A Soldier's Life - 434 - Truth Or Fiction?

Chapter 434: Truth Or Fiction?

The news of the dungeon collapse spread through Sanctuary like wildfire. Most Sentinels were unaware of the planned expedition to the Isle of the Dead, but once the cutter left the port, they would find out. I was feeling anxious about traveling to the Isle now that it was becoming real. It was bothering me so much that I felt forced to ask not to go.

Before heading to the artificing workshop in the afternoon, I went to request an audience with Fenlorian, whom I had not seen in the past week. I found the High Sentinel meeting with Jalorien, the castellan. I only caught parts of their conversation, but they were discussing Sanctuary’s defenses, particularly the runic arrays.

Fenlorian looked up, his eyes sunken and dark. His once icy blue eyes appeared darker, heavier. “The expedition will leave tomorrow morning,” he said, guessing my reason for coming.

“I was coming to request not to go. I do not want to leave Evie,” I said, leaning into the excuse.

Fenlorian addressed Jalorien. “Recheck the westerly runes and map out the placement of the new runes.” The castellan nodded, rolled up some parchment, and left the room. When the doors closed with a boom that echoed in the chamber, Fenlorian studied me. “You are a Seeker. You are under my command.” He said it with a commander’s finality.

“That is why I am making a request. There should be any number of Sentinels with more experience against the undead who could replace me,” I replied.

Fenlorian sat in his chair and locked his hands together as he thought. “What is your true reason for not going? You may care for the child, but I know you are not her father or her stepfather.”

I was ready to deny it because I actually did see myself as Evie’s stepfather and protector now. Instead, I told the man the truth. “I don’t trust Lepidus.”

His eyebrows rose slightly, not in surprise or shock. “You have read his journal in the Last Reliquary Vault?”

“Yes, the Elvish translation,” I replied.

Fenlorian slowly nodded and rose and left the room to return shortly with a worn, small leather book bound with a red leather strap. The pages were yellowed, and there was no title anywhere. “You can take this. It is his account from after the Legion arrived on Desia to after the demons were subdued. It will tell you why he became what he is and what motivates him.”

“He is a revenant,” I stated plainly.

Fenlorian nodded slowly. “In most respects, yes. His body is sustained by both nether and life essence. He has feet in both realms but can never fully step back and is too afraid to step forward.” That obscure symbolism grated on me even though I somewhat understood.

Taking the journal, it was heavier than I expected as I picked it up. I paged through it, and the pages were glossy, as if they had been preserved. “Why did he insist I go to the Isle?” I asked.

Fenlorian locked eyes with me. “Read the journal.” He sighed, sagging slightly from the weight of responsibility. “I suspect he thinks your void magic is strong enough to kill the Lich Emperor Septimus Aquilinus. I am joining the expedition to make sure such a confrontation does not happen. If there is nothing else.” He turned to review some other documents, clearly dismissing me.

I took one step, then another, before realizing I was still going to the Isle of the Dead. I hesitated only briefly before exiting and heading to the artificers’ workshop. Paging through the entire diary, each page was filled with tight Latin script, as if Lepidus were afraid he might not have enough room for all his thoughts.

I made my way to my station in the workshop, placing the diary in clear sight as I started my day of tracing. I knew Lepidus would see it and recognize it, giving me a chance to confront him. Such a confrontation could be a way out of the expedition but it might get me kicked out of being an apprentice artificer. Inevitably, Lepidus came by to check my work. He froze, seeing the book. His hand rested on it, and he caressed it lightly before commenting on my lines. Then he left, not giving me the confrontation I was seeking.

During a break, I opened the book and tried to read a few passages, hoping to prompt a reaction from Lepidus. The tiny Latin script, while clearly written, was hard to read, and I found I was better at reading Elvish than Latin. Lepidus approached, and I thought I had him. “If you have any questions, ask and I will answer them,” he said, then walked back to his station. It was a bit infuriating, and it would be much quicker to read the journal in the dreamscape, so I closed it.

