by Elian Tars
I cried, but my voice sounded muffled, as if coming from behind a closed door.
Everything was gone: vision, smell, hearing... Even the sense of energy. But the pain seemed sharper than ever. I knew for sure that a big lump of flesh had been ripped out from my left side together with my ribs and innards. Both my hands and legs were pierced with fangs. I was being lifted into the air.
Suddenly, the pain faded and my vision got darker. Had my Small Avatar reacted, forming a shield? I was still feeling the poison, but it wasn’t as strong anymore. The world was now gray-black and I could see only big objects, but at least I saw them clearly.
I glanced at my torn side. The wound was filled with billowing black smoke that was sprouting out of me like phantom limbs. Four Serpents were holding my arms and legs and the fifth, the one that had bitten off a part of me, was about to attack me again.
The perception of my own energy had partly returned. In a flash, I gathered all my strength and managed to create a fat worm with a big mouth out of the black smoke. It sprouted out of my chest and snatched the Serpent’s neck, chopping its head off. Then it disappeared.
I cried out in pain. The other four Serpents began to pull my limbs in different directions. Meanwhile, the giant muzzle of the big Serpent was coming for me. A little bit more and that disgusting mouth would either swallow me whole or chomp me in half.
Luckily, I still had an ace up my sleeve.
Elusive Darkness.
Chapter 22
The Battlefront
“You did great, boy,” the Old Man drawled as soon as I appeared in the Darkness.
“It would’ve been great had I defeated the Serpent,” I answered ruefully. “We could say that it went ‘fine.’ ”
“I like your purposefulness and your will to win, boy,” the Old Man said in his most serious tone of voice. “But don’t forget that you’ve fought a creature who’s stronger than most of the Gods and lived to tell the tale. Even with all your skills and the Amulet, you can’t equal a God yet. So, be proud of what you’ve achieved today.”
“I will,” I muttered, gradually recovering from the tough battle. Though I had no body in this place, I still felt incredibly tired.
“Yes, you’ll become even stronger,” he said, peeking into my thoughts. “Being proud of your achievements doesn’t mean you should stop your development.”
“I understand.” I would’ve nodded pompously had I had a body. “Tell me, have you found out anything about the Serpent? You’ve watched our fight, haven’t you?”
The Old Man didn’t answer immediately. It felt weird to wait for his answer in absolute Darkness and complete silence, having no body or sense of its position in the space around me, but at the same time having a system message looming somewhere in my mind.
Choose your designated resurrection point:
Athefeh’s Gravestone
The Shard of Zira’s Gravestone
The Shard of Sherr’s Gravestone
The Shard of Bart’s Gravestone
The Shard of Mary’s Gravestone
“Looking” at the list of my resurrection points, I remembered that two of them used to be called Listeri Cemetery and Ilsa’s Lodge before. They were geographical names, so to say, but now they bore the names of those in whose honor the gravestone had been created. Apparently, such difference was caused by the fact that my first two resurrection points, destroyed by Aerida and Ilsa, were stationary. And now they became portable.
“I did, boy,” the God of Darkness finally said. “Just like you, I’ve noticed that some of the Serpent’s skills had a greenish hue.”
“Just like Biergein,” I continued our common thought. “Is it madness?”
“Maybe. But the Serpent is not mad. It and its skills are a mystery to us. The only thing I can tell for sure is that I doubt that it’s our enemy.”
“But it’s not a friend either. Can we think of it as a separated force? Is it all by itself?”
“I suppose it is, boy. Let’s leave this problem for later. You won’t be able to defeat it now. And I’m not sure if we can win with me fighting side by side with you.”
“Because we share one power,” I chuckled. “But if someone else was with us, like Noriduel, Biergein or Rugus...?”
