Chapter 248: Vigilante Justice

Under the light of the glowstone, the mage cringed away from me. Boris had dropped to one knee, supporting his body with the runic sword. “Don’t tell him anything,” he spat angrily at the mage.

I looked down the road and could see the large, shadowy shape of Maveith coming. I raised my sword and addressed Boris. “I didn’t ask you, Boris.”

“Your friend betrayed you. I know your secrets,” Boris said obnoxiously.

“My only true friend is about to join me,” I said without looking away, thinking it was a trick.

“Brutus.” Boris searched for his last name. “Brutus Salacia. He told me all your secrets!” I really was not up for a villain’s monologue.

“And where is Brutus? Did you kill him?” I said impatiently.

“He slowed the wyvern for our escape. He is dead! But he told me …” I raised my sword, not caring what Brutus had told him. I was already dead to the Empire.

Boris made to defend himself from his knees, but I batted aside the runic blade easily and came back with a rapid slash across his throat. Boris was stunned at my act and his eyes widened in disbelief at what I had just done. Did he think his status as a First Citizen or whatever secret Brutus had told him would shield him? My anger from all my interactions with the First Citizen and his minions had boiled over.

Boris wasn’t going to be walking away tonight. I watched as his hand went to his throat to try to stem the bleeding. The terror in his dark eyes from knowing he was going to die didn’t affect me. “For Brutus then,” I whispered. In my mind, I had avenged another legionnaire’s death due to a First Citizen’s greed.

Boris slowly fell forward, collapsing before Maveith reached us. I watched him bleed out and die, then turned to the dumbfounded mage. Under the glowstone’s luminescence, I probably looked like a callous murderer. I licked my lips slowly to find my voice. “What is a soul prison?”

The mage fumbled in his pockets and produced a large crystal. “A … a … a necromancy vessel,” he stuttered out. “Weak necromancers require a soul to animate the dead.” I walked forward and took the offered crystal. It was twice as thick as my finger, and the rich purple color reminded me of an amethyst.

“This helped you clear the ruins?” I asked the terrified necromancer.

“Yes,” he squeaked out, cowering in fear as Maveith arrived and took in the scene. Maveith didn’t look shocked or disappointed, which helped me accept my act. I think the fact that I didn’t feel any remorse was what unsettled me. Killing was feeling too normal for me.

I turned back to the necromancer. “What were you trying to get from the ruins?”

Even though he hadn’t moved, he was out of breath. “The library. We were trying to reach the library. The ancient tomes are worth hundreds of gold each,” he stated, his eyes fixed on Maveith. I had to agree that the shadows of the glowstone made the large goliath look more menacing, especially with his impassive visage.

“Did you succeed?” I asked, then snapped my fingers to get his attention when he didn’t answer.

“No. We were only camped for five days before the wyvern came at dusk. Brutus told us there might be a wyvern in the area. Boris didn’t believe him,” he said spitefully, and eyed the dead Boris.

I looked at him doubtfully. “Five days? The snow is gone and the library is only four hundred yards from the western gate.”

He nodded emphatically. “The soul crystal can only hold one soul. After each specter was captured, I had to empty it. It takes time to use a soul to power a simple ritual.”

My mind raced back to what he said earlier about the soul crystal. “Wait, were you creating an army of undead?”

He put up his hand in capitulation and panic. “No. I didn’t break the Empire’s laws! I burned the soul with lesser necromancy spells to empty the crystal!” He was breathing heavily in worry and sweating visibly. I wasn’t familiar with the necromancy laws, but I assumed raising the dead was probably frowned upon. There were special mage companies that hunted necromancers, but the Hounds frequently tracked them. Hearne’s lectures in Hound training had never focused on the undead, as we had been in abbreviated training.

“You were not trying to enter the dungeon?” I asked after a long pause to think.

The necromancer seemed to be relaxing, thinking I might let him live because of my calm tone and rational questions. “Count Cato wanted us to find the path to the dungeon entrance, but we had no plans to enter. We were just supposed to load the wagons with the elven books and return for this expedition. We didn’t realize there were still so many specters left in the city. Brutus said his mage company cleared most of the specters around the library and western gate. He said it would be easy.” His tone was a bit angry now.

“How many specters did you kill with this?” I held up the soul prison.

I could see his mind racing. He must have thought I wanted an accurate count. “More than forty, less than fifty.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, and it might have sounded a little maniacal as he cringed. “Less than fifty in five days?” I said, a little mocking. Castile could do that many with the kettle of souls in an hour. In my last days using the kettle of souls, I could have done about a hundred in a day. It wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience, but it was possible for me.

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The necromancer straightened. “Draining a soul is taxing work! The Count wasn’t able to obtain the artifact that the mage company used. It was moved to the Imperial Archives until an expedition could be assembled. But then the Emperor left to fight the invaders …” He trailed off, thinking he had defended himself sufficiently.

Maveith’s deep voice from behind me asked, “What are we going to do with him?” The necromancer looked just as interested in my answer as Maveith.

“How does this work?” I held the slightly chilly purple crystal in my hand.

The necromancer took my question as a lifeline. “When the undead is killed, you place it where the creature dissipated. It pulls in the soul after a minute or so.”

“Would it work on him?” I asked, indicating Boris.

