been an intense fight in the city morgue. Dei felt their cries of alarm echo within the earshot of nearly a dozen different corpses that now felt tied to her, forming an unspoken threat deep in the heart of Fort Miller, just in case she ever needed an impromptu army. ¡ª An alarm bell started to toll through the night as Ozwald and Felix made their way through the ornate red doors that marked the front of the local temple. Wordlessly, the two weaved their way in and out of the crowd that had stopped to look in the direction of the ringing bells echoing through the night''s air. The pair had learned something today that didn''t bode well for them at all. While they had started the night following a strange pair of travelers in wooden masks as they made their way through the city, the men broke off from the duo at this point to enter a small building just around the corner from the large temple, bolting the door into place behind them. Ten seconds later or so, the heavy running cadence of a large number of armored individuals could be easily heard through the door as the undercover soldiers softly crept up the stairs to a higher floor. As they reached the second floor of the building the two men tried their best to walk quietly past three different beds all crammed into the small attic space along with four or five bodies of a sleeping family scattered throughout the room. Sergeant Ozwald had arranged for the princedom loyalist that owned this house to conveniently leave his doorway unlocked at night on the off chance the soldier needed to lay low for a bit. The two men slowly made their way over to a small circular window looking out over the small alley of the temple as more and more soldiers ran towards the tolling bells, then rushed back the other way to begin their search. Sergeant Ozwald was all too aware of the fact that himself and his mage had more or less fit the same exact descriptions as the pair they had been following, one obviously a larger armored man, and the other a thinner robed individual. Still, it was hard to count his blessings considering the fact that his prey had all but fallen into his lap as they stopped for the night at the very same inn that he was staying at. It had been somewhat stressful at the time as several informants filtered into the room to feed him rumors about the masked pair walking down market street, but paying for information had always been his primary plan until the shard bearer practically walked into him. The only problem now was the fact that the masked pair had managed to not only sneak into one of the most well guarded areas on the border of the golden kingdom, but then killed an earth mage in his very home. Sure, the shard-bearers had nearly individually conquered the known kingdoms some twenty years ago, but times had changed since then. Common men had the ability to steal a fraction of that power through dedication and drive now that the shard-bearers had opened their arms to followers in their power. Despite this, Ozwald started to reflect on the fact that he hadn''t really heard any stories about what happened when mages fought shard-bearer''s directly. It just didn''t happen, he supposed. Most of the mages hadn''t come into their full powers until long after the gods had taken their seats of power, so why would they even need to fight in person at this point, much less against their own mages? Ozwald shook his head once again at his bad luck as his mind fell back into that other world to make his reports to higher, even as more guards streamed back and forth through the city streets below, searching for an unknown assailant. ¡ª Dei immersed herself into the bone sight, giving the others call outs on which alley ways to take to avoid running into anyone else as they pieced their way through the city. It was only after a good fifteen minutes of travel like this that she started to realize that it might be harder to find an unnamed inn in the middle of the city than she had been really thinking about when she left the place. Sure, just find the market street and follow it back to the small building on the right side, but, uh, where had the market gone? She was fairly sure she was at least in the right section of town as she started to get close to one of the massive wooden gates in the wall, but now what? The temple bells continued to ring in the distance as she looked up the wooden walls at several skeletal bodies that were obviously paying more attention to what was happening inside the city than outside of it. ¡®That''s it, bones! I wonder whether we could trace our way back to our little birdy.¡¯ At least armed with a plan at this point, the duo started combing through the city streets as they looked about for a small bird corpse hovering in a second floor bedroom. Funnily enough they quickly found a bird corpse at the top of a building after hardly a minute, until they walked up to the front door to find that it was actually a blacksmiths shop, and decidedly not their planned destination. Next they started narrowing it down to searching for a small bird corpse next to the shapes of several other sleeping humans, which thankfully did the trick after they guided their way around patrolling guards for the better part of another half hour. The bar-keep hardly gave them a glance as he recognized the twin masked figures from earlier in the day, and the two of them quickly headed upstairs as they sent silent prayers that the man wasn''t about to rat them out to the guards for being, well, strange. Still, as they finally made it back up to their bedroom after a long stressful night, what concerned them far more was the fact that someone was sitting on one of their beds. Xei slowly undid his sword, getting ready to meet another worst case scenario, but Dei suddenly had the feeling like she recognized this skeleton, even as she still chose to carefully open the doorway. Their visitor quickly got up from her seat as she noticed them entering, and with a few brisk steps she had come all the way to the door, grabbed Dei by the arm, and all but yanked her deeper into the room with a sense of urgency. Xei followed her in as quickly as he could, but stopped short halfway through the door as he realized his mistake and quickly tried to put his sword away even as Charity looked back at him over Dei''s shoulder. A short flick of her head told the man that she wanted him to close the door, which he did, after which the two gangly skeletons stood still in the center of the room in front of Charity. Several holes looked like they had been punched through the chest and shoulders of both of their outfits for the day as three different colors of burning eyes looked at the grown woman staring them down with crossed arms at the other end of the room. ¡°Just what have the two of you done?¡± Alarm bells continued to clang in the distance as the skeleton¡¯s shared a look at each other and Dei resisted the urge to point at the bird corpse she had stored away in her sack. 15 - Alexander Dike A great black bird flew over a sea of flickering lights as it used a handful of powerful flaps to finally get the height it needed for its final destination. Far above the city of Portsmouth, the raven dove into a great circular tower as it spread its wings to slow down and came to a roost on a heavy iron beam situated in the center of the room. Several pairs of tiny hands immediately rushed over to take care of the bird as one person started to feed it some scraps of meat even as the other hands untied a small message that was attached to the bird¡¯s leg. Major Connely watched the boys work from below a wide brimmed hat that did nothing to help her against the cold, even as the man next to her was addressing several other helpers at the aviary. Soon enough, a small girl was brought to the front of the group to stand awkwardly in front of the Major. The girl said nothing as her eyes focused solely on the boots of the woman in front of her, more than a little bit aware that she was obviously talking to someone important. The Major knelt down in front of the girl, coming at last to meet the girl''s eyes face to face as she finally stopped looking down at the ground. ¡°I heard you received a message from Camp Miller today, is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes ma''am.¡± The girl¡¯s voice sounded like a squeak in the windy room. ¡°And what time of day did the message come in?¡± Major Connely asked. The girl''s eyes raised to the ceiling as she thought for a moment before responding, ¡°I think the bird came in a couple hours before sunset.¡± The man behind the girl spoke up then, ¡°Ma''am.¡± and the girl winced. ¡°Ma''am!¡± she added. The major smiled a smile that none of the children could quite understand as she looked up at the master of birds and shook her head at him just a fraction. As she turned back to the child, she asked one more question. ¡°And you''re sure that this bird came from Camp Miller?¡± ¡°Yes ma''am! The ankle matched up just right.¡± The older man started to move again before Major Connely fixed a glare on him that stopped him in his tracks. It seemed clear enough to the Major that the girl was talking about the small ankle bracelets the birds all wore marking their primary home nest away from the main aviary. And considering everything else matched up with the story she had heard earlier that day, the Major was content with this one last confirmation of the strange events that had happened recently. ¡°Thank you dear, I''ll let the cooks know that you can ask them for a sweet of your choosing the next time you go to dinner.¡± The girls'' eyes lit up at this as Major Connely silently thanked the fact that it seemed so easy to reward good work when they were still so young. The woman then turned on her heel to start making her way down the circular stone staircase that wound in circles all the way back to the ground floor. The journey gave her time to think about the message from Camp Miller regarding the strange murder of one of their arcanists posted in the area. If it had just been a routine death of a man she would have paid it no sense of urgency. It''s not like mages suddenly stopped getting sick or were immune to freak injuries and accidents due to their powers. But this death was an entirely different case. The message had been dated for two days ago at the time of writing, and explained that the man had evidently used something close to the full extent of his magic to try and defend himself within the confines of the city temple. Not only that, but despite the man making nearly an entire underground passage collapse in on itself, there still wasn''t a single sign of injury to any other individuals at the scene of the crime. A bit of digging from one of her scribes revealed that the man in question hadn''t been a junior mage either, having been posted to the position at the edges of the kingdom specifically due to his competence as a fighter. Perhaps he wasn''t the best that the Monarch had to offer, but he should have been able to handle himself all the same. All of which came together to turn an unfortunate situation into something much more critical to the watchful eye of Connely''s forces. The only questions left to fill in the gaps was who, and why, had they done this? A pair of twin guards saluted the Major as she finally returned to the palace proper, stepping out of the staircase onto the plain red carpet that was lain down the center of the hall. Connely''s footstep could hardly be heard as she made her way down one hallway then another to find the source of the carpet where it disappeared beneath an ornate door. More guards stood to the sides of the door, hands held ready on the doorknobs as they at least gave her the decency to collect herself before she nodded her head and they started to open the massive gateway. The strong smell of food wafted out from within the room accompanying the sight of a large dining room table that could fit a party of twenty at it with ease. Despite the length of the table only a single chair was currently set at the table, facing away from the Major as several men standing around the chair turned to face the doorway. She paid them no mind as she approached a seated figure, visible only by his pudgy arms as he reached out from the golden throne to grab at a pork rib slathered in sauce. An assortment of other meats and deserts lined the table in a small semi-circle surrounding the lone dinner at the table, and what looked to be an unusually large amount of food stacked on his plate. One of the several aides standing nearby eyed the Major when she finally came to a stop three paces from the throne and went to a kneeling position as he addressed the chair on her behalf. ¡°Ahem, my King. Major Connely of the 2-29th Detachment has come to make an address.¡± The words hung in the air as nothing but the sounds of soft chewing and smacking lips echoed out into the grand room. Somewhat used to this type of response, Major Connely began her address without waiting for acknowledgment. ¡°My liege, Arcanist Ehlers posted out in Camp Miller has been murdered in cold blood by an unknown group. This is added to the fact that we''ve received reports that several small groups of unaffiliated soldiers have been seen traveling through the northeastern border region within the last week.¡± She paused for a moment to give the group time to interrupt her with questions, but nothing came. ¡°Your Highness, I worry that these facts might reveal the advance forces of another nation.¡± The seated figure tossed a well cleaned rib bone into a deep bowl filled with similar other food waste as he finally started to talk. ¡°And what would you have me do, Major?¡± A thick, nasally voice rung out through the room. ¡°Your majesty, I thought you might be interested in hearing about the current status of the border considering the situation.¡± ¡°But this is nothing new, isn''t it? You haven''t given me anything but the half rumors and veiled threats that have been plaguing my borders for the last decade. I gave you your position to specifically find a solution to that border problem, yet what do you do? You bring me reports instead of snuffing out the attack in the first place.¡± "Sir, we''ve been making progress on the-¡± ¡°Making progress is what the last four 2-29th commander''s had told me as well, until they wasted my time for years.¡± The man shifted in his seat as he let his right hand rest limply over the armrest and leaned over. A single golden eye with no pupil turned the corner of the chair to look at her as brilliant blond hair draped over the side of his head. ¡°Now start making results before I wear out my patience!¡± ¡ª What had started as a small speck in the distance at the beginning of the day eventually became a cause for excitement as a large overladen wagon started to come into better view along the road. It was perhaps the most interesting thing that Dei had seen in the last two days of travel considering the endless wastes of brush and standing water that surrounded the road on all sides. Pots, pans, and knick knacks of all different shapes and sizes were strapped to the outside of the wagon alongside what looked like a table and chairs ratcheted to the top of the vehicle, turning its typical shape into something barely recognizable. Painted masks that depicted demons and monsters of all types and colors filled in the gaps between a dozen different flags using scabbards of strangely shaped swords to hang on the wagon. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Even then, the one thing Dei''s eyes were drawn to even as the wagon came to a stop in front of them was the sight of a wiry old man carrying the whole contraption down the street in the place where a horse would normally go. It took a moment after the man had stopped as everyone struggled to find the words for the moment when the man beat them to it by flashing an excited grin. ¡°Welcome, welcome to the wandering emporium!¡±, the man shrugged out from under the front of the wagon, setting it on extending posts to keep it level as he spun around. ¡°My name is Alexander Dike, or perhaps you might know me by the name Count Dike as I both have, haven''t, and no longer go by.¡±, John furrowed his brows at this in confusion as the rest of the group merely stared at the man. ¡°I said welcome, please, please come in! I offer anything and everything to everyone and anyone, for the right price of course.¡± The man spun around to grab a hinged staircase, swinging it down to rest on the ground as he leapt up the three or four steps to open a thin doorway set into the side of the wagon. Dei immediately stepped forward to start following the man into his wagon as she had already decided that her curiosity far outweighed her apprehension for Alexander Dike. As she started her way up the stairs Alexander held out a hand to her to help her up as he hung loosely in the air, hanging on to a side strap of the wagon. Conscious of the fact that her hands were bone thin inside her gloves, the girl ignored his outstretched hand as she walked past him into the wagon. For his part, Alexander turned the refusal of his hand to whip it in place as he added some courtly flourish to a bow he gave the girl. The rest of the group started to follow after almost tentatively, as the man raised his head to greet them with a grin that was equal parts inviting, and unknowable at the same time. Inside the wagon Dei took in the sights as she attempted to make sense of the mounds of items scattered around the room with no discernable organization. Miscellaneous pieces of bright colored clothing from a wide variety of cultures were piled into several corners of the room, lined by clocks and bookshelves stocked with tomes. Below her feet a thick patterned rug gave the room a sense of warmth as several jars filled with fireflies lent the room a constant dim lighting. A few distant steps sounded as the rest of her group started to make their way up the staircase, finally prompting Dei out of her stillness to start searching through the room for something. She wasn''t entirely sure what she was looking for in the wide and varied stacks crammed into the small space. Yet she knew that she wanted something all the same, perhaps being drawn in by the allure of the unknown that hung over the room. Her companions started filtering into the wagon as she shifted aside small dolls, then a set of metal cups, a handful of boots, and a thin wheeled device nailed to a plank of wood. Alexander Dike had joined them in the room, calling out some small platitude at his other patrons while Dei continued to search for something of interest. She had picked up a thin black slate to move it to the side when she noticed a smudged word written on the side of it, almost entirely wiped away by the friction of the clothing around it as Dei pulled the item out. She held it in front of her, taking in the perhaps twelve inch wide writing surface inlaid into a thick wooden backing that gave the slate a bit more sturdiness. ¡°That my dear is called a black slate, used primarily by the Freman people in the north to practice writing instead of paper. A useful tool for someone as soft spoken as yourself.¡± Alexander reached over to one of the nearby shelves to pick up a small leather pouch then tossed it to the girl between the close pressed shoulders of Matthew and John as they had their own look through the wagon. Dei caught the small bag gingerly, keenly aware of the fact that whatever was in the bag felt surprisingly fragile as soon as it landed in her open palm. Alexander nodded his head at her enthusiastically as she undid the clasps on the leather pouch, revealing several small broken rods of white material that collected into a mass of pale dust at the bottom of the bag. Dei instantly had a good feeling for what to do with the chalk as she withdrew a piece from the bag and started writing on the cloudy slate. ¡°Hey!¡± Dei thrust the slate in front of John''s face, surprising him enough that he jumped back into one of the several tables laid out in the wagon. ¡°Ow! Uh, h-hey?¡± Dei''s mask prevented John from seeing her manic look as she swiped away at the front of her slate with a gloved hand before scribbling for several seconds. ¡°I can talk with this thing!¡± The handwriting came out awkward, with an obviously unpracticed hand, but it was at least still readable as John shared a tense smile with her, unsure of what he should do. Disappointed with his reaction, Dei turned to Matthew and grabbed his shoulder to shake him until he looked at her and the slate that she held up for him to see. ¡°Ah, that you can Dei, but you could always write thing out before.¡± he told the girl as she considered his words for a moment before wiping her slate off once again. ¡°Yeah, but this feels different. Better.¡± Alexander cut Matthew off before he had a chance to respond, ¡°Indeed it is better in oh so many ways as that slate looks like it matches the crook of your arm like it was practically built for it. Young madam, might I interest you in a trade for the slate?¡± Dei turned a masked head towards the man, then cocked her neck to the side to ask the unspoken question, even as she still held the slate in her hands. ¡°Oh yes, but of course you''re confused. See, I don''t just deal in gold and silver like your average merchant, no! That would be far too boring for an old man like me. Too mundane, you know? No, I only ask of you to share an item from your own bag that you believe to be of equal value.¡± Dei looked down at the slate in her hands, tracing the word ¡°Better¡± over and over with her eyes as she started to think of what she currently had in her bag, somewhat self conscious of the current contents. Despite her hesitation, she had a decent idea of what she wanted to give the man in exchange for the slate, and set down her bag with a heavy thud and the slight clattering sound of settling objects from within. Dei set the slate to the side along with the chalk bag as she opened the top of her own ruck sack to gaze inside at what had turned into a questionable mix of bones alongside several tufts of hair and a faintly reeking smell that washed over the room. Alexander''s eyes gleamed with excitement even as John and Matthew recoiled a bit to cover their noses as she reached into her sack to find the object she was looking for. After a few seconds of rummaging, alongside a bit of bone-sense she was using to make sure she had the right pieces, she eventually withdrew a small two legged skeleton that fit easily within the palm of her hand. With a faint breath of an order, she willed the bird to ¡®RISE¡¯ as the tiny skeleton raised its triangular head to look up at Dei as it spread featherless wings out to steady itself while it stood up. Alexander took a few tentative steps between his other patrons to come to a stop before the girl, raising his hands into a cupped position even as his mouth worked open and closed without making a single sound. Dei placed the small bird in his hands as she reached back over for her new prize and set to work writing something out for him. ¡°What would you like it to do?¡± ¡°Uh. Madam, I would be more than happy if you merely allowed this magic puppet to accompany me at all! This is indeed a gift of great value, perhaps more than my own item in trade.¡± Dei shook her head at the man''s words as she wrote out her response. ¡°A life for a voice. Seems fair enough.¡± ¡°Hah, indeed it is. But I suppose the best trades are always the ones where both sides feel like they won the upper hand in the deal.¡± He winked at the girl before returning his attention to the small beast of barely two inches of height as it looked up at him with large empty eye holes. The girl heeded Alexander''s request as she sent a wordless message ¡®ACCOMPANY¡¯ to the bird, curious as to how it would respond. With soundless steps the bird started walking up the man''s sleeves, using small talons to grab firmly to the supple cloth of the man''s jerkin as it made its way up his arm. Alexander Dike''s eyes followed the bird the entire way up until it settled onto his shoulder and began to look around at the various curios on the walls. ¡°Ma''am, may I ask what your name is?¡± ¡°Dei¡± she wrote out. ¡°Lady Dei then, considering the magnitude of your gift I fear I would be a sorry merchant indeed if I didn''t at least sweeten the deal for you somehow, so please, take this as well.¡± Alexander swept down into a low bow, just as extravagant as the one he had used at the door even as he reached into a nearby pile of items while the bird on his shoulder clung to him with tightened talons. When he drew back up again, he presented the girl with yet another piece of black slate almost identical to the first one. ¡°Since I have a feeling your other masked friend waiting outside might need this as well.¡± ¡ª The group spent another thirty minutes searching through and around the cabin, although none of the following trades were quite as eventful as the first one. John traded his chainmail suit for a chestpiece of studded leather, even as Matthew bartered away a couple of root vegetables for a cigar or two, everyone came away happy in one way or another. As for Charity, she traded the carved wooden mask that hung from her necklace for a new mask carved of ivory into the horned visage of a demon. When she put on the new and improved mask, she caught Dei''s eyes as her Herald nodded enthusiastically at the girl from behind her own mask. Soon enough the party had run through Alexander''s wares and picked out the odds and ends they wanted or needed enough to trade for. Alexander Dike waved to them heartily as the two groups parted ways to continue their travels even as the man got back into place at the head of his wagon yolk. Still beside him, a small skeletal bird hopped up from his shoulder to roost upon the wooden lever he placed on his shoulders as it too waved goodbye to its creator as they started to walk down the road once again. 16 - The Academy Dei was feeling particularly happy with herself during the next several days of travel as she frequently thought back to the ¡®wandering emporium¡¯ and the trade she had made there. In her unapologetic opinion, she got the far better deal out of the two of them considering not only was Alexander¡¯s gift to her very useful, but she had found more than a couple of ways to make use of her trade to him as well. Fei took the reins of their body as Dei started to follow the thin line that mentally connected her to the bird corpse that was currently traveling with Alexander. The small creature was currently perched upon Alexander''s shoulder as he swung from one person to another in the crowded streets of a town market, hawking his wares to anyone who would come near him. Despite her snooping, Dei still hadn''t managed to catch the man eating, so it wasn''t entirely clear to her what he actually got out of his constant trading fervor other than ¡®the joy of meeting new people¡¯ as he had told them during their brief visit. While she was currently looking out on the crowds around the emporium, she wasn''t entirely sure where he was, although the tall wooden palisades on the edge of the town gave her the firm suspicion he was staying in Camp Miller for a couple of days at this point. Bored, she allowed her mind to drift towards the other corpses she currently had under her command. A quick check on the group of skeletons stored in the Camp Miller catacombs confirmed their continued presence, as Dei and the other embers still hadn''t been able to think of a good use for the skeletons other than as backups. Another jump suddenly had Dei suspended in the air as the skeleton she had switched to was currently strapped to the top of a tree somewhere within Marren forest. She looked down upon the rough leather straps that were currently holding the skeleton in place high up in the trees, a self-inflicted imprisonment that Fei had thought might work better at hiding the skeletons rather than leaving them scattered on the forest ground level. Over the last couple days she had also had one of the skeletons make contact with the monastery, writing an awkward message of greeting before knocking on the door this time and explaining why Dei had left a couple of skeletons behind. The cultists, her priests she supposed, were more than happy to know that she still intended on guarding them, and after a few minutes of discussion they agreed to hide one of the skeletal guards within the strange box of bones they kept within the basement. She was hopeful that one of the monks would be able to go into the basement and call for help if they ever needed it, but what she hadn''t quite expected was the fact that the men started to hold daily worship services in front of the box. To each their own she supposed, and as long as it made her just a little bit stronger she wasn''t all that annoyed at the strange sense of being worshiped. She had, what was it, sixteen or seventeen different tethers tied to her heart of stone at this point? She felt like she could probably support many, many more soldiers even now since most of the orders she had given the skeletons were so simple, and docile, that they hardly affected her ability to control them at all. The one possible exception to this was the small bird she had given Alexander Dike due to its in-human form, but even then the creature was so small that it was also having a negligible effect on her ability to support more bones. The only problem with that was the fact she was struggling to see the point in raising more skeletons even when she found random bodies hidden under the shallow water by the roadside. The problem wasn''t that she couldn''t support more soldiers, but rather why should she bother given the nature of their current trip? They were traveling through this country, ostensibly trying their best to avoid trouble despite the little hiccup in Camp Miller, with the end goal of possibly joining forces with the monarch of this land. A rather uninteresting goal to set for the group at this point, but perhaps one of the safer bets they could make in the situation. It was entirely frustrating to Dei that she couldn''t really test out the full extent of her powers yet, and also somewhat good for her since it forced her to do some real testing with her magic during all the down time. Add to that the sparring practice that Matthew had started giving her when they set camp each night, and with the experiments the three embers ran throughout the nights she at least didn''t feel at risk of growing bored like the first couple of empty nights on the road. In their most recent experiment they had started elongating the bones in the body Xei was using until the skeleton was practically seven feet tall before they started losing control over the body bit by bit. At around six foot eight the simple orders had stopped supporting the body, while at seven feet Xei started feeling sluggish while moving, and at seven foot two Xei was struggling to even keep the body together before it completely fell apart at seven foot four. A bit of magic started reducing the overall size of the bone structure until they could start breathing life back into the body again somewhere in the six foot range, letting Xei take back control of his favored corpse. It was yet another nail in the coffin for Dei''s idea of possibly creating super soldier skeletons to stand by her side, as this new information filed in alongside the restrictions to other body parts as well. ¡®Sooooo disappointing.¡¯ She thought, mostly to herself. ¡®Yeah yeah, hope you''re having fun in your little daydreams over there but we''re about to walk up on something weird over here.¡± Xei''s voice came in over the tethers. Dei flitted back over the many miles that separated her bodies within a few seconds as her consciousness slammed back into her original corpse and looked up the road at a surprising structure blocking their path. A perfectly cube like piece of rock stood directly next to the road they were walking down. It was a strange shape to be sure, but what was much more alarming was the fact that Dei had just started to realize how big it was. As far off as they were from the block of stone, she had to guess that the structure was at least a couple hundred meters long in all directions, a massive building to say the least. She could only tell that the structure was a building as she saw the shapes of several humans walking past small cutouts that served as rare windows in the side of the structure. ¡®Charity was just explaining to the group that this structure wasn''t on any of the maps she had seen of the Golden Kingdom. She''s been doing her best to avoid any large settlements as we make our way to the capital.¡¯ Fei started to recount a discussion that Dei had apparently missed. ¡®But if we were to double back now to try and avoid this structure it would set us back at least a day''s travel.¡¯ Xei finished the explanation. Dei was fairly content with the group¡¯s choice, fully aware that her antics in Camp Miller were probably the reason why Charity was trying to avoid civilization in the first place. The better part of her was excited by the chance to meet new people at this point, if only to break up the monotony of their uneventful trip through the wetlands. Now she just had to do her best to try and avoid getting into any trouble while they passed through the strange checkpoint in the road. ¡ª ¡°You want to bloody test them? Out here in the middle of nowhere after my family has been traveling for the last week straight?¡± Matthew was yelling at a smaller man who looked like he''d rather be anywhere else at that moment. ¡°Uh, yes sir. It''s just normal protocol-¡± ¡°I don''t care what the protocol is around here, you''re not taking my children away from me for any of your damn magical tests!¡± Spit flew out of his mouth as he barked at the man in front of him. ¡°Once again I apologize sir, but given the circumstances we have to-¡± The man was interrupted by someone else this time as a tall woman came into the tight room from a doorway that must have led deeper into the structure. More alarmingly, a thick ball of water perhaps a foot wide spun like a constantly moving globe above the woman''s shoulder. A thin stream of water connected the spinning globe to a large leather pouch that looked like a massive wine skin tied to the woman''s belt, only slightly drawing any viewer''s attention away from the glowing blue crystal attached to her neck by a thin golden chain. ¡°Hammond, please take a break. I''ll handle this situation.¡± The man flushed and spun around to give the woman a short bow before leaving the back door of the room without another word. The woman then walked over to the only chair set up within the room and sat down at a polished desk across from the group of five weary travelers that had just been arguing with her administrator. ¡°Sir, what seems to be the problem today?¡± she asked in a knowing, yet respectful voice. ¡°Me and my family have just been traveling towards the capital when all of a sudden we''re passing by this strange place you''ve got here,¡± Mathew waved an arm around at the ceiling of the perfectly cube like room cut into the massive stone rock face. ¡°and suddenly a couple of guards usher us into this room where they tell me my children need to be taken in for testing!¡± ¡°Understood sir, but i''m still struggling to see what the problem is?¡± She replied evenly. ¡°What? Are you serious? I''ll not have some strangers taking away my family while we''re halfway through the wetlands in the middle of some creepy rock building!¡± ¡°Sir, do you know what this means?¡± the woman pointed at the glowing blue gemstone at her chest even as the globe of water remained spinning over her shoulder throughout the conversation. ¡°It means you''re an arcanist.¡± Mathew replied hesitantly now. ¡°True, that it does. But more importantly it means that I serve the Golden Monarch as a direct extension of his power and grace. So when we ask this small thing of you, as servants of the Golden Kingdom and beholden to its laws and policies, the request comes by way of an extension of the Monarch himself. Now, if I were to guarantee to you that your children will be returned safely regardless of the results of the test, do you think we still have a problem?¡± Matthew held her gaze for a moment even as Charity reached over to grasp his hand, cutting the image of a pair of concerned parents before he responded slowly. ¡°My children have been through an unfortunate accident that stole their tongues and most of their faces before we set out on this journey. Can you at least assure me that no one will take issue with their masks during the test?¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Of course sir. The test does not require us to see their faces, only the depths of their hearts and souls.¡± The woman replied easily despite the rather grand proclamation. Matthew looked around at the two masked figures then, revealing a scowl firmly planted on his face before he gave the two of them a quick nod and returned to face the woman. ¡°So be it.¡± Matthew resigned himself. ¡°Alright, you three, please come with me.¡± The woman said cheerily, addressing the three people in the back of the group. ¡°Uh, me too ma''am?¡± John asked her as the skeletons started walking forward obediently. ¡°Yes, you too. You might have a better beard going than your brother here,¡± she gestured at Xei with the words, ¡°But it''s obvious you''re still young enough to be tested.¡± John looked over with pleading eyes at Matthew and Charity who pointedly ignored him as they both continued glaring daggers at the arcanist in front of them while she got out of her seat. He finally walked over to join the skeletons, mumbling under his breath, ¡°But I''ve already been tested.¡±, but the Arcanist still waved him on with the rest of the group. The woman exchanged places with the man Hammond that had remained standing just behind the door that she led the trio of ¡®siblings¡¯ through, deeper into the strange building. As she led them down a long hallway lined with doors she spoke to them over her shoulder. ¡°Don''t you worry about this at all. We just need to conduct a small test of your magical aptitude to tell if you might be able to serve in a higher capacity to our great Monarch.¡± She led them into a side door as she continued talking. ¡°In the event that you do show promise, you will be given the chance to develop your abilities while undertaking your education here at the Academy. Of course, your family will be well compensated for your service to the King, and allowed every opportunity to visit you during your free time to check up on your wellbeing. It''s not anything as bad as what your dad was making things out to be.¡± The woman took a seat at a much more plain looking table this time as she reached over to open a small box to the side of her chair and pulled out a few strange looking tools. The first was a fist sized block of white stone with black marks speckled over the surface of it like someone had spilled ink onto the stone. Dei noted that the woman made special care to only touch the apparatus by the wooden base of the tool, neatly avoiding the gemstone as she set the mechanism down. The second thing she pulled out was a much bigger contraption as a wooden board shaped into an X was topped with glass except for a small black stone set at the center of the tool. In the four corners of the board it looked as though a piece of rock, a green leaf, a shard of metal, and a pool of water were all suspended within the glass tubes. John took the lead out of the three of them as he met eyes with the woman and she nodded. It was obvious that he already had a fair idea of what to do, since the man reached out to place a finger against the white stone contraption set on the desk. The stone emitted a soft white glow as it responded to John''s touch, and several more black marks could be seen appearing across the surface of the stone. At a short nod from the arcanist he released his hand from the tool and the dull glow winked out as she ushered him over to use the second contraption with a few words. ¡°Remember now, visualize yourself pushing down on the piece of Jasper with your soul and the mechanism will do the rest.¡± For some reason John had started sweating a bit at this point, obviously a little worried about something before he did as he was told. The man reached out to set his hand on the uncovered black stone and Dei felt some sort of change in the air as the man tensed his body slightly. A black liquid seemed to ooze out from the stone in the four lines leading out from the center before they slowly met the edges of the four substances in the corners and then. Nothing. Dei felt like she could almost see the faintest vibration from the shard of metal, but it was so minute it might have just been from John touching the object in the first place. The woman''s eyes betrayed none of her thoughts as she addressed John, releasing him from the test, ¡°That''s fine enough, it seems you really have been tested before. You know with what little magical ability you do have you could certainly serve in some role to the kingdom if you so wished. Your last tester told you that as well i''m guessing?¡± ¡°Yes ma''am. I''d just prefer to be with my family rather than working for the State.¡± The woman raised an eyebrow at that but moved on nonetheless, obviously expecting the answer as she drew her attention over to Dei, peering deep into the carved depiction of eyes on her mask. ¡°Your turn.¡± She said with a small smile. Dei shuffled past John up to the front of the desk, acutely aware that whatever was about to happen might end up with a fight. Still, she did as she was told and reached out to lay her gloved hand on the top of the white stone that lit up like a miniature sun at her touch. She immediately felt an immense tugging sensation on her mind, like the stone was doing its best to erase her existence from the void itself, tugging her into its white pearly insides with the pull of-. It stopped all at once and Dei quickly slingshotted back into reality as her vision of the real world came back to her and a stunned arcanist stared down at an entirely black stone under her hand. ¡®Well shit.¡¯ ¡®Can we please not do that again?¡¯ Fei asked ¡®I could feel that pull even from another body, what the fuck is that thing?¡¯ Xei seemed to agree with Fei for once. The arcanist''s mouth hung open as she picked up the stone contraption by the wooden base and turned it around several times, inspecting the now flawless black outside of the stone. Eventually, her eyes returned to Dei with a certain apprehension to her gaze as she merely gestured over to the X shaped device on the table. This time, Dei was a bit more cautious as she reached out her hand towards the already black stone in the center, yet as she made contact this time nothing seemed to happen. The woman urged her to try pushing herself into the stone to see what would happen, so Dei tried to envision herself taking control of the stone in a similar way to what she did manipulating bones and a sudden force shot black liquid out to the four corners of the device faster than the human eye could even see. As violent as the reaction from the stone had been, when the liquid met the four corners there wasn''t even the smallest of reactions to any of the different containers. Not even the metal shard stirred like it had for John. Dei felt like the moment had passed without event and she thankfully released the black gemstone from her hand. ¡°I, uh. That''ll be enough dear.¡± The older woman assured her as she took away the first test to put it back in a box next to her legs then pulled out another piece of white speckled stone on a similar wooden base. She shook her head as her eyes raised to meet the gaze of Xei as he quickly took his cue and walked up to the table. This time both Dei and Fei extended a part of themselves to latch onto Xei''s essence, metaphysically holding on to him within the void as they braced themselves for the test again. On Xei''s part he seemed to be just as apprehensive, since he merely willed the body he was using to ¡®TOUCH¡¯ the rock, then retreated to the void room to watch the events play out with bated breath. Slowly, the automaton reached out towards the polished white stone, moving closer and closer with awkwards jitters to the arms movement that made the woman across the table look strangely at the man. The corpse finally made contact with the stone, first with just a passing graze of his hand, then with a more well formed grip as he slowly placed his entire palm on the device. And nothing happened. Not a single bit of light escaped from the almost purely white stone as the corpse made full contact with the device. The woman''s gaze hardened into the withdrawn look of pity as she looked down on the stone then back up at Xei. Released from his awkward embrace with the other embers back in the void, Xei tentatively shifted out his perception to start reaching back into the body touching the stone when the three embers started to feel a wind blowing within the void. The closer Xei came to taking control of the bones again, the more viscous the wind blew through the empty space, starting to resemble the intense sucking sensation that Dei had only just experienced a minute before and she reached out to stop him. The woman across the table took in Xei''s body as he remained touching the white stone, unmoving. ¡°You can let go of it now, the test won''t change just by spending more time with it.¡± The trio of embers looked on at the corpse, suddenly realizing that it might be stuck without Xei''s help. Dei started to give an order to ¡®WITHDRa-¡¯, but she cut herself off as the wind started whipping up again, growing violent at the mere suggestion of any of them controlling the corpse in that moment. Five sets of eyes now looked on at the awkward corpse still clutching the white stone, each of them either set in confusion from John, uncertainty from the embers, and finally pity from the arcanist. It was that resigned look on the woman''s face that saved them then, as she reached out and plucked the instrument out from under the hand of the corpse to put it away. The corpse, still under an order to touch the rock, started to reach out across the table, but the arcanist shook her head at him even as Xei took back control of the body and willed it back into normal behavior. ¡°I''m sorry kid, your siblings might have more than their fair share of magical energy, despite their lack of control over their power, but you? Spending more time on the test isn''t going to change the result. You just don''t have the magic touch.¡± The woman then looked back over at Dei''s body with a side long glance, ¡°Although if your sister would be willing to commit herself to one of the non-elemental schools here, i''m sure we could find you a place to serve the monarchy at her side.¡± Dei realized the woman was trying to comfort Xei, even as she shook her head at the offer from the arcanist ahead of them. For some reason Dei had the distinct impression that she could find herself in some unique and interesting situations if she took the mage up on her offer. And yet, she also had the basic wherewithal to know that enrolling in a magical school of elementalists was not on her list of things she wanted to do, at least not in this lifetime. The woman nodded understandingly as she pulled out a handful of small stone chits with carvings on the broad face of each stone the size of a fingertip. ¡°These chits should allow you to get out of any further testing that you might run into on your travels. They basically tell our men in the enrollment program that you''ve already been through the tests, and they''re also your ticket to get into one of our schools if you ever change your mind.¡± She looked over at John and Dei during the second part of the explanation. ¡°I would be more than happy to see the two of you undertake our program here at the academy, although I can''t force you to do so considering your skills don''t quite match the four elements of our lord.¡± With that, she led them back through the hallways to the entrance their ¡®parents¡¯ had been waiting outside of, relaxing in a couple of chairs set out under a large tarp canopy that stretched out over the road for shade. The arcanist bid them a respectful farewell speech as the family set out once again onto the western roads even as dusk was starting to wash over the open fields. If they had looked back on the woman then, they would have noticed a cascade of rolling waves and choppy currents had overwhelmed the spinning ball of water by the arcanist''s shoulder. A single set of concerned eyes looked down the road until the group could barely be seen any longer as she stood there in thought. Eventually, a man finally came out of the nearby door to address the woman as night fell around her. ¡°Lady Tellerond, would you like me to leave the tarp out tonight until you are ready to come back inside?¡± ¡°No. I''ll be going now. Thank you for the chance to test that group Hammond. It was quite interesting.¡± The rolling waves above her shoulder continued to churn as the woman returned to the depths of the Academy building, already thinking about the message she intended to write to the capital. 17 - Swamp Horrors Another uneventful week had passed by as Dei and her group spent day after day on the road that seemed to have no end. The constant shrubbery had turned into thin saplings, before growing in size until the group was walking past thick trees that divided into a hundred different roots sticking out of the swamp water like a bundle of straw. The small encampments they passed by at this point paled in comparison to the size of Camp Miller, and they sent in Charity to do any bartering for food and goods they needed instead of risking the presence of the whole group at once. Strangely enough, Dei started to notice more and more bodies rotting within the underwater biome on either side of her. One day, after spotting a rather large group of bodies strewn haphazardly next to the road way, she decided to raise one of the skeletons below the water, willing him to ¡®RISE¡¯ out of simple curiosity. What came up out of the water was the decayed body of a soldier, clad in tarnished chainmail and thin leather scraps that flaked off the body every time it moved. It was evident the man had died some time ago, since Dei could hardly find a single inch of flesh on the body as the skeleton started to fall apart at the hinges due to a lack of ¡®joint glue¡¯ as Fei had taken to calling bone marrow. Dei allowed the body to sink back into the mud even as the sound of cracking bones submerged underwater while Fei continued her work. She then animated a couple more bodies from the muck, revealing similar armor, helmets, and swords across several different styles that marked this area as somewhat of a battlefield. Charity seemed to grimace at the sight of the rising bodies as the rest of the group took a small breather in the afternoon sun shining through the tree branches. ¡°I don''t think I would want to fight a war in terrain like this.¡± She said while continuing to look out at the desiccated soldiers¡¯ bodies. Matthew walked over to sit next to her and offer a water skin, ¡°Yeah, those early years in the golden monarchy were a bit of a mess around here to be honest. He took control a lot faster than any of the other shard-bearers, but then the revolts that came after? Felt like there was always some new challenger to the throne fighting a guerilla war against the king.¡± ¡°How''d he stop the fighting then?¡± John asked from his seat up the road. ¡°He never did. Instead he trained up one of the strongest groups of mages across all five shards and set them to work brutally putting down each new rebellion until there was no one brave enough to fight back. He rewarded his closest followers, entrapped anyone with even a flicker of magical talent, and cut down anyone who opposed him all with the same plan.¡± Matthew paused to look over at Charity, staring out at the rippling water as the unseen movements of cracking bones stirred the usually silent depths. ¡°Do you know why the other countries fear the Arcanists of the Golden Kingdom so much?¡± Charity waited for a moment before answering, ¡°Because we all heard the stories of the trees coming alive. They said the ground could open up at any moment and the water itself walked the land tearing apart anyone who dared set foot against the Monarch.¡± The group settled into an easy silence for the rest of their break as the water to the side of them eventually settled. Despite the somber attitude of the humans next to them, the skeletons had errupted into an internal discussion about the idea of providing some real monsters of the swamp for people to fear. So when everyone got back up to start walking again, Dei decided to leave her tethers in place on this group of skeletons, just in case she wanted to start any swampside stories of her own in the near future. ¡ª A short man waded slowly through the murky water that drew up to his groin, accompanied by the soft sounds of small waves lapping against the nearby trees. Without looking back, he knew that seven men were following after him, slowly bending their way through the snaking tree roots that threatened to trip them up under the water''s surface. Light bloomed into the dark night ahead of them, a marker in the distance that shone like a beacon to any passing human. More importantly it was their target for the night as Nathan quickly ushered his group off the road as soon as they noticed the bright flame of a nearby campsite up the highway. The man shook his head in stunned silence that someone had the gall to set a fire right on the roadside by the look of things, practically asking for trouble. Anyone who had lived long enough in the swamp knew full well the arcanists that patrolled the depths couldn''t find you as long as you didn''t have a flame out after dark. He was practically doing them a favor, Nathan thought to himself as his crew stepped closer to the open fire up above the dirt slope to the road proper. Daggers and axes were quietly unsheathed as they started to close the last fifty meters towards the side of the campsite. His crew had done this many, many times in the past, and had even stopped complaining about wet pants after they discovered that most travelers never set guards to watch the wetlands instead of the road to their front and back. So when Nathan finally got close enough to really get a good sight of the fireside, he hesitated. There, outlined by the fire behind them stood a thin figure draped in a thick woolen robe despite the muggy fall air. Its face, or perhaps her face based on the build of the person, was covered in darkness as the light of the campfire concealed her in a flickering shadow. Another figure by the fire side stood up then, covered in thick armor similar to the girl, but standing more than a foot taller than her and wearing a strange helmet that made his head look like the dull white color of uncovered bone. As he turned to face them, twin embers of orange fire flashed in the night as he stared pointedly in the direction of Nathan and his gang. No one moved. It wasn''t like they had any hope of thinking they hadn''t just been found caught in the act, but more so, no one had even the faintest idea of what to do in the face of those burning eyes. The female figure slowly raised a hand to her own head as well, and she drew up a mask over her face to reveal a purple grin and mismatched burning eyes of blue and purple. The orange burning man finally started moving, shoving Nathan out of his stupor and back into action as he called out to his men. ¡°Don''t be fooled by their illusions boys, they''re just two people. We can take em!¡± The orange eyed man had already reached the edge of the roadside and instead of standing there to wait for their approach, he opened his arms and all but fell into the murky depths as he dived under the water. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. This time Nathan''s men muttered among themselves about the weirdo''s behavior as the female figure merely stood there waiting for their approach. It was only after the man had been under the water for a good thirty seconds that Nathan started to have a very bad feeling about this. They made it another twenty meters towards the road before anything happened, when a sudden splash of water echoed out from the rear of their group. Nathan spun around as he caught sight of a large plume of water like something had just been submerged below the water. Someone to the right of the frothing water started to yell out, ¡°Dell, where''d you go?¡±, before the closest men to the water started to walk over with high kneed strides as fast as they could. By the time they got there, the water had stilled once again before a small current showed that something quite big was moving away from them under the surface of the water. ¡°It''s a water Arcanist! We''re all gonna die!¡± ¡°No you idiot! This isn''t-¡± Nathan tried to reassure his group as several cracking sounds echoed out from the dark where the current had traveled away from them. It sounded like some sort of massive creature chewing on the remains of their friend, even as more swells in the water approached his group from the sides this time. To their credit, his men at least turned to face whatever was coming, although their eyes clearly betrayed fear as the swells came within ten meters of them on either side, then completely stopped. Seconds passed by until the cracking sounds behind the group subsided and they were left with nothing but the tense lapping of waves against the nearby tree trunks. Everything stopped as the men clutched tight hands around their axe hafts while others waved their heads back and forth scanning the water. Draco was the first to break, standing as he was near the back of the group, he suddenly turned to their rear and started taking plunging steps away from the rest of them. He barely took three steps, barely even opened his mouth to let them know he was gonna get out of there, before a massive body erupted out of the water and caught the man by the throat. Twin orange embers stared Draco down as the massive skeletal man brought up his sword and plunged it through the bandit''s chest until it clearly pierced the back of his clothing. And with that, everything plunged into chaos. Two more decayed corpses burst out of the water on either side of the group as one raised a short sword straight into the stomach of one of Nathan''s men, while the other corpse merely leapt on top of the man he attacked, pulling him down into the murky depths. The fiery orange skeleton behind them had already disappeared below the waves again, as he pulled Draco''s body into the water with him until they were both out of sight. His remaining three men scattered without a care in the world as they ran in all directions away from whatever horrors were attacking them. Nathan''s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as the fleeing man closest to the back of the group was suddenly cut off by a familiar face. Was that, Dell? His skin was a bit pale and his eyes were only half open but Nathan was at least happy to see he wasn''t quite dead yet. At least until he noticed the gaping bloody wounds all over the man''s body like he had been torn apart from the inside out. Dell had clutched his friend by the shoulder, stopping his run as the two met eyes in the night, then slowly Dell brought the other bandit into a tight embrace like he hadn''t seen him in a lifetime. The two stood there, oblivious to the thrashing water where a man had been dragged under the waves, nor the agonizing screams of the man clutching his stomach even as the skeleton next to him raised his sword for the killing blow. But Nathan was the only one still watching, stunned at the strange reaction from the nearly dead looking man, before the two of them fell backwards into the waves as Dell twisted his friend off his feet and forced him underwater. Nathan joined the rest of his men in running then, trying his best to escape the only direction no one else had run as he bolted towards the roadway. Twin eyes of strange colored fire followed him with every step as he made his way closer and closer to the edge of the road until he was barely a couple of feet away. Ten feet, eight feet, six feet, he was going to make it! But his leg finally caught on something, pulling his foot back as he ran and causing a flush of pain to erupt from his ankle. At first he thought he had just gotten tripped up by one of the tree roots in the area, but as he looked back he realized the closest trees to him were too far away to have roots extended all the way out to him. Looking back as he was, he realized that the screams of his impaled friend had cut out already, and he could no longer hear the frantic splashing of men trying to rush through several foot deep water. No, there was nothing but silence as he reached down his leg to try and free it from the roots. As his hands grazed his calf area, desperately trying to keep his wheezing gasps for air in check, he felt something odd. There was something biting his leg, he realized. Wait no, it wasn''t biting him, it was holding him? He let go of his hatchet from his other hand as he reached down with both arms to try and pry it off of him when he finally traced enough of the foreign object to realize it was a skeletal hand holding him in place. Perhaps sensing that he had figured it out, twin flames of orange fire slowly rose out of the murk as the skeleton remained holding on to Nathan¡¯s outstretched foot, pinning him in place. Nathan rebelled against the very sight of the creature before him, twisting in place with his waist to start throwing punches into the head of the skeleton as it just stood there. Its hand started getting tighter and tighter around Nathand calf until he felt the boney fingers ripping into his leg with every tired swing he took at the uncovered skull of the monster. Bright flashes of orange shone from the skeletal head with each punch that Nathan landed on him, lighting up the night behind him as more figures came into view. Some of them were rotten corpses, devoid of flesh as they dragged the tattered remains of their half forgotten armor through the marsh. But others, he recognized. Dell''s face flashed in the orange light, then Draco''s, then more and more of his brothers in arms were all suddenly standing behind the glowing set of eyes that fixed on Nathan even as he continued his assault. The skeleton holding on to him reached out with his free hand then, resisting the swating hand motions that Nathan tried to throw out to protect himself from this new danger, until he grasped Nathan''s leather vest by the collar. Nathan screamed in protest as the skeleton pushed him backwards while raising his trapped leg until the man''s mouth started to disappear under the water. He craned his neck at the last moment to take one last gasp for air before being forced fully under. Orange burning eyes peered down at him through the murky surface, the only thing he could really see from beneath the thrashing waves. His free leg kicked up again and again into the skeletons chest, even as he wrestled with the arm pinning his own chest into the water, but nothing seemed to make the slightest difference. His lungs started to run out on him as the burning in his chest redoubled and he suddenly stopped fighting. What was the point? He stared up into the orange eyes above him as his killer suddenly shifted his body weight out from under the water. Nathan gasped with giant heaving breaths as his body was pulled out from under the water and promptly thrown up the side of the road where he collapsed into a roll across the hard ground. He didn''t understand. Couldn''t understand. Why wasn''t he dead already? Why had they spared him? Suddenly a black piece of rock fell by his head to practically embed itself in the dirt as he flinched away from the attack. Only when he opened his eyes did he realize something was written on the black rock, illuminated by the small campfire still burning to their side. ¡°Serve me.¡± it read. Nathan raised his eyes up a slender arm towards the owner of the black slate board, until he eventually found the mismatched pair of burning eyes that he was expecting to be there. Nathan nodded even as he continued to make sputtering gasps for air as he looked up at his new master. After a few moments like this he finally got out his first words since returning to the land of the living. ¡°I''ll serve! J-just let me live!¡± 18 - Portsmouth The stone gate into Portsmouth city yawned open at the end of the road as Dei and her group joined the thin line of people making their way into the city. When they had finally come within eyesight of the wall earlier that day, some small part of Dei was disappointed that the flat nature of the swampland prevented her from really getting a view of the city until it was right next to them. Instead of looking down on uniform rows of wood and stone houses over the edge of the towering walls, they were instead greeted with nothing but a plain line of unending stone that seemed to block out the very horizon. Even more surprising was the fact that the very trees continued growing right up until they almost touched the towering stone edifice, clearly leaving nothing in the way of farmland directly outside the city walls. Her group now milled around waiting for the line to move as John and Charity talked about their plans for what to do in the city proper. ¡°First things first, we have to find something good to eat! I''ve barely had anything other than jerky and cheese for the last couple days.¡± ¡°Oh, but what about a nice long soak in the public bath-houses? They have those around here right?¡± John looked over at Mathhew with his question, clearly hoping the man would explain the lay of the land, but Matthew merely looked back at him with a smile. ¡°Asshole. You''ll tell Dei anything she wants to hear but I can barely get a peep out of you.¡± John shot a joking punch into the older man''s shoulder which held stone solid despite the light power behind the jab. ¡°Perhaps she just asks more important questions than you do.¡± John huffed in place as the line started moving once again, thankfully letting people pass through far quicker than the extended speech they gave people at the border town. The group had to pass over a small drawbridge that lined up with the mouth of the road as the wetland pooled into a deeper looking moat that followed the length of the wall. For the most part the guards here merely looked over entrants to the city with a wary gaze before letting everyone through without a word. As Dei and Xei approached with their masks, they held up the line a bit to ask some questions that Matthew easily answered, and the guards waved them through. On the other side of the wall Charity''s face showed the same surprise that Dei felt as they looked out on an open field of crops stretched out a good half mile ahead of them before another wall blocked their vision. The strange part wasn''t that they had built a second layer of walls, but rather that the land around them wasn''t submerged in water like everything else they had seen for the last couple weeks. Deep furrows lined the earth as wheat, carrots, potatoes, and pumpkins could all be seen growing in different fields separated by raised platforms. A hundred people walked up and down the rows gathering the fall harvest, while others tilled the land behind them, and another group followed them all deliberately planting more seeds below the ground. A handful of guards were even trailing the group with long pikes held towards the sky, warding off a small flock of birds circling the seed group watching for a chance to steal from the busy workers. For Dei''s companions who hadn''t seen more than ten people at a time for such a long journey, it was a sight to behold as the massive group of farmers worked in tandem. But after turning to look down the edge of the wall, Dei soon realized this was only one group of many as she saw similar blobs of people working their way up and down fields to the left and right. Mathew waited for the rest of them to catch up as they followed the flow of travelers down the main road to the next gate and a similar situation. More curtive glares at the masked duo, more explanations by Matthew, and a hesitant acceptance by the guards. Dei was at least thankful that she hadn''t chanced fate by bringing Nathan into the city with them, considering she wasn''t quite sure how well known his little bandit group was around the area. She had left him in the forest surrounded by a large group of skeletons armed with a simple command to ¡®OBEY¡¯ him, as she gave him two simple guidelines to live by. One, don''t get caught letting anyone know about the skeletons he had under his command. And two, bring her one new follower per week if he wanted to continue living. She was up to three juggling balls of green light in the darkness of her void space, and while that was better than what she had for the last while, it wasn''t nearly enough to fill the girl''s heart. She wanted more, and this little test with Nathan the briggand? Well, lets just say she was finally feeling ready to branch out and see how far things could really go. This time as they went through the gated overhang they finally reached the city proper as a strange mix of wood and stone houses lined the city streets. One would think that a stone building would be the more high class variant of the two considering the materials, but as Dei looked out on the uniform stone blocks carved in with the same doorway placement and front window as every other building, it certainly didn''t seem like the pinnacle of grace. Dirty children ran between the stone buildings chasing after a dog as Dei and her party continued deeper into Portsmouth, step by step. Off in the far distance behind many streets worth of houses, Dei spotted a grand stone keep that rose high above the rooftops surrounding it. ¡®Now that, is where the rich people live.¡¯ ¡ª ¡°They''ve just entered the city ma''am.¡± The messenger cut a clean salute to the Major as he made his report in a lightly furnished office room that overlooked Portsmouth City. Major Connely dismissed the boy with a short wave as she had already been expecting this situation to come her way for about the last week or so. Sure, she wasn''t sure what was about to happen exactly, but what she did know was that someone fairly powerful had just entered the capital without any sense of allegiance to the Golden Kingdom. She clicked her tongue, turning around to look through a perfectly cut window sill that gazed out over a thousand houses that spread from the palace in all directions. A couple of larger stone buildings stood within view, marking the local heads of noble families and their dwellings, but most of the nearby buildings were wooden by design, in the style of the old architecture before the Monarch had given the world earth mages. Further out she saw stone blocks forming routine lines of houses with a certain sense of symmetry only broken up by oblong shaped buildings that marked the placement of public offices, shops, and workplaces. Something about the cookie cutter building design the earth mages used disappointed the Major as she knew full well they could do so much more with just the barest amount of effort. Still, when the same mage had probably built more than a hundred of those small dwelling blocks in a single day''s work, perhaps there was something to be said for the efficiency of their craft. She gazed over the uniform house tops that spread in a sea before her eyes, looking at the small moving specs that represented humans moving about in the far distance. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Two of those people were her problem, and she was going to stop them before they did anything to harm this city. She was sure of it. Major Connely did a tight about-face despite the lack of anyone else in the room with her, and started walking out of her office as she called for her staff. They had some masked devils to find. ¡ª The group had found a small inn close to the docks to call home base before everyone went their separate ways. John had sworn he had passed a place with a bath-house sign on the front of it that he was going to find, and Matthew disappeared into his room at the inn to likely dive into his book again. Meanwhile Charity had taken Dei by the hand and started pulling the young skeleton along as Xei followed them through the city streets. Dei was a little bit annoyed by the strange behavior from someone claiming to be her head priestess, but when she overheard the woman mumbling something about, ¡°Not gonna let them get into trouble under my watch again.¡± she settled in for the journey as Chastity led them to a nearby food stand. A quick flash of coins between the woman and the merchant, and Charity was holding a lightly fried fish on a stick as she dragged Dei further and further into the city market. The sights were only a little more overwhelming than the market street in Camp Miller, mostly due to the number of merchants as opposed to any difference in quality. In this city the focus was a little bit more narrowed in on maritime goods such as a wide variety of fish, crustaceans, and maritime tools. Still, the objects on display drew Dei in as she tried to whip her head from one stall to another to take it all in as they passed. Charity was pulling her deeper into the press towards a shop they had passed earlier in the day, but then something finally caught Dei''s eye, or rather ear, and stopped her in her tracks. Charity continued on for a couple of steps before looking back to find the skeleton standing stock still in the middle of the street as she looked into the open door of a wooden shop. Unthinking feet drew Dei into the building as a somber melody swam out onto the air of the open street. Both Xei and Charity caught up to Dei at the same time, squeezing through the door behind her to enter the small bar area cloaked in a smoky haze that filled the room. Several diners looked up at their entrance from behind large devices set into the center of each of the tables like a lightly boiling pot of water attached to a metallic tube. Uneven footsteps fell through the room as Dei angled her way up to the bar top even as her gaze remained fully fixed on a single woman standing within the corner. Soft notes of a violin placed under tension were released into the room with an even tempo as the singular musician let her fingers dance along the wooden bow of her instrument. Her curled brown hair whipped up and down as the girl swung with the music, lost to her own focus as she looked at nothing but the violin within her hands. A lacquered bow traveled up and down the length of the device in quick succession calling to mind memories of something Dei had lost within the last couple of weeks. Echoes of a life she once lived. But all songs eventually come to an end and the girl''s head drifted away from her instrument even as the patrons of the lounge gave her a scattering of applause from their deeply cushioned seats. She smiled slightly, dipping her head in thanks as one patron threw a coin into the open instrument case by her feet. A single hand grabbed Dei by the shoulder, trying to shake her from her focus on the girl, but she hardly paid it any mind as she waited eagerly for the woman to start the next song. She wanted more. Needed more. Scattered conversation could be heard from behind her as the barkeep started asking someone for their order, but Dei pinned the girl on the stage under her gaze like she might escape at any moment. Thankfully, after far too long of a break for the budding goddess, the girl began to play once again. Short melancholic trills ran through the air from as she caressed the instrument into a new song for the room, lulling Dei into a trance. ¡ª Charity had hardly ever seen the Herald act like this before. Sure, she could be a bit mischievous at times, but the single minded fascination that Dei placed on the musician seemed like something different to the priestess in that moment. To her own appraisal, the music coming from the girl was certainly talented, but Dei was reacting like she hadn''t heard a solid tune in years. Charity thought about it for a bit before realizing that that assessment may indeed be true. Who knows how many years the girl had been dead before she came back to life, especially given she didn''t seem to know anything of the current events of the world. She had caught the girl staring multiple times whenever the group had decided to reminisce about the old days, a feeling she assumed the Herald was joining in with them on. But what if she wasn''t reminiscing about the past, but trying to learn about the world through the scattered conversations of others? Even after she had picked up the writing slates, the skeletons within the group still hardly spoke with the rest of them. It was hard to imagine that both of them were merely shy, so was the real reason they stayed so quiet because they were struggling to keep up with the conversations? Because they didn''t have anything to add other than the occasional question? The priestess allowed herself to watch the bartender as he shuffled up and down the bar grabbing a thick mug then reaching over to pour her some mead from a suspended tap. The faint music of the sole violinist as well as her own distant thoughts about the Herald distracted her until a frothy mug seemed to appear in front of her without warning. The bartender flashed a grin at Charity that was just a little too entertained when she momentarily flailed her arms and rocked back on the barstool unsteadily. Xei caught the back of the chair and guided it back to the bar, before resuming his entranced stare at the musician in the corner, matching Dei to Charity''s other side. She was just about to thank Xei for catching her chair when a soft wall of smoke rushed past the trio like something had moved behind them. Turning around, Charity soon realized that it wasn''t just something, but a group of five people with softly glowing gemstones standing behind her. ¡°By the authority of the Monarch you are to come with us immediately.¡± The music faltered and everyone in the lounge stiffened at the command. To her left Dei slowly moved her head away from the musician for a moment to take in the group of arcanists before her. Her gaze passed over them steadily as she shrugged nonchalantly and reached down to her belt. The arcanists tensed immediately as water erupted from several open vessels throughout the room and metal gauntleted hands were raised into fighting stances. Dei had the wherewithal to pause for a moment before she gingerly raised up the piece of slate that she had reached for just a moment ago. No one let their guard down even as the girl started to scribble onto the black surface while the entire room held its breath. ¡°I''ll just be a moment first, then we can go.¡± The arcanist at the head of the group noticeably slouched, uncertain what to do in the situation even as Dei hopped off the stool and strode calmly over to the musician. Her gloved hand wiped away the writing from the slate and she stopped in front of the nervous musician. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°U-uhhh. Stella?¡± Dei pointed at the word ¡°name¡± a little more pointedly this time as she continued looking at the violinist. ¡°S-Stella Flint?¡± Dei¡¯s hand''s practically jumped up and down as she started writing again in a big enough font that Charity could still just manage to make out from the bar. ¡°I''d like to hear you play again Stella.¡± Stella had already looked stressed by the situation unfolding at the bar, but something about the masked character speaking to her via a chalkboard made the girl recede into her simple stool up on the stage. The mute skeleton seemed to take that as enough of an answer, because she turned around and returned to the arcanists. Firmly planted between the group of mages and Charity, the skeleton wrote a single word on the slate and raised it above her head for everyone to see. ¡°Ready!