Chapter 52: Evading Pursuit
Bolgard was very strong. That was how Thane gauged him. He was possibly as skilled as Vayne, but he had more terrifying senses, the kind that pricked at danger the way a wolf scents rain. If Esau would have that, then Thane would have fewer worries whenever he would... watch TV in public.
"I would have a bodyguard. I could binge," Thane thought, and the idea alone made him brighten. This was the way.
"Yes," Libra answered, tone measured but pleased. "He would gain Bolgard’s skills soon, and he could still grow with Bolgard’s potential. As for the rest, I recommend we sacrifice the four remaining souls who have performed many murders. It will require a lot of energy to bind the soul to Esau, and we will still be using one soul from what we captured to anchor the fusion. For the remainder, your options are to use them to regenerate my essence. We could also save the battle mages’ souls to refine into a Mana Core, but..."
"You can make a Mana Core with souls?"
"It would be you who would do the task, Master," Libra corrected.
"You would need to binge a great deal, Mana Core Forging, Basic Mana Commands, Necromancy."
"So my growth in this world is dependent on binge-watching." Thane grinned.
"Now this is my kind of grind!"
He considered the dead men’s auras one more time and nodded.
"Sacrifice them to you for now. Their mana felt shallow. They had the same level that Stratus had, probably level fourteen or so, but Stratus could perform five times the magic."
"I must note that Stratus is a magical genius," Libra replied.
"She surpasses her peers. Nevertheless, you are right. This power is too weak to keep. Then I shall begin purging."
Libra returned, not to the skull that drifted at Thane’s shoulder, but to the place where his judgments had weight. In the vast, starless hall of the Channel, he stood upon the ancient platform that had once been his prison and had become his throne. Four pale figures, souls peeled from bodies like echoes from bells, were guided forward by invisible chains of decree. Each soul squirmed, trying to flee the gravity of judgment. Their voices rose in a tangle of curses, bargains, and thin, desperate lies that did not change their mass.
The Scales unfolded before Libra, each arm a beam of might, each plate a circle of fate. When his hand lifted, the platform itself answered. A great hatch of brass opened beneath the Scales, and a furnace yawned up from depths unseen. It burned without smoke, a white fire that was not heat but holiness, flames that ate corruption the way a spring eats winter.
The Scales received the four. The feather of truth lay on one side, small as a breath, bright as morning. The souls lay on the other, sagging with the weight of their own unconfessed blood. Libra’s eyes, if he had eyes, regarded them without malice, only measure.
The scale tilted. The cries rose, broke into screams, fear becoming pain as the white fire found every hidden stain and called it by its true name. The furnace sang, a single terrible note, and went quiet.
Thane could somehow see it as it happened, a vision through the link between them. He breathed out through his nose and kept walking, shoulders settling with a strange sorrow.
"At least this world ends the soul’s life," he murmured, turning a corner. "You guys are lucky. All those sins, and an unrepentant heart, and you get to reach the end of your life. I pity those in my world who would be damned for eternity." He did not gloat. He named the weight as it was and moved on.
This time, light greeted him when he rejoined the others. Matthew had reconnected two broken torches with his Wood Magic, coaxing sap light to run like resin through the shafts. A soft, greenish glow bathed the corridor. Matthew pressed both palms over Josiah’s calf; the boy hissed, then relaxed as a lattice of bark-like fibers sealed the cut. Color crept back into his cheeks.
"What magic is that?"
"I am a Green Battle Mage who specializes in Wood Magic," Matthew said without looking up.
"So this is easy for me. Benefactor Thane, may I ask where your destination is?"
"Actually," Thane scratched his cheek.
"I fell into a river and drifted quite a distance from where I was. Before that, I was chased by orcs and goblins and had to flee for days. I am a Bag Boy of a mercenary group from Sanctus Luminara. We marched with a campaign, but the orc army broke the mercenary group I served, and I have been on the run for weeks."
"Sanctus Luminara?" Matthew’s head snapped up, astonishment flashing across his face. "My friend, this region is on the borders of Gravulkar. You have traveled very far."
Thane was not surprised; Libra had mentioned it, but he put proper shock into his voice.
"Wha...t?"
He opened his hands, shrugging with rue.
"Which means I have no money and no simple way home... Welp! I will gladly help you three in exchange for information and some guidance."
Silence folded in for a beat. Matthew looked to Priscilla. She touched Josiah’s hair, met Matthew’s eyes, and gave the smallest nod.
"How about this, Benefactor," Matthew said carefully.