He got a little nervous. “Uh, yes, but it would take much longer, maybe an hour, as he was living, not dead. The crystal would be fighting his corporeal body for the soul. There are stronger soul prisons that work quicker, but this one is not very strong and really only good for the undead.” From the tension and uncertainty in his voice, I thought using this device on people, even recently dead people, was also against Telhian law.

I nodded in thanks, as he had been very helpful in answering my questions. I took a slow, deep breath. “I can’t let you live. Do you want to take some oblivion pills before I remove your head?” The color drained from the necromancer’s face, and he turned and ran. I would have run in his shoes too.

“Do you want me?” Maveith’s voice asked softly behind me.

“No. It is my burden.” I pulled a bow from my space, fixed a paralytic arrow to the string, drew, and released. Even though night had fallen, the necromancer ran straight down the old road. He only got thirty yards before my arrow pierced his back. He let out a scream and stumbled for ten yards before falling to the ground and floundering like a fish out of water.

I walked up to him. He wasn’t even aware of my approach. The arrow had missed his heart by a few inches, but his lungs were rapidly filling with blood, judging by how much blood he was spewing. Magebane came down on his neck to end his suffering. My conscience felt a little heavier, but I was starting to become numb to the killing.

I dragged the body back to Maveith, who hadn’t moved for the entire time, but held Ginger’s reins. “Can you hold this while I search the bodies?” Maveith took the glowstone as I searched. The most valuable item by far was Boris’s dungeon-forged blade. The pommel had an intricate pattern carved into it and was probably easily recognizable in the Empire. I sent the blade to my space with the magebane.

Boris also had a heavy coin pouch, a gold signet ring, and some papers signed by Count Cato. A wax stamp was attached, too. The papers were for passage on the Count’s business, and the bearer was not to be detained. The letter was likely how Boris and his group avoided the press gangs.

The necromancer didn’t have anything useful on him, and the guard just had the lesser runic weapon. I searched the bushes where they had bedded down and frowned. There was nothing but two heavy cloaks. They must have fled the wyvern and left everything behind.

I returned to the road and took out the collector, not making eye contact with Maveith as I worked. The necromancer produced a milky-gray minor essence. Affinity essences were usually multicolored, so I did not think this was the necromancy affinity. It took me some time to recall the attribute the essence fortified—aether shaping. I didn’t hesitate and consumed it. I might be able to successfully write out spell forms with a few dozen more of these shaping essences.

Boris’s body yielded a minor constitution essence, which I offered to Maveith. He only considered for a breath before accepting it. The guard produced a minor strength essence, which I also offered to Maveith. He briefly argued that I had done all the killing, but for some reason, these last two days had made me nauseous. I knew I had crossed a point past which I had no remorse for killing people.

“We will stack the bodies and burn them,” I told Maveith, and he worked with me. I had some alchemy accelerants, and we left the bodies burning behind us.

I pulsed earth speak as we walked in silence—well, not complete silence, as Ginger’s hooves thudded softly on the earth and occasionally clicked on an ancient paver.

“We should move off the road,” Maveith intoned after we had gained some distance from the burning bodies.

The night was not overly dark, and Neptune’s Tear gave us decent light, but I agreed. I used a few pulses of earth speak to find an old structure just off the road, not quite claimed by nature. Only two crumbling stone walls remained, but they gave us some shelter and were modestly defensible. With Ginger along, we didn’t have a lot of options.

We spent some time clearing the debris and setting trip alarms before settling in. I needed some sleep, even with the ring. I made sure the aether shield amulet was charged before letting Maveith stand watch while he had an early breakfast. I found I couldn’t use the dreamscape amulet with the aether shield amulet on. They were like opposing aether magnets. When I tried to activate the dreamscape amulet, it tried to jump from my grip.

Grumbling, I stored the dreamscape amulet and just tried to get a few hours of rest. The nightmares came quickly, but I did not shy away from them tonight. They started with the Hounds chasing me because I had killed a First Citizen. I quickly turned from prey to hunter and eliminated the Hounds one by one. The last man I killed gave me pause because it was Konstantin. I was woken by a soft bell being tripped on one of the alarms.

My eyes were open and I was instantly on alert. “Maveith?” I asked the darkness as my eyes adjusted. I sent out an earth pulse.

A short distance away, Maveith replied, “I don’t know what is out there.”

When the image came back, I swore, causing Maveith to look back at me. I changed my focus and sent out more pulses. “Gnolls. A lot of gnolls.” A large pack had surrounded our campsite.

Maveith had his bow out as shadowy shapes moved through the trees. I tried to count, but not all the gnolls were within range of my earth speak pulses. They were not just passing by. They were clearly preparing to attack. Maveith had his bow drawn and Ginger was getting anxious. “At least thirteen, Maveith,” I hissed. “They all have spears.”

The gnolls were not too skilled at remaining silent. Branches snapped in the night, and their soft, cackling speech drifted on the air as they prepared. We were in the corner of two ancient walls, with thick trunks covering a third side. I pulled some pellets out of my belt pouch while tracking the gnolls. “Maveith, I have some blindness and sneezing pellets. It should slow them and make them vulnerable.” I imagined Maveith nodding in the dark as his back was to me. My last pulse showed the first gnolls rushing our position. “They come!” I hissed.

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