¡± 19 - A Kings Greeting Of all the arrogant, full of themselves nobles that Arcanist Rhea had escorted to the local jail during her last three years as a lawkeeper, no one quite matched the attitude of the little girl walking ahead of her now. She had interrupted the lawkeeper¡¯s arrest for just long enough to ask a musician what their name was, then returned to the group like the sole focus of attention despite the fact that no fewer than five fully gemmed arcanist''s were staring her down the whole time. It was either an audacious feint to throw Rhea and her co-workers off their game, or it meant that the little masked cretin bouncing up the street honestly wasn''t scared of them. Rhea was only hoping that it wasn''t the latter situation. She''d never seen someone else escorted by five fully trained arcanists, much less more than three at once. No, that fact alone told Rhea as well as everyone around her that something very, very dangerous was happening that night as they led their charge through the city streets. If only that matched up with the bubbly, if mute, personality that was lurking behind a mask with no eyelets. Everything was just so strange about the girl. From the fact that she was more than willing to give up her sword, but refused to take off her mask. To the awkward form of speech she used writing on the black piece of stone instead of talking. To the flowing gait of the tall masked man that followed her everywhere yet hardly seemed to be in charge between the two of them. Just what the hell was happening here? Rhea¡¯s thoughts tumbled together as they walked the trio of captives under a massive iron portcullis that seperated the Monarch''s palace from the rest of the city. Soldiers in various types of armor from lightly covered runners to heavy maulers all saluted the group as they walked up to the main palace entrance and did one last pat down on the convicts before proceeding. Solid footsteps across the open paved stone of the outdoor ramparts soon turned into the soft pelting of feet as they transferred onto cushioned red carpets. The customary golden statues lined the walls of the palace corridors every five feet or so on either side, and Rhea took great care not to look any of their faces too closely in the highly detailed eyes. A couple of short turns later, mostly intended to disorient their charges more than anything else, they came to a set of massive black-iron doors inlaid with golden detailing. Rhea took up a spot alongside the rest of the arcanists as she kept her eyes forward and her back straight as they silently ushered the strange masked pair and their blonde friend into the open gateway. As soon as they were through the entrance the twin guards on the side of the door started pushing the gates closed, and the arcanists sighed with relief. No matter what that girl might be, no matter how much bravado she felt, there was nothing that could save her from that room other than the favor of the Monarch himself. ¡ª Dei walked into the massive chamber trailed by Charity and Xei to either side of her. The long red carpet continued to unravel up the center of the room, up a short set of steps and ending under the feet of a massive golden throne that was twice as tall and wide as any normal chair Dei had ever seen. The golden statues that had punctuated the walk through the palace were now lining every open sliver of wall in something of a gaudy display. Strangely, instead of golden statues of heroes and soldiers, they instead looked like the portrayal of everyday citizens lining the walls. Some of them cheered, stuck with permanently raised arms in either joy or triumph, while others looked out with eyes of sheer terror and pain. That would be enough to set anyone off to be sure, but it was the fact that they all looked just a little too realistic for good taste, every tooth carved out in intricate detail, and every hair an individual strand. Halfway across the room Dei finally drew her gaze away from the wall decorations long enough to take in the people waiting for her at the other end. Three plain looking men in ornate robes stood to the left of the throne, while a single heavily armored woman seemed to tower over them on the right side of the throne. Dei took particular note of the gray opal that hung from her throat within a golden chain before she turned her head to the center to take in the man waiting for them on the throne. A shock of blonde hair parted into a bedraggled mane surrounding the man''s head behind a receding hairline, even as he looked out on them with a single golden eye. No pupil remained within the golden hue of the iris, but that was only juxtaposed against the dark leather eye patch where a ruby gemstone had replaced the location where his other eye should have been. Below his disapproving glare at the oncoming visitors, his body spread out like a sack of flour to fill every inch and crevice of the golden throne he sat upon. Ta-ta-ta-ta-tap, ta-ta-ta-ta-tap! Pudgy fingers lined with several bejeweled rings rapped across the arms of the chair in a five fingered rhythm as Dei continued to close the distance. The guard to the right of the king called them to a halt, ten feet from the staircase leading up to the throne, and leaving Dei to look a good six feet or so at an upward angle just to meet the king''s gaze. Silence settled over the large room as they all stood there for what felt like ten seconds before Dei chose to make the first move. With thin leather gloves she took hold of the sides of her oversized robe and made a curt curtseying movement, followed by a short bow from Xei behind her and a hurried curtsey from Charity as she caught up to their actions. The king smiled at that, massive lips spreading across thick golden teeth that Dei could only describe as repulsive. His smile never wavered as the armored woman started to address the group. ¡°Young mage. You stand accused of murdering an earth arcanist in one of the elemental temples. Trespassing within the lands of the Golden Kingdom. And obscuring the truth during an arcane testing session performed by a senior arcanist. How do you plead?¡± Dei slowly unwound the small slate square from her belt to answer the woman, unaware or uncaring of the nearly bulging eyes of the aides to the king''s left until one of them spoke. ¡°Come now, are we really going to let an enemy mage pretending to be a mute put on a performance in front of the Monarch?¡± ¡°This is the lawful way of things Marcus.¡± The woman replied. ¡°Sure, but why does our lord need to be bothered by the lawful way of things when he is the law itself?¡± The king raised a hand, putting a stop to the exchange even as he rolled forward in his seat to squint his one good eye towards the slab of stone the girl had raised. A moment passed before the king breathed a single command, ¡°Read.¡± The aides looked between one another before Charity chose to step forward and slightly ahead of Dei to bow her head once more to the King. ¡°I will speak on my Herald¡¯s behalf.¡± Charity looked back at the slate held within Dei¡¯s arms as she read, ¡°I have an offer for you, Monarch.¡±. Dei started moving as she finished speaking, erasing her words to start writing more. Xei finally moved then to stand next to Dei as he too took out his slate board and set to work writing by her side. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I will tip the balance of the war.¡± Charity switched from one slate to the other as Xei lifted his board to continue the sentence. ¡°I can help you kill another shard-bearer.¡± ¡°But I need your support.¡± Dei added on before they stopped writing. The king¡¯s smile had dropped at the mention of a shard-bearer as he took them in with a single piercing gaze. ¡°And how do you plan on killing a shard-bearer hmm?¡± he asked the room. ¡°I¡¯ll prove it to you.¡± Dei wrote, ¡°Give us a small-¡± ¡°No. You will prove yourself to me now or you will die with the rest of the beggars.¡± Dei thought for a moment as she looked over at Xei and the larger skeleton handed over his slate board to the girl. He gave her a short nod then charged up the room towards the throne. The armored woman spun a spear out from behind her back, but a single hand gesture from the Monarch made her pause. Instead, a wash of golden liquid seemed to splash down the steps to meet Xei¡¯s charge. The skeleton tried jumping past the streaming liquid, but the golden ooze bunched up under his airborne figure and snatched upward to catch both his legs. Instead of pushing through the golden liquid, Xei¡¯s momentum was cut out from under him as he lurched in mid-air, not even traveling a single inch further. The golden liquid continued to spread out passively across the red carpet towards Dei and Charity, but the speed of the liquid had slowed down considerably after it caught Xei. Looking down, the skeletal guard could see that not only were his legs caught in the metallic substance, but it looked like everything from the shins downward had turned to gold. Barely concerned with the loss of his body parts, Xei caused an audible cracking sound as he broke off the lower half of his legs where they turned to gold and pushed off of the platform to start flying the last five feet or so to close with the king. With a flick of his left hand the king caused a slab of earth carrying himself and his aides to shoot into the air ten feet within a second before several smaller pillars of earth punched out of the rising platform to impale Xei¡¯s airborne body. A golden glow spread out from the impact marks to envelope nearly his entire body except for his head before everything stilled once again. The king was looking downward, watching the events play out though his slippered feet. A slight twitch of his finger formed a crescent movement like it was pulling something invisible out of the air, and a small tube of water extended like a tentacle to surround Xei¡¯s head. The water plucked his head off the golden corpse like a grape popping off the stem before it was raised to eye level with the Golden Monarch. His single golden eye appraised the skeletal head as the water still surrounding the skull pulled away its mask, revealing the burning eyes within. Dei thought she saw surprise on the golden King¡¯s face for the first time that meeting, genuine surprise as he stared into the half living skull of a man that had just tried to kill him. Then Xei winked at the king in an expression the embers had been practicing during the weeks of travel. The water imploded around the skull in a sudden increase of pressure, causing the skull to bend and fracture into a thousand chunks and pieces. Dei continued to stare up at the king even as Charity dropped to her knees with a shocked expression upon her face. The Herald of death however was much less worried about the situation as she reached up and removed her own mask to finally meet eye to eye with the king for the first time since they entered the room. The king let his position drop as the massive stone pillar that raised his group into the air descended back down into the ground again. The golden liquid formed into a ball around the remains of Xei, before it seemed to wash across the bottom of the floor towards the back corner of the room and out of sight. Charity chose to watch the golden liquid disappear behind a massive red tapestry that hung loosely from the ceiling before returning her gaze to the conversation at hand. Everything was relatively back to how it used to be within the throne room except for the fact that the massive red carpet that led up to the throne looked like it had been eaten away by an acid wash all the way down to the foot of the stairs. Dei left her burning eyes looking up at him even as she set to writing once again, wiggling the board a bit in Charity''s direction before she remembered to keep reading. ¡°So, what do you think?¡± The King mulled on things for a moment before he responded. His face settled into an expressionless gaze once again. ¡°I think it''ll take you at least a decade before you can really hold a candle to one of the five original shards, but.¡± he raised up a single large finger with an impossibly large emerald jewel sitting at the base of it to punctuate the point. ¡°But I think you have a good chance at being an annoying little thorn for anyone I send you to.¡± The king nodded to himself before continuing. ¡°You''ve got your wish, I''ll back your bid for power. Just don''t forget that you couldn''t kill me today, and that fact isn''t going to change for a long, long time.¡± That ugly, stupid grin spread across his face once again as Dei took the chance to give the man a curt bow then turned around to leave the grand room the way she came. Charity practically ran to catch up with her as a rolling chuckle escaped the throne and followed them out the doors. ¡ª Ozwald looked out on the massive group of farmers cutting their way through the nearby fields as he waited his turn to enter the city proper. Felix was by his side as the two had long ago ditched their armor to better blend in with the nearby travelers on the road. It had been hard work following the undead creature without getting so close that they tipped her off over the course of several weeks'' travel. Thankfully the group they were following had a strange habit of nearly always setting a fire up every time they made camp for the night. Once Ozwald realized this strange tick of his prey, it was just a matter of traveling each night until they saw the distant fire, supplemented with a couple of requests for information from the other travelers and encampments along the long road. The only major hiccup in the trail had been when they had to skirt around that ominous stone block out in the middle of nowhere, especially after a report with the higher-ups told the sergeant to avoid the attention of the large structure at all costs. It had left their clothes soaked, and their open skin was eaten up by bug bites from the passing swarms they ran into while moving through the marsh, but they hadn''t been noticed. Waiting on the line to move, it dawned on Ozwald that they might perhaps be deeper into enemy territory than any other traditional troop from the Princedom had been in several years. Sure, he knew there were many spies spread throughout the five shard countries, but for a simple rank and file like himself to be sent out this far? What a strange turn of events. Felix grabbed Ozwald lightly by the shoulder, grabbing his attention then nodding towards the front of the line where he saw five strange figures walking towards them. He noticed the dangling gemstones a moment later and both of them quickly averted their eyes to stare out on the nearby fields like there was nothing more interesting in the world. Ozwald contemplated running, or at least walking in the other direction, but it would draw attention if someone halfway through the line suddenly turned around to make their way out of the city, so instead he waited and prayed. Five confident strides walked past the two soldiers, then stopped as the arcanists turned inward to face the two unarmored men. Ozwald sent a small shake of his head towards Felix, hoping it indicated his intent not to fight back in the moment. The sound of an unsheathing sword rang out in an unspoken threat behind the man as an even voice called out with the efficiency of a well practiced order. ¡°By the authority of the Monarch you will come with us immediately.¡± Ozwald raised his hands slowly while his mind whirled down tethers that stretched far off into the distance to relay the situation No response came back for the soldier who had gone in too deep. 20 - An eye for an eye Dei sat alongside Charity in a small sparsely furnished room somewhere high up in the Golden Palace. As little as there was in the room, some servants had brought two additional mismatching chairs shortly after Dei and her priestess had been escorted here after the meeting. The arcanists weren''t waiting for them as they exited the great throne room, but some random guard had been tasked with bringing them up the several flights of stairs until he ushered them into the small office. Matthew was brought in next as Dei caught him ending a rather amicable conversation with the guard that had come with him. The man looked far too at ease with the whole situation, evidently already having some sort of idea that Dei had succeeded with her plan to woo over the Golden Kingdom. John was the last one to be shoved into the room. His short black hair was plastered to his face and his clothes practically dripped onto the stone floor when he whirled around on the closing door. He tried and failed to open the latch on the solid entrance before slapping his hands on the closed door repeatedly. ¡°I take it you found the bath-house you were looking for?¡± Matthew called out from his seat. ¡°Those bastards practically pulled me out of the water!¡± ¡°At least they let you get dressed.¡± Charity added. ¡°Oh Yeah? They threw my clothes at me while I was still soaking wet!¡± Dei ignored John''s tirade as she withdrew within her mind to look over a small orange coal that Fei had been spending the last half hour analyzing. ¡®He seems to still be in there somewhere, I think. It feels like him at least but he''s not waking up.¡± The little green dancing motes continued twirling through the air playing with one another while Dei and Fei looked down upon their old friend of a sort. It was evident that he was still there in some capacity, but his fire had dimmed to the point that he now barely emitted any light at all other than a dull glow. A cursory glance through her tethers earlier had shown Dei that they hadn''t lost any of the risen skeletons under their command due to the loss of Xei, but it was still somewhat strange to see the ember so diminished like this. ¡®Maybe this will kick his ego back into normal proportions.¡¯ Fei chuckled to herself, but Dei could hear the stress in her voice. To be fair, Dei wasn''t feeling too good about the situation either. This was perhaps the first time that any of the embers were shown the limits of their own immortality, and while Xei wasn''t necessarily gone per say, it was still immensely concerning to the other two. ¡ª Major Connely''s heavy metal armor layered every inch of her body, causing every movement the woman made to echo like a titan walking down the halls. She had trained incessantly to be able to wear this armor effectively, aided in no small part by the small opal gemstone that glowed under her massive chestplate. Regardless, small beads of sweat were rolling down her forehead by the time she had made it back up to her fourth story office on the east side of the palace. She waited at the door for a good minute or two, half to collect her thoughts before she talked with the people inside, and half to catch her breath after taking the stairs two at a time. When she finally opened the door, everyone within turned to face her immediately. The thin soldier and the priestess sat close to each other near the back of the room, while an elderly man looked up from a half closed book on his lap. The one set of eyes she was actually interested in though were the matching blue and purple embers that sat in the sunken visage of a skull. Connely met the skeleton''s gaze as confidently as she could and crossed the room to take a seat behind her desk. ¡°Hello everyone. My name is Major Connely and I''ve been assigned as the liaison between yourselves and the Monarch to ensure that our, combined efforts,¡± She bit out those last words like she was choosing her words carefully, ¡°end up meeting the Golden King''s end goals. I believe that it¡¯s in all our best interests to make the best of our partnership, for the benefit of everyone involved.¡± ¡°That sounds like a lot of political nothing, doesn''t it?¡± Matthew said. Connely eyed the man before continuing on slowly. ¡°There''s no point in politics here, I''ll be frank with you. The fact that you killed one of my colleagues up in Camp Miller makes it very hard for me to trust you in the slightest.¡± She paused. ¡°However, the 2-29th detachment has been assigned to support your assassination of the Princedom shard-bearer.¡± ¡°Assassinate the prince of whispers?¡± John asked. ¡°Yes, the whispering fool is your target.¡± Connely turned to face Dei before continuing. ¡°And if you fail, both of us will be left to die in the rolling hills of the princedom.¡± Dei nodded as John shot concerned looks at the rest of the group who all had a certain steel set in their eyes. ¡°What''s the plan?¡± Dei wrote. ¡°We''ll contract a smuggling boat to take you along with a small team of my soldiers north of the border behind enemy lines. You kill the shard-bearer, the Princedom is plunged into chaos, and the rest of the Golden Kingdom army along the border invade before the federation can regain control.¡± ¡°Wow, what a thorough, well thought out plan.¡± Matthew replied. ¡°Yes, well those are only the high points of the plan considering I don''t exactly know what you all can do just yet.¡± Connely swept out her gaze across the group in front of her. ¡°Makes it a bit hard to really give you any details other than the fact I can get you there and set you loose.¡± ¡°So, what do we get in return from the Kingdom?¡± Dei wrote. ¡°Protection.¡± Connely responded. ¡°I''ve got ten arcanists in addition to myself, as well as another twenty heavy infantry that should fit on the boat. Not to mention the fact we have several sub units scattered across the northern border that I can call on in emergencies. As well as the fact I can set up a supply line for however long this takes. Unless of course you think you can do better?¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Matthew nodded approvingly as Dei started writing a response. ¡°Sounds fine with me.¡± John spoke up from the back of the room, ¡°Sure, we''re just gonna take a group of thirty soldiers into one of the most powerful nations in the known world, and what? Kill a freaking god?¡± ¡°No. You will kill the god. My soldiers will merely protect you until you either succeed or fail.¡± Connely replied while looking solely at Dei like she had been the one to ask the question. ¡°But of course.¡± Dei wrote in response. John slumped back into his seat, obviously not getting the answer he had been hoping for. Dei kept writing, ¡°In return, you won''t interrupt any particular methods or plans I use to accomplish our joint goals.¡± Connely narrowed her eyes as she replied, ¡°But of course.¡± The door opened as two guards brought in a prisoner that Dei didn''t recognize. Charity stood up to point at the man and nearly screamed with the venom in her voice. ¡°You! You bastard!¡± John and Matthew looked around as the two guards pushed the man down to his knees in the center of the room. Between all the chairs and people in the small office there was hardly any room left to shuffle around, but still the man thrashed about as the men held him tight by the shoulders. Charity was breathing heavily in the back of the room, face awash with rage as she just stood there looking at the back of the prisoner. ¡°This man,¡± Connely began, ¡°Is the reason it took me so long to catch up with you all after you met the Monarch. His name is Ozwald, and he''s been following your group for the last couple of weeks for some reason. I take it you''re not friends?¡± She looked at Charity. Charity rushed at his back, but John stood up to catch her by the waist and held her back. He spoke into her ear as she struggled against him, reaching out for the man in front of her like she wanted to tear him apart. ¡°Get off me! He deserves worse, John! You didn''t see what he did!¡± John held tight to the woman as she thrashed in his arms, and Dei saw his mouth moving quietly in a stream of soothing words as he ducked his head away from Charity''s arms. ¡°It''s okay Cher, it''s okay, he''ll get what''s coming to him. Just let them talk to him first.¡± Dei looked at the man in front of her, bruises forming under his eyes and a cut on his lip as several fingers held limply from his hands like they had been broken. It was fairly evident he had been tortured, but Dei couldn''t find it in herself to care about that considering the way that Charity felt about the man. Connely spoke from behind the desk, ¡°I thought you might like this, as a gift. Especially after he told us about his plans to either tail you or kill you for the Princedom, I figured this might do some good in cementing where your loyalties lay.¡± The words hung in the air as Charity continued to struggle against John in the back of the room. Ozwald¡¯s eyes had dropped to stare at the ground, no longer even trying to resist the guards that held him in place as his arms were stretched into uncomfortable looking positions. Dei stood, aware that her actions here would set the tone for many things to come, and she stepped up to the front of the desk between Connely and Ozwald. ¡°Serve me.¡± She lowered the board until it was firmly in the view of Ozwald''s down turned gaze. After a moment of thought, the man spit out bloody flecks onto the board in answer. Charity had calmed down enough at the back of the room to breath out hard short breaths as she spoke out. ¡°He doesn''t deserve to serve you,Herald. He doesn''t even deserve to die.¡± Dei considered this for a moment before she turned around to face Connely and write something out. ¡°You agreed not to stop me as we work together?¡± The Major nodded slightly, eyes nearly at eye-level with the small girl across the table despite sitting down. A small shiver ran down Connely''s back as the skull-faced girl in front of her cracked a glowing smile in response, and turned back around to face her prisoner. She set the slate board back on the hook on her belt, then slowly took off her thick gloves to reveal tiny sharp white hands to the open air. The man simply slumped in place waiting for something to happen until he felt cold fingers press into the sides of his head as the girl slowly lifted his gaze to meet hers. Twin eyes of unnatural fire looked down on Ozwald as he tried to resist the impossibly strong pressure the girl was forcing down on his neck. From the corners of his eyes he saw thin white thumbs extending out from the rest of her hands and he started to beg. ¡°N-no, no, no, no, no, no. Don''t do this.¡± the fingers crept across his face without even the hint of hesitation. ¡°No! Please no! I have a family!¡± Dei''s thumbs settled slowly over his eyelids as the man started pulling at the guards¡¯ solid grip on his shoulders. The guards looked away, out the window with mouths set into stern lines while they held the man in place. Connely¡¯s gauntlets let out audible squeals of metal on metal as she clenched her hands in anticipation, and Charity looked at the scene unfolding before her with red eyes. The man started screaming now, as pressure mounted on his closed eyelids and his worst fear was coming to life. He screamed as the pressure turned into a confusing pain that tried to shut his brain off, the weight on his eyeballs only increasing by the smallest amount each second. Looking down, Dei watched the man''s eyeballs spread out under her fingers as she pushed herself deeper and deeper into the man¡¯s head until suddenly she felt one of the balls pop. ¡°AHHHHHHHH!¡± John''s mouth hung open in a wretched scream that echoed around the small room, filling every inch of the space with his torture. A second later, Dei felt the second ball pop around her finger, blood splattering onto her robes and the floor like she had just popped the largest zit in existence. Ozwald''s voice failed him then, mouth hanging open in his perpetual scream but nothing came out. Dei''s finger''s continued deeper. Deep enough until she felt the light pressure that she thought might be the back wall of his eyes before she stopped. By the time she withdrew her fingers the man slumped in place, lost to the world as he settled into the easy oblivion of unconsciousness. A nod from Connely had the guards dragging off the limp body, snaking it through the chair legs on the way to the door and leaving a bloody trail on the floor as they retreated from the room. Connely''s fists felt like they were stuck into the tiny balls she had been clenching beneath the desk, while Charity openly weeped in the back of the room. John was comforting the priestess with his arms around her back as she buried her face into his shoulder when he saw Dei turn around to face the desk. A single boney hand dripping in blood extended over the table towards the Major, palm upturned as an offer of agreement. The Major sat there thinking, uncertain whether this was indeed the correct path to take, but her loyalty to the crown settled on her shoulders like a well worn shawl and she unballed her hands. A single massive armored hand reached out to take the bloody appendage that had been offered in a handshake. Her own gauntlet engulfed the childlike hand that she grasped across the table, but the massive woman had to will her body not to shake as she trusted in her King''s choice. This girl. No. This monster across the table from her had all the will, drive, and power to change the world, she was sure. Connely just hoped she would be on the winning side whenever it happened as blood dripped out from their joined hands onto the table below. Matthew looked on at the moment with a smile on his face and blood spray on his hands from where the prisoner had been kneeling next to his chair. 21 - The Stingray Seagulls cried out into the oncoming clouds above the dock of Portsmouth. A faint salty breeze carried the smells of sweaty men walking up and down a docking plank carrying boxes up to the nearby ship. ¡®The Stingray¡¯ could be seen painted along the side of the boat in dark blue coloring that almost blended in with the twilight waves rolling the ship up and down in soft bobs. Despite the constant movement, the men carrying cargo up and down the thick plank took their steps with a measured grace that spoke to their experience. Likewise, a single tall man strode up and down the length of the ship taking one last look at all the ropes tied about the railings. His mind was focused on their departing checks as calloused hands traced the well made knots that could be pulled undone with just the right leverage. His men finished loading their intended cargo just as the sun finished dipping beneath the western horizon, yet his passengers hadn''t yet been seen even as dusk swallowed the port in darkness. Every knot, rope, and plank of wood had been checked and double checked as his men settled into their well worn positions around the boat and waited to set off into the night''s cold breeze. The first people to arrive had been somewhat expected for the captain as a group of large-set men and women walked up the plank with heavy bags on their backs and in both hands. He heard the telltale sounds of metallic armor scraping across one another from within the bags as they settled below deck one by one. The next set of people was a little bit less battleworn, but no less alarming to the captain as several long necklaces bulged under the varied clothing of a motley group of passengers. No two people looked quite the same as vibrant blue, green, brown, and gray eyes looked up at him when they passed with just as varied differences in their height and build. But what really set Captain Aaron on edge was the last group to come through. A massive woman clad with the same style of heavy bags like the first group led the procession, followed by a well built old man and a mature looking woman. A thinner man followed behind, as well as a short masked person who barely looked like they broke five feet in height. The masked character only stood out all the more drastically when another figure towered behind them at something approaching seven feet tall and all the more imposing due to the matching mask to the smaller figure. His men were naturally on edge as soon as they caught sight of the masked figures until they disappeared with the rest of the group below deck. Aaron ran a single hand through his long auburn hair before he called out for his crew to undock the ship. They moved in unison as the crew worked like interlocking cogs of a giant machine, each one completing their assigned tasks in turn to leave the port. He had already signed the dispatch paperwork with the wharfmaster earlier that afternoon, having planned this particular trip with his newest employer for the last two days. Even still, the captain eyed the hatch his passengers disappeared into warily, only now understanding the full scope of the task set before him. He tore his gaze away from the dangerous allure of self doubt to set his eyes on the horizon, reminding himself of the amount of gold that waited for him at the end of this voyage. It would be treacherous, sure, but every voyage between the warring countries was treacherous these days. He just hoped he hadn''t been roped into something even worse than normal. ¡ª Dei raised herself up on wobbly arms as the plain white tarp strung between the wooden beams to her left and right swung wildly under her weight. She tentatively raised one leg to latch it on to the side of the soft cloth, hooking her foot over its lip while her other leg was raised on its tip-toe, desperately trying to balance. A particularly large swell in the floor of the ship pushed her just a little too far off balance as the tarp swung towards her, knocking her one remaining foot off balance as she suddenly clutched the cloth with all her might. The tarp then swung equally as far in the other direction, pulling her along until Dei was holding on for dear life under the swaying cloth a foot from the floor. A skeletal hand reached over to grip the rope strings that attached the tarp to one of the wooden beams, slowing the swing of the devilish apparatus until Dei could get her feet under her and awkwardly collapse to the floor. The tall figure reached out with both hands to spread out the cloth as much as he could while Dei scrambled back up to wordlessly take hold of the side of the device once again, ready for round two. Before she could do anything another pair of hands reached out from behind her to grab the meat of her ribcage, and easily lifted her up to twist her into the open hammock. The old man then reached down with a well practiced hand to grab her by the feet, forcing her body to swing around until her head lay at one end and her feet at the other as Xei loosened his grip on the edges of the cloth, letting it close in on her like a large cocoon. She gripped the side of the hammock with a single boney hand as she drew the cloth downward just enough to make out the rest of the room around her. Matthew and Xei were returning to a small booth set into the wall, ducking under an unoccupied hammock that was set above the booth, much closer to the ceiling than Dei''s own bed. Seated across from the two men Charity was dealing a set of cards into wide shallow bowls set before each of them to prevent the cards from sliding with every passing swell of the ship. To her right on the edge of the booth John had his head in his hands as he looked a particularly sickly shade of green, staring solely at the wooden table in front of him. His mouth barely opened as he addressed a question to the group. ¡°Don''t you think you''re coddling her a little bit, both of you?¡± He looked across the table at the men who were sitting down in front of their own hands of cards. ¡°Not like she''s the ruler of death and all, or has probably killed more people than the rest of us combined at this point.¡± Xei looked over at Matthew to share a small shrug as his burning eyes emitted a soft orange light over the table. Matthew then spoke for the two of them as Charity finished dealing a hand of five cards each. ¡°Well, I just think we should be polite to the height challenged budding overlord in our midst.¡± John''s eyes remained locked to the table as he picked up his cards in a fan in front of him. ¡°Sure, but can¡¯t she just grow taller whenever she wants. Y''know, bone magic and all?¡± Dei raised up the slate she had carried with her into the hammock which Charity decided to read aloud for the group, ¡°I don''t wanna change.¡± John shook his head as he took two beads from his bowl and threw them into a pot at the center of the table. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Our little five foot nothing pint of evil.¡± ¡°Um, Dei. Have you been getting shorter over time?¡± Charity called out to the girl as she exchanged two of the cards from her hand with the deck. Dei let the small flap of cloth spring up, concealing her from view within the confines of her hammock, so she felt rather than saw as Xei wrote something on the slate he kept on the table. ¡°Hah, caught her!¡± The group at the table laughed together as Dei allowed herself to sink even deeper into the fabric. As Dei allowed her natural sight to be obscured, she felt Fei leave the body to animate a small mouse corpse that was sitting at the top of their bag and a soft scraping crossed the room as Xei reached over to lift the mouse on his palm. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Dei felt oddly content, well, as content as she ever felt with her un-life as she listened to her friends throw beads into the center of the table in turns. It was curious to think that she actually thought of them as friends by this point, having moved on from acquaintances, to traveling companions, to whatever they were now. It was something that she hadn''t been expecting since she had first turned into a shambling corpse, and yet here she was getting free boosts into her sleeping hammock. There was only one, kinda major problem with that. It was the fact that at the end of the day she still couldn''t bring herself to join them. Despite the fact that her alter ego''s were all sitting with the group participating in the mild mannered distractions they used to pass the time, Dei was still here. Laying at the bottom of a soft tarp like a corpse in a coffin. She thought back to that first day when the shard had been forced into her chest as she gasped for air in a prison of stone. She had been alone. So alone. And then the pain. Her hands, her fingers, her very lungs seemed to burn in her chest. Well. Dei wanted to sit at that table with the rest of them. She wanted it so bad. But for some reason something invisible was holding her back. The small scared looks that John shot her way every once in a while. The look of need and worship that escaped Charity when she wasn''t fully guarding her expression. Even the expectant gaze of Matthew, those few times she ever actually caught his eyes. It was all just too much for a normal person to bear. And yet she wasn''t a normal person. She wanted their friendship, sure, she was still at least partly human. But the thing she really wanted was something else.. She looked within herself, to that void place that sung such a beautiful song, and watched the small motes of green light as they bounced back and forth. There were five of them now. Last she checked, Nathan had been traveling north with two other haggard looking humans as she had commanded him to do a couple days ago. It seemed like he was having some small luck with finding her new followers in the marsh, but she didn''t want to leave him that close to the capital. A motley troop of skeletons followed him, weaving slowly through the deep water as they traveled by night. She realized that the band of them only ever traveled by night now. Whether it was to conduct better ambushes at Nathan''s command or to hide the skeletons under the water during the day, she wasn''t sure. As she swung the gaze of one of the skeletons in the group to look at Nathan, she saw him swallow awkwardly as her blue glow reflected in his eyes. A moment later she left him to return to the boat, content with merely reminding him that she was always there, watching. Back to her home of solace, the void. Her immutable form stared out over the nearby motes of fire as they twisted around each other. ¡®Now just how many more do i have to get before the next big change?¡¯ That was what she really wanted. That was what she craved. The possibility of becoming something more than what she already was. The possibilities of a shard-bearer. ¡ª Purple eyes shone down from the top of Xei''s shoulder as Fei settled her small body into the crook of his neck. A bit of simple manipulation of the bones below her allowed her head to sit perfectly, facing the rest of the table as she watched everyone playing a game of poker. ¡®Now this is the life!¡¯ ¡®Hmmm, perhaps.¡¯ Xei responded. ¡®Perhaps what, you''d prefer to be out there murdering people in the marsh again?¡¯ ¡®Well, it is a little bit fun. You should have joined in.¡¯ ¡®You were playing with your food too much! The mud and the flies didn''t get stuck in your teeth did they?¡¯ ¡®Hah, that was almost as bad as the smell on this body when we dragged it out of the sewer! But we all have our role to play, don¡¯t we?¡¯ ¡®Xei.¡¯ ¡®Yeah?¡¯ ¡®Try not to get yourself killed again will you?¡¯ ¡®I mean, it wasn''t so bad. I came back after like a week didn''t I?¡¯ ¡®Sure, but what if you don''t come back next time?¡¯ ¡®Fei. I have a feeling I''ll always be able to come back as long as there''s one of us left.¡¯ ¡®Yeah, but-¡¯ ¡®Nuh-uh, no buts. If that ever happens it''s not gonna be either of us that have to deal with it right?¡¯ ¡®I sure hope not.¡¯ ¡ª Charity shot a quick look towards the only door to the room, somewhat relieved that they had managed to fit five whole hammocks in the tiny space that happened to be this cabin set off from the rest of the crew. She looked over at the twin pairs of orange and purple eyes that colored the table in strange lights. It was nice to see the skeletons acting so freely for once, without hiding behind their masks as they traveled the road day after day. It was a little bit strange realizing that the purple flame wasn''t actually tied to the blue flame in the main body. She had never really seen it move away on its own until today, but Charity was starting to get used to the idea of her skeletal companions and their strange quirks. Now that she had checked that the door was fully closed though, she opened the conversation she had been meaning to have for a while now. ¡°So. Anyone know how we''re going to kill a shard-bearer?¡± She looked at Matthew, but John answered first. ¡°Uh, we''re not going to do anything. I think our boney friends are gonna take the credit for that one.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure. But after what happened the last time they fought a shard-bearer, you don''t think we at least need a plan?¡± Charity had shared the events from the throne room with the group shortly after they had been returned to the portside inn to wait until the boat was chartered. Unfortunately, Matthew seemed to be holding his tongue for once since he didn''t seem like he was about to share any master plans with the group right now. ¡°So, I''veI''ve been thinking.¡± Charity started. ¡°What if we staged a rebellion?¡± ¡°A rebellion?¡± Matthew finally seemed to be interested in the conversation. ¡°Yeah, you know. We start a cult in the middle of the country and then use it to attack the capital and surround the shard-bearer.¡± ¡°Wouldn''t work.¡± John replied. Charity stopped dealing cards to glare at the man until he continued explaining. ¡°Well, the Princedom''s are best known for their messenger system right? You really think that we''ll be able to keep a massive cult under wraps without tipping them off?¡± ¡°And if we spread out the cult across multiple smaller locations?¡± Charity asked. ¡°Nope, as soon as one person gets caught the whole messenger system lights up and the country cracks down on us.¡± ¡°Who runs the messenger system?¡± Matthew asked ¡°The military, and the Lord of Whispers himself at the top of it.¡± ¡°Sure, but does he hear every single message sent on the system all at once?¡± Matthew pressed. John grew quiet for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not actually sure.¡± ¡°Seems unlikely.¡± Charity added. ¡°That would be way too much noise for a single person to listen to and make any sense of it.¡± ¡°So what? You think we''re gonna win over the military that''s practically all pledged to the service of our lord?¡± ¡°Maybe not the whole military. Who''s at the top of the food chain closest to the lord?¡± Mathew asked. ¡°The Officers.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°And¡­the nobles?¡± Matthew sat back in his seat as John responded, throwing down his cards into the bowl to signal he was folding that round. ¡°So you''re saying if we win over the nobles we might be able to isolate his network?¡± Charity asked. Matthew nodded as Xei laid out a three of a kind Jack cards on the table and the rest of the table quickly threw their cards in for a new hand. ¡°And just how are we gonna win over the nobles in one of the most notoriously political countries that still exist?¡± John asked. ¡°Well, like you said. I think that''s gonna be more of a her problem.¡± Matthew thumbed over at the hammock in the corner as a single set of blue eyes looked out on the group, obviously having been listening to the conversation. ¡°I still want a cult!¡± Charity called over to the girl. 22 - Reaching the Princedom The waves below her passed by in a steady stream, pulling up a frothy white foam as the front of the boat punched through the ocean waves. She wore no armor at the moment, short brown hair free in the pressing wind of their speedy travel. Perhaps it was the thin opal shard dangling from her neck that kept the sailors away, although it could have been the scowl she shot towards everyone who came near her. Everyone until the person approaching her now at least. ¡°Laura. I didn''t take you for the sightseeing type.¡± A voice called out from behind her. Major Connely turned around halfway to face the man as she put her back to the railing she had been looking over. ¡°And I''m just as surprised I ever see you below deck when the sun is out Trevor.¡± ¡°A man¡¯s gotta eat sometime don''t you know?¡± The man grinned back at her, green eyes shining in the daylight under wispy strands of blonde hair. He was smaller than Connely, but that only made him just about average by a normal person''s standards. Even at a height disadvantage as he was, the man met her gaze easily as he walked up to lean on the opposite railing across from her. ¡°But why spend time indoors when we can enjoy the sun for just a couple of days?¡± He asked. Connely took in the man as she looked over the well tanned muscles of his shirtless chest with only a hint of a red sun-kissed look on his shoulders and cheeks. It was fairly self-evident just by looking at the man that he had often spent his days out in the sun, even before they had started on this journey. ¡°I guess I just haven''t had much time to take in the weather recently, Trev.¡± He shrugged, turning away from her slightly to look out on the waves. ¡°Sure, and how much good has that work been treating you Laura?¡± ¡°It''s had its ups and downs, you know that. But as long as I serve the crown..¡± She trailed off. ¡°The crown huh? Not everything you thought it would be?¡± Connely whirled on Trevor but he continued on. ¡°I don''t mean it like that, but what are we really doing out here? Supporting some specter of death? Just what is he thinking?¡± ¡°The Monarch is said to think beyond that which-¡± ¡°I¡¯ve listened to the scriptures already Laura.¡± He turned to face her again. ¡°We both know that the Monarch started out as just a man. Just like this girl seems like a a bit of a ditz until she goes on a killing rampage. What happens when she gets powerful enough that the Golden Kingdom can''t stop her?¡± ¡°He won''t let it get that far.¡± Connely said. Green eyes looked up at her as Trevor searched for something in her face. Perhaps he saw the set in her jaw or the angle of her shoulders cutting into the wind, because he raised his hands in defeat after a few moments. ¡°You know I''ll follow you anywhere Laura. We all will. I just hope we''re fighting for the right side.¡± Connely had nothing to say to that. The two of them turned to face the front of the ship, staring out into the oncoming waves. ¡ª Clink, clink, clink, clink! A heavy ratcheting sound echoed throughout the hull as something audibly moved from below the deck of the ship. A soft thud could be felt more than heard throughout the ship, then all the boards of wood seemed to groan as the ship sounded like it was resisting some great force upon it. From within the small cabin Dei''s squad had taken up residence in it was hard to tell exactly what was happening until John went out above deck for a few quick seconds to check. When he returned with wet spray across his head and shoulders, he had a smile from ear to ear across his face. ¡°We''ve hit land! Time for us to get off this thing.¡± The group started gathering their bags, stuffing anything they had left out over the last couple days into place. Dei rolled out of her hammock lazily, at least having gotten a little bit more talented getting in and out of it over the last couple days. A small purple flame skittered across the floor from a small hole that Fei had found connecting their room to the main cabin area shortly after she started using the new form. When Fei leapt handily into one of the side pockets of their travel bag and the familiar essence rejoined Dei in the main body it felt like a long lost limb had come back to the girl. ¡®You know you don''t always have to be here, right?¡¯ Dei asked. ¡®Well I''ll take that under consideration the next time you''re being so boring.¡¯ Dei smiled to herself, and Fei responded like she could feel the emotions between their link. ¡°You just prefer letting someone else do the piloting.¡¯ Dei thought that was ironic since they had taken to using verbal commands with their own body shortly after Xei had started experimenting with it on his. No point in controlling every single footstep when you could automate it with a decent command, but having Fei around was certainly still useful. Between the two of them it made awkward movements easy, like when they pulled up their sack to swing it onto their back with a single fluid motion. Both arms slipped into place and Dei pulled her customary mask out of a pocket to put it back on before they went up deck. The short walk up to the deck was an interesting experience as many of the other passengers on the boat double-taked at the girl whenever she came by. She hadn''t really left the room at the back of the boat during the entire trip, content to merely play with the wide variety of automatons she kept in her bag as she finally had a chance to spend several days unmasked. Still, whispers seemed to follow her everywhere she went, flanked by Xei and Matthew as they made their way upstairs. She opened the trap door leading to the deck, letting the sounds of the rainwater wash away the voices that followed her through the wooden halls. It was peaceful out here, despite the concerned look on the sailors faces as they looked to the sky. The ship¡¯s captain walked over to their group soon after they left the undercroft, motioning towards a nearby railing. ¡°Right over here please, I want to get you lot back on dry land before the rain starts making this process any harder.¡± As Dei approached the railing she started to notice a rope ladder hanging over the edge leading to a small row boat below. Two of the sailors were sitting at the oars already while a third man dipped down with a bucket to bail out water every couple of seconds. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Armed with only the single bag she kept on her back, Dei easily leapt over the ledge onto the rope ladder and started climbing down. It wasn''t that she hadn''t enjoyed getting a free ride across the ocean, it''s just that whatever came next was going to be so much more interesting. The rest of her companions quickly joined her before the sailors began rowing their way to the lands of the Princedom. ¡ª The ground felt unstable beneath her feet now that Dei was walking about on the gravel breach in the rain. It had taken them a total of six more trips back and forth on the small row boat before the entire unit was safely back on solid land again. Dei saw a shock of red hair aboard the boat wave to his men and the soft ratcheting of the heavy anchor could barely be heard across the waves as the ¡®Stingray¡¯ left the expedition behind. The short rocky beach led up to a slope that gradually increased in pitch until it was practically a cliff of hard packed dirt. Shortly down from where they landed it looked like there was a cutout in the cliffside where a small stream of water from the day''s rainfall was opening out into the ocean on their left. Major Connely barked a couple of commands as the group shifted into a vaguely diamond shaped formation as they started walking forward. Two or three arcanists gathered at each of the corners while the more heavy set soldiers manned the lines after they took the time to don their armor. All in all, Dei thought they looked like a rather professional looking group of soldiers as Dei''s own group of companions naturally fell into the center of the formation with the Major. They followed the shallow cutout from the cliff sides, slowly getting a look at the area around them as they made it to higher ground. Rolling hills spread off into the distance as the horizon was tinged with the gray color of rain clouds moving across the landscape. A few patches of woods could be seen here and there, but the overwhelming majority of the landscape was tall green grass, laid down in the wind and the rain. No one slowed as the rock and dirt of the beach opened up into shin high vegetation, and the group started cutting across the open expanse that lay before them, heading north east. Connely spoke to the group as they continued walking. ¡°Aaron should have dropped us off about twenty miles away from the Capital city of Midton so we''ll be heading towards the nearby forest to make camp before continuing further. It should be about five hours walk from here before we stop for the night.¡± ¡°Five hours walk in full kit?¡± John asked. Connely nodded, ¡°We do what we must.¡± ¡ª The journey passed in near silence as the formation around them watched with attentive eyes in all directions. After the first couple of miles they started seeing a couple scattered farms, which the group gave a wide berth. They cut across muddy paths through the hills that looked like they were worn down with the travel of the local farmers, skirting the more obvious routes to stay out of sight. Night had already fallen as they hit an outcropping of trees that revealed itself to be much larger than it appeared from far away. There was hardly any light from above as the cloud covered sky obscured the woods in almost complete darkness. The team moved onward regardless, trusting in the faint echoes of light that gave them just barely something to see with. The trees were strange here, consisting of white bark that was easily visible even in the darkness and looked like it was practically peeling away from the grayer inside of the tree''s surface. The soldiers were starting to make quite a lot of noise, dry leaves crunching underfoot as they weaved in and out of the thin trees trying to stay in formation. So when the Major finally called for them to halt, the sudden soundless pause allowed Dei to finally hear the calls of nature around them. A soft wind shook the multicolored leaves above them, covering the unit in a soft rustle of noise punctuated by an occasional hoot of an owl in the distance. When nothing stirred in the area for a good thirty seconds and several men came in to report that their lines couldn''t see any movement, the Major finally allowed the group to settle down for the night. The soldiers paired up immediately as one man got to work setting out a meager sleeping roll while the other remained on watch from a kneeling position. For her own group it was a rather awkward transition, much less jovial than they normally were at the end of a day of travel; her companions remained silent as they followed the cue from the soldiers around them and kept their mouths shut. Major Connely shot Matthew a shake of her head when he pulled out a set of flint and steel, and the old man''s shoulders slumped visibly as they all settled in for a long dark night in their sleeping bags. ¡ª Staying up as she typically did, Dei watched as the soldiers around them remained in paired groups for the rest of the night, one man out of every two always on watch out into the dark silhouettes of white trees. She decided to look out into the night at the small white outlines of animal skeletons that lay sleeping in the distance, scattered throughout the forest. As she looked further out, Dei noticed a group of perhaps thirty human skeletons that looked like they were half a mile away from the formation. Most of them were lying in place, while a certain few walked about aimlessly or sat in place, hovering in the air from Dei''s perspective in a small circle facing each other. She started to walk away from the center of the formation before Connely stopped her. ¡°And where are you going?¡± Dei turned to look at the woman and shrugged. The Major merely continued to look at the girl, slowly getting up from her seat where she had been resting against one of the nearby trees. ¡°Well you¡¯re not going alone.¡± Dei hardly waited before she turned to continue walking out of the formation, Xei and Connely in tow as several soldiers on guard watched them walk out into the forest. The ground slowly led them uphill as the trio made their way through the eerily dark night punctuated by the constant crunching of leaves underfoot. ¡®Don''t suppose we''ll end up surprising them will we?¡¯ Xei said. ¡®Well, maybe it won''t even matter. Not everyone we meet has to turn into a fight.¡¯ Fei replied. ¡®Yep, cause we''re definitely walking up to a random group of strangers in the middle of the night to make friends.¡¯ After a couple minutes of walking they approached the first couple of bodies visible to her spectral sight. She saw them look around, shuffling in anxiety despite the fact she couldn''t see them with her physical sight. ¡®They must be able to hear us.¡¯ Dei thought. Most of the skeletons she saw were slightly underneath the ground, making Dei assume that there must be a cave entrance somewhere in the area. She decided to search in the direction the guards were facing, scanning the ground with her eyes as she walked around the area. Instead of searching too hard at the open tracts of land, Dei felt herself getting drawn to one particularly large tree as a massive brown oak stood out from the rest of the forest. After walking around the tree a single time Dei couldn''t seem to find anything interesting in the area until Connely stopped following her. The large Major got into a squatting position as she pulled on a couple of thick roots to reveal a hole that extended diagonally into the ground. She let go of one of the roots, letting it snap back into place as the tension on the wood was released, quickly explaining how the hole was so well hidden considering the flexible wood. Connely pulled the roots back once again before a soft gray glow emanated from the insides of her armored neckline. A dull black gray sheen passed over the roots, extending first from the Major''s hands, and spreading out to leave the rest of the roots in a similar state. When she finally released them, the roots no longer swung back into place immediately, instead drooping down and outward like the gray tinted portion of the root was being weighed down to the ground. Dei slipped into the open hole as the Major ushered her forward with her hands, and the slim skeleton fit easily through the small opening in the ground. Half crouched, Dei had to shimmy herself down the shaft, bending around larger rocks and meandering roots that broke up the well made tunnel downward. Flashes of blue and purple light coming from the cracks in her clothing lit the shaft in strange ways as she shifted down the dirt enclosure, a similar orange light shining from behind her as Xei followed her down. Near the end of the shaft it opened up into a clean cut hole in the ground. Looking below the hole, Dei could see that a ladder had been pulled to the side and set on the ground as a ten to twelve foot drop separated her from the floor of the room below. A faint light emanated from the side of the room, out of sight and flickering like a small campfire in the direction of the twin skeletal guards that held up their arms wardingly toward the hole in Dei''s spectral sight. Dei hardly cared about the lack of a ladder as she dropped down into the room beyond and landed with a sharp crack as her weary bones protested the fact she chose to stick the landing instead of rolling through it. Fei reknit some of the more fragile joints that had suffered more damage from the fall as someone charged at her from the side of the room. 23 - Sellswords Fall Two men closed the distance quickly, swords held high and armored pieces whipping around their body with the heavy charge. Dei dodged around the first downward swing, but the second man adjusted his run to clip her with his shoulder as he ran by her. The blow knocked her off course and spun her around to watch as Xei dropped from the hole above to land on one of the guard''s backs. The sudden weight forced the guard onto the ground with a startled grunt even as Xei threw his fist downward into the back of the man''s skull. Trapped in a close quarters melee, the guard''s sword did him no good as Xei repeatedly bashed his head into the hard packed floor, drawing more and more blood onto his hands with every blow. The other man had course corrected after his charge and swung around to attack Xei¡¯s back as he pounded into the guard''s friend. His sword flashed in the dull firelight, making a clean cut into the attackers back as he heard bones crack under his swing, but the skeleton barely paid him any mind as he continued his assault. The guard hesitated for a moment, obviously expecting some sort of reaction out of the man he had just injured when another flash of metal careened into his sight from the corner of his eye. He couldn''t move away in time as a small dagger embedded itself in his throat then quickly ripped forward to open his airways. The guard spun as he fell to the ground, legs suddenly giving out, and took in the sight of a small masked creature standing over him with a bloody dagger held in her hands. A heavy metal ball crashed into the ground beside them, causing the entire room to shake as it rolled to a stop several paces from the hole above them. Major Connely stood quickly on her feet, her massive armored form rising steadily above the carnage around her as she withdrew a small bundle of sticks tipped with iron caps on either end from her belt. A few clicks came from the weapon as the Major unfolded the sticks into a six foot long spear with a well practiced motion, the iron tips seeming to fuse together as the weapon opened up. She looked down on Xei as he slowly stood up from the corpse underneath him, the unarmored head of the guard now resembling some sort of ugly red fruit that had been smashed into the ground. Dei meanwhile had already taken control of the other guard¡¯s body. The corpse writhed in place with several bones visibly breaking every moment under his rippling skin. The man¡¯s body resembled a mass of fish struggling within a net as a fisherman brought them out of the water, skin bulging and breaking into horrendous open wounds that left the floor drenched in blood. The other corpse quickly joined him in the same disturbing reanimation process while the skeletons merely turned around to continue further into the cave complex. Major Connely stayed behind, her placcid face turning to horror as she took in the transformation happening before her. She wasn''t outright attacking the new skeletons, but she still held her spear warily in their direction as her eyes darted back and forth between the corpses and the masked duo that was walking away from her. Dei didn''t really care whether Connely joined them; she hadn''t intended for her to come on this expedition in the first place, and as time went by she only felt slightly less like a babysitter set to watch over Dei as she went into enemy lands. The small troop of well trained soldiers would certainly be useful, but it hadn''t been quite what Dei was expecting when Matthew had told her to seek support. Still, she would accept what help she could get at the moment, even if it wasn''t entirely loyal to her. The dirt floor ended shortly ahead, turning into a well worn stone floor made up of what looked like massive stone blocks five feet wide on all sides. The walls were also made up of the same style of blocks stacked upon one another to form the perfectly ten foot tall entrance to an impressive looking corridor leading to some downward steps. Thick metal braziers were connected directly to the stone walls, one of which was currently burning as the sole illumination for the area. A metallic covering over the brazier included a small pipe running into the wall, catching the majority of the smoke coming off of the underground fire and sending it somewhere out of sight. Dei tried to stay quiet, creeping down the hall until she realized that the guards would have likely allerted the rest of the group already. A quick check with her spectral sight confirmed it well enough since none of the skeletal bodies below remained sleeping any longer. Several bodies stood in the open, while most appeared to be crouched down in various positions with their backs to some object she supposed meant that they must be trying to hide as she approached. With this in mind she stopped bothering to stay quiet, casually striding forward and down the massive stone steps that led to the second underground level. As she made it down the stairs she started to see several men standing boldly in the middle of the room, most of which had weapons pulled out and at the ready while a single man stood with his hands in his pockets in the center of the room. If his demeanor didn''t give him away, the fact that he was the only man wearing fine clothing did, as gold colored detailing wound its way up and down a vibrant red vest under which he wore a clean white dress shirt. The men around him relaxed a bit as Dei and Xei made it down to their level, confident in their ability to deal with any two random individuals that found their lair in the middle of the night. Dei decided to stop shortly before reaching the men, leaving a ten foot gap between the two groups as their leader decided to start speaking. ¡°Which house do you work for?¡± Dei cocked her head, reaching down to unhook her slate board but not yet writing on it. ¡°I''ll pay you double whatever your going rate is if you join my crew. I have the feeling I just got two unexpected openings in my ranks.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Dei decided to respond this time, ¡°And just who do you think I work for?¡± The finely dressed man seemed confused as he read the black slate in her hands via the ambient light from several braziers lit around the room. ¡°Oh, are you just trying to fish for information now? What kind of idiot doesn''t even know who they''re attacking?¡± Dei shrugged in response. ¡°Well, if you''re really so nosey then house Brent sends its regards.¡± Several thunks echoed in tandem with the end of the man''s sentence as a dozen metal tipped bolts shot through the air at the two skeletons. Dei felt like a mule had just kicked her in the chest as 5 of the bolts struck her body at the same time, lifting her from the ground. She flew at least five feet backwards to slide across the stoney ground until her shoulder rammed into the bottom of the stone steps leading upwards. Several thick wooden bolt shafts implanted deep into the layers of clothes robe and chain mail she kept covering her hollow insides, sticking out at strange angles where they caught on her ribs. She rolled her head over to look at Xei who had taken his half of the barrage slightly better, one foot back as the sheer force of the shots had pushed him back over the open ground but not entirely airborne as it had done to Dei. An idea occurred to Dei as she looked at her skeletal guard and the heavy bolts that protruded from his thick cuirass making him appear like a man made porcupine. She sent a silent message to Xei not to attack, and slowly started to get up to her feet. As she stood up, Dei realized that one of the bolts had implanted itself directly into the forehead of her wooden mask, nearly splitting the wood in two as it punctured through the other side and slightly into her skull. She picked up the discarded slate board that had fallen from her hands when she was pushed back. Then she reached up to grip the bolt piercing her forehead and pulled it out, taking the mask with it as her fiery eyes looked out on the startled men all around her. A layer of men stood up from behind their barricades of wooden crates and large barrels, behind which they had been hiding the heavy crossbows in their hands. Behind them another group of men held up bows, arrows nocked back as they stared fiercely at Dei in between the shoulders of the crossbow group. ¡°Loose!¡± the leader cried, and this time a barrage of arrow shafts flew through the air to embed themselves in the two skeletons. Neither so much as budged this time under the second wave of projectiles as the arrows carried much less weight to their attack than the crossbows had. Dei walked forward casually through the onslaught, a scattering of crossbow men suddenly realizing that they weren''t quite done yet as cranking noises started to echo throughout the stoney cavern. As for the archers, they managed to nock back and release two more quick waves of arrows before Dei reached the nobleman. He had turned around as she got closer, yelling at his men to protect him as the formerly brave looking men at his left and right took short steps backward, out of the line of fire of the archers behind them. He was clutching the shoulders of a large man weilding a two handed axe when Dei finally reached him, silently taking her dagger and ramming it upward into the man''s back and under his rib cage. He screamed and turned around, looking at her with crazed eyes as she kept a firm grip of her dagger, letting him use his own momentum to open a large red gash that matched the fabric of his vest. She caught him by the collar of his shirt and promptly slashed across his open arms as he reached for the arms she was holding him with. The man clutched his arms to his stomach trying to keep the wounds closed, blood seeping out onto his fine woven vest. Dei casually switched her grip on the dagger and punched it up through the underside of his jaw and into his head, stopping the screaming all at once. The nobleman went limp immediately, falling into a heap on the ground as the men surrounding Dei looked wildly at one another, unsure of what to do. Xei came up from behind Dei, holding up his own slate sign for all the men to see. ¡°Bend the knee, and serve.¡± An arrow fell out of Dei''s leg as she moved a step back, only one of the several dozen missiles that were sticking out from her ruined robe all around her body. Behind her the sounds of heavy footsteps echoed down the steps as she felt the twin bodies of the skeletal guardsmen approach. The men shifted their gaze from Xei''s slate board to take in the bloody corpses of the men she had risen less than two minutes ago, slowly making their way down the steps like struggling automatons. Fei now set to work on the newly lifeless corpse ahead of her as she turned the nobleman into a similar sight of awkwardly bent limbs and muffled cracks punctuated by the spray of blood across the ground. To the men around her however, the sight was anything but familiar. By the time the guards behind her had caught up to stand by Dei''s side, the sellswords had started to kneel before her. The echo of cranking crossbows settled down as the marksmen took a knee, heads barely visible as they stared awkwardly into the backs of the men in front of them. Then the soldiers in the front began to kneel as well, faces turned to watch the corpse of the nobleman as his white shirt turned a deep red color under his freely flowing blood. Finally, the large brute with the two handed axe knelt as well, speaking aloud for the group as the well dressed corpse rose next to Dei, walking back to stand with the other guardsmen. ¡°We will serve.¡± Twenty-six motes of green fire suddenly burst to life within Dei while she took in the men ahead of her. A chorus of voices flooded her head all at once, singing a scattered song that reminded her of a long lost melody despite the uncharacteristically droll words that came with the song. ¡°Twenty-Five Followers gained. Ascension complete. Followers found lacking. Solution, Scions of Death.¡± Green light blazed from within Dei''s body, shooting out of her clothes through the many holes left by arrows still drooping from her chest and arms. Ahead of her, the large man''s eyes reflected the same eerie green light that fell upon his soldiers as he took in their new master. Up the stone steps, still standing uncomfortably by a massive blood stain in the dirt, Major Connely looked down the hall. A sickeningly green light that had no business coming from an underground building crept into view from down below. Her mind was elsewhere as she easily started folding up her retractable spear, somehow sure of the fact she wasn''t going to fight that night. Instead, she thought of ocean waves passing beneath her, and hoped with all her heart that she would be able to see something so beautiful once again. 24 - New Doors Charity rose with the morning sun and the distinctly uncomfortable feeling of having slept on the cold hard ground the night before. She stretched out in the dawn light, somewhat surprised the group had decided to sleep in considering their circumstances. Her thoughts still fuzzy as she opened her eyes to the morning light, she finally looked up and saw someone standing over her. A strange man of average height and build stood by her feet, clad in thin beige pants, clean leather boots, and a crisp white dress shirt with a purple satin vest worn over it. Hands in his pockets, Charity''s eyes were drawn up the body until they settled onto the naked white skull with matching green embers in place of eyes staring down at her. ¡°Who are you?¡± Charity asked, groggy but not entirely surprised by the situation. The man said nothing. She looked up at his burning green eyes that formed nearly horizontal slits in his face as his face turned upward to regard something else behind Charity. She noticed that there was no customary green smirk on the skeleton''s face that she had gotten used to seeing from his more mischievous brethren in similar circumstances, but she was drawn from her thoughts as Xei knelt next to her. Without a word, the orange eyed skeleton brought out his slate with a pre-written statement, obviously having expected some question of this nature before she had woken up. ¡°Tai¡­he wanted to be different.¡± the board read. Charity chuckled lightly, growing more amused with the skeletal figures over time as she stood up. She had to untangle her legs from the tightly wound bedding that had kept her warm last night, kicking back at the blanket like a small monster around her feet, but she eventually got up. ¡°Nice to meet you Tai.¡± She extended a hand out in greeting, but the skeleton merely looked down at her hand with thinly lit embers before returning to her face. Was that disdain in his expression, or was she just imagining it? Eventually, the skeleton merely nodded his head slightly to her, and Charity figured that was as much as she was going to get and dropped her arm, only slightly disappointed in the response. The rest of the group woke up shortly after, resulting in similarly awkward greetings from the rest of them as they got up. Tai ignored John entirely while Matthew got a short nod from the man before Tai and Xei started walking around the perimeter of the formation. ¡°I wonder what happened last night.¡± Charity told the group as they ate a bit of food and prepared for the day. ¡°You mean how we randomly have a new friend acting all high and mighty over there?¡± John said. ¡°I suppose that''s the obvious part, but did you notice Xei isn''t wearing his mask anymore? It''s like he doesn''t care who sees them for once.¡± ¡°They were only wearing it yesterday so no one would see us moving across the countryside.¡± Matthew said. ¡°So we''re not traveling again today?¡± Charity asked, but no one had an answer for her until Major Connely came walking back to the formation. Charity noticed there was some new blood splatter on her greaves that hadn''t been on the spotless metal the day before, so evidently something big had happened last night. Just not big enough to be worth waking the group up though. ¡°Where is the Herald?¡± she asked the Major. ¡°The girl is still in a cave up that way.¡± She pointed over her shoulder. ¡°We found a decent camping spot for my detachment last night.¡± A couple of squad leaders walked into the center of the formation to form a small semi-circle behind the Major as she talked. She turned around to adress them once everyone was gathered. ¡°Alright, we''re going about half a mile up that way at a slow pace. Once we get there form a perimeter around a large oak tree and we''ll start heading below ground in thirds. Don, your group will be exploring the inside of this cave to make sure there''s no one hanging around in there that we don''t already know about. Travis, you''re going to guard the front entrance while we set up shop, and have someone figure out a better way to hide the entrance. Nina, I want your guys to drop their bags and armor inside then push them out in small teams to get a lay of the land. You''ll be posing as farmers or something so we don''t draw suspicion. Any questions?¡± The soldiers shook their heads in response, and the formation started moving again shortly after they returned to the lines. At her side a newly added pair of burning eyes joined the group as they made the short walk. ¡ª Dei walked quickly down the hallway, following the large strides of the towering man ahead of her. The man named Harrant had given her a quick synopsis of the surrounding lair after Dei had finished meeting her newest personality, Tai. She still wasn''t sure what to think of the fact that she was still developing more fractured alter ego''s. Something was changing deep within her each time it happened, but she couldn''t quite place what that thing was. At first she had thought it was related to her new powers, but the small differences in how she thought about the world were starting to add up over time. Harrant had distracted her by going into a short summary of their time in the underground catacombs, serving under the Brent house for a short period when they discovered this place around a week ago. Apparently Harrant''s crew had been working under Callum Brent''s employment for a short job in the area roughing up the nearby farmers for ¡®protection money¡¯ while posing as house Jurn forces. In the meantime they had set up shop in the catacombs after realizing that the underground structure was large enough to house a thousand men across the dozens of rooms. Through open doorways, Dei could see large chambers with deteriorated tables and chairs that looked like they had collapsed in on themselves at least a century ago. Other rooms held strange pipes that Harrant explained could be opened for a steady stream of clean water, while other rooms held large fireplaces next to solid stone tables that seemed perfect for cooking. None of this was their main goal however as the man led Dei to their true destination at the end of the hall. The end of the hallway loomed ahead of her, slotted so perfectly into the surrounding blocks that the seams in the wall could barely be seen. On the face of the wall a script was engraved into the rock that seemed strangely familiar to Dei despite the fact she couldn''t read it. The two of them stopped directly in front of the wall as Harrant started to speak. ¡°The strange writing that no one can understand is weird enough, but then one of my men went tapping at the wall and found out this thing is hollow, like a door of some type. This whole giant place and there''s only a single door we can''t get through? Ominous.