XXXIV

  Enemy Movement

  A commotion outside his sleeping quarters woke Levi up early in the morning. It’s not what he wanted since he stayed up all night, but the issue at hand wiped all resentment from his mind.

  Leah was missing.

  The party’s first intuition was, of course, she had left on Sepharin’s orders.

  ‘I can assure you I ordered no such thing,’ Sepharin said, using Durak as a vessel and addressing the gathered members in the main hall of Winterforge.

  ‘And we can assure you, Warden,’ Eirwen said, ‘our guards have seen neither hide nor hair of her. Could she have left of her own volition?’

  ‘She is here upon the honour of her master’s name,’ his sister said. ‘Leah breaking it is terribly unlikely.’

  ‘But not impossible?’ Eirwen said.

  Sepharin paused. ‘No.’

  The room looked at each other.

  ‘Whatever the case, Warden,’ Chief Arnok said, ‘you have our co-operation.’

  ‘My thanks, Chief Arnok,’ Sepharin said.

  The conversation turned to specifics after that. Where to search first? How to search? Sepharin had checked in with her dead around midnight and had not been able to find Leah. But Jaeger’s party returned before the gates closed at ten, which meant Leah had vanished within the span of around five hours.

  Levi frowned. That was well and all, but it didn’t solve how she travelled. There were no roads out of Winterforge—no, not true.

  ‘Could a mage sense the layout of the bridge?’ Levi asked Nerya.

  The two of them were sitting on the bench near the main square.

  ‘Can you not mention that in public?’ she said. ‘My father will kill me if he hears I told you.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  Nerya sighed and was silent for a moment. ‘It’s possible. The material we used, though it absorbs light and carries little mana, can be sensed. But it would require the skill of a master magician. I cannot sense it myself.’

  Well, Leah was the strongest mage Levi had met outside of Xun. He wouldn’t put it above her. The question then remained: Where did she go? Sepharin could apparently perceive her undead over a large distance, and Leah had carried a crystal with her. Yet Sepharin still couldn’t sense her. That’s why many were buying into the believe that Leah left on her own, discarding Sepharin’s undead so she couldn’t be tracked. Because, what was the other option? A mage of her calibre was abducted at night in the middle of a cordoned-off village with no one hearing anything? It was absurd to even consider.

  ‘Varrick will find her should she be near the mountains,’ Nerya assured him, ‘He’s the best hunter in Winterforge. My golems will be helping too.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Levi said, feeling quite useless.

  None of his skills involved finding people, so he was forced to sit quietly and wait until news arrived. In the meantime, all he could do was pray for her.

  Two days went by without any sign of Leah. I had created another squire, who I used to carry orders to the castle lords. The missive carried but two sentences: “Stay vigilant. Demons are on the horizon.” Which was most of what I knew.

  Staring into my crystal ball, I asked Xun if he knew any magus named Moonwalker, though I suspected it was an alias. His response confirmed such, and our conversation turned to a more dire subject.

  ‘She’s alive, though wounded,’ Xun said. He held a charm aloft that I assumed was linked to Leah’s vital signs.

  ‘That’s good to hear,’ I said. ‘Any idea where she is?’

  ‘The charm doesn’t transfer location data.’ He rubbed his clean-shaven chin. ‘That might be a good feature to work into the next one I make.’

  ‘You don’t seem overly concerned,’ I said.

  He shrugged. ‘She’ll make it out of whatever mess she’s in. If not, she has her big protector to save her, doesn’t she?’

  I chuckled and shook my head. There was hands-off, and then there was this.

  ‘Did you find the mention in the book?’ I said.

  He lifted a red leather tome. From the title it was about fables.

  I blinked and opened my mouth, but he held up a hand to stop me. ‘Not the best source, I know. But myths can contain truths. And this one has credence to it.’

  So I listened.

  ‘The fable is called Yhorm the Giant,’ he said. ‘It tells the tale of a giant spurned by his kinsmen. He stumbles upon a mountain, where he finds a chamber to call home and tries to make contact with the local human settlement.’

  My brow raised. ‘That’s quite relevant.’

  ‘Right? There’s more. Though the mountain is never named, it’s described as being “on the west-end of a terribly cold region”.’

  ‘That narrows it down quite cleanly,’ I said.

  The magus smiled, giving me the impression he hadn’t understood the sarcasm.

