Dark Lord's Commands 2, page 17
“I’m sure you’ll get a chance to find out,” I told her as I extinguished the hearth, throwing dirt over the ashes. “We’ll push hard across the Courts to reach the Promenade. Gaspar, are you up for this?”
“Naturally,” she said with a firm nod. “I have been granted this wondrous opportunity and I will not let you down.”
Marching outside, Gaspar paused to stare up at the nightmarish sky.
“Fascinating, she uttered. The colors of madness were reflected in her eyes, which practically danced in excitement.
As Nichessa lowered the stone barricade around the tower, the scholar took out her notebook and began jotting down her observations, a smile spreading across her lips.
“My first day as a greater ascendant has barely started, and already I am granted an opportunity long denied to me,” she uttered, still looking up. “Whatever dread I felt about the astral tear before has been replaced by pure fascination. Looking into it is --”
She shook her head, at a loss for words.
I glanced up, but unlike her, I could only stand to spend a few seconds staring into the swirling, fractured sky; any longer and I started seeing terrible, impossible shapes moving across the fetid stars.
“Let’s go,” Nichessa called, waving as she stepped back outside.
Moving, I went to follow her and Vexile, but then I noticed that Gaspar wasn’t with us.
Glancing back, I saw she had lowered her head and closed her notebook, but she hadn’t taken a step. She shook her head, a sad, fleeting expression on her face.
I waved for my other queens to continue while I went back to talk to the scholar.
“Are you alright?”
She regarded me in a calm but regretful manner. “I must confess one bit of discomfort.” She sighed, “Robert, I am grateful beyond words for what you have done for me, but I cannot state that I love you. Certainly not like the others do, and I feel ashamed for it.”
I looked at her, then laughed, “Is that all?”
She looked at me in consternation. “What?”
I grinned, then kissed her chastely on the forehead. “We only met a matter of days ago, we barely know one another. We might be married by the will of Revina, but I’m not going to demand that you fall in love with me immediately because of that.”
I took her hands, now warm and soft in my grasp. “Get to know me, Vexile, and Nichessa. Learn about our wonderful kingdom and the people back in Gloomglow, whom I am sure will all be eager to meet you. Maybe love will develop between us in time, maybe not, all I ask is that you continue to pursue the dream we all share and that you are always honest with how you feel.”
She blushed, turning her head away. “Robert, if you keep saying things like that, genuine affection might form.”
Laughing, I tugged her with me as we hurried to catch up with the others.
We moved at a quick pace across the ruined parkland, our eyes peeled for any dangers.
As we walked, I noticed Vexile slithering up next to Gaspar, asking about the notebook the scholar had been carrying. Within moments they were quickly chatting, discussing the various books the two had read and comparing their finds when salvaging for lost knowledge.
“You married a real diplomat,” Nichessa chuckled as she strode by my side.
“I attribute our matrimonial bliss to Vexile and her sterling people skills,” I admitted. I knew my First Queen often worked as the negotiator and scheduler for our marriages, helping smooth out any concerns before they became serious.
But now that there are four of us, I’ll have to be sure to talk to Vexile. I appreciate what she’s doing, but I don’t want her to exhaust herself trying to manage every aspect of our relationships. It might not always be smooth sailing, and that’s okay too.
As we approached the Promenade, I saw the damage wasn’t as severe as I had originally estimated. Most of the outer structures, the column-lined terraces and patios, were gone, but the heart of the building remained. It was composed of a series of stone arches, which merged in gentle waves, forming a vast interior, held up by pillars.
Getting closer, I could see that each of the pillars had been artful masterpieces. They had been carved in different styles; some featuring geometric artwork, while others had wild carvings of men and beasts running up their sides.
The fall of Nightbound had outright destroyed a number of them, leaving only a few, chipped remnants of the artwork hanging onto broken marble. Others were badly cracked or had been deliberately defaced, the carvings ripped free and left as broken bits of masonry on the floor.
Vexile, hissing in distress, went up to one column, a despoiled image of Revina carved into its surface. She placed a hand against the cold, black stone and bowed her head in prayer.
Gaspar peered into the shadows, blinking in surprise. “These vision enhancements are amazing. Though there is a notable drop off in color differentiation, the ability to see details even in deep shadows is amazing.”
Nichessa just looked at the two of them and shook her head.
Venturing deeper into the Promenade, I saw there were numerous skeletons, all ancient Luminark soldiers, scattered across the floor. More worryingly, I spotted several dead Luminark adventurers, who had died much more recently. They had suffered horrible, violent deaths; severed arms, legs, and heads were scattered about. One adventurer had been cleaved completely in half by a single clean cut.
“Another one of Jasquez’s death traps?” I asked Gaspar.
The scholar rubbed her eyes and then came over to join me, crouching by the nearest corpse. “I don’t believe so, these bodies have been here for several years, based upon the state of decay.”
“Maybe they're from the Greater Ecclesia University?” the titaness joked.
Gaspar blinked at her, “That’s just a made-up name. Something Jasquez’s partner came up with?”
“Partner?” I asked.
