by Matt Dawson
Contents
Title
Blurb
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Patreon
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HERETIC’S REIGN
A NOVUM SOLIS TALE
MATT DAWSON
Blurb
The Stakes Reach Their Melting Point.
Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, a fact too familiar to the countryside priestess turned hunter Leiel. When she accepts an invitation from the council of elders responsible for upholding order in these times of overwhelming darkness, Leiel comes to question if she has become the kind of horror that she set out to hunt in the first place. Can she retain what little humanity she has, or will she succumb to the secrets she bears?
The Machined Hearts serial is an Epic Sci-Fan set in the Novum Solis universe, following the exploits of the Hunter-Priestess Leiel de Soleil.
For Mom.
Chapter 1
“Are you Lady Leiel de Soleil?” the courier asked.
The group at the large round table fell silent and turned towards him in unison. The inn’s dining room was lit only by a roaring fire in the hearth. Its glow made Leiel’s eyes sparkle an intense forest green. Her blond hair appeared to dance in the light. Her otherwise white tunic and pants reflected the colors of the fire.
The courier had a strange air about him. He was afflicted, she was certain of it. She had seen it many times, but the nature of his specific disease seemed different, in a way. This sickness he had seemed to have been taken on, be it willingly or not, rather than having been caught. “I am.” she said, the room now dead silent, all eyes on the courier.
The courier took care to turn his head slightly to each side, his wide eyes and mild smile washed away having come to the realization that he had the exclusive attention of the entire room. He swallowed hard as he drew a letter from his pouch and offered it out in front of him, arm bobbing and shaking as he did. Everyone aside from Leiel at the table straightened as the courier ducked his hand into the pouch. The group grasped their weapons, ready but waiting. The room’s overall posture improved the second his bag strap loosened. Leiel tilted her head to the side at the boy’s nervousness, unsure as to why the courier had suddenly become so nervous.
She took the letter from him. “T…the Holy Council of Land, Sea, and Sky sends you their regards, and has a request of you.”
Leiel slid her nail underneath the wax seal and it popped up cleanly from the paper. She carefully unfolded the letter and looked at it for a split second, blinked, and turned her gaze back to the courier.
“I accept.”
The courier blinked at her for a moment.“I…if you aren’t able to read the letter, I’ve been authorized to dictate it…”
“No,” she cut him off, ”I have read it. The Council requests I appear before their summons and submit a verbal report on my activities as a hunter thus far. I accept.” she refolded the letter as it was and placed it in the square pouch at her hip.
The courier’s head darted back a short distance.
“Understood, I’ll inform them of your response immediately.” the courier carefully backed away from the table, then out of the inn, stumbling and almost falling over a stray chair in the process.
The sound of the door smacking against the frame triggered the rumble and roar of conversation again. Slouching resumed. Feet kicked up. Leiel retained her slight smile, nodding and conversing. But something was amiss. Leiel pondered the way the courier reacted to her reading the letter, did she do something wrong? Was it discourteous to read the letter here at the table, maybe? She wasn’t sure, but the conversation and friendly atmosphere washed away the intrusive thoughts as the afternoon turned to evening.
Leiel found herself overflowing with companions. It wasn’t often she traveled with so many. With Fox and Hawk Company a band of renowned mercenaries, as well as the Myrmidon, a wandering band of heavy infantry in tow, the inn was overflowing with everyone there at once, most had to camp outside. Even if they did dry out the bar, it was a welcome bit of reprieve. With such a large group, it was standard for them to have rolling watch. There were hard lessons learned thinking there aren’t young upstarts with something to prove or rear generals looking for a quick promotion. Either way, it was safer, for everyone involved, to keep an eye out.
Leiel looked out over the rolling plains, the sun having just retreated beyond the horizon, its orange and purple hues casting onto the thick cloud ceiling in the distance.
One of the Rangers on guard shook his head. “Bloody ‘ell ‘ope it ain’ gun rain t’noit.”
“Probably won’t rain, those clouds are far off.” His companion said.
Leiel looked over the cloud cover, holding up a finger on the wind, “It is very likely going to precipitate, but not for very long.”
Hours later, the two moons dancing about each other, one lime green, the other deep orange, had spun themselves behind thick cloud cover. Large spatters of water pounded down. The two Rangers were pacing around while on watch. One of them crossed close to Leiel, “Ye ‘ad to say it ‘as gun rain din’ ye?” Leiel laughed and shrugged, large droplets exploding off her pauldrons, sending jets of water shooting off in every direction.
“You two go get dry for a while, I think I can hold out against this.” Leiel gestured towards the inn.
Not long after the two closed the door, the rain stopped and Leiel was left with the chirping of cicada and her thoughts. She continued to scan the horizon. She wondered what the council wanted with her. Perhaps they wanted a report on the plague she was fighting. She had heard reports of a symbiotic variant of the parasite that caused the sickness, maybe they found the cause of this? She stood, scanning her surroundings while she thought.