  ‘The chamber lacked any housing necessary for a giant,’ I said.

  ‘That’s because it’s a natural formation, unless your theory on blood being the key is correct.’

  I had planned on confirming it this morning by sending Leah up there.

  ‘You think it’s one of the other chambers?’ I said.

  ‘Possible yet unlikely.’

  My head tilted.

  ‘My story wasn’t finished,’ he said. ‘Yhorm approaches the villagers, who are understandably scared. His appearance caused a commotion and during the chaos, one of the villagers dies in an accident. As a result, the villagers launch a crusade and chase Yhorm all the way to his new home, where they corner him. But Yhorm manages to escape. And no matter how hard the villagers search afterwards, they never laid eyes on him again. Though many remained convinced the giant was still on the mountain.’

  ‘So how does he escape the chamber?’ I said.

  ‘Guess,’ he said. ‘There’s a single exit out, like with the one you found.’

  I gave it the most cursory thought. ‘He knew an invisibility spell.’

  ‘Boo! Wrong!’ He gave me a thumbs down. ‘The answer is: tunnels!’

  ‘Tunnels?’

  ‘Giants, it turns out,’ he said, ‘enjoy living underground more than on the surface. There is a real world example of this with the Yhormite tribe located in an underground network of caves a few centuries ago.’

  Now, I considered the matter more deeply. Tunnels…it made sense. I had travelled through a waterway not even a day ago. It also explained why I couldn’t locate Leah. If she took a tunnel far underground, my network wouldn’t reach her. I had almost lost command of Wraith in the same manner.

  That didn’t explain how Leah had made it off the island that was Winterforge, but it was a start.

  ‘And that,’ Xun said smugly, ‘is why fables never get old. Stay reading, children.’

  I huffed and put down the crystal. ‘Your aid is appreciated, Master Xun. Should I need any more aid, I will call you.’

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said easily. But the next moment his gaze and tone lowered. ‘Please do find my cute student. I would be loathe to lose her.’

  ‘I will.’

  The crystal went dark.

  Tunnels, I repeated, gazing out the window towards Winterforge.

  I wasted no time and told Winterforge of my suspicions.

  ‘Though I’m certain your magus is a reputable man, Warden,’ Chief Arnok said, keeping a smile off his face, ‘his sources are not. There are no tunnels in or near Winterforge. Even if there were—’

  ‘She couldn’t have made it off the island,’ I said. ‘I know, Chief Arnok. Yet I question it. Have any of your hunters ever investigated the possibility?’

  ‘We live and breathe the earth, Your Excellency,’ Eirwen said, sitting primly, her hands folded on her lap as if she had practised the position since she was born.

  My gaze traversed the room, and I saw that my own party members were also not taking the possibility seriously.

  I rested my head on my hands. ‘We search for tunnels.’

  It mattered not what they thought. The tunnels were the most likely explanation after Leah leaving on her own, and so we would search for them.

  ‘Are we to use our golems for this, Your Excellency?’ Eirwen said. ‘That will draw them away from other work.’

  ‘We’ll deduct the work costs from our open transaction,’ I said. ‘Miranda, Diego, and Levi will discuss the exact terms with you.’

  The former Black Heart negotiator had arrived in Winterforge this morning, carried by my squire.

  ‘That would be agreeable,’ Eirwen smiled. ‘Where would Your Excellency like to start the search?’

  A good question. We couldn’t start digging holes at random, especially not in the village…

  I turned to Levi, who grabbed my attention. ‘There are vents underneath the quarry,’ he said. ‘We could start there?’

  Chief Arnok raised his brow. ‘Boy, how do you know this?’

  Levi cleared his throat and looked away. ‘I visited the quarry, Sir.’ He didn’t say anything else, but Nerya remained very quiet.

  Chief Arnok glared him down for a moment longer before addressing what had been said. ‘Though there are vents, they are too cramped for anyone to travel through. Perhaps a rodent could, but the lack of breathable air would stop it from surviving.’

  ‘My dead will not suffer that issue,’ I said. The vents may be connected to what tunnels did exist.

  The meeting ended and the hall went its separate ways. I stationed Durak outside, preparing to make my exit, when Miranda approached. She wore the same style outfit she had the day I met her, but one that was a shade of blue.

  She bowed low before speaking. ‘There’s something I would like to share, Warden.’