“A battle like that isn’t going happen until we restore the Zurtarn. I’ve told you that. You did your job. Thanks to you, I got at least a rough picture of what the Serpent is capable of, what to expect from it and what to prepare for. And that’s enough. We don’t care about the Serpent at the moment. There are more important matters to attend to. Go to Disciple Berg. Our congregation shouldn’t be left without its Senior Disciple. And it’ll be better if it’s you who does business with our allies. Good luck, boy,” he said and then fell silent. Realizing that the conversation was actually over, I said loudly (if such a word was appropriate for someone who had no mouth at the moment):
“Athepheh’s Gravestone.”
A couple of seconds later, I was standing in the center of a big tent, looking at Berg who was holding his wife’s gravestone in his outstretched hand. After I appeared, he hid it in his inventory.
“Good to see you,” he said with a half-smile and held out his hand.
“You too, buddy,” I replied, returning the handshake and hugging him. “I see you’ve been waiting for me?”
“The God of Darkness told me that you’d come, so I prepared.” He took a step back, pointing at a small table with a jug of wine, some cheese, cured meat and — Heavens be praised — fresh bread and some bright dried fruit.
“I rate it with a solid B-,” I chuckled.
“Meaning?” Berg didn’t understand me.
“If you want an A, have a hot meal ready next time.” I smiled broadly. “If you only knew how sick I am of field rations...”
Berg nodded. “Oh, I know. We’re not in a palace, you know?”
“Okay, relax! I was joking,” I patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s make ourselves comfortable, shall we? How’re you doing? And where are we? What is this tent?” I looked around the place, a double-bed catching my attention. I could’ve been wrong, but it looked like a wagon’s base covered with a mattress and blankets. It looked crude, but tempting to my aching body and mind — it’d be wonderful to lie down and take a nap.
“It’s your tent,” Berg answered calmly. “Though, while you were absent, Mara and Kane lived here.”
“Lived? You’re on the road?” We finally sat at the table and I filled two goblets with wine. We clanked them and drank. Berg began to tell me how they spent the last couple of days.
In short, they lived on the road setting up camps for the night. Yesterday, they finally caught up to the duke’s army and even took part in a small battle. Now they stopped in order to prepare for the assault of Beldera — the citadel of its count.
“The dukes seized several small castles on the way, and all that’s left to do now is to deal with the count,” Berg said. “After we defeat him and take the citadel, the road to Longera will be open.”
“I take it there was no roundabout way?” I asked, taking a bite of a long, orange fruit. According to the archer, many of our people liked these sweets, given to us from the personal supplies of the Al-Harumers. Once this is all over, if we are still alive and relatively happy, we should organize trade with Ishiria.
“There was. But if we had taken it, we would’ve been attacked from the rear.”
“How serious is this assault expected to be?”
“Pretty serious, but manageable enough. As we expected, the king hasn’t rushed to save his Free County, preferring to fortify the capital.”
“Free County” — the name always seemed to me to be too ironic for Beldera. Who was it free from? Only from the dukes ― the count was directly subjected to the king. Moreover, the capital was on the territory of his duchy, which made the Free County the most dependable and weak-willed vassal. Though, it had its advantages, but they were revealed only during a time of peace, but during
war... I supposed that in such moments the count of Beldera wished his county to be a part of some duchy and not so different from the other counties.
“So, it means that we don’t only have to win, but also minimize our losses,” I stated, and then said something even more obvious. “Though we always should strive for that.”
“Not all commanders think the same,” someone said indifferently from outside the tent. I turned around and saw the tarp go up as Kane and Mara walked in.
“Hey, traveler!” Mara waved. “You’re pretty well lodged here, huh? We’re gathering dust from the road, and you’re just teleporting!”
I stood up, not even trying to hide my smile, shook Kane’s hand, and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. Then I stopped in front of Mara, who chuckled and hugged me tightly.
“Just don’t touch my ass, or Kane will hit you in the face! Like he did to that merchant!” she teased, remembering Tayon who was a bit too eager to find out Kane’s secret of creating Wights.