It didn’t seem very long until the sun crept up behind her. With it came three morning drunkards stumbling over the small foothill, eager to get the morning started right. They stumbled into the building with determination. They staggered out, stunned from the sun beating straight in their face, leaving grumbling. Probably still all dried up.
“What the hell are we supposed to do now?” the first one asked, stumbling over to a massive sword sticking out of the ground.
The blade came up to about his chest, and was just about as wide as he was. In its cross guard was a sunken gemstone. The drunk gave it a swift kick. It didn’t budge. The pain sent him hopping. He limped around trying to walk it off. Leiel kept an ear on the commotion as she continued to keep watch.
“Damn thing!” Another in the group of drunks shouted, trying his hardest to yank it out. He tugged violently, struggling to make any headway with moving the giant piece of metal.
The second and third jumped in soon after. The grip was long enough to contain all six hands at once. Even with three of them straining, the blade wouldn’t budge. Leiel was worried they’d hurt themselves even more than they already had.
“Excuse me.” she said to the three, all of whom found her a reasonable excuse to give up.
“What is it?” the first drunkard said, out of breath.
“It’s not nice to abuse the property of others.” With one hand, she yanked the sword out of the ground and whipped it around behind her. The blade was as wide as she was, and just a bit longer. Beneath her cape was a hook and clip. She hung it on the hook, and snapped it into the clip, securing the bulk of metal to her body. The first drunk clicked his cheek at her. He sized up Leiel, who just barely came up to his chest.
“We just loosened it up for you, was about to fall out anyways.” The first drunk walked off, the sec
ond in tow.
“Freak.” The third said over his shoulder as he fell in line with the other two.
Leiel couldn’t help but to wonder what their problem was. She was just making sure they didn’t get hurt. She thought back to the courier’s reaction. First his strange reaction, now these two causing trouble with her for no good reason.
“I want Fox and Hawk front and center!” Acara boomed as she emerged from the inn. Leiel snapped out from her pondering.
“Myrmidon form up!” Rex shouted as he squeezed out the front door.
Matas stumbled out from the inn, desperately trying to shield his already masked face from the radiance of the sun. Leiel walked over, unclasping her sword and holding it flat end up like an umbrella over his head. His thumb raised with a gentle ascent into the air. He tried to keep himself as upright as much as he could beneath the shade. It wasn’t long after all of the shouting that the cohorts were formed. Leiel bid farewell and made for the holy fortress to which she had been summoned.
It was about a day’s hike before Leiel set eyes upon the fortress. Nestled atop a small bluff with only one man-made approach, the tall stone brick walls were multiple layers thick, with massive towers on each corner. Below, the bluff was surrounded by a man-made moat, filled in by the sea, the shore not being very far away.
The impregnable fortress of the Senatus Pontificate of Land, Sea, and Sky was the seat of power for a religious council that acted as a neutral party to broker peace between nations. They offered aid to nations besieged by Esperitus, the ethereal otherworldly creatures entirely invisible to humans. They would possess the living in order to consume their souls and bodies, to gain access to the corporeal world. Leiel took a vow to hunt the monsters, wherever they showed themselves.
A man was already hailing the guards when she approached the gate. At the sound of her footsteps, he gave a brief glance, turning back to the opening gate, then whipped around again to look back to Leiel with wide eyes. It was the courier from before. She greeted him with a delicate raise of her hand. She couldn’t help but to notice the strangeness of how the courier reacted around her. Was he just normally awkward? Was it something she did to set him off? For some reason, it was his candidness that gave her pause.
“Halt! Make yourself known!” The gate guard challenged from atop the tower.
The rising portcullis came to a halt.
Chapter 2
The courier whipped around and raised his hands.
“She’s with me, the council has sent her summons!” The courier shouted back.
The guard stood in silence for a moment, taking in the scene. He turned to the soldiers on the wooden gear and with a flick of the wrist, signaled to continue. The gate lurched into motion again, slowly rising. About halfway up, it became evident that the portcullis was double-sided. Two thick, slotted iron gates climbing in unison. Just over the halfway point, the movement ceased. The courier turned back at Leiel and nodded, then proceeded over the already extended wooden drawbridge and into the courtyard interior.
The courtyard was mostly empty. An area of flat hewn red, gray, and seneca stone. Leiel surmised it was one of utility, a way for guards to move between the towers and the central fortress en masse.
Soon after she crossed the portcullis threshold a wave of unease washed over her. She had a hard time pinpointing exactly what was causing the feeling, as if her thoughts were also fogged. The dim realization added to her growing unease.
Guards stopped what they were doing to stare as she walked by. Clergy and administrators alike as well, found nothing more important but to cast their gaze upon her. Most looked on with focus, their unblinking sight locked onto her.