¡± He unhooked his greataxe from behind his back with a single hand and tapped at the wall with the butt of the shaft with a solid push. He recoiled from the blow, ax bouncing back in his hand without leaving even a mark on the door itself. Dei heard a dull thud with the impact, the blow sounding much deeper in pitch than she would expect of an object impacting solid rock. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°And the thing won''t even chip away under the best swings my men could muster. I figure there could be treasure left behind in the room, considering it''s the only room still locked up after everyone left.¡± As Dei looked up at the indecipherable language on the wall, some measure of Harrant''s interest in the wall bled into her. With a slight effort of will her hand formed a short but sturdy punch dagger as she wound her fist back for an obvious attempt on the wall. A short step forward and Dei twisted her hips with the blow in a way that would have made Matthew proud. Her fist made contact with the wall and seemed to crumple in upon itself. The sharp edge of the punch dagger bent inward before snapping off entirely with the blow as thin fractures in the fused hand bone splintered off under the force of the attack. Despite this, the sharp lettering carved into the wall face was untouched. Not even a scratch marred the surface of the rock. Purple light emitted from her hand as Fei repaired the damage to their own body and Dei turned around to start making her way back to the rest of the group. Harrant followed her, his axe still held in one hand as he raised his torch slightly higher so the light would shine over Dei''s head revealing the way forward. While still quite curious about the other side of the door, her spectral sight was enough to tell her that at least nothing with bones was on the other side of it, making the strange thing a puzzle she could work on at a different time. Perhaps if she found someone who could read the ancient script one day? Regardless, Dei decided to focus on the more positive events of the day as she took in the endless stone hallway she was walking down. After all, how often do you run into a massive underground catacomb right when you need a place to stay? ¡ª The day passed by as Major Connely''s troops spread out through the catacomb and the surrounding wilderness in a quick survey of their surroundings. As each scout came back to make their reports, the Major sketched out a rough map with their description of the surrounding area as they relayed information about the roughly twenty-three farms within a couple of miles of them. As further reports came in, Connely confirmed the locations of two small towns roughly five or six miles from the catacombs on either side, and the capital city was confirmed to be around nine miles away to the north east. The nearby towns helped confirm that they had in fact stopped in the correct bit of woods that Connely had planned on staying in, even before they had found the massive underground hiding place. In the meantime, the Major tried giving orders to the new sell-swords that Dei had just picked up, but the men refused to do anything she said until Harrant echoed her commands with a dry tone. After a couple more awkward situations between the two leaders Dei watched the Major turn away from her table maps to address the man. ¡°Harrant, I need you to cede command of your forces to me so we can work together more effectively.¡± ¡°I don''t command my men, I work with them. They do what I say because its the right thing to do, not because I order them to do it.¡± He narrowed his eyes at the woman, ¡°Unlike how certain other groups handle things.¡± ¡°You''re a sell-sword Harrant, and you''re trying to lecture me about the ethics of military command?¡± ¡°I''m not lecturing no one. Aint my place, and aint worth my pay.¡± The two titans were face to face now. The only other person in the room that could match them for height was Xei as the two leader''s jostled for control. Several of the surrounding soldiers from both groups stopped to watch, either enjoying the small fight their leader was having, or realizing that no one was currently checking whether the nearby men were still working or not. ¡°So, uh. How are we gonna pay for these mercenaries anyways?¡± John asked. Harrant was drawn away from his staring contest to take in the lean soldier for a moment, then looked over at Dei. Dei in turn looked over at Matthew who raised his hands defensively. ¡°I don''t have that type of money left over Dei. I barely had enough to get us to Portsmouth without sleeping on the street.¡± Matthew said. Dei then turned to Connely who shook her head, ¡°While I do have a bit of gold for short term expenses, hiring mercenaries is outside my authority even on a mission like this one.¡± Dei turned back to Harrant, becoming increasingly entertained by the fact that everyone answered her questions without even having to speak. Harrant meanwhile raised a thick eyebrow at her before he made his own point on the matter. ¡°The Brent family pre-paid us for another three weeks of work here until the end of the month. But if you want my men to stay loyal to you, their heart goes where the money takes them. Fear can only get you so far on this one, oh ghostly one.¡± Charity coughed to the side of them, ¡°Herald¡±. Harrant threw her a glance before she continued, ¡°You''ll refer to the goddess as Herald.¡± After a moment of thought Harrant''s voice ground across the floor like it was weighed down with a thousand pounds as he amended his last statement. ¡°Herald.¡± John spoke up from the small crate he had started sitting on, ¡°Y''know, the whole money situation brings up a good point. How exactly are we going to do this again?¡± This time Dei decided to speak up and brought out her slate to talk with the rest of the group. She first wrote a list of topics, then put a name next to each of them before she showed the group. ¡°Supplies - Connely Infiltrate Military - John Nobility - Dei / Matthew Cult - Charity Money - Harrant¡± Charity clapped her hands together excitedly, but John spoke up first, ¡°Woah, no way am I going back to the princedom army. I used to be a messenger so somebody is bound to recognize me if I just try walking back in like nothing happened.¡± Harrant shrugged nonchalantly, ¡°I''ve got a couple of contacts in the military if you just need surface level information. But, you want me to make my own money to pay the men? How does that make sense?¡± Dei flipped the board and wrote out the word ¡°Banditry¡± on it before showing it to Harrant. The man seemed unhappy with this answer, but no further objections came from him. A trio of voices rang in Dei''s mind during the lull in the conversation. ¡®Somebody needs to train the cultists.¡¯ Xei said. ¡®And I think I could help spy a little bit.¡¯ Fei added. ¡®Frankly, the girl could do with some more refined backup when it comes to putting together a cult.¡¯ Tai''s slightly nasally voice sounded out. Dei considered this for a moment before re-writing her list and adding several sections including some she had thought of herself just now. ¡°Supplies - Connely Guarding Base - Connely''s unit Infiltrate Military - Harrant / Fei Nobility - Dei / Matthew Cult Recruitment - Charity / Tai Cultist Training - Xei / John Money - Harrant¡¯s crew¡± ¡°Fei, Tai, and Xei?¡± Harrant asked. The two masculine skeletons walked up from the rear of the group to stand next to their new partners respectively. Likewise, the purple light left Dei''s body as a small skeletal mouse climbed up the side of her backpack set nearby the group. Harrant looked into the glowing purple eyes of the mouse sitting prominently on top of her new perch when the bones around her eyes expanded over the small skull to appear like goggles over the mouse''s face, reducing the glow to barely visible pin pricks of purple light. ¡°Oh shit. They can turn into animals too?¡± Harrant asked, face paling slightly under the brazier''s glow. ¡°Man, it gets so much worse over time, just you wait.¡± John said. 25 - Lights in the night Thick layers of stained glass windows reflected the inside lighting in the grand dining room as a large chandelier composed of hundreds of lit candles blazed in the center of the space. Underneath the lights and the hanging gemstones in the late night festivities, dozens of nobles danced and twirled on a grand dance floor. The walls were comprised of three floors of viewing balconies on either side, packed with individual seating areas alongside booths and tables lined with individuals sharing in the dinner feast. The clothing the nobles wore screamed into the night as every man and woman wore a slightly different shade of some color or another ranging from the deepest of marune reds to the lightest of blues so bright it was almost white. Interspersed between everyone was a constant flow of black uniforms with buttoned up neck pieces, tight cuffs, and matching black shoes. They carried food and drink between the tables like a never ending flow of constant movement and silver platters. Other servants stood silently next to the tables of dining nobles, wearing a matching black uniform but even more well covered so that not a single inch of their skin could be seen beneath thin black gloves and a shocking white mask. The mask was blank except for two small holes the size of a pea where the eyes would be, and another small hole by the mouth area. Despite the strange look of the fully covered men and women standing by the tablesides, no one paid them any mind as conversations echoed against the tall ceiling of the room alongside the music coming from a small orchestra to the side of the dance floor. One such person, caught between an ongoing conversation as two couples argued across the table to either side of him, was a middle aged man with shocking gray hair pulled back tightly against his scalp. Vibrant blue eyes seemed to ripple with internal movement as the very iris shifted back and forth like a flowing fountain of color. Despite the unique nature of his eyes, the man simply stared off into the distance, watching the dancers pace up and down the dance floor while he absentmindedly listened to the conversation happening around him. He wore a thin red suit jacket with a matching red bowtie that looked all the more vibrant against the black satin shirt and pants he wore underneath the bold jacket. An intricate gray mask carved into the likeness of a wolf perched over the top half of his face, leaving the bottom half uncovered. A thin gray mustache and well trimmed beard lined his mouth as he brought a small piece of cooked duck up to eat, not even noticing the rich honeyed glaze that covered the meat. Instead, his eyes traced a single woman dancing tightly next to another man in the center of the room. She wore a deep green dress that hugged her body in between small cutouts in the sides along her waistline and hips that left little to the imagination. A matching green mask depicting a snake''s guise covered the top half of her face, her dark black hair done up in an intricate bun accented by several golden clasps that held it up from her dark skin. The man continued watching her spin in place, armed with the grace of a lifelong dancer when a voice brought him out of his reverie. ¡°-isn''t that right Julius?¡± A man turned to him from the side of the table. Julius rejoined the conversation without a moment of hesitation, ¡°Yes of course, while the benefits of using those slave laborers are quite well proven, I''m a bit personally concerned about the possible security risks they pose to the country.¡± The squat man that had dragged him back into the conversation nodded his red face, the caricature of a lion strapped to his head bobbing up and down before he returned to address the rest of the group. ¡°Exactly, even Lord Julius knows the folly of using ¡®Free Peoples¡¯ slaves to do the work of a serf.¡± Another man sat across from the table had abandoned his meal as he spoke out from under a mask depicting a Heron. ¡°Julius just toes the family line. It''s easy to say that the economics of using mountain goats doesn''t matter when you already belong to one of the five princedoms. For the rest of us, those cost cutting risks are just about the only thing that can set us apart.¡± ¡°Aha! You even admit that it''s a risk!¡± ¡°Of course it''s a risk, just like planting a fourth harvest this year is a risk if the ground gets cold too early and we could lose the seeds. Not like half of the lesser houses took that very same risk with the good chance that it pays off for us in the long run.¡± Julius let his attention drift away from the conversation once again, scanning over the dancers as they left the lacquered wooden floor while the orchestra changed songs. He couldn''t find any trace of the snake he had been watching, dancers filtering on and off the floor as a dozen men rose from their seats with their ladies in tow by the hand. The next song started soon after, a fast paced waltz as he was once again drawn back to his chair by a different person this time. A thin black gloved hand rested on his shoulder as a plain white mask drew down to his head level and whispered into his ear with a lightly feminine voice. ¡°My lord, you have an important message from Lord Zackarious''s handler.¡± He nodded, allowing his mind to wander in a different way this time as he opened his vision to the several dozen tethers that were linked to his mind. Several of them buzzed with excitement, trying to call his attention but he simply pulled on the vibrating tether that he knew was linked to the messenger handling a particularly sensitive plan of his. ¡°My lord.¡± The voice came over the tether. ¡°Speak quickly.¡± ¡°Yes my lord. Lord Zackarious was killed tonight by a strange girl who infiltrated his new hideout. He happened to reveal our family by name before he was murdered.¡± Julius paused to take in the information. Not many people would have the courage to outright kill a member of the Brent family, so he asked the next obvious question. ¡°Who was it?¡± ¡°We don''t have a name, but she appears to wear a wooden carved mask and thick coverings like one of the elbow servants. My lord, he also reported that she was already dead before she killed him. His last messages were screaming about some sort of walking death. I apologize that we don''t know more, my lord.¡± ¡°Hmmf. That''s enough. Send out a couple of scouts to take a look at the area. With any luck they''ll decide to take that underground hell hole for themselves and we''ll be able to track their movements. Out.¡± ¡°Understood sir. Out.¡± Julius released the tether, his sense of focus returning to the present as he started to attack his plate of food with his fork. It didn¡¯t do much to calm his anger about the situation, but at least it allowed him to keep his emotions from bleeding out in a more noticeable way. By his side, his statuesque servant had returned to her traditional position as the other couples seated at Julius''s table continued their conversation about things below his notice. As he chewed, Julius decided to look up at the second floor balcony where a single table stood out more prominently than the rest. He could just see the heads of five men seated side by side facing out upon the night''s feast as they alternated between looking at one another without speaking a single word aloud. On the end of the table a single man dressed in a clean red collared shirt and the mask of a red devil looked down upon the first level to meet Julius''s eyes. No messages passed between them, but Julius knew well enough that any deaths in the family were reported immediately to Lord Brent. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Julius bowed his head subserviently to the prince, and when he looked back up the man had returned to other conversations. The message was clear, Julius needed to clean up this mess before it became something bigger. Before he looked away, the woman in a green dress walked up to the great table and took a place standing directly behind a man dressed in matching green. Her head angled up until she stood so perfectly straight that she held the same statuesque pose as all the other masked servants in the room. ¡®The snake has returned to her place.¡¯ he thought to himself. Above them a hundred gemstones and colored shards of glass hung from the great chandelier, glinting in the artificial light over the party. ¡ª ¡°You''re late.¡± ¡°You know how things go Cody. And I''m doing you a favor here anyways.¡± ¡°I don''t know that it still counts as a favor when I''m paying you for it.¡± Cody said as he handed over a small pouch of coin. Rammond dropped the conversation to search through the bag and count his earnings for the night as Cody walked away. They had done this enough times for the two of them to settle into the swing of things, both confident in the other''s capability to uphold their end of the bargain. Rammond would take care of Cody''s night shift for patrol duty every once in a while in return for a little pay. Both of them agreed not to speak of the event, and Cody got some much needed free time on a night he would otherwise be busy. The torchlight disappeared behind him, and Cody took the chance to duck around a nearby corner to finally put himself out of sight of the guardsman taking his place. He rifled around in his bag for a couple seconds then took out a long brown overshirt that he quickly pulled on over his uniform. It was a thin piece of clothing that didn''t do very much good guarding against the cold, but did do a decent job of hiding his noticeable green spaulders and armor. He sat there for another couple seconds after putting his small pack back on, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness just a bit before continuing. He weaved his way between buildings, taking a snaking route to his destination that avoided the main streets and alleyways that were often patrolled each night. A two story building came into sight, marked by yellow shutters and a small white sheet hung out of a window to dry. The inside of the building looked dark, its owners probably sleeping at this time of night, but Cody wasn''t interested in the main building. To the side of the house in a thin alleyway stood a small slanted hatch that was receded into the nearby wall, conveniently left unlocked despite the late night. As he opened the small hatch he hesitated in the alleyway for a moment. This was perhaps the sixth time he had been to one of these meetings, so it wasn''t the fear of being caught that stalled him. Instead he looked down into the soft darkness of the stairway ahead of him, leading down into a forgotten basement in the middle of the city. No, what made him pause was the uncertainty. Uncertainty for whether it was-. No. He wasn''t going to think that way. He dragged himself away from his thoughts and started moving once again. Cody closed the hatch behind him, and carefully made his way down the worn stone steps in the darkness. At the end of the stairs a metallic door closed off the area from the main basement, the cracks in the door revealing the faint presence of light on the other side. Upon reaching the door, he knocked two times as was customary, then a thin slit opened up at eye level as someone looked out at him. The light from inside the room was somewhat blinding to Cody as he tried to meet the man''s eyes, and he was relieved to hear a familiar voice a moment later. ¡°Your name?¡± ¡°Cody Tane.¡± He replied. ¡°Good lad.¡± The voice responded at once and shut the eye hole. A couple seconds of ratcheting sounds and moving metal came from the door before it swung open to let Cody in. The light was more blinding than anything as Cody walked into a small coat room that opened up into a larger room farther ahead. The man closed the door behind him, putting several bars and locks back into place as Cody walked forward, slowly getting his senses back in the strong firelight. He turned the corner to find a large room filled with around thirty people sitting close to one another at several tables or leaning on the wall. They all were looking towards a single corner of the room where a woman stood on a raised platform addressing the crowd in a calm, but well audible voice. ¡°-has seen to nothing if not its own power. They see not what they can do for the people, but what the people can do for them. Every inch of their wealth is an accumlation of the hard work of us. The everyman, the maiden, the barkeep, your brothers and your sisters on the streets of Midton. We all work day and night so that-¡± Cody sat down at one of the tables next to a man that he recognized. A small glance from the man led to an ear splitting grin as he reached out a hand and clapped Cody on the shoulder. ¡°Good to see you here Cody. Been a couple of meetings since I last caught you here.¡± ¡°Good to see you too Tom. I hadn''t realized Lucy was a speaker at these events before.¡± Cody pointed up at the woman in the corner as he spoke. ¡°No, she hasn''t been until now. Old man Joell just got caught by the messengers last night, so they opened the stage for anyone who was willing to speak tonight.¡± Cody considered that as he focused on the woman''s words again. ¡°-to prevent the deterioration of this land? To guard us against the nightmares to our south? To protect us from the lies and songbirds of the east? To prepare us against the distant burning wastes or the bloody plains? What does that do for us, the daily worker who has to submit half his grain to taxes? What does that do for us, the craftsman that pays half his profits for the right to even rent his shop? They swindle us in the name of a war that does not exist! A war that would cost nothing to the workers of this land, yet cost everything in the eyes of the prince of lies.¡± Cody winced at the last line. She had good points he had to admit, but that didn''t make him feel any more comfortable blaspheming against a god in the flesh. Princeling or not. To his left Tom whispered into his ear, ¡°She¡¯s been doing a good job. A lot of her points are the same things I''ve been hearing for the last couple of years, but she brings a nice new energy to the conversation.¡± Cody¡¯s fists balled slightly under the table, but he said nothing as a man on the other side of the table turned around to address them. ¡°That''s just because she''s reciting the same points from ¡®The Princeling''s Conundrum¡¯.¡± ¡°Ohh, that''s the book that Master Bertrand wrote right?¡± Tom asked the man. ¡°Mmhm, now He was a good speaker. Up until they hanged him.¡± Cody¡¯s fists shook under the table as he tried to hold himself back. ¡®How can these men talk about the death of our peers so casually?¡¯ he thought. Cody opened his mouth to ask the question out loud when the room started clapping. Lucy was taking a deep bow up on stage, a slight smile on her lips as she received the polite applause of the people around her. Cody joined in on the applause, looking around him at the determined faces of the men seated to his left and right. They were happy he realized. Content to have their hearts stirred by the strings of rebellion that they risked their lives meeting in secret to hear. He clapped along, but Cody felt no real mirth in the moment. Was he too headstrong compared to the others? Was he too invested in making real change, or were these people too invested in public speaking as he often thought about their meetings? Was he the only one who wanted for more after he heard the speeches they gave late in the night? Or was he just showing the bravado of a young soldier that was rebelling against his lord? Cody said nothing as his head spun with question upon question. He held his tongue and clapped his hands as another speaker took the stage to give the same speech with different words. He sat beside revolutionaries and intellectuals, an entire room of men and women that he respected just for being there, while he quietly drank from the mugs of watered down ale that had been placed in pitchers on the tables. Who was he to complain about their inaction when the men and women around him had weathered the storm so much longer than he had? So he sat and waited, listening to words as eloquent as they were pointless pounded into his head for the next several hours. When he left the basement, trailing out of the room in small groups so that the patrols wouldn''t notice everyone leaving at once, he was finally left alone to his thoughts once again. He found himself wandering the streets after he took off his worn overshirt to reveal the soldier¡¯s armor hidden underneath once again. Who was he to do anything? Especially after all the speeches that warned him of the folly of men who thought they had the right to more than their individual worth. When the people he called friends warned him that revolution needed to be spread in the hearts of a nation, not the actions of any one individual. Who was he? 26 - Sawdust Riddles Walking into the city of Midton was one of the most unique experiences Dei had been through so far. Instead of the typical outer wall of the towns in the golden kingdom separating the buildings from the unending water around any cities like an island in a shallow lake, Midton was quite different in that it sat in the middle of a field. Much to her joy, Dei had even had a chance to take in the city from afar as she walked down a nearby hilltop. Nearly all the houses were wooden in this city as row upon row of slate roofs rippled up the side of the opposing hilltop. Above them all on the crest of the opposing hilltop a single stone building stood apart from the rest. It dwarfed all the wooden villas that seemed to crowd around its feet, stone crenulations casting a long shadow down over the side of the hill onto the houses below. Dei¡¯s eyes had then been drawn to several small dots of color drifting about the city. These walking flashes of yellow, and purple, and green, and every color Dei had ever seen moved in between the alleyways of Midton like ambient ghosts in the daylight. As they started getting closer to the main entrance to the city, Dei soon realized that they weren''t merely figments of her imagination, but real people wearing such vibrant colors they looked like moving shop stalls drawing her attention. All the people she had met in the golden Kingdoms had worn rather dull clothing with various shades of brown, gray, and beige, moving dully between the cookie cutter streets of stone buildings. Here however, the people matched their architecture as every house looked like a different style of construction. Here a flat roof, there a steeped roof, here a house with green painted shutters, there a house that looked like the wooden door was about to fall off. It wasn''t all pretty, but it was enough to give Dei something new to look at as she took in the still distant city. Even more interesting was the fact that they hadn''t even reached the main gates of the city yet, but were still surrounded by buildings that sprawled out from the city walls like fingers poking into the nearby farmland. There were no carefully cultivated rows of crops like in the golden kingdom, but instead sprawling fields of food that pushed out from the city for acres in every direction. Squat fences of interlocking wooden pegs seperated the fields from the road, but it all seemed so open to Dei that she had no idea how they prevented thieves from stealing the crop as they walked by. Crops turned into shacks, shanties and tents populated by the hard of heart and the downtrodden. Beggars lined the roads on both sides, but never stepped foot on the road itself, like it was some invisible line they couldn''t cross. The beggars faded behind them as the buildings started to grow in size, gradually turning into tenements that resembled something your average peasant might call home. She caught a couple pairs of wary eyes watching the road from these buildings, sheltered behind their barred doors and tight windows despite the midday sun. Dei however, paid them no heed. Matthew walked quietly beside her throughout the entire trip, content to lead the way but never really opening up despite the miles they had traveled the last couple days. As they finally reached the main wall of the city, Dei decided to continue a conversation that had been laying dormant between the two of them since before they left the catacombs. ¡°Why do you refuse my gift?¡± She wrote. ¡°Because I am not worthy of your blessing Herald.¡± Mathew said. ¡°As you''ve said, but why?¡± ¡°I am too old to be learning new tricks Herald.¡± As they spoke they passed through the main gate to the city without so much as stopping for a second. The guards here didn''t stop anyone who passed through, merely scanning through the faces of everyone feeding into the city as though they were looking for something. Thankfully, the casual look overs they gave people were so lenient that they hadn''t even stopped Dei to ask the usual questions about her mask. Not that the guards didn''t give her some strange looks all the same. ¡°But are you not my most faithful follower?¡± she continued. ¡°Perhaps. Perhaps not. I am merely an old man pulled along on an adventure.¡± ¡°Says the man who practically led the group from the beginning.¡± Matthew shrugged in response, dismissing her slate as he focused on the small buildings they passed on either side. Dei had a feeling he was looking for a tavern. He was always looking for a tavern. After that however, the two of them had agreed that it might be wise to check up on house Jocell. Harrant had mentioned that House Jocell was the most staunch opponents to house Brent within the recent years, and perhaps the best place to start considering their poor introduction to house Brent after killing one of its nobles. Matthew spoke even as he continued to search through the building signs as they walked. ¡°Don''t forget that you are the one who is in charge here Dei. I may have some good advice on your direction, but I am only a follower.¡± Dei had begun to write again when the man tapped her shoulder then pointed at a small sign painted with the words, ¡®The Lazy Mare¡¯. The two of them stepped inside the thin doorway as they made their way off the street into a sparsely populated room filled with long tables and benches. Matthew called over for a beer as they sat down near the middle of the room, giving the nearby groups of people eating their lunch their distance as everyone sat a few empty seats away from one another. Nothing within the room particularly interested Dei though as she brought her slate board onto the table to continue trying to pull anything of interest from Matthew''s tight mouth. ¡°What is your game Matthew?¡± A nearby server dropped off a mug of beer with a thick head on the top of it off at Matthew''s side as he responded. ¡°I play no games Dei. Your success is for the best, so I serve.¡± ¡°For the best?¡± ¡°Yes. A dozen broken kingdoms does this land no good. Perhaps a single empire can change that fact.¡± He replied as a man in a thick cloak seated himself to the other side of Dei. ¡°I have news Herald.¡± The cloaked man spoke, ¡°You were right to set us trailing after you. Someone from the guard post has been following you since you entered the city.¡± Dei nodded along as the man spoke, writing her next instructions down for him. ¡°Follow our tail until they reach a safehouse to report on us.¡± As the man read his instructions, Dei pulled a small mouse skeleton out of her pack and placed it in the man''s hand as he put it away in his pocket, a little bit uncomfortably. It wasn''t the favored Fei''s most favored mouse mody, but it was still small enough that it only slightly drained Dei''s attention to leave the skeleton in a passive ¡®WAIT¡¯ command. The man suddenly shot up off the bench and started patting around his belt line as he made a point of saying, ¡°Damn kid must have stolen my coin pouch!¡±. He left the tavern quickly and several people who watched him leave with a half interested look on their face returned to their meal. Dei had to admit to herself that the sellswords were proving to be far more valuable to her than she had first expected. A fair number of them had experienced different sides of the underworld before they had taken on mercenary work. It made them a motley crew of con-men, thugs, thiefs, and even a single forger on the team that Harrant had called together under his leadership. Dei mulled over several ideas on how best to use the crew as Matthew finished up his beer. The two of them stood together to make their way out of the common room and continued their journey for the day. Stepping out onto the street once again, Dei instantly felt a dozen eyes watching her masked face as random people walked up and down the worn cobble road. Instead of looking around for the stranger who was following them, Dei and Matthew continued on their way as though they hadn''t a care in the world. Behind the mask, eyes of blue fire burned away deep in thought as Matthew led them towards a distant great house deep within the city of whispers. ¡ª Charity walked into the small town alongside a well dressed man dressed almost entirely in black alongside a turban done up so thickly around his head you could hardly even see his eyes in the crease of the fabric. The man had asked her to carry a thin umbrella to shade him from the sun, though Charity thought the actions would do little more than draw attention to the pair of them as they arrived in town. Sure enough the daily workers that traveled alongside them gave the man a strange look as they passed by, but when Tai raised his fully covered face to blindly meet their gazes head on, they quickly looked away. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He was a proud man, Charity realized. The only thing he carried was a thin journal alongside a vial of ink and a pen that all fit neatly into a small pouch pocket on his belt. It was so different from the massive bags of bones and other assorted tools that she had seen Dei and Xei carry around all the time, just as he too dressed quite differently. Despite the black coloring of his clothes, the man was still finely dressed, with his customary satin vest and undirtied pants despite the day''s journey to reach the town. The gloves that hid his skeletal appendages were finely crafted riding gloves, once again stolen from the nobleman''s wardrobe that they had found in a secluded room deep in the catacombs. But that was all just the physical aspects of the man. What bothered charity most about him was the blatant disrespect he seemed to show everyone around him wherever he went. Perhaps worst of all was the fact that he had a habit of writing something in his little booklet, then merely staring at the intended recipient until they were forced to crane their head over to read his neat little handwriting. As they moved down the busy street, Charity lagged somewhat behind the nobleman, letting the parasol fall out of place as the sun''s rays shone down on the overbearing turban that looked so out of place. Tai turned to look at Charity, but she stared right back into those lifeless eyes. The parasol remained out of place until Tai paused in his step momentarily to get back into the shade of the tool. He only looked forward again after they had locked eyes for a good ten seconds, finally paying attention to the road. Charity took the break in contact to shuffle her feet a little bit, tripping up her step and forcing herself to fall just enough behind that the parasol once again failed to cover the man. This time he merely ignored her as she smiled to herself. Tai soon found the building he was looking for, leading them into a small carpentry shop based on the name carved above the front door. Inside a wide assortment of chairs, tables, and dressers greeted the pair of them as they stepped into a small maze of furniture that divided the large room into small lanes of travel between masses of carved and lacquered wood. Sawdust piled into the corners of the room as they crossed the floor room to a small man seated in the back looking at them from over a clipboard. ¡°Hello there strangers. What can I interest you in today?¡± ¡°We¡¯re looking to participate in the local craftsmen guild meeting tonight¡± Charity responded as she pulled the parasol to a close, pushing away the dusty air in a rush of movement that almost made her cough. The man narrowed his eyes before speaking slowly, ¡°It¡¯s a bit early for the meeting, don''t you think?¡± ¡°Nonsense. My lord Tai has traveled far from the eastern wastes in order to grace your¡­establishment. And he would like to ensure that he arrives early enough for the full experience.¡± The man eyed them for a moment longer before barking at a man sweeping the floor to the other side of the room to man the shop while he was gone. He rose off his three legged stool to lead them up a small set of stairs to the side of the room, moving up a creaky set of wooden steps that opened up into a large workshop. Several craftsmen and apprentices looked up from their work as they took in the strange group that had entered the room, but quickly set back to work manning a wide variety of tools and devices scattered throughout the room. The owner led them to the back of the room and pulled aside two rather dusty stools alongside several other benches set against the wall despite the fact that none of the workers had been seated in the room. ¡°You''ll wait here if you insist on staying. I can''t say the meeting will be worth your time if you''re not from this area, but I''ve got no reason to keep you away either. Mind you it''ll be a bit of a wait until everyone else is done with the work day.¡± Charity nodded in thanks, quickly plopping down on the stool as she assured him it was worth their time. The man merely grumbled something unintelligible and walked back down to the first floor, leaving them alone in the shop. The harsh sounds of scraping carving tools, and wheel fed saw machines filled the room as charity and Tai remained in complete silence. After some time, Charity asked Tai a question. ¡°Why don''t you sit down with me. You look strange just standing there.¡± She patted the nearby stool to accentuate the point. The man looked at her then pointed, first at the top of the stool, then at her hand, then at her butt. Somewhat confused, Charity looked down at her hand to find that it was suddenly covered in a small layer of gray and tan dust. Than she lifted herself slightly from her seat to find that the bottom of her robe was almost covered in the same mixture of dusty wooden flakes that had enveloped her hand. After a moment of thought, Charity reached out and used her already dirty hand to wipe away at the top of the stool pushing off the dust onto the ground. ¡°Please, sit.¡± She waved to the stool. The man pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, opening it in a flourish that pushed even more sawdust into the air, then set it down precisely over the stool''s head. The man waited for the air to clear up a little bit, then sat down quietly beside Charity as they settled into the busy silence of the workroom. Neither spoke until the meeting started. ¡ª A dozen men and women sat around the room, having trickled in as the sun set and they were released from their shops. Based on the scatterings of greetings they gave each other as they entered, Charity could tell that they were all the owners of several craft shops around the town, perhaps the majority of the shops in the area. They all gave Tai some strange looks as they entered, but seemed content to otherwise ignore the pair of them as the shop owner from before opened the meeting once everyone was present. ¡°Thank you all for coming tonight. Maddison, I''m guessing you should be able to catch up Rene when you see each other tomorrow? Good. So the topic I wanted to bring up first tonight is the closing of the Geld copper mine on Mount Tarrant this last week.¡± A scattering of murmurs broke through the group as the man shared the news, but he continued over them. ¡°As you all know, that was the largest mine in the country for not just copper, but also a smattering of iron and gemstones as well. Now, all things considered, I''m going to guess that this will increase the price of our copper imports by around ten percent, and our copper purchases by at least twenty.¡± ¡°That''s conservative, the prices will double just based on the principle of it!¡± a man called out from the benches. ¡°Won''t the Brent family be able to eat the cost for us?¡± Another asked. ¡°They wont release their surplus when the drop is caused by the Geld family''s weakness! They''ll just expect us to suffer the difference.¡± ¡°Let me speak!¡± The main speaker took the room once again. ¡°We all know that even a twenty percent price hike would ruin us if we do nothing. Which is why I propose we all raise our prices by twenty-five percent starting tomorrow.¡± ¡°Raise prices again? The people nearly murdered me when we rose by five percent last month.¡± ¡°No, no. He has a point. If we all do it at the same time, the people don''t single out any one merchant to be mad at.¡± ¡°Easy for you to say. You all know damn well I''m the only weapon''s merchant for miles. I''ll be the only one to blame.¡± The conversation ambled back and forth on the matter for the next thirty minutes as the group was slowly brought to a consensus on the matter. Charity decided to stand during the lull in the conversation and started her own part of the conversation. ¡°Respected craftsmen of Tallowton, I''m here to make an arrangement.¡± She noted that she had their attention as most of the room turned to face her, though many of them crossed their arms as she started talking. ¡°My lord Tai and I come as envoys of a powerful individual who is interested in improving the lives of our people in these trying times. Through her guidance we will be ushered into a time of prosperity where haggling over the price of goods need not happen, as all will be joined under the faith.¡± ¡°Martin, did you just let a damn priest into our meeting?¡± Someone asked the owner of the shop who just sputtered in place at the front of the room. ¡°Well can your mysterious benefactor fix the price of iron for the next year?¡± Someone asked Charity from the benches. ¡°Yes, of course, in due time.¡± Charity responded. ¡°In due time sounds a lot like never to me.¡± ¡°And just how much gold does this hidden mistress have to feed into the economy.¡± ¡°Why, she deals in the very economics of death itself.¡± Charity said ¡°I don''t know about you but death doesn''t feed my family.¡± ¡°And it certainly doesn''t save me the time I just spent listening to you preach at us!¡± someone else added. A man bent over to grab a handful of sawdust from the ground near his bench and casually flung it over at Charity, covering her black robe in tan powder. Tai stood up from his stool and crossed the room towards the back staircase, leaving Charity and his handkerchief behind. ¡°Please, just listen to-¡± Another handful of sawdust flung by another craftsmen hit her straight in the chest, sending a puff of smoke up into her face. Her eyes watered and she tried coughing into her elbow as she felt several more handfuls of sawdust hit her body. It didn''t necessarily hurt, but between the crowd''s reaction to her and the fact that Tai had left her behind, she quickly walked away from the room with her head buried in her arm. As she shuffled down the stairs a single voice called out to her from behind. ¡°And don''t come back!¡± She found Tai waiting for her by the doorway, wordlessly opening the way out onto the street as she joined him once again. 27 - Moonlit Ghosts Dei and Matthew walked silently across the marble tiles that marked the entrance to the primary manor of the House Jocell. A small manservant clad entirely in black with a face masked in white led them forward towards the large double doors that opened to the front of the manor. As he opened the doorway for them to leave, he offered them a quaint ¡°Please come again.¡± Then shut the door on them as soon as they crossed the threshold. A handful of guards watched them from the house''s outside patio, stern looks ushering the pair forward even with the rather sudden dismissal from the house, so the two of them walked quietly out to the main street. A couple of stairs led down from the main patio to an open garden that surrounded the manor grounds for a good fifty meters in every direction. Dei noted that several guards appeared to be pattroling along the thin stone pathways set between the flower plantings that differentiated this house from the surroundings. Another group of guards watched them approach from the gated entrance set into the tall metal fence that lined the grounds. This time the gate clanged into place as they practically pushed the two of them forward through the entrance and onto the night time streets. Dei took Matthew''s hand and led him down the side of the massive fenceline, less with a proper destination in mind, and more to just to get out of sight of the staring guards behind them. Once they got out of the torchlight, she led him down a nearby alleyway and finally stopped. ¡°What was that?¡± She wrote. ¡°I think they might have just wanted to waste our time.¡± ¡°But why?¡± She asked. ¡°For fun?¡± Matthew said with a shrug. Dei crossed her arms as she stared at the man in the faint light from a nearby window. The attempt to contact the head of house Jocell had gone well enough at first. The guards had let them pass easily enough after they claimed to have an audience with the man, then the butler led them into a small waiting room just inside the main entrance. The furniture had even been rather comfy, or so Matthew had told her as they waited there for the next several hours of the day. The butler had even come by a couple times to apologize for the wait, until another hour had passed after dark set in through the open windows. Eventually the Butler had come back one last time to escort them out of the house, lamenting the fact that his lord didn''t take guests after dark and that they could come again tomorrow. ¡°We''re not coming back.¡± Dei wrote. Matthew nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the decision. While the cushions were nice, he had started to get rather hungry after waiting for the first couple hours. Still, Dei was going to at least get something out of the visit as she walked out from the alleyway and started pacing along the fence. Matthew joined her stroll under the pale moonlight. Every once in a while a passing guard might look out on them from the inside of the grounds, but promptly ignored them again as they went further across the outer line and around a corner. Dei had almost decided this stakeout of the grounds was a waste of time when she heard the soft clacking of shifting roof tiles in the middle of the night. A shadow passed over their heads and a large object made it over the sharp tipped fence barbs to land heavily in a roll on the other side. The object grunted into the night then lay there panting as she, a human now that Dei could get a good look at her, rubbed her shins while sitting in the dirt. ¡°Halt. Who goes there!¡± Matthew called out into the night from the outside of the fence looking in. The girl spun around, looking towards the inside of the manor grounds, before realizing the words had come from the other direction. She quickly got to her feet and raised a hand towards Matthew. ¡°Shhhhh.¡± she called out while stepping closer to the fence. ¡°Stand down soldier, i''m lady Janette and this is none of your business. Just go about your duties and we''ll both forget we saw one another.¡± ¡°And what if we tell the lord that you''ve been sneaking out after dark again?¡± Mathew asked. ¡®Ohhh, quick thinking Matthew.¡¯ Dei thought to herself, looking on in silence as it felt awkward to pull out her slate in the moment. ¡°Oh no, no, no, no! Dad might be mad at me for a day, but I''ll make sure that you''re relieved from your position before the week is up! What¡¯s your name guardsman? And you too, you¡­¡± She trailed off as she took in Dei, clad in a thick brown cloak worn over some leather armor that she had started wearing recently. ¡°A servant girl?¡± Janette asked. ¡°Uh, well, uh¡­¡± Mathew stammered at the question. ¡°You''re cavorting with a servant while on guard duty? Seriously?¡± ¡°Perhaps we''ll agree that we never saw one another?¡± He said. Janette''s eyes went wide in the pale moonlight, dirty cloth rags dyed a faint gray color hanging from her body in a way that made her look like a passing shadow in the night. Face stained with the dirt from her heavy fall, she finally seemed to realize she was about to get her request from earlier. ¡°Sure, but if I don''t know your name then you could always just betray me later on without me realizing.¡± She hissed. ¡°...Marcus, my name''s Marcus.¡± It didn''t even sound believable to Dei, and Janette obviously agreed with her. ¡°Bullshit. Look, I know what your face looks like, so don''t think I won''t come find you if you sell me out alright?¡± Matthew nodded slightly, and the girl gave him one last look before she started running off towards the manor. Dei and Matthew shared a glance before continuing their walk around the fence line. Perhaps this nighttime stroll wouldn''t be such a waste after all. A minute later another shadow appeared from a nearby alley. This time it was a man they actually recognized. ¡°My lady, I''ve traced the men following you to a safehouse back in the slums. It seems like he''s waiting for someone there if you''d like to follow me.¡± Dei nodded and they followed the sell-sword away from the tall barbed fence. ¡ª Janette looked both ways in the dark night, making sure none of the nearby guards were watching the house as she crouched beneath a windowsill. After making sure no one was nearby, she sent a quick push of force directly downward, raising her into the air as though she had jumped ten feet up to grab onto a window ledge on the second floor of the manor. Lithe as she could, she pulled herself up and into the window, and dropped into a hidden position on the other side where no one could see her. The room was dark, only slightly lit by the moonlight in the window, and the faint ambient light under the crease in the doorway. She stood up slowly after checking the corners of the room with a quick scan that told her she was safely alone, and reached out with one arm towards a swinging iron window grate that she had left open earlier that night. She closed the apparatus over the open window and set a heavy lock into place with a small key she carried from a necklace before walking over towards the bed. She almost collapsed into the bed that very moment before she remembered she was covered in garden dirt from the landing earlier. When was the last time she had landed that hard again, maybe the first year after she earned the right to pledge to the lord¡¯s service? She shook her head as she pulled the confusing mess of cloth over her head and dropped it into a small hamper in the corner. And what were the chances that a damn guard would be patrolling the outside of the fence for once? The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She took off her underclothes, relishing the sweet feeling of release from the tight bindings she used while going out at night, then put on a thin shift to cover herself. She reached into a small box affixed to the wall and pulled down on the soft cloth inside that she knew was linked to a bell down in the servant¡¯s quarters. it wasn¡¯t so late at night that she couldn''t have them draw her a bath before bed. Or perhaps more importantly, not so late that her father would think she had gone out on the town again. She sighed, finally rolling into her bed to wait for the servants to come as she thought about the night¡¯s events. She had just been out for some nighttime practice, running allong the roofs of the city when she knew no one would really have a chance to notice her. It was supposed to be her freedom. Her release from stuffy dresses, the constant balls, the pointless luncheons, and garden visits. Well, as long as Lord Jocell didn''t realize she was putting herself at danger just to get a little thrill. ¡®Just who was that couple though?¡¯ she thought to herself. The servant came and went to fetch her a bath as Janette thought about a strange servant girl wearing an unpainted carved mask instead of the customary white featureless one. Strange things were happening tonight. Perhaps she should go back out there to try and find the couple again? Maybe ask them more questions. But then the maid came back with a candle to usher her down the halls towards the bathing room on the bottom floor. ¡®I''ll follow them next time, for sure. Not like I won''t be able to find one of my own guardsmen.¡¯ ¡ª Julius paced down the thin alleyways that comprised this area of town with a discrete sneer on his face. His group walked confidently through the night, allowing patrol groups to see them and promptly turn to walk the other way as soon as they met eyes with the lord in the middle of their formation. Four armored guards walked by his side, along with a single force mage at his back, making them perhaps one of the most dangerous groups traveling through the city that night. Soon enough they reached a small hovel where a runner had been sent for him a couple hours before. He had wanted to come earlier, almost at once when he heard the subject of the message, but several important meetings had kept him locked up in the manor house without the time to get away. It had grated on him that he didn''t have the resources to leave a messenger watching the gate, but he also hadn''t expected the tail to actually find the killer in the first place. When he finally entered the room, an unassuming man in plain clothing stood up from his seat to stand as soon as he noticed the lord''s arrival. ¡°Sir. Permission to report.¡± ¡°Speak.¡± ¡°The girl entered the city this afternoon sir. She stopped at a small tavern in market town then went to hightown and the Jocell estate. She was in there for at least an hour before I decided I should report. My partner is still tracking her to their dwellings for the night while we''re here.¡± ¡°The Jocell estate, huh?¡± How convenient that a mysterious murderer goes straight to the estates of our rivals as soon as she visits the capital. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Uh, the man she was with, sir. He was tall like you said he might be, but he wasn''t wearing a mask like she was. Didn''t have any armor on neither.¡± Julius stood there for a moment, contemplating the information. He looked about the room at the dusty table and chairs lining the small area alongside a handful of cots off to the side of the small hovel. He certainly wasn''t going to stay here long, so he decided he had heard enough of the report when someone else burst into the building. One of the guards standing by the doorway didn''t even hesitate as he threw a well placed punch into the square of the man''s chest stopping him in his tracks as he clutched at his lungs. ¡°Stop! That''s my partner!¡± The man making the report said, but the tail who had just barged into the room couldn''t do much more than clutch at his chest gasping for air. He pointed back outside the doorway despite being out of breath, and Julius realized just what that meant when someone else walked into the doorframe. A single boney hand reached out from the dark to rest on the tail''s shoulder, casually guiding him to the side as the armed guards drew their weapons and stepped into the newcomer''s way. The slim individual didn''t even seem to hesitate as she stepped closer to one of the guards while the other one swung at her back. A horrible crunching sound emanated from her body, but she didn''t fall to the ground as one might have expected, instead hanging on to the other guard with her hands draped around his neck. She suddenly brought her leg up in an explosive movement, and Julius saw a flash of white and blue light appear from her knee as she brought it up and into the man''s stomach. ¡°Urk!¡± The man doubled over into the blow, setting her down from her dangling position to get her feet back on the ground. As soon as he had her feet back in place, she twisted her hips and pulled the man''s head over her shoulder, sending him flying into the ground. Julius''s eyes were drawn to a shining red thorn of blood emanating from her kneecap where a blade of bone seemed to be sticking out from her armor. A moment later she drew a dagger from her belt to plant it into the guard''s helm even as she rolled over him and away from the downward swipe of the other guard. ¡°Enough!¡± The words rippled away from Julius in a wave of force that pulled both the girl and the corpse under her up from the ground and flung them into the far wall. The amored man punched straight through the thin wooden siding, but the girl rebounded off the upper part of the hole he left in the wall and landed back in the hovel. Julius was at least satisfied to hear the telltale sound of breaking bones as he lowered his outstretched hand just a fraction. ¡°Damn it girl, I know you''re not dead yet. Stop fighting for just a moment so we can talk. Guards, stand down!¡± The words carried out into the night, and a pair of blue burning eyes slowly rose from the ground to meet Julius in the center of the room. ¡®Princes be damned.¡¯ he thought as he reached over and pulled around a chair to face the girl before sitting in the rickety old wooden thing. The men around him all had their weapons out at the ready. Even after he had told them to stop they were still obviously waiting for some action if the girl made a wrong move. Wheezing breaths came from the doorway as the tail continued to catch his breath and scrambled his way out of the building after realizing nithing else was keeping him there. His friend meanwhile looked between everyone with beady eyes that seemed to be calculating whether he would fit through the nearby window. Julius waved the man out of the building, and he gratefully sprinted past the open hole in the wall to join his partner. The girl got up slowly, a pale blue light shining around her back before dulling down into the soft brown of leather armor painted across the majority of her body. A dagger was still clutched in her hand as she looked between the different guards in the room, sizing them up. ¡°I said enough! We obviously both gain nothing from fighting here tonight.¡± Julius didn''t yell, but his words held the room hostage anyways as the sounds of running men echoed into the distance. The girl tilted her head, obviously trying to ask him a question. ¡°Yes, that''s right. If I die here tonight you don''t get any of those oh so important followers you want, now do you?¡± The girl stilled finally, sheathing her dagger in a swift motion and pulling out a new device that made his guards twitch with anticipation. She paid them no heed as she pulled out a white piece of something and began writing. ¡°How do you know?¡± She turned the board around so he could read it in the pale moonlight drifting in through the hole behind her. ¡°Because everyone who''s anyone knows that the Lord of Whispers has been hunting you for months now. A skeletal monster is found in the Marren Forrest and you think he''d be able to keep that one a secret?¡± He scoffed at the girl, though he wasn''t sure that was such a good idea on second thought. He decided to cover up the jab by continuing. ¡°You marched into a nearby bandit lair a couple days ago and killed one of my nephews after all but proving you can''t be taken down by ordinary means. Sound familiar? Hard to think you''re gonna be anything other than a new shardbearer.¡± ¡°So?¡± The girl wrote. ¡°So, you gain nothing by trying to kill me. I''m pretty sure you''d win one way or another which is why I don''t want to chance it. And if you do try to kill me, I can always send a message out to the entire city letting them know everything about you.¡± The girl''s eyes flared a bit when he said that. ¡°Cool it girl! If I really wanted to tattle-tell on you I could have done it already. The fact lanterns aren''t bobbing down the alleyways towards us already means your secret''s safe. For now.¡± The burning eyes across from him flickered to the lightly armored man in the back of the room behind Julius. ¡®Could she tell he''s a mage somehow?¡¯ he thought to himself. ¡°Him, you don''t need to worry about. He works for me and won''t make a peep until I tell him. Otherwise he deals with other repercussions, isn''t that right Seth?¡± The man nodded slightly even as he stared daggers at the girl with his arms outstretched, at the ready. ¡®Good, at least he''s not an idiot.¡¯ Julius thought. ¡°So now girl, how about we come to an agreement here where we both might be able to come out on top huh?¡± 28 - Olive Branches Dei stared across the room as she let the neutral face of her skull rest in the direction of the nobleman seated across from her. She wasn''t quite sure what to think of the situation. The man was obviously trying to back himself out of a corner, but he was also trying to extend an olive branch at the same time. Maybe this could be worth her time. She just had to make sure the man could stay quiet first. ¡°What''s your name?¡± She wrote. ¡°Julius Brent.¡± ¡°Julius. If you ever tell on me, I''ll find every member of your family and make sure you¡¯re the last one alive when I come for you.¡± The man laughed again. A hearty jovial laugh that hardly fit the mood Dei was trying to build. ¡°Dear, I don''t have family members. I have a nest of vipers that all want dinner.¡± ¡°I''ll find whatever you care for in this world then.¡± Dei wrote. ¡°Yes yes, then you''ll torture, flay, and kill it until I curse the day I ever turned my back on you. I''ve heard it all before girl so let''s just skip to the good part.¡± The man was wearing a wide grin across his face revealing a neat set of white teeth from the other side of the room. Was he playing with her? He certainly didn''t seem to fear death even as he watched her kill a man in front of his eyes. ¡°My name is Dei.¡± She wrote. ¡°Dei then. Lady Dei perhaps? I''m open to suggestions on whatever title we want to use for you.¡± ¡°You tease me?¡± ¡°Sure I do Dei! You''re over there looking ready to rip my head off just for threatening you. Someone needs to lighten the mood, you know?¡± The smile never seemed to leave his face. ¡°Look, I guess you''re right. I''m the one who''s trying to cut a deal here so how bout this. What do you actually want from this city, Dei?¡± She had to think once again. What to tell him? What was safe to tell him? ¡°I want to take your shard-bearer''s power.¡± ¡°Oh my.¡± The man''s smile finally dropped. ¡°Now that''s a hard one. You want to take his place I guess, or does that mean you physically want to take the shard itself.¡± ¡°Take his place. Take his country.¡± ¡°That is¡­quite honestly something a bit beyond me at the moment. But before you get all riled up, maybe I can help you by helping me huh?¡± Dei waited for him to continue, though neither of them fidgeted in the silence of the room. ¡°You help me become the new Prince of house Brent, and suddenly I''m one of the Lord''s right hand men at the high table. You help me undermine and replace the Princes of the other families as well with people that are perhaps, just a little bit more favorable for you than say, Lord Jocell? And maybe you''ll get enough support to start a coup.¡± Dei''s mind flashed with recent memories of marble floors and cushioned furniture as the man kept talking. ¡°It all might just be possible too, if we have of our very own little immortal assassin. Willing to undertake missions and bend the rules in ways that no living man or woman in their right mind would ever do. Sound about right?¡± ¡°You sound insane.¡± She wrote. ¡°Doll, you''re asking me to help you kill a god in exchange for letting me go. Everything about this is insane.¡± That stupid grin swept across his face again. His words sounded like what she wanted to hear. Perhaps too much of a good thing, even. ¡®COME.¡¯ She called out to the corpse waiting outside, allowing it to shamble up on its shaky legs still held together by the flabs of meat around its body. The oddly squishy sounds the creature made as it lifted its leg up and over the hole in the wall made Dei uncomfortable, suddenly thankful for how often Fei had cleaned up the bodies for her in the past. The man''s grin disappeared again as the fallen soldier came to a stop beside Dei in the middle of the room. Armored visor looking out lifelessly over his previous master. Now she would test his true fealty. ¡°Pledge yourself to my service.¡± ¡°No.¡± The man said it plainly, letting the word hang in the air. ¡°You three, pledge yourself to her service.¡± The three armored guards he pointed at hesitated, looking back and forth from their lord to the armored husk of their fallen comrade. ¡°Oh for gods¡¯ sake, the lord of whispers won''t even notice if a couple non-mages go missing. Do it!¡± The three dropped to a knee at the command, murmuring under their breath as they pledge to her service. She felt rather than saw as three motes of red fire fed into her void space. She was up to eleven motes at this point, though she was starting to have trouble remembering where they all came from. Julius started speaking again, pulling her attention back before she started doing the math. ¡°You can have my men''s souls, by my own and my mages are better used supplementing yourself with our force magic. And I can''t just start pledging my whole house to your service either, unless you want your brother to start killing off my entire family.¡± ¡°Brother?¡± She wrote. ¡°You know, brothers and sisters of the shard? No?¡± Dei tilted her head. ¡°Wow. Way to know your own theology.¡± No one laughed, despite the obvious effort the man seemed to be putting on. ¡°I should go anyways, get back before I get scrutinized too closely by my uncle¡¯s guards.¡± He stood up to leave, then pulled a velvet red handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Dei with a light bow. ¡°Perhaps our partnership might actually be beneficial to us both after all? Show the guards at House Brent my initials,¡± he tapped at the letters BJB sewn into the fabric, ¡°and they should take you to come meet me. Give me a few days first as I think about what to do with the situation.¡± He looked her up and down for a second then added, ¡°And do try to dress a little bit nicer for the occasion. Perhaps they''ll mistake you for one of my new servants, if we''re lucky.¡± Dei started writing before he could leave, and he politely stayed by her side with the extended article of clothing still hanging in the air. ¡°Fix the broken wall. And have someone bring a set of servant''s clothes to drop off here.¡± She said. ¡°...Why? This hovel probably hasn''t been in use for years.¡± ¡°Do I need to explain everything I ask you to do Julius? That would be annoying.¡± The man chuckled as he dipped into a strange cross between a bow and a curtsey, one leg held out to the rear even as he bent deeply at his waist. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Your wish is my command. Lady Dei.¡± She swiped the handkerchief from his hand. ¡ª Charity sat with her back to a tree, head resting behind her as she looked up into the starry sky. It was a nice clean night with hardly a single cloud above them as the stars and moon sparkled down through the thick orange canopy overhead. She let her eyes follow the trail of a single leaf falling down to the forest floor, waving back and forth in the air like it was riding invisible currents on the way down. A man with bright green eyes walked up in front of her, returning from wherever he had walked off to for the last hour. She ignored the thin green flames that came from his unbound turban, instead focusing on the sky beyond as she bit her tongue. He of course said nothing, instead reaching down to grasp the edge of her blanket. ¡®Just what is he-?¡¯ The man dragged the edge of the blanket away from her as though to wrap it around the tree, but she quickly grabbed onto the edge of it holding it in place around her body. He let go rather quickly and bent down to pat smooth a small area of the blanket next to her by the edge of the tree. A couple more adjustments were made as he pulled the blanket out slightly, laying it flat on the ground, all while Charity held on tightly to the other end. Tai then turned in place and lightly sat down on the edge of the blanket, back to the birch tree behind them and shoulder pressing up next to her¡¯s. ¡°So now you want to join me?¡± She said. He took out his logbook, and carefully uncorked a vial of ink before holding it and the book in a single hand. The other hand pulled out his white feathered quill and started writing. ¡°What was that?¡± he wrote. Charity had to look over at his hands after the scribbling stopped to make out his words in the quiet moonlight. ¡°You know what you did. You left me there.¡± ¡°Did I? Or did I give you an escape route?¡± ¡°Escape route?¡± She nearly yelled at him now. ¡°You really think that what you did was noble? Acting like you could handle the situation?¡± ¡°And you think that you were handling the situation?¡± He wrote. She did scream this time. Screamed a sharp piece of her pain into the orange sea floating above them before she brought her head down to rest in her hands. Her bun must have come undone since her hair fell down around her face, hiding her wet eyes behind a soft curtain. She cried then, deep heaving sobs that made her lurch with every breath and hurt so much more because she knew a pair of snooty green eyes were watching her from the other side of her blanket. She felt a hand fall on her back, rubbing back and forth in a comforting motion. She looked to her right, surprised that someone had snuck up on them like that, but she was met with nothing but leaves and starlight in the direction away from Tai. When she looked back at him she finally realized he was the one rubbing her back. This stubborn, imbecilic, wretch of a- She stood up, letting the blanket fall to her feet as she left him sitting behind at the tree. Waiting with his quill laying across his knee, and a single hand outstretched towards her as burning eyes watched her walk away. ¡ª It was a cloudy day out the next morning as Charity looked back at the turbaned man sitting on the edge of a fountain in the town square. He held his parasol up by himself as he watched her work in the sunless sky that threatened to rain on the two of them. A constant ripple of running water ran in the background as shoeless children splashed about behind him. She had found herself looking back at him every once in a while that day just to find a new spark of resolve. She would prove to him, had to prove to him, that she could do this with or without his help. The small bags under her eyes from a sleepless night turned around once again to take in the denizens walking past her like the wind buffeting her hair. ¡°Please, good people. Listen to me now. I bring the words of a new goddess into this world. Listen to me and rejoice, for she comes now to bring a new era to this land, and rejuvenate its people.¡± A single worker stopped to listen to her preach in the middle of the square. ¡°Hear me now. Hear me so you might understand that the times are changing, and require your service to a new Herald for both the living and the lifeless. A Herald of both prosperity and penance in equal measure as she holds life and death in the palms of her hands.¡± A couple more workers stopped nearby the first one to hear her out. ¡°All she asks of you in return is for faith in her ability. A willingness to commit yourself to something greater than the drudgery of common toil and work. A willingness to learn the ways of our goddess, and worship her unending embrace in the face of mortality. For she is both the mother of death and the daughter of life. Pray to her, so that you too might be saved from the one fear of all men and women. Pray to her so that you need not fear the end itself.¡± She stopped to take in the eyes of the people around her, gauging their reactions to her words as she thought of where to bring her sermon next. The man who had stopped for her first started clapping, snapping the rest of the group out of their quiet stupor as they joined him in a polite round of applause in the middle of the square. Charity started to smile then. She had done it. They were listening. But then the group started walking away. The only person who remained in place was the first man who stopped for her as he rooted for something in his pouch. ¡°No, stop! Don''t you want to hear more of her great works? Perhaps a story of her accomplishments so far, or the ways we can better serve her plans?¡± Charity called out to the distant workers as the sudden rush of bodies faded away to an even thinner stream of men and women. The man finally found what he was looking for and pulled a coin out of his pouch with a smile. He flicked the coin over to her, letting it bounce allong the ground to land by her feet. The man said some sort of thank you that Charity didn''t listen to as she stared down at the small bronze coin resting on the ground. It was the smallest denomination of money in the country, hardly even worth anything more than being used as a counting tool or a paperweight. It was worthless. A thick hand reached out from beside her and pushed her back a couple steps. The motion jarred her as she nearly tripped over the uneven cobblestones set into the square, and she looked up to find two armored men with surprisingly hard eyes. ¡°I said I''m talking to you bitch! Listen up!¡± The man who pushed her yelled at her in the middle of the street, though no one seemed to actually look in his direction as he berated her. ¡°There''s no begging allowed in this town so you''d best either find yourself a real job, or i''ll find you a nice jail cell to rethink your actions.¡± ¡°But I''m not-¡± Charity started. ¡°I don''t care what you''re not doing. What you should be doing is fucking off to anywhere else with your fake, money pandering, godess of nothing special.¡± The other guard finally started speaking as he called out to someone behind her. ¡°Sir, she wasn''t bothering you on your day of rest, was she? Charity looked back to lock eyes with the only man sitting behind her with a thickly wound turban and impossibly thin legs sat crisscrossed next to a nice black wooden cane. The man hesitated for only a second before he shook his head back and forth at the guards. ¡°Then considering you haven''t caught this fine gentlemen''s ire, we''ll let you off with a warning today. If we ever catch you begging round here again, there''ll be problems. You got it?¡± Charity nodded her head at the man, and he reached out to give her one last push before they left. She all but fell back into the fountain that time until Tai reached out to grab her, letting her sit next to him instead of toppling back over the knee high stone. One of the guards reached down to pick up the small coin, a smile on his face as he flipped it into the air to catch with his other hand. ¡°Heads or tails?¡± She heard him asking the other guard as they walked away. Their words trailed off into the crowd as she saw the man slap the coin onto his other hand. Charity just sat there, contemplating the fact that she had even lost the little sliver of worthlessness that she had earned as a result of the morning''s effort. Her vision blurred in the whipping wind and she dropped her eyes to stare at her hands. ¡°Why isn''t this working?¡± She asked. She kept staring down at her ha as water droplets started to fall onto her gloves. A thin book was pushed into her line of sight, and she had to wipe her eyes before she could make out the flowing script written at the bottom of the page. ¡°You fail because you are too kind.¡± It said. ¡°You would think that wouldn''t you? I bet everything I do just looks so pointless to you.¡± She replied. ¡°What I do creates an image. Something for the people to latch onto and distract them.¡± ¡°So what would you have me do?¡± ¡°Only strength will convince these people, not empathy.¡± ¡°Easy for you to say.¡± The man stood from beside her, replacing his writing gear neatly along his belt. A firm hand took the walking cane in his grip, holding it by the shaft instead of the head, changing his entire look within a single movement. He turned and extended a hand out to Charity, black leather fingers beckoning her to come with him as small drops of rain began to fall on her shoulders. She sighed and shook her head, eyes still tracing the thin outline of the riding glove extended out towards her. With a torturous movement that felt like she was betraying some old part of her soul, she reached out and took the hand. Their gloves met as his small hand seemed to meld with hers, and he started to lead her away from the town square. 29 - Scion of Death Rain soaked leaves swept out of their way as the two walked further into the forest. Tai had withdrawn his hand from the woman''s grasp after they had made it past the worst of the crowded masses, instead letting Charity follow him at her own pace. Fairly certain that no one would be around at this point, he started unwrapping the turban as they continued on down the mushy walking trail. After the last couple days of wearing it around the city, he had decided that the garb just wasn''t quite the disguise he was looking for. It¡¯s not like the tight cloth binding really bothered him since his perception of heat and cold were so muddled in undeath, rather, it just felt kind of wrong to him. Not that it helped that he had only worn the foreign piece since it was one of the few options left after ripping through the Brent lord''s wardrobe. They were running dangerously low on masks after all the fights Dei and Xei had been getting in, and Tai had been fairly certain that he never wanted to wear one of the local servant masks that they were so fond of around here. Though now that he thought of it, hadn''t he seen a rather beautiful mask hidden within Charity''s bags recently? Absent thoughts past the time away as Tai led them to a small clearing in the forest. A single stone Monolith stuck out from the ground in the middle of a strangely perfect circle of trees that now surrounded them. Tai turned around to watch Charity look around the area, focusing on the large stone slab as he had once done when he first found the place on a nightly stroll. Her eyes traced the plain rock edifice, so obviously artificial in the middle of the woods that it looked all the more striking for it. Put perhaps the more important question was whether she would realize what this really was. Charity reached out to touch the rock, hand passing over the wet surface as she slowly made a circle around the outcropping. When she had made it back to the starting point she looked at him curiously. Squinted eyes and tight, hunched shoulder blades either meant that she was still apprehensive, or that she was just struggling with the cold and damp. He wasn''t sure, even now. ¡°It''s a beautiful place, isn''t it?¡± She said Rain pattered against the top of his head, rolling down over the exposed bone into the crook of his neck lined by a collared shirt. He didn''t reply to her, couldn''t really while his logbook was still safely kept in its waterproof belt pouch. Perhaps it was for the best though, since it was going to force the girl to think. ¡®Why did I bring you here Charity?¡¯ He let the words ring out along the tethers that bound him. Better to let them know ahead of time what he was about to try. She turned around in a wide circle, avoiding some deep piles of leaves scattered about the clearing before looking up to the sky. The rain seeped into the roots of her hair, washing away the stress of the last couple days as the never ending drizzle fell down on her. Then, she suddenly sat with her back up to the rock and her eyes up in the sky. ¡®And maybe my expectations were too high.