A Soldier's Life - 441 - The Emperor's Return Policy (edited 8-21-25 +100 words and cleaned up a little)

Chapter 441: The Emperor’s Return Policy

Seeing the normally unemotive Lepidus smile sent a chill through me. His lips were as scarred as the rest of his face. Fenlorian thought Lepidus would try to use me and my void magic to kill the Lich Emperor. I was very wary of the situation we were in. “Why are you happy?” Bharok asked Lepidus suspiciously.

Lepidus’ smile vanished, realizing his emotions were showing. The steam coming off his skin had subsided, and he moved to replace the bone mask.

“Can we defeat the lich and Brotherhood mage?” I asked Lepidus seriously.

“No,” he replied coldly. “The Emperor did gloat. This was a trap all along, only he expected to catch High Sentinel Fenlorian in the dungeon.”

“Trap? How could they have known we would check the dungeon here?” Bharok groused.

“They caused the dungeon break, and Fenlorian is—predictable,” Lepidus replied.

“Fenlorian? You were the one who pressed him to check on the dungeon,” I added irritably.

Lepidus turned and studied me for a moment; we stared hard at each other. Knowing what was beneath the mask made me dislike him even more. “You were not present for all our—discussions,” Lepidus finally said. “Perhaps you are right, though. I am just as predictable as the High Sentinel. The Emperor was the most ruthless, but also the most brilliant strategist in his time. He understood his enemies.”

“What are we going to do?” Baelira asked, breaking the tension.

“We stay in the dungeon and kill any undead that enters. If they are dumb enough and send a soulless, we restrain them,” I said, giving a rough plan before Lepidus offered his own.

“How long could we survive? The creatures that we can eat have necrotic tissue.” Bharok voiced his concern.

“We just need to purge the room. When the dungeon repopulates the lesser creatures; they will be free of necrosis,” I said. I had a lot of fish in my dimensional space as well.

“Fenlorian will come for us,” Lepidus said, interrupting. “He will not abandon us.”

“How do you know he is not dead already with everyone else?” I snapped.

“The Emperor…” Lepidus began to say, and I interrupted, my voice rising.

“I don’t give an ogre’s ass about the emperor. Coming to this island was a mistake,” I shouted, frustration spilling over. “We are stuck here because you couldn’t run!” The situation was escalating, and the tension broke when a chainmail-wearing woman with a long sword appeared, looking feral as she advanced toward us.

“Don’t kill her!” I shouted, but the reminder was unnecessary. Bharok swept her feet with his hammer, and she slammed hard into the floor, losing her blade. The dwarf got her face down and restrained her. He ripped her helm off and slammed her head into the floor, knocking her out. Bharok quickly tied her wrists behind her back and her ankles together. They he tied her hands and ankles, making it impossible for her to do anything but squirm.

“We can question her when she regains consciousness,” I said. “Do they speak Elvish?”

“She will not tell us anything. The vampyres train them to be fiercely loyal,” Lepidus said. I ground my teeth, still planning to try when she woke. I was relieved that the dungeon cap was met again, as we wouldn’t have to worry about defending the entry room from outside or within. Lepidus kneeled and touched the soulless woman’s head. He ran his hand over her shaved head. “She is human. No trace of nether essence, but…”

“What?” Bharok asked, getting his hammer ready.

“Her mind is possessed. Probably by the brotherhood mage, otherwise I would sense nether taint from a vampyre or the Emperor.” Lepidus stood. “It is likely he saw through her eyes when she entered and is aware who is in the dungeon with me.”

“It doesn’t matter; the exit is sealed now. We need to think long-term about sheltering here. We should drag the ghoul bodies out of here and let the dungeon reclaim them,” I said. I didn’t say it aloud, but I was thinking we could possibly tunnel our way into the Endless Dark. Whether there was a way to the island’s surface or not was unknown.

“What about Zynae?” Baelira asked. I looked at the water mage. He might have been alive if we hadn’t explored the dungeon. I didn’t feel any remorse for the elf’s death. Partly because I didn’t know him, but I also was not the leader of this failed expedition.

“Did he have family? Would they want his body returned?” I asked.

Baelira answered when no one else did. “He did. A young son, Haenrik. But he did not have a lover. His son will be cared for by others, but he may wish to say his farewells.”

I nodded and walked to the body, and it disappeared. Bharok looked hopeful. “Can you just make the ghouls disappear, too? With your void magic?”

“No, it takes too much aether. We are better off dragging them into the dungeon.” I could see Bharok’s reluctance as the poison ivy would be impossible to avoid now. We started talking about clearing the ivy and who would go to the swamp room and cleanse it of the fish and frogs.

The soulless stirred, but we ignored the woman. She fought against her restraints, yet had no hope of breaking free. Her chain mail armor scraped on the floor as she tried to shift her body position to get a better view of us. “Stop moving,” I ordered in Elvish. She froze, and her dark eyes glared at me. She had no chance of making it to the exit, so I wasn’t worried, but I still decided to blindfold her.

We started to move the ghoul bodies when Bharok shouted, “The dungeon exit is open again!”

We all looked together and confirmed the oily surface was back. I looked at the soulless and lines of blood dripped from her ears, nose, and mouth. “Heal her!” I yelled, but it was too late. The dungeon exit stretched, and something came through.

