AO 6 Ch 26

Two goddesses and five women huddled together around me as we hurtled away from the fort. Outside was a gruesome scene of carnage. Those two vampyrs had slaughtered the northmen who had gathered.

I felt like I had failed them, but at the same time knew that the next wave from the north would be huge as they retaliated even harder.

There was no need to pick anything up because my dark soul magic could enlarge even to the point of stuffing a carriage inside. 

It seemed as if there wasn't a limit to what I could put through, but there was certainly a limit as to how quickly I could make a portal large enough. So, the idea of carrying an army around seemed fantastical, but for a column of soldiers, I would need a solid hour uninterrupted to make the portal.

"Let's not head back to the Badlands," Zuri had a map out and was checking our progress. "Instead, we should aim for Chillwind Pass."

I perked up. "Is Melida still there?" We’d been almost completely cut off from information since Uncle Valken hadn’t been able to meet up with us.

"Most likely. I doubt the king could remove a seasoned Trevis mage from their post, especially not when said mage had the direct backing of my grandfather." Zuri answered.

"Ah, old man Trevis," I grinned. "It would be nice if he was there as well, but I'm not going to count on it."

An idea formed in mind, one I could probably navigate even without a map. Given the new direction, the bluesteel sheet picked up speed, running parallel to the massive mountain range that divided the northern half of Avente and Garrish.

"So that's another chancellor down, two more vampires. How did they compare to Collin?" I glanced over at Emlyn and Aurelia.

"Oh, no comparison," Aurelia said quickly. "Compared to Collin, I would describe both of them as infantile."

Emlyn nodded. "Collin felt like an absolute monster. Both of them were definitely stronger than an average anchor, and nowhere near as crazy, but they weren't..." She hesitated.

"Quite as fed," I added, finishing for her, only for the Virel to scrunch up her face at the thought.

"I think that is probably accurate though. I was trying to find a way to say it," Emlyn bobbed her head in agreement. "I could have taken them if I had a little more time."

"Uh huh, sure you could," I said quickly.

"I absolutely could have. Don't give me that, Ard."

"Give you what?" I said innocently. "Emlyn, you have nothing but my utmost respect."

"If I had your utmost respect, I wouldn't be getting your bullshit," she snapped back, crossing her arms. Perhaps I’d gone a little too far.

"You did a good job. I was really impressed how well you both handled the vampires. And you cut through the normal anchors in the fort as if they were vegetables on the cutting block. So Adam and Sara must have been very powerful for you to have expended as much effort as you did to defeat them." I offered. 

Emlyn hummed to herself, nodding.

"I'm glad you're able to understand that, Ard," she said quickly and sniffed.

"Of course, of course." I was worried I was going to upset her and played along. "Keeping you alive is hard work." I could not help but slip that in. "And I'm so thankful for all of the work you do to keep me alive. Sincerely." I glanced at all of my anchors and even included Missy in the gesture. "I like being alive. A lot. So, thank you all once again. In case you ever think that I forget about it, I in fact do not."

By the quick nodding of my anchors, I realized I probably needed to praise them a little more often.

"All right. So, Chillwind Pass and the fortress. We can just head that way. But, in case I wasn't fully caught up with the plan, what are we doing now?" I squinted at Zuri.

"Well, the plan kind of went tits up when you destroyed the entire fort, Ard." Zuri sighed.

"It wasn't that bad," I gave her a helpless shrug. "There was just an itty-bitty problem, which was quickly taken care of. And, unfortunately," I held my hand up, "I admit that it might not have been done in the most tactful manner. But I destroyed the golem, which was what I was supposed to do."I turned to my maid. "Maribelle, do you have my back?" I asked.

She flashed out a pair of daggers. "Who do I kill?" She asked.

"No killing. Just moral support, while they all antagonize me for doing what was necessary. After all, as a wonderful mage extraordinaire, big displays of magic are expected of me. Like blowing up a fort," I rolled my hand as if to give Emlyn the start, and she could keep it going.

"Or ripping people's souls out." She said.

I frowned, that wasn’t exactly where I meant for this to go.

Maribelle raised an eyebrow. "Ard, your magic does tend to cause as many problems as it solves." 

My mouth hung open. "That is completely true and unfair," I said. “I might cause the same number of problems or even more problems, but my magic solves the big ones. The giant golem that was going to squish us all solved for the low, low price of two vampires and the fact that we can no longer hide behind the excuse that the barbarians attacked." I shrugged. "If you ask me, both of those are minor problems compared to a giant golem about to step on our faces. Unless you like that kink. In which case, I'm not kink shaming." When I said the last bit, I turned to Missy, whose eye twitched in response. 