¡¯ He thought to himself. He had wanted her to-. It didn''t matter now. She just wasn''t getting it. A few steps forward brought him up to her side where he looked around for something to sit on. He wanted to share the moment with the girl, but that didn''t mean he had to debase himself in the act. Charity watched him, waving his head back and forth, so obviously searching for something that a raised eyebrow turned into a chuckle, which turned into a full body laugh as the girl watched him struggle. His thin green eyes settled back on the Charity which seemed to only make her laugh even harder. Hands clutching at her stomach, Charity actually rolled over onto her side to slap at the ground with her hands while she continued laughing at him. He waited there in front of her. Half annoyed that she wasn''t offering to help him with the obvious problem, and half of him relieved. She was crying again, something he was starting to get used to seeing from her after the last couple days of failure after failure. But this time it was different. Her tears were washed away now in a drizzle that leaked into her open smile. ¡®Well, at least it wasn''t such a waste to bring her here after all.¡¯ She took a couple minutes to let the laughter die down at its own pace, almost bursting into another fit when she started to look back at him again. ¡°C''mon Tai! Can''t you just - take a seat in - one of these piles of leaves or something?¡± She couldn''t even get through the full sentence without laughing halfway through. She patted at the nearby pile of leaves, obviously ready to continue the joke when her hand disappeared deep into the recesses of the packed vegetation. The laughter died out in her throat, turning to pat at the bottom of the shallow dip in the ground that Tai knew she must be feeling right now. It would be a loose layer of soil instead of the grassy forest floor they had been walking on for the last hour, and now he knew he had her. ¡°Tai. Is this?¡± She looked up at him. ¡°Is this a graveyard?¡± He nodded back at her, allowing the thin layer of bone marrow between his teeth to glow down at her in what he hoped was a warm smile. ¡®I think you''ll do just fine Charity. With a bit of help of course. RESTRAIN.¡¯ The words echoed out both near and far as he felt his brethren gather at this call. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡ª A hand burst out of the ground to clasp Charity by the wrist. She couldn''t see it of course beneath the muddy pile of sopping leaves, but she knew what she was feeling, had almost feared it would happen sooner. Memories flashed before her of a time long past, of fitful nights of sleep the first couple of days she spent with Dei and her brethren. She always wondered why the goddess always tried so hard to keep them alive. Sure, everyone knew the shard-bearers drew strength from worship, not from death. But with Dei, with this specific variation of magic, couldn''t it be different? She did come so much later than all the rest, so what else was going to be unique about her? The hand gripping her dragged her out of her thoughts as it began withdrawing deeper into the wet ground. She braced her knees against the ground, rounding her back to try and fight back against the assault for just a moment of panic. But then she forced herself to relax. This was the goddess''s will, was it not? Charity looked up and Tai, standing across from the monolith with thin green flames that hissed in the drizzle of rain. His fine suit clung to him in odd ways while wet, making his already thin arms and legs look almost nonexistent as they stuck to the bones underneath. He looked like a paper cutout of a prince that they might have used in a shadow puppet show back in the town''s they passed, and Charity couldn''t help but start laughing again. She didn''t resist any longer. Merely re-adjusted her arm a bit so it felt like it was at a better angle as the hand slowly pulled her down into the ground with it. When a second hand burst from the pile of leaves to the other side of her body, this time she even offered it her other arm of her own accord. If the goddess no longer needed her, then what was the point of her life anyways? She had already failed. hadn''t she? Her second hand disappeared into the mud, pinning her to her knees in a precarious bowing position as she kept her legs bent behind her. She felt rather than heard as the ground started to shake all around her. A deep rumbling and shifting of dirt and mud as the myriad piles of leaves around her bubbled up with some strange movement from beneath. More skeletal hands popped up out of the ground, dragging up their soil stained bodies a few seconds later as three more skeletal individuals formed before her sight. ¡°Xei?¡± The sight of a pair of orange eyes erupting from the ground was so surprising to her that she didn''t even question it when another pair of purple eyes came next, followed by the burning blue that marked the true goddess. It was somewhat strange to see them like this, practically naked save for the odd bits of soil that was caked into their joints. So when they started moving towards her in a confident walk, she watched the brilliant flashes of color echo through the thick air. Their movements were so hard to process now that she could actually see under the clothing they always wore. The faint light of their presence rippled through one leg then another in practiced rhythm as they marched up to Charity through the leaves. It was all at once beautiful to Charity, both the way the colorful lights seemed to glint and catch on the bones of the surrounding skeletons, but also the fact that they had all come here together just for her. For her¡­execution. Charity smiled up at her goddess in all her many forms as four skeletal figures looked down on her from varied heights and builds as different as their personalities. The Herald reached out a single hand between the four of them and rested it on Charity''s head. A bolt of fear shot through charity a\when she felt it settle on the top of her hair as memories of what happened back in the golden kingdom came back to her, but this felt different somehow. Xei and Fei reached out a hand to clasp Charity by one arm each, while Tai walked around her back and rested his hands on her shoulders. Then she felt it start to happen. The bones within her started to move, just a little bit, vibrating back and forth in place but not really going anywhere. It felt warm, then hot, then burning as every bone in her body started to shake and move under their glowing hands. She screamed into the ground, eyes shut as she willed her body to stay still under their grasp. Her jaw stretched open as far as she could make it go, willing the pain to leave her as though just a little more noise echoing out into the clearing would be able to help her now. She couldn''t escape. She couldn''t even move if she wanted to, as her bones started to feel like they belonged to someone else. To something else. This wasn''t her body, this was their body, and she just happened to be stuck in here with them. Her voice broke into heaving sobs as the bones danced around her body with no reason or logic. ¡®If I die here today, I want to die looking at the goddess.¡¯ She thought, finally willing her head to look up into those cold blue eyes that always seemed so distant. But when she looked up she realized the girl wasn''t touching her any more. Her arms were back at her sides, fingers interlocked behind the back of the pelvis that Charity could see right though. Even Xei and Fei were standing back too, Xei slightly bent to get a better look at her while Fei had collapsed to a squatting position that left her head at eye level. She could still feel the hands on her shoulders as her bones continued to vibrate and sway back and forth with every movement that she made. The pain was dying down, becoming more of a dull ache in the back of her mind as she turned teary eyes back to look at Tai. Was he the one that was still doing this to her? Was this all his plan, just to punish her for her failures? But then he let go of her, hands withdrawing slowly from her shoulders almost like he didn''t want to do so. They were all watching her now. Waiting as she felt everything. Every terrible, horrible little movement of her body felt like she was moving through a bed of knives. Every bone hurt, and a strange white cloud was starting to blot out the horizon as she felt her vision going strange. ¡®I must be dying.¡¯ She thought. Eyes looking off into the distance to take in the bright light that was taking her in from all sides. She tried to accept it gracefully. Tried to allow herself to fade into the great white expanse. To leave the pain behind, to leave the goddess to use her as she wished. To leave the crumpled bodies holding her down to the ground. She looked down at the skeletons holding her arms in the ground, crumpled up in a fetal position except for the single arm each that dragged her down. But how could she see them? How could she see through the leaves and mud that still covered her hands? Not only that, but she could feel them too. Like some strange appendage that was both connected to her and not at the same time. ¡°You. You aren''t here to kill me?¡± She asked. Tai shook his head in response as he walked over to join the rest of them. ¡°I-, please. Let me go. RELEASE me.¡± she begged them. The hands gripping her arms obeyed her command as four sets of burning eyes looked down on her with pride. She would be their first. Their scion of death. 30 - The Butcher Calls Lieutenant Cody Tane walked down a row of ten bunk beds lined up and down the room with matching sheets, blankets, and pillows. A cleanly made fold in the blanket cut a forty-five degree angle at the foot of every single bed corner he could see. And at both ends of each bed stood a heavy wooden chest sitting on the stone floor, closed, locked, and perfectly aligned with the bed frame behind it. It was all so neat, tidy, and completely pointless that Cody hardly even looked at the bedding as he passed. He didn''t normally walk through for the barracks checks at the end of each week, but tonight he needed to be seen. He opened the door at the end of the massive bay to enter the next barracks room as the soldiers behind him finally relaxed. As soon as he stepped through the door however, a new NCO called the room to attention as the entire room went silent and the men stopped moving. A new set of perfect beds, with perfect folds, and perfect chests passed by as he walked down a line of men standing perfectly still. At the end of the line he found his platoon sergeant standing at the same position of attention as the rest of the men. Cody stopped in front of him to put his feet together in a similar position of attention at exactly one step away from the sergeant, then did a crisp turning movement to face the man. ¡®One! Two!¡¯, went the click of his feet on the cold stone floor. The sergeant across from him waited the customary second of respect, then began to talk. ¡°Sir, how have the troops done?¡± ¡°Platoon Sergeant, they''ve done¡­¡± Cody let the words hang in the air just long enough to get the soldiers'' attention. He saw the whites of a couple eyes look over at them from further down the room, the closest thing the men would commit to a breach in decorum. ¡°...well. They''ve done very well Sergeant Henry. I think they might even deserve an out of city pass this weekend. What do you think, Sergeant?¡± ¡°I''d have to agree sir. I think they earned it!¡± Cody smiled at the man across from him as the grizzled veteran with more than a decade of experience called the boy ¡®Sir¡¯. ¡°Pass approved. Have a nice night Platoon Sergeant.¡± Cody said. ¡°Thank you sir. Glory to the prince!¡± The man gave a quick salute, fist placed over his chest. A gesture that Cody quickly returned, allowing both men to drop their fists. ¡®One! Two!¡¯, Cody faced away with the same perfect two step movement they had all been trained to use, and strode out the room without a single look back. While the door was still swinging open, he could hear Sergeant Henry yelling commands across the bays. ¡°Make a horseshoe ¡®round me!¡± Echoed through the stone hallway until the thick wooden door finally closed behind him and he started making his way to his own room on the other side of the building. When he finally got there he took half a second to check that no one was around before he opened his door. His own rooms were small, but spacious in comparison to the open sleeping bays that his soldiers stayed in. A single bed stood in the corner of the room by a window thrown open to accept the last rays of light from the setting sun. Across from the bed stood a thin study desk with several papers strewn across it, and next to it was a wooden chest like the ones his soldiers used. The top of the chest was propped open, stuck on a single arm of an exposed uniform jacket that hung out from the top. Cody settled onto the bed with his uniform still on as he took a moment to stare up at the texture of the wooden ceiling above him. The bedding was crumpled under his weight, straining against the edges of the bedframe where he had loosely tucked in the blanket the morning before. His mind was focused on the night to come however, not nearly concerned with the quality of his bed. ¡®Is it even worth it?¡¯ He asked himself. Earlier that week he had decided that he might attend tonight''s meeting just to tell them he wouldn''t be coming anymore. That way they wouldn''t have to take the risk of sending him the messages about where to go anymore. It was logical. It was probably even the right thing to do. But Cody knew he could always just forget to attend tonight, and then the next night, and then the next. And they''d catch on eventually, without him even doing anything. ¡°Uggghh!¡± He rolled out of bed with a groan and started taking off his uniform, opening the chest to throw the pieces in one by one. His coat and jacket flopped into one pile while his undershirt and socks were tossed into a small bag tied to the side of the chest for laundry. ¡®Sure, I''ll do the right thing.¡¯ He thought. ¡®Always gotta do the right thing.¡¯ ¡ª When Cody finally found the safehouse for tonight''s meeting, he was slightly taken aback by the venue. The customary thin white sheet hung out from a window to dry, but this time there was no underground bolt hole for the group. He could see the lights from inside the house, bouncing off of window sills and out from the creases in the doors to shine out into the night. Shadows crossed the inside rooms, adding a liveliness to the lighting that made it fairly evident just how many people must be present inside the small, squat, one story apartment in the middle of the city. Cody knocked at the door twice but no sliding eye level window existed to look out at him this night. Instead, the door merely opened as an older woman beckoned him in with a smile. ¡°Come on in dear, did one of my friends invite you to the harvest party tonight?¡± ¡°Of course ma''am. Thank you for hosting.¡± Cody figured the group must be using the excuse of having a small harvest party as their cloak tonight, so he just played along. The old lady smiled a somewhat toothless grin at him, closing the door behind with just a simple latch keeping the darkness at bay. Cody realized the inside of the building was a fair bit larger than he had expected from the outside, as everyone inside had crowded into a single main room set further back into the abode than all the front facing rooms with windows. It still seemed a bit reckless to him that the revolutionaries were just playing off their meeting like it was a run of the mill night party, but then again wasn''t that one of the reasons why he had decided to leave their little group? Light flickered through the room from a center fed cooking fire that left the air slightly smokey in between the several dozen people packed into the room. Men and women sat on blankets and rugs scattered around the room, while others perched on tools like a butter churn in the corner or a spinning wheel by the door. As he had expected, no windows opened up to the outside air, leaving the place smelling like a musty mix of human sweat and heavy wood smoke. ¡®More laundry to do.¡¯ Cody thought to himself as he walked over to meet with Tom, leaning against a wall and talking mildly with some random woman. It seemed like Cody had gotten there early enough in the night that they hadn''t even started the traditional speeches that made up the bulk of the meetings. Instead it was more of an open ¡®cocktail hour¡¯ as the nobles would have called it at one of their balls. Not that anyone present called it any formal name as they just tried to catch up on the recent news of things before the event kicked off. ¡°Hey Tom, I want to talk to you about something.¡± Cody led with. ¡°Oh yeah? Something big coming down from the garrison? Oh! Have you met miss Dani here before? She''s actually kind of a big-¡± ¡°Tom. I''d prefer to speak in private for a bit.¡± ¡°It''s alright Tom, we can always catch up later.¡± Dani reassured him. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Tom smiled at the girl to his side for just a moment then nodded, letting Cody drag him back out to one of the street side rooms to get some space. Baskets of fruits, vegetables, and covered barrels lined the majority of the room as the two sat down on a pair of wobbly crates in the middle of the room. ¡°So¡­¡± Tom asked. ¡°Tom, I need to get out of this group. I''m not going to be coming to the meetings anymore.¡± Tom stared down at the ground at the words, distant firelight playing over his eyes from around the corner. Cody let him sit for a bit, then continued, determined to make his friend at least understand. ¡°I just can''t do this anymore. The goals we share mean well, but with the way things are going I just can''t see anything really happening that will actually cause a difference. Not when the only thing we do is meet in secret and talk about old books.¡± ¡°But those old books hold value Cody!¡± ¡°Yeah, sure. But a solid argument isn''t going to do anything to change people''s actual lives.¡± ¡°So we change the future by maintaining the knowledge for the next generation!¡± Tom''s words were starting to hiss out of his mouth, rising into a forced whisper that echoed through the room. ¡°What does that make us then, Tom? Mobile book holders that keep the information safe until someone with the actual courage to do something comes by?¡± ¡°Then you do it!¡± Tom snapped. ¡°If you want to make a difference, why can''t you be the first person to do something about it?¡± Cody stopped talking. He had thought about this before, staring up at wooden beams that crossed a small stone room in the middle of the Princedom''s military. But what could he really do? He was just one man. ¡°I don''t-¡± ¡°Do you actually want to do something about it Cody? Or are you just too scared to get caught on the wrong side of the law? Gods know you might be able to actually make things happen if you ever set your mind to it.¡± Cody sat there, transfixed. He hadn''t expected this at all. It was supposed to be easy, just a simple excuse then a long walk back to the barracks. Not all these questions. Worst of all was that he wasn''t even sure what the right answer was. The world exploded. One second they were sitting on small wooden crates, the next moment wood and debris was flying through the air from the direction of the outer wall like a hail of arrows coming down on an army. Cody''s training came to him by instinct and he pushed out into a small three inch thick bubble of force surrounding his body on every side. He felt his feet come off the ground as the crate below his feet buckled under the pressure and collapsed to reveal a pile of salted fish stored within. But the pressure of some other force suddenly hit him at that moment. Wooden shrapnel sprayed across the room, puncturing Tom''s body in a hundred small bloody holes as Cody was pushed across the room. It happened so fast that Cody could hardly even comprehend the look on Tom''s face. The surprise, the pain, and then nothing. Instead, Cody was flung handily through the opposite wall and deep within the main room until he hit a ceiling beam and bounced off, smashing into the wall hard enough to leave a hole. He heard screams and gasps of surprise around him, but he was distracted by the need to keep up his force field no matter what. Someone was attacking, and these people would need his help. Cody looked up from the corner of the room where he had landed, small bruises across his body already protesting against the fact he had nearly been thrown through two walls. But as he started to register the faces of shock looking back at him, the ceiling caved in where he had smashed through the supporting beam. He heard it before it happened, a massive creaking sound from above as the remaining wooden planks snapped and fell down on him, but he couldn''t move in time. The protective coat around his body kept him from getting any sort of a grip on the ground, causing him to scramble in place as a hundred pounds of wood and tile fell down on him. He heard a short scream from beside him as someone else was caught in the same avalanche of debris, then the soft squelch of crushed flesh as the scream died out. Wood and dust blocked his sight from the rest of the room almost immediately, trapping him in a strange world of brown darkness. With a mere thought he could have simply pushed outward in all directions, sending the deluge of house parts away from him in an explosive display, but he was afraid that would take the whole building down with him. Cody braced himself by the knees as he pulled upward at the front of the pile of wood that was trapping him, putting a strain on his lower back but otherwise getting a small peep hole out of his cage. On the other side, a single man had walked into the only doorway into the room, emerging from the dust at the front side of the house like a specter of green armor and contempt. Cody recognized the Pricedom Army uniform immediately, but the man looking out at the room with cold blue eyes from behind a long head of flowing black hair was a mystery. The rest of the room was in chaos. Several people were digging at the rubble around Cody, while others were helping their friends who had fallen down from the earlier explosion. Cody noticed that Lucy was trying to run past the soldier in the doorway, but her legs buckled backwards as she got close to the entrance. Her feet cut out from under her, she flew horizontally for half a second before her body was smashed downward into the ground like a giant hand had just swatted her out of the air. She hadn¡¯t even managed to scream as she turned into a pile of mushy flesh on the floor of the room. The strange man¡¯s hair flew wildly as he disposed of the runner, first flying towards the girl, then backwards like he was in the middle of a massive gale of wind that affected no one else. The very floorboards around the man buckled under his weight, popping up and cracking in a small circle around where he stood, and a cloud of dust poured down on the man from where a matching circle in the ceiling had been pushed outward. Everyone settled into an awkward silence then, as the lone man took in the gathering like a butcher preparing for the slaughter. There was no joy in those eyes. Only the cold determination of a man doing his job. The floorboards began to rattle once again, every inch of wood and nails pealing into the night as the building itself shook. Cody could feel what was about to happen, and started to push on some of the debris between the two men, sending it shooting towards the butcher, but it was too late. The man''s hair clung to his face like he was being pushed upon in every direction, and the building exploded once again. The floorboards ripped up from the ground, sending random fragments flying in every direction out from the soldier, ripping through the flesh and blood of the people gathered around the room. Their bodies trailed after the small projectiles, slowly catching up to the outer walls as the wooden beams of the ceiling seemed to stretch and buck under the weight. Men and women screamed in pain and confusion amid the sound of ripping clothing, and the warm thuds of powerless flesh. The debris that Cody sent flying towards the man had gotten caught between the two of them, but in his haste Cody hadn''t sent a counter push behind himself with the attack. The force that he had sent into the attack slammed into his chest like he had just pushed upon the ground itself, flinging him backwards alongside all the others. His body flew almost perfectly out of the open hole he had left in the wall where he had last made impact. Small bits of metal and wooden slivers followed after him, ripping into his force bubble, reducing in speed as they made impact but still making it through to pierce the outer layers of his skin as he flew into the night. Below him, the hovel the meeting had been happening in seemed to bow at the seems, practically bursting with the weight of the gathering, until eventually it did. Bodies sailed out into the night as the wooden walls finally caved under the pressure and exploded outward. If anyone in the room had thought that might have meant they were free of the man, those thoughts were dashed when their bodies collided with the surrounding buildings in a sickening crunch. A thick cloud of dust settled over the area as the building collapsed in upon itself, rooftop spinning up into the air for a few seconds before stopping, and falling back down to add to the chaos. Cody remembered himself and looked around in the night at the hundreds of rooftops that surrounded him in every direction. He had reached the apex of his arcing movement through the air, and started to drift back down as the man reached out to a nearby three story building and started pulling. He spread the pull across the entirety of the roof, causing his body to lurch in mid-air and suddenly start sailing towards the tall architecture. A slight push right before he landed slowed his approach just enough that he landed with a running gait across the top of the roof. When he turned back to look at the meeting place he could see a stream of green dots in the night bobbing up and down over the area. Men and women picked over the area like scavengers, searching through the rubble for any survivors of the blast. Cody looked down on the dusty cloud of death and rubble as the cockroaches raised small slivers of metal into the night sky, then thrust them through the invisible body of some hapless victim on the other end. Lights started to burn in the nearby buildings as the neighborhood came awake to sounds of destruction and screams of pain that could be heard all the way to Cody''s vantage point. It was horrible. It was everything that Cody had been worried would end up happening to the revolutionaries. The reason why he had wanted to get out in the first place. And he hadn''t managed to do a single thing to help them. A hole of dark green hung in the night at just about eye level with Cody, thirty feet or so in the air above the wreckage. As it turned about, looking down and around at the surrounding area, he could just make out a nest of black hair pushing upward into the night, like he was submerged in water. But no, the butcher was just observing his handi-work, checking for any individuals that he might have missed. Cody scrambled up the roof top to fling himself over the other side, away from the man and the ruble. One hand still grasping the peak of the roof his breath finally came back to him as he remembered to start breathing once again. His folly now out of sight, the adrenaline of the last minute started to cool down. Bleeding cuts from a dozen small impact marks across his body started to sting and burn, but Cody couldn''t care less as the tears started to stream down his face. ¡°Why did this have to happen? Why tonight?¡± He spoke into the open sky. Behind him, through a barrier of thin roof tiles that could do nothing to protect him, a single man rotated slowly in the air, watching. Waiting. Hunting. 31 - New Beginings Harrant marched up the street towards the closed iron gate of the local barracks. The crowd''s attention was drawn to him just by his passing as heads followed his every movement. Men and women both were looking up at him whenever they thought he wouldn''t notice, looking up at the man who stood a good head taller than anyone else on the street at that moment. He met a couple of their eyes out of boredom, relishing the faint terror when they got caught, or the ones who averted their gaze quickly like they could pretend they hadn''t just been looking. It''s not like he didn''t know they were all curious about him. He had just moved on from caring. He approached a set of thick iron bars that obscured the man on the other side. The bars were so closely set together that Harrant could barely see the tip of the crossbow bolt he knew was pointed at him from the other side as the guard addressed him. ¡°Halt. What business do you have here.¡± ¡°I have business with your Gate Sergeant, guardsman.¡± ¡°You wish to meet with Rollins?¡± ¡°Rollins? Has your Sergeant changed recently?¡± ¡°Uh, yes sir! The last Gate Sergeant just got promoted to Barracks Sergeant a month ago I think.¡± ¡°Hah! The bastard never told me! Now go have someone tell the Barracks Sergeant that Doug is looking for him. He''ll know it''s me.¡± The guard made a gesture to someone else beside the gate that Harrant couldn''t quite see, so he settled in with his back to the wall for a bit of a wait. ¡°Guardsman, what''s your name?¡± He called over his shoulder through the grates. ¡°I''m Private First Class Zo, sir.¡± ¡°Stop calling me sir before we both get in trouble, Zo.¡± He hesitated a moment until he thought he saw a nod from the boy on the other side. ¡°Zo is a Free Peoples name, isn''t it?¡± ¡°Yes sir- I mean, Doug?¡± ¡°What''s a free-man like you doing up in the guard these days?¡± ¡°My Ma was from the mountains, but I never grew up there. Figured I might be able to do some service to the Prince since I''ve been living in the city my whole life.¡± ¡°How¡­admirable.¡± Harrant let the words roll off his tongue genuinely. At least the boy had a good heart for the position. Behind him he heard another man give an order, ¡°Open the gate!¡±, and the massive iron fence started swinging inward on its hinge. Harrant nodded to the boy on the other side as he took in the slightly raised cheekbones that marked his people''s parentage, then carried on to the other side. Another tall man stood there, only a short bit smaller than Harrant himself, hands at his hips as he waited for the visitor to join him. He wore the green tapered dress uniform with matching olive suit top and bottom looking only a little bit unusual on the obvious body of a soldier. Harrant started to greet him while he was still walking, ¡°You didn''t tell me you were a Barracks Sergeant now!¡± ¡°And you haven''t come to visit in a good couple months either. Get stuck doing some time in a local jail?¡± ¡°You''re the one stuck behind metal bars every day.¡± Harrant pointed over his shoulder at the gate closing behind him. The man across from him finally broke into a smile, and the two reached over into a solid embrace clapping each other on the back before they started walking further into the garrison. ¡°I''d ask if you''ve been keeping out of trouble, but I probably already know the answer.¡± the man asked. ¡°I suppose you do know me well enough. Not much has changed, huh?¡± ¡°Only difference is, if you ever do get caught I''ll have to be the one that swats your ass instead of dad. So please, please don''t force me into that position.¡± ¡°Don''t get caught. Got it¡± Harrant nudged his brother with his elbow as the two of them chuckled. The barracks sergeant guided them around a corner and into a mid sized office where several other soldiers worked at desks. They either wrote in small journals or poured over shared diagrams of formations from what Harrant could see on the desks. The Harrant brothers stopped at a larger desk at the back of the room. ¡°So Doug, we both know you don''t just visit for nothing. So whatcha need this time?¡± The two men sat on opposite sides of the desk as they continued. ¡°Need? I mean, that''s such a strong word for things isn''t it?¡± Harrant''s brother just fixed him with a solid stare as he waited for him to speak ¡°Alright, alright. I might have gotten into a bit of a bind ya see? My employer sort of left suddenly without making good on our contract, leaving me and my team a bit strung out for gold at the moment.¡± ¡°You''ve come here to beg me for money?¡± ¡°No. I''ve come to beg you for work.¡± ¡°You know we don''t work with sell-swords here Doug.¡± ¡°I mean, really? You''re even the Barracks Sergeant now! You''re telling me you can''t just bend a few rules?¡± The sergeant sat forward in his seat, steepling his hands in front of his mouth as his eyes went hard. ¡°No. I actually, physically can''t. But, the garrison needs more folks Doug.¡± ¡°That''s hardly fair Chris. You''d leave your own brother out to dry?¡± ¡°My offer from last time still stands, you''re a good fighter Doug, and I could use more fighters.¡± Chris lifted his chin in the direction of the soldiers working behind him. ¡°Yeah, and leave my men out in the cold, right?¡± Chris sat there for a moment, thinking, before he pursed his lips and continued. ¡°I''m in a position to offer more this time Doug. Take your team with you and I can at least give you your own squad formation within the unit, maybe even a section.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was Doug''s turn to hesitate. This was far better than he was expecting, but some old part of him still didn''t like the idea of working with the Princedom directly. ¡°You''d give me leadership of half a platoon, just like that?¡± ¡°Oh hell no! You''d have them deserting within a month Doug, I''m not stupid. But a special flex squad that may or may not exist slightly outside of the normal rank structure? That could work.¡± ¡°No way you have that much pull Chris.¡± ¡°I don''t, but the garrison commander might. Give me a day or two and come back if you''re still interested. I''ll be able to tell you then if my offer still stands.¡± ¡°You''re desperate, aren''t you?¡± Doug asked. ¡°It''s a trying time for all of us now isn''t it?¡± Chris asked, ¡°Especially if Doug Harrant is willing to come back to the Prince of Whispers for a bit of coin.¡± ¡®Oh, you really have no idea how true that is yet Chris. No idea at all.¡¯ Harrant thought. Doug looked down at the ground for a moment and saw a small flash of purple light disappear around the corner of the desk. Satisfied with the visit, Doug stood up to leave before too much got brought up. ¡°I''ll see you in a couple of days then brother.¡± He held out a fist towards the man, which Chris quickly stood up and punched with his own fist. Neither of them could contain their smiles as each man considered the fact they might just be saving their brother from a terrible fate with this deal. At least one of them was correct. ¡ª Mathew held up the red handkerchief towards the manor guards for them to inspect the lettering on the front of it. A thin black suit clung to his wrist in a way that would be more befitting of a warrior than a servant, but that might just be because Dei always thought that the man looked like an elderly lumberjack. Still, he must have looked the part as the men quickly waved the two of them into the grounds, directing Matthew to talk to a steward at the main doors. As for Dei, she wore a similar but more loosely fitted suit with a matching black top and bottom. The only difference was that her hands were covered in a delicate black satin pair of gloves, as well as a black head dress that hid every inch of her skull behind a thick white mask that was as plain as it was awkward. Even though the pieces were obviously intended to be tailored for practicality instead of fit, they were still quite a bit tighter than any of the other clothing she had worn in the past, leading her to make certain, experimentations, with her body. A little bit of padding on her hips helped give her something to hold the pants up despite the belt, but the real problem was the dress shirt. A quick bit of market research had revealed that servants couldn''t always guarantee they''d be allowed to keep their jackets on at all times. With the current fashion requiring that even female servants tuck in their shirts, Dei had to rearrange a couple of her ribs in order to make it all work. In the meantime if she added a bit more definition to the way her chest area looked while wearing a dress shirt, well, perhaps she wanted to look like she had at least some meat on her bones for once. Upon her final checks in the mirror posted near the front of a tailor''s shop, she decided that she looked normal. Normal was in many ways a vast improvement over the spritely wick of a body that she had suffered the last couple months. Although she did feel somewhat ashamed that it was all just smoke and mirrors at the end of the day. If it stopped drawing people''s attention to her twig-like stature, then that was worth it. As long as Dei never had to suffer the embarrassment of anyone seeing the cup shaped bony appendages she had to craft to mimic her former assets. As they made their way across the open courtyard, Dei''s hips swayed only a little bit unnaturally as she slowly adjusted to the new gait of her body. Clean white cobblestones stretched from the manor gates to the main building, creating an almost opposite effect to the sprawling gardens of the Jocell home. Instead of flowers and pergolas overgrown with vines across the thin walkways, the Brent courtyard was home to alternating patterns of black and white stone tiles allayed in massive designs over the open courtyard. Off to the side a small group of soldiers in deep maroon uniforms sparred on the open rock tiles, dancing back and forth with wooden swords as a teacher made comments on their footwork. To the left Dei could make out a small barn area with several carriages stowed away under a massive awning. ¡®They¡¯re at least a practical family, aren''t they?¡¯ Dei thought to herself. A man in matching servants clothing opened the door to the estate as they approached, ushering them into the main foyer. Once again, the Brent family had lain an ornate design of a wolf''s head howling at the moon into the polished tile floor near the entrance. Before they could get very far however, the steward reached out and grabbed Dei by the shoulder of her jacket, wheeling her back in to face him as the door closed behind them. ¡°Girl, what have you done to lord Julius?¡± Matthew stepped between the two of them, casually separating the steward from his target ¡°Oh, so is this scam actually your plan?¡± The steward asked Matthew. ¡°Whatever are you talking about, steward?¡± He responded. ¡°Don''t act dumb. Its obvious that neither of you have any real training on courtly etiquette, so why does one of my aspiring lords suddenly bring two unvouched servants into his employment without even consulting me? So I ask again. What. Have. You. Done?¡± ¡°That''ll be enough of that Gerald.¡± A voice called out from above. Dei turned to take in the speaker as she found Julius bent over the stairwell railing with his elbows held casually on the ledge. ¡°You''re right though, they''re not your average servants. Which is why you''re going to teach them.¡± Julius started walking down the stairs to join them, a covered servant woman with a similar mask as Dei¡¯s trailing after him. ¡°My lord, this is hardly proper for any servants of the high houses.¡± Gerald began. ¡°I know, I know.¡± Julius waved his hand absently as he joined the group near the door. ¡°But I need them, or at least just her to be able to accompany me soon.¡± ¡°But my lord! You already have one elbow servant assigned to you! To have another one assigned by your side would do nothing but draw attention to your excess.¡± ¡°It doesn''t matter Gerald. Lady¡­¡± he looked at Dei for a moment before continuing, ¡°...Denise needs to be able to accompany me, and the courts can make up whatever rumors they may choose to explain the change.¡± ¡°Lady Denise?¡± Gerald looked into the holes of the mask she wore, searching for the person underneath. Hopefully none of the pale light from Dei''s eyes could be seen through the tight gauze she had stretched over the holes. ¡°My lord, have you brought a ma-¡± ¡°Yes Gerald, I have. Which is why I want her to accompany me from now on. As soon as she can do so without drawing attention to herself.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± The steward remained perfectly still with his hands clasped behind his back as he had since the lord had arrived. Still, she could see a hint of understanding in those eyes, mixed among the anger that barely simmered below the surface. ¡°My lord, I cannot promise that the training will not be arduous for the girl, especially if you want her to be ready any time soon.¡± ¡°Understood. Though I think you''ll find her a bit more resilient than you would expect.¡± Julius winked at her, then reached into his pocket to withdraw another maroon handkerchief. With a curt step forward he placed the pre-folded piece of red cloth into her jacket pocket then stepped back a polite distance. ¡°To remember me by, dear.¡± He turned around, closing the conversation with a mere gesture as he returned up the stairs alongside his shadow. Dei watched him climb to the second floor with a strange mix of annoyance and curiosity in her heart. This lord Julius was indeed an interesting bed-fellow for her plans; so long as he could stick up to his end of the bargain. Pausing at the top of the stairs, he turned sideways to give her one last glance before he left. ¡°And Denise? I think it might be best if you stopped gelling your hair down so tightly beneath the head scarf. It makes you practically look bald behind your mask.¡± The man finally disappeared down the open hallway behind him, and out of sight. Dei returned her gaze to the cold glare emanating from the master servant across from her. He might at least understand a bit of what was happening now, but that did nothing to make him any more excited about the prospect. To her left, she noticed that Matthew had already started holding his hands behind his back in a similar fashion to the steward. ¡®Oh, he''s gonna have so much fun with this, isn''t he?¡¯ Dei thought. 32 - Shadows Passing Janette leapt across the city in massive arcing bounds as she pushed on the rooftops below her. Tonight she had decided to focus on moving quickly while maintaining a thin layer of force around her at the same time. It felt a bit like she was trying to think about two things at once, both imagining herself surrounded by a small protective bubble, but also staying aware of her surroundings well enough to not fall face first into the blurry lines that marked streets and alleyways. Of course, she had done all this before. A dozen nights she had followed the same route around the city, practicing her form as she fantasized about running from dark figures chasing after her. It could happen one day couldn''t it? A proper young lady like herself was just preparing for the inevitable. A day when a master assassin was sent to chase after her, just as capable in the force mage arts as she was. The only way she would survive that night was with the wit of a rogue, and the practice she honed on these lonely nightly outings. But, that repetition was starting to make things rote by this point. She needed to pick things up a notch and push herself before it was too late to practice. Janette let herself fall through the air, approaching and then passing the nearby rooftops as she plummeted towards the ground. A light push downward sent her skipping across the ground like a throwing stone, bouncing up and down the breadth of the street without ever touching the ground. The streets were empty, market stalls pulled away into locked storage areas for the night, and most denizens of the city asleep in their homes. Still, as she flew down the streets at a breakneck pace, she passed by several men and women walking through the late hour with thieves'' lanterns held up in the darkness. They passed like bobbing eyes in the darkness as she pondered the funny name for the devices. Her tutors had told her that while the thief''s lantern was commonly used by the underground, it was just as commonly employed by well standing citizens and even guardsmen. Since it was considered rude to shine a light through the windows of peoples homes in the middle of the night, they had developed the lanterns with focused lenses that forced all the light into a single cone away from the user. Janette mused about the funny looking tools as she pushed herself sideways, flinging down another street, losing then regaining her momentum within a couple of seconds. ¡®Oh shit.¡¯ Janette realized that she had let her bubble fade away while she had been thinking about the occasional light that passed below. With a bit of effort she formed the invisible barrier around herself once again, only absentmindedly paying attention to the street down below. No one said anything as she passed overhead in the night, both parties passing silently as she moved down the street like a bobbing shadow, faster than a horse''s gallop. ¡®Can they hear my clothes rustling as I-¡¯ She cut herself off mid thought, refocusing on the bubble as it started to wane. The action felt like she was trying to pat her head while rubbing her stomach. A feat that was fairly easy in her opinion, once you set your mind to it. ¡°And fairly stressful while flinging myself down a street at breakneck speeds¡± She grumbled to herself. For some reason complaining about the act wasn''t nearly as distracting as thinking about other things while she continued bounding away. Left, then right, then push! She forced herself to crest over the top of a building before falling back into the next street over, continuing her journey through the massive wooden corridors. ¡®This isn''t nearly as hard as I thought it would be.¡¯ She thought as she approached a sharp right turn at the end of the road by pushing forward to slow her momentum, then slamming her force to the left to send her flying down the new street. She turned with the push to face her direction of travel, willing the bubble to thicken just a bit more than usual on the right side to help her rotate through the air. When she finally looked down the new street, a massive stone keep was just in front of her. ¡®PUSH!¡¯ She slammed downward with all her force, feeling the pressure force her legs up and past her butt as the sudden burst pushed her upward. Her body tumbled backwards, feet over head even as she felt rather than saw the massive stone building pass by her at disturbingly high speeds. Janette willed a slight force into the back of her knees as she extended them once again, sending her through another half flip to return to an upright position once again. The movement sent her slightly forward, and her face came within inches of the blurry gray form that she knew she didn¡¯t want to collide with. A half second later, the form of gray disappeared and she was looking down on the top of the crenulated keep. The momentum of her jump stopped around twenty meters up from the rooftop, and she allowed herself to gently fall to a crouched landing on the smooth stone bricks. ¡°Phew.¡± Janette put her hands down onto the ground as she knelt there on the top of the keep, more than happy to just have her hands and feet back on solid ground after nearly crushing herself into the side of the building. A few seconds of relieved curses echoing into the stone below her, she started to hear some strange buffeting sound like a flag in the wind. A set of leather boots appeared beside her, slamming into the ground like someone had just fallen from a ten foot ledge to land next to her hands. She scrambled back, willing her bubble back into place as she took in her newest visitor in the night. ¡®Damn, since when did I let the barrier dissipate earlier?¡¯ ¡°Woah there! Don¡¯t do anything stupid now.¡± A well built blonde man with short hair and a clean shaven face raised his hands towards her wardingly. His green spaulders layered over some thin chainmail and leather armor marked him as a garrison soldier, which finally allowed Janette to relax. She let her back fall to the ground where she was already sitting and flung her arms out as she stared up into the night. Sure, he might be about to yell at her for being stupid, but at least she wasn¡¯t going to get thrown into a sudden fight with another great house mage. ¡°Uh. You okay?¡± He asked. She just nodded in response, eyes staring up into the stars overhead. She took deep massive breaths of air, still trying to get her lungs back in control while her mind whirled with the recent panic. ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to be here.¡± She nodded once again. ¡°You¡¯re not even going to say anything?¡± He asked. She shrugged, ¡°I fucked up and ended up somewhere I shouldn¡¯t have. So are you going to give me my punishment so we can go on our ways?¡± She raised herself with her elbows behind her as she propped herself up to look at him. He was looking down at her with a thoughtful look on his face. Eventually, he just shrugged and turned away to start walking across the rooftop. ¡°What? Really?¡± Janette questioned the man as he walked away from her, watching his back as he strode past the massive glass ceiling that comprised the majority of the keep¡¯s roof, lined with braziers and a thin railing. He walked up to the side of the crenellation opposite her and casually hopped atop the five foot tall stone perch to seat himself. She stared after him for a time, watching the man simply look out upon the rest of the city with his back turned to her. Didn¡¯t he know she could use this as a chance to flee? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to, you know, do something to make sure she never made the same mistake twice? Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Despite her own best interests, Janette found herself walking over to the man, using her own push to help jump up to the top of the crenellation next to him. She stayed standing, looking down at the man who paid her no heed, then searched out towards the city below them. Hundreds of flickering lights dotted the landscape far below, some moving up and down the empty streets while others emanated from the insides of busy townhomes. ¡°What are you looking for?¡± She asked He didn¡¯t respond to her for a long time. She started to wonder if he had even heard her question before he finally answered. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a reason.¡± He said. ¡°A reason?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She waited for him to elaborate a bit, but nothing more came. ¡°A reason to¡­¡± She tried to coax him into speaking. He finally looked over at her, brow furrowed as his customary force mage eyes took in her matching pupils as they met eyes. ¡°What do you care?¡± He asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± She hesitated. Maybe this wasn¡¯t such a good idea, but she was in too deep already. ¡°It just seems strange to me that the mage that they probably have guarding the keep¡¯s roof isn¡¯t actually kicking me off the roof.¡± The man shrugged, ¡°What''s the point?¡± ¡°To protect the Prince of Whispers of course!¡± She argued. ¡°And? Why? Because he gave us these powers?¡± He held up his hand to the air. ¡°Well sure, but also because he¡¯s the God Prince. Our savior from the other nations.¡± ¡°What''s he really saving us all from though? The threat of a life without dancing and balls?¡± He thumbed over his shoulder at the glass rooftop behind them. Janette thought back to the party she attended just the other night. The colors, and the music, and the dresses, and the Men. How could that be such a bad thing? ¡°The balls give this city its life though. Without them, we would be just like the barbarians which surround us.¡± She said. ¡°That¡¯s just the thing though, how do you even know that the other countries are so uncivilized? Because that¡¯s what the tutors taught you?¡± ¡°Y-yes?¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the point of the princedom culture being summarized by balls and parties when the majority of the populace can¡¯t partake in them?¡± ¡°I. I don¡¯t know.¡± Janette looked out towards the city. She hadn¡¯t ever really thought about things this hard. Just what was she doing, speaking to a strange soldier like this in the middle of the night. Still¡­ ¡°So why do you bother staying here? If you hate it so much.¡± She asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He said. ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡± His gaze returned to the cityscape as the two sat there for a time. Faint smoke rose from several chimneys throughout the city, and Janette traced the columns of darkness up and into the stars. She stood to leave him before it got too late, but thought of a question before she left. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± She asked. ¡°You can call me Cody.¡± He said. She smiled at him in the darkness, her ragged coverings making her look like a strange shadow perched atop the stone face by his side. ¡°Well. Have a nice night Cody. Maybe we¡¯ll meet again some day.¡± She took a step forward off the stone walltop, plummeting down the face of the keep before throwing a push towards its side that sent her sailing out into the night. The air whipped through her hair as she returned to her father¡¯s manor. So many thoughts and questions rang through her head that she didn¡¯t even think of keeping her barrier active. Just pleasant bounds and jumps through the low atmosphere while she allowed her mind to wander. ¡ª Cody still sat there at the top of the Whispering Keep hours later as the sun started to rise over the city walls. He watched as the light slowly graced the tops of the nearby rooftops with its morning heat, allowing the hazy glow of a hundred houses to fade into the coming day. His shift on guard duty had come and past long ago, as a series of more mundane guards had come up to relieve him around an hour before dawn. Still, he sat there, thinking about the city that lay far down below. It was all just superficial things. His mind never latched on to one topic too deeply, afraid of where they might take him if he thought about it too hard. That was, until a man started talking from behind him. ¡°LT. Hadn¡¯t expected to still find you up here.¡± Sergeant Henry walked up to lean over the parapet to his left. ¡°I had guard duty last night, Sergeant.¡± ¡°Yeah? So did half the platoon. Won''t find them still hanging around their posts after the fact though. ¡° Cody shrugged. His eyes scanned the streets below, looking for moving shadows in the light. Looking for others like him. ¡°You haven¡¯t been yourself the last couple days.¡± Henry said. ¡°My mind¡¯s just on other things.¡± Cody replied. ¡°So take a break then. Everyone needs a couple days off eventually.¡± ¡°But the men.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll live without you just fine. We work together for a reason, LT. The whole place won''t go crumbling down if you take a week off the job.¡± Cody¡¯s mouth creased into a frown. He wasn¡¯t sure whether he actually cared about the men at this point, or whether he was just using them as an excuse to get out of taking time to himself. ¡°I don¡¯t have the commander¡¯s approval.¡± ¡°Yes you do.¡± Another voice called out from behind him. Cody tensed and jumped to his feet to spin around and give a salute to the man that was walking across the stone blocks. He almost lost his balance on the small pedestal with the move and was forced to throw a small push at the empty air behind him to knock himself back into alignment. ¡°Good morning, Sir!¡± He snapped a saluting fist up for the man, which was promptly returned to him. A stocky man with short brown hair nearly shaved to the side of his head with a matching green uniform came to a stop. ¡°Lieutenant Tane. When your sergeant over here said he was having trouble finding you I started to get worried.¡± ¡°My apologies sir.¡± The man shook his head, ¡°Go on, get out of here.¡± ¡°But sir.¡± ¡°Your Sergeant¡¯s right. You look like a mess right now, and that does our men no good in a leader. Take a week to figure things out, and come back when you look a bit less like someone killed your puppy.¡± Cody still didn¡¯t feel too happy about the situation, and Captain Salmonson seemed to notice. ¡°Unless of course you want to share with us what¡¯s got you so messed up?¡± The man asked. ¡°N-no sir. One of my friends just died in an accident recently and¡­I guess I''ll take that time off if you don¡¯t mind sir.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t. Now go find your head before I have to call you back for an emergency or something.¡± Cody made another salute to the man, and after receiving the matching movement from the Captain, he hopped off the Crenellation and jogged over the trap door below. As he made it below ground, likely about to go grab his things before leaving the barracks, the commander addressed Sergeant Henry. He didn¡¯t seem too happy about the decision, but the Captain had a feeling the young officer would end up taking them up on the offer regardless. ¡°You¡¯ll look after the kid, Sergeant?¡± ¡°Of course sir. We all do.¡± The commander nodded his head once in thanks, then spun around to return below as he settled into the work day. Hopefully that would be the end of that problem. Hopefully. 33 - Stewards and Cooks Dei stood behind an ornate bronze colored chair. Back straight, chest up, head held high, arms clasped behind her back. She was the picture of refined grace, and the shining beacon of a statuesque servant. Or so she had thought. ¡°Square your shoulders more girl. How many times do I have to say it?¡± Gerald berated her posture as he always did over the past couple days. Every standing position, sitting position, and even the art of bending over to grab something was practiced ad nauseum between the two of them for the last three days straight. ¡°And keep your head level, not angled. Remember you are a servant now girl, not whatever you might have been before.¡± The man never seemed to stop finding something in her appearance to correct. If her posture was correct, then her uniform had to be disheveled. If her uniform was disheveled, it meant she hadn¡¯t taken enough care with her daily duties. If her daily chores were half-hearted, it was only because her posture was criticized for each and every moment of the day. Dei found herself fantasizing about all the different ways she could kill the man when all this was said and done. Would it be more painful to drown, or get drawn and quartered? ¡°Stop daydreaming! Your response time is delayed when you allow your thoughts to wander. You must keep better control of your inclinations towards laziness or you will look shameful in front of our lord.¡± She let her thoughts wander anyways. How could he even tell whether she was thinking about something else? Not like he could see her face anyways, though he had certainly tried. They gave the servants some small time to themselves, even for the ones in training as she was given a short eight hours a day to eat dinner, bathe, sleep, and eat breakfast the following day before they started training once again. Now, for someone that didn¡¯t need to do any of those things, that gave her some decent free time to play around with. She had spent most of her free time devising different methods of adding hair to her body, with mixed results. The most promising option she had found so far was to form several thousand strands of bone sticking out from the top of her skull, but make them so fine and fragile that they bent and curled under their own weight. The only problem was that making them so fragile had left her with massive chunks of hair breaking off every time something touched them. Instead, she found that she could more or less freeze these thinner strands into place after she had them arranged the way she liked by fusing the thin bone pieces together into more of a hair like hood rather than individual strands of hair. All of which led her to the simple joy of looking just a little bit more normal when the black head covering sometimes clung tightly to the low ponytail she was currently wearing. ¡°You are so absolutely hopeless, I don¡¯t even know what to do with you!¡± The man¡¯s never ending tirade finally brought her back to her senses. She still stood, as still as a human could stand and perhaps even more so as she pretended to attend an invisible man in the chair beside her. ¡°Why do you have to be such an untrained bore of a girl? Lord Julius had to have chosen one of the most imbecilic, daft-¡± Dei turned around to face the man, breaking her character to immediately come face to face with the old badger and place her mask less than an inch away from him. She almost hoped he could see the way her eyes burned through the covered slats of the mask. ¡°Stop! Just what are-¡± She reached up and grasped him by the throat, then lifted him up and off the ground like he were a child. The man flailed with his legs, his head turning funny shades of red and purple. She let him hover there, contemplating his actions for a few seconds before the door opened. ¡°Put him down, Denise.¡± Lord Julius¡¯s voice came from behind her. She released the man, letting him fall to the ground. The man scrambled away from her on his hands and knees, one hand clutching at his throat as he hacked and gasped for air. He didn¡¯t stop either, crawling behind Lord Julius and out of the doorway like he wanted to be anywhere other than where she was. ¡®Perfect.¡¯ She thought. He¡¯d deserved it. Julius raised an eyebrow at her as she watched the man squirming, only closing the door once Gerald had left the room. ¡°My staff have told me that you are doing quite well with your classes, Lady Dei. When you actually put the effort in, of course.¡± He waited after he spoke, obviously expecting an answer that never came. ¡°Oh, right. I suppose I can only ask you yes or no questions when you don¡¯t have something to write with.¡± He reached up to paw at his graying goatee as he thought about things. Dei shrugged, then walked over to a nearby bookcase at the side of the room. She withdrew and opened several books before she found the one that she was looking for, then opened the nearby drawer to take out an ink and quill. Dei returned to the table to start writing out her speech to Julius as he watched her with a slight smile on his face. ¡°I doubt any of my other staff happen to know exactly which books in this study are empty journals, just by memory.¡± He said. ¡°If your staff berate me one more time in the name of ¡®training¡¯, I will turn them into my staff instead.¡± ¡°Of course lady Dei.¡± He bowed his flamboyant bow to mark his words. ¡°Though I will say I think you¡¯re about ready for some real work anyways. There¡¯s a ball tonight. I¡¯d like for you to attend it with me.¡± Dei studied him for a moment, ¡°I thought I was training as a servant to sneak into mansions and kill people.¡± ¡°Well yes, it¡¯ll help with that too, but first I need to show you who needs killing. I can¡¯t have you wandering around the city trying to find a person you¡¯ve never met before. And don¡¯t tell me you were planning on interrogating people with pen and parchment?¡± ¡°You might just have a decent point. But wont bringing me to balls draw attention to my lack of training?¡± ¡°Nonsense. You''ll hardly have to do anything but stand there and look pretty. Marianne can take care of the actual servant work throughout the night. I just need you there to point out the nobles of importance so you can start learning who''s who.¡± ¡°And your staff?¡± ¡°My staff will do whatever I tell them to do. The only person with more sway here is the house leader himself, and he''s far too distracted by council proceedings to pay attention to little things like servants.¡± Dei nodded, satisfied with the answers. She snapped the book closed with the ink still wet inside, aware that it would likely ruin the pages just as well as it erased her text. ¡°Now then Lady Dei. Would you like to join me for the afternoon? It might give you some last minute practice before we force you to stand still for several hours at the ball.¡± Dei rolled her bony shoulders, though the motion didn''t give her the same pleasure that it would have in life. She wordlessly walked behind Lord Julius to take up her spot in the customary position for the Princedom¡¯s ¡®elbow servant¡¯ as she had learned. If a living servant was considered a talented statue in the eyes of these nobles, she''d just have to show them what they were missing. Stolen novel; please report. ¡ª The carriage clattered down the street as Dei watched a crowd of people squished unceremoniously along the side of the road as they let the massive device through. Matthew sat to her left, while Julius and his typical elbow servant Marianne were seated across from them. The carriage was so loud as they bounced around on the uneven cobblestones below them that Julius had to almost yell across the carriage to be heard. ¡°Matthew, are you ready for this?¡± ¡°Of course, my Lord.¡± Matthew said. Julius nodded approvingly as Matthew bowed his head slightly in his seat. Dei hadn''t known what to expect from his role in the plan, but when Matthew fit into the servant staff just as easily as he fit in anywhere else? Well, she was starting to expect these things from him at this point. It turned out that his firemaking skills translated to cooking as well, a convenient skill to have when the Princedom nobility typically brought their own cooks to functions. It was all in the name of ¡®personal taste¡¯, but it seemed a bit obvious to Dei that they just didn''t want to give their competition an easy chance to poison them. There was something extravagant to the function as well, since many house leaders would bring entire wait staffs to the large balls, turning the kitchens into culinary battlefields between the great houses. For the lesser houses that couldn''t afford to bring a talented cook with them from their often more distant country homes, the great houses would make extra dishes to fulfill the needs of the masses. ¡®The way to a man''s heart is through his stomach.¡¯ Dei thought, ¡®Unless you''re trying to stab him I guess.¡¯ She hid a glowing smile under her mask as she refused to allow any ounce of her mirth into the rigid posture she held matching the girl across from her. Marianne was like a mirror reflection of Dei''s own appearance, though she did have a couple inches of height on her, she wore the same thin gloves tucked into a plain dress shirt and the customary servant''s mask. More importantly, she was good. She hardly moved an inch, nor shifted in her seat a single time as the carriage rustled and bounced its way down the street. Twin masks of white glowed in the dark carriage inside, neither breaking their forward stare for an instant. In the harsh lighting of the setting sun behind the nearby houses, she couldn''t quite make out the eyes of the girl set deep into the mask across from her. There was no gauze stretched across the inside of her mask like Dei had been using, your average servant having no such need for anonymity to such a degree. Still, Dei found herself imagining what the woman might look like under the mask, if only to pass the time as they trundled along. It didn''t take all that much longer until they reached their destination and the carriage came to a stop. Marianne exited first, swiftly unlocking the door, making her way down the outer rim of the carriage in two graceful steps, then turning inward to hold the door open for her charge. Julius exited a bit more slowly, standing up tall as his chest made it through the door until he was fully upright before starting to make his way down the carved footholds like he was walking down a simple flight of stairs. Dei and Matthew followed after him, grasping the side rail meant to help people up and down as they made their way out without making too much of a fool of themselves. Dei took up the elbow servant position, though she did so on Julius''s right side instead of his left, allowing Marianne to close the carriage door after them and take up the more traditional position as they walked forward. Matthew hovered behind the group as all three ¡®servants¡¯ walked forward with their hands clasped behind their backs. They marched up the keep steps towards the house of whispers and a small retinue of guards that gathered by the entrance. A servant man with a list of paper greeted them as they got closer. ¡°Lord Julius, thank you for joining us tonight. But I see that you have two elbow servants today for some reason?¡± ¡°Yes, I do.¡± Julius spoke, drawing out his words just a little bit more than was natural for him in private. ¡°My head steward said that it might do her some good getting some practice in before serving in an official role at a later time.¡± He gestured over in Dei''s direction. ¡°Of course my lord. And what might your name be, dear?¡± He addressed the question towards Dei, but Julius answered for her. ¡°Denise D''elm¡± he said. ¡°Oh my.¡± The servant made a small but respectful bow towards Dei. ¡°Then you may proceed lord Julius.¡± The man held a thin smile on his face alongside a twinkle in his eye as he bade them inside. ¡®Just who is Julius making me out to be?¡¯ Dei thought. She hadn''t been bothered much by the pseudonym he had given her upon arriving as his servant, but she also hadn''t been aware that it would have such an effect on people when they heard it. Dei matched pace with Julius and Marianne, the three walking in lockstep as they made sure to time their left feet to match lord Julius''s casual gait through the entrance way. The hallways of the stone keep were decidedly more militant in architecture than Dei had been expecting from the head state building in the capital. Plain stone corridors lined with numerous torch sconces alternating with thick wooden doors marked the path deeper into the palace grounds. It was technically a palace in Dei''s opinion, the seat of power within the Princedom domain, but the fact that it was also the headquarters for their military as well as the location of the council chambers made it a bit more utilitarian than the home of the Golden King. A single guard led them forward down the twisting corridors, beckoning towards a closed door halfway through that marked Matthew''s turn to leave the group. A roar of pots and pans clattered in the distance as he stepped through the door, disappearing into the kitchens as the rest of the group continued on. A few more nonsensical turns and corridors later, the guard led them through an open set of double doors into the first room with any real warmth to it since they had arrived. They walked through a close knit mass of people who ranged in colorful dresses and suits corresponding with the houses that they belonged to. ¡®Red for house Brent, Blue for House Jocell, Yellow for House Jurn, Purple for House Geld, and Green for House Whisper.¡¯ The teachings recounted themselves in Dei''s head in the same snot-nosed tone of voice that Gerald always used when he was teaching her something he thought she should already know. Which was everything. In between them all, servants in various shades of black clothing meandered between groups of colorful nobles, guiding food and drinks to their intended recipients. While the nobles did bring their own cooks to the functions, the serving staff was operated almost entirely by House Whisper, the true owners of the keep. Under every upheld platter of refreshments was a small green splash of color attached to the breast pocket of every server. Combined with the matching green uniforms of men standing guard around the outside of the massive room, Dei was surprised that green wasn''t the dominant color. Instead, a mix of various unaffiliated shades melded into the group as lesser families in brown, orange, beige, and white filtered into the holes left between the great houses. Dei was thankfully not so distracted by it all that she didn''t stick to Lord Julius''s side as the trio walked up a wide set of carpeted steps up to the second floor of the ballroom. Julius walked confidently towards a small table set into the corner of the room, near the ledge overlooking a grand dance floor laid out below. It was then that Dei noticed the pull of the string instruments that played in tandem with the constant chattering of nearby conversations. As Julius took up his seat for the evening, it finally allowed Dei to lose herself in the moment as she took up the statuesque posting behind his seat and next to Marianne. The music that filtered through the room and up into a massive chandelier that poured light down into the different seating areas was beautiful. Beautiful, but not quite enrapturing like the last time she had heard a girl play music in a tavern. ¡®Oh, what was her name? Stella something?¡¯ Below, a gathering of perhaps fifty nobles arranged into pairs danced a choreographed waltz as they spun into interlocking circles like moving cogs. They weren''t all graceful in their actions, some moving more rigidly than others across the lacquered wood, but they at least all fell into place without bumping into one another. At an individual level the dance was simple and repetitive, but when looked at as a whole, the swarming mass of couples was quite impressive to the uninitiated. Red clothed men danced with red dresses, and blue danced with blue while a couple splashes of the lesser colors intermingled with mismatched pairings. Dei took note of the fact that while the great houses were most often dancing with each other, a splash of yellow or purple could sometimes be seen coupled with a beige or brown. Julius remained in his seat, looking out over the gathering below as he started to speak softly to the open air. ¡°Denise. As your, benefactor, shall we say? Welcome to the pride of the Princedoms. May it stand far into the future.¡± Dei heard the smile on the man''s lips. The coy nature that seemed to peek out whenever he addressed her. She wished she could speak back. Not just respond as she often did in text and chalk, but to actively trade words with the man seated in front of her. ¡®Pride? You speak as though we''re not about to tear the whole thing down, Julius.¡¯ 34 - Denise Delm ¡°The one in the back right, yellow dress with the sequins around her waist. She''s Lady Tamarine Jurn and one half of the family that manages the biggest share of flax crops in the western Princedoms. Her husband, sitting down there alone by the pillar staring into his wine is Lord Ramses Jurn. Sad bastard must know that the only reason that his wife is dancing with half the ballroom is the fact that she''s trying to have another heir to protect their lineage. Wouldn''t matter to her who it is that actually sires the child.¡± Julius spoke directly into Dei''s mind. It was strange hearing him speak without opening his mouth, as though his voice was coming from within her own head like a second conscience rather than an exterior speaker. Regardless, the voice was so definitively his that she didn''t even question it, like listening to Fei or Xei have their silly arguments back when they still traveled with her. ¡®Hmm, I should check up on them soon.¡¯ She thought. Thankfully, Julius didn''t seem to be able to hear her thoughts. The nobleman''s voice continued to drone on in the background. ¡°Next up is the man dancing with lady Tamarine in the orange vest, Lord Theodore Penton. He''s been managing the logging industry over a good couple thousand miles of forested land over on the eastern border, or what''s left of it. The rumors say that the Free-peoples have been sending raids down into his foresting groups, making it harder for him to reach quota. Without the backing of a great house he''s just not going to be able to find the manpower to protect his workers.¡± ¡°Now, you see that woman in the blue ball gown that keeps trying to catch Theodore''s eye while ignoring her partner in the purple suit? She''s Lady Galaide Jocell, and the blind fool with her is Samuel Geld. She wants Theo''s wood, in more ways than one, but her father wants her to court the Geld boy so they can form something approaching a house alliance. So who do you think you''re going to kill tonight Dei?¡± She didn''t respond. Even if she could, her job was to be a statue right now. A silent watcher over the spinning masses down below. Not like Julius really cared when he had a captive audience, she was sure. ¡°You''re right! Lady Tamarine of course. Kill the lady of flax, and their sole heir to the family fortune. This sends the flax lord into a grieving period which helps my men undermine his farmlands. Theo has to find a new great family to court. And Galaide gets her true love while Sam gets the cold shoulder. This, my dear, is why I do so enjoy this little game.¡± Dei had to admit, this was only the third knot of intertwined fates that Julius had told her about this night, but she was fast growing to appreciate his knack for the court. The way that Julius had explained it to her, these noble families had had the last fifteen years or so to settle into peace and grow so interconnected. The only reason that no one else tried tipping the table on the game was their fear that it would come back to haunt their own noble family tenfold if they ever got caught. Well, that and the Prince of Whispers. He sat at the high table next to the other house leaders as was customary at these balls. His olive colored uniform suit matched that of all the other military officers that attended the ball in place of the House of Whispers. None of these men and women danced on the floor with the others, instead flitting here and there to partake in discussions among the nobility at the dining tables. Likewise, Lord Whisper did something similar as his head constantly swiveled around the room like a lighthouse on a rocky coastline. Every time his eyes grazed over her, Dei could feel some sort of presence wash over her, watching, before it inevitably moved on a moment later. Was it just a display of power to cow the nobles into line, or did his attention actually give him any information as he looked over his people. When he wasn''t paying attention to her, Dei looked over at those strange prismatic eyes of his, pock-marked with a dozen different colors that reflected in the light of the chandelier. The base of his iris was still blue, a color that had bled out from just the pupil in order to tint the rest of his sclera a light azul shade as well. The man''s face was hard, but otherwise normal as he merely looked like an average built man with short black hair and a thin layer of beard shadow. He wasn''t handsome, but the eyes did at least give him a bit of an exotic feel for an otherwise boring middle aged man. ¡°I do hope you''re still paying attention.¡± Julius¡¯s voice droned. ¡®I wasn''t¡¯ ¡°The thin lady in white walking up onto the stage with the man in red? That''s Lady Beatrice D''elm. Your mother, Denise.¡± The man laughed inaudibly over the connection, but he had at least gotten Dei''s attention. ¡®Just who is this woman?¡¯ ¡°I''m sure you''re wondering who she is now.¡± ¡®Go on, tell me about how smart you are, Lord Julius. How everything¡¯s going to plan.¡¯ ¡°Well, you''ll notice that she''s accompanied by Lord Vivian Brent, an odd name for a lord but a good man. He operates most of the roadwork projects going down into the southern border, and is an integral element of any deployment and maneuvering of the Princedom military despite his Brent family affiliation. Mind you, he might have had one too many nights of passion with the Lady D''elm, leading to an inopportune child or two. Now that they''re engaged though, the nobility have all but decided that he''s only marrying her in order to hide his shame.¡± ¡®But I''m¡­Denise D''elm.¡¯ ¡°And you''re just the cherry on top that turns this garbage fire into a masterpiece. Why is Lord Julius bringing a lesser noble into the balls under disguise, then sitting alone with her? Ah, because he must be training one of the D''elm children the ways of the court before their family officially joins blood with the Brent family. You naughty girl.¡± ¡®Oh, please don''t ever call me that again Julius.¡¯ As usual her words never reached his ears. ¡°What a pity you''re probably going to end up killing your own father later. It''ll be a touching family reunion, I''m sure. But we haven''t quite set the scene for that one yet so don''t get too excited.