She nodded. “From what I understand, their role in this scheme is to plant fake articles in the Luminark tabloids and then recruit the fools who get hooked by the stories. He takes his share of the initial fees, and then sends them north. Jasquez’s job is to steal what they have left and then dispose of them.”
“Knew it,” I nodded, feeling slightly vindicated.
Vexile shivered as she came over to join us. “The Luminark are truly heartless.”
“Any idea who the partner is?” I asked the scholar
She stood back up. “No, I only inferred his existence after several slip-ups from Jasquez, when he said things he likely shouldn’t have. Whomever they are, the inquisitor has complete faith in them.” She looked down at the body. “Likely these are just poor, diluted idiots who heard the old tales about Nightbound and came looking for treasure.”
“And found only death,” Vexile said, her expression vexed, “as they deserved.”
I glanced at the bodies, they weren’t torn up like they had been attacked by a ghoul or a slime. Someone or something had skillfully and brutally cut them to pieces.
“Just who, or what, killed these people?”
More recent scenes of violence became clear as we walked through the building. We found several more bodies, including some adventurers who had died just the day before.
“Must have been from Jasquez’s group,” I said after searching a corpse. “They got separated from the inquisitor, then ran here looking for shelter.”
Vexile held Liberation at the ready, “Do you think they were killed by a ghost?”
Back home, ghost stories were just made-up tales to scare people, I glanced at my three wives. But in a world with magic and gods, why can’t there be ghosts too?
“I’ve noticed that all the deceased adventurers have suffered frostbite, particularly around their wounds,” Gaspar told us. “That is in line with injuries inflicted by spectral entities, based upon what I know.”
“Are ghosts common?” I asked.
Gaspar tapped her collarbone, thinking before she shook her head. “There have been scattered reports throughout the centuries, mostly from civilian sources, but only half were ever substantiated by inquisitorial investigators. I personally have never seen one, but Jasquez claimed this city was haunted by the vengeful spirits of the Duskhaven dead.”
Nichessa chuckled, “Maybe they’ll be on our side --”
At the far end of the Promenade, we heard the distinct rasp of metal against metal.
Turning, we saw an armored figure emerge from the shadows.
They were wearing black iron armor, the plates having gone dull from age. A huge hole was rent through the breastplate, from right shoulder to right hip, revealing the chaotic blizzard of divine energy held within.
A massive sword, easily as tall as the knight, was held in their hand.
For a moment I felt like I was back in the last Dark Lord’s throne room, the specter before me superimposed over the knight-captain who had received her last command.
The ghost, there was no doubt that was what it was, regarded us unmovingly. Then in a blast of frozen air, it was gone, disappearing as quickly as it had first appeared.
We cautiously approached the spot where it had been standing.
“Robert,” Vexile hugged my arm, her skin clammy and cold, “you felt that too, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I nodded absently; I was unable to shake the haunting image from the past.
“That was a dead ascendant, wasn’t it?” Nichessa said.
“You three have more experience with detecting the divine magic of other entities, so I’ll defer to your thoughts.” Gaspar crouched down, running her hands over the floor stones.
They were rimed in frost.
“I felt Revina’s power within her,” Vexile confirmed.
“She carries on her duty, even in death,” I told them about the double-vision I had experienced when I had seen the knightly ghost.
Nichessa scowled further, “You think that’s the ghost of the knight-captain you saw in your vision?”
I nodded, certainty stealing over me, “Augusta Vilewind. The last Dark Lord entrusted her with the Eye of Night, to hide it from the Luminark invaders before the palace fell.”
Vexiles eyes lit up with admiration. “To continue to carry out her duty, after so many centuries, that is true devotion. The Goddess sustains her, so she can honor her vow.”
Frowning, I began walking again, heading towards the palace. “I guess we need to chase down a ghost then.”
Exiting the Promenade, we paused on its rear stairs. Before us was a wasteland, the destruction so complete that it made the Courts of Dark Blessing look pleasant. The earth was stained black, torn and rent with ditches, trenches, craters. It was a muddy no man’s land. Scraps of white bone peeked up through the muck, and there wasn’t a single sign of life, not even a ghoul.
Gaspar inspected her map for a second, then rolled it back up. “Nobody has made it this far and come back alive, so my knowledge ends here. I have very little information about the palace’s layout, most of which was gleaned from scattered texts and records I found while scavenging.”
“Jasquez never tried to get inside?” Nichessa was surprised. “I figured that greedy ass would have made a beeline here, searching for treasure.”
Gaspar smirked, “He sent a few particularly gullible adventurers to the palace, but none ever returned. Most just made it to the Promenade and then turned around.”
Nichessa glanced over her shoulders at the corpses strewn across the Promenade. “It looks like not all of them had the chance to turn around and flee.”
Gaspar sighed. “He might be a pig and a fraud, but Jasquez isn’t completely without brains. I doubt he planned to ever step foot near the palace himself.”
“And despite all his caution and cunning, look where it got him,” Nichessa said smugly, “eaten by ghouls.”
“Likely eaten,” I told her. “Personally, I won’t be certain he’s dead until we find the body.”
She reached back to tap the top of her hammer, “That might mean another chance to kill him myself then. Inquisitorial scum deserves it.”