The necromancer didn’t answer, just shook his head. Then he moved two chairs to the table and sat in one of them.
“Did you prepare the chairs as well?” I asked Berg when all four of us took our places at the table.
“No. We planned to put four of them in this tent from the very beginning. In case our commander decides to hold a meeting,” he explained calmly.
“Speaking about that... Commander,” Mara said, filling the goblets with wine. Though zombies ate only raw meat, a little wine did them no harm. “Do we have to leave it?” she asked plaintively. “Share the tents with common soldiers? Hide in the forests to spend some time alone?”
“Hey!” Kane glanced sideways at her with displeasure and then shifted his gaze to me. He, too, didn’t seem eager to give up the cozy tent and privacy. I wondered if common soldiers had mixed tents. There were women among our fighters and Zurtein was a pretty liberal place. However, some people, like the Followers of Noriduel, were a bit too free with their behavior...
The other issue was that Kane was an officer of the highest rank and that Mara was a zombie.
Well, they had already made themselves at home here...
“You can stay,” I said, letting out a tired sigh. “You’re a real go-getter,” I looked at Mara, “but I think it’ll be easier for me to find a new tent than it’d be for you.”
“You won’t have to look for anything anyway, my dearest husband,” Tiara appeared as unexpectedly as the duo did, but entered much more majestically. Our eyes met. She smiled fondly and said: “I’m happy to see you. So very much.”
“Me too,” I said, standing up again. Not ashamed of showing her affection in public, Tiara walked over to me and hugged me fervently.
“Excuse me, Lady Tiara,” Berg intervened, sounding a little embarrassed, “sorry for interrupting you at such a moment, but how did they let you in? I didn’t think you’d find out about Ken’s return immediately, so I ordered the guards not to let anyone in, except for the Disciples of the God of Darkness.”
The worry in his voice made me feel uneasy. Knowing what Tiara was capable of, I dreaded to imagine what had happened to the guards.
Glancing at the archer, Tiara chuckled.
“You know I never go anywhere without guards these days. By the way, there’s going to be a fight outside, if no one hurries to stop it.”
Berg turned pale and ran out of the tent. Tiara took me by the hand and led me to the table. Not caring about manners, she occupied Berg’s chair and moved it close to mine.
Sitting beside me and looking at me warmly, she held my hand. All the while, Mara and Kane were looking at her with curiosity.
“Tell me, Lady Tiara,” Mara said, unable to stand the sight any longer, “how have you found out that he’s back? Even our officers don’t know about it yet.”
I knew that because of the unfinished ritual Tiara always felt my location, but other people didn’t know about our little secret, so they busted their brains over it. I supposed that the duo knew about my return thanks to their ability to feel energy. I doubted that the Old Man or Berg (who obviously found out about my arrival from him) had told them beforehand, as they would’ve welcomed me together with the archer. They probably suspected Tiara of having the same ability. It must be really worrying to meet someone like you for the first time...
“Oh, honey,” she smiled sweetly. “It’s natural for a woman to sense the return of her husband. Is it different with you?” she asked, pretending to be surprised.
I covered my eyes and shook my head. I knew that Tiara couldn’t avoid teasing or giving any different reply because she had to keep her secret, but her answer only made things worse.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, not wanting to make a fuss over such a trivial thing. “Tiara can feel only me. That’s all there is to it.”
Having returned and saw that his seat was taken, Berg peeked out of the tent and ordered one of the guards to get him another chair.
Soon enough, there were five of us sitting at the table.
And still the atmosphere was... tense. It was one thing to discuss something among our people (Mara and Kane were basically two sides of the same coin), and quite a different thing to do so in the presence of one of Mavia’s Disciples. Yes, she and her Followers were our allies at the moment. Yes, Tiara was my wife. But no one present at the table was a fool. We were all aware of the fact that the alliance was temporary. Not to mention that they thought that my marriage was pretty suspicious.