¡± If there was ever a man that Dei was relieved to not actually be related to, it would be Julius Brent. Still, she took the time to memorize her theoretical mother''s face along with the other nobles he introduced her to. The middle aged woman in white looked quite happy with the man across from her, visibly smiling even from across the hall as Vivian twirled her around on the open dance floor. Her long brown hair fell down to her lower back, a massive wave of brunete that was held into place with both a sparkling headband and some well placed braids to accentuate the look. Hazel eyes looked across at Vivian, pulling her into an embrace with dark green eyes of his own, neither of the couple bearing the telltale marks of a force mage. They were not Dei''s parents. That was for sure. Her own body was far more petitely built than Lady D''elm''s, with a smaller bust but larger shoulders. And of course she had used to have blond hair before she died¡­at least she was pretty sure about that. It was getting hard to remember things from before. Especially since her living memory only spanned about three hours before she ran out of air to breathe. ¡°Having fun Lucius?¡± A woman in a strange tightly fitted green dress with a slit down the leg sat down opposite Julius. ¡°My name is Julius, Palm.¡± he replied ¡°Now now. There''s hardly a difference is there?¡± Palm said. Julius didn''t smile as he eyed the girl across from him, dropping any unheard conversations with Dei as the two went quiet. A dozen ringed piercings gleamed from her ears, matching the golden eyeshadow she employed in wistful strokes out from her eyelashes. Her long dark hair was braided tightly into a bun atop her head, held in place with two thin golden spikes that criss crossed above her head. She was beautiful. Captivating in a way unlike any other person Dei had met for the last couple months. And best of all she did not seem to like Julius. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The woman waved over a servant with a tray of drinks before she continued the conversation. ¡°Doll, why don''t we skip to the good part where you tell me what you''re playing at by bringing your new toy here to the ball?¡± The servant handed one of the wine glasses directly to her, filled with a deep red wine visible through the clear glass. Another cup of the liquid was set before Julius, though he didn''t touch it. ¡°Oh you know me Palm, always scheming.¡± ¡°Yes, you and everyone else here dear. It doesn''t make you special.¡± She took a sip in between verbal barbs. ¡°So why have you suddenly decided to stir the pot?¡± Julius shrugged. ¡°I haven''t really started anything quite yet. You should stay a while and watch.¡± ¡°Yes, of course. Just stay here and give you all the ballroom intrigue of not only a second elbow maid, but also myself.¡± Dei found her eyes being drawn to the golden choker wound about the woman''s neck, sculpted into the shape of a snake with its tongue out. ¡°You''re already here aren''t you?¡± He said. ¡°Fair point. Give me one good reason why I shouldn''t leave you while I still have my dignity?¡± ¡°Mmm, because you like good company?¡± Palm stood up with her wine glass. ¡°Let me know if you ever want to reveal your cards, Julius. Maybe then we''ll spend more time together.¡± She raised her glass slightly in mock cheers then walked away before he could answer. Dei watched as the woman stalked away, eyes tracing the curve of her calves and the way her high heels accentuated every step across the balcony. The Herald was certainly not the only one watching the woman either, as several men and women stopped to watch her pass. Julius reached out to the table and pushed the wineglass away by the stem of the cup. The red wine jostled with the movement, spilling only slightly over the side onto the table when he stopped pushing it. He merely sat there thinking for a minute before looking back over the ledge to continue the night''s purpose. He never did explain Palm, or why she had come over. He went over another two dozen nobles of note, pointing them out to Dei but never a word about Palm. Even when she saw the woman come to a halt behind the Lord of Whispers, still, Julius wouldn''t mention her. The rest of the night passed quickly, as Julius went downstairs to mingle and gossip for around an hour before the trio started to withdraw from the room. A servant took Julius''s name down as he left, and by the time they had reached the kitchen door Matthew was already standing outside ready to join them. Likewise, as they left the front gateway to the keep a Brent family coach was already waiting for them with the door open. They filed in quickly, far less concerned about appearances since no one was watching, and set off back towards the manor house. As soon as they started moving, Julius started speaking in Dei''s head. ¡°As soon as we round this corner, I want you to jump out and walk back to the front of the keep. Stay away from the main road since the military keeps watchmen out even if you can''t see them.¡± Dei felt the carriage start to lean to the left, signifying that they were making a wide turn. ¡°Remember to kill both Tamarine and her son who supposedly still sleeps in her quarters. Oh, and wear this.¡± Julius pulled a yellow kerchief out of his pocket, handing it to Dei who replaced the red marker in her breast pocket. The carriage evened out and Dei reached up to open the door as the vehicle continued to move. As she jumped out of the cart she even thought she saw Marianna jolt in her seat, turning her head out of its perfect position as Dei landed in a roll to the side of the road. She watched the carriage ride away, someone reaching out and closing the open door once Dei had left. She looked behind her, in the direction that they had come from and saw the keep rising high above the surrounding noble''s housing. Large fires placed around the perimeter of the stone fortress blazed into the night, lighting up the solid walls high into the sky until the light couldn''t reach any farther. Dei set off to start her work. Just had to follow the Lady Tamarine back to her home first. ¡ª Andy Jurn lay alone in a bed far too large for the five year old boy as he hid beneath the covers. The darkness in the room had been too much that night alone. It had been trying to eat him as some beast crept in from the windows, pulling the curtains tight at the seams. But he was hiding now. It couldn''t get him. Couldn''t see him. Not while he was hiding. That''s what mother always said. He heard the latch to the bedroom open, the door swinging open slowly. Ominously. Terribly. Someone was here. Some-thing was here. Just stay quiet. Just stay still. He held his breath. One, two, three, four, five, six. He let the breath go suddenly then sucked in once again. One, two, three-. Something grabbed him by the arm. He spasmed under the blankets, shaking off the unseen monster as he scrambled away from the touch. ¡°Hey there baby. It''s alright.¡± A calm voice whispered out to him in the dark. He knew that voice. He opened his eyes and looked over at her, the bestest person in the world. Then he pounced at her, wrapping his arms around her shoulder as he buried his head into her with a big hug. ¡°Mom! The monsters came in through the window. They''re still here!¡± ¡°It''s okay sweetie, there''s no monsters here anymore. You already hid until they were gone, see?¡± His mom picked him up from the bed, nightgown bound around his body as she pulled him over to look through the window with her. The curtains still streaked inwards, moving like snakes and vipers in the cold moonlit air. He buried his head once again. ¡°Baby, it''s alright. It''s just the wind.¡± She closed the shutters and returned to the bed with him in her arms. He looked over her shoulder, and the curtains just looked like normal curtains once again. No more snakes in the night. She set him down on the bed, then pulled the covers over to tuck him in. He watched her for a couple minutes after, as she shuffled out of her pretty yellow dress with shiny scales near her tummy and hung it on a hangar in the side room, then came back in a matching nightgown like his. She sat at her bourdaire, unhooking the clasps from her dangling earings, and removing her necklace to leave in its place where she always kept it. It was only when she settled into bed beside him that the boy finally closed his eyes and felt safe. There were no monsters left in the night, not when she was here. ¡ª He awoke several hours later, or maybe it was only fifteen minutes. All he knew was that he needed to pee, really, really bad. He pawed at his eyes, blinking into the direction of the window where the curtains were trailing into the room once again. He nearly hid then, nearly called out for help, but no. His momma told him it was just the wind. With every ounce of his courage he decided to get up. He set one elbow down onto the bed, then turned towards where his momma was sleeping to put his other hand down when he felt something wet. His mind went blank. Had he wet the bed again? Maybe that''s why he had to pee so badly. But why was there so much of it? And why was it coming from mom? He looked behind him, trying to get a glance at his mom. She looked, different. Scary. Her eyes were open and staring up at the ceiling, her mouth hanging open while her arms were open at her sides. And she wasn''t blinking. Andy looked down at her body, where a large, dark red blob was spreading across the white sheets that were covering them. The monster! He ducked under the covers, quick as could be. He was so quick it didn''t even catch him. Couldn''t see him. But still, he felt the wetness seeping under him. His entire butt felt like it was wet now, and it smelt so weird and irony under the covers that he decided he had to come up for a breath of air. He whipped open the covers and took the biggest gasp he could before going back down, but something had caught the covers before he could get them back up. He opened his eyes, revealing three black dots in a sea of white blocking off his vision. ¡°Aa-.¡± He tried to scream but something caught him by the mouth and held him down. His nose still hummed in shrill, high pitched sounds echoing through the room as he tried to escape the shadow monster, but it held him there. He tried lifting the covers, to hide, but he couldn''t lift them past the monster''s outstretched arm holding him down. He couldn''t hide this time. The monster raised its other hand of black, the color of void itself to grasp its massive white face, then pulled it to the side. Blue light started to shine down on him from under the creature''s face, but he started to thrash even harder. It was going to eat him! And he needed to save mom! The oval of white with three black holes pulled away to reveal something worse. Something that looked almost like a human face, but not, looked down at him. Its two burning blue eyes hurt to look at, and stole his ability to see anything else in the room. It was just him and the strange blue skeletal face looking down at him as it seemed to study him. He thrashed and bucked, trying desperately to peel himself away from the hand held around his mouth, but he couldn''t do anything. Then, he started to feel a hot, burning feeling in his stomach. He looked down, past the black arm holding him, down towards his groin as the monster pulled a large knife out of his stomach. The burning feeling turned into a screeching, terrible pain that took his mind away. He couldn''t think anymore, as he felt something that hurt worse than ten bee stings all at the same time. His face moved up, looking towards the windows. A cold, wet, metallic feeling was placed against his neck. But he was more concerned with the way the curtains moved in the wind. They hid something there in the night, he was sure of it. ¡®Momma, the monsters are back.¡¯ The hot feeling bit across his throat, and he stopped worrying. He hadn''t hid well enough. 35 - Flames of Desire ¡°John! John!¡± A man ran through the underground hallways, feet pounding across the perfectly placed stone blocks as he ran towards his friend¡¯s sleeping quarters. John got up from his bed, still clothed as he had been trying to day dream the time away, and stuck his head into the hallway. The man who had been yelling nearly crashed into him as they both rounded the corner, and the two had to leap away from one another at the last minute. ¡°John!¡± The man tried talking in between panting breaths. ¡°Someone sent-, a message. Lady Dei-, has-, a mission-, for us.¡± John''s face finally perked up as he tried to decipher the words. It had been weeks since they had first taken this gods¡¯ forsaken cave, and he hadn''t really been able to do anything the entire time. Sure, he would spend a couple hours out of every day practicing with the sword, sparring against Xei or the sell-swords, but that was hardly what was supposed to be happening. He was supposed to be training an army down here, or a cult, or whatever the girls were always giggling about whenever they planned the damn thing. But no one had come. No one had been here to be trained, and John felt just about pointless as he tried to pass the time in this underground no-where. The man across from him, George he thought his name was, looked just as excited as John at the prospect of doing something. John reached back into his room, grabbed his sword, and they started jogging off towards the entrance to the catacombs. As they ran they made a couple of hollars and yells into the darkness beyond the reach of George''s torchlight. ¡°Hey! Meet up at Town Square! Meet up at Town Square!¡± The two called down the empty hallways just in case anyone else was hanging out in this side of the lair, but no one answered. They crossed large square intersections, took a left at the T, then followed the slight right curve until it opened up into the main chamber. It was a large amphitheater style room, lined with hundreds of seats that spread downward like giant stairs towards the main stage. The area happened to be just a bit deeper than the entrance room that the sell-swords had originally set up shop in, and the crew had started to use it as the main hub due to its central placement in the catacombs. John ran down the smaller stairs in between the stone benches, rushing towards the center stage and a group of people gathered around a large wooden table. Hardly anyone sat at the table, instead standing and leaning over the edge to talk excitedly as it seemed like everyone was chomping at the bit for something, anything to do. Even Xei was there for once, standing there in his customary studded leather with his arms crossed. John hadn''t seen the skeleton leave the sparring pits even a single time since they had first come down here, constantly switching out to fight new people as they came to the sandy fighting arena in between guard shifts. ¡®He''s becoming downright scary with a sword at this rate.¡¯ John thought to himself. George caught up to him a second later as the two started panting with their hands on their knees after the mad dash to get here. ¡°So-. What¡¯s-?¡± ¡°Save your breath kid. We''re gonna wait another minute before we share the message so that everyone has a chance to come out of their holes.¡± One of the large Golden Kingdom soldiers told John. It was getting harder and harder to tell them apart from the rest of the sell-sword crew as they spent more time together. Sure, they were still different from the rest of them, a little too uptight, but they ended up being good people once you shared a couple weeks with them. Everyone talked amongst themselves for the remaining wait until the messenger finally decided to share. He was a new man that John didn''t quite recognize despite the time everyone had spent together ¡°Alright, listen up! Lady Dei has sent me with a message from a new co-conspirator that she''s recruited from the local nobility.¡± Several whispers sprang up, including an outright question from the crowd. ¡°An¡¯ how do we know that this ain''t a trick?¡± The messenger gestured over at Xei as he continued. ¡°Xei has made contact with Lady Dei to confirm the message, as I''m sure he''ll vouch for me now.¡± ¡°Hey! It''s Lord Xei to you, bud!¡± Someone shouted ¡°Yeah, Sword-Lord Xei.¡± The crowd burst into laughter even as Xei held up a single thumbs up. That was about as good as they usually got from Xei in between fights, so it was good enough for the men. ¡°Uh, thank you Lord Xei.¡± The messenger started once again. ¡°Now, Lady Dei has tasked us with hitting a couple of farms along the western coast line. Should be an easy job as the usual guards have become occupied with the defense of the lord''s country home after it was attacked a couple nights ago. I''m told we''re to kill, loot, and burn anything that can''t be carried away.¡± John cheered along with the men by his side, their excitement for the mission infecting him. But as everyone started filing out of the room to grab some last minute equipment, he started to feel a bit queasy. Sure, he was bored and all, but looting some farms like they were just a random bandit crew? Wasn''t he supposed to be training an army here? George came up from behind him, slinging a travel pack over his shoulders. ¡°Come on John, they''ve got some packs already set up to go for us in the supply room next door.¡± ¡°I uh. Maybe I shouldn''t go on this trip George.¡± ¡°Bull shit! You flaking on us John? What''s your girlfriend gonna say if she comes back to find you never left the willow tree?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not my girlfriend!¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. But just think about the battle experience we''re gonna get with this gig. Won''t that be good for your training regiment?¡± ¡°But, why?¡± ¡°Why? Because this is what we''re paid to do.¡± George looked up at John before he started walking away. ¡°And because she will kill us if we don''t.¡± The rest of the group started marching towards the main entrance with their gear. Watching them walk away from him, off to actually go do something that mattered more than just wasting time in bed, he wasn''t so sure about his choice. After the last man turned the corner, John was left standing alone in the center of the grand amphitheater. Footsteps echoing from the direction the men had traveled. The silence was deafening. His thoughts were so loud. The face of a man that he had once fought alongside came to mind, pale and bloodied, head resting back against the tree. John ran into the store room as quickly as he could, grabbed the first bag he could find, and started sprinting down the corridors towards the main entrance. ¡°Wait for me!¡± ¡ª The field ahead of him burned tall into the night. A boundless wave of spindly stalks tipped by flax flowers spread out in front of him, or what was left of it in the inferno that raged. It wasn''t even all that difficult to start the burning, a single torch flung deep into the field and suddenly an entire acre of land was engulfed by fire. The flames were so hot, so deep that John could feel the molten temperature making it hard to breathe even fifty feet away. Despite the heat, something was moving in the blinding light. A single man, unarmored and unarmed was running down the side of the field towards John. As he reached the corner of the blazing mess closest to John, the stranger finally seemed to see him, and bolted sideways across the edge of the field. He was so close to the fire that it must have been sweltering as the man continued to run less than five feet from the main fire''s edge. Embers swirled through the air as the man passed through smoke clouds billowing out of the inferno. He was running from something worse than burns. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. John didn''t chase the man, even after someone had told him to wait here and watch for runaways. Instead, he watched as something disturbed the fire farther into the field. The smoke and the way the flames whipped through the air distorted his sight enough to make him doubt himself, but something was moving through the field. And it was fast. The closer it got the more nervous John felt as he considered the possibilities. Was it a flamer? They almost never came this far into the Princedoms, but what else could survive a blaze like that? The creature was cutting across the field at a diagonal, running straight at the fleeing villager like it had a pinpoint on the man even through the smoke and fire. John could start to see the field part as the figure of a man ran straight through the center of it, uncaring about the endless flames. The figure burst out from the field in a pillow of embers and smoke that followed after him as the very armor on his back seemed to smolder into the night, but still he didn''t stop. He came out perhaps five feet behind the running villager, who looked back at the pursuer even as he continued to run. A single set of burning orange eyes stared after the man as John watched the two chase after each other. Xei was bounding across the front side of the field now, legs extending almost unnaturally in a strong rhythmic gait that John doubted he could match even if he wasn''t in armor. The villager didn''t stand a chance as Xei finally caught up with the man, hooked his hand into the man''s hood, and posted his feet into the ground while turning. The villager was all but yanked out of the air, stopping like his momentum had been entirely redirected, and was instead sent flying in a sideward arc away from the fire. His body bounced across the ground as his feet failed to find purchase with the surprising turn, and the man ended up rolling across the grassy dirt for twenty feet before he finally stopped. The skeletal figure turned and walked slowly after the villager as the man gasped and groaned on the ground. He had gotten to his hands and feet by the time that Xei reached him, but the skeleton merely wrapped his hooded cloak in its hand and started dragging the half conscious body back towards John. Xei looked a little worse for wear given the circumstances. Singes and blackened marks of burned leather crossed the entirety of his body. His chainmail had all but melted into the side of the leather, cutting into the black fabric like some strange pattern of warped snake scales along the sides of his chest piece. And every visible inch of bone on the skeleton was stained a sooty gray black color of ash. Despite it all, Xei still looked like a walking force of nature as the orange glowing eyes bobbed with every step, steam emanating from his shoulders as his hot body passed through the cold air. The body Xei had been dragging along was dropped off unceremoniously in front of John, the stranger having resigned himself to his fate by that point as he merely lay there, crying. Xei pointed at John, pointed at the man, then pointed off into the distance where they knew the main farmhouse was standing. He then started walking off in that direction, leaving John behind to interpret his actions. John looked down at the man groveling at his feet, and almost grabbed him by the scruff like Xei had. But no. John was no feature of nature. He bent down and tapped the man on the shoulder, drawing his attention as John extended a hand out to him. The villager was still weeping, but John could see the confusion run through his face as he spun his head between John and Xei, trying to understand. He didn''t take John''s hand, but he did decide to stand up and face him as John pointed into the direction that Xei was walking. ¡°Come with me willingly and I won''t have to drag you.¡± John said. The man sighed, then nodded in between his tears, wiping at his face with his arm as they started walking after the monster in the night. ¡ª As Xei caught up with the rest of the raid by the farmhouse he found a large number of men standing by a large stack of boxes as well as several obvious farmhands sitting on the ground. The farmers looked a bit bruised and battered, but not all that hurt other than a single man who was struggling against the arms of two sell-swords, desperately trying to get back to the farm house. ¡°You monsters!¡± He yelled at the men. ¡°You think that you can get away with this?¡± The men held him firmly in place, though they seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the situation for some reason. Xei started to hear a woman scream from the house. John came up behind him with the runaway Xei had to chase down, and the worker sat down with the rest of the group sullenly. ¡®I''ll have to talk to John about what happened after this.¡¯ Xei thought, none too happy with the conclusion. He started walking towards the farmhouse as he thought about the boy, and he was a boy. John was hardly twenty one years old by any count of the stars. He was one of the first additions to Dei¡¯s followers, but it was certainly not by his own choice, and that distinction was starting to show itself. He was reluctant, obviously so when it came to his own country. But where else could they use him? As Xei came up to the front door of the house the woman''s screams had turned into something more like a mix of wailing sobs and begging. ¡°Please, please. Don''t do this.¡± Xei followed the woman''s voice through the house, listening to the sound of a grunting man and tearing fabric followed by more sobs. ¡°No!¡± She screamed, followed by a smacking noise that echoed throughout the house, and more sobbing. Xei rounded the last doorway to find the girl pinned up against the kitchen table by a large man in armor bunched up around his waist. The woman was clutching at her cheek, crying even as the man adjusted at his belt and-. Xei had enough. He grabbed the man with both hands by the back of the shirt and spun around, throwing the man up and out of the doorway like a sack of potatoes. Xei had at least learnt how to make the most of his in-ordinary strength, and followed the man out the doorway where he lay on the ground after hitting a wall. Xei left the girl behind as he grasped the man by his short hair, and started dragging him through the house. As they went, Xei finally recognized the man by his grunts of pain, Robert, and he thought back to the handful of times the two of them had spared back in the catacombs. He had always struck Xei as a prideful man, though there wasn''t much to be proud about in his sword play. Sure he could out fight some of the other men, but that was also like saying that a soldier was better than a servant at fighting because he was the one with a sword. The other men had started to catch up to Robert in skill the last couple weeks while he had been sulking in his room after being beaten by Xei. As the two came out of the house, Robert came back to his senses and tried to stand back up. Xei let him do so, before whipping his own knee into the man''s groin area. The man collapsed into the ground with a squeal, and Xei took him by the hair to start dragging once again. The resisting farmer looked at them with rabid eyes as they approached the group. ¡°What are you? And what have you done with my daughter?¡± He screamed at them. But Xei merely walked by the group with the whimpering Robert in tow. His soldiers stared at the two of them, but no one said anything. If anything, the two holding the farmer back seemed to relax a bit, as they watched him drag their companion with hard eyes. Xei heard the patter of soft footsteps running behind him as he continued to walk towards the open field. ¡°Oh baby, are you okay?¡± A soft thud came from behind Xei as two bodies collided into a hug, followed by muffled weeping as the girl cried into her fathers shoulder. Xei just continued walking. It was starting to get hotter now, the same sweltering heat from his earlier run returning to Xei''s memory as he got closer and closer to the open flames. The man in his arms started struggling again as he realized his fate. His hands grasped at his scabbard, trying to draw a weapon that wasn''t there, dropped somewhere, forgotten back in the farm house. It was too late to go back for it anyways. Xei grasped the man by the jacket again and tossed him headfirst into the blaze. The man screamed as he made contact with the molten ground, rolling into a standing position, then trying to run back out of the blaze the way he came from. Xei appeared as soon as he got out of the blaze and kicked him back in. More screaming, more pain, more awkward attempts to escape the fire as each time the man grew more and more hampered by his injuries. When he finally failed to get back up, Xei walked in after him and picked up his remains like a bag off the ground. The man''s arms and legs drooped in the fire, the very skin sagging off the bone in bright red angry pustules, but Xei still pulled him out. He wasn''t quite sure whether his timing would be good enough, but he at least wanted to try this before letting the man die. If he could still serve Dei in his own way, then he would serve. Xei deposited the body in front of John for the second time this night. This time instead of hand gestures he walked over to a small board and a pouch that he had left behind the first time he went running through the fire. When he returned to John, he showed him the slate piece as he wrote out his words. ¡°Make sure he lives.¡± John merely stared at the burnt husk of a body in front of him, so Xei shoved the man back by the shoulders then pointed back at the slate board. ¡°Make sure he lives.¡± This time, John seemed to get the message, and started calling out to the other mercenaries for help with the man. Xei let him take care of it from there as he walked over to the rest of the group. He stopped in front of the scared workers, all staring up at him with a mix of terror and exhaustion. ¡°Serve us. Or die.¡± He wrote. No one moved. One of the sell-swords that had been holding back the father stepped up next to Xei and started yelling. Xei was fairly certain the mercenary''s name was George. ¡°You ¡®eard ¡®im! Pledge your lives to Lord Xei and you''ll get to live!¡± The workers started to bow, red motes of fire slamming into Xei''s chest, then following a smokey tether up and away to a distant city. Even the father bowed with his daughter as he held his arm protectively around the girl in the dark night. ¡°What¡¯s your command, Lord Xei?¡± George asked. 36 - Stolen Memories Fei scrambled across the massive wooden beam on four mouse paws. She''s made some improvements over the last week turning this body into something even harder to notice over time. A thick layer of squishy bone marrow spread between her toes with every step, softening the sound of any pawsteps on hard surfaces. Her bones were now a uniform color of blackish gray, as she''d discovered she could jump into the burnt out fireplaces to dampen the bright color of her bones. And finally she''d adapted her skull framing to look more like an onion around her head, lined with hundreds of little pin pricks that allowed her to see out, but other people couldn''t see into. Not that she couldn''t use the ember''s customary viewpoint of looking in on their bodies from above, but that always felt so uncomfortable to Fei. In this case, as she peered over the edge of the thick wooden beam at the top of the Barracks Sergeant''s office, she was perfectly positioned to listen in on his newest conversation with his brother. His, ¡®special weapon¡¯, as Chris liked to call him. ¡°I don''t like it Chris.¡± Doug was wearing the customary Princedom military green on his shoulders, marking him as an official member of the garrison. A single white line painted down the chest of his collar armor signified his immediate promotion to Staff Sergeant. ¡°I agree, but that''s why we need to make sure this goes to plan.¡± ¡°We''re going to be bait, Chris. You''ve heard what the brigands have been doing in the flax fields the last couple days!¡± ¡°Which is why I need your team there too. A force mage might not be enough for this convoy.¡± ¡°So you''re going to just let them do this Chris? This is a stupid mission even if it works.¡± ¡°The border troops need that money Doug.¡± ¡°So have them come back here for a deployment rotation as they get paid. Or better yet, send the money forward with the next rotation. Not just some random convoy!¡± ¡°Sergeant! We are not in the position to negotiate this movement.¡± ¡°Oh, I''m just a Sergeant now? You''re gonna try pulling rank on me like that?¡± Doug backed up from the table raising his hands up like he was under arrest. Fei took a better look at the diagram that he had been bent over up until that point, revealing a five carriage escort plan complete with position postings and names. Most of them were going to be Harrant''s men. ¡°Yes, Staff Sergeant Harrant! You did in fact sign the line and join the army. Now get your head out your ass and realize that this thing is happening whether we like it or not!¡± The room went silent. Fei distantly recognized a couple of the other soldiers in the room looking up from their desks and half forgotten maps to look at the brothers. Doug looked around at the room conspiratorially, then put his hands down to his sides to stand at attention in front of his brother. ¡°I''ll toe the line when it comes, but there''s things happening here that don''t make sense brother. Even you can see that.¡± Doug said. His brother waved him out of the position of attention. Fei was pretty sure that wasn''t even the correct position to stand in for a sergeant anyways, but instead Chris merely beckoned his brother forward ¡°Follow me.¡± The two left the room leaving the rest of the onlookers behind. Fei left her mouse body in the main office to tether up and into a small garden snake skeleton she kept waiting in the hallway. As the two started walking down the hall, she unbound the coiled body she had bundled up in a crack in the stone wall, and started sliding along the stone floor on an artificial bone stomach she had attached to the snake''s rib cage. She alternated her view to focus on bones, and started looking ahead for random people walking about the keep just in case she needed to avoid turning the wrong corner, but no one seemed to be about. She followed the two, gliding silently across the ground as they walked confidently down the stone halls. When she had judged their direction of travel far enough, she deposited the snake body in another crack in the wall, this time wedged in a corner of the hallway where they had failed to perfectly join the stone bricks together. Fei let her consciousness jump to another mouse hiding behind the study desk in Chris''s own room this time as she watched the two brothers open the door and walk in. Doug took the study chair, while Chris sat on the edge of his bed, as she''d seen the pair do a couple of times before. ¡°What''s going on here Chris?¡± Doug asked. ¡°Doug, you¡¯re in this for real right? You''re not just playing army cause someones paying you to be a snitch?¡± ¡°A snitch? You think I''d have the balls to be a plant right under the Lord Whisper''s nose?¡± ¡°I think if there was anyone who could manage to pull something like that off, it''d be you Doug.¡± ¡°Damn it Chris, I''m not some type of plant.¡± Doug stood up from his seat, hands interlocked through his hair, he crossed the bedroom to look out the window. They were on the second floor of the barracks, and the faint outline of a carriage clattered down the street below on the way to one of their balls. ¡°What can I do to prove myself to you?¡± Doug asked. ¡°You can''t. I just have to hope it isn''t you. And you just have to kick in these rebel troops'' teeth when they come knocking.¡± Doug remained staring through the open window. ¡°I''ll do my best Chris, but you''re about to send me on a death run and you know it.¡± Fei had heard enough. She hid her body back deeper behind the back of the desk, and allowed herself to follow the tethers back to the original body. Her vision cleared to reveal two small pinpricks of light that she could hardly see anything out of. Dei evidently preferred to use her other types of sight. ¡°-she doesn''t know that Lord Branton is trying to buy out the excess wood to build a surplus. I think he''s trying to starve the market before flooding it when-¡± ¡®He never shuts up does he?¡¯ Fei asked. ¡®I''m starting to think he might just be lonely Fei.¡¯ Dei said. Julius''s droning monologue continued in the background of their joint body. It was curious that she could hear him every time she caught him talking telepathically to Dei, but only when she was more or less sharing the body with Dei. Mind magic, weird stuff. ¡®Really? You think that he''s lonely? The dashing gray fox himself?¡¯ Fei asked. ¡®Well, considering he''s both graying, and single. Yes.¡¯ ¡®Hmmf. What do I know?¡¯ ¡®You just here to gossip Fei?¡¯ ¡®Nah, just got word that Doug is gonna get sent on a convoy with the pay wages for the southern front.¡¯ This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡®Doug?¡¯ ¡®Oh, uh. Harrant.¡¯ ¡®Ohhhhh. Really? Isn''t this the third one this week?¡¯ ¡®Yeah, they''re sending out three different convoys with the same mission on the same day, but Chris isn''t telling any of the guards about the other convoys. Add to that the fact that Chris told his brother that they''re looking for a plant.¡¯ Fei said. ¡®Ah, they''re just trying to weed out the informant.¡¯ Dei agreed with Fei¡¯s own assessment. The two settled into a thoughtful silence as Julius continued talking in the background. ¡®We''ll hit all three of them at the same time.¡¯ Dei decided. The two of them discussed the details a bit more as Dei''s statuesque body stood in the middle of the ballroom. The gaze from a man in green washed over them, then passed as the very Lord they were about to steal from failed to see the two planning right in his line of sight. After settling all the decisions on who would do what, Fei left behind the ball room as she traveled down the tethers towards the other embers scattered around the country, ready to share the news. ¡®We''re going to need more bodies.¡¯ She thought to herself. ¡ª Cody walked down the main thoroughfare of Tallowton, his birth town. His parents had moved to the capital city almost two decades ago, when he was still a toddler, yet he still felt compelled to visit the nearby town every couple of years just to check up on things. In the beginning he had hated it when his parents used their precious little time off to visit the area, but then the stories had started to appeal to him over time. The schoolhouse they had met in passed him by on the left, small children filtering out of the small white building and into the street. And just like his parents used to tell him, the majority of the students rushed across the street to a conveniently placed market stall selling candied fruits despite the strange time of day. Cody continued down the street, leaving behind the children and their sugary treats as he passed the guards post his dad had worked at, then the general store that they bought their daily bread from. They weren''t exactly his own memories per say. These strange connections to buildings he had never really used himself, but after he had heard the same stories a half dozen times, the memories of these places started to feel like they belonged to him anyways. He remembered the way his dad would lift him by the hands, allowing him to bounce from cobble stone to cobblestone with heaving leaps far larger than a kid could naturally take at his age. He remembered how his mom had bought him a candied apple at the stall down the road, and then he''d gotten upset because his parents made him share it with them. But most of all he remembered the sense of nostalgia, for a place he never truly lived in, not like they had. He continued down the rocky road as it turned from a cobblestone mix to simple hard packed dirt as he came out the other side of town. There he would find their old house just on the edge of town, with its own small patio and a modest yard that his mother used for her garden. As it came into sight he looked over the old wooden fence that surrounded the grounds, an unpainted mess of interlocking triangular logs that made about as much sense to him now as it did when he was a kid. Still, he was a bit disappointed to see that some of the fence pieces had fallen out of their holes, giving the barrier a bit of a decrepit look to it. Cody stopped at the open gateway into the townhouse garden debating whether he should visit to say hi to the current owners like his parents had always done. It seemed a bit awkward to him that his parents would bother the new owners of the house by stopping by every couple of years to catch up on things, but now he kind of understood why. There was a draw to step inside the old home, to see how it was doing, like a medical checkup or a date with an old friend. Still, he didn''t want to annoy them all that much. A strong wind carried over the area, pushing on the front door to the house which swung open lazily in the breeze. Perhaps he should at least close their door if no one was home. He crossed the small garden in less than a dozen steps before knocking on the doorway. ¡°Hello? Anyone home?¡± As he knocked on the door, it pushed even further open revealing the dark insides of the home with perhaps a bit less clutter inside than he was expecting. The kitchen table was cleaned off, but visibly dusty like it hadn''t been used in a week or so, and the floor just inside the doorway was full of leaves that must have been brought in by the breeze. Just what had happened here? ¡°Hey mister!¡± A kid called from behind him. He turned around to look at the child, leaning over the fence as she balanced herself on the tip of one of the triangular stakes running through the posts. ¡°Whatcha doin in the Tremmer''s house?¡± She asked. Cody took one last look into the dusty insides of the old home before deciding no one was there, and returned to the fence to talk with the girl. ¡°Nothing important, just visiting my old place.¡± He said. ¡°Oh? I don''t remember you ever living here mister!¡± ¡°It was so long ago I don''t even remember it either. Where''s the Tremmer family gone off to anyways?¡± He asked. ¡°Them? I think they went with the masked folks one night.¡± ¡°The masked folks?¡± Cody asked. ¡°Yeah, you know! The two weirdo''s that call themselves preachers and hang out in the woods? My mama told me not to mess with them, but she says that about everyone. I think one of them is called Lord Tails.¡± The girl started giggling as she recounted the man''s name, but Cody was starting to get concerned. He¡¯d heard something or another in his briefs about the recent sightings of masked folk around the area, but he didn''t remember the specifics. Still, if the capital guard was mentioning these people, even in passing, something bad might be happening here. ¡°Kid, can you-¡± ¡°My name¡¯s not Kid! I''m Catcher!¡± Cody raised a hand up towards the bridge of his nose, a habit he might have picked up from his dad if he ever really thought about it. ¡°Okay, Catcher. Do you know where the masked folks go in the woods?¡± he asked. ¡°Not really.¡± She leaned back on the fence post, holding herself up with her arms despite the awkward angle. ¡°But I think my friend said they''ve seen them hanging around the big stone thing out in the woods.¡± The post under her feet shifted suddenly, twisting in its too wide post holes as the triangular piece rotated away from Catcher. The girl¡¯s legs were suddenly thrust forward until her butt slammed into the post with a dull thud. ¡°Ow!¡± Cody tried to reach out for her as she rubbed at her butt with one hand, but the girl seemed to notice him and swung her legs out from the fence, leaping away. She eyed him warily as he stopped trying to help her, suddenly aware of the change in mood. ¡°No touching mister! My ma told me not to accept help from strangers.¡± The girl spun and started running down the road towards main square. Cody almost followed after her before he realized she probably didn''t know anything else he wanted to hear. Instead he cupped his hands to his mouth and called after her, ¡°My name''s Cody! Thank you!¡± She disappeared down the street as several other travelers on the road turned to look at him strangely. He ducked his head a bit at their gaze. ¡°Sorry.¡± He said, quite a bit softer this time. He took one last look at the childhood home. Abandoned for some strange reason he couldn''t understand, and he pushed downward. He lurched into the air, arcing towards the nearby woods where he started searching through the orange leaves. ¡®Big rock, huh?¡¯ The orange sea below him swayed in the breeze as he started searching for answers. ¡ª It didn''t take him long to find what he was looking for. A strange oblong obelisk speared through the treetops, visible for at least a mile all around it in the afternoon sun. Thing was, no one was there when he arrived. As he stood atop the large stone pillar, the area below struck him as uniquely abnormal, like one of the most obviously man made clearings he had ever seen as the trees uniformly avoided the clean cut circle. Even the tree branches cut off where they would have entered the dividing line around the obelisk, growth looking like an oddly stunted limb wherever the trees reached towards the clearing. Below, a series of leaf piles spread out from the pillar, arranged in consecutive circles that grew in size as they pushed out from the center. But no one was here for him to ask questions. Cody looked out over the clearing''s edge until he found a relatively thick tree in the area that looked like it could support him. A few quick bounds later and he settled into a decent enough seat atop the center of its boughs. Not the most hidden of places considering it was still a birch tree, but it was still a bit more hidden than sitting atop the pillar. And so he waited. The hours passed as day turned into night, and even the moon refused to come out that night, less than a sliver of light in the sky far above. As darkness fell, Cody took the time to think about things, mind wandering back to that night where he had lost his friends to a freak force mage. Had he found them because Cody had been too loud in his conversation with Tom by the window? He knew it was unlikely he was the sole cause, but that was still what worried him most about the situation. What if it was his fault? His thoughts spun, eating away at him as he waited, and waited, and waited through the night. Until he eventually started to see lights bobbing their way through the tree leaves. Someone was coming. 37 - Her Flock Charity led the way with a thin torch in her hand as the small group of invitees followed her through the woods. It was a motley crew of different people, as she was starting to think was normal of her flock. Some were old, some were young, some were healthy while others seemed pale and sickly. The only thing that seemed to unite them was a strange sense of melancholy from the group. It seemed that this batch of newcomers didn''t quite believe in the stories about her. Not yet at least. She looked back over the group, eyes meeting with Tai first as he walked just behind her. His face resembled a marble carving of a nobleman, complete with glazed over carved eyes that hid his green eyes, and a mane of immovable white hair that always seemed to stay in its perfect place. He did a good job, she had to admit, making the facial structure look like it was an abnormally detailed mask laid over his own face that disappeared into the seams at its edge. Thankfully, no one seemed to mind his strange white hair when he tucked it into his hood. Behind him, her people walked solemnly. Some carried small bags, tied closed and covered with dirt, while others carried a thick coffin by the handles, switching out at the ropes every so often within the rather large family of eight. She had seen it all before. Once, Tai had even had to help carry the offering for an elderly couple that hadn''t been able to make the journey by themselves. The look on his face when they had left later that night and he took off his mask, well, she wasn''t sure she had ever seen his eyes crease so tighly together as he watched the couple continue on their journey without him. Still, a man in the back held up a matching torch to Charity''s and nodded in her direction as she scanned over the small crowd. Fifteen people had joined her tonight, spread between three different families they had recruited earlier that day. Fifteen different people who wanted closure to their lives, or a reason to continue on depending how you looked at it. Regardless, they followed her. That alone was enough to make them worthy of the mother''s grace. She alternated between her normal sight and the form that allowed her to see the bones of the world. It was still strange to her, even after a few weeks of practice, but she allowed the lense to take over her vision as they approached the end of the trail. As she expected, a hundred bodies or more lay submerged in circles around the obelisk less than a hundred meters away from them. Curiously though, it appeared that there was a skeletal figure hunched in a tree on the far side of the clearing as well. She let the film recede from her sight, turning to tell Tai what she saw. ¡°Someone''s decided to watch us tonight.¡± She said. He merely nodded. It was unfortunate that the ember''s still couldn''t speak directly into Charity''s mind, despite her new found bond with them. Tai had taken the time to explain much to her, writing through entire pages of instructions as he tought her how to best move bodies, and what commands were most efficient. That had come with an explanation of how the ember''s themselves worked in a way that they had never shared with the team until now. It was like she was finally being accepted to the inner group that knew. The change was not only there in how they treated her, but also something within herself as well. She had changed by degrees at first, then by more and more as she raised the dead in the graveyard to join her. For every bit of power she took from the afterlife, something was taken away from her in exchange. And she gave it away, gladly. The cold indifference of this mark on her soul allowed her to simply accept whatever was happening with the stranger in the woods. If Tai wasn''t worried about it, then she wouldn''t worry either. The group wound their way into the clearing with words of awe coming from the newcomers behind her. Even Charity found the location to be slightly eerie despite how much time she had spent in the place. She led them into a small circle in front of the monument where the land had been cleared away to reveal the soft dirt below. The families placed their burdens on the inside of the circle as she indicated, and she started her well practiced ceremony by this point. ¡°Seekers of truth, thank you for being here tonight.¡± Charity spoke just a little bit louder than normal, allowing her voice to ring clearly throughout the circle. ¡°You came because this world has taken from you, wantonly, and unfairly. It has taken your loved ones before their time was due, and it has taken them without remorse for the fact. But now that we exist here before the gaze of the mother of death and her kin, we have been granted the chance to change our fates. Look before you at those you wished to reconnect with, and bear witness as they RISE!¡± Three corpses in front of her shook in the night, shaking the coffins and bags that contained them in death, they returned at her call. The bag broke first, a tiny white arm and hand escaping from the bag towards the open air, then a ripping sound as the small skeleton made its way out of the enclosure. The coffins followed its example, bursting at the seams as the more flesh covered bodies from within rose into the night. A putrid smell spread throughout the group as the rotting flesh was exposed to the open air. ¡®Curious. The child must have been dead longer than the others.¡¯ Three corpses rose to a standing position in front of their awed families, then stopped as they finished straightening their backs. The child''s mother was the first to step forward, a scarred needy step as she drew closer to the body of someone she had lost before she ever really got to know them. ¡®EMBRACE.¡¯ The small child skeleton opened up its arms as its mother finally found the courage to take the next step and the next, all but running to pick up her baby one more time. As the young skeleton wrapped its arms around the woman peacefully, the other corpses opened up their arms, trying to obey the same unspoken command. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Charity continued to feed the skeletons commands now as the families greeted their lost ones. ¡®HOLD, RELEASE, GAZE, BOW, WAVE.¡± She ran the skeletal figures like puppets in the night with unspoken commands as their families tried to connect with the hollow corpses. There wasn''t anything really left of their loved ones, not that Charity could return to them at least. But what she could do was at least give them a chance for a last goodbye with something that approached life. It was something. Near the back of the group of eight, one of the men was starting to look agitated. Charity took note of the man, all too aware of what was probably about to happen. ¡®Why''s it always one of the men?¡¯ She thought. Still, the inevitable came to pass and the man stopped grinding his teeth for long enough to point a finger over at Charity and start his tirade. ¡°What have you done to my little boy?¡± He asked, tears streaming down his face. Charity took note of the fact that his ¡®little boy¡¯ was nearly as tall as he was. She told the corpse to STARE at his father for dramatic effect as she began to counter. ¡°I have done nothing but return your child to you for a parting goodbye. Allowed his soul but a single minute more on this green world so that you might be able to share one last moment.¡± ¡°But. He.¡± The man could barely talk, snot bubbling out of his nose as he tried to make sense of his grief. Charity commanded four skeletons behind her to RISE, clad head to toe in armor and weapons as she had readied them in advance, then set her new companions to GUARD. Just in case. The man continued to stand there, groping for reason as he stared at her pure white mask like he could make sense of the graying eyes that lay behind them. His eyes darted between the armored guards that had appeared behind Charity, taking in the adversaries as he calculated his odds. And he gave up. The man fell to his knees, tears released as Charity commanded his son to COMFORT him in his time of need. Charity felt, rather than saw, as a shadow fell from the sky into the center of the group, a massive force coming down upon all of their shoulders as the strange form slowed its descent and touched down lightly upon the ground. The man spun to face her as soon as Charity could determine that he was in fact a man, a massive burst of wind pushing past her like a massive hand had just punched through the air. The four guards which had been standing beside her disappeared, slammed backwards by the massive force into the stone pillar and sending their bones scattering out in a spray of broken pieces. Behind the man the trees shook violently, leaves and branches tearing back from their trunks like an equal force was sent behind the man as what he used to attack with. The man wasn''t done. He withdrew his sword in a smooth action, leveling it between himself and Charity as he rested the edge upon her collar bone. ¡®Feels a bit like history repeating itself.¡¯ Charity thought. But no emotions of fear guided her actions like they had the last time a soldier had invaded the flock. Her flock. No, she was having trouble feeling any emotions at all these days. ¡°I''m glad you finally decided to join us, soldier. I was wondering when you''d decide to come down from your tree. I will say, it is a shame that you''ve decided to cut these people''s time short though.¡± ¡®WAVE.¡¯ She commanded the remaining corpses. The families looked just as confused as the soldier did, though he kept his sword in place at her neck. ¡°You blasphem and trick these people with petty lies.¡± He told her. ¡°Blasphem? I''m nothing if not pious. And there are no lies here, just the last moments of a parting soul.¡± ¡®REST.¡¯ The skeletons fell apart, falling to the ground as a pile of bone and rotting flesh once more. The families finally drew their attention away from the wayward soldier, eyes wide as they stared down at the forgotten remains of their loved ones. Their moment taken from them by another. The kneeling father was the first one to rise to the moment, standing up from the ground to grasp the soldier by his shoulder and turn him around with a snarl. ¡°You''ve taken them from us?¡± ¡°N-No! It wasn''t¡± His sword drooped in his hands as the father took a solid punch into the soldier''s gut, sending him gasping. At this point in the ceremony, Charity usually had to explain that she could only bring their loved ones back for a short time. But through worship and devotion, they too could gain the power of life and death. Today however, she had a different excuse that had come flying straight from the air itself. Divine providence. Another man walked up to the soldier, his child¡¯s body left in the dirt as his wife cried over the bones. ¡°This was our last moment. Our last chance. And you simply chose now, of all times to try and swoop in.¡± His knee came up as he grasped the boy by the side, slamming into his gut a second time, dropping him right to the ground. Charity allowed it all to happen. She didn''t even have to open her mouth at this point. The seeds were already sown. Yet Tai still chose now to walk up beside her, dueling cane held in a firm grip, even as the family members started to kick at the downed boy. ¡°Please. I''m here to help.¡± The soldier tried to tell them, but still the blows rained on him. Heavy kicks from angry fathers. even a few of the women joined in as they left their sisters behind to grieve over the fallen bodies. The air suddenly started to suck inward, towards the fallen soldier. A massive inhale engulfed the entire clearing as the dirt seemed to rise from the ground and the very trees leaned inward. Then Tai''s dueling cane landed squarely on the back of the boy''s head, and the entire world released its breath in nothing more than a shallow exhale. The blow knocked the boy unconscious immediately, face first in the dirt as the family members looked questionably towards the second preacher who never spoke. Charity took the moment while she had the chance. ¡°I apologize for your loss ladies and gentlemen. Your time may have been cut short tonight, but it was always going to end at one point or another, for I am but one person. But one soul in service to a greater being. So now I ask you, what has the Lord of Whispers ever truly done for you? Why do you serve a master who does not serve you in exchange?¡± ¡°Pledge yourselves to the Path of the Fallen. Pledge yourselves to Lord Tai and his brethren, and you who grieves so heavily this night might be given a chance to take control of death for yourselves.¡± She gestured towards Tai as she mentioned the embers, and the people responded. Fifteen souls dropped to their knees that night. Fifteen new motes for the fire that raged in the void. And one unfortunate soldier who had gotten in deeper than he should have. 38 - Wrong Answer Janette pushed downward on the manor-side ground, forcing her body up into a higher jump than she could ever hope to make as a normal person. She had done this dozens of times by now, perhaps even hundreds. It was hard to keep track of how much time she had spent out on her nightly forays. But this was the first time the last jump went just a bit different. Instead of the open window that she would flip into with the momentum of her own push, the windowsill was covered by an iron cage and locked from the inside. She gripped onto the grating for a moment as her hands started to feel the bite of the cold metal bars. ¡®Who did this?¡¯ Her hands were starting to get numb in the winter air, so she hooked one of her elbows through the grate to help maintain her balance while hanging there. Her other hand reached down into the top of her blouse, pulling out the key she kept there just in case. The metal pieces chattered against one another as she tried to shimmy the small key into the hole of the lock on the other side, but it just wouldn''t work. It wouldn''t even fit in the lock at all. She took a closer look at the lock itself this time, noticing the remarkable gleaming shine on the metal piece. A shine that didn''t make much sense for a piece of metal that had been attached to her window for close to a decade. Janette allowed herself to drop to the ground without softening the landing. Pain reverberated up her feet from the solid landing, but that didn''t matter. He must have found her out. He was going to stop her. He was going to¡­ She started walking towards the front door of the manor. No guards waited for her. He must have told them to move away for the night. He didn''t want there to be any witnesses. Janette opened the front door slowly, edging it forward just enough so that she could scrape by into the building before looking around. No one was there in the plain white foyer. Six doors lined the large room, two for the servants wing, two for the nobles quarters, and two that led into the Jocell sitting room and study, both of which were open wide across the hall. She couldn''t quite see anyone inside the rooms yet so maybe she could sneak by. She slammed into the white granite flooring, confident that the solid stone tiles could hold her as she set herself into a wide arc over the top of the room towards the nobles¡¯ wing doors. A much softer pressure from her over a wide expanse of the floor slowed her momentum as she returned to the ground, gliding down in slow motion to land on the floor as quietly as she could. She gripped the nearby door handle, turning it as slowly as she dared when he finally noticed her. ¡°Janette? Is that you?¡± A voice came from the study. A moment later a portly man leaned his head out from the nearby room to look at her. His eyes had known where to find her since the moment she walked into this building, tracking her every movement even as she had tried to evade him, yet still he mocked her. ¡°Oh, Janette? What are you wearing?¡± He looked her up and down. ¡°I suppose it doesn''t matter. I''d like to speak with you privately.¡± He withdrew into the room without waiting for a response ¡®Oh no. This was going to be bad.¡¯ She almost ran at that moment. Almost took off into the night just to avoid whatever came next. But what would that even mean? Where could she run to, and how would she ever hide from Him? The uncovered light leaking from the study room door called out to her just as every inch of her heart told her to run. This wouldn''t be good, but she slowly walked into the study anyways. Her heart clenched in her chest as she looked over at her father, resting on the edge of his desk looking wistfully at the fireplace. His fingers drummed along the side of the desk, an even beat that could''ve been the drums of war as far as Janette was concerned. ¡°Please close the door darling.¡± He turned to her as he spoke, giving a hearty smile that even ebbed into his eyes. It was just so confusing. She turned around and reached for the door behind her, but a sudden force shook the room as the door slammed shut in her face. The wind from the motion swept her hair back even as the door seemed to buckle from the sudden movement ahead of her. ¡°Oh, my bad. I meant the other door.¡± Came from behind her. The pulling sensation on the door stopped as Janette walked down the study woodenly until she reached the adjoining door with the next door waiting room. This time he seemed to allow her to close it herself, which she did so slowly. ¡®A lady must always close doorways as quietly as she can, so that she need not disturb others.¡¯ His lessons whispered into her ear. She hesitated as the door finally closed, the doorknob still twisted in her grasp which she tried to gently ease out. It was almost good enough, she had just about finished letting go when the doorknob released an audible click as it settled into place. ¡°WRONG!¡± Janette felt a sudden wrenching motion as she was torn away from the door and pulled through the air towards her father. He released her mid arc, allowing her momentum to die out only slightly before he buried a fist in her stomach. She didn''t even activate a barrier around herself as she doubled over onto the blow. There was no point, it would only make him angrier if she defended herself. He gripped her from under the chin and tilted her head back to look at him as she allowed herself to withdraw. This, wasn''t her. This couldn''t be her. ¡°Why did you go out tonight?¡± His breath smelt like bourbon. His favorite. She didn''t answer. He slapped her so hard with his off hand she actively flew from his grip across the room, but he grabbed her with his powers before she hit the ground again. She felt the room get yanked out from under her, and she watched the polished wooden flooring blur under her sight until he caught her again. This time he grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her body around to pin it between himself and the desk. ¡°I asked you. Why?¡± Janette struggled to focus through the pain as she drew her gaze back up to meet his. He always hated that. ¡°Because I-.¡± ¡°WRONG!¡± He yelled so closely to her face that she was doused in his spit. ¡°YOU don''t get to make ANY decisions for yourself!¡± Something small but hard slammed into her back like a punch aimed directly at her spine. Then another, and another blow hammered into her as she heard pages fluttering in the air, the heavy tomes falling discarded onto the desk behind her. He didn''t even bother to counter pull himself as he allowed his body weight to squeeze tightly into Janette''s thighs where they were trapped between him and the desk. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. She bore it all without making a sound. Her eyes teared up, and her nose dripped as her face flushed with the pain. But she wouldn''t make a sound. She didn''t dare. ¡°You disgrace this house with your antics.¡± He spun her around, then pushed her body into the wall across the room. She leaned back with her head as she slammed into the sturdy stone bricks, pushing only the slightest possible bit that he might not notice as she tried to cushion the blow, but her head still ended up colliding with the hard object a moment after her body did. Her vision swam in the dull firelight, the sound of wooden shutters and wall mountings squealing in the night as he continued to push on her from across the room. His footsteps started to approach her once again though the pressure never lifted, keeping her feet off the ground even as he walked up from behind her. ¡°You will never leave this house again until you can be trusted.¡± He didn''t even yell at her, just speaking calmly into her ear as the pressure continued to mount upon her back. It was crushing her. She couldn''t breathe. Couldn''t move. Couldn''t fight. Even the sound of her father''s breath as he huffed into her ears was starting to become a distant echo. Then he released her. She slid down the wall immediately, face scraping along every unpolished nick and mark in the stone before her legs gave out from under her as she reached the ground. Her father caught her as she fell back, one arm under her knees and one arm under her back as he looked down on her face without a hint of rage in his eyes. Her vision still swam as she felt him open the door to the study with her still in his arms, making his way along the white granite floor, then walking down the nobles¡¯ hallway with her still in his arms. She felt like a child as her father carried her up the steps to the second floor, every inch of her body throbbing in pain as the upward steps jostled her bruises. Still, he carried her through the upstairs hallway back to her bedroom. Her door whined just a bit more than she was used to hearing as he moved through the doorway, but when he laid her body down on her bed like nothing had happened her vision finally started to piece itself back together. As he left, he swung closed a heavy metal grate over her doorway that groaned as it moved. The cell door locked from the outside as her father slid over two heavy bars, then placed another padlock on a small notch where they fed into the wall. ¡®He had this all done while I was away tonight. He must have known. Must have planned this as he let me have one last chance to stop. And then I failed him. Again.¡¯ ¡°Goodnight Janette.¡± The outer wooden door closed quietly, giving her privacy, and she finally allowed herself to cry. ¡ª Cody''s eyes snapped open as his back jostled on the hard wood below his prone body. A single woman sat beside his head, the preacher from the night that he had been at the stone monument. Her blond hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail that seemed to juxtapose with her oddly gray eyes, and he wanted to be anywhere but near her. His arms and legs spasmed, wrenching at tight ropes tying him to whatever wooden contraption he was trapped in as the blue sky passed mildly overhead. A gag was placed deep in his mouth, almost causing him to retch every time he breathed in as he struggled to keep the panic down. He started to pull inward on himself preparing to release an outward wave that would get him out of this situation, but the masked woman started speaking. ¡°Stop. Before you do something stupid, there''s something you need to know.¡± Cody didn''t release the wave even though he could at this point, merely holding the power deep within him like a held breath as he waited until she continued. ¡°I''ve fed you something terrible that you might be feeling even now. If you decide to start killing my people, your newest friend might decide to stop you in a way that you can''t do anything about.¡± A faint bump pressed against the inside of his stomach as he felt something moving down there, shifting in the depths of his intestines. It didn''t hurt him despite the odd sensation of something physically moving itself within him, but the threat was there. Cody released the inward pressure he had been preparing, unwilling to test just how much control this woman might have over the thing in his stomach. ¡°Good. I wouldn''t need to threaten you if I didn''t also want to help you.¡± She said. He shot her a look that he hoped could convey just how much he didn''t believe her. ¡°It''s true. I wish only to show you a new perspective on things young soldier. You are after all a bit of a wayward soul are you not?¡± His eyes widened, but she continued on. ¡°I''m going to show you my home so that you might begin to understand what we fight for. So with that in mind I''m going to have to put this blindfold on you for the rest of the trip. Can''t have you knowing too much can we? Oh, and don''t try sending any messages either. I don''t want you to have to deal with any stomach pains along the way.¡± A tight piece of cloth was wound around his head so thoroughly that Cody couldn''t even see through the edges of the blindfold. The woman had gone silent as he started to accept the circumstances. The sun was warm on his face and body and a faint wind stirred the air. ¡®What a vacation.¡¯ He thought. ¡ª Cody had fallen asleep by the time they reached their destination. Tied down and blind to the world, his nervousness about the kidnaping had dulled into placit boredom and eventually the only thing he knew would pass the time faster. His body jerked in place when someone touched him, immediately pulling him from his nap as he realized that his body had gone cold. The sun must have set already as a pair of thin arms lifted him up rather easily from the wooden cart. Somehow his hands were now released from the wooden cart but still tied together, and his head spun as the stranger started walking away from the cart like he was nothing more than a babe in the arms. A short time later the stranger shifted his weight over their shoulder and the two started descending somehow. A sharp stabbing shoulder bone cut into his ribs and made the journey anything but pleasant as his captors steps changed pace a bit. A set of stairs perhaps? Were they going underground? The sound of many bodies moving down a hard dirt shaft turned into the rhythmic beat of feet on a ladder as the group seemed to continue making their way further and further downward. Eventually, the strange noises morphed into the more tell-tale sound of shoes on stone. He tried to keep a general idea of where they turned in the maze like location they were bringing him to, just in case he could escape. But then he started to notice his captors doing near full spins in place and doubling back on themselves, obviously trying to mislead him. Cody stopped bothering trying to remember the way in. If they were going to be so blatant about their tactics he was more worried about the tricks he might not have noticed. Their walk continued for a long time, perhaps five minutes in total within the stone building before they set him down in a sandy pit. Someone untied his hands and feet, though he didn''t use the chance to try and resist since he still felt the strange weight in his stomach that shouldn''t have been there. Next, someone unwound the blindfold from behind him, and Cody began to be able to see a large stone wall ahead of him marked with many small holes. The preacher woman called out from behind them. ¡°Don''t turn around just yet.¡± He waited patiently until the blindfold was fully off, feeling at the raw marks on his wrists from the awkward bondage they had just put him through. Soft braziers were lit in the corners of the room with strange metal hoods and pipes over the top of them that ran into the ceiling. ¡°Alright now, I''m sorry for the inconvenience but I have to go for a bit. I''m sure that someone will be along to talk to you soon though.¡± Cody turned around to catch sight of the woman, still wearing her customary mask as she stood next to another armored man with a strange pendant around his neck. The gem started to flash with brown light and the wall suddenly closed in front of him before he had a chance to even move. Light flickered absently in two of the four corners of the perfectly square room as Cody tried to process what had just happened. ¡®Arcanists working with death mages huh?¡¯ He started to search the corners of the relatively plain room looking for a way out. There was nothing good about this situation at all. Masked ladies, death cults, enemy mages, and an underground lair. Nothing good at all. 39 - Convoy Conflict Fei switched between perspectives in quick succession, checking up on each of the gates out of the city one by one as she stared out with beady inhuman eyes. Today was the day the convoy was supposed to leave, and while she wasn''t the one watching for movements directly, she did want to check up on the people who were. Nondescript men had taken up positions at all of the main gates out of the city, posing as street merchants with stalls of goods near the entrances to the city, or beggars hidden away in secluded alleyways. A couple gates even had a city guardsman on Julius''s payroll keeping a lookout for their prey today. Because while Fei could theoretically spin herself silly between each of the gates trying to watch them all at once, it was far easier to just supervise others and wait for the warning signs when something happened. As her gaze stopped at the North gate, it seems she happened to be there when one of the caravans was passing by at just the right time. The merchant girl on the corner plucked up one of her woven red tulip headdresses, putting it on her head to mark the moment as Fei watched. ¡®At least that proves that the watchmen know what they¡¯re doing.¡¯ Fei thought. Regardless, the fact she had caught this caravan as it moved out was a good bit of luck, and Fei took advantage of the chance. She jumped off from the second story windowsill she had been hiding above, falling the fifteen feet or so to the ground only to bounce harmlessly with her lightweight body. When she got her paws back on the ground she scampered over to the road and around the feet of several random pedestrians until she was under one of the carts. A quick jump, powered by a slight lengthening of her hind bones to make the several foot tall leap even possible, sent her flying up and onto one of the beams under the wooden cart. The soldiers had set up thin tarps on the wooden lattices over the carts, turning them into more weatherproof traveling devices but also making their stored goods just a bit more private. Then again, it likely didn¡¯t even matter as Fei settled into place and locked her sharp claws into the wooden beam below her. After all, who would think to check for random traveling mice on the bottom of your caravan? ¡ª Doug sat at the head of his caravan beside the driver''s position he had assigned to one of his men that used to lead oxen at his family farm. Edgar was a hard looking fellow with an eyepatch over one eye that gave him a veteran look despite his youthful age. If you asked him about it, he''d tell you he''d lost the eye in a bar brawl, but Doug knew the truth was that a random piece of dust got in his eye and infected it when he was still just a kid. Perhaps that was why the man wore a wide brimmed sun hat on his head while the two sat side by side. Edgar''s blinded eye was facing Doug as the two watched in either direction and settled into the steady silence of the road. Neither man had much to say to the other, and the endless waves of hard packed dirt and dead leaves passed below. It was a good day for traveling, sun out high and doing a fine job of keeping his men from feeling cold as the days started to march into winter. Most of the trees had lost their leaves by this point making it easier to see through the woods as well. It was almost too perfect for guard duty on a job like this. Even considering this all, Doug was still nervous as he sat there on the moving cart, leading a twenty-five man formation spread out along the line. It was planned meticulously, down to every defensive position, escape plan, and even the route itself. And that was exactly what worried him about it. Dei would be a fool not to attack this target, even with the fact she might lose some of Harrant''s men considering the ten crew members he had brought with him into the army garrison. It had been somewhat strange working as a plant but never really communicating with outside agents. Whenever he needed to pass a message, he would place his jacket on the top of his chest in a certain way until a strange mouse appeared to listen to his stories. The fact that the mice that visited him started evolving over time was only slightly concerning, especially as they tried using different helmets that made them look less and less like real mice, at a certain point they were starting to just look like monsters. Somewhere along the line as he sat there recounting his daily report to a three inch tall creature that nodded thoughtfully to his words, it had started to feel like a strange fever dream. He was a plant, sure, but it wasn''t like he had to go out on clandestine meetings like he had been expecting. Just the day in day out of drills, planning, and patrols around the city. Until now of course. Doug thought about the copious amounts of gold that his brother had told him they would be guarding that trip. An entire season''s worth of wages for the troops from fort Angar to fort Rochar, half the southern border. All of which might have made sense to him, considering they were just making the trip through Princedom controlled land. Might have made sense except for the fact that reports were still coming in about raids all across the western coast. No one knew whether it was the noble families or an unknown rebel group, but Doug had a sneaking suspicion it was related to his patron. They''d moved on from attacking flax fields, to now burning their way through the wheat fields in the area, all of which seemed rather strange. The wheat attacks could be useful if they were trying to starve the people, but why start with flax of all things? Harrant continued to ponder the weekly reports as the carts trundled along through the day. Woods passed by, turning into fields of endless soon to be harvested crops, then back into woodlands once again as the landscape changed around them over time. The ground was hard and littered with leaves in every direction, making the entire journey seem like some strange passage through a multicolored land instead of the usual green hills. This section in particular had some inordinately large piles of leaves too, as the surrounding ground level seemed to buck and wave with the swells of red, yellow, and orange. Then he started to realize the leaf piles were actually moving. Harrant pulled a whistle up from a string around his chest, blowing hard into the contraption to let the rest of the convoy know that they were under attack. Even as he moved however, a large group of skeletal creatures rose from the leaves in a wide semi circle around the front of the convoy. Within seconds he could tell there were dozens of the creatures just within eyesight of the front cart as their numbers had wrapped around the entirety of his formation. They were outnumbered at least three to one, if not four to one, and he felt those numbers start to take effect as they began running towards the convoy. There was nothing subtle about the skeletal attackers as their heavy armor and lumbering steps caused a cacophony of sound on the otherwise quiet road. The convoy had already come to a halt, deciding to fight in place instead of a moving retreat so that there was less risk to the horses, and his men dismounted to form small groups around the scared beasts as the skeletons approached. ¡°What the fuck are those things?