35 – Help is on the Way

It wasn’t long before Victor felt the thrum of power in the air as great globules of shimmering, silvery Energy began to gather around the giant corpse at his feet. It was just a corpse, too. The shadows had slid off it, dissipating into the frigid air. What remained was a gigantic, hairless, gray-fleshed humanoid. The lower half of the skull was still intact, and Victor could see a fang-filled mouth. He’d been some sort of vampire or another. Had he been one of the lords, though?

Before he could contemplate the question long, the gathered Energy surged into him, and he lost himself for a little while, riding the waves of euphoria. When he came back to himself, he blinked several times to clear the frost from his eyes, and then he read the System notifications:

***Congratulations! You have advanced to level 109. Because of your current mantle, you’ve been awarded 20 strength and 20 will. Your feats have awarded you an additional 5 vitality. Finally, you’ve been awarded 20 unallocated attribute points.*** Official source is noveⅼfire.net

***Congratulations! You have advanced to level 110. Because of your current mantle, you’ve been awarded 20 strength and 20 will. Your feats have awarded you an additional 5 vitality. Finally, you’ve been awarded 20 unallocated attribute points.***

***Congratulations! You have advanced to level 111. Because of your current mantle, you’ve been awarded 20 strength and 20 will. Your feats have awarded you an additional 5 vitality. Finally, you’ve been awarded 20 unallocated attribute points.***

***Your use of breath attacks while under the mantle of the Night Crowned Flame has drawn the threads in your skein into a new pattern. Examine the design to gain insights into a possible evolution.***

Victor looked from the messages to the corpse at his feet. The giant shadow had been a veil walker; no steel seeker could have given him three levels over 100. He chuckled, shaking his head. “Son of a bitch!” He laughed, stooping to pull Lifedrinker from the corpse. As he hefted her onto his shoulder, he asked, “Was it good, chica?”

“Good, but not enough! I hunger, heart-mate! I hunger for the blood of your foes!”

“Patience, love. There’s a lot more fighting to come.” Victor wanted to tell her more. He wanted to talk about how surprised he was that he’d taken out another veil walker. He wanted to mention that the hesitation about expanding his conquest was gone; it was time to kill more of these assholes. He didn’t say anything, though. He just held her haft and thought his thoughts, content that she’d understand.

He had more to think about, in any case. The System’s final message was a new one to him. Somehow, his skein was changed? Apparently, his actions had formed a new “pattern” in the threads, which made him wonder if there had been patterns in that tangled mess all along. It was a significant clue, and he was eager to get someplace relatively safe so he could check it out.

Victor looked around, noting that the clouds had drifted away, the wind had nearly died down to nothing, and the air was significantly less frigid than before he’d slain the giant vampire. He summoned Guapo with a ribbon of hope-attuned Energy, and as the silvery steed leaped from a pale-blue cloud, he swung onto his back. Victor clicked his tongue, getting the mustang moving, advancing up the pass, and then he summoned his Standard of the Last Light.

Now that he’d killed the invading vampire lord, he figured it was time to spread a little hope through the countryside. He’d ride the rest of the way down the pass and get the lay of the land. As the silver-blue light of his standard spread, revealing the canyon walls and the chasm beside it, Victor paused. He slid from Guapo’s back and patted his shoulder. “Just give me a couple of minutes, boy.”

He sent Lifedrinker into his spirit space and then approached the giant corpse again. He’d been so caught up in his thoughts that he’d almost forgotten to check the vampire lord for treasure. He started with his fingers, tugging several jewel-studded gold bands free. Much like Fausto’s, though, it seemed that most of them were simply decorative. Still, one of the bands had a heavy Energy signature, and when Victor bonded with it, he found a rather extensive dimensional container.

To his surprise, the container held a significant quantity of Energy beads—at least a million. Additionally, he found dozens of high-quality weapons, some of which were clearly enchanted. More than that, the ring contained several chests filled with precious metals and gemstones, some exquisite, hand-crafted furniture, and several wardrobes filled with finely tailored suits, some of which appealed to Victor’s sensibilities.