"We all need to leave this cave, and I know of an exit. While we walk, and if we find a safe hiding spot, I will tell you our tale so you will know why we are fleeing. Then, whether you choose to stay with us or part ways, we will not hold it against you. For now, allow me to create a binding so you can carry both the staff and that hammer with ease."
"Alright!" Thane said, relief shading into eagerness.
"Let us move before this place grows new fangs."
Matthew stood and traced a quick sigil in the air. Tendrils of green light braided around the staff’s grip and the hammer’s haft, forming living wraps that shaped themselves to Thane’s hands. Priscilla secured a sling around Josiah’s shoulders. The boy tested his weight and nodded bravely.
Thane shifted the hammer to one shoulder and kept the staff low to shade their steps, then glanced down the dark that waited.
They began their trek. Four sets of footfalls tapped the stone, the green light pooled and receded, the tunnel breathed heat and old ash. The air changed as they moved away from the lava heart. It cooled from oven to kiln to simple cave breath that tasted of wet rock. Matthew took the lead.
It was clear, he already had a destination in mind. Even stone told them when roots had once wound here and when they had been scorched away.
He lifted a small charm from his belt, a crude doll wrapped in twine, its chest pinned with a milky heart that quivered.
"This is a Wimp Imp heart," he said, glancing back.
"Since those imps are easily frightened, they detect life forms and monsters quite well. With a simple enchantment, it will quiver when it senses monsters close by. If it shakes a little, the threat is distant. If it flutters, something is near. If it rattles hard, we run."
Thane took note of such a useful item.
They reached a fork where the floor pitched downward. The imp heart stirred, barely a tremble. Matthew nodded, left, then hesitated. Thane lifted his chin and peered into the gloom.
Supreme Perception brushed against the world like a blind man’s hand and came back with shapes and heat. To the left, the ground bore small gouges where something heavy had dragged itself.
To the right, the air moved slowly and was humid.
"We can’t go left. That’s why the Wimp Heart trembled, right? And I hear water to the right. There could be a river there."
"Your senses are admirable, Master Thane. This is the path I wanted. I’ve had several missions here and know the layout of this underground cavern. We dive down the river to evade scouts and wayfinders who will track us! And a small campsite that I frequent would just be beyond it!"
They slipped along the right-hand path. The light from the staff dimmed to a pocket glow so they would not be seen from a distance. After a few dozen paces, a soft hiss rose, like endless silk being torn. The tunnel opened to a long gallery. Along the far wall, a river ran within the stone itself, encased by a lip of smooth basalt that broke into shelves. The current was strong, black as ink, watching itself go by.
"Follow me. The river isn’t that deep. But we might have to swim for a time to evade the creatures nearby.
The strange Wimp Imp doll began to tremble, and Thane saw that there were strange, large lizards waiting at a distance.
They edged along the opposite wall, keeping their footsteps soft. The salamanders turned their eyes, then lost interest.
The group swam and swam, avoiding the nearby creatures.
The imp heart fluttered again. Matthew froze, then lowered his voice to a thread.
"Ahead, in the dark. Something bigger."
Thane closed his eyes and let his hearing unfurl. There. A slow, wet breath, the scrape of thick nails on stone. A cave troll, dozing. Thane tasted the musk of it on the air, like old fur and damp leather.
"Cave troll... Sleeping." Thane muttered.
Matthew nodded as they swam past it.
Soon, they finally decided on a place to depart.
Matthew took out a little pot and wetted the bristles of a bundle that did not look like much. He whispered, the pot steamed, and the bundle unfolded into a wooden broom with fern-like fronds for bristles. He swept the stone behind them as they went, and the fronds left a sheen that dried to the color of the surrounding rock. Footprints vanished as he swept as they moved deep into the cave.
After a few minutes, the path rose. The imp heart trembled again, then settled. Up ahead, Thane’s sight pricked on a faint, wrong symmetry. Stone leaned on stone in a way that made too much sense for mere chance. He narrowed his eyes. On the uphill side of the path, where a congregation of stalactites hung down and stalagmites thrust up like a forest of fangs, a small dark place sat exactly where shadow would keep it from eyes. There was a hole!
"Ah, you see it?" Matthew smiled.
"That is indeed the campsite. This was our favorite hunting ground with the king back then. I wonder if all those things are still there?" Matthew wondered.
They crept to the spot. Up close, the hole was hand wide at the lip, then widened within. The little chamber beyond looked dry and quiet. Basalt formed a natural bench within.
But as they entered, Thane was surprised to see a room! It had stone benches, a cooking area, and even a small well!