  ‘Speak but keep your voice low,’ I said. Some of the villagers hovered nearby a tad too long for it to be natural.

  She moved closer and whispered: ‘I think they’re lying.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The Ebonfrosts, Warden. I think there are tunnels and that they know of them.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘Intuition,’ she said. ‘I’ve negotiated with many nobles who lied about their backings and funds. Their body language is always the same.’

  I regarded her. I had noticed no such thing, but then it was but two weeks that I had spent observing humans. Miranda had done so for years. Still.

  ‘I need more than intuition,’ I said.

  Intuition wouldn’t let me take action against the Chief of a village as important as Winterforge. Moreover, I couldn’t think of a single reason the Ebonfrosts would keep the tunnels a secret if they knew—their lands were in danger too.

  ‘Let me know if you find any proof, however small,’ I said.

  ‘By your will, Warden.’ She saluted and returned to Diego and Levi.

  I snorted. Ever since I let her live she’s made sure to be the picture of etiquette. Good on her.

  I closed my eyes, and left Durak’s vessel.

  My squires were working overtime. I sent the remainder of the undead I had in Castle Frostmouth towards the fishing hamlet. I placed them under the apprentice’s command.

  After putting Radi and the two meagre-talented sorcerers side-by-side, I concluded merging them wouldn’t let Radi reach the status of Fledgling. A shame but expected. The soldiers would be her bodyguards until she cultivated to a higher level. It would take about a week—the undead didn’t need sleep so she could cultivate around the clock.

  Hopefully, she’s in time for the little party my friend is staging for me.

  Moonwalker hadn’t struck yet, but I didn’t believe for a second he was inactive. My scouts were watching everywhere they could, scouring every nook and cranny to catch sight of him and his army. Nothing had turned up.

  At this point, I was whole heartedly beginning to believe in the tunnels, for where else could he be hiding…

  He said test run, I thought, thinking back to my conversation with Moonwalker. A well-conducted military test mimicked the real world scenario as best as possible. So what about the attack in Frosthollow? Malakai’s investigation had found no altar or anything related to summoning.

  A network of tunnels…demons could dig, depending on the type. I exhaled sharply. Surely, that wasn’t what was happening?

  Command flew out over my network as I rearranged the connections, pulling critters more suited to digging towards Frosthollow. Finding a tunnel near a place like Winterforge was made more difficult due to the the hardness of the terrain and the difference in scope, but Frosthollow wasn’t that big. Moreover, since the attack happened in the manor home, I concentrated my efforts there.

  The critters dug for two hours and found a covered hole about half the size of a man behind the manor home.

  I pinched my forehead. This was the worst. Hundreds of my citizens had been gone for two weeks already. During that time, how many demons had Moonwalker summoned? How many tunnels had they dug? Were the demons already on their way to Vrost or Frostholm? The capital cities had their own defences, but if the demons burrowed their way underneath their walls and appeared in the middle of the city together with some orcs in the middle of the night? It would be a slaughter. Even if we beat them back, the damage would lead to the collapse of our nobility and economy, which would take the Duchy with it into the grave.

  Hands linking, I rested my hands on my knuckles.

  Waiting and defending wouldn’t work. I must take the fight to Moonwalker and hope his demons had not already burrowed their way to their targets. That was the only way to guarantee the Duchy’s safety.

  For now, I would send my scouts through the tunnel. My next actions depended on whatever they discovered.

  There was also the ruin in Giantswood, which Arthek said would be of help. If the quest reward was any indication, it contained an undead of Morgathis from an age passed. Getting it could swing this entire war into my favour.

  I leaned back in my chair. There was enough to do.

  And dealing with some human pests was first on my list.

  Sunlight bore down as Malakai rested on his shovel and enjoyed a gulp of fresh air, having just finished cleaning the latrine pit. He glanced around. Camp Tauron was active, with members of all ages and genders going about their business.

  ‘You’re thinking deep.’ Malakai didn’t look Sarah’s way as she approached, still regarding the camp. A section of the village was dedicated to the sickly—not just those from their caravan—where dedicated bandits supported the patients.

  Sarah followed his gaze. ‘It’s a decent place, isn’t it?’

  ‘It is,’ he agreed, finally looking at her. ‘How are you and the others holding up?’

  ‘We’re doing okay,’ she said. ‘It’s better now that we’re warm and fed. Ellen helped—she’s a great healer. Did you know she escaped from a coven?’