The discovery of the enchanted weapons got him thinking about the giant shadow’s swords, and he scanned the icy road, wondering where they’d fallen. One had gone over the side, but the other… Victor spotted a glinting opal-like pommel stone jutting out from behind the giant’s hip. He’d fallen on the sword. Victor dragged the weapon out, smiling as he felt the Energy lurking beneath its weird, smoking black blade. “You’re quite a sword, aren’t you? I guess I should look for your brother.”

Victor sent the sword into his spirit space, and then he summoned his wings. As they blazed to life, no longer challenged by the vampire lord's unnatural cold, he threw himself over the edge of the chasm. He streaked downward, scanning the rough, ice-covered cliffside for the other sword. After a while, he passed the creature he’d thrown from his back. It was impaled on a jagged spine of stone about a thousand yards down from the road. “Damn. What the hell is that thing? The abominable snowman?”

Disappointed that nobody was there to appreciate his humor, Victor flew past the enormous, simian ice creature and continued his descent. Maybe a thousand yards further down, he saw the blade jutting out proudly from the icy cliffside; during its tumbling fall, it seemed the point had finally struck at enough of an angle to bury itself in the ice. When he drew near, Victor grasped the smooth hilt and pulled it free, then he launched himself up, blazing through the swirling snowflakes.

When he landed back on the road, Victor sent the other sword into his spirit space. He figured the set would make an excellent prize to put in the army’s commendation shop. He’d have one of his people from Ruhn check them out first; if they were particularly valuable or potent, he’d give them to one of his friends or, perhaps, one of his captains.

As he got ready to depart, Victor eyed the giant corpse. It was a frozen, long-undead thing, and the idea of claiming its heart turned his stomach. He’d learned that lesson. The vampire lord had been a sturdy cabron, though, and that made Victor wonder just how far he’d advanced his undead bloodline. Maybe his ancestors could make use of a vessel like that. That thought in mind, he gathered his Energy and cast Honor the Spirits.

As the white flames flickered to life beneath the enormous corpse and began to spread, engulfing it in silent, smokeless fire, Victor felt something release in his chest. It was cathartic, he supposed, seeing an enemy to everything he held dear broken up into spiritual Energy and whisked away through the veil. There was no coming back from that, no waking up, even for an ancient vampire Death Caster.

Victor swung himself back onto Guapo’s back and then nudged him into a canter. “Let’s go, hermano.” He wanted to clear the pass and get back before too long. With any luck, Florent would finish his work early, and they could open the gateway to Ruhn. “And then the invasion can really begin!” He laughed, his mood greatly improved by his victory against yet another vampire lord.

When his only data point had been Fausto, Victor hadn’t been willing even to consider the idea that the veil walkers of Dark Ember would be, overall, underpowered compared to those found on worlds where the System had held sway for millennia. Two dead veil walkers made the idea start to gain a little resonance in Victor’s mind, however. He didn’t want to tempt fate by voicing the thought aloud—he barely allowed himself to think it—but he was beginning to hope the conquest of the undead world wouldn’t be as long a road as he’d feared.

As he descended the southern side of the pass, the weather cleared further, and the miasma of death-attuned Energy in the air fled before his banner’s light. He caught several packs of ghouls and slaughtered them, giving Lifedrinker just a little more exercise. When he rode down out of the foothills, though, the countryside was quiet and devoid of any living thing larger than a crow or rodent.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

An empty watch tower stood there, but the road leading up to it and away, further into the countryside, was in poor condition, overgrown with grass and weeds. Victor supposed that wasn’t much of a clue toward anything in particular; the vampires had kept each other at arm's length for centuries, so he wasn’t surprised to see the evidence of infrequent travel between them. With the veil walker from this area dead, Victor figured he ought to find his capital and take control of his System stone, but he decided to put it off; it could wait until he marched his army down out of the valley.

Satisfied that there wasn’t another army there, waiting to march north to invade his newly conquered lands, Victor cast Prismatic Illumination, summoning a great orb of hope-attuned Energy. He left it there, hovering over the road, throwing its wondrous light over the hillside. It was a statement that no undead being could ignore: their days were numbered. He sent Guapo back to the spirit plane and then unpacked his portal array, seeing no reason to travel back to the castle physically.