"And why should my kinks be any of your concern?" she said quickly. 

And I held my hands up in the universal sign of surrender when faced with an angry woman. "I was making no assumptions. That was it. You know what they say about assumptions, right? They make an ass out of you and me." 

Missy furrowed her brow. "What?”

“Well, assumptions never make an ass out of me. Just you, Missy." I winked.

As I spoke, our little bluesteel plate continued to move along as fast as a horse at full gallop. It required even less effort to maintain than the ice sled I'd been usually carrying us around.

I found manipulating metal to be far less cumbersome than it was before. In fact, it felt almost natural the way all of the magic was mixing in the Ardenium Palace of Soulgard. Using the soul magic of earth was as simple as pulling out the required mixture. 

"Missy, I have a question. With everything I've done, is there any reason I would get corrupted?” Rather than dwell on the question and mull over it myself, I just blurted it out. 

She raised a manicured eyebrow at me, measuring me for a moment. "Do you really not know?" 

I smiled back at her. "Given that I have no clue what you're talking about, I'm fairly certain the answer is yes." I held a finger up as Emlyn opened her mouth. "Do not say any wisecrack about the answer always being yes or whatever glib tongue comment you had at the tip of your own." 

Emlyn's mouth closed with a click.

"That's what I thought," I said, turning back to Missy. "So, what is it that I don't know?" 

She started to say something before switching gears and just answering me. "You're not going to be corrupted. Now or ever, Arden." Missy told me.

"Wait, really?" I smiled at the positive news.

"Yes, really. Unless you secretly wish it, it's not going to happen." Missy said.

"Because I'm awesome?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Sure, if that's what you want to tell yourself," she grinned. "I think most people would attribute it to my influence, rather than giving you carte blanche credit."

"Got it. I’m awesome. So, what's the play beyond Chillwind Pass?" I asked, turning to the rest of the group.

All eyes turned to Zuri, who answered. "Melida will be willing to give us information on what's happening on the war front. Our best play from there is to use the information to try and find other chancellors amid the war. If we can pick them off, we can both save Avente and continue to put a damper on King Martin's plan."

I bit my thumb, thinking about that strategy. "That's going to give him a lot of time to run around and feed on people."

Zuri shrugged. "I don't have much sympathy for the enemy right now, Ard. As much as I know you look at the people and see them as relatively innocent, the reality is that they've gone along with this, at least thus far. Can you really justify us going out of our way to protect those who are apathetic to the plights of others? At a certain point, if they aren't with us, they're against us, or at least not someone we have to take into consideration when making our plans."

Her words left a bitter taste in my mouth, but seeing everyone else's expression, I kept my mouth closed. "Alright, so we will meet back up with Melida and the Bear Man, maybe see Old Man Trevis, and sweep through the war front like a gathering storm only to come crashing back on King Martin later." I threw my arms out in a sweeping motion. 

I liked this new plan. It was what I had always pictured when I had dreamed about being a mage.

"Speaking of storms," Missy said, hesitating.

"Storms like the God of Thunder?" Emlyn finished, and I frowned at her for putting a damper on the excellent plan. She was lucky that I loved her so much.

The dark haired goddess gave me a weak smile. "Given that Freya knows who you are, it isn’t too surprising that Thor has now learned who you are too, Ard."

"Wonderful. The more the merrier." I offered, putting a smile back on my face. That was a problem for another day.

"Yes, well," Missy said quickly. "You just need to be aware. He knows who you are and was apparently making moves, though I can't tell you with any certainty what he would be planning. Ditzy and I were off trying to find Bastet."

"Oh yeah, the goddess of kitty cats and sand.” I said, repeating what I was sure was an oversimplification from Ditzy.

"Yes, but I wouldn't say that to Bastet's face." Missy hesitated. "She's the goddess of more noble things than sand or cats, though yes, everyone associates her with cats. Ditzy had almost found her before I had to head back here to patch you up."

I glanced around, realizing that Ditzy was gone. She’d vanished as soon as concern over my current state seemed to fade away.

"So, she's off doing whatever Ditzy does to track down Bastet?" I asked.

"What she does is have a vast network of temples throughout the land and is quickly peering through her people, trying to pick up even the smallest whispers and turn them into a cohesive source of actual information to find Bastet. So yes, off doing what she does." Missy finished with a slight frown at my blank look.