Across the wasteland, the palace hung darkly against the discordant sky. With all the broken windows and shattered columns, I couldn’t help by mentally imagine the place as a massive tombstone, the final grave marker for the old kingdom.
Quickly, I began walking, my three wives trailing in my wake.
Chapter 17
It took us the better part of the day to get across the palace grounds.
Before the invasion, I imagined they had been gardens and parks, similar to the Courts of Dark Blessing. But the Luminark’s attack had churned them into endless muddy pits and mass graves. Even with Nichessa’s power, we were often forced to climb and crawl through the blasted landscape.
We saw several more of the Luminark glass-orb war machines, most of them buried in the mud. Gaspar told us they were siege engines, designed to hurl gigantic bolts of Alruna’s light that would annihilate their targets.
She frowned as she ran her hands over one of their shattered orbs, the remnants of Alruna’s fury sparking at her touch.
“How many of these things does the empire still have?” I asked her, already thinking of our future military campaigns against them.
“None,” she told me, some old sorrow flickering across her features. “The Luminark military was devastated by the war. Yes, they destroyed Duskhaven and slew the last Dark Lord, but the cost was far, far higher than even the most pessimistic of their leaders could have imagined.”
She stepped away from the war machine. “As the empire began to slide into its long decline, they lost the ability to produce many of the wonders that had made its greatness possible. The inquisition took control and mandated that the only lesser ascendants to be created would be archangels. They claimed it was to protect the empire from their new foes within; the massive number of Duskhaven slaves being brought in to replace the workforce that had been lost in the war, the citizens who had failed to completely support the invasion, and the rebellious elements within the church itself.”
“So the archangels are the inquisition’s enforcers, a club to beat everyone else down,” Nichessa concluded.
Gaspar nodded.
“The empire tore itself apart from within,” Vexile observed, shaking her head. “A fitting price for the Luminark’s sins.”
“It’s a tale I’ve heard often enough at home,” I nodded, thinking back on Earth’s history. “Often governments, seeing no foes to fight at large, turn inward to find scapegoats and fifth columns to blame for their failings.”
“Without lesser ascendants to build and maintain their artifacts, the technology in the empire rapidly fell apart,” Gaspar continued. “It should have raised alarms, but with a huge pool of free slave labor, the inquisition simply threw manpower at their problems. What was once done by one ascendant artifact was now done by a thousand Duskhaven slaves.”
Vexile’s tail twitched. If she had a rattle, I’m sure it would have been shaking furiously.
Gaspar looked just as disgusted by that fact. ”Scientific progress simply stagnated, since there was no push to invent anything new. Even my mother’s research into the church’s records was mostly about trying to replicate the ascendant’s power of old rather than creating an original answer to the empire’s many problems.”
“What about greater ascendants?” I asked. “You said the empire still had a few?”
“There has only been a handful since the war, all loyal inquisition members,” Gaspar replied. “The inquisition picks the Light Lord’s spouses as part of their program to control them. They can’t risk a greater ascendant that would turn against them. As far as I know, the current Light Lord is unmarried, a figurehead with no real power.”
I idly wondered what Machiavelli would make of the history of the Luminark Empire. He’d probably applaud their ability to gather and hold power, but be sickened by their subsequent decline, wasting their potential on fighting imaginary foes.
I laughed to myself, He’d probably say they’re ripe to fall.
As we got closer to the palace, I could almost feel the broken sky pressing down on us. My exposed skin tingled like I was standing in blistering heat while cold winds plucked at my hair.
“Fascinating,” Gaspar stopped again to stare at the sky, “It appears the astral tear effects are even more pronounced here.”
“It’s the epicenter for the spell,” I gestured towards the palace. “Based on my vision, the last Dark Lord detonated it from her throne room, her dying curse upon the Luminark.”
“I am once again glad I took you up on your matrimonial offer,” the scholar smiled. “Had I not, I am sure even a few minutes of exposure to the tear’s energy would have killed me.”
“You two lovebirds done?” Nichessa sniggered. She was standing at the bottom of a set of steps that led up to the palace’s inner courtyard.
Vexile covered her mouth, laughing with her.
“I did not think our conversation topic was particularly romantic,” Gaspar griped.
The stairs were low but long, stretching meters across and a meter deep. They were made from black marble, veined with thin, silvery striations and particles. I imagined in the days of the old kingdom, pilgrims and travelers would have felt reverence and awe as they had climbed them.
But all I felt was bone-weary exhaustion. We had pushed ourselves hard to cross the palace grounds; my boots were caked in mud and my clothing was sticking to my back under the weight of my stolen armor.
I should have put on the armor Nichessa made me before leaving our hideout, I thought ruthfully. Not only was it far better than the Luminark castoffs, but it was far lighter as well. I didn’t even think of changing before we left. Stupid of me.
Reaching the top landing, I saw there was a huge patio in front of the palace gates. To the side were several small shrines and buildings, all dedicated to Revina.
“Let’s take shelter and rest for a minute,” I told the others. “We need to be ready for anything once we get inside.”
We found an intact shrine, with the roof still standing, and went inside.