A few minutes later, he stepped through a magenta rip in reality, appearing just a dozen paces from the dark, stone archway where Florent was still hard at work, inscribing his strange void- and astral-attuned glyphs. “How’s it looking?” Victor asked.

Florent glanced his way and smiled. “That’s quite a clever little portal array you’ve got. I barely felt the gateway it created—quite a subtle and delicate bit of enchanting. It must have cost you dearly, no?”

Victor chuckled, watching the magenta portal shrink into nothing, popping and crackling as it disappeared. “It cost someone dearly.”

“Hmm. That’s not at all ominous. Well, as for my progress, I’ll be done within the hour. Will we stay or—”

“Nah, we’ll leave right away. You’ll be home with your wife soon, Florent.”

The Spatial Magus smiled and bowed lazily. “I know I complain a lot, but this has been quite an experience for me. I’ve never bridged such a distance, and I rather enjoyed the challenge of designing the keystone and portal pattern. Well, what I mean to say is that I hope you don’t take my complaining to heart.”

Victor stepped closer and held out a hand. When Florent took it, Victor squeezed firmly. “I appreciate your skills, Florent, and you don’t have to worry about my feelings. I can tell the difference between talking shit and talking shit, you know?” When Florent tilted his head to the side, some confusion lingering in his eyes, Victor laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll be back in an hour, then. Let’s get it done!”

As Florent tried and failed to form a cogent response, Victor took his hand back and then left the amphitheater, hurrying toward his recently captured palace. The gardens and hallways were abuzz with activity. Every day, the place looked cleaner and brighter. The more Victor saw it, the more he came to believe that it had been Fausto’s home before he’d become a vampire.

It was a bright, beautiful, artfully constructed building, especially with all the crystal windows cleaned and the bronze and copper polished. The heavy curtains had been removed or replaced with much lighter ones, and the dust and cobwebs had all been swept away. It was a castle out of a fairytale now, not one from a horror story.

Victor found Kris in the central hall. The seneschal looked harried and stressed; his eyes were shot through with red, and his voice sounded strained as he passed out instructions to his aides. Victor hated to see it. He’d hoped the man would continue to improve and grow into his role, but it seemed the job had grown faster than Kris had. When the seneschal saw Victor approaching, he visibly stiffened, clearly concerned that Victor was there to either pile more work on him or, perhaps, to question him about something that had gone wrong.

Still, he bowed deeply, and when he straightened, he’d managed to reel in some of the tension in his expression. “Milord, what can I help you with?”

“Well, Kris, I’m going to be opening the gateway to Ruhn soon, and that means my soldiers and many of my friends will be coming through. I had a question for you, as far as all that’s concerned.”

Kris licked his lips, nodding. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to house everyone. I just need to—”

“No, that’s not it, Kris. I’m sure we’ll manage the logistics; things are well organized on the other side. No, my question for you is whether you’d like a little help—maybe some training.”

“H-help, milord?”

“Yeah. I have some experienced support staff and household personnel coming through. I’ve got quartermasters, clerks, even people trained as stewards at Iron Mountain. How would you like to shadow one of them when they take over operations here? I think it would be a good chance for you to reflect on the experience you’ve gotten in the last few weeks and see how some training might apply to it. When you feel comfortable working on your own again, I’ll give you some new duties.”

“That sounds… Well, milord, that sound wonderful!” Kris looked like he’d just found out his lost dog had turned up at a neighbor’s house.

“Good!” Victor put his hands on his hips, peering around the bustling hall. “Where can I find my captains? Or if not all of them, Tasya?”

Kris glanced at the ornate clock hanging over the fireplace. “I believe you’ll find her in the courtyard at this hour. She does one-on-one drills with her more skilled soldiers, milord.”

“Perfect.” He started to leave, but paused, looking at Kris again. “Just hang on another couple of days. Help’s on the way.”

“I will, milord!” He bowed again as Victor left.