Tiara, in her turn, was aware of her position in our current company, and could guess that the Old Man’s Disciples wouldn’t risk discussing some topics in her presence. So, she took the matter into her pretty little hands.
“My dearest husband, have they informed you about the current state of things?”
I nodded.
“Good. While you were busy with other things, we’ve been doing everything we could,” she said without a hint of irony and told me that the two armies had swept through the lands of the Beldera County with fire and sword. I didn’t learn anything new — our warriors hadn’t met any decent resistance yet. But what stuck out the most was the tone of Tiara’s voice — I felt like she was talking to me like a subordinate to their boss. This way, she showed the others that she was here as my faithful wife, and not as the daughter of the duke of Urhon or as the Disciple of Mavia. Though, I supposed that she wanted to show that to me more than to anyone else. There was a chance that she was earnest in her actions. A slim chance. But a chance nonetheless.
Whatever her motives, I decided not to act grumpy and rewarded her efforts.
“You did well. As it was to be expected, the dukes are doing great even without me. But only because you’re looking after them,” I said, flattering her. She smiled sweetly. “As for me, I have had a very interesting journey...”
Without going into unnecessary details, such as the energy source and the Ancients, I told them about our trip to the Ogroids. There was no point in hiding such things from my brothers and sisters in faith, and as for Tiara... Well, Una and Rugus knew that we had been there. Why not let Tiara and Mavia know, too?
Chapter 23
Fame
Mara sighed and drank half of her goblet in one gulp. “Still, it’s not fair! We’re marching our pretty little feet off, and he’s off playing hero!”
Berg nodded a couple of times in agreement. Even Kane gave a slight smirk. I supposed that that was how he expressed envy.
“I risked my life there,” I reminded her.
She nodded. “Still! You were out there, exploring new places and meeting new people! We’re just marching and marching...”
This wasn’t the first time Mara brought this up. The march seemed to be really exhausting for her.
“Everyone contributes in their own way,” Tiara said and raised her forefinger, “and every contribution is valuable. There is, however, a rather important matter we need to discuss, my dearest husband.” She shifted her gaze to me. “Y
ou said that there was only one representative of our race in that bunch of non-humans...” She grimaced. “...Rugus’s Disciple, Una?”
“Do you know her?”
“I had the misfortune of meeting her,” Tiara said and looked around the room. “Do you have more wine?”
“I’ll go get some, Lady Tiara,” Mara replied at once, jumping up from her seat and going to the chest that was near the bed. The mischievous grin wasn’t leaving her face. Tiara’s reaction seemed to amuse her.
“I suppose that it’s not a secret that you two aren’t on the best of terms?” I asked calmly when Mara returned with the bottle and began to fill our goblets.
“It’s the feudal lords on the border who aren’t on the best of terms with the Great Steppe tribes,” she replied. “That arrogant woman and I are on strictly business terms.” She then looked at me and asked without pardon or embarrassment: “What about you?”
I saw this question coming as I had mentioned Una and Rugus on purpose. It would’ve been strange to hide that another person could track me down. I also wanted Mavia to hear that Rugus had helped us save Biergein from madness. And thirdly, I was really afraid that Una and Tiara would do something stupid because of me. My ego wasn’t inflated enough to think that the two would fight over my affection. Rather, I was afraid that they’d use me for their own goals. I wasn’t going to give them such an opportunity.
“We saved each other’s lives,” I said sternly, leaving no room for speculation. “So you can say that we’re friends. Just that.”
Tiara smiled. “I understand. It’s obvious that that’s all there is to it.”
The gleam in her eyes implied that should there ever be anything more to it, Rugus would have one less Disciple.
If only she knew that Una is a Gleam...
“All right, enough about that.” I waved my hand, hurrying to change the topic. “There’s something else I wanted to tell you... About an hour ago, I fought the Black Sea Serpent.”