"Good. I'm glad Ditzy is on our side. She seems really resourceful." I nodded.

Missy stared at me, seeming to think a compliment for her would come next, but I’d already thanked her for her help.

"So, can this God, Thor, go after Ard directly?" Zuri asked, breaking the moment of silence. 

Missy cleared her throat. "Not without suffering penalties.”

“Are these rules written down somewhere? So that, I don't know, we can make sure Ard doesn't break all of them?" Emlyn gestured at me.

“Ard doesn't have any rules. He is still mortal." Missy answered.

There were several quirked eyebrows at the use of 'still', but none of my ladies pressed for more.

"So, only Thor is bound by the rules. That's good. If Ard has to follow any rules, you better hope that he can remember half of them," Emlyn said. "Now, what can Thor do that is within the rules?”

“He can provide bounties for people to kill Ard," Missy said. "He can also give blessings to people who have given enough tithe to one of his churches, but he doesn't have any churches on this continent." 

I raised a hand. "Are we sure about that? I know you mentioned the existing gods and goddesses that Avente had been worshipping. They were all fake except for Freya. What if they're not fake, but rather just not currently in use? Could Freya essentially supplant Thor as one of those other idols?" I asked. 

Missy blinked, seeming puzzled by my question. She pinched her brows down. "It's not unreasonable, but thus far, Freya has kept this entire continent to herself. I find it highly suspect that she would suddenly shift and start inviting others. Not to mention, Thor is likely quite exhausted from that fight. His intervening as he did took an extraordinary amount of energy on his part. But, assuming those temples suddenly become his, and someone offers up enough, then in theory, yes. Thor could have a champion on the continent as soon as that happens. But the chances of that happening are slim to none.”

I rubbed my forehead. "Okay, so now we assume Thor has a champion on the continent. And it could be anyone. They are likely going to have a blessing and be able to kill me." I clicked my tongue. "I do not like this. I do not like this at all." 

"Ard, it's fine," Missy tried to reassure me. “It’s very unlikely.”

I stared blankly at her. “Why did you have to say that? Now it is absolutely going to happen.”

*****

Thaddeus, better known to the rest of the world as the King of Avente, knelt before the patron god of war.

There was a small shrine that the soldiers all used. It was a common tactic to use the gods and faith to help bolster their morale. When it came to a war, oftentimes morale was what turned the tides. Thaddeus knew that well, even if he wasn’t particularly pious. 

So he walked into the small temple. He had a line of servants behind him carrying a chest that he set down, tipping back the lid only for it to overflow with gold coins spilling out onto the floor.

Thaddeus picked up a particularly gaudy necklace that probably wouldn't even sell for much in the capital. It was out of fashion, but it was gold and would work for what he was doing next.

As he placed it on the statue himself and dipped his head, speaking audibly to everyone present, "Oh God of War, I beseech thee to lend us strength for the hard times to come." He spoke boldly for all of the soldiers listening to hear him loud and clear. He was one of them. One of the soldiers at war. At least, that was the message he was trying to convey. 

Based on the hushed murmurs behind him, it seemed he was successful.

But he was not expecting the voice that spoke into the back of his mind. The deep voice chuckled. "So, you want power for war?"

The voice boomed, rattling Thaddeus's bones. "It can be done, little king, but a god's boon isn't free. Leave the chest of gold and kill one for me. If you agree, I'll grant you power to win the war and so much more. But be warned, I can take it away just as easily. Should you play around and use it for something you shouldn't…" The rumble of the god's voice shook him down his spine and threatened to weaken his bladder. 

"It would be my honor to serve," the king said quietly under his breath, a giant grin spreading infectiously across his face. This war had dragged on long enough and one life was little in the grand scheme of ending it and how much his kingdom would gain. 

Part of him wanted to ask why this boon was coming now and not earlier. He had never heard a god's voice before. He knew priests that had claimed to have heard gods, but he never took them seriously. 

"Who do I have to kill?" he asked, only for an image and a name to flash in his mind's eye.

Arden Aldis.

The god's directive caused Thaddeus to smile even wider. "Why didn't you say so? I was going to do that anyway." With that, he stood. "Leave the chest, leave the gold, and make sure no one disrespects the gods by touching it," he commanded the two servants that had followed him inside.

He had work to do.

He wanted to kill Arden Aldis and had been thwarted thus far. But if a god was going to demand it and join his side, then he probably needed to pick up the pace, even if that meant getting his own hands dirty.