¡± A soldier yelled. But most of the men seemed to have been expecting something like this. There had been rumors of strange things in the night recently, but no one had seen anything like this before. When a hundred half rotted skulls were currently barreling down on the group, they could ask questions later. A couple of men shot off their short bows into the skeletal ranks, though the arrows did little of note other than get stuck in their armor. Then a metallic bo staff shot out from the formation towards the skeletons, and caught a pair of them at the waist line sending them flying backwards in a tumble. The bo staff lurched in mid air, changing direction, and flying back towards the convoy before arcing out once more like a twirling strike from thirty paces away. This second attack knocked down another three skeletons, though the first pair that had fallen were already starting to stand back up. The rest of the group was starting to get close however, and Doug focused on his own fight as they stumbled into range. Taking a cue from the force mages work with the bo staff, he called over his shoulder at his men to focus on blunt attacks. After all, the arrows they had used earlier certainly didn''t seem to help accomplish anything. The skeletons slammed into Doug and Edgar as the two locked shoulders and raised their shields against the oncoming force. Doug felt all of the weight of a couple grown men push against his shield in that brief moment of first contact as the monsters practically ran into the shieldwall head first. A sword tried to arc out around the shield from the skeleton on his right, but he angled his sword upward to catch the blow, then slid his sword down and below his own shield to cut through a bony leg. The creature dropped to the ground immediately, but Doug was too busy trying to make sure the skeletons didn''t get around the two of them as they tried to put their backs to the cart behind them and get some cover. The action left the horses uncovered, which the skeletons quickly carved through in a blur of high pitched horse screams and toppling mounds of flesh that crushed a skeleton underneath them. But as another eight individual bone men surrounded the pair there wasn''t much of an opportunity to try and think about anyone but themselves. Edgar managed to cleave through an arm as it struck at Doug''s shield, while Doug kicked away at the skeleton he had sent to the ground as it crawled towards him. The firm kick of his boot left his toes screaming in agony, but the skeleton looked like it was struggling to get up again as its head started to cave inward from the blow. In between heavy attacks from the surrounding figures, Doug eyed the torn away skeletal sword arm laying on the ground, just in case it had the ability to do anything, but when it stopped moving a second later he decided that was that. Less than ten seconds had passed, yet his shield arm and shoulder already felt like a led weight on his body as the skeletal figures continued to merely pound on his defenses. There was no agility in their blows, no deftness, nor training. Just the sheer onslaught of attrition and an enemy that probably knew it could merely hammer away at the shield wall until it collapsed and revealed the prize. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Just gotta hold out.¡± Doug said between blows. ¡°Hraaagh!¡± Edgar punched out with his shield, stunning an exposed skeleton straight in the head, then ate another attack from the skeleton to his side with a block from his sword. If there hadn''t been much talking before, there were even less now as the sounds of ringing metal and chipping wood echoed as skeletal swords swung at their wooden shields. Doug tilted his head back sharply, readjusting the imperfectly fitted skull cap that he had received less than a couple weeks ago, and a skeleton used the opportunity to get a grazing hit through his guard. The strike landed on his right shoulder with enough force that it left a nasty dent in his green shoulder guard, and caused enough of a shock that he almost dropped his sword. The skeleton had extended itself too much into his guard as it stepped forward with the attack, so Doug swung over his shield in a horizontal blow that blasted its head off its shoulders at the crease of the neck. The body slumped to the ground and didn''t move. Doug almost celebrated taking down one more enemy when he had to raise his sword arm sharply to stop another blow from the skeletal body that stepped into the place of the one he had just taken care of. The odds were improving, but his entire body ached from the defensive action as the blows just didn''t stop. He had to keep fighting. Had to keep holding up the right side of their duo. Because if he ever went down, Edgar probably wouldn''t even see him fall in time to try defending his right side. Not like he was paying very much attention to Edgar''s fight either as he chanced a quick glance over and saw a handful of broken limbs scattered around the floor. Not bad. One of the skeletons tried ducking under the cart to get behind them, but Doug sent an upward slash into its hip that only had a chance of landing because the creatures seemed to have no sense of self defense. It spun backwards, nearly toppling into another monster behind it as the blow spun its body out and away. Just enough to give Doug some space, and buy him another second or two of mind numbing attacks on his left shield arm. Behind the pack attacking him he saw a handful of skeletons flying away from the caravan to land in a heap of bones twenty paces away from the carts. It gave him hope. ¡°Bide. Time.¡± He got out in between the shocking blows raining down on him, straining every inch of his body with the force they flung at him like children. A skeleton was trying to go underneath the cart again, and this time it wasn''t close enough for him to take an easy shot at it. There were still two skeletons distracting him with their constant attacks, and Edgar seemed like he was dealing with the same thing, so neither of them was in a position to move. His teeth gritted against the pain. Everything screamed at him. Every inch of his body wanted to just give up and take a break. But every time a blow came at him he found just enough effort to shift his half broken shield into the right position, or slap away the attack just enough to last another second. The skeleton that was trying to sneak into their blind spot suddenly lurched away from the cart, pulled towards the rear of the caravan then suddenly thrust forward into the bodies of the other skeletons attacking Doug and Edgar. It crashed into its buddies with a sickening crunch, during which Doug happily threw a haymaker sword swing into their sides as the bodies bunched up into each other, breaking a few bones of his own. The bodies slowed down considerably as they started piling up, and the human duo seemed to act in unison as they both punched forward with their swords into the tangled mess of bone and armor. The skeletons toppled backward as they lost their footing and fell as a group onto the ground in a confused ball of thrashing limbs stuck in each other''s way. Doug took a look to his right as a lone man with a sweat beaded face and a bo staff in his hands stood in between the carts down the line. As the skeletons fell to the ground, they stopped pushing away from the mage, and the cart behind the man fell back to the ground as though an equal weight had been pushing it up and into the air. The man grunted as he let go of his push, then nodded towards Doug as they went their separate ways. Edgar had refocused on the fallen skeletons, sending his own sword in hammering strikes on their conjoined bodies, hacking away at the white mess bit by bit, and Doug happily joined in. Though they were tired, the skeletons were no match for the two now that their numbers had waned and they lay prone on the ground. The two continued to crush through the bodies bit by bit until the pile stopped moving of its own free will. His own fight taken care of, Doug started jogging heavy, tired steps around the front of the caravan to the other side. If they could just link up with the men on the left flank, perhaps he could help. As he turned the corner he found a singular skeleton left standing as it faced off with one of Harrant''s own men, Collin. As he jogged up behind the two Collin sent a well timed sideward slash at the skeleton, but it moved with more grace than Doug had seen from any of the creatures up until that point, twisting its own sword around Collin''s and sending it up and into the air. The creature then made its own sword arc downward towards the man''s exposed neck, causing him to twist in place and get his shield high enough to stop the blow. The shield made it in time, but then the skeleton stepped forward, twisted its hips, and sent a heavy uppercut straight into the man''s stomach. Harrant noticed an orange glow reflecting off the side of the shield with the attack, and his footsteps faltered as he continued watching. There were two men left prone by Collins feet, thankfully not yet killed by the beast, though Doug was starting to convince himself that the skeleton had done that on purpose. When the twin pair of orange eyes turned to look at him, blazing visibly despite the late day sun, Doug hastily decided that he would rather fight any other skeleton than this one. The pair met eyes for only a split second before the creature was suddenly yanked away from Harrant, sent flying through the air by an unseen force. Doug used the chance to run up to Collin and catch him before the man fell to the ground, though he kept one eye focused on the fight that was about to begin. Xei tumbled to the ground in a backwards roll less than ten paces away from the force mage, deftly turning his body in place until he was able to roll to his feet without getting too caught up in the motion. The man facing him merely held out his staff horizontally and pushed on the weapon, sending it whistling into Xei''s midsection and pushing him back fifteen paces before stopping. The bo staff''s momentum ended so suddenly that it left Xei sailing through the air another five paces before his feet met the ground, tearing through the soft earth as he somehow maintained his footing. Even as the mage pulled the staff back inward, Xei started to charge at the man, sword held in an underhand stance as he closed the distance. The staff shot back out, spinning somewhat wildly about its axis as the mage hadn''t had a chance to catch it before he sent out this next attack to keep Xei at bay. The Skeleton had expected this however and swung upward with his sword at the last minute into the spinning side of the staff, stopping its momentum as the mage was suddenly blasted off of his feet and into the side of the wooden cart. The man bounced off the cart and onto his hands and knees as Xei continued his assault, closing the distance with disturbing speed as he left the staff behind him. The mage lifted his head at the skeleton¡¯s approach, raising a single hand that might have been an appeal for mercy or¡­ The staff shot towards the mage from behind Xei, catching the skeleton by the back of the knees and tripping him up as the weapon pulled his feet out from under him. The mage caught the staff in his hand a second later, then pushed downward, rocketing his body up and into the air directly over Xei, then pushed downward again directly over the skeleton. Xei''s body looked like it had been planted into the dirt at this point, every arm and leg of his body crushed into the ground but not yet broken from the weight as an orange glow overtook his limbs. The mage didn''t waste time however and pointed the tip of his staff downward at the creature before releasing it. A ballista couldn''t have shot the metal staff forward any faster than the mage did in that moment, releasing the equivalent of a supersized metal bolt straight at the skeleton. The motion seemed to release Xei from the ground, as he raised up a hand towards the staff. His hand did nothing to protect him as the bolt blasted through it and his outstretched arm as well, only to land straight on the creature¡¯s head. A blinding flash of orange light poured out from the connection, and Harrant could actually hear the mage guffaw high up in the air as his body suddenly wrenched upward like he''d been punched in mid air. A tense moment later though, the light died out and the metal pole slid down through the forehead of the skeleton, pinning it to the ground. Harrant watched as the orange eyes dulled considerably in time with the mage''s hasty descent from the sky. The force mage landed heavily on Xei''s lower ribs and spine, easily smashing through the bones as the man collapsed to his knees after the fall to kneel over the body as he gathered himself. The skeleton didn''t move, and Doug was having trouble even telling whether there was any orange glow in the skull''s eyes anymore. The mage looked up at him, smiling as he clutched at his own ribs like he''d been punched through the sky. Doug smiled back at the mad man, not even sure which side he wanted to really win as he continued to help up the surrounding men from their own battle with Xei. Then a strange orange light spread over the mages face as he started to look down on the skeleton. A single white arm reached up before anyone could realize what was happening and grasped the mage by the throat, wrapping long spindly fingers around the man''s entire neck. The mage panicked, and pushed away at the ground as fast as he could, but the skeleton held on tight to his head, forcing the mage upside down as only the lower half of his body moved upward. Xei''s second arm reached up to grasp the mage by the throat, then orange light leaked from the two hands as he squeezed through the soft flesh like he was crushing an apple. Something snapped in the mage, his head suddenly jolting out of its already awkward position, and the rest of the body fell to the ground on top of Xei. The skeleton released his hands as the glow left his eyes, both arms dropping to the ground as the mage''s head fell into the dirt beside him. Then Doug saw a matching pair of orange eyes appear from another skeleton further down the line that was still fighting the other men. He knelt there, dumbfounded as the orange menace seemed to immediately empower the new body, growing in both speed and experience to upend the tentative balance of power wherever he fought. Harrant reached down for his whistle then blew one long note, followed by two shorter ones. He looked down the line, waiting for precious moments as Xei made quick work of his soldiers, knocking them out one after the other before a matching whistle blew from the back of the formation. His head perked up, realizing the chance they still must have had at that moment, and he finished picking up the man that Xei had just downed less than fifteen seconds before. They in turn picked up the other two men, one of which had broken his leg in the exchange, and started gathering near the front of the convoy. A single cart was moving up the right side of the formation, the side that thankfully didn''t have Xei standing on it, as a group of four men clung to the sides of the cart and ushered the terrified horses forward. They barely slowed as Doug, Edgar, Collin, and the rest of the first cart leapt aboard as the horses passed, the uninjured helping drag anyone hurt inside. At the end of the day, eleven men ended up surviving the attack in the runaway cart, and Doug counted all his blessings that it was even that many. How oddly convenient that most the men in the first and last carts had survived the encounter. The two carts that just so happened to be manned by Doug''s own sell-swords. At least the goddess hadn''t truly abandoned her followers. The lone carriage sped down the open roadway as fast as they could, allowing the screams of dying men to fade out behind them. 40 - Reis Introduction Fei¡¯s vision spun and spun and spun. She was trying to be everywhere, all at once, all the time, and it was even starting to hurt a little. From a small mouse-like head she watched from under the bottom of a ruined carriage as a line of skeletal soldiers carried away boxes. She followed the tendril from her mouse body to one of those skeletons changing perspective once again. Heavy armor now weighed down her shoulders as her customary purple flames filled the sockets of the warrior skeleton''s skull. She froze mid step. It felt wrong. How long had it been since she had walked like this? It wasn''t that she didn''t know how to anymore, just that it felt oh so strange to be standing on two feet again. And she hated it. She moved the skeletal body with only slightly awkward steps away from the rest of the skeletons conducting their assigned tasks. Flecks of green fire seemed to burn in their souls as she considered the bony warriors around her, obviously obeying the orders of Tai as they attacked the northern convoy. Fei was able to read the commands as though they were a book and she realized the skeletons were collecting all the materials from the convoy at a nearby storage location. As she watched, a particularly large group of skeletons even started to pull away one of the carts themselves from the road. More tools for the war she supposed. Fei knelt down with the box in her hand, opening the crate to reveal its contents. A thick mat of fur lined the top of the crate, but as she started to rifle through the contents, it was quickly revealed to be an entire box of furs. She pulled out five different fur cloaks stuffed tightly into the box, and felt her disappointment grow with the lack of gold. Maybe that was why the garrison hadn''t sent a force mage with this convoy, because it wasn''t as valuable as the other two. Sure, the pelts could fetch a good price, and the coats would be useful to anyone in the winter, but it still wasn''t quite as good as gold. She left the skeleton with an order to continue following the others before flipping her consciousness away to a far distant field littered with the bodies of fallen skeletons. Her half battered body could hardly rise until she repaired a large part of its spinal column just to get the leverage she needed to sit up. When she did, she saw that only a single cart had been destroyed, the rest of them seemingly moving onward with only minimal losses. A couple human bodies littered the ground near the skeletal wastefield so it hadn''t been entirely one sided. All things considered, at least Charity had managed to get away from the force mage leading the eastern convoy without getting caught. From what Fei could tell as she watched the battle from the sidelines earlier that day, a red haired punk had been nearly single handedly responsible for the loss of this battle. The way her red hair streaked across the battlefield as she flipped back and forth through the skeletal ranks had been amazing. Though she had a feeling that Charity didn''t have such a high regard for the girl considering the way the preacher had to hide under the leaves until they left. Fei decided not to bother repairing the skeleton enough for it to walk, instead detaching the hand from the rest of the body to walk across the battlefield like the skeletal spiders that they had used once upon a time. As she picked her way up towards the forgotten cart, she realized that the skeletal hand felt far less heavy on her mind than she remembered it feeling shortly after they came into the world. Despite having more than fifty small animals posted in key locations around the city, the addition of a single hand felt like little more than a drop in the bucket with the powers they now played with. At this point the embers had started to correlate their numbers of followers with ease of use, and considering the close to six-hundred motes of fire swimming about in the void right now. Well. What was a little monster in comparison? She would have to thank Charity for her hard work the last couple weeks on that front, easily earning ten to twenty followers per night for the team. Not that Xei hadn''t managed to bring in a couple from his raids as well. The skeletal spider finally crawled its way up the side of the cart to look inside, revealing the empty back of a cart. Fei supposed it made sense they would carry away the extra supplies, considering how handily they won the battle, and flipped away to another body. A chandelier dangled down below as a small mouse clung to one of the wooden rafters at the top of the great hall. No one danced below as a group of servants picked through the empty room, changing out table cloths and sweeping the floors. Boring. She flicked over to the garrison, finding herself in another small body looking down upon the Barracks Sergeant¡¯s office. A tall lanky man with long black hair had Chris Harrant by the throat and pinned to the wall. Oh, this would be interesting. ¡°-disgraced the garrison.¡± The man spoke in a matter a fact voice, seemingly not upset in the slightest despite threatening a relatively high ranking NCO in the garrison as far as Fei understood it. He threw Chris across the room into one of the nearby tables, spilling the contents of books and inkwells around him in a clatter. ¡°It wasn''t me!¡± Chris tried to get his point across in between grunts of pain, but the tall man wasn''t listening. His body was lifted bodily from the table and flung over into the next one, smashing into the wooden statues arrayed over a map of the city depicting troop locations. The tall man¡¯s hair swung wildly in the opposite direction as Chris was flung across the room a couple more times, becoming more and more bloodied with each unstoppable attack from the man. Chris''s body finally lurched towards the tall man again as he somehow manipulated the pull to land a wide arcing punch straight into the Harrant brother''s face. Teeth flew away from the two of them as Chris''s body flopped to the ground after the blow, obviously unconscious, and the tall man clapped his hands twice in the empty room. A trio of soldiers entered through the door, and Fei noticed a strange black symbol of an eye painted on their otherwise normal shoulder guards. The man walked through the open door, his guards following him with the fallen body in tow. Fei flipped through a handful of different perspectives she had hidden around the garrison building, tracking the group well enough until they left the building. Tailing them through the city itself was a bit harder as she found her little legged vermin struggled to keep up with human walking speeds over long distances. She lost the group halfway to the nobles quarter and had to spend the next thirty minutes flipping between viewpoints hoping she could catch a glimpse of them again. Thankfully, a small bird corpse hidden among the smokestacks at the top of a building across from the Whisper Keep finally caught them as they disappeared into the large keep entrance. ¡®Now just what are you planning on doing with him, Lord Whisper? ¡ª Dei had lain low the last couple days following the caravan attack as Julius instructed her to bide time after everyone had gotten so on edge. Just enough time to let this attack have the effect they wanted it to have on the nobility. Fear. She stood in an empty alleyway across from something that looked like a white marble temple lined with purple tapestries when she felt it happen. Her chest started humming to her, and red light stained the walls around her as the cuffs in her jacket sleeves and legs started to glow. She tried to back up further down the alleyway to get more privacy, but the shard''s call was so demanding that she had to give up shortly after and dived into the void. When she arrived there she realized she wasn''t the only one this time. The three other embers were already waiting for her in the otherwise lightless place, looking up from the metaphorical floor at the lightshow going on above them. Hundreds of red dots marked the sky like all the stars in the night, though the red made it look quite a bit more ominous. Instead of dancing or playing with one another, the stars seemed to vibrate in place, buzzing in tune with one another as their individual voices slowly rose in pitch. ¡®My last count was six hundred twenty four based on the group charity pulled in tonight.¡¯ Tai said. ¡®I think my guys might have just broken one of the captives from the convoy attack.¡¯ Xei responded. Fei seemed to nod along with the explanation. ¡®So. Six hundred twenty five huh?¡¯ Dei said. The very air seemed to reverberate at her words, like the weight of her voice affected the world itself. The chorus came next as it always did, the red stars winking out one by one as they merged into one another, growing in size. ¡°Ascension complete. Strength found lacking.¡± The red glob of fire had grown to eclipse a small portion of the sky by that point, turning into a distant red sun over their heads. ¡°Solution, Creatures of Death.¡± The chorus died down from its sorrowful ballad, and the great red ball ebbed in size until it joined the rest of them. ¡®Bit dramatic aren¡¯t you?¡¯ Fei asked. They waited as the ball of essence floated in front of them, twin snake eyes starting to appear amid the formless vapor. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡®Oho! He''s gonna be a fighter!¡¯ Xei called out. ¡®He?¡¯ A rather soft feminine voice spoke out. It sounded like some of the noblewomen that Dei had heard speaking to Julius at the balls. Namely, the ones that hadn''t had to do much speaking for themselves in between their tea parties and afternoon walks. ¡®Hah!¡¯ Fei laughed heartily at Xei as he cursed into the void. Dei was about to introduce them to the newcomer when she felt something shift her body from the outer world. She returned to the stone alley way to find her body pushed to the ground by a pair of twin guards looking down at her. ¡°Get out of here crazy. Can''t have random servants hanging out in the alleyways around the Geld manor now can we?¡± The guard growled at her, evidently upset that she hadn''t been responding to him. ¡®Well, I was planning on going in loud tonight anyways.¡¯ Dei thought. She slowly crawled to her feet, like a somewhat drunk girl in the night as she leaned heavily on the nearby alley wall. The two guards seemed to eye each other as she played into the role just enough to get their minds thinking. When the first man started leaning closer to her, one hand placed firmly on the wall behind her, she didn''t even bother unsheathing a dagger first. Her fist flashed blue, turning into a long spike that she punched upward through the man''s head until blood tarted gushing from the other side. She pushed the body into the wall to get some more weight behind her as she kicked out with her leg into the other man''s chest before he could yell out. The man gasped for breath as he fell back into the far wall while Dei pulled her makeshift arm sword out of the other man''s head and dropped him to the ground. The man tried his best, reaching for his sword scabbard as he dodged her first and second blows, all while still struggling to catch his breath. But as she withdrew one of her daggers in her free hand and managed to pin his sword arm to his chest with the weapon, well, the fight ended quickly. Two bodies slumped to the ground, spreading a pool of red liquid below her feet when she realized that there was a tinge of red color in her sword arm as she retracted it. Her glove hand was ruined, but she could always get another one later. More importantly someone else was sharing the body. ¡®Hi.¡¯ A new voice sounded in her head. Dei looked down at the fallen bodies around her. The oddly soft voice felt out of place to her amid the death she had just sown. ¡®Oh stop that, I''m not a kid!¡¯ She said. ¡®Sorry, it''s just. Your voice.¡¯ Dei started. ¡®Mmhmmm.¡¯ There was a hint of playfulness to the voice. ¡®So is it my turn now?¡¯ ¡®Your turn?¡¯ ¡®Yeah! I wanna try!.¡¯ ¡®Really?¡¯ ¡®Ugghhhhh¡¯ The voice moaned into Dei''s mental ear, and started to move the body towards the manor. Dei almost took control away from her, but, well, this could be interesting. ¡®You want to fight?¡¯ Dei asked. ¡®Duh? What else were you planning on doing tonight?¡¯ Dei shrugged their conjoined bodies shoulders and allowed the girl to have complete control. She could always take over if things started going poorly. Her first couple steps forward were awkward, as they usually were, but then the girl did something strange. Dei felt her corpse legs break inward with loud snaps that echoed down the alleyway as her shins snapped forward and her knees snapped backward before fusing back into place. Somehow, the body remained standing as the girl quickly rearranged the leg structure in a couple of other small ways, bouncing slightly up and down like she was on springs. When she started walking forward once again, Dei finally understood what she was trying to do. Her legs were working somewhat backwards than usual, reversing the pulling motions that they usually used to walk into a more push focused motion. The extra join gave her more leverage which the new girl seemed to intuitively widen her gait as she gained speed. After the first couple steps the girl''s feet were practically sliding out from under her, and the girl skidded to a stop before they exited the alleyway. ¡®So, before I set you loose and stuff. What''s your name?¡¯ Dei asked. ¡®Oh. I''m Rei!¡¯ Dei chuckled to herself. Fei was gonna love that. Small talons sprouted from the ends of Rei''s feet, piercing through the ends of her shoes to scrape into the stone ground beneath her. A lone guard passed by the alleyway entrance, his torch held high as he passed through the night. The man wasn''t looking for them, eyes fixed further down the road until he happened to look down the alleyway by pure chance. His feet stopped moving as the torch lit up a pair of dead bodies halfway down the alley along with a small girl that was sprinting directly at him. His mouth dropped open as he stared dumbfounded at the girl before a sharpened fist bone took him in the jaw, punching straight through his head and blasting the rest of his body up the polished white steps towards the Geld family manor. Two men standing by the doorway looked stricken as they stared at the ragdoll-like body that had been a passing guard but a moment before. As Rei started running up the stairs following the body, the two guards started hollering for help as they swung down their spears into the ready position. Small bells jingled where they hung from the guard''s spears, further adding to the noise coming from the front doorway. ¡®Just remember to leave some of them alive.¡¯ Dei said. ¡®Do I have to?¡¯ Rei''s unnatural feet helped her dash up the stone steps faster than any human had a right to move, talon''s gripping into the stone and leaving shallow grooves with every powerful step. As she approached the first spearhead she didn''t even slow down, pawing away the spear in a swipe of her hand before she dove into the man, shoulder first. A new spiked protrusion in her shoulder bone that Dei hadn''t noticed slammed through the man''s armor as the two collided with the wall behind him. The other guard was trying to swipe at her from behind, but she rolled with the body over her until it blocked the other guard''s spear, then pushed the two into each other. Rei jumped after them a moment later, allowing her taloned feet to slam into the unfortunate guard on top as she punched around his head into the other guard''s neck area. Dei was having trouble believing that either of the men would survive their wounds at this point, but Rei merely jumped away from the pair back towards the main door and shouldered her way through it. Another trio of guards were approaching down the wide hallway, lined on both sides by ornate white pillars that matched the look of the outside architecture. ¡°It''s her!¡± One of the guards yelled. ¡°A Jurn servant?¡± Another asked. ¡®Perfect.¡¯ Dei thought aloud as the red ember dashed down the hallway at the men, feet biting through the lush purple carpet and dark wood flooring. The men''s eyes turned from confidence to confusion as the girl closed in on them. They raised their shields into a three man formation to try and deflect the oncoming body that was practically bounding across the room. She never even touched their shields as she punched both her feet into the ground before them, leaping into an overhead sumersault through the air. Her punch daggers formed into spindly clawed hands as she sunk both of them into the shoulder armor of the center man in the formation. As she finished flipping over, her claws sheared upward through his light armor, ripping away large chunks of the man''s shoulders in a bloody fountain. When she landed on the other side of the men she didn''t stop running, bolting further down the hallway towards the cluster of doorways that marked the splitting point in the large manor. ¡®Second door on the left.¡¯ Dei told her. The first door on the left opened as they approached, a single armored man running through it towards the commotion. Rei merely dropped to her knees as she passed under his raised sword arm, reaching out with one hand to grasp the man by the thigh. Her thin pant legs all but evaporated under the friction with the floor, but when she held on to the man''s thigh, forcing him to spin around after her as they traded momentum. He crashed into the floor further down the hallway, blood gushing from a now open wound on his thigh. She started running again, slowing just enough to open the second door and sprinting through. The space opened up into yet another hallway, though this one was far less ornate as the wooden floor boards zipped by under her feet. Doors passed, one after another as she made it to a T-intersection in the hallway opposite a stained glass window set into the wall. Her feet veered out from under her as a strange force pulled the girl''s body to the side, into the offshooting hallway. The sudden wrenching motion didn''t stop her momentum fully however, and she had to lower her shoulder as she collided with the corner of the intersection. Rei¡¯s shoulder flashed red with light as she rolled off the impact in the direction of the pulling motion, instead allowing herself to fall in the direction she was being manipulated into. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she found a tall woman with fair skin standing in the middle of the hallway. A nightgown hung loosely around the woman''s body as she started to balk at the oncoming monstrosity dashing towards her. Dei felt the lady''s power crash into their body as she suddenly push Rei''s body away. The floorboards rattled behind the woman as she desperately tried to stop Rei''s charge in its tracks. The skeleton slowed on its approach, speed dragging out of it as she fought the outward push with powerful legs and clawed toes that ripped into the ground with every step. Three paces left. Two paces. One. Rei swiped out a claw at the woman just as her momentum died out on her, catching a glancing blow on the woman''s arm before Rei''s body was finally shot back. Her lightweight body flipped through the air as she all but fell horizontally towards the end of the hall, feet braced below her as she approached a stained glass window set into the wall. The woman released her push just before Rei''s body made contact, but the speed she picked up was still more than enough to crash through the thin metal strands holding the colorful glass together. She fell out and into a small interior garden, crashing through a stone birdbath standing in the enclosure before landing in a bush. Birds tweeted around her, seemingly annoyed at her for her rude entrance as they flew up and away from their nightly perch. ¡®Good. Now run.¡¯ Dei told her. ¡®Really? But-.¡¯ ¡®Run!¡¯ Rei obeyed. She used her abnormal legs to make the jump up to the rooftop look easy. Clawed toes sunk into the clay roof tiles as she ran across the palatial manor, then leapt off the side of the building with unnatural skill. They all but sailed across the open road way before landing on the roof of the next building over and continuing her journey across the city. Her lupine ankle bones pumped their way across the thin wooden rooftops, and her chest leaned down as she sprinted under the stars. ¡®Fair job.¡¯ Dei said. ¡®But I''m never letting you use this body again.¡¯ 41 - Split Loyalties What are we doing here Laura?¡± Trevor asked the Major in the small secluded room they had taken as their headquarters in the underground catacombs. Connely''s eyes darted over towards a letter she had stuffed into the corner of the room as she thought about his question. She wasn''t quite sure what the right answer was anymore. Could she really say they were serving their kingdom, after the things they were doing here in a foreign land while supporting that thing that was running amok? ¡°Trevor. It''s not that simple.¡± She needed to give him something to distract him. Something that would get his mind back on better things than the awkward situation they were stuck in right now. ¡°Laura, we''ve been stuck here guarding some gods¡¯ forsaken evil lair for the past two months while doing nothing but stack boxes that come in from the smuggler boats. I need something to work with here. The men do too.¡± Connely had started to doubt that. More and more of her line troops were starting to join in on the random raiding parties that the orange eyed freak kept leading to the nearby farms. It''s not that she had prohibited them from taking part, but each time another soldier succumbed to their boredom and joined with the ¡®Sword Lord¡¯, it still felt like a bit of an abandonment to her. Her orders had seemed simple enough when she first left the Golden Kingdom. Protect the death shard long enough to get her to the Princedom capital, set her loose, and notify the correct contacts depending on what happened. Only problem was that the girl took a far more systematic approach to the problem than anyone had expected, setting up a ground floor for her to stand on instead of just attacking the shard-bearer head on. It was probably a smart idea, if not for the fact that Connely had been relegated to a side job as a result of the plan, mostly due to her own reactions to the girl. ¡°We''re observing a possible enemy before anything gets out of hand. That''s what we¡¯re doing.¡± She let her voice soften into a whisper with the words, even though they were the only people in the room. ¡°So we''re just going to sit here as the ¡®enemy¡¯ grows right before our eyes? She''s getting stronger Connely, every single day. And that Lord Xei skeleton? He''s already bad news.¡± Connely sat down at a table arranged near the middle of the room. Five different thoughts and considerations came to mind at once, though not a single one was strong enough, or pertinent enough to be worth speaking aloud. She''d been stuck in this conundrum for the last couple weeks. Instructed to wait and watch the death goddess do her thing, yet also instructed to try and hurry things along as the Monarch got impatient. ¡°What do you want from me, Trev?¡± She asked him. ¡°I want what our detachment wants Laura. We need to have a purpose. Whether its joining forces with this death cult, or fighting our way out of this labyrinth. The men are going stir crazy because we don''t fully understand why we''re here. Just what is our purpose?¡± He replied. She stared down at the table in front of her as Trevor remained standing in the middle of the room. His hands were balled up into fists by his sides, green gemstone hanging from his neck over a thin set of leather armor. In comparison, Connely was merely wearing a set of casual clothes, as her armor rested in a bag over in the corner of the room. Her head felt like it was the heaviest thing in the world as she propped it up with her hands. Trevor sighed heavily then left her alone to her thoughts. Connely didn''t even need to reach over for the letter to remember what it said. The last line felt like it was imprinted into her brain with a searing iron. One last command that she was sure would end their lives if she ever followed it. The time wasn''t right. ¡®Force the girl to make her attack on the eve of the winter solstice.¡¯ It said, ¡®If you don''t, there''s no reason for you to bother coming back.¡¯ The words swam through her mind. The command that was so unreasonable, so impossible, that she knew she had already failed. Her fist slammed into the top of the table, the heavy blow leaving a noticeable mark in the thin parchment over the icon for Midton. Capital of the Princedoms. ¡ª Thin holes in the wall allowed Cody just enough of a view out from his prison that he didn''t feel entirely alone. He couldn''t tell how long he had been in here, no passing of the sun or stars to mark the end of each day spent in confinement. Instead, he had these holes, perfectly positioned to look out on something resembling a common room for the people that lived here. At first he had rebelled against his enclosure, slapping against the walls of the chamber with such force that he nearly tore his own body apart. He tried pushing and pulling on every one of the massive stone blocks that formed this room, but he was no shard-bearer. He couldn''t move boulders twice the size of his body, nor could he move the perfectly conjoined stone building blocks that surrounded him on every side. Even the wall with all the holes drilled through it was sturdy enough to thwart him, leaving his body with nothing but heavy bruising littered across his entire chest and arms. He was used to the pain of force magic by this point. Feedback, they called it. Every push they sent out sent an equal weight in the opposite direction, aimed directly at the body of the person using the magic. They could lessen the blows considerably by keeping up a force bubble when they had time to focus on the attacks, but doing that during a time of battle? Well, it was hard enough to stay alive when you were fighting for your life, much less pushing in four or five different directions at once. Cody had thrown everything he had against these walls, desperate for even the slimmest bit of a chance that he could break out of this prison and get back to his normal life. At the end of the day it had merely left him panting on the ground as he tried to ignore the dull throbbing pain across the entirety of his body. Slamming a force greater than his entire body weight into a solid object would hurt, with or without the passive defense he was able to conjure up. Meals were the only thing that seemed to be a constant in his life now. He would hear a rumbling in the wall, followed by a small window of stone receding into the ground to reveal a small tray with stew and water on it. The inside of the cubby containing the food would be closed off from the outside in, confirming the fact that there must be some sort of earth mage opening and closing the walls off as they sent him his food. He took the small tray of sustenance and pulled it over to plop down next to the wall with holes in it, eating woodenly as he savored that chance to do something other than waste time. Voices were audible through the peeping wall, dull and hard to understand as they were muted by the small holes but still audible enough if he put the effort in. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Gracie! I haven''t seen you in a couple days. What cha been up to?¡± A man''s voice spoke from the other side of the wall. ¡°Oh you know, we''ve just been settling in. Sean decided to bring half our house with us when we joined the movement, so it''s been taking some time to get everything moved down here through that little hole.¡± A woman''s voice responded. ¡°Oh-ho? You must have been brought in with one of Charity''s groups then?¡± ¡°Yeah, didn''t everyone?¡± ¡°Far from it! My family got all but plucked off the Jurn family farm we were assigned to work. Took me a good couple of weeks to come to terms with the place.¡± ¡°Really? You didn''t even come here willingly?¡± ¡°Well no. But it''s kind of hard to complain. The food¡¯s good, the people are fair, and there''s plenty of work to be done. Its just a little hard to get used to the uh, guards, you know?¡± Cody turned around in between mouthfuls of stew to look through the holes. He spotted the burly man facing away from him at the table in the next room, pointing over his shoulder at one of the skeletons standing to the side of the room. It was just one of four skeletal warriors picked clean of any flesh and skin, then left to stand rigidly against the side of the room. Were they there to actually protect the people here, or were they placed there as a reminder of the powerful forces watching over them? Probably both. ¡°And after the sermon''s the soldiers give each day? Well, I suppose I realized that living in here isn''t so different from my life out there anyways. Put things into perspective, you know?¡± The man continued. Gracie didn''t seem to be as comfortable with that answer, squirming in her seat across from the man at the table. He felt like he was right there with her on this one, after all, it sounded like they were prisoners in a way just like him. Just with a marginal amount of more freedom. He was about to yell through the holes, to try and get someone''s attention when the cubby that his food came in closed up. Another cubby opened further down the wall shortly after, depositing a small pile of bones into the room. Cody stood up, meal and conversation forgotten as he prepared himself for an attack. The skeleton started shifting in place, pulling itself up and out of the cubby with both hands held up above its head. Was it trying to act innocent? He took the time to split his mind, forging a small barrier over his already bruised muscles, then pushed heavily on both the skeleton and the wall behind him. The bones fell apart as he forced them into the wall, glowing with orange light as they somehow managed not to break. Cody released the push as his body struggled against the pressure. Bones clacked into place once again from the other side of the room, seemingly only inconvenienced by his attack. They formed back together so quickly it was like an unseen hand was placing them into the correct formation as the skeleton wiggled around trying to reach for the last couple bones that had fallen off of it. Cody waited just long enough for the skeleton to stand up this time, before pulling it slightly towards him and into the center of the room. The skeleton kept its hands above its head like it was trying to plead its innocence or something, but he simply used the skeleton''s new position to build up speed. When the outward pressure hit the skeleton this time, it blasted it across the room so quickly that bones outright shattered when they impacted with the wall. The same orange glow suffused the bones again as they scattered around the room, but it wasn''t enough to stop the attack entirely. His satisfaction at his work only lasted a moment, as the separate parts started moving themselves through the sand. A torn off arm pulled itself with its hand back towards the rib cage, while the skull seemed to warp the very structure of its head to allow it to roll back towards the rest of the body. Whatever was controlling this skeleton was far stronger than the guards he had destroyed the night in the woods. It wasn''t natural. Then again, nothing about this place was natural. A minute later the skeleton had put itself back together once again, and continued to walk into the center of the room. It had no weapons or armor on it, so Cody wasn''t quite sure whether it was dangerous or not and kept his eyes locked on the strange monster as it stood there, five paces away from him. The orange light was now coming from the skeleton''s eyes, burning like small torches in the middle of the room. It slowly crouched with its hands above its head, then reached down to touch the sand. The skeletal creature traced something in the sand, first a symbol of a cross, then a half broken archway, then-. Was it writing? A few moments later the word, ¡°Train?¡± was written in the sand. ¡°Train? You mean, you want me to teach you something?¡± Cody asked. The skeleton nodded its head, still crouched by the sandy ground. ¡°You want Me, to train you? Why would I ever do that?¡± The skeleton scribbled something into the ground again, ¡°Food.¡± Cody looked down on the forgotten tray by his feet and realized that the bowl of stew had tipped over and rolled across the sandy floor towards the wall. It must have been pushed away as he attacked the skeleton earlier. His belly grumbled, and he suddenly remembered the strange weight that still lay in the bottom of his stomach. None of which made him feel very lucky right now. ¡°You''ll give me more food if I train with you? You mean fighting?¡± The skeleton nodded at him. ¡°For how long?¡± ¡°15¡± The skeleton wrote out. ¡°Fifteen minutes for a meal huh?¡± Cody shook his head as he asked the question. This was insane. Was he really about to spar with a skeleton for food? Laughter echoed into the room from the half forgotten holes behind him. The sounds of other prisoners having fun despite the awkward circumstances. Meanwhile Cody was facing off with an un-killable skeleton that wanted to fight him. Perfect, just perfect. Cody felt himself settling into a fighting stance once again, and the skeleton stood up to match his pose. The bout was started as Cody used a slight push to send the empty tray flying towards the skeleton''s body, catching it square in the chest and sending it crashing into the wall behind it. The skeleton bounced off the wall with a flash of orange light, and started running at the man as soon as it touched the floor. In return, Cody coated himself in a thin barrier and started pushing off of the walls without using any counter pushes, helping him move out of the way of the skeleton with small hops across the room. If this monster wanted to fight him for minutes at a time, he certainly wasn''t going to use his full force against it with every push. Especially not when his body was already hurting so much. As such, the pair ended up trailing around the room as Cody careened through the air up and above the skeletal body that twisted around, back and forth, trying to catch him for the next several minutes. The light pushes weren''t quite as harsh on his body as they were when he was trapped between objects with a counter push, but he still started to grunt with the effort of keeping away from the creature below him. One circle around the room, cross over head, slide across the outside wall, dart past the creature while he parried mid-air. It was like playing with a child. And yet. Some small part of the man was glad to have someone else in the room with him. A creature that wasn''t quite human, but it could speak in a way. It had wants, and desires. Maybe he could work with that? The two fighters continued to spin around the room as both lost their sense of time and another meal appeared without notice in the corner of the room. 42 - Fort Seton Wood creaked in time with the hoofbeats of two tired draft horses at the front of their overladden carriage. Following the battle nearly a week ago, most of his men walked beside the carriage while Doug and Edgar took their turn at the driver''s seat. Weary feet padded along at a glacial pace as the entire group traded places via a rotation on the only sitting room available on the cart, fully aware that they were pushing the horses hard to even maintain their current pace. No one cared though, not with the pressure of a hundred ravening skeletons at their back. Doug looked over his men as they trudged through the softly falling snow that had just started to coat the land. White flakes spun through the air around them, dancing allong with the passing of the small group of men as they forced their way down the never ending road. They were coming close to their destination at this point, approximately eight days'' travel to the south of Midton, and close to one of the largest fortresses allong the southern border. As of now, however, no sight of Fort Seton had reached them quite yet. So they walked, and walked, and walked. Only a single man from their group had sustained any true injuries, a man named Oleg who had broken his leg during the ambush. Doug smiled to himself as he thought about the snarky chirps the men had given him considering his name, but as they hastened their pace following the attack their humor hadn¡¯t lasted them very long. The men now walked sullenly, ready to finally end this march as soon as possible. The last time Harrant had walked behind the cart to check on him, Oleg hadn''t seemed much more happy with the situation. He looked out at the road with hollow eyes and a thin grimace as he held his crossbow constantly at the ready, watching for attackers. Thing was, Doug was pretty sure none of his men would even bat an eye if they were attacked by bandits or something of the like. Killing men was routine to them, but what they had just faced? Well, even after surviving the encounter none of the men felt particularly safe on the open roads anymore. Not when they all knew they worked for the goddess that almost sent them to their deaths on this trip. Harrant let his mind wander with the falling snow. He didn''t want to think about what that said about their employer. ¡ª A tall thick wall enclosed the large fort against the white carpet surrounding the encampment for a thousand paces in every direction. Everything within sight was a barren landscape devoid of cover or even the barest hint of a hill or dip in the land. The perfect type of place for a battlefield, and any enemies worst nightmare if they had to attack the fort. In the far distance, along the southern edge of the fort the field did eventually dip into a dark river with only a hint of ice along the slower moving edges of the current. Harrant had exchanged places with another two men on the driver''s seat by the time they made it to the gatehouse, and the massive iron palisade rose slowly as they approached. The eyes looking down on them from the top of the gate house had been expecting them it seemed, already accepting their small number as allies in the cold due to the distinctive green shoulderguards they all wore. A single guardsman stopped them just inside the barricade as the gatehouse closed back up behind them. A month ago Harrant would have been unnerved by the situation as thoughts of dual loyalties pulled at him from both sides, but now he was too tired for that. He walked up to the guard to hear what things were about, and deal with the consequences either way. ¡°We''ve heard that your convoy was attacked along the way. No survivors.¡± The guard said. ¡°Well you heard wrong. Our force mage died on the field so we couldn''t send any messages ahead of us, but we''re here now.¡± ¡°You left your mage behind?¡± The man asked. ¡°We left behind the mages corpse nehind, and the dead bodies of close to twenty other men when we ran.¡± Harrant''s voice was hard in the face of this questioning. He wasn''t about to allow these men to label them as cowards just because they had lived. ¡°So yeah, we fled after the battle was already more than lost.¡± The guard in front of him went a bit pale as Harrant mentioned his casualties. After a moment of consideration however, he waved them forward and led them deeper into the small town. A strange mix of wooden and stone buildings comprised the bastion, though most of them seemed to be built of thick stone bricks laid atop one another. The houses weren''t as fancy as most of the stone buildings in Midton, but they certainly looked sturdy as he saw a varied group of men and women conducting their daily tasks. A forge rang out over the open street with the chime of several blacksmith''s hammers falling one after the other. A dog barked in the distance, and several birds picked away at some unknown food left in the cracks of the road until they dispersed at the sound of the oncoming cart. It reminded Harrant of any other town except for the large number of soldiers milling about for every one individual in workers'' clothing. This was a war camp through and through despite the well established nature of the dwellings, though perhaps even those too were influenced by the defensive architecture of the entire town. Everything here had its purpse as they passed several smithies, granaries, wells, and even a couple taverns, all of which were interspersed with small tenements and houses. They eventually cut through the center of town to find a rather large stone building interconnected with the southern edge of the wall. Considering the large amount of people walking in and out of the building over a sturdy drawbridge, it seemed to be some strange combination of a town hall and a defensive position all at the same time. A peek over the side of the drawbridge revealed nothing but a well dug out hole lined with sharpened pieces of wood ready to impale anyone who fell in. More black birds hopped about below, moving from pile to pile of refuse the citizens had evidently either lost, or purposely allowed to fall into the rotting dredge at the bottom of the empty moat. His men packed in closely behind the cart as it just barely fit over the thin drawbridge into a small courtyard within. A group of soldiers came up shortly after and began offloading the stored boxes within the cart as someone else brought up a few treats for the horses. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Sergeant Harrant? Is there a Sergeant Harrant here?¡± A commanding voice bellowed over the moving workers, causing everyone to stop for just a moment until Doug started jogging over to the voice. ¡°That would be me sir!¡± Harrant tried to put a pep in his voice like he was used to hearing from his brother, but was met with an uninterested glare just the same. ¡°You''re supposed to be in charge of this convoy, are you not?¡± A grizzled man spoke from beneath his graying mustache and disheveled armor. ¡°I am sir.¡± Doug responded. ¡°Then what the hell happened to the rest of it?¡± The man didn''t quite yell, but was obviously upset about the situation. ¡°We were attacked sir. I got as many of our men out as we could but¡­¡± He let the words taper off, not wanting to go into too much detail in public. ¡°But what, Sergeant?¡± The man pushed. Harrant tried to choose his words carefully as he spoke, ¡°But we were attacked by an unknown power sir. They swarmed the caravan and killed our force mage before we found an opening to escape.¡± He could tell that more than a couple of the nearby workers were trying to listen in on the conversation, surprised faces marking the few of them that weren''t quite as good at hiding their interest in the report. His men crowded around him however, resolute as even Oleg stumbled up, half held up by two companions, to back up his story if the need arose. The elderly gentleman simply narrowed his eyes at the situation. ¡°I''m Major Watson, and considering the fact you''ll be staying here for a good long while, your new commander at this post. Pick your bags up and follow my men to your quarters. I will however be expecting a more detailed report as soon as your squad is settled. Is that understood?¡± Harrant straightened up into a quick salute to the man, then followed the commander''s staff deeper into the fort. After his men were taken care of, and he had a chance to meet with Major Watson in a more private room, he''d have to convince the man to let them go back to the capital city. This was no place for them to be. ¡ª ¡°Absolutely not!¡± The major bellowed from the other side of his desk. ¡°Sir, this was just supposed to be a transport mission before I reported back to the capital! You can''t just make us stay.¡± Doug tried to argue. ¡°I can and I will soldier! Something is gathering on the other side of that river and I''ll be damned if I let a group of veteran soldiers out of my eyesight before the battle is through.¡± ¡°Veteran soldiers? We''ve hardly been in the military for more than a month sir.¡± ¡°Aye, and you''ve already been promoted to Sergeant and managed to survive a near total defeat at an enemy mage''s hands. If you were in my place, would you do any differently?¡± Harrant let his eyes wander over the man''s shoulder as he gazed out the wide set window at the back of the office, trying to keep his emotions in check. Dull gray clouds dispersed the day''s soft smattering of snow across the sky, while Doug allowed himself to distance his thoughts from the conversation at hand. The report had gone well enough, the Major taking his story seriously even when he recounted the skeleton attack that sounded like something out of a children''s story. Maybe it was the fact that something important had to have happened in order to cause a force mage to die in the battle, so there was at least some sense of preparation for the outlandish to occur. But when he had tried to steer the conversation back towards the topic of getting his men back to the capital? Well. ¡°Look, I get it. You¡¯ve got it good back at home with your brother running the garrison, I''m sure of it. All that I''m asking is that you put in a bit of good work here, help us stave off whatever force is camping out across the river, then go back home with a couple war trophies to help along your career eh?¡± Major Watson said. ¡°It wasn''t part of the plan.¡± Doug still refused to meet the man''s eyes. ¡°Right, just like I wasn''t planning on getting hit sometime halfway through the winter season. We all do our part here soldier, just like you.¡± Harrant could see that he wasn''t getting anywhere with the man, pursed his lips, and saluted. ¡°Roger sir. We''ll support you in the upcoming battle until we can earn a well deserved rest back at the capital.¡± Doug bargained even as he accepted the demands, and the Major nodded in response, then excused him from the room. Harrant dropped the salute and left the room without any of the fancy facing movements that other soldiers liked to use all the time. The door slammed behind him, revealing just a little bit of his emotions as he stomped down the cold hallways towards the meeting room he had left the rest of his men in. When he got there, they were all gathered around the fire, a motley crew with drawn faces despite what should have been a welcome stop after the last week. Edgar was the first to notice him as he arrived and sat down with the rest of the group, pouring him a cup of ale from the pitcher as he sat. ¡°Boss, they tell you about what was in the boxes?¡± The one eyed man asked as the rest of the group brought their attention over to the ¡®Sergeant¡¯ in charge. ¡°The boxes?¡± He asked. ¡°Uh yeah, I through that with that look on your face you must of found out on your way back.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Oh uh. Well¡­¡± Someone else spoke over Edgar as he struggled to reveal the news. ¡°The crates didn''t have any money in them, just weapons. Lots and lots of crossbows so they said.¡± Oleg called over from the side of the table where his leg had been placed into a simple splint. ¡°I overheard them talking while I was at the infirmary. Ain''t no one getting paid until we get out of this dump alive.¡± The room quieted once again at the words and Harrant finally understood why his men were so glum as he walked in here. They''d been lied to for some reason. Were told these caravans supposedly held a king''s ransom in gold, and paid for it with their lives. And now Harrant had to tell them that they couldn''t even go home until something big enough to make a border garrison nervous was taken care of. Just fucking great. 43 - Lupine Luncheons ¡°And that is exactly why you need to broaden your marketbase Julius!¡± Lord Bertrand Geld pointed across the table at Julius with a half forgotten danish held between his hands. The cream filled pastry dripped out onto the white table cloth until he brought it to his mouth and engulfed the delicacy with a single bite. Despite the fact that Dei had seen him eat over half a dozen of the sugary treats in just this one meeting alone, he was a rather thin fellow who''s only defining feature was a slight bit of childish chubbiness to his cheeks. One of those self absorbed men who could eat whatever they wanted and never see the consequences of their actions. If Julius agreed with her, he certainly didn''t show it as he smiled across the table at the small man eating bar shaped sweet treats. Lord Brent had been nibbling on his own treat slowly and considerately as he shared a conversation with the group. To his left, Lord Theodore Penton had joined the lunch party as a newly up and coming noble due to several twists of fate, including his engagement to Lady Galaide of the Jocell house. Julius was the only one in the room with two elbow servants at his side, but by now that had become a well known quirk of the man that the other nobles had simply grown to expect. After all, neither of them ever talked or interacted with anyone else anyways, so it was practically like they were never there in the first place. Dei observed the luncheon based meeting with barely concealed contempt. It just seemed so pointless to her. Why bother meeting with such lower nobility when Julius was already possibly one of the most influential men in the court? Admittedly, not everyone seemed to know how much he was pulling the strings, especially since he never took credit for any of it, but he was still third in line for the head of the Brent family Princedom. Evidently third in line meant little to the minds of little men like Lord Bertrand as he continued to spin a pointless conversation about furniture prices. ¡°My profits have increased by at least twenty percent in the last two weeks even after the recent rise in wood prices.¡± Bertrand pointed over at Lord Penton like that was enough explanation on that front, and Dei thought she caught a fake smile from the man at the reference. It was hard to tell what was true and what was not when it came to the lords of this land, especially after the performances that she saw Julius put together on a consistent basis. The man could cry on command, she was sure of it. Another man walked into the small bakery causing the small bell by the entrance to chime. He scanned the room once with his shaggy head of blond hair then found the group where they were sitting near the back of the room and wandered over. Lord Anthony Jocell was possibly one of the most influential men in the entire weapon''s market if Julius had anything to say about it, and Dei had stopped doubting the man a long time ago. ¡°Afternoon gents. What did I miss?¡± The man sat down at the last open seat at the table, taking off his gray blazer to hang it over the back of his chair and reveal his customary light blue blouse underneath. ¡°Nothing of note Anthony, I was just telling Julius that he''s a fool who will put his family into debt if he keeps holding on to his wood stocks any longer!¡± Bertrand must have thought he was being funny since he laughed off the end of his sentence. ¡°And I continue to argue that I could never make good on all my contracts if I allowed even a scrap of my lumber into the wrong hands.¡± Julius spoke to Bertrand, but allowed his eyes to wander to all three men involved. ¡°I have a large construction project coming through for the revitalization of the brook district before the winter is through. And considering the oversight on the project? Failure just isn''t an option.¡± ¡°Sure, but do you need all of that lumber in the here and now? It doesn''t seem to me that you''d need more than maybe half of your storehouses until halfway through the winter, correct?¡± Anthony joined the conversation in earnest now, picking up on the deal that was happening in front of him. Julius pretended to muse on that for a moment before responding. ¡°Sure, but with the recent block ups in the western logging business how can I really be sure that anyone is good for their supply promises these days?¡± Dei watched as the Penton boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and Lord Anthony seemed to notice the same thing. ¡°Oh? That''s not all true Julius. After all Penton here has had a surprising increase in productivity within the last month haven''t you? His goods might take a bit longer to ship across the country from the eastern reaches, but considering the output?¡± Anthony let the words hang in the air. ¡°Aha! And coins in the coffer now are worth more than coins in the future, no?¡± Bertrand cut in. ¡°Cut me in on a portion of your wood stores right now Julius, and I can guarantee you a twenty percent return over the price of whatever you end up buying the wares back for.¡± Penton''s eyes went wide as saucers at the audacity of the offer from the Geld man. Not only on the fact that he would make the deal, but to make the offer in front of the very man selling his wood products to Julius in the possible future? Julius however merely nodded thoughtfully as he allowed the rest of the table to process what they just heard. Just as he was starting to lose faith in the man''s quick thinking, Anthony finally cut in with his own proposal. ¡°I''ll make the same offer at twenty-five percent.¡± ¡°Thirty!¡± Bertrand blurted out. ¡°And it''s a done deal Julius, you know it!¡± Anthony hesitated only a moment before throwing his own counter offer out there. ¡°Thirty-five percent.¡± He didn''t yell the number like Bertrand had, just stated his intentions then held Julius''s eyes like the two were in a sparring match over the white linen table. A sigh from Bertrand''s lips sounded far more guttural and growl-like than the man had any reason to make in good company, while Penton¡¯s mouth dropped open at Anthony''s proposal. It was a monetary gamble that only made a lick of sense if he had made it in a more private setting, which he had very much so not done in private. Julius allowed his eyes to switch between the two greater noblemen, neither holding Anthony''s eyes, nor devolving into the same beastial rage that was emanating from the thin Geld member across the table. ¡°I think I''ll have to take this all under consideration first.¡± He left his customary smile in his pocket as he now wore a more pensive look than Dei thought the man could even accomplish considering his personality. The men around the table grumbled a bit at the news but accepted it all the same, allowing the conversation to shift from business matters to more sensational topics. The conversation meandered for several minutes on the latest drama before Jocell started to poke the lion and mentioned the Geld manor attack less than a week ago. ¡°Oh, that reminds me. Lord Bertrand, I assume that since you''re here it means that you weren''t hurt in the attack on your manor? I heard it was an awfully bloody affair.¡± Anthony began. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Of course not. Our guards disposed of the threat with great speed and sent them running away.¡± ¡°Really now? And I had heard that the night was so bloody that your front steps were stained for days after.¡± Anthony pushed his advantage, and Bertrand ground his teeth before getting out a terse reply. ¡°Hardly. The Jurn girl only accomplished anything of note because she caught the front door by surprise. Once the alarm was sounded she was quickly chased away.¡± ¡°Jurn? As in house Jurn?¡± Penton asked. Evidently he wasn''t as up to date with the rumors circulating the nobility over the last week, as nearly everyone had blamed the attack on a Jurn servant. Julius allowed the exchange to play out before him without a single break in character, as he always did. And Dei, as ever, stood by his side. The rest of the conversation passed without consequence as the men traded hidden barbs and ripostes with every new topic in the fairly empty bakery. They only ended up leaving with a bravado of shaken hands and warm wishes when the sun was finally setting in the sky. ¡ª The carriage rumbled along, jolting its occupants back and forth every few seconds. Dei had grown far more comfortable with her place across from Lord Julius and Marianne over the last couple weeks, and she allowed her hollow eyeholes to settle on the elbow main across from her in a hidden staring contest as they returned home. Julius had thankfully been able to get Dei a new set of servants'' clothing for both herself and the new ember after Rei had ruined her last set, though he had asked a couple questions as to how it happened. Ripping through clothing with last minute changes to her physique wasn''t a very common occurrence on her weekly attacks, but she explained it away by claiming she was just making certain experimental choices that night. Admittedly, it had been fairly difficult to reverse all of the changes that Rei had made to the body, especially when it came to reforming her toe bones into something that resembled her original body. Enough had happened over the last couple months that Dei wasn''t even sure if this set of bones could still be considered her ¡®original¡¯ body. Almost every single bone had been broken, reset, and morphed in one way or another over the course of the last season to the point that the only thing that was consistent was the shard held within her chest. It still remained interlocked between her second and third ribs counting down from the collarbone, though she had been able to eventually shift it deeper into her chest so that the sharp end didn''t poke out. It was both the source of herself at this point, the one unchanging factor of her life, and the one part of her that she still understood the least about. Dei automated her body with an unspoken command to ¡®STARE¡¯ at Marianne so she wouldn''t lose the game as she let her mind start to wander on the trip back. Her vision shifted to bones as she took in the world around them, otherwise hidden by the enclosed carriage interior. Few people walked the streets at this time of night, most of the city already having retired to bed or otherwise still having dinner. A couple stumbled out of the way of the carriage at the last minute as they passed, shaking unseen and unheard fists at them after they were already out of sight. Meanwhile a pack of city dogs were circling a large hound in the middle of a larger alleyway. She imagined them growling with the rear of their backs raised up slightly and ears flattened on the back of their heads. Every once in a while, one of the smaller dogs would jump in from behind to attack the larger one''s rear, but he would always turn around at the last second to fight them off. Another dog body was laid off to the side of the pack, bones unmoving like it had already lost its life in the crude display of lupine dominance. The carriage was starting to move far enough away that Dei struggled to see the details of the situation anymore. That wouldn''t do, but it''s not like she could ask Julius to stop the carriage without drawing even more attention from Marianne than she already gave her. No, that wasn''t a real option. But maybe if she had another set of eyes near the dog fight? She refocused her view on the fallen dog off to the side while she could still distinguish between the different animal skeletons and tried something new. ¡®RISE.¡¯ It shouldn''t have worked. Back in Camp Miller she had struggled to raise even a bird that was several times smaller than the dog in question right now. But still, it worked. The bones reacted to her call and the body started lifting itself from its fallen deathbed while the nearby pack ignored the movement behind them. Dei allowed herself to follow the tether into the dog body and get a better look at the dog fight that was still happening down the alleyway. Blood dripped from a gaping bite mark in her throat, but Dei had lost access to her sense of pain a long time ago anyways. Instead, she noted a distinctly odd feeling to the body that reminded her of someone. Rei. It wasn''t just the way the legs felt with the lupine ankle structure, nor the clawed paws, but just the essence of her control over this particular skeleton reminded her of Rei. Like she was the reason she could suddenly inhabit larger creatures. She started to test things even further. Cracks emanated from the undead dog body as Dei started by molding the joints together with bone marrow. She had a feeling the pelt and skin holding the dog together wouldn''t last long anyways. Next, she started expanding upon the bones in her control. Xei had always done something similar as he experimented with making bodies larger and larger until he couldn''t control them any longer, but Dei took things to a whole new extreme with this new body. The bones expanded to double their original size over the course of a couple seconds, ripping apart whatever leftover meat was left on the dog''s bones after the bone marrow transplant. Blood splattered across the walls, and the terrible ripping noises that spread throughout the alley finally drew the attention of the pack away from their prey. Five sets of confused eyes turned to look at the monster further down the alleyway, a previous member of their family that had now turned into something else entirely. Dei allowed the body to continue growing until it was nearly three times the original size of the dog and comparable to a grizzly bear in size. Her spine was level at a height close to most human chests as she looked over at them with the blood stained dog skull and glowing blue eyes. The dogs scattered immediately, all except for the single larger dog that they had been attacking. He seemed to pace back and forth a bit as he stood his ground against Dei, growling with his teeth barred against the monster that took slow careful steps towards the lone hound. The sounds of yelping dogs disappeared into the distance as the two faced off in the quiet night. The hound lashed out at Dei, scrambling around her side as she struggled to turn with the same speed as the smaller dog. Her feet got caught up in one another as she tried to manage the bones in the same way she was used to with human bodies, and ended up falling over to the side with a massive thud in the night. The hound caught a tuft of skin that was still hanging by her ankle, then ripped away a sizable chunk of hair away from the body with a twist of his snout. Dei looked down at the hound as he slowly backed away from her new body, bloody scraps held victoriously in his mouth. Then another ember slammed into the body to join her. ¡®Oh my. So this is what our new ability does?¡¯ Fei asked. She sounded like a child who had just entered a candy store for the first time, voice oozing with awe at the new opportunities that had just opened to her. ¡®No, no, no, Dei. That is not how you''re supposed to connect animal legs at all!¡¯ Dei felt as Fei rearranged several of the bone marrow connections she had made, forcing the bones to bend in different directions than she had even thought were possible. ¡®Mmmm, yesssssss. I can work with this.