The central hall ran the length of the ornate little palace, and the bronze spiral staircase that ran from the ground floor to the much-smaller fourth level stood squarely at the center of it. Victor walked around it, then toward the recently scraped and refinished front doors. Seeing the lush, blonde-colored wood brought a smile to his lips as he remembered how dark and soot-stained it had been when he’d come to the castle to kill Fausto.

Outside, he immediately saw Tasya and her little circle of trainees. He wondered if the extra sparring was voluntary or if she singled out soldiers in her command who “needed” it. He watched her spar for a minute, easily defeating a much larger man with a good deal more reach. They were only fighting for “touches,” though, and Tasya was too quick and too precise for him. She slipped his broad cleaves and darted in, slapping his ribs with her wooden practice sword. Victor was impressed; he’d thought she was only skilled with the bow.

When she saw him approach, she paired off her soldiers, gave them a drill to work on, and then walked over to him. “Milord Victor.”

“How’s the training going?”

“Very well. My soldiers improve daily.”

“I can see that.” Victor watched the soldiers with her for a minute, then he inhaled deeply and looked up at the blue sky. There were still clouds up there, but they mostly gathered along the mountain ranges. “I killed another vampire lord this morning.”

She jerked her gaze his way, her mouth opening, then closing as she struggled for a response.

“I hadn’t planned on it, but my raven saw some ghouls in the southern pass. I went to investigate, and that’s when I ran into him. I don’t even know what his name was.”

“I…well, I’d likely not know it, anyway. Congratulations on your victory, milord.”

Victor waved a hand. “That’s not why I told you. I’m about to leave again, and I wanted you to know that I don’t think there’s an imminent invasion. You should be fine. I mean, I’ll only be gone a couple of days; I promised some people I’d spend a little time with them, that’s all. Things are going to change around here, though, and I wanted to make sure you understand my intentions.”

She folded her arms, one of the few tells Victor had seen from her. He could feel her nervousness as she asked, “Intentions? Concerning what, milord?”

“Well, we’ve got six cohorts here, but they’re all low-level and the majority of the soldiers haven’t faced combat, right?”

“That’s right.” She nodded, and Victor saw her fingers tightening where they gripped her shoulders.

“I’ve got some veterans coming through, and I intend to mix them with the soldiers here. We’ll have almost a one-to-one ratio of veterans and recruits in each cohort. I’m also bringing over some experienced commanders—captains—and I didn’t think it would be fair to them or you if I put you, Timmet, and Von in charge of them.”

Tasya nodded. “Will we still be allowed to fight?”

Victor laughed, holding out a hand. “Relax, Tasya! No one’s kicking you out of the army. I was thinking it would be smart to make you three acting lieutenants for a while. After you’ve got some battles under your belts and the army expands a bit, we’ll put you back into captain roles. Does that sound fair?”

She relaxed her arms, letting them fall by her sides as she nodded. “That sounds more than fair, sir. We’d been wondering how it would work when your other forces joined us. Honestly, I’ve been quite stressed about it. I feel much better now. I’m looking forward to learning from someone with more experience.”

“I knew you’d react that way. I think Timmet and Von might take it a little harder. Do you think you can get them to see things your way?”

Tasya saluted, thumping her fist against her chest. “It will be my pleasure to get those two thinking correctly on the matter, milord.”

Victor laughed, holding out his fist. Tasya punched it with enthusiasm, her much-smaller knuckles thwapping against his. “All right, then. I’ll be heading out shortly. In the meantime, you’re in charge of keeping the peace around here.”

She saluted again, and Victor turned on his heel to walk back through the castle. He felt good about how things were looking. Tasya, Kris, and the others were doing a fine job of keeping people busy, and it wouldn’t be long before Bryn and the clerks from Iron Mountain arrived to get things organized. The thought was comforting enough that Victor felt himself relaxing about the prospect of a couple of days away. He’d have a nice dinner with Kynna, and then he’d spend a couple of days relaxing on Fanwath. He almost tempted fate by asking, “What could go wrong?” but he knew better. He kept his mouth shut.