That night, Baelira joined us for dinner at my invitation. Blaze had prepared fried potato balls for the meal. It was a simple recipe where he formed herb-infused mashed potatoes into a ball around a chunk of cheese in the center that was wrapped in bacon. Then he fried them in bacon fat and crumbled the bacon bits over the top. He got the recipe from a female dwarf sentinel he worked with. I wondered at the symbolism as you cut into the crispy balls, the cheese oozed out. They were actually quite tasty, even though I was full after two. Baelira didn’t seem to like bacon, as she pushed the meat bits to the corner of her plate.

The silence at the meal told me the rumor of the dungeon collapse had reached them. “I am still planning to go,” I said, breaking the tension.

“I could join the crew of the cutter,” Blaze offered.

“We talked about this,” I said, trying to sound exasperated. I didn’t want to argue with Blaze in front of Evie or Baelira. Evie had eaten three balls and pushed away a fourth, clearly upset.

“I will not let anything happen to him,” Baelira interjected, giving Evie a reassuring nod.

I sighed and tried to start a new conversation. “Did you know Baelira’s parents were part of an Elven Nation of Milvanoris?”

“That is where Elaro was from?” Blaze said, surprised.

I nodded, not surprised that Blaze recalled that. “Excellent memory,” I complimented him. I focused on Evie. “Lexie should be learning Elvish from Elaro Morlamin in Gramney. He is an ambassador prince of sorts. Milvanoris was turned into a wasteland by mages overusing weather magic in another kingdom.” That managed to get Evie’s attention, and Baelira regaled her with tales her mother had told her about Milvanoris when she was growing up. We had talked about Milvanoris and Elaro during our research sessions, and she seemed inclined to visit Gramney in the future to speak with Elaro possibly.

The elf woman quickly developed a good rapport with Evie, as this was the first time they had really talked. They had met three times in the last week, but it was clear that for all her stern facade, Baelira was good with children. The focus was off me and turned into a lively conversation.

That night, I entered the dreamscape alone. Evie pouted, but I needed to focus. I had the diary translated into Elvish, which I found to be a better language for conveying ideas and intent than English. I read every entry, and yes, I had questions. The complete, unfiltered writings of Lepidus were beyond fascinating and gave me insight into the man. More importantly, there was an account of their search for Hephaestus. It read like Odysseus’s tale, with a ship of a hundred legionnaires on a quest. Their trials and tribulations were extensive, and more than half died by the time they found the storm giant.

It explained how the mages with Lepidus tricked the Titan into revealing secrets about the world gates by controlling his mind. They couldn’t take the Titan back to the Telhian Empire with them, so they spent years learning the craft of artificing from him as his “apprentices.” When they returned to the Empire, Lepidus and eleven other men trained other artificers as they gradually built the world gate and crafted weapons of war for the Emperor. One passage even mentioned the first black blade being forged; its original purpose was to prevent the enemy from healing on the battlefield. Clearly, not all the runes were on the reference shelf in the workshop.

As the artificers of the Telhian Empire toiled away, you could slowly see the tone of the writing changing. Lepidus had been eager to return to Earth leading up to the opening of the world gate. But his thirst for conquest was waning as he saw the death his artifacts had. He was still devoted to the Empire, but sympathy was leaking into his words as he questioned the Emperor’s ruthless methods.

After the world gate was opened and demons flooded through, his attitude completely changed in the writings. Even after the demon horde, the Emperor never gave up his dream of returning to Earth. He was even more determined to find a way back and ordered the artificers to craft more powerful weapons to fight the demons. He truly thought there was no foe he couldn’t conquer. He sought methods to block or create weapons to combat the demons.

Time was not on his side. The Emperor realized he was losing his mind, even though his youthful body remained. He took steps that further robbed him of his humanity. Even after the Emperor became a lich, he continued his quest to return to Earth and rebuild the world gates.

That was when Lepidus and others initiated a coup to preserve both the Telhian Empire and Earth. Emperor Septimus Aquilinus was forced from the Empire and retreated to the Isle of Dead. Lepidus was too worried he would one day return to the Telhian Empire and decided to become what he was today to keep an eye on the Emperor and counter his actions. The only other legionnaire still alive from the First Legion was Titus Aelius, but he apparently had a spell form that was similar to my own slow aging.