¡¯ Dei withdrew her control from the body, becoming a passenger along for the ride as Fei expertly rose to her feet to face the hound backing away down the street. The dog seemed to sense that something was different in the stance of the monster across from it, tail drooping as it whimpered and ran. Fei wasted no time at all, pumping long legs to propel her body down the alleyway after the dog, catching up to it within four powerful strides then snapping the dog up by the neck with her sharp teeth. The whimper died out at the end of Fei''s maw, blood dripping down onto the ice crusted stone below. A cackling gleeful laugh escaped from Fei into their conjoined mind as the monstrous body twisted and released the dying hound from its mouth, throwing it into the wall. When it finally rolled to a stop, no longer moving in the cold night, Dei heard the beginnings of a new monster set free into the city of Midton. ¡®RISE.¡¯ Fei commanded. 44 - Markets of Variety Seagulls squawked overhead as Charity walked down the hard wooden pier with her arm interlocked with Lord Tai beside her. They cut a strange sight, an otherwise dapper looking fellow accompanied by a plain looking woman in a long black robe, both of which were wearing matching white masks carved into the likeness of demons. The handful of guards they had passed earlier that day as they walked into the city of Marketon had tried to approach the couple until they noticed Tai''s clothing and promptly decided to look in any other direction. She had to admit, the nobleman skeleton had a knack for getting them into places that they had no business getting away with, simply by the quality of his clothing. Other small tricks she had picked up from him would have felt almost scandalous at one time, such as walking with their arms interlocked to make sure that street merchants and thieves wouldn''t try singling them out for an easy mark. Now however, Charity could see nothing but the cold hearted calculations the ¡®Lord¡¯ by her side was making for both of their benefits. It was conniving, intelligent, and manipulative. And most concerning of all, the man was trying to convince her to start wearing formal dresses to better accompany him. Charity was losing a lot of herself, that she was at least self-aware of as she felt the very emotions that used to dance at the tip of her tongue die out with the turn of every new day. That being said, her face still flushed with the idea of ever wearing noblewomen''s garb out in public. It was one thing entirely for Lord Tai to do so, but for Charity? No. it would never happen. Could never happen. What if she slipped, or made a mistake? Every eye they passed would be drawn to them whenever they entered a room if she ever made the change, that last little tricky step that Tai wanted her to make. After all, Charity was no noble. Surely not. Nobles didn''t go door to door knocking on peoples houses and asking them if they wished for a second chance with their loved ones. And nobles definitely didn''t have a name like Charity. She was common, through and through. A bar-keeps daughter from the day she was born to the day that she died. But now that bar-keep''s daughter was walking down the dockside arm in arm with an undead nobleman that never left her side. How quaint. They were taking a bit of a day off since they had just arrived in the city. Doing the rounds, experiencing the dock market that was supposedly the namesake of the city, and just generally getting to know the area. It was peaceful in a non-stressful way as they merely spent time together going about their day. Dry patches of ice crunched underneath her feet as she looked out upon the rolling waves and massive ships docked at the port. Hard working men and women marched back and forth with nets of fish, crates, furniture, and arms full of small bags clutched to their chests as they filtered on and off the nearby ships. Others could be seen nearby haggling with the dockmasters armed with a clipboard, a pen, and the power to tax goods, A sailor''s worst nightmare. Hammers tapped a series of nails into place as the duo passed a strange boat that had somehow been lifted out of the water on a series of stilts, the workers repairing a small hole near the front of the ship. Then Tai stopped suddenly in the middle of the pier, obviously noticing something despite the lack of eye holes in his mask. He looked away from the shore, staring straight through a nearby building as he must have watched something on the other side. Not to be left out of the loop, Charity allowed the bone sight to overtake her, and was nearly blinded by the large number of ethereal human bodies that came into sight within the first moment of concentration. She pushed the pain from her mind and focused in the direction that Tai had been looking, allowing herself to see past the mundane walls of wood that tried to obstruct her view. There she saw a pair of skeletons fighting with each other, surrounded by a series of other skeletons waving their arms up and down in a large circle around them. The larger skeleton was trying to punch at the smaller one, over and over, but the smaller person simply dodged and weaved around the blows with an graceful flow to their movements. The larger human kept his assault up, but the smaller one must have seen an opening and spun quickly to the side, throwing three short jabs into the larger body''s ribs. Tai had reached up to grasp Charity by the arm interlocked with his, and her vision bled back into reality as he nodded in the direction they had been watching. She gladfully accompanied him in the direction without a single word spoken between the two of them as they peeled away from the busy dockside in order to walk deeper into the city. A handful of hardy sailors elbowed each other with smiles on their faces as they watched the strange couple pass them by, but no one gave them any trouble. They passed by several plain buildings on the way to their destination, finally coming to a large heavy door at the front of a building. No sign hung out front, so Tai tentatively tried the door and found that it was unlocked, opening the entrance quickly then ushering Charity in with a wave of a hand. He could be rather charming at times, if you could ignore the quiet indignity that drifted off of him. The room they entered was dark, the only light being the faintest streaks of sunlight that came in through the thin cracks in the window shutters. A voice called out to them from behind an empty counter. ¡°And what brings you here?¡± A gravelly voice seemed to emerge from the darkness itself. ¡°We''re here to inspect your wares and entertainments if you''ll please us.¡± Charity responded on their behalf, leaving the words rather vague since she still wasn''t sure what they were getting into yet. ¡°If i''ll please you? The fuck are you trying to say?¡± Charity amended her words before he started to get any angrier. ¡°I suppose I misspoke. Lord Tai would like to see your bottom floor.¡± She pointed at the ground with her words, though it was hard to see in the dark room. ¡°I don''t think he''ll find any ¡®pleasing¡¯ down there either.¡± He said. Charity tried not to roll her eyes at the man. ¡°How about an entrance fee then? Two silver coins if you''ll let us see what all the fuss is about down there.¡± She pulled out the money with her words, placing them onto the counter with an audible click. The sound of a man''s hand moving over the wood snatched the coins up then the squeak of shifting wood sounded as he stood up. The shadow that guided them further into the building was a large, towering man who had to stoop his head so he didn''t hit the door frame as he guided them into a faintly lit stairwell further down into the basement. He closed the door after the two of them as they had started moving downward towards an even better lit room at the bottom. A large hallway awaited them, perhaps fifteen feet wide and occupied by a dispersed group of men standing patiently next to raised platforms by the sides of the walkway. An assortment of strange substances lined the tables beside them, dominated by small boxes of dried herbs, small vials of liquid, and alchemy apparatus. Further down another table was lined with an assortment of strangely shaped weapons, sickle shaped daggers, and short swords that seemed to resemble meat cleavers more than any weapon of war. Instead of the simple market places that Charity was used to, the merchants at this one merely allowed the two of them to pass without a word. Either because they didn''t trust newcomers, or perhaps because most people only came down here with the intent to buy something specific. As they moved further down the hall towards another room conjoined with it, Charity started to focus on the large mass of people gathered in a large circle ahead of them. The way the heads descended further into the room, it was like a small receded theater stage at the bottom of a circular depression, though it was hard to see between the close packed mass of human flesh cheering on the fight below. Tai took the lead for the two of them, pushing past several rough individuals who tried to push back at first until they caught his fine clothing and looked more than a little confused. When they finally made it up to the front of the crowd, Charity could see a fit looking woman doing circles around a much larger man, both of them fighting in their underclothes in the dirt hewn pit the crowd was looking into. The man looked to be a bit on the worse side, mouth bloody and eyebrow cut open by some daring strike from the girl, but she had received a few good licks to her face as well. Both her cheeks were slightly swollen as she looked over her upraised arms in a tight guard between herself and her opponent. The man decided to charge after the two had circled each other for a couple seconds. He missed the girl with the full-on tackle that Charity supposed he was going for, but still managed to grab her by the hips as he tried to drag her into the wooden walls of the pit. The girl in return shifted her weight up and onto his shoulders before wrapping a single arm around his neck from the back and squeezing with all her might. He did manage to slam the girl into the wall with an audible thud of flesh and wood, but she somehow held on through the pain and audible gasps that came from her throat. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. The man shifted back again like he was going to slam her into the wall once more, but stopped halfway through. He fell to a knee a second later then collapsed entirely soon after as the woman remained coiled around his neck. Cheers erupted from the crowd, the onlookers jostling one another like they didn''t have a single inch of personal space, and bookkeepers started calling out from the rear of the stands. ¡°Abigail won with three to two odds gents. Pay up.¡± ¡°Clement, don''t you dare try to sneak away from this one.¡± ¡°Get your money out lads. We all knew how this one was gonna go.¡± Anyone who wasn''t trying to get someone''s attention was either cheering or booing in equal measure, as Charity saw a couple of onlookers grasp their heads like they had just lost a loved one in the fight. The girl got up slowly, raising her tightly cloth bound hands to the crowd, a large red mark visible on her back where she had just been slammed into the wall. She climbed up the side of the pit and dropped on over the railing to join the rest of the crowd as men and women sidled up to her to pat her on the back or say a few words with her. The larger man was merely left in the middle of the pit forgotten as he slowly regained consciousness, curling over to his side as a few random pieces of pocket trash were thrown at him. Charity and Tai withdrew from the circle as the crowd started to thin out, slowly spreading out into the different hallways that all shot off in a different cardinal direction from the circular main room. They chose to explore the hall to the right of the first hall they had come down through, exiting into a similar sized room with merchants standing next to their wares. This time however, instead of raised tables, there were thick metal cages containing other people. She had always been distantly aware that slavery was happening under the dark shadows of the world, but the Princedom''s were supposed to be different than that. After all, they called their slaves by the term ¡®serf¡¯ instead and claimed ownership by way of indentured servitude. As if to explain the distinction, the merchants seemed to actually be interested in Lord Tai''s patronage in this wing of the black market, and started hawking their wares to him as they passed by. ¡°My Lord, please feast your eyes upon these fine girls, guaranteed to satisfy each and every carnal desire that you might be looking for. Their debts can be transferred to you for nothing more than a meager surcharge of a single gold coin.¡± The merchants held small sheets of paper that Charity was sure would explain the terms of their contracts. Something like, ¡®Blank individual has accrued a debt of fifty gold coins to be paid off at a rate of two copper coins per week over a forty-eight year period.¡¯ Not that any of these individuals would likely live through the remainder of their debt. It was merely slavery with extra steps. ¡®At least the southern wastes were more upfront about their moral depravity than this.¡¯ Charity thought to herself. Still, Tai moved slowly through the hall with Charity in tow as she looked over a wide variety of men and women in nothing more than the thin scraps and rags that they wore on their body. They never met eyes with hers, always staring at the floor and the shifting feet of passing patrons. Only moving the barest minimum when a merchant would randomly bang on the cage bars to show that they were still alive. Her cold gray eyes took it all in from behind the demon''s mask she wore, ironically looking like one of the more questionable patrons in the underground despite her personal feelings about the trade at hand. Then again, those graying eyes were starting to follow Tai''s search through the nearby cages with a distant curiosity. Just what did He think about all this? A strong hand reached out from the crowd to tap on Tai''s shoulder, causing the man to spin around towards the new individual. ¡°Have we met before, Lord¡­?¡± The fighting woman from before had put on a loose pair of pants and a vest to cover her tight fighting clothing, but she still seemed to exude a sense of control over this place. Charity noted that her hands were still bound tight with what she could now notice were cloth bandages. Wasn''t that more common in the eastern tribes? Charity cut in on Tai''s behalf, ¡°We''ve just come from Midton for a bit of a working holiday in this town and wanted to see the sights here.¡± The girl gave her a deadpan look before she spoke once again looking at Tai, ¡°Yeah, see the sights my ass. How''s a random nobleman walking around through my market without me knowing about you beforehand.¡± ¡°Ah, well, I might have paid the man at the front counter to let us come down here.¡± Charity responded. The woman pointed over at Tai as she finally turned to face Charity, ¡°What? He don''t like talking to commoners or something?¡± ¡°No actually. He''s mute. It''s why he travels with me.¡± Charity used the lie with the confidence of practice after using the same excuse several times over. She supposed it was at least partially true though. The woman glanced back over at Tai with a raised eyebrow, which he met with a comfortable look back from his inexpressive mask until a man bellowed across the room. ¡°Abigail!¡± The larger man from the pit started shoving his way past the patrons in the room, and Abigail turned around to face the man as she put her hands on her hips. ¡°Durn, I beat you fair and square. Now shove off before you I have to kick you out myself.¡± ¡°You bitch!¡± The man had almost made it to them at this point and Charity noticed as Tai moved smoothly out from behind the woman towards the other side of the hall. As the larger man finally broke away from the bulk of the crowd by the door, he started moving into a full on charge, and Abigail shifted into a fighting stance. ¡®CRACK!¡¯ Just as the man was about to reach the woman, Tai''s cane shot out from the side of the crowd to land on the front of the man''s knee, causing him to buckle under his momentum and come crashing to the ground as he howled. Abigail looked up through her guard at Tai as he took two steps over to the man clutching at his broken knee, then brought down his cane on the man''s head. ¡®CRACK!¡¯ The man dropped unconscious to the ground, bleeding out of his head onto the ground as the rest of the crowd seemed to snicker around them. The only people that seemed the least bit concerned about Tai''s behavior were the slaves cowering in their pens nearby. Abigail readjusted to the new situation quickly and snapped over at a man cloaked in shadow near the corner of the room. ¡°Hey, go get Paully and take care of this for me.¡± She yelled across the room, then turned to look at Tai and Charity. ¡°And you two are coming with me.¡± ¡ª ¡°Who the fuck are you?¡± Abigail asked them from a leather padded chair set behind a sturdy desk in her office. The room itself was rather nice, complete with a lightly burning fireplace, a fine rug, and several bookshelves lined with strange and interesting trophies around the room. The office was set off to the side of the arena, down a secluded hallway set between two of the merchant halls. It was evidently part of the more business oriented side of this operation as Dei caught several other bedrooms and offices through the open doors to either side on their way to this room. ¡°Well, this is Lord Tai from the city of Midton.¡± ¡°Yeah. I call bullshit. Lords don''t just randomly arrive in secret fighting rings and take out a man like Durn Channel with a fucking cane like its nothing. So stop playing with me and tell it to me real. Who, the fuck, are you?¡± Charity began to talk again, but Tai raised his hand to her and started pulling out his book and pen. Abigail raised her eyes as he started writing in the book then held out the pages for Charity to see. ¡°We''d like to make you an offer.¡± Charity spoke for him. ¡°Well I''ll be damned. The mother fucker actually is a mute.¡± Abigail''s eyes considered Tai for a moment before she continued, ¡°Go on then.¡± ¡°It seems to me that you could use better security here.¡± Charity read from the book as Tai scratched things out on the paper. ¡°You think so? I could have taken care of Durn myself.¡± ¡°And what about when you''re not there, or when you''re asleep? What about the guard that let us down here with a bribe?¡± ¡°It works well enough for what I need.¡± Abigail spoke tensely. ¡°It works well enough until the guards actually decide to do something about this place and you need some real muscle.¡± ¡°And you, my Lord in shining armor, are going to be that muscle?¡± ¡°Oh goddess no. What I''m offering is forty armed guards on the clock twenty-four hours a day for ten gold a week.¡± ¡°You think I can afford to pay ten gold a head for guard work?¡± ¡°No. Ten gold a week for all forty men.¡± Charity said. Abigail''s eyes went wide at the offer. ¡°How do you figure you''ll make any sort of money at a rate like that?¡± Tai shrugged his shoulders then continued writing. ¡°Get us a discount on the slave traders, say thirty percent, and we should both be more than happy. I can throw in another twenty men on the job for an additional five gold per week if you need the manpower.¡± Abigail''s mouth hung open, then she spit into her hand and leaned over the table to extend it over towards Tai. ¡°Show me you''re not just all talk for the first week and you''ll get your pay and your discount.¡± She said. Tai withdrew a small handkerchief from his pocket, spread it over his right hand, then grasped Abigail''s wrapped hand in a firm handshake. 45 - Skeleton Keys Cody''s wooden blade came down on his opponent with all of the power of a man falling directly from a second story building into a downward blow. When it connected with the opposing blade the blow rattled his arms as it sent the skeletal creature spinning away from the blow even after it had braced itself for the impact. Seeing the monster put off center, Cody slammed it with a full push towards the opposing wall, sending the creature flipping through the air. When it landed, its feet were oriented towards the wall, and it used its one free arm to post its body in an exaggerated crouching position even as it must have felt the full weight of three men pushing down upon its body. Cody had to release the push as his own body started to buckle under the pressure, sliding back across the sandy ground towards the opposite wall, even with the counter push he had sent behind him. The skeleton seemed to jump off the wall just as Cody released his push, breaking into a run as soon as its legs made good contact with the ground again, rushing across the short distance. Cody pushed backwards on the wall, letting his legs drop out from under him as he slid across the ground with his sparring sword swinging downward towards the skeleton''s legs as he passed by. Instead of blocking the blow however, the skeleton rolled sideward into the sliding man, dropping its sword and gripping Cody''s chest armor as he rolled over him and the two started sliding across the ground together. The skeleton dug one of its elbows into the ground, bone wearing away where it made contact with the floor but forcing the two to change orientation so that Cody''s back was facing the wall that they were sliding towards. Not to be outdone, Cody decided to use his trump card pulling in with an inhalation of breath to try and protect his body with an inward pull before exploding out in all directions with as much force as he could muster. What he hadn''t expected was the fact that as he made the inward pull upon his own body, the skeleton used the chance to pull itself closer to him as well, hooking its legs around the back of his thighs to compress as much of its body into the man as possible. When he sent the outward push in all directions, the skeleton''s torso was lifted slightly off of Cody''s body, but otherwise remained intact ast he joints on its shoulders and hips flashed with orange light. The duo flipped haphazardly through the air, doing several somersaults in place while neither touched the ground as long as Cody continued pushing, but accomplishing nothing of note. When he finally stopped the outward pressure, the two hovered for a moment in the air before falling limply to the ground. The skeleton fell into the sandy floor first, but that did little to pad the fall as Cody crashed down after him, the two of them devolving into a mass of bone and flesh on the ground. Cody tried hammering at his opponent''s head with the pommel of his sword a couple of times, but the skull was pressed into the crook of Cody''s neck glowed violently, warding off the blows with sheer persistence. At the same time, Cody felt a cold thin hand slither up towards his neck to wrap its fingers around his airway. As soon as the pressure on his neck started to build, he didn''t even wait to fall unconscious and instead took his free hand and patted twice in quick succession upon the skeleton''s back. The pressure stopped immediately, the entire skeleton releasing its grip around his body as it allowed the boy to extract himself from death''s embrace. Cody rolled over onto the sandy ground, panting as he stared up at the boring stone seams in the ceiling as the two settled down. His skeletal friend stood up then reached down with its hand, extending it to Cody as he offered to help the man up. Cody shook his head at the skeleton and he went back to staring at the ceiling as he continued to try and catch his breath. ¡°No thanks. I need. A minute.¡± Cody got out. The skeleton withdrew its hand, then walked over to retrieve its fallen sparring sword from earlier. The skeleton meandered over to a corner of the room, picking up a small slate board that he had started using to talk to Cody over the last couple days, then walked back over to the man and settled into a crouch. The strange sound of his white writing material clacked against the black slate piece before he turned around the board to face Cody. ¡°I don''t think that full body push worked well for you. Maybe an upward push to seperate my arms would work better?¡± Cody laughed into the blank room after he read the words. A fucking skeleton was giving him sparring advice after it had just beaten him for the third time in a row. Well, not just any skeleton. It called itself Xei. That was still hard for Cody to wrap his head around. That, on top of everything else of course. Xei used a small bit of cloth he carried with the board to wipe away his writing before starting once again. ¡°Why are you laughing?¡± He wrote. ¡°Because no shit that last push did me no good! That seemed perfectly clear when you choked me out less than ten seconds later.¡± Cody was on the verge of yelling at the skeleton, but he still chuckled as he said the words. Somewhere along the line their routine sparring matches had turned from a terrifying fight for his life into something resembling a good time. He couldn''t quite remember the last time anyone had given him a challenge like Xei did. And then to give him pointers on the other end of things? Well, at times he seemed downright human in a way. ¡°I worry that your happiness is wasted in here.¡± The skeleton wrote out. ¡°Yeah? I don''t know the last time anyone described me as ¡®happy¡¯. Not like you''re gonna do anything about it though.¡± The joy had ebbed from Cody''s laughter as he got out the words, suddenly reminded of the fact he was still a prisoner here. Xei looked down at him for nearly half a minute, considering something with those strange glowing eyes of his as the small sconces continued to burn in the corners of the room. Then he began to write once again. ¡°I could though. Can I trust you?¡± Cody sat up as he read the words. He had considered the fact that this might happen as the two of them had started talking over the last however long he had been stuck in here, but for Xei to bring it up in this way was, well, oddly human. Now, he wasn''t even sure how he should answer. A large part of him screamed that he should simply say yes, that the skeleton should trust him. Try to convince the monster that he wouldn''t run away, then when it seemed to be distracted he could flee and get back to the capital. But there was another part of him that felt revolted at that idea. This creature had started to trust him for some odd reason. And if he betrayed that trust, what would that do to an immortal undead creature like this? He''d been considering things over the past couple sleep cycles. Thinking back to the words he heard through the holes in the wall. Thinking back to the one strange night where he had stumbled onto something ominous as a cultist raised the dead from their slumber. Yet, in all that time, he had to admit he hadn''t seen them actually do something bad per say. The preacher had threatened him while telling him it was for his own good, and now that he had somehow managed to live through the experience, he felt just a little bit more trusting of her words. They could have just killed him after all. They''d even allowed the snake creature they originally threatened him with to exit his system. Now, that had hurt. Alot. And the way it tried moving to help him get it out as he pushed. Ughhhhh. Those memories would still haunt him. But even now, Cody had to admit the skeleton was being more understanding than it had any right to be. Xei was just sitting there, allowing him to think about his answer without taking back the offer or changing it''s mind. Here cody was, lying on the ground at it¡¯s mercy, and it still took the time to allow him to think things through instead of snatching that freedom away from his grasp. ¡°I think.¡± Cody spoke tentatively, choosing each and every word carefully before he continued. ¡°That I would like to see what else you have going on inside this place before I make up my mind.¡± The skeleton nodded its head thoughtfully for a moment, then allowed the orange fire to die out in its eyes as the skeletal body went still. Cody had started to understand what this meant over time. Whenever he talked to Xei when his eyes weren''t burning the skeleton wouldn''t respond or even seem to have heard what he was saying at all. It was like the creature had gone somewhere else during that time, leaving the body behind as a husk to be returned to when it was convenient. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He let himself slump back to the ground. The seconds passed, slowly and quietly without change in the small prison, the dull hum of conversation coming through the holes in the wall opposite him as he lay there and thought. Did he really believe that skeleton was just gonna let him out of this cage? He wanted to punch himself with the delusion of it all. He was just there to be a plaything. A test dummy for that bastard to learn how to fight force mages, that''s all he was. And the conversations they had in between matches? It was just a ploy. They were conspiring against Cody. This entire cult had set him up to think that they were something else, when all they really wanted was to string him along so he wouldn''t refuse to teach Xei how to fight people like him. And now that he understood that, well, he''d show them. He just wouldn''t fight anymore. Even if they wouldn''t feed him because of it, he''d rather starve than be used and thrown away whenever it became convenient. At least then he would take control of his own fate again. The stone wall behind him started to shake and move. He was used to the small movements of cubby''s that deposited and gathered trays of food and buckets of water for him to bathe in every once in a while but this was different. The entire floor shook and Cody flipped around into a ready stance as he faced the growing light source coming into the room. When the wall finally stopped receding into the ground, only two people were there, one of which quickly turned around and walked away after their task was done. Xei stood there in nearly full armor with a studded leather jerkin over his shoulders, a thin layer of chainmail over that, and thick padded pants that ended in adventurer''s boots over his skeletal feet. All in all, he looked downright almost human in comparison to the naked set of bones that he used when the two of them had interacted in Cody''s cage. The skeleton walked past Cody without a word and picked up his slate board and chalk from beside the sitting skeletal body near the center of the room. Then he walked back out into the hallway while Cody remained motionless, stuck by his own indecision of the last couple minutes he had spent thinking about things. The skeleton looked over its shoulder at him and waved its hand forward, beckoning him down the hall. Cody followed after it. ¡ª Janette woke up to the sound of muffled crashes coming through her open door. She''d taken to leaving her doorway open nearly all the time so that she could at least have the little human interaction each day of talking to the maids as they passed by. Otherwise, her iron cage of bars continued to remain locked in place at all times over both the door to her room as well as the window. She rolled out of bed and wiped at her eyes before walking over to the iron cell door, trying to peek down the hallway. A bell was ringing in the distance, deeper in the manor with a sound that she didn''t quite recognize. It certainly wasn''t the same sound that the servant chimes used via their pulley system. So what did that mean? She heard a series of carpet muffled footsteps as someone seemed to be running down the hallway towards her door. A guard rushed past her room in the direction of the front entrance and Janette tried to call after him as he passed. ¡°Hey! What¡¯s happening?¡± The man didn''t respond to her as she heard the door to the stairwell open up and his footsteps faded into the distance. Another doorway opened up diagonally across from her¡¯s and another woman''s head peeked out to look down the hallway. ¡°Lady Jessamine. What''s happening down there?¡± Janette called out to her. The woman cocked her head, trying to listen to the strange ringing bell down below before she answered. When she finally seemed to place the sound her head shot up and she looked across at Janette with wide eyes. ¡°Child, shut your door, now!¡± She shut her own door and Janette could hear the sound of a locking bar being put into place on the other side. ¡°What?¡± Janette asked aloud, staring dumbfounded across the hall at her terrified neighbor''s door. The doorway to the stairwell slammed open and a figure dressed entirely in black darted down the hallway far faster than even the guardsman had ran by just a moment before. Janette jumped back from her door, surprised by the sudden noise and blur of speed, but then she heard a strange ripping of cloth like something had just torn through the carpet running down the center of the hall. A strange patter of running feet came back to her doorway, and Janette tried running forward to close her outer door before whatever it was could get back here. A strange human dressed in black slammed into the wooden outer door where it lay open across the inside of the hallway, causing the door to buckle under the weight of the shoulder check and nearly breaking it away from its hinges. The person slid down the side of the door as its momentum stopped in its tracks, white mask staring over at Janette as she stood there frozen with her arm outstretched towards the door. Had this stranger just used her door as a stop cushion for her run? That had to feel like throwing yourself at a wall for no good reason. The elbow servant reached over and grabbed the iron bars of Janette¡¯s cage as she took a closer look at the girl. Thin white nails at least three inches long wrapped around the metal bars as their hands settled onto the door frame. The servant pressed their mask up to the metal doorway, cocking their head as they looked straight at Janette, still standing limply halfway towards the door. She couldn''t quite see inside the mask the servant was wearing, but it almost looked like a strange red flame was glowing from where her face should have been. The servant cocked its head, waited just a moment later, then twirled around and started running further down the hall again. Janette rushed forward, grabbed the outer doorway by the latch, and pulled the door shut as fast as she could. The door groaned and squealed as it settled back into place in the doorframe. Something cracked by the hinges of the door, and the entire door slide downward half an inch to land on the floor, causing Janette to jump. She walked backwards towards her bed, eyes never leaving the broken door, and climbed up onto her bed to sit with her back against the wall. As she thought back to the image of that featureless face looking back at her, a shiver went down her spine. That thing, whatever it was, was barely human. That, she was sure about. A loud bang occurred, followed by a crash of something hitting the ground, then screams echoed from further down the hallway. The screams only lasted a second or two before they cut off abruptly. Tears welled in Janette''s eyes. She knew what that must mean. Someone she knew was now¡­And she could have done something about it. She was a force mage for gods¡¯ sake. She should have been able to protect her family. Janette stood up from her bed, turning to face the door as she allowed a thin bubble of force to surround her on all sides. She hadn''t had much to do over the past couple days other than practice with small object pulling and pushing while keeping up her barrier, so maybe if that monster came back here. ¡®CLANG!¡¯ The window bars behind Janette made a noise like a chair had just been flung into its side. She jumped up into the air and immediately lost her concentration on the barrier as she turned around, flinging herself back to try and avoid whatever was attacking her window. As she landed on the ground, she saw the masked servant hanging from her window grate with both its hands and feet gripped around the poles. Feet? No. Those things were claws. Big, white, nasty claws that looked like they could tear through flesh like it was nothing. She backed up until she was touching the stone wall behind her, not trusting anything but the solid assuredness of stone. The creature cocked its head at her, then rocked back and forth a couple of times as though it were testing the metal grate that held her captive. It then reached out a single bony clawed hand towards the lock and lifted it slightly as it looked over at the thing. It reached over with its other free hand, weaving its arm through the grating to stick its finger into the end of the lock. It wiggled around like that for several seconds as Janette contemplated whether she should do something. Had this thing just ran down the hall to kill someone, then doubled back along the outside of the building to find her window? That was insane, absolutely insane, even for another force mage to do, and none of this felt like force magic to her. A small red handkerchief was visible, tucked into the breast pocket of the creature''s uniform. So it works for House Brent. Or at least is pretending to work for house Brent. She''d heard about this creature attacking a couple of different houses recently, always with a different color marker on its chest. So what was its game? The lock popped open with a click. The creature bent its finger in a strange direction away from the head of the lock, and the claw seemed to snap off in two with one end still sticking in the lock. It then withdrew the small padlock from the hole keeping her window in place and set it down on the windowsill. Janette just about jumped out of her skin when the creature pushed off of the wall around the window grate, swinging the iron piece outward as it twisted around the metal bars to land on her now open window. The creature reached down for the padlock and put it back in the hole that used to hold the window bars into place, closing the padlock one more then twisting the broken finger claw in the device and pulling it out. It set the strangely shaped piece of bone white material on the windowsill, looked back up at Janette, then jumped away from the window out into the night. Her heart would not stop beating no matter what she did as she let her legs crumble out from under her, sliding to the ground. That thing. That monster. Had just come back to open her cage for some reason. Insane. She was going insane, just like He always told her she was going to end up. 46 - Faith in Whispers Frozen dirt was objectively the worst dirt you could ever have to deal with. Sure, cold dirt was a close second as it just generally made the stuff harder to cut through, but when you were digging in the middle of winter and had to make it through that first extra hard layer of frozen dirt? That was hell itself. Harrant had come to the conclusion after several days of digging straight. Small holes littered the open field between the surging river and the treeline opposite the keep at Fort Seton. They hadn''t even been bothering to hide the holes all that much, digging them right in view of whoever was set up in their camp across from the fort. The sounds of war drums echoed over the open wasteland of shallow holes lined with small wooden spikes, a veritable zone of death before the fight had even really started. And here Doug was, digging holes in the middle of winter. Objectively, unarguably, the worst. He looked up from his work as he threw yet another shovel full of cold brown good for nothing dirt out of his hole. Down the line he saw the tall or short forms of several of his squad members, depending on how far they had progressed on their current hole. A look back at the wall confirmed that the soldiers up there were in fact still watching out for them. Only a small improvement on the fact that they''d probably still die if the forest dwellers attacked right now. At least they''d be seen as they were cut down. A soldier''s true dream. To be witnessed. ¡°I''m not a fucking soldier.¡± Harrant grumbled, returning to his work. The drums continued to pound away in the distance, only really quieting during the night when it seemed like they went to bed. When he''d last been on night duty he remembered the way the drums had picked up near twilight, increasing in tempo until he was sure that they might come bounding out of the woodline at any moment. Instead, he watched as several gouts of flame shot up into the night sky, lighting up the inside of their camp for only the barest of moments before his vision was hampered by the darkness once again. It had all the tell-tale signs of a flamer camp. The drums, the makeshift tents set up out in the woods, and especially the random fireworks in the middle of the night. It had to be them. And yet that made almost no sense at all. The idea that even a single desert tribe could survive long enough in the haunted marshes to make it across the Golden Kingdom''s northern border all the way to the coastline? Now that could never happen. The tribesmen had no reason to make a journey this far in the first place. And even if they did want to come here, the arcanists certainly wouldn''t have let them. And yet, here they were. Slamming out a hell of a tempo for Doug to dig to. Not that it helped. Doug reached out of his nearly complete hole to grab a couple wooden stakes, and started hammering it into the ground with the end of his shovel. Only half the field to go. ¡ª Harrant and his men had been released for the night for a bit of rest and relaxation. Anywhere in the fort town was free game for them to peruse and explore, as long as they didn''t leave the town walls. The fact that none of them had much left in the way of coin only made that a little bit on the harder side for the squad. They''d been promised a hell of a payday when they got back to the capital in a couple of weeks whenever things blew over. The hazard pay for the convoy trip in addition to a couple weeks of temporary duty at a different fort were sure to end with a good payout, assuming they lived to tell the tale. But when it came to the here and now, that didn''t do them very much good at all. The boys had taken to gathering at a small tavern near the dock-side of town called the ¡®Swirling Mug¡¯. Calling this half of town dock-side was a bit of a misnomer, considering there was only room for perhaps two ships in total inside of the small port. The massive port chains had already been drawn up tight against the waves, preventing anyone from making an assault via boat through the tight waterside walls into the narrow canal. Still, from the perspective of a small fort focused entirely on the defense of the nation, perhaps that was still enough to be called a dock. As they settled into the small bar, his men were in a particularly bad mood today. That was fairly par for the course as of recently, but the sudden forced labor of ditch digging for the last couple of days had certainly been a whole new low for the crew. Nine despondent faces saddled up to the large table, even Oleg rejoining the crew on their outings now that his leg had healed up. A simple barmaid walked over to fill their cups with the watered down swill that they called ale in the dusty old tavern, and his men settled into their cups with a lackluster gusto. ¡°So lads, how many of us do you wanna bet are gonna get killed within the next month?¡± Collin started the conversation out on a high point. ¡°At least half of us, for sure.¡± Edgar said. ¡°Yeah, but does that count as four, or five?¡± ¡°That matters?¡± ¡°Well yeah. Got to have the numbers straight if we''re gonna bet on it.¡± The two argued back and forth on the highs and lows of their wager while the edges of the table split off into different conversations. Harrant listened to it all with a mild curiosity about the situation. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He''d sat with his men at bars before, listening to them bicker like this for the better part of the last couple years as he slowly built his crew from the ground up. He knew them all, for better and for worse, and had been thought of as a friend when it came to their work. But now, things were getting complicated. Despite the fact they all knew they were simply plants in the army, he still felt the way the guys interacted with him changing. He was still allowed to come out to the town with them, sure, but the way they avoided starting conversations with him directly was starting to become noticable. They''d changed. And Harrant wasn''t sure whether he could just blame it on the new uniforms. If only they hadn''t come to this frozen hell-hole in the first place. As if to mark his words, a bell started tolling in the distance off in the direction of the pier. The men went silent at once, straining their ears to try and figure out what the rhythm was trying to tell them before Oleg seemed to find the answer first. ¡°Muster Bell.¡± The men grumbled and got out of their seats as the majority chugged what was left of their mugs before setting off into the afternoon chill. The bells continued to toll, growing louder and louder as they walked over to the pier and a growing formation of men that had organized into rank and column. Harrant''s men filtered over haphazardly into the trailing end of the rectangular box of soldiers while a loud ratcheting sound echoed over the open waves ahead of them. He looked over at the source of the strange noise, and noted the fact that it looked like the chain port defense was being lowered into the water so a boat could pass. ¡°What are we even doing here?¡± Edgar asked no one in particular. ¡°Wasting our free hours away, that''s what.¡± Oleg responded under his breath. Someone walked up to the front of the formation and started talking loudly to the assembled crowd. ¡°Alright, lock it up now. We''ve got a special guest coming to visit the fort and the commander wants you all to look as proper as you can manage under the circumstances. So if you think you''re already too drunk to last the fifteen minutes we''ll be standing by, fall out to the rear and I''ll have a talk with you personally.¡± ¡°Tempting.¡± Someone said quietly, but no one moved. The unspoken threat in those words was all too understood by the men gathered here today. Minutes passed by without much change to the situation as men bent their knees every couple seconds to keep the blood flowing. A handful of subdued conversations being held near the back of the formation cut off as a rather large boat started making its way into the small port, green banisters hanging loosely from the bow of the ship with a picture of a black eye painted in the center of them. When the ship had finally stopped to the side of the pier and ropes were thrown overboard to start pulling them in, not a single soul spoke as an unseen presence weighed down upon their minds. As a single plank extended from the boat with a series of cut notches in the board to help with traction, the pressure redoubled as a single man appeared at the top of the walkway. A large black fur cloak lined his otherwise standard military uniform as a man with short black hair and a stern face marched down the plank without any fanfare. Behind him, a comparatively youthful looking man with much longer black hair followed the man quietly, matching blue prismatic eyes the only remarkable feature in either face. A small girl with long red hair then jumped over the side of the boat and landed casually on the dock, seemingly without a care in the world for the fifteen foot drop or so. The two men just ignored her as they continued walking down the plank. As they settled onto solid ground, the pressure on Dougs mind redoubled into an overbearing weight that shifted even his shoulders into the ground. Several of the soldiers by his side crumpled to their knees in front of the strange force mages, posting their arms to the ground after they fell trying to help prevent themselves from face planting into the frozen ground where they had formed up. Doug didn''t feel all that much better about the situation as his entire body buckled under the weight like he had just chosen to pick up a fully grown man, armor and all. His vision started to swim, the edges turning to black as he felt the blood drain from his head. Then it stopped. All at once the pressure was lifted off of him like it had never even existed in the first place as the short haired man casually stepped onto a wooden crate in front of the formation so that everyone could see him. The men who had fallen quickly tried to stand up and blend in with the crowd as the mage started speaking. His voice was low and casual, seemingly uninterested in making sure that everyone could hear him, yet it felt like he was simultaneously speaking directly into Doug''s mind at the same time. Like a whisper spoken directly into his ear. ¡°Soldiers of the Princedom. I share my power with you all, not to awe or cow your spirits, but to show you the magnitude of what we face. Great powers are at work in this world which simple men have little chance to compete with by their own merits alone. Yet together we stand united in opposition to those who wish to take from our country.¡± ¡°Stand strong with me in the coming days, or weeks. However long we stand guard at this solemn keep is just another day earned for the peace that our citizens so dearly deserve. This is the very reason why we fight against the magic of the new world. So do not cower when mages of pain, and heretics of greed come knocking on our door with their strange powers. Instead, know that myself, Colonel Rowan, and several others of my most esteemed mage corps stand with you in battle.¡± The speaker gestured over at the long haired man beside him when he mentioned Roman, though the red haired girl in the background seemed to disappear while Harrant wasn''t paying attention. ¡°Not everyone I see before me will live to see the next season, but those who perish will have earned something extraordinary for the common citizen of this country. You will have earned them time. Time to grow, to experience, and to build the same courage that you show in the face of our enemies. And for that simple fact I thank you. In return, I will protect as many of you as I can in the coming battle, though my end goal is victory at all costs. After all, we cannot fail here. We must not fail.¡± The man slammed his fist to his chest and spoke the vow of their people. ¡°Faith in whispers.¡± The formation across from him snapped into a matching salute as the man left his box and continued walking towards the keep. ¡°Faith in whispers.¡± They said, as one. 47 - Courtly Escapades ¡°Have you heard? Lord Whisper has gone to personally guard Keep Seton against the the eastern tribesmen.¡± ¡°Now of all times? It seems almost inappropriate considering his military can barely keep house Jurn in check¡± ¡°Jurn? You really think it''s them even after all their farmlands got burnt to the ground? The Geld''s obviously benefit the most from the situation, isn''t that right?¡± ¡°But the attack a couple nights ago on Galeide''s life was done by a Brent family servant wasn''t it?¡± Dei stood still atop the second floor mezzanine by the unoccupied seat of Lord Julius, head forward as she affixed her natural gaze squarely on an uninteresting section of wooden wall. Her spectral sight however, was focused on anything but that boring view, twisting around to take a look at the gossip mongers talking between each other at the nearby table. She wouldn''t even say she was particularly good at eavesdropping, its just that when you took away anything that resembled a human characteristic and made someone stand stock still, they had a habit of forgetting you were even there. Marianne stood beside her in an equally statuesque display of courtly etiquette, an unspoken agreement between the two of them that there was a competition to see who could be the most well behaved elbow servant behind Lord Julius. Not that it mattered that Marianne was the one who did all of the actual duties like opening doors, delivering messages, and fetching random objects for Julius. Dei had far better things to do, like watching their Lord in waiting spin about the dance floor with a thin looking girl in a plain blue dress that she was fairly certain was named Janette. She had been fourth in line to the Jocell family head of household up until four months ago, and very well hidden from the eyes of the court as far as Dei could tell. Recently however, she had been unceremoniously promoted to second in line to the family name due to some rather unfortunate accidents among her older relatives. The sudden upward moves to her position had evidently forced her father, Prince Jarrelius Jocell, to start introducing her to the court despite his obvious wishes to keep her away from state affairs. The Jocell family certainly had a strange habit of naming their children with first names that started with J, a fact that continued to seem downright childish to Dei. Still, considering the way the prince watched the dance floor as Julius twirled around in circles with Janette, childish would be a polite way to describe the man. The man''s flush of red cheeks and puckered lips would be downright entertaining to watch if it had been present on a boy less than half the man''s age. As it was though, when the man tried to hide his expression behind an obviously forced smile, it gave a less than favorable indication of his character. A woman sat across from Julius''s empty seat without asking, and without invitation. The statues opposite her betrayed no expression at the sudden presence, but Dei had a feeling she wouldn''t be the only one staring daggers at the Lady dressed in green. ¡°Now, now girls. You do know you are at least allowed to look around a little bit every once in a while, don''t you? Or did Lucius not tell you?¡± Neither of them responded to the woman Palm, clad in her typically distinct fashion that Dei had eventually discovered was called a cheongsam. Perks of being a wallflower at all the routine luncheons that Julius went to was the fact that she got to listen in on the recent ladies gossip, especially about fashion in the capital city. Palm had brought her own wine glass this time, and stared over the top of the glass in her hands as her eyes darted between the two servants. ¡°So which one of you is the one pulling Julius''s strings? Or is it the other way around?¡± More silence awaited her as the trio performed their required roles to a perfect degree. ¡°Well, if you''re too shy to talk openly in a ballroom like this, I can at least understand that. But I''m not here to threaten you or anything. I have a feeling I wouldn''t live to see the other end of a week if I did.¡± She swirled the wine in her glass, eyeing the light sediment that spun within the ruby liquid as she considered her next words. ¡°So. Assuming you actually are trying to do what I think your doing, you might end up having trouble finding someone willing to sit in a particularly hard role to fill. Just be a doll and let Julius know that if he succeeds with this mad little plan, I''ll take care of the greens for him. And of course if he fails, I''ll laugh along with everyone else when he gets strung up by the noose.¡± The woman smiled as she spoke, as though she were merely telling a passing joke in the courtly ambiance. A man''s voice bellowed over the room as the Jocell Prince stood up from his seat. ¡°Unhand my daughter at once!¡± Dei shifted her attention down to the dance floor to find that Lord Julius had gone missing, and the girl he had been dancing with a moment before had somehow ended up in the arms of Lord Penton. ¡ª Minutes before, Julius excused himself from his table as soon as he noticed lady D''elm walking out onto the dance floor with Lord Penton. He''d had to pull quite a few strings to get this whole situation put together, but if he could manage to get things right the payoff would be worth it. His feet descended quickly down the winding stairwell to the first floor as her did a quick scan of the hall and found his target hiding at a small table filled with ladies in waiting. Janette Jocell looked up at him quizzically as soon as she noticed him walking up to her table. He dropped into a deep bow beside her seat without a moment''s hesitation, one leg back as he extended his hand out towards her in a formal offer. ¡°My Lady, would you care to dance with me tonight?¡± ¡°I, uh.¡± The girl stammered at his request as she started to look over at the ladies waiting beside her for help. Another woman in blue across from her started to shake her head, but Julius continued before the girl could be swayed. ¡°I''m quite well connected with your father''s dealings, so I figured I simply must do you the courtesy of introducing you to the court this night.¡± The young girl was noticeably apprehensive of the older man, but when he mentioned her father and the color all but drained out of her face, he knew he had taken the right path with this one. Her lower lip quivered only slightly before she drew it into a thin smile and took his hand, allowing him to guide her out of her seat. The older woman in a matching blue dress stood up with them to place her hand on Julius''s shoulder before he took her away. ¡°Lord Julius Brent. Don''t you think you should be pursuing a lady more in line with your own age?¡± She said. Janette blushed rather bashfully as she looked over at her older relative, but the Lady Jessamine had taken far too tactful an approach to win against Julius. ¡°Nonsense my Lady. I''ll be right back after this dance to see to your own needs as well. I mean only to ensure that she has a respectful old man to entice all the younger suitors to her side.¡± He walked with the girl as he talked, withdrawing outside of a polite talking distance just as he finished his explanation and leaving a rather upset looking lady of the court. It was hardly proper, he was more than aware of that, but proper nobility hardly mattered at this point. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Janette eyed him carefully as they drew closer to the dance floor, obviously suspicious of his intentions, but they had already been seen approaching the stage together by too many people. They were in too deep already, and her courtly etiquette would keep her from backing out by this point as their steps hit the wooden floor at the same time. He guided her over to the side of the dance floor near where Lord Penton had assembled for his own dance, and the man even smiled at him when they caught eyes. ¡®The unlucky fool of a man. I''ll have to apologize for this one day.¡¯ Julius thought. He turned to face Janette head on as they both settled into the starting stances indicated by the pre-song tuning of the nearby orchestra. Her petite face glared up at him, lined by thin brown hair that had been pulled back into a simple braid running down the side of her chest. It was certainly not the fashion these days, but he supposed she hadn''t been intending on becoming the center of attention tonight. As the song began and they fell into their well practiced choreography, the girl began to speak with him. ¡°Lord Julius. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?¡± She asked. He raised his eyebrows, surprised that the girl felt comfortable enough with the dance to hold a conversation at the same time. ¡°Well isn''t it obvious my Lady? To ruin you of course.¡± He flashed a smile with the words. A real smile. ¡°You jest, surely.¡± The girl shook her head as the two stepped into a tighter section of the dance with her hand around his shoulder. ¡°Yes, I suppose I do. But would you really believe me if I told you that tonight would end up making both of us head of our houses?¡± The girl raised a single eyebrow at him as they danced, obviously not taking him seriously. That was fine enough with him for now. ¡°I didn''t take you for a courtly jester my lord.¡± She tried to deflect the situation with humor but he pressed on. ¡°Perhaps one day, but only in service to a shard-bearer of my own choosing.¡± He winked at the girl, though she looked nearly lost by his words at this point. ¡°That''s treason my lord.¡± The pair snapped into a held position as she whispered into his ear. He continued as the song released them into a series of spins around each other. ¡°It''s only treason if I lose.¡± The eyes that stared back at him at those words were not quite the eyes of a child as he had been expecting. There was something hard in her soul, lying dormant below the soft veneer she put on. It only made him smile even wider. ¡°Until next time, Janette.¡± He said, letting her hand go during the final spin in the sequence and calling out to another nearby woman, ¡°Lady D''elm!¡± He caught the aspiring member of house Brent as she let go of her own dancing partner to turn to Julius. ¡°I have an urgent message from the house prince, please come with me.¡± He said the sentence aloud to at least cover the two of them if anything went wrong, and they walked off the dance floor hastily passing between several couples. When they reached the side of the dance floor and were mostly hidden by a structural pillar that held up the second floor mezzanine, he looked back over at Janette where she currently found herself in the arms of Lord Penton. The two stared down at each other in a rather tight embrace with pure shock on their faces as they realized what had just happened. From his own perspective, they obviously looked like something had gone wrong and he had just caught the girl, but from the second floor seating perhaps it would look different. ¡°Unhand my daughter at once!¡± The voice came booming down from the second floor of the ballroom, causing both Janette and Penton to look up at the man with matching confusion as they merely reacted to a fluke event. That was evidently not the right response for the Jocell Prince as he plucked Lord Penton off of the dance floor and pulled him up into the air while the wall fixtures on the second floor rattled behind the Prince. ¡°You defiled my sister, and now you attempt to sway my own daughter before my very eyes?¡± The man''s face was as red as a turnip as he yelled across the hall, orchestral music coming to a stop as the entire ballroom turned to face the growing conflict. ¡°My Lord, I didn''t-¡± Penton tried to explain himself, but was cut off by the Prince. ¡°You didn''t what? Didn''t think? Just who even are you? Nothing but minor. blooded. trash.¡± The man flung Lord Penton towards the floor with the words, punctuating each word with another slamming motion into the hardwood. With the very first impact one of the man''s arms broke as he tried to protect himself, and by the time he had been thrown face first into the ground the second time, half of the ballroom had already started running from the brutal scene. Women ran screaming away from the bloody spray errupting from the body, while men backed up slowly then escorted their dates away from the room and the gruesome display Julius withdrew along with the rest of the crowd, looking back at the broken mess of a body that used to be Lord Penton as Prince Jocell slammed the man into the ground over and over. ¡°I''m sorry Penton. Glad that you had a chance to play with the big boys for a bit though, right?¡± Julius paid him the apology he so dearly deserved as he left with the press of the crowd through the ballroom doors. ¡ª ¡°Julius, what the hell have you just done?¡± ¡°Why nothing uncle. Isn''t that what I''m supposed to do?¡± ¡°You know that I don''t believe for a second that you''ve been doing ¡®nothing¡¯. Not now. Not ever.¡± Julius stood in a well furnished burgundy room after a long and stressful ride home from a rather perfect night at the ball. Only to be requested in the Brent prince''s study immediately upon returning to the manor. Julius waved over his shoulder, dismissing his two elbow servants from the conversation before Prince Brent stopped him. ¡°Marianne can go, the D''elm girl will stay.¡± He said. ¡°I didn''t know you paid attention to the servants'' names now.¡± Julius said. ¡°I typically don''t, but when my fool of a nephew starts bringing two maids with him to every affair he attends it starts to get a bit noticeable.¡± ¡°Awe, it sounds like you actually care about me.¡± Julius coo''d. ¡°Don''t play with me boy!¡± The man slammed the wooden mantle over his fine fireplace, shaking the decorative sword that was resting on top of it. ¡°Or what? You''ll crush me into pulp like Lord Jocell just did?¡± The words hung in the air as the shock of the moment slowly registered on the head of the family''s face. He didn''t speak, instead thrusting out a single arm towards Dei, pushing her back until she made contact with the wall with so much power it shook the entire room. Books rattled on the bookshelves and the sword slid wildly across the room as Derren Brent let his anger out on the surroundings. After a few good seconds of unveiled fury, the man let go of the room, letting Dei''s body fall to the floor where Julius turned around to look at her. ¡®Please, don''t kill him yet Dei.¡¯ He hoped that his eyes could convey his simple intentions otherwise her own anger might end them. She dutifully stood up from the ground and resumed her perfect position by the side of his back. ¡°While you''re over there playing games with the court for gods know what end, I''m trying to keep this country afloat Julius. Can''t you tell whats happening with that big fucking head of yours boy?¡± Julius cocked his big head to the side, content to let Derren spin his own story as the older man threw his hands up in the air. ¡°Someone''s been burning up the better part of the western coastline. Hundreds of acres of the grain and flax fields, gone without a single hint of reason. It''s like they''re practically trying to send this country to an early grave this winter while the Prince of Whispers is distracted by some new offensive orchestrated by the Golden Kingdom. And you think that now is the time to undermine the Jocell family?¡± He was outright yelling now. Rather un-princely of him. Julius threw on what he thought would look like a disarming smile before he spoke. ¡°I really don''t know what you''re talking about uncle.¡± ¡°And I don''t believe you for a second! Just know that if I ever catch you fucking around with the stability of the realm I will destroy you Julius. You and your fool of a consort.¡± He marked his words by slamming down on Dei''s shoulders, toppling the girl forward until she landed on her hands and knees by Julius''s side, then released the two of them with a wave of his hand. Julius bowed deeply while he gave Dei a chance to stand back up. Hopefully her pride wasn''t hurt too badly as he ushered the girl after him as he left the study. ¡®Oh uncle. If only you were smart enough to see all the dots you haven''t quite connected yet. Maybe then you would have earned your position by merit instead of stupid luck.¡¯ The door slammed behind them as the two left the study. 48 - Pathways to Understanding John mopped away at his forehead with a wet cloth from the bucket as he walked away from the sparring fields. ¡°Thanks for that John, I might not be good yet, but I''m getting somewhere!¡± The man he had just been training with called out after him. John turned around and waved to the man rather than responding as he continued walking away from the field. He had a habit of getting sucked back in whenever someone complimented him, and he had a feeling the soldiers in training were starting to realize it. It was a bit uncomfortable how dependent on him they had gotten over the last couple weeks as more and more common workers were pulled into the catacombs either by chance or their own decisions. There was a certain distinction, a separation between the average man and the soldiers that had made up the bulk of Dei''s initial forces. Both Charity and Xei had sure brought bulk to their numbers, but what was it really doing to the integrity of the group? John shook his head as he pondered the situation he was stuck in now, halfway between the two groups as he had become the de facto fighting trainer for many of the unskilled fighters from the new recruits. The fact that the more skilled individuals they picked up were immediately scalped from his ranks and turned over to Xei and the mercenaries for one on one training caused the supposed divide to widen even further in a noticeable way. Workers ate separately from the warriors in the catacombs, even to the point that some of the fighters with families had stopped eating with their loved ones. And then there was John. He wasn''t a bad fighter, but any time the group tried to take him out on a raid, he just kind of clammed up for some reason. Too many memories of a distant fight in a forrest that happened long ago. He was no longer the odd one out by the fact that he had been forcibly recruited to the cause, but that did little good for his heart. So after the third or fourth time he had turned down an offer to join with the raiding party, well, they just hadn''t invited him anymore. And that was fine with him. The cool water dripped down his neck and into the folds of the loose linen shirt that he wore, day on, day off. Self assured steps led him down the halls on a path that he had walked many times before after the daily training sessions he held with the recruits, leading to his favorite place. The distant sounds of busy work greeted him as he turned the corner into the doorless room that had become his oasis. A bar. He''d originally been alone in the caverns when he found the somewhat hidden room with a built-in stone L shaped table, but as soon as he explored behind the counter he understood immediately what the room was meant to be used for. The kegs were a little bit harder to come by at first, rolling entire barrels of stout and ale down the stone hallways between the store room and the bar. Some of the looks people gave him as they saw him coming through were pretty damning, but eventually he had built a home away from home for himself. That was all well and good as far as things went, but then the unthinkable had happened. Somehow, someway, a barkeep that Charity had recruited from Tallowton managed to find the same room, and evidently had the same exact response as John had had. When he had walked back to his little oasis that day to find a man already there behind the counter, cleaning away at the mugs with a dry towel, he had thought he was hallucinating. The two stopped short as they met eyes, neither quite believing that the other one was real until the man spoke to him. ¡°So. Is this your bar then?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah.¡± ¡°Mind if I help out around here?¡± John nodded stupidly and suddenly he had not only stocked the wares for his very own bar, but a surprise barkeep had arrived by the providence of chance itself. Or he supposed it was the providence of the goddess, considering their current company. Hard to keep up that charade all the time though. What had once been his secret hideout to relax and feel a sense of purpose, had quickly turned into a small get together place for people in the know. So when John arrived today, he wasn''t entirely surprised to see that several other people were already seated at the bar while Connor kept the taps running whenever they needed a refill. The only downside to that was that sometimes his favorite spot would get taken. Today it was a rather large girl in worker''s clothing that looked like she was guzzling down the mugs one after another. ¡°Another!¡± She called over to Connor who fulfilled the request with a bit of concern in his eyes. It wasn''t every day that you saw someone try and drown their sorrows in the catacombs, but when you saw it, it had a tendency of getting messy down here. One of the downsides of everyone knowing everyone in the close quarters. John took the next seat over from his usual place, only a little bit uncomfortable with the fact that his line of sight was just that bit off from its normal position. Nothing he couldn''t live with however. Connor served the girl beside him, then nodded to John as he walked back to pour a mug of his usual, a fine stout that he''d originally found hidden far in the back of the general store room. Hopefully no one would end up missing it too much as it marked the pinnacle of taste in John''s very own bar and tavern. The rest of the table was a bit on the quiet side like it always was. You could talk to other people just about anywhere else in the catacombs, but here. Here it was just you, the mug, and the ambiance. Until the woman sitting next to him started to speak at least. ¡°So what''s got you spending time here John?¡± She asked. He decided to look over at the girl now that she''d adressed him, actually paying attention to who she was and was shocked to find Major Connely staring right back at him with red eyes. Had she been crying? ¡°Uh, nice to see you too, Connely. It''s been a while hasn''t it?¡± ¡°No, it really hasn''t.¡± She went back to staring down into her mug as quickly as she had opened the conversation, seemingly no longer interested. ¡°Sure. Sorry, I guess?¡± he said. She shrugged him off as Connor finally came over with the mug, though it didn''t quite taste as sweet as it normally had at the bar. ¡°So. What''s got you feeling so down that you ended up here?¡± John asked. Connely spun around to face him as she started to spill her information out far too quickly. ¡°Well tomorrow is the winter solstice, and that means that me and my boss might have just hit a dead end in terms of our involvement in the whole place, so i''m just kinda not sure what I should even be doing anymore. You know?¡± Her words weren''t quite slurred, but they also didn''t seem like the normal Major that John had only somewhat talked to in the past. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Uh, yeah. I know.¡± He wasn''t sure what he was agreeing to, but it sounded right. She continued, ¡°So, how do you do it John? How do you betray everything you know and still serve your country at the same time?¡± John''s gaze slowly panned back over to his mug once again, raising it up to drown out whatever pit of a discussion this woman had just decided to drag them into. How was he supposed to answer that? He didn''t even know a good answer to that question for himself. ¡°Um. I don''t think I''ve figured that part out yet.¡± He told her honestly. She looked at him for a couple seconds, the first time she seemed to have considered her own words since the conversation started. ¡°It doesn''t matter I guess. It''s pretty much over already.¡± She said, slinking back to her own mug just like John. The two continued to avoid looking at each other as the other patrons nursed their own flagons in between small interactions with Connor. ¡°The answer is that I do what I can to try and not be a¡­traitor.¡± The word hitched in his throat when he said it. Just what was he really doing here? Training a group of militarist cultists that were trying to overthrow the Prince of Whispers? Was that really the same as just keeping his head down? ¡°And what should I do if everything feels like a betrayal at this point?¡± Connely asked him. ¡°Run.¡± The answer came to him by mistake. Staring down at the bottom of a mug looking at the leftover sip or two that sloshed around as he absentmindedly waved his hand back and forth. It was nearly a treasonous statement in of itself. It could get him killed if the wrong person heard it. And it was also the one word that had been bouncing around his mind for the last couple weeks any time that he was alone. Run. ¡ª The stone cobble streets blurred away beneath Janette as she was set free upon the city once again. After that fateful night with the monster that killed her aunt Galeide, she''d hid the key to her window and bided her time until her father had replaced her outer door. A couple more days after starting to keep the wooden door closed, using the excuse of the recent attack on the manor to explain her actions, Janette built herself an alibi. All for this. She was free once again. Free of the dresses, and the lies, and the conniving bastards who used her at balls while saying it was for her own good. Nobility wasn''t all that people thought it was cracked up to be. Janette would attest to that any day of the week. There was a certain allure to the idea of being just a normal person. After all, the one thing that brought her the most joy in life was the one thing that wasn''t directly connected to her nobility. Force powers. The magic that gave her control over the world around her. And it was fairly free to anyone with enough drive to ask for the opportunity in the first place. Force magic happened to be generally regarded as the second most painful blessing a person could receive next to flamers, and the number of mages in the Princedom definitely reflected that fact. To try and at least maintain some level of comparative power with the nearby countries, it meant that the lord of whispers needed to be far more lenient with his mages than any other shard-bearer, just to entice people to take him up on his offer in the first place. So what might have become a factor of nobility or direct subservience to the military, had become something of an open offer to the people of the Princedom. ¡°When you accept this power, you accept the duty to answer the call when I need you most, one day in the future. Use it for the benefit of the country, and I will reward you well. Use it to aid our enemies, and I will strip you of everything you hold dear.