  He’d heard something of the like. She was originally headed to a jail in Vrost, but the frostguards assigned her to a coven after discovering she had a talent for healing. And how’d that work out for them? Malakai thought. Now the bandits had a healer. The fact that the meals being cooked were made using the supplies stolen from the villages also didn’t slip past Malakai’s mind. He remembered the dire situation at Frostmouth, and when he compared it with Camp Tauron, much of the appreciation for the camp was seeped out of him.

  How many had died to breathe life into this place?

  ‘Are you one of those men who think pondering all the time makes them cool?’ Sarah smirked.

  That got a chuckle. ‘There’s a lot on my mind,’ he said. There was even more riding on his shoulder.

  She smiled. ‘You’re the complete opposite of Martin. He never thinks at all.’

  ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard you say his name.’

  It was a throwaway comment that was meant as a joke more than anything else, but Sarah went quiet.

  ‘Sorry,’ Malakai said.

  ‘No…it’s just…’ she looked at the floor. ‘You’re right. That makes me quite the awful fiance.’

  Malakai didn’t say anything. From what he knew, Martin’s father had all but bought her from her family after Martin expressed his feelings for the girl. Her opinion never entered the equation. For her parents, getting their daughter married to the chief’s son assured their survival. An easy decision.

  Stop being a damned baby, at least you get a choice! Malakai heard his sister in his head. And he had made his choice, hadn’t he? He ran like the baby he was.

  ‘Do you think I could stay here?’ Sarah said softly.

  Malakai frowned, the comment yanking him out of his thoughts. ‘Stay here? Sarah, this is place is…’ he trailed off.

  She sighed. ‘I know. Sorry, forget what I said.’

  Standing next to her, the droop in her shoulders was clear.

  Malakai paused.

  ‘You can escape towards one of the cities,’ he said.

  The snort that came out called him an idiot. ‘A lone woman?’ she said. ‘Even if I get there by miracle, what will I do, become a whore?’ She chuckled self-deprecatingly. ‘Then I may as well stay with Martin. At least then I know what I’m getting each day.’

  An ache in the middle of his chest assaulted Malakai as he considered the pretty blonde. Here he was, struggling with his life choices. But compared to him, who had ran and started a new life, was the girl not the more burdened? For her there was no escaping the path that had been laid out for her.

  And that’s when the connection snapped in his head. He surveyed the camp again. That’s why they became bandits, isn’t it? These people were criminals, and while there were certainly bad apples, long not all of them were monsters—Gerald was proof of that. Most chose this path to escape. To find a way out of a bleak, preordained destiny.

  That didn’t make their actions righteous or justified, but at least understandable.

  ‘I can ask her on your behalf,’ he said.

  ‘Her?’

  He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the Wall.

  ‘She can find you something in the city,’ he said. ‘Worst case scenario, she could use another loyal maid. May not be the most fulfilling work, but at least you won’t have to deal with Martin’s breath, eh?’

  The reeve’s son loved onions.

  A moment passed. Sarah burst into laughter and wiped her eyes. ‘That would certainly be better, yes. Thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ Malakai smiled.

  He turned back to the heart of the camp, where Tina was beginning to dole out meals to everyone and Hammond was stoking the campfire.

  ‘Your talk is tomorrow, isn’t it?’ Sarah said.

  They’d put it off, but Hammond still wanted Malakai’s story. He’d spoken with everyone else already.

  ‘In the morning,’ he said.

  ‘Good luck.’ Sarah rubbed the back if his arm. ‘A bath before joining the fire would be very sociable, by the way. You don’t want to be like Martin.’

  Malakai sniffed his shirt and his nose wrinkled. By the time he had made the trip to the bathroom and eaten his fill, it was already time to sleep. He bid Rider goodnight, mentally preparing himself for the conversation he was to have in the morning. If he played his cards well, he would be able to leverage his reputation and gain more information on the supplies. No pressure. It was only a set of five or so villages that was counting on him for their lives.

  He’d half expected the nerves to keep him up, but Malakai slept like a log, dead to the outside world…until he didn’t. His eyes shot wide open. Outside was pure darkness. At first, he thought a thief or assassin had entered his room, but when he felt the pulse of the core in his pouch, he knew why he had awakened with such haste.

  She was coming.

  The Warden was coming for Camp Tauron.

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