The oppressive presence washed over us, and I felt my mind fortress fighting off the intense dread. Bharok and Baelira were not as lucky as the aura paralyzed them to inaction. It was powerful magic. “Kill him!” Lepidus said. He probably would have yelled, but it only came out slightly louder than his normal flat voice.

With a wave of his hand, the lich emperor tossed Lepidus into the wall. The bone mask shattered with the other bones in his body. I stepped within range and tried to remove the lich’s head. It was not just his resistance I was fighting against, but something else magnified his resistance—like there were two people in his head. The backlash and bottoming of my aether made me stumble.

I knew from my readings that engaging the emperor in personal combat was a death sentence, but I didn’t have any choice. I grabbed Heartseeker, leaning against the wall, but before I could charge, I found myself flying through the air to join Lepidus. Heartseeker had been torn from my grasp and clattered across the room.

I hit the wall hard, my aether shield flashed, protecting me from the worst of the impact. I didn’t crumble to the ground; instead, I was pinned there like a fly in a web. I strained against the magic, slowly moving my hand toward my belt. The lich emperor surveyed the room, unconcerned. His all-black eyes met mine as I fought, and he looked at me with mild curiosity, probably because I had not succumbed to his fear spell.

Septimus Aquilinus was a head shorter than me. He didn’t look two thousand years old, or even what I imagined a lich would look like. His face was thin, but other than the black orbs and slightly gray skin tone, he looked human. His black hair was styled and showed a single streak of white. He wore layered black robes that flowed about his person. The only odd thing about the lich emperor was his worn, normal-looking sandals, like something a peasant would wear.

His voice was surprisingly clear as he spoke in accented Telhian. “Lepidus, it appears your time has come to an end, old friend.” Unlike Lepidus, Septimus’ voice was clear and full of emotion. He was clearly relishing the encounter.

Lepidus righted himself from the floor to lean against the wall. His arm was at the wrong angle. “Why now?” he asked without pain.

The emperor tore his eyes from studying me to look at Lepidus. “Why now? Because I am ready to leave this cursed isle and reclaim my empire and all of Desia and then Terra.” Bharok started to groan and pulled his hammer toward himself. The head of the hammer scraped across the floor, but the lich raised his hand, and the hammer was torn from his grip. It flew into the air and then crashed down onto Bharok’s head. He didn’t have his helm on, but his aether shield expended protecting him. The hammer rose again, and with no defenses remaining, caved in his face. He slumped to the floor—dead.

I strained against the magic holding me in place, anger fueling me as I got an aether restorative from my belt and brought it to my mouth. “Why ally with the Brotherhood? Couldn’t do it yourself?” Lepidus said in an apparent taunt to keep his attention away from me. I didn’t really have a plan. Maybe if I could get close again, I could drop one of the glowstone blocks on the lich. The red block was probably the largest left after Maveith made the smaller stones.

“They are valuable allies, but expendable. They brought me the key to controlling the dungeons.” Heartseeker rose from the floor and drifted toward him as he studied it more closely. “Interesting. I didn’t think I would see this weapon again. The Elven King survived the Labyrinth?” He turned to face me and expected me to answer.

“Go fuck yourself!” Okay, I admit my vulgarity didn’t translate well into Latin. It still managed to get the point across. In response, Heartseeker rose in the air and came down to spear Baelira through the stomach. She lurked, her paralysis broken, and screamed in pain.

“I do not like impudence,” he said. A smile formed, but it just twisted his face oddly.

The dungeon exit deformed as someone else entered. The serpentine head told me this was one of the Brotherhood. He was a humanoid but lacked ears and a nose. His eyes were yellow, and the black irises were the wrong shape. His scaled dark green skin also made it obvious. He spoke crisp Latin, surprising me. “The Sentinels are coming. Twenty of them.”

“Excellent!” Septimus Aquilinus said happily. “Package him up, and kill the others.” I was not the one being saved. Baelira was still writhing in pain as the lich exited the dungeon. Whatever force was holding me in place had not let up either.

The serpent man moved toward Baelira, drawing two long, curved blades from under his robes, but I yelled, “Kill me first!”

The serpent man paused and considered Baelira and then me. “It is not the mage I saw above,” Lepidus informed me. I tried to nod in thanks, but it was too much work.

The serpent man considered, but stalked toward me with both daggers extended, apparently agreeing to my request. When he was in range, I took his head. He crumbled to the ground. “Baelira has a healing potion in her pocket!” I yelled at Lepidus. “Remove the spear, and feed it to her.”

Lepidus crawled over the body and searched for the dungeon healing potion. He tried to remove the spear, but it was embedded in the stone, pinning her. With great difficulty, he got on it and rocked it back and forth. While he was freeing Baelira, I managed to drink another aether restorative.

Heartseeker clattered to the ground, and he poured the dungeon healing potion into the open wound. Baelira was choking on her blood, so it was the best way to administer it. I was surprised Lepidus didn’t drink it himself, as his arm was clearly broken. Baelira rolled over and started coughing up congealed blood, and I relaxed. “She will live,” Lepidus announced.

“Great, how do I get down?” I said, straining against the invisible force holding me.

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