If this journal was genuine, the writings were very persuasive about Caracalla Lepidus’ loyalty to humanity and preserving Earth from demons. He had become an enemy of the Emperor, doing everything he could to thwart the lich.

There was no fanfare to see us off before sunrise. A few Sentinel fishermen were preparing their nets for their daily catch, and some members of Fenlorian’s council were discussing a few points before he stepped aboard. I had dropped Evie off at the hatchery on my way to the docks. The small cutter had just an open deck with a small hold that smelled of fish. The most powerful water and weather Mages had sailed on the Salty Widow, but the sailors preparing the ship did have some magic to smooth the trip.

Lepidus, in his bone mask, was late to dock. We were waiting on him, and when he arrived, he had a large pack that thudded heavily on the deck when he dropped it. It was a signal we were ready to sail. Fenlorian broke away from his discussion to board as well. Bharok grumbled. “About time. Let’s get this over with.”

We sailed out of the bay, with the sea's chop calming around the small ship. The sail caught the wind, and the ship lurched forward. We headed northwest toward the Isle. The cliffs and castles loomed in the distance, but I knew one of the council members was casting an illusion over our small ship, making it blend with the water. At this distance, there was no chance of being spotted on our approach. We kept our distance from the island as we sailed around the western tip of the Isle of the Dead.

I moved to sit next to Lepidus, and he looked over at me. “You have questions?” He stated in his flat tone.

“Is Hephaestus alive?” I asked my first question.

Lepidus was quiet for a moment. “Not what I thought you would ask first. Hephaestus was alive when we left him chained inside the mountain. We were not certain if we would need his knowledge again. He did not require food to live, so he could still be alive.”

“Where is the mountain? Your journal did not say,” I asked.

Lepidus’ eyes studied me, trying to figure out the purpose of my question. “It took fifty master artificers twelve years to build the world gate. Fifty brilliant minds.” He looked at me. “You know what would happen if a gate were opened. Why pursue it?” Lepidus asked.

“I don’t want to return to Earth. I am just curious about his fate,” I replied somewhat truthfully.

His eyes moved over me as if trying to decide if I was telling the truth. “South. Far to the south. Three islands of equal size, you will find in the middle of the ocean. If you reach the ice flows, you have sailed too far. I only tell you, so that if you do seek him out, you can free him. We left both his body and mind trapped.”

“Free him, as in kill him?” I questioned.

Lepidus tilted his head. “That would be your decision. Mercy is a concept I now have trouble with.”

The boat turned toward the shore, interrupting our conversation. Men and women moved to the bow to scout the shoreline and rocky bay we were aiming for. The tension was high as we approached and slid between two rocks into a small inlet with a sandy beach. It was low tide, and mussels dotted the rocky walls around us. The smell of the salt and the sea was strong. I could almost sense the nether essence in the air.

Fenlorian was on the bow, the white blade drawn as he scanned a sandy path leading up and into the island. Other Sentinels were trying to scout with magic, as my aether sight could see spell forms forming between their hands. They appeared frustrated with the lack of effectiveness of their magic.

“Do we disembark?” A sentinel asked Fenlorian.

Fenlorian looked back at the mages for an answer. The rocky walls of the cove made it nearly impossible to be ambushed. But if we left the ship and climbed the path into the island, it probably wouldn’t be hard to cut us off from the ship. All eyes were on Fenlorian, who appeared focused. “Push off. We are leaving,” he suddenly commanded. Everyone looked confused, but Sentinels in the robes and armor immediately responded, hopping over the rails into the sand to push the ship back into the water. A few men started to scratch at their skulls.

Lepidus was standing next to Fenlorian. “What do you sense?”

“Death encroaching,” Fenlorian said darkly. A crackling sound had us turn. The entrance to the inlet was emitting a sublimation cloud as crystals started to form in the light waves. Something was turning the salt water to ice! “Torandir, we need your fire magic!” Fenlorian yelled.

War cries echoed in the small cove as men in fine chainmail came rushing down the sandy path. Yep, I definitely should have stayed in Sanctuary.

On board: Lepidus, Baelira, Eryk, Bharok, Fenlorian, + 2 council, +6 sailors (did I change this to 10?)

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