As both her and the courier crossed into the main hall of the fortress interior, the interior took Leiel off-guard. Not a single religious adornment to be seen. In fact, there wasn’t even much furniture to be found. Two tables with lit candles that had melted themselves into a small pile. Above, a chandelier that was mostly unlit, only three of the twelve candles were even burning.
Leiel was careful to take note of those who were paying attention to her. That is to say, she carefully inspected each person, twenty six in all. She gave each person staring at her a gentle nod, but none of them offered a response. She adjusted her collar, and kept her slight smile, despite her discomfort reaching new heights.
Just beyond the entryway, in front of the massive stone spiral staircase that hugged the central tower, a small group of soldiers had formed up, blocking the way. They were outfitted much different from the rest of the guard, breastplates made from a yellowish metal, brass or something similar. They wore dark brown leathers beneath, with bracers made of the same metal, and red bandanas tilted and hanging in front of their left shoulder. The two continued towards the stairwell until the soldier in the front held out his hand.
“Weapons are not permitted in the cloister interior, and certainly not on house grounds. Please surrender yours immediately.”
Leiel blinked for a moment and looked down at his hip, failing to find a weapon. She looked at the others in turn and sure enough, not a one of them had a weapon. She unhooked her sword, holding it by the guard and resting it on the very tip of the blade. “Perhaps it would be wise if you escorted…”
“No exceptions.” The guard interrupted with a shake of his head, hand bobbing.
She shrugged, raising her eyebrows as she tilted the hilt towards him, and let it go. Leiel was never really sure what people thought what a mass of metal would do the second they got their hands on it.
The sword fell. The soldier caught it, rolling it under his shoulder, and hoisting it up. Leiel turned her head towards him, then lifted her head up, giving him her full attention. She hadn’t expected the soldier to even withstand it toppling over, never mind lifting it off the ground. The overwhelming sense of impending danger heightened.
The soldier carried her weapon off. The crowd of soldiers blocking their path parted just enough to get through. The courier sheepishly cut ahead, squeezing in between the soldiers and Leiel. The two moved into the center of the hall. Just clearing the cohort of soldiers, the courier turned to Leiel, “I’ll announce your arrival, please wait here,” and dashed up the spiral staircase.
His footsteps echoed throughout the hall as his pace quickened even more with ascent. Leiel stared at him wrapping around as he climbed. She turned around to look back to the soldiers to find they were still staring at her. On the outer rim of the stone block chamber, beneath the winding staircase, a lone bench was hidden in shadow. She looked up again. With the courier having disappeared from view and the soldiers still staring her down, she took it upon herself to retreat to the bench, the lack of weight on her back replaced with a similar weight on her shoulders.
She sat, staring forward in silence, trying not to pay any mind to the overwhelming attention she continued to receive from across the room. Her focus was broken by the creek of the bench. She whipped her head around to find a small boy climbing up and sitting down next to her. He looked frail, at least what shown from his loose-fitting shirt and oversized pant shorts. His skin was a pale white. His dirty-dishwater blond hair was matted and tangled. He seemed to ignore her presence, and to that point, most of his surroundings. His eyes darted about, his attention focusing on things that clearly weren’t in the room.
Leiel traced his line of sight as it moved around, finding only open floor, or bare walls. His expression changed each time his attention wavered. He’d go from content to distraught to enamored, and everywhere in between. His face turned to panic, and Leiel became concerned.
“Is everything alright?” she asked him in a quiet, dispassionate voice.
He looked up at her for a moment, his eyelids fluttering before taking in his surroundings. He was out of breath, and somehow became even more pale than when he had first shown up upon seeing Leiel. His mouth opened slightly and he began to tremble after focusing on her. Leiel cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out what
had gotten him so spooked upon seeing her. She turned back to the soldiers, whom had mostly lost interest in her and began conversing amongst themselves, their dull chatter bouncing off the walls. She turned back to the child, still quivering, his attention given in its entirety to her. She folded her hands in her lap and relaxed a little.
“My name is Leiel, what’s yours?”
He didn’t respond, sitting there shaking in silence. She wiggled her nose, turning back to look at the staircase, expecting the courier.
“Gessich,” the sound almost inaudible.
A smile shot up on her face, as she continued to stare ahead. “It is a very nice name, Gessich.” She looked at him again.
His face relaxed just a little, eyes narrowed and started to blink again, mouth closing, breath slowing.
“T…thank you.” his gaze broke away from her, towards the ground.
She turned her attention away from him, looking up at the high walls, to the ceiling of the entryway, and then at the staircase. She had wanted to give him time to calm down. From his stomach came a rumble that nearly shook the bench. Leiel sat, eyes forward, wide-eyed. She turned, and from a hard leather square box on her belt, produced a biscuit wrapped in cloth, presenting it to him in her open palm.