¡± He had said, then allowed her to go on her way as though nothing had happened at all. The lord of whispers had met with Janette on that fateful day when she officially became a force mage, a formal meeting which he held with every aspiring user of his strange magical abilities. She had originally thought that she would just be used as a messenger. A go between for telepathic messages that only left the user with mild to severe headaches after extended use of the skill. But after testing out her more direct applications of the force magic, Janette found that the pain inflicted upon herself by her own will and intentions was somehow far less difficult to deal with than pain inflicted on her by others. She certainly wouldn''t call the beatings her father gave her to be ¡®constant¡¯, but they were definitely severe in large part due to his own ability to wield force magic. It had crossed her mind more than once that it was possible that her father didn''t even have a normal person''s perception of what levels of pain should be like, continually buffered by the walloping blows that force magic thrown into the body throughout his own childhood training his skills. Then again, considering the way that the man reacted to her own temptations to use the power as she did, she doubted he had been hurting her in the effort to train her. No, the anger that seemed to bubble off of him whenever he lashed out was far too real for it to be just in the name of bettering his daughter. Janette pushed to the side, switching directions down the winding streets as her mind wandered in thought. The freedom of the night always felt like it allowed her to be a different person. To escape that lie of a perfect life that she was told to uphold whenever she lived in her fathers domain. Out here, she was her own person for once. And maybe that was why he feared it so much. Janette passed over a moving shadow in the alleyway below, unsurprised by the fact that people were moving through the city at night, but then another shadow passed behind the first one just as quickly, like they were chasing each other. She spun around, pushing off in the opposite direction as the pair were moving so that she could try and get a better look at the two. Rumors had been spreading that several of the noble houses had devolved into night time attacks on one another, but she hadn''t quite had a chance to see any of that for herself quite yet. She caught up to the moving shadows relatively quickly. They were running fast, but for some reason they only moved along the alleyways instead of cutting over the buildings. Surely they couldn''t merely be normal humans running through the night, nor with the rate the two were dashing through the streets. The alleyways they were winding down made it extra hard to get a good look at either of them, so Janette decided to push a little bit in front of the two so that she might be able to find a lookout where she could watch them coming. The next street over, she landed on the tall steeple that had used to belong to one of the pre-shard bearer religions in the city. Looking back, she eagerly eyed the alleyway the two shadows had been moving toward only seconds before. As she had expected, the first figure emerged from the alley with a blur of black and white as it stopped suddenly halfway into the street and looked up at Janette as she hung with one arm from the steeple. A single oval white face with three dark holes in its mask looked up at her, though Janette''s heartbeat quickened as she noticed that shocking white claws protruding from both its hands and feet. She''d found it. The creature that had saved her that day, or at least given her another chance at freedom outside of closely monitored balls and tea parties. It stood half-crouched, slightly hunched over as it balanced a little bit precariously on thin ankles with its arms drooping almost to the ground. It was more of a beast than a human as the two studied each other for less than a second before the second shadow appeared. A massive wolfhound as tall as the strange servant jumped out at the small shadow who ducked below the strange white beast that sailed over its head. As Janette managed to get a closer look at the wolf it twisted into a roll as it landed, turning around to growl at the servant, its body shockingly white despite the near completely dark night caused by the lack of a moon in the sky. The servant pointed up at Janet, drawing the wolfhound''s attention as well, and she suddenly felt much less comfortable with the idea of two strange monsters looking in her direction rather than just one. The trio hesitated for a moment, seemingly deciding what would happen next before the giant dog monster and the servant started running in opposite directions down the street. Janette wasn''t sure what to do. Were they fleeing from her? That hardly made sense as she trailed the servant''s body with her eyes as it continued running away down the street then stopped and looked back at her. Even from the now sizable distance, she could see the creature cock its head and put its hands on its hips. Janette simply stared at the creature as it jogged a little bit back towards her, eyes locked on hers the entire time until she finally decided to come down from her perch and pushed lazily into the road to join it. As soon as she moved the servant creature changed direction once again and started sprinting in the opposite direction from the girl. ¡°Hey, wait!¡± She said, but the creature didn''t listen. It evidently wasn''t going to just talk with her without a chase. An unspoken request that Janette was more than happy to oblige. After all, she wanted answers that only this strange creature of the night seemed to be able to provide. She pushed herself off the street, quickly speeding between the rows of wooden houses as her savior ran down the alleyways and into the shadows. 49 - Common Men The drums had been growing in tempo for days now as Harrant stared over the edge of the wall at the distant treeline. Night had been growing increasingly early in the day, as though to coincide with this moment in time, and yet the one thing that he hadn''t expected was the sudden absence of sound when the moment finally came. A single woman ran out from the woodline with a feeble gait that looked like it was about to trip her up at any moment under her long flowing dress. This was no warrior come to attack the fort, and harrant looked to his left and right to find matching confusion on the other men by his side. Jolted awake from the normally dull nights on guard duty, the small group didn''t even sound the alarm as the girl ran across the field towards the rushing river and tall walls. What did she seriously plan on doing when she got to the other side? He never found out as one wrong step suddenly sent her body plummeting into a hastily dug pit with wooden spikes at the bottom of it. All he heard was a short yelp from the girl over the long distance as she lost her footing, then nothing at all when her entire body fell out of view into the hole. It was like she had never been there to begin with. Doug''s mouth hung open. He had no way of knowing whether he had dug the hole that killed her with his own hands. It had seemed so long ago, so unimportant to remember where he had dug over the previous few weeks, yet now he wished that he had some way of knowing whether this was his fault. Yet still, nothing happened as the once solid throbbing of drums in the distance had turned into a strange new sound. The clang of metal on metal made its way out from the forest in sharp peals across the empty plain, the tell tale noise of metal weapons being slammed into one another from within the woods. Then, the pyro''s started lighting up the woodline in a way that hadn''t happened in the past. They no longer sent up a single gout of flame into the air that dissipated over time, but instead he saw large swaths of the distant woodline catching fire as though a forest fire had just engulfed a large section of the area all at once. Then, everything just got worse. The elderly came first, accompanied by women and children that barely rose to the height of their companion''s hips, all running across the clearing. Harrant could only stare in open horror as he realized what was about to happen, but even if he yelled out it would have done them no good. The look of complete and utter fear in their eyes drove them forward, dodging left and right as several individuals had the foresight to at least look where they were going as they crossed the death trap of a field. A horn blew in the background somewhere atop the stone wall. Harrant looked down as he saw several little ones misjudge a jump over one of the larger holes and disappear from sight. This time, the noise didn''t simply drown out, but grew as piercing screams echoed from across the field as a mother reached in with her arms towards the depths of a hole and the unseen body that likely lay at the bottom of it. He couldn''t catch it all though, as his eyes were drawn to a lone boy that had stopped running halfway across the expanse, a scabbard locked to his chest by small arms as the little boy carried a sword that was almost as tall as he was. His tired little steps bobbed and weaved as he slowly trudged across the field around large pits lined with death as he made his way closer, then fell to his knees, scabbard still held in his arms. Yells could now be heard over the distant ringing of metal, and a handful of drum beats echoed once then twice over the clearing in a different tempo than he had heard for the last several weeks. Able bodied men and women emerged from the woodline this time and the horn that had called a warning upon Harrant''s own defensive line called out once more. The distant warriors started charging, though for some reason their heads kept turning backward as they crossed the clearing. ¡°Ready!¡± The words from a nearby officer drew Harrant out of his stupor as someone took charge of the wall. ¡°Draw!¡± He hurriedly snatched up his bow and pulled an arrow from the nearby wooden quivers set permanently into the battlements and notched his arrow. ¡°Fire!¡± The nearby soldiers around Doug all released at close to the same time as he quickly drew back his own bow string with cold shaking fingers and released a moment later. He hadn''t aimed, and he certainly didn''t watch the arrows flight to see where it landed. He didn''t have to as he heard screams from below interspersed with the sudden appearance of flame in front of many of the approaching warriors. His eyes registered several of the late arrows from the attack flying into the wall of fire erupting over the clearing, only to disappear from the air itself in a cloud of ash. ¡°Draw!¡± The man''s commands reminded Doug of his place in this battle and he hurriedly snatched another arrow, drawing it immediately. ¡°"Fire!¡± He loosed the arrow along with the men by his sides as another volley cut across the clearing to be met with fire and screams. Harrant settled into the rhythm of his shots as the command''s continued behind him, distracting him from the increasing heat as those plumes of fire got closer and closer each time. A bolt of something white flashed by his view as an object passed by his head with an oddly hissing noise through the air. He ducked and looked behind him, tracking the small missile as he watched it impact with a house roof behind him with a shock of white dust like a puff of snow. While he was still ducked another red ball passed overhead that looked like a molten piece of metal passing through the space where he had just been standing. This time when it impacted the wooden building there was no explosion, but rather the red hot material seemed to splat across the roof and smolder. ¡°Free-fire!¡± The officer called, evidently coming to the same conclusion as Harrant as the rest of the archer line started to duck in between their shots, trying to dodge the incoming attacks. Doug drew his bow while slightly crouched behind cover, stood up just long enough to get a decent angle, then loosed the bow once more over the side, but it seemed to disappear into the near constant wall of flame that covered the battlefield at this point. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. He chanced a glance down the line, and saw as one of the men got hit in the head with one of the white balls, the sudden explosion puffing out to coat his body in a strange mist of white that coated the nearby soldiers as the man dropped on the spot. Whatever the white and blue flakes coming off from the object were, the men who got hit by them shrieked and patted at their clothing like they had been burned by the stuff, dropping their bows to try and back up from the cloud of white mist that slowly settled down around the dead soldier who had been hit directly. ¡°Hold!¡± The officer called the order to stop shooting for some reason, which the men gladly followed as everyone ducked even further behind the stone as more and more strange objects flew up the walls at them. Harrant could see everything clearly as he raised his head only the slightest bit over the lip, taking in the far side of the clearing that now burned high into the night. As the hail of arrows from the keep walls slowed down, he noticed that more and more of the missiles that had been coming up the walls were then redirected into the forest opposite them, firing off into the distant inferno despite the lack of anything visible through the fire. ¡°What is even happening here?¡± Doug couldn''t stop himself from asking aloud as his eyes barely skimmed the top of the stone defenses until another missle passed by his head causing him to flinch away. Behind them, another fire had started to rise into the night as several of the wooden roofs in the town below had caught fire. people swarmed around the streets around the town, screams rebounding up the wall from either side as Harrant crouched in place amid the chaos in his strangely safe position. A crunching, rumbling sound started to draw his attention from beyond the stone crenellations, and Harrant found himself once again watching over the lip as his curiosity drew him to the source. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasnt what he founnd as a series of strange tube-like stone tunnels started appearing at the far end of the clearing. Every few dozen feet a stone wall would rise up out of the ground seemingly out of nowhere as bolts of magma and ice pelted against the makeshift barriers, leaving dents in the thick surfaces but not breaking through. Next, a series of diagonal stone pieces would spring out of the ground to land in a triangular formation, making a cieling behind the stone wall before the strange above ground tunnels continued forward once again. ¡®Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.¡± The sound of distant stone bricks falling into place rumbled over the clearing as the rock defenses grew closer and closer to the flamers stuck between the moat and the forest. The arcanists must have planned this all along, forcing the flamer tribe to flee into the Seton walls when and only when they were ready to begin the battle. Harrant watched as several flamer warriors started charging away from the wall now, running across the battlefield with long wooden sticks ending in small bowls held within their wrapped and bleeding hands. The warriors reached back into small wicker baskets upon their backs where they withdrew small stones that suddenly lit up with fire or encased in ice that was now easier to understand as Harrant watched them move in the light from the nearby wildfire. When they finally reached the moving tunnels, he saw several people place their superheated rocks into the bowls at the end of their sticks, then jumped up and threw the rocks into the open corners between the edges of the stone tunnels and the darkness within. Muffled screams echoed from within the stone tunnels as the warriors evidently hit someone on the other side, sudden bursts of light bleeding out from the edges of the stone as they made contact with the men within. A couple of the warriors even waited quietly on the other side of the stone slabs protecting the front side of the tunnels like they were waiting for the next extension to occur. Unfortunately, the stone mages decided to fight back and a series of stone spikes suddenly jutted from the inside of the tunnels like a porcupine pushing out its quills. The warriors who had been in hiding were suddenly pierced with a dozen small rock spears shoved through their body. Several of the warriors that had thrown the rocks into the center of the tunnels were also attacked as large vines slithered across the ground, trapping the men and women as they tried to run away. Thin tendrils of water errupted from the cracks in the stone tunnels like strange arms that reached out and cut through the warriors bodies like they were nothing but wheat stalks. That was, until a massive stone block suddenly came crashing down on one of the stone tunnels from the direction of the keep walls. The rock imploded upon contact with the falling boulder, causing a loud crashing noise that drowned out any possible screams that could have been heard over the dull whistle of another large boulder passing through the sky above. Harrant watched as the boulder seemed to change direction mid-air moving from a clearly miss aimed trajectory to correct its own cours to target as a human figure spun away from the massive rock in the opposite direction. Even as the rock smashed downward into the center of one of the stone tunnels then rolled away deeper into the fire engulfed forest, the green clad figure flying through the air started to fall downwards just short of Harrants position when he felt a tug. His legs fell out from under him, and he had to stretch out between the sides of the crenulations to keep from being pulled off of the wall entirely as he suddenly felt tugged by a massive force towards the edge of the wall. A second later, a flash of red hair passed him by, releasing him from the tugging on his body as she arced over the wall and back within the safety of the town. Released from the pressure, Harrants body buckled at the knees as he saw another dark figure push away from a downward arking boulder, redirecting it mid flight as the dark haired man careened back towards the wall. This was what it meant to be stuck in a war between mages as Harrant knelt there, head looking over the wall at a field pocketed with random bits of burning ground, as defensive tunnels sprung out of the ground and man guided boulders rained from the sky. To his right and left, the former archers merely huddled in place, forgotten like the remnants of a forgotten time, while catapults continued to creak in the far distance, sending force mages far into the air. Even as he watched, the enemy mages adjusted their strategy, strange vines growing from beside the edges of the stone tunnels, creating a green layer of protection, even as a torrent of water poured out of the holes in the tunnel towards an oncoming boulder. He watched as the delluge of water slowed the stone down, then the vines and wood seemed to catch the rock in mid air then leaned to the side, depositing the massive stone safely away from their siege formation. And through all of it, Harrant felt entirely, completely, helpless. This was not a war for men like him. This was something else entirely. He retracted his head behind the stone formations and sat there with his back to the wall like all the other men by his side. Facing the inside of the city, he watched the burning roofs within the town itself as human beings carried buckets between the wells and their homes, desperately trying to do something of value to protect their home. They didn''t know what was happening on the other side of the wall. They couldn''t see both sides like Harrant had seen. They weren''t stuck in the middle of this madness. Not like him. 50 - Battle of Seton The wind whipped across Rudy''s face, nearly blinding her eyes as it pulled her long red hair behind her in a shocking line as she spun across the sky. This was her life. or at least the end purpose of it. She took aim at a small parapet at the top of the keep as she raced through the city, pulling herself up and onto the top of the keep where the Prince of whispers lay waiting. He didn''t speak as she came up beside him, not like he almost ever spoke, not when he was always swimming through all that information like he always was doing. She started to walk off towards one of the nearby catapults to hitch another ride when his voice cut her off, or at least spoke into her mind. ¡°Wait.¡± The voice cut through the screams and the crashing below of burning wood and stone on stone as Rudy heard the words appear somewhere near the front of her head. She had learnt to merely listen to the old man instead of trying to argue a long time ago, and walked over to the edge of the roof to take a better look. Below she could see the flying form of Rowan as he sped away from the latest stone boulder he''d tried to drop on their heads, though it didn''t seem to be very effective. Maybe that''s why Whispy didn''t want her playing around anymore, as pre-prepped gouts of water flowed behind archways of vines and small branches extending over the tops of the stone tunnels. At the very least it would exhaust their mages to keep things up like that all the time, but it did render her fun a bit delayed at this point. The stone tunnels continued to encroach across the field as the leftover fire tribes started to panic as they got closer to the wall. She saw a few random non-flamers dart across the field and throw half forgotten stones into the tunnel cracks, but they didn''t get the same audible screams that their more talented brethren had earned earlier in the fight. Shame most of the veteran flamers had already died. Rudy kind of wanted to try fighting one head-on one day. Not that anyone would ever let her. Rowan joined her silently as they looked over the battlefield, evidently getting a similar order from Whispy as they settled into a comfortable silence. It wasn''t often that the two of them got to spend time together like this, usually being sent on separate missions where their skills were needed most. It was kind of nice to just spend time with the lanky fool as Rudy sat down to let her legs dangle over the edge of the stonework. The ground comprising the field started to change as the tunnels got closer to their goal, dirt rising up in large tufts to start building thin hills that angled up towards the top of the wall. It was fairly evident at a glance that they were trying to build a staircase up to the top of the wall, while several other tunnels merely remained on level ground as they split their attack. The catapults continued to rattle with explosive power, throwing their supersized missiles at the enemy, but the joint power of water and nature easily stopped any of the rocks that managed to get an accurate bead on their targets. This was always the downside of battles with the arcanist corps. They were just too damn good at turtling up, it had a habit of making the battles go quiet as both sides waited for their strategy to eventually play out. The only downside to their plan was the fact that it would leave the arcanists tired and exhausted by the time they made it to the walls. Although it would at least ensure they made it to the walls in the first place. As the slowly moving stone caterpillars finally made it across the rest of the field after several minutes, they chewed through the remaining fire tribe like they were nothing. Spikes of stone rushed out from the defensive positions to pin the flamers to the ground, easily making it through their light movement focused armor. Meanwhile the water arcanists had apparently made it close enough to the moat to start causing issues as sudden waves pushing the tribe away from the wall and into the rock spikes, hastening their destruction. A few brave souls tried to run away from the arcanists only for roots to rach out of the ground and hold them in place until the dirt itself swallowed them whole. The stone tunnels along the ground level then stalled as they seemed to help move the dirt into the increasingly large staircases up to the walltop. It was frustrating being forced to just watch the arcanists employ their tactics, but Rudy had heard the stories of many force mages that had tried and failed to breach those stone tunnels in the past to no success. Supposedly, even if someone managed to get into the tunnel in the first place, it just left you stuck between a rock and a hard place as the numerous stone mages in each tunnel attacked you from all directions until you inevitably made a mistake. Instead, they simply waited amid the screams and the fire as the battle slowly drew out into an awkward standstill. The dirt staircases now connected directly to the top of the wall as the walltop soldiers below formed into a conjoined shield formations as they waited for the tunnels to arrive. Meanwhile, the ground level tunnels had started spinning up grand drills of water from the nearby moat that cracked through the foundation of the wall in small openings into the town on the other side. It was rote, by the book, and incredibly boring. ¡°Rudy, take the street fight. Rowan, take the wall fight.¡± The old man''s voice appeared in her head once again, and Rudy leaned forward off the top of the keep. Her clothes flapped in the wind as she fell, approaching the top of the wall below her as she pinged her squad letting them know they got street duty this time. At the last minute she pushed downward, arresting her momentum an inch before she hit the stone, then ran the remaining twenty feet to the side of the wall and jumped down below. Her hair trailed out behind her as several other men and women beside her jumped from their positions on the nearby houses and fanned out through the city to each confront a different hole that had appeared in the wall. She used mostly pulling motions to pingpong between the city streets past running civilians and raging house fires while she maintained a passive force bubble around herself to pad the movements. When she reached a particularly large hole in the wall, Golden kingdom soldiers were already moving down the street as they settled into tight formations around large metal humanoids. She took note of the fact that one of her squad mates was hidden around the corner as she relayed her plan into his head. ¡°Abel, let''s do a cross fire.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Rudy wasted no time flying over their heads and releasing a series of small metal beads from one of her pouches and pushing on them all at the same time. She floated there passively for a moment as the invisible bullets zipped through the air, then immediately felt a strong backwards push as the missiles made contact with their targets. Blood ripped up in thin spurts from both the lightly armored individuals and the heavy armored ones alike as screams cut out into the night. Anyone who had shields below immediately raised them to the sky, including the rather large shields the metal humanoids raised that were comparable to the size of a double door. Her squad mate then turned the corner and released a similar spray of bullets at the group as she saw the building groan behind him as he braced himself. One of the large metal golems reacted in time, pulling his massive iron shield down to brace it against the ground and even spread the metal out like wings to the sides, protecting several of his nearby companions. The rest however, were not so lucky as another spread of beads cut through the majority of the formation that still had its shields pointed upward. Stone spears shot up from the ground around her squad member, but he merely pushed away from the street to land back up on the top of one of the nearby buildings. Rudy in turn pushed away from the wall until she caught one of the nearby chimneys, bracing herself against the stone outcropping as she focused on one of the bullets she had dropped below, whipping it sideways across the street as she caught a couple of soldiers by the ankles before the small object got embedded into a body and almost lurched her across the sky if she hadn''t been clutching the chimney so tightly. She let go of the bullet and tried to move around another one when a stone arm whipped out from the side of the chimney to land right on her nose. Her body flopped backwards into the rooftop as her nose made an audible crunching noise. She rolled away haphazardly from the nearby stone chimney as she realized her mistake and dodged another blow that came crashing down into the rooftop where she had been laying just a moment ago. Head still swimming, she looked back down at the soldiers and pushed back reflexively as she saw several crossbowmen release their bolts in her direction. Her body wrenched back up and over the lip of the rooftop as the momentum of the bolts bled out into her own arcing parabola through the sky. A moment later she found her orientation and latched herself to the top of the roof, pulling with as much force as she used against the bolts, and they suddenly switched directions to shoot back towards the crossbowmen below. A wall of water rushed up in front of the men, catching the redirected bolts and stalling their movement as the soldiers moved out of the way. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Rudy looked to the side at her squad member who had been throwing more small bullets in waves against the attackers, doing a good job of distracting them. Unfortunately, she couldn''t send him a message in time as she saw a small vine reach up and over the lip of the rooftop and cinch itself around his foot. Within a moment, the man had been pulled by his leg off the rooftop into a series of stone spikes that rose to greet him from the street below. Rudy tried to throw another wave of bullets from above to distract them, but a metal mage rose to block her attack as another series of vines jumped up to grab Abel by the wrists, holding him in place even as he struggled against them hovering above the spikes. By the time a second metal mage charged across the street with his massive shield upraised, Rudy knew she was too late and the man''s body was quickly crushed between the shield and the wall of the building. ¡°Abel!¡± She screamed the word, but was cut off by several more crossbow bolts that she had to push away from herself. She took her cue to leave, and pulled downward on the next street over to get out of eyesight from the remaining attack group left in the street. By her estimation at least seventy percent of the group had been killed or injured and were laying on the ground, with the majority of those still standing being the ones centered directly next to the large metal mages. She pulled herself along the surface level of the street, rounded the corner, and started doubling back until she found a building that looked vaguely like the one her friend had just died in front of. A single pull on the door while she anchored herself on the building behind her removed the front door from its hinges, and she lightly pushed on it to send it crashing to the ground as she ran into the building itself. No one was inside the small living quarters as she dashed through the wooden rooms towards the back of the house and the window she had spotted earlier. Through the crystalized glass she saw the attacking group split into two smaller groups, each oriented towards a different direction down the T intersection and neither paying attention to their rear. Without thinking, Rudy ran to the back of the room, jumped as high as she could, then pushed towards the center of the building as it sent her flying towards the thin window separating her from the enemy. As soon as she crashed through the barrier, she pulled on the stones below the closest metal mage''s feet until she managed to fall onto her back right between his legs. His massive iron helmet turned down to look at her as she oriented her bubble inward, then sent a full force push outward in every direction. The weight of seven different people slammed into her all at once as their bodies resisted the action, but with her back already against the ground there was nowhere for her to go. Instead, the tight formation exploded out in every direction as the soldiers were flung into the air and nearby buildings. She let go as soon as she could then pushed downward, propelling her into the air and away from the stone spike that exited the ground where her body had been a moment ago. The upward force blasted her past a very surprised looking metal mage who had been pushed twenty feet into the air, then she reoriented her push onto his shoulders sending her even higher. The metal mage stopped in mid air, then changed direction to rapidly approach the ground as he fell back down. He tried to twist and get his shield below him to break the fall, but didn''t quite make it as the tip of the shield and his head made impact with the ground at the same time, twisting his body into a very awkward shape. Her push on his body sent her even higher into the air as she used the chance to take a small break, just floating there high above the town while she caught her breath. Over on the wall she saw a figure of a man arc out and over the town, then seemingly stop for no reason in mid air as a series of enemy soldiers were plucked off the top of the wall to fall into the town below. He had almost made it back to the wall himself when another figure with a black cloak descended from the sky further down the wall and caused a large swath of the fighting to simply stop as an entire section was forced to its knees. Figures in green hesitated only a moment before they started stepping in between the enemy ranks, swinging down on the helpless figures as the cloaked man held them down. ¡®Come on, why does Rowan get the princely entourage?¡¯ Rudy thought. A horn blasted in the direction of the burning forest in a trio of notes that stopped the invaders in their tracks. She looked down below her at the distant street as the small squad of troops started running back towards the open hole in the wall and the tunnel beyond. The lone metal mage below seemed to have forgotten his place and let his massive shield dangle by his side as he ran along with the others, so Rudy figured she had one last chance to do her duty before they got back in the tunnel. She released the push that was currently keeping her up, and angled her feet downward as she fell. A moment later her daggers were out and ready, which she then flipped around and braced the blades with her feet on the cross guard. Her speed increased with every moment she fell, and within the last twenty feet of the ground she pulled hard on the general shoulder area of the remaining metal mage. The man stopped running, bending his legs as he instinctively tried to resist being pulled away by the small girl, but she was never trying to lift him in the first place. Her daggers slammed into his shoulders as she fell down on top of him, hopefully punching through his thick armor into the flesh underneath, she only sent a push down into his back at the very last second so she wouldn''t be squashed flat with the impact a moment later. When her body finally did slam into his back, butt first, it certainly didn''t feel good, but she had a feeling her barrier at least prevented any broken bones as the massive mage buckled under her weight and slammed into the ground. Rudy ripped off the last pouch at her waist and tossed it into the air between herself and the tunnel entrance, pushing on the small balls within with all her might. For a single blissful moment, she merely sat there, resting on the top of the soon to be corpse as blood pooled around her daggers, then the next moment a jerking motion sent her sailing backward through the air until she crashed into, and through the wall of the nearby building. ¡°Oww.¡± The word escaped her as she lay there, body half broken and embedded into the side of a destroyed bed that she had found on the other side of the thin wall. Her vision was so foggy that she couldn''t really see very well other than the yawning hole in the wall and the firelit sky behind it. She lay there for a long time taking long slow breaths that made every inch of her body hurt. All she could do was lean back and doze off for a bit as she tried to just will her body to keep going. Maybe that fall had hurt a little bit more than she had given it credit. Her sense of time was lost to her. It could have been seconds, or maybe it was hours before a looming figure blocked out the light in her vision and she desperately tried to understand the picture that she saw. It just made no sense. For some reason a large statue was standing on the other side of the wall, clad with a strange cylindrical head, a massive oversized chest, and two small daggers sheathed to its back that looked far too small for it to use. ¡®Oh no.¡¯ She tried pushing back upon the mage as soon as she connected the dots, but it did nothing but push her back further into the mess of wooden splinters behind her. A sudden pain of what must be several pieces of wood sticking into her body made her scream, and she let go of the push without accomplishing anything but clearing her mind with the pain. ¡°HELP!¡± She sent the thought out into the void, like a message in a bottle to anyone who might be nearby. But the man didn''t stop. The wooden floor buckled under the weight of his armor as he slowly took step after step towards her broken body. She could do nothing but watch as the results of her own greed came back to haunt her. There was no reason she''d had to go back for the kill when they called for the retreat earlier. Just a distant desire for revenge, she supposed. But now her revenge was standing over her like a statue of pure retribution, face a foot from hers as he raised a fist back to punch into her head. She spat up at him with every ounce of power left in her body, and the man hesitated. His free hand reached up to wipe off his visor as she heard low grunts of effort coming from the man with every small movement. He must have been hurt too. The light coming from behind the man winked out, sending the room into darkness. Then the glint of a massive war hammer slammed down onto the head of the metal mage from behind, all but bending the man in two. The man imploded like a table that had just been crushed in the center, upraised arms that had been so ready to kill her now drooping onto the ground as the body slowly fell backwards revealing the man behind. His stern prismatic eyes stared down at her as he hook his heavy mace into his belt, the body of the metal mage sliding to the side of the room by the unseen force coming from the man. He shook his head and bent down to pick up the girl, grasping her to his chest even as her breathing quickened from the sudden pain of being moved. ¡°Fool of a girl.¡± He spoke into her mind as the man walked down the broken street. ¡°Did I get them all?¡± She asked mentally. He looked over at a series of bodies that had been shot in the back as they ran for the tunnel. He shrugged non-commitedly. ¡°Worth it.¡± She spoke into his mind, and drifted off to sleep as he walked away from the carnage. 51 - New Begginings As Harrant walked into the small barracks common room that he and the crew had started gathering in between shifts, he already knew what he would hear. Collin''s face was drawn up in a tight ball as soon as he saw Doug, like he didn''t want to say the words that they both knew they needed to share. ¡°So. How many do you know about?¡± Harrant asked him. ¡°Three. All dead.¡± Collin said. Doug stood there for a moment as he took it all in, then sat down opposite Collin. ¡°Martin is down in the infirmary with a gut wound that''s probably going to end him by tomorrow. Then i''m tracking another three, dead as well.¡± Harrant said. ¡°Oh.¡± Collin looked down at the table. ¡°Are my three the same as your three?¡± Doug didn''t want to do this. But the look In collin''s eyes got him to start sharing. ¡°Edgar caught a frost rock in the head so I heard. Then I saw both Corey and Ham get thrown off the side of the wall when a metal mage got pushed off the edge.¡± He told Collin. ¡°Damn it.¡± Collin slammed his fist on the table. ¡°We weren''t even supposed to be here Doug!¡± ¡°Yeah. I know.¡± Harrant put his head in his hands, staring down at the table. ¡°I''m sorry.¡± ¡°No, Doug. That''s not what I meant. I know this isn''t your fault.¡± But the words didn''t move Harrant from his position. Part of this was his fault. End of the day, he had been the one who had chosen to bend the knee to Dei back in the catacombs. He was the one who got them an in with the city garrison. And he was the reason that they had been chosen to go on that stupid caravan guard trip, then got picked out as veterans to help with the battle. And despite it all, they were just common men. They couldn''t do shit in this fight, not with magic flying around like mages were a dime a dozen. Just like he couldn''t do a damn thing to stop her if Dei had chosen to kill them back in the catacombs. Hell, the only reason they had survived the attack on the convoy was because Xei had taken it easy on their carts specifically, and even then they almost died. So what the fuck was a common man really worth in this world of madness? ¡°The names of my three were Oleg, Zack, and Paul. That''s¡­that''s everyone Doug.¡± Collin said. He didn''t need to look up to see Collin''s face. He didn''t want to. There was no part of him that wanted to see the look of despair on that face. The look of a man that he had let down. A man that he couldn''t protect, because he was nothing but a common man. Doug stood up and walked away from the room quickly, tears welling in his eyes. He let the tears free only once he was out of the room, noting the fact that Collin didn''t even stand up to follow after him. They were all dead after all, so what did it matter? He found his feet guiding him further out of the keep towards the battlements where the moans of half dead soldiers still lined the walls. The sun had risen over the shining white expanse laid out to his right as he walked down the wall, smattered with the spray of blood, dirt, and charred ash from the night before. The city on the other side of the wall wasn''t looking much better as entire sections of the wall had erupted inward leaving rubble in the streets. The bodies that littered those streets were all misshapen by magic of one type or another. Force mages lay skewered by earthen spikes while layers upon layers of heavy infantry lay still on the ground with small holes caused by spherical bullets that had crushed through their armor all the same. The victims of nature and water mages were a little bit harder to notice as they generally seemed to focus on more of the support role among the arcanist ranks. Doug averted his gaze to look down the open entrance to one of the earthen tunnels that had been propped up against the lip of the wall. Now that he could see inside the place as sunlight lit up the inside of the tunnel as it leaked in through the small cracks in the stone, it presented a strange sight. It was like someone had taken a long hallway from a cave and simply placed it on the surface of the land. Just like that. Magic. For some reason Harrant found himself walking down the long tunnel, rays of light passing him by in an even tempo. The massive stone blocks were concerningly held up by nothing but the force of both halves leaning against each other. Yet after the battle was done and over with, the structure still held up. An awkward ramp that would probably take the bastion months to dig away again. Was there even a point? The arcanists had already proven they could make this trick work at least once, and from the sound of it, this just seemed to be their normal method of attack in the first place. So why bother with walls when magic could just tear it all down in a few minutes? The tunnel ended in a cave in, the rooftop crushed inward by a massive boulder that stained the ground in blood and dust. Harrant walked past half of a severed body laying next to the debris and leaned out one of the small cracks to the side of the tunnel, looking out on the sea of white. He saw yet another series of holes. His own work, and that of his men, but what he was actually surprised by was the number of bodies he could see from this angle in those holes. Colorful clothing clashed with the dark red color of blood at the bottom of those holes, all intermixed with the awkward angles of body parts that weren''t supposed to be sticking out that particular direction. One of the holes was so full that it even looked like the people inside were still moving at the bottom of it. The small shake of a child crying over their parents body''s, or perhaps just a figment of his imagination. Wait. That crying child had a sword next to him. Harrant ran back up the tunnel one or two sections until he found a hole big enough to fit through. The rock squeezed on his body as he tried to push himself through, but he was only able to fit through once he unclasped the sword from his belt. He reached back through the hole and grabbed the scabbard from the other side, pulling it after him as he jogged down the loosely piled dirt that comprised the tunnel hill. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. His feet fell out from under him as he tried going down the dirt incline, forcing him to slide down the rest of the way before he reached the field itself. Then he found himself running, heedless of the trap holes around him as he chased after the dull sobs that were just audible from a hole up ahead. When he finally found the correct hole, he looked over the edge to find the young boy lying there, cupping the face of a young lady that looked up at the sky with blank eyes. Harrant didn''t know what to do other than kneel there on the edge of the precipice, staring at this boy as he looked down upon his mother. ¡°Hey!¡± Harrant called out to him, reaching his hand down into the hole below, but the boy just ignored him. ¡°HEY!¡± He yelled this time. No response. Harrant jumped into the hole without thinking, and the boy finally took notice of him. His eyes went wide, and he fell back towards his sword as he reached for the scabbard with small hands. Doug stood still, feeding his own sword into his belt before putting his hands out to the side showing the kid there was nothing in them. The kid tried pulling his own sword out. It took him three pulls on the pommel of it, withdrawing the sword maybe six inches further each time before Harrant stepped forward and put a hand on the hilt stopping him. The boy tried swinging a fist at him next, which Harrant let fall weakly onto his chest and shoulders as the boy tried to fight him off while he held his other hand to the sword. After a couple seconds Harrant caught the boy''s other fist, holding him at bay. The boy¡¯s eyes were nothing but rage as he started to make sparks appear in his hands and Doug cut him off. The very skin in the palm of his hand seemed to be melting away as the heat grew in his hands. ¡°Stop it. You can''t bring them back.¡± Harrant told the boy, disrupting the growing fire in his hands. The boy''s eyes teared up as he looked at Harrant, then down at the woman to his side. ¡°I''m not here to hurt you.¡± Harrant told him. ¡°I can help.¡± ¡°No! You killed them! Your people did this!¡± The boy shouted at him, thrashing his arms back and forth as he fought to get free. Doug let go of one of the boy''s arms, then slapped him across the face with an audible crack in the cold air. A large red mark started to well up on the side of his face as the boy clutched at it with his now free hand, stunned into silence once again. ¡°If you don''t let me help you, They will kill you boy!¡± Harrant pointed in the direction of the wall. He didn''t wait for an answer then, picking the boy up from under his arm pits and lifting him up until he sat on the edge of the hole. ¡°M-my sword!¡± The boy reached out like he was going to jump back down, but Harrant stopped him and bent down to pick up the sword after stuffing it back in the scabbard. With a casual throw, he tossed it up into the boys lap, then reached up to drag himself up and out of the hole himself. By the time he made it up, the boy was sitting there silently looking down at the woman below them, a massive wooden stake protruding from her chest. ¡°Say goodbye to her.¡± Harrant told him quietly, and the boy nodded as tears continued to fall from his eyes. Harrant looked back up towards the wall and saw a series of men in green armor with bows loosely pointed in their direction but not drawn. He imagined the series of questions they would ask him if he returned with the boy, the interrogations. And worst of all, he imagined the teasing words that a boy who had just lost his family would receive. The jokes made by angry soldiers, and a hothead boy who didn''t care about his own life any longer. Then he looked down on a large mass of bloody bodies held up by earthen spikes near the base of the wall. ¡°Come on, we''re leaving.¡± Harrant said. ¡°But-¡± ¡°Now.¡± He insisted, and gripped the shoulder of the boy''s tunic, lifting him from his seat. The two of them swung around, turning towards the woodline beyond as Harrant walked the opposite direction from the walls of Keep Seton. That was no life for a boy. And there was nothing left there for a common man to do. ¡ª Fei scampered down the dark hallways of Keep Whisper while using a small mouse body to try and stay hidden. The change from the wolfhound body she had been using more recently was a bit jarring when she first switched perspective, but she quickly settled back into the smaller body with ease. She figured if there was ever a time to explore the inside of this place, it would be when the boss wasn''t at home for a bit, and that choice seemed to have merit. A quick scan of the place with her bone sight revealed that there were far less guards in the building than usual, and most of them seemed to be spending their free time in the barracks quarters, not going on patrols. ¡®When the cat''s away, the mice will play. Hehe.¡¯ Fei couldn''t keep herself from chuckling as she scurried down the hallways. When she went down the stairs to the basement level, it could best be described as bouncing down the steps rather than anything graceful, but there was no one here to see her fall none-the-less. She continued deeper into the depths of the basement, passing by a long series of jail cells that held one or two human''s each. Fei stopped at each cell, switching back to her normal vision to get a somewhat dim glance at the men and women trapped there before moving on to the next one and the next. A dozen cells later, she had to squeeze under a thick wooden door at the end of the hall and into another wing of the jail. At this point all the cell doors were made of iron reinforced wood, separating the prisoners into single person cells where they couldn''t see anyone else. ¡®How barbaric.¡¯ Fei thought. Instead of looking into each cell, Fei tried to guess at the approximate height of the individuals within the cells with her bone sight, continuing down the hall until she found someone that looked just about right. It was hard to judge since he was curled up into a ball for some reason. ¡®You couldn''t just randomly happen to be standing for me could you? Nah, that would make this too easy.¡¯ She squeezed under the door once again then climbed up the stone bench that passed for a bed to the side of the room. When she marched up towards the head of the man she had been looking for, she started to get concerned. He was sweating profusely from nearly every pore on his body, and his arm was clutched to his stomach as his eyes seemed to see right through her. ¡®Oh Chris. You are really not going too well bud are you?¡¯ She hopped off the bed and took a better look around the room to see what she was working with. Stone, stone, and more stone. Though she did see some random bone shards scattered in the earth behind the back wall. Maybe it wasn''t as thick as the rest of the room? Sure beats trying to break him out the front door anyways. She looked up at a handful of skeletal bodies moving about above her like they were cleaning tables and sweeping at the floor, beyond which she spotted a small mouse corpse stashed away near the ceiling several stories up. ¡®Is that the ballroom? They''re literally dancing away above the corpses of their forgotten prisoners.¡¯ Fei shook her head as a purple light suffused her body and the bones started to grow in size. The bright glow reflected in Chris''s hazy eyes as he tried to back up into the wall behind him at the sudden sight before him. ¡°P-please. I''m not ready. Not yet.¡± He called out at her with a wheezing voice that was half a whisper. She looked back at him with her now canine shaped head as the sharp claws attached to her paws started to bite into the stone below her. ¡®Come on Chris. You didn''t think your brother would just leave you behind, did you?¡¯ She started digging into the back wall of the room. 52 - The Demons Tricks People laughed in the hallways as wooden sticks slapped against one another in the background. There was joy, and family, and growth in this underground tunnel system that seemed to spread out further and further the more that Cody explored. Yet each time he returned to the main rooms for a bite to eat or a drink of water, there was always someone waiting for him there to say hello. It was, in short, nothing like what he had been expecting at all. Rigid white bodies of bone and armor stood in the edges of the room, but the more time he spent here, the less they felt like guards meant to keep them in, and more like guardians meant to protect this place. The sands blew around Xei and himself whenever they trained each day, lined on all sides by a motley crew of soldiers that wanted to watch the fights. Yet when the fight ended there was nothing but polite applause for the two, regardless of who won the bout. The men and women who gathered around would clap his shoulders when the sparring match was finally over, then invite him to spar with them instead. When it all started to seem too good to be true, that''s when he started searching for the hidden secrets underneath. Why was this place the way that it was? He started searching through the empty tunnels, torch held high in the darkness, passing line after perfect line of interconnected blocks put together like building blocks of the gods. He found large multi story rooms carved into the stone, grand displays of power and authority, yet no one there to man them and make them real. It was like an entire city had been plucked up and put here, just under the surface of a long forgotten field that just so happened to be his kingdom. or princedom he supposed. Cody spent several days like that, searching through every hidden nook and cranny he could find in the caves. And they let him. There was perhaps an unspoken rule that he wasn''t supposed to leave the catacombs, but otherwise he was free to do as he wished. To be honest, he never even tested it. Not when he still wasn''t any closer to understanding what was going on here. Eventually after several hallways turned him around so thoroughly that he was pretty sure that he had gotten lost in the maze, Cody found a door. Two twin guards stood resolute next to the door, white beacons that shined in the dull light of his torchlight. A string of carved words spread out before him, up and down the one unopened secret of the cave system. Yet the fact that it was being guarded told him it must have been important to some degree. Did that mean that Xei was trying to keep this place quiet for some reason. A single hand reached out from the darkness behind him to touch his shoulder, and Cody jumped so hard he almost dropped the torch. When he looked over his shoulder at the hand, he was only somewhat startled to find Xei standing there besides him, already holding his slate in one hand. ¡°I''ve been wondering how long it would take you to find this place. ¡° Xei wrote. ¡°Why''s it the only room that''s locked off?¡± Cody asked. ¡°We don''t know.¡± He wrote. Weird, Cody had started to think of him as a he somewhere along the way. It just seemed to fit him, despite the un-alive ness of it all. ¡°And you still don''t trust me enough to tell me?¡± Cody asked. ¡°I can''t share the answer with you because I don''t know it yet Cody. ¡° Xei wrote. Cody furrowed his brows. What were the chances this skeleton was still lying to him? Xei seemed to take his reaction to be curiosity since he continued writing. ¡°Would you like to help me find out?¡± He wrote. ¡°You mean the pledge that you make everyone else here make to the ¡®goddess¡¯? Cody asked. Xei nodded, walking forward to run his skeletal palm over the surface of the locked door. ¡°Why don''t you just use a rock mage to get through it?¡± Cody tried to change the subject. ¡°We tried that. Didn''t work. Something about this place resists the manipulation of the arcanists, just like it repels our blades.¡± Xei rapped on the side of the stone with his hand after writing the explanation. ¡°And we can''t get around it either. It''s like there''s a magical cube of nothing on the other side of the door.¡± ¡°Let me try.¡± Xei nodded, and moved out of the way before Cody tried pushing and pulling on the door with his magic. Even latched into place using the nearby walls and floor, no amount of leverage would cause the door to shift even the slightest bit before he gave up. Sweat beaded on his brow as he picked up the half discarded torch once again and the skeleton started writing. ¡°Why did you interfere when Charity was helping those people the first night we met you?¡± ¡°Because it seemed to me that something weird was going on with people going missing and all.¡± ¡°But you were alone. You could have just made a report and been done with it.¡± ¡°I was on a bit of a break from guard duty and just didn''t think of it.¡± ¡°A break?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was trying to find¡­well, I don''t know exactly what I was trying to find.¡± Xei considered that for a time before he responded, and the two started to walk back to the common rooms by the time he chose what to say next. ¡°I think you''ll find that many of the people with us are in a similar situation. Not knowing what they want specifically.¡± ¡°Is that supposed to make me feel any better about the possibility of joining you guys?¡± Cody asked the skeleton. ¡°No, it isn''t. It''s supposed to mean that I''m at least being honest with you. Do you know what the purpose of the Prince of Whispers is?¡± ¡°The defense of this land. I think.¡± ¡°Somehow I doubt you believe that. Otherwise you wouldn''t have gone searching for answers.¡± ¡°Okay, so what''s the end goal of the whole death cult thing then?¡± Cody asked. ¡°It''s hard to summarize it in writing like this, but I think the primary tenet that comes to mind is growth.¡± ¡°You promote growth by burning down farmland and enslaving the workers?¡± Cody asked. ¡°Yes, we promote growth by liberating the people from a passive life and encouraging them to become something new.¡± ¡°And when those people oppose you, you''re willing to just cut them down to pursue your own goals?¡± ¡°Weren''t you willing to do the same thing back in the clearing the night Lord Tai knocked you out? I had heard you almost killed every single person there to free yourself.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°I was defending myself!¡± The words echoed down the hallway as Cody raised his voice, but his words were met only with the scratching against a board in the faint light. ¡°It seems to me that this world is quite focused on its value for strength above all. At least when it comes to Lady Dei, she values life more than death.¡± ¡°How can you say that after how many people you''ve killed?¡± ¡°Far fewer than I''ve saved. And souls are a currency worth any price for the goddess.¡± The conversation settled down a bit as the two men finished walking back to the common rooms in near silence. Xei out of habit, but Cody was deep in thought. When they arrived a handful of men and women waved both of them over to the nearby tables to join in on a game of dice Xei declined with a wave of his hand and started walking back towards the sparring pits where Cody knew he would continue to fight until something equally important drew him away from his passtime. As he watched the skeleton walk away, he realized something. The skeleton was going to the pits in order to grow, little by little with each and every fight in the sandy rooms. And the way that he talked? That wasn''t the words of some mindless monster. The skeleton turned the corner of the wall without looking back and Cody was left looking between the well lit path to the sparring halls and the game of dice that both seemed to be calling to him. Unsure of what to do or where to go. What did he want? ¡ª ¡°Gotcha!¡± Janette said the words even as she nearly collided with the figure in black standing directly ahead of her. She had been near the apex of a jump over a shallow building when she found the monstrous creature crouched in place on the other side of it despite leading her on a massive chase for the last thirty minutes. The creature slowly turned around and brought its strangely clawed hands together in a happy little clapping motion. It would be almost endearing if it didn''t look so strange for such an obviously non-human individual to express itself in that way. Janette put her hands on her hips and glared down at the beast as she finally talked to it again. ¡°You let me win.¡± The monster simply shrugged in response and went back to its vaguely gargoyle based stance when it wasn''t moving. Come to think of it, the creature was more reminiscent of a demon due to her vaguely human characteristics in Janette''s mind. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± She asked the demon. It nodded cheerfully at her then calmed down a moment later. Janette waited for it to say something, but nothing came out of the demon''s mouth despite seemingly being interested in talking. ¡°You, can''t speak?¡± Janette asked. The demon nodded once again then grabbed Janette by the hand. She jumped in place, nearly falling off the rooftop in fright at the sudden speed from the demon, but the creature reached up with its other arm and stabilized her before she fell. ¡°Thanks.¡± Janette whispered as the demon held her hand loosely in its grip. While the claws interlocked with one another around her hand, she got the distinct feeling that the creature wasn''t trying to hurt her, merely getting her attention. It raised its hand to point at a cobblestone courtyard inside a raised fence holding a manor, isolated within the city. She looked at the large manor, recognizing it as the property of house Brent before the demon released her hand and jumped heavily into the courtyard without waiting for her. Janette found herself pushing off of the nearby building and flying after the creature with little thought to her actions, rushing to catch up with the beast as it ran across the courtyard. She was already halfway across the clearing before the guards around the area started yelling to one another about intruders. She wasn''t sure why she kept running, but when the creature turned around and saw her falling horizontally across the open stone she flashed a thumbs up at the girl. It hardly made sense to her why that mattered to Janette, but it did, and so she kept following, chasing this lunatic across a heavily guarded manor without a care in the world. The demon took a running jump that allowed it to cleanly glide up and on to a second story balcony where it waited for Janette to catch up. When she did catch up, the creature was bent at the waist tinkering with a small lock on the upper story door which eventually clicked and the monster swung the door open without any fanfare as the alarms bellowed in the background. ¡°Uh, I don''t think that-¡± The creature ignored her as it went into the room without stopping to hear her out. Janette took one last glance behind her at the swarming guards before tentatively walking into the dark room. She could always just run away if anything happened. Right? As she walked into the room, she noticed there were two sleeping individuals on the bed, intertwined in one another''s arms and mostly unclothed. Janette averted her gaze quickly, and looked at the demon who stood by the side of the room looking back at her. ¡®Just what does this thing want me here for?¡¯ She thought, but the creature merely pointed sternly at the couple who had still somehow managed not to wake up despite the noise coming in from outside. Janette closed the door behind her quietly just to be safe, and when she turned back around again the demon had crossed the room and grabbed her by the head. She almost screamed, but held the noise back as the creature forced her to look at the sleeping nobles. Huh. One of them almost looked like Lady D''elm. She wondered whether the girl was doing alright after what happened to her date with Penton. Although she seemed to be doing just fine if she was sleeping with a Brent lord right now. Hold on. A Brent Lord? She took a step closer to the couple to get a closer look, and confirmed that they were in fact the people she was thinking of. Vivian Brent was bedding Lady D''elm? And so openly in his own home as well? Janette''s mind flashed to the face of Julius Brent as he had gone out of his way to tell her that he was the mastermind behind the night''s events. An event that was even now causing several ramifications as merchants backed out of trade deals with her father, and their convoys were raided by mysterious unnamed groups. And one of the key players that had led to that fall from grace was the woman laying before her, fucking her way into the great Brent family name. The demon behind her now stepped up and withdrew a basic looking dagger from a hidden sheath beneath its clothes. It hardly seemed to need weapons like that considering its claws, but then the creature extended the dagger out to Janette, handle first. She grabbed onto the weapon out of mere habit more than anything else, then stood there, awkwardly looking between the demon and the dagger. ¡°You want me to kill them?¡± She whispered as they stood over the sleeping couple. The demon nodded eagerly. Janette shook her head, backing up away from the prone couple when a heavy knock came at the door. ¡®BANG, BANG, BANG!¡¯ The door shook in place, causing the sleeping couple to jolt awake and start looking around. It took the sleeping woman less than a second to recognize that two strangers were standing over the bed, and started screaming, causing the man to jump awkwardly out of the bed and look around awkwardly. D''elm caught Janette''s eye in that moment, and the girl noticed a look of recognition in her face as the man merely fled from the room without looking back. As soon as he opened the door a burly man ran in after him towards the dark strangers. Janette looked over at the demon who merely backed up to the edge of the room, blocking the door out to the balcony. Heart pounding in her head as time seemed to slow down around her, she looked back at the oncoming guard who already had his sword out, running across the room. He would cut her down in less than a second, no questions asked. No trial. No chance at explaining herself. She pushed. The dagger in her hand sped away from her and embedded itself straight into the man''s neck. ¡°No!¡± Janette yelled the words, reaching out towards the man even as his run slowed down and he dropped the sword to try clutching at the rapidly bleeding hole in his neck. That dagger wasn''t supposed to be there. It didn''t look right, protruding past the man''s hands like an inappropriate gag at the traveling circus. No, that wasn''t right at all. She pulled the dagger away, causing another spurt of blood to erupt from the man and spray across her clothing. This time he dropped to his knees, still clutching at the hole but with slightly cut hands as well as Janette suddenly held the bloody device back within her hands once again. She looked back up at Lady D''elm who had stopped screaming, and the woman bolted away from the bed as fast as she could. The lady looked downright slow in comparison to the man who had charged Janette, waddling across the room in her naked state towards the door. But she had seen Janette. She would tell on her. She pushed. And the dagger shot out from her hand into the woman''s back. The lady buckled under the weight of the blow, falling down with a half scream as she reached for the doorway. More voices were echoing down the hallway, and Janette looked backward at the demon, only to find the doorway was open to the night''s air once again. ¡°No, no, no, no, no.¡± Janette rushed out of the room onto the balcony, looking around for the demon with frantic eyes, but there was no one there. When the sounds of heavy bootsteps started running into the bedroom behind her, Janette just pushed off against the balcony beneath her, shooting herself out and into the night. She had to hide. She had to run. The demon tricked me. 53 - Well Dressed Aspirations Upon waking up in their normal inn deep within the city of Marketon, Tai seemed somewhat agitated to Charity for some reason that morning. The man obviously didn''t need to sleep, and would often spend entire nights reading books as she slept, but this particular morning she didn''t find him huddled over the desk. Instead, he had been sitting in the chair watching her as she rose, half disheveled in her customary traveling clothes that she wore to bed. The skeleton had refused to answer her questions when she immediately asked what was wrong, merely waving her off and gesturing towards the downstairs common room. When they arrived, Charity ate her customary breakfast, slightly discounted due to their extended stay while Tai continued to refuse to answer her. She would have even said he was being obtuse if his hand hadn''t been tapping away at his half forgotten book sitting on the table. Was he nervous about something? By the time she was halfway finished with her breakfast, it seemed like whatever was occupying his mind had to be released, and he finally opened his book. He flipped through the pages fairly quickly then turned the book around towards her and pointed at some hand written text. ¡°Come with me. I''d like to show you something.¡± It read. Charity looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, a piece of bacon held halfway up to her mouth. Had he really written something out in advance like that? That was strange for him, usually taking the time to write out his thoughts in person. Unless, it might be that he had chosen these words last night? Charity pushed away her food, suddenly not hungry anymore as she tried to consider whatever ¡®place¡¯ Tai must have in mind. ¡°Did you find another cemetery? I thought we got them all already?¡± He shook his head and took her by the hand, pulling her away from the table and heading for the door. Charity hastily pulled down her white mask over her face, not like she could wear it while she was eating, and once they reached the street Tai took somewhat of a more dignified approach as they walked through the city. The man still took a more hurried approach than she typically saw from him, eagerly walking down the busy streets while random people recognized them and waved to the two. Charity returned their waves as she considered the fact that the two of them were starting to get somewhat well known in the town, if not well respected. She''d met nearly everyone here at some point in the last couple weeks, taking her typical door to door approach with recruitment, though they held the ceremonies in the local cemetery instead of the woods. The way she figured it, they might be able to spend a couple more weeks here before their business was better done elsewhere, especially considering their new ties with the underground here. But they would eventually need to move on just the same. When they finally did arrive at their destination, Charity nearly refused to go in. She stopped in the middle of the street as soon as Tai went up to the doorway, eyes drawn to the symbol of a spool and needle emblazoned on the sign. It was only once she noticed she was causing a traffic incident in the road that she got embarrassed enough to move and allowed him to open the door for her into the shop. ¡°Ah, you must be Lady Charity, correct?¡± An old woman asked her from across the counter as Charity entered the room. ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± Charity replied mostly out of stunned habit than anything else. ¡°Oh come now, i''m hardly a lady.¡± The woman chuckled as she got off her seat and shambled around the desk towards Chariry. ¡°But yes, good. You''ve come just in time for your appointment.¡± Charity''s mouth opened dumbly at the words, then turned to Tai who had taken to studying the nearby window like there was something very interesting happening out on the street. ¡°What have you done?¡± She asked him, but like the rest of the morning received no response. ¡°Ohhh? Did he not tell you?¡± The older woman asked, then tsked with her tongue and grabbed Charity by the hand. ¡°Men these days. All manners and no class. Come along dear, let''s make the most of him.¡± Charity allowed herself to be dragged into the back rooms as her glare at the back of Tai''s head was finally disrupted by the wall. The older lady introduced herself as May, then asked Charity to raise her arms slightly as she took several measurements across her body. ¡°Its alright dear, you''re hardly the first girl I''ve seen dragged into my shop without being told beforehand. You know those noblemen have expensive tastes, and they want their women to look the part. Regardless of where you used to be on the social ladder.¡± May told her, continuing her measurements across her hip area now. ¡°You-. You assume I''m not noble as well?¡± Charity asked. May looked her up and down, clad in her customary black robe and mask. ¡°No.¡± It was so matter of fact that Charity let the conversation drop, although she was fairly certain of what was about to happen by the time May started leading her around to several racks of clothing near the back of the store. ¡°So, your little lord over there asked us to make you a ball gown and three different daily-wear dresses, so we''ve got some work to do.¡± Charity felt her anger swell as she heard those words, until the emotion suddenly sizzled out into a haze of emotionless gray. She''d been thinking about this herself after all, and it would likely be to their benefit to blend in a bit better together. It was just the fact he hadn''t told her that he had set this up, that was all. There was still enough of the old her left that she still made a promise at that moment. ¡®I''m gonna get you back for this one day, when you least expect it.¡¯ But her face still had a smile on it when May pulled out a dress from the rack and started holding it up to her body. ¡ª This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Did you really think I wouldn''t notice?¡± Abigail asked the room. Both Charity and Tai sat across from her at the desk, and neither seemed particularly ready to answer this question. ¡°They''re bloody skeletons Tai! You''ve got my market guarded by fucking skeletons!¡± She pointed at an assortment of two skeletal guards near the door of the room, and two rather human guards looking over at them with concerned eyes. ¡°So how the fuck do you think this is gonna work out oh dark, noble, and dapper?" ¡°Have they somehow failed in their job?¡± Charity read Tai''s words as he scribbled. ¡°Yeah? And how long can you keep that up? Can they even fight, or do they just stand their stock still like mannequins?¡± Abigail retorted. Tai considered her for a moment then snapped his gloved fingers. No noise came out from the motion, but the skeletons behind him evidently got the message and slammed their gauntleted hands into the heads of the nearby guards. One fell unconscious immediately, while the other staggered for a second before a second unarmed blow knocked him out. Abigail leapt up from her chair and backed up a couple steps as surprise, fear, and anger flashed across her face all within a couple seconds. ¡°What the fuck?¡± ¡°Seems like they did a fine job to me.¡± Charity didn''t wait to read Tai''s own words, but he seemed to approve. ¡°Are you trying to threaten me?¡± Abigail asked, but didn''t wait for them to respond. ¡°You know what? Fuck you. Get the fuck out of here now, and take your little pets with you.¡± Tai slowly rose from his seat, and Charity followed after him as they walked towards the exit before she stopped. ¡°What about this week''s pay?¡± Charity asked. Abigail glared at her, then opened the top drawer on her desk and pulled out a bag of coins that she tossed to the ground by Charity''s feet. Instead of reaching down for it, she commanded the nearby skeleton to grab it then follow after her as the deathly group left the room. Each room they passed, several more skeletal guards completely covered head to toe in armor started following them, until several dozen followed the pair as they entered the slave trade wing of the black market. ¡°Lord Tai, welcome back to the emporium! Now I''d be willing to sell all of these wares to you at seven silver a head, a special price just for you.¡± A man called out to the two from behind a deep cowled hood. ¡°You''ll sell them all to us at 3 silver a head and count yourself lucky.¡± Charity read. ¡°Uh, but Lord Tai! I couldn''t afford those rates!¡± ¡°We weren''t asking.¡± An unseen command had the nearby skeleton throw the bag of coins into the slave merchant''s hands. The man started sweating profusely as he looked over the large group of close to forty armed guards standing behind Tai and Charity, waiting at their beck and call. ¡°A-as you wish, my Lord.¡± The man said. ¡ª ¡°I''ve really done it now John. It''s all over.¡± Connely walked up to the bar sullenly, then took her favorite seat next to John as she joined the man on the rickety high stools. The two had been drinking together somewhat commonly over the past couple weeks, more out of happenstance rather than any real attempts to plan their daily meetings. It just so happened that they both came down to the room nearly every day, no other reasons. Surely. John''s head was already resting upon his elbows on the top of the bar, eyes somewhat lagging as he stared over at her but not really seeing. ¡°Hey!¡± She punched him in the shoulder, but the man hardly moved. ¡°You''re not allowed to fall asleep until I''m done talking to you first.¡± His eyes widened just enough for Connely to believe that he was still in there. At least for now. She waved over the bartender to get her a round of her favorite, the stiffest drink they had, and settled into her seat. Withdrawing an opened letter from inside of her jacket pocket Connely tossed it onto the table in front of John, sluggishly drawing his eyes over to the new token of interest. ¡°The Monarch is displeased, John, and I don''t entirely know what that means for me. I-. I think he''s going to-.¡± Her heart leapt up into her throat but she somehow couldn''t find the words to finish the sentence. As soon as the shot was placed before her she picked it up and downed it without a second thought, then called for another. She corrected herself a moment later, two, she wanted two more. Might as well not make him go back and forth. John''s eyes continued to follow her from his bent over half-nap. ¡®Sorry sack of a lad. Can''t wait to join him.¡¯ Connely thought to herself, eagerly awaiting the next round. She eyed the letter sitting on the table absentmindedly, thoughts dwelling on the damning words written within the paper folds. Then a hand reached out from behind her to grab the piece of paper, unfurling it before him to read immediately. Connely turned around to reach out for the missive but stopped when she met eyes with Trevor Gant. Those beautiful emerald eyes that seemed to hold all the bounty of a forest canopy within his gaze, staring her down and willing her back into her seat. He whipped the paper to make the page a bit tighter than set his eyes on the page without even talking to Connely. Two shots hit the barside behind her, distracting her enough to pull her gaze off Trevor while he read and she downed the shots with only the smallest of head shakes as the second one went down. She raised up two fingers at the bar-tended once again while Trevor finally began to speak behind her. ¡°Laura. Why have you been hiding this from us?¡± He asked. ¡°I haven''t been hiding anything from you, that letter just came in.¡± She said. ¡°And your first response is to go show your drunk little friend and get wasted at the bar? Your soldiers deserve to know what''s happening!¡± His words bounced off her shoulders as Connely studied the bartender working in front of her instead. She shrugged, ¡°What''s happened has already happened. We can''t change the past.¡± Trevor slammed the paper onto the table, making John jump in his seat a little bit as he continued to merely exist by her side. ¡°Connely. This said our deadline was the solstice. How long did you know in advance?¡± Connely didn''t respond, eyes fixed on two small glasses of distilled nothingness that were coming her way. ¡°You knew for a while didn''t you?¡± Trevor asked. ¡°You knew and you shut down and quit instead of asking us for help.¡± ¡°You wouldn''t have understood. I don¡¯t. I don''t even¡­¡± She stared down at the twin vials of clear liquid in front of her, thoughts fogging in her mind. ¡°You quit on us Connely, plain and simple. And now you''re quitting on us again.¡± He waved between her, the drinks, and John, then let his arms slump to his sides with the letter still in his hand. He looked down at the letter for a moment before continuing as Connely took her newest shots, seemingly unphased by his barbs. ¡°Major Connely. Due to gross negligence in the command of your troops, I relieve you of your position by the authority of the Monarch until due process can be followed in the Golden Kingdom.¡± She didn''t respond, but held up two fingers above her as she allowed her head to collapse onto her elbows on the bar. ¡°I''m going to go tell the soldiers Connely. Try not to kill yourself.¡± He said quietly and left the room with two drunkards leaned over the bar like they hadn''t a care in the world. Connely looked over at John and met his barely focused eyes as he looked back at her. Two more shots of pure void were placed down beside her, an invitation to whatever cold dark place John was waiting for her in. A place where she wouldn''t be able to tell that the magic had already left her soul long before that last letter was finally delivered to her.