[68]

“Forget the alchemy!” I said, unable to keep my voice low. “I want to know what happened to the person who was on watch! A horde like that isn’t exactly hard to spot.”

No one spoke, looking back and forth at each other for an explanation. Post-battle energy dumps affected all of us. Exhaustion overtook us, leaving our party shaky and in desperate need of rest—the one thing we could not have. By unspoken agreement, we continued onward into the night, talking the matter over while we led our horses. Or, in my case, a warhorse that I barely knew how to ride.

A soldier was the first to speak. “All I know was I woke up to take a piss and saw Nick without a head. Before I could even say anything, they were all over us.”

“Are you sure he was already dead?” Joy asked.

“Yeah… his body was just slumped there against the stone…” the man mumbled.

I instantly felt sorry for the man. Only three men remained of his entire platoon. People he had lived and fought with for years, dead for trying to bring that scum Reynold to justice. The fear on their faces reignited my anger and determination to make him pay. I do not know how I could make the Kestev heir suffer for all the wrongs he had brought to the world, but I was going to do my best to find a way.

“So, that means we have a foe out here that can think,” I said.

“Yep. The Doom Champion?” Joy said.

“No way, that thing does not need to use trickery.” I said with absolute certainty.

“I agree. I doubt it put all that acidfog in the corpses either.” Joy said, absently rubbing her fingers together while she thought.

“Anyone know of a really sneaky type of undead?” Raxx asked.

“Well, there are vampires,” I said, shrugging. “But those have nothing to do with Gozmyr; according to what I read, anyway. Apparently, they were a powerful alchemical sect before the Godswar. If they still exist, which is doubtful, it is out in the Ruinlands.”

“What about a ghoul? They are fast and sneaky. Can’t they develop like the other undead?” Joy said.

“They can,” I said, mentally reviewing a book I read on undead evolution. “But from what I understand, they don’t get more intelligent. None of them do, for that matter. Even Doom Champions only have limited smarts, based on who they were before they died. I think we are dealing with a living person.”

“A warlock?” a trooper asked.

“Yes,” I admitted. It was the only thing that fit. “Maybe even the warlock.”

“Can’t there be more than one?” the same trooper asked.

“There can, but from my research, it’s really rare. After they make their pact, the titan’s influence drives them mad. Warlocks have a limited time frame to enact whatever scheme they’ve given their soul for. That’s why only the truly desperate and depraved will go through with it. It’s a shortcut to power, but you don’t get to keep it for long.”

For a comical moment, I worried if Ashmere might get angry with me for releasing forbidden knowledge to the public. The idiot notion of me having to explain myself to that hard ass librarian again almost made me burst out loud with laughter. Honestly, it was a mystery why they kept knowledge of warlocks tightly controlled. Even if a person had the gumption to enact a pact, most would die long before reaching the mountains. That narrowed down the field to only those that had a death wish, wanted or were willing to be invaded by an evil alien force, and had the nerve to cross through places most ascended balked at going. Not a huge list of people could fit into all those categories.

“Well, I will not sit around and wait to get picked off,” I said.

“What are you thinking?” Joy asked.

“He or she was probably chasing Reynold, like we are. They sensed us coming and tried to end support before we could aid them. It was a well thought out play, and if it weren’t for Raxx’s spell or trooper James’ bladder, we would all be dead.” I concluded.

“Acidfog is not that easy to come by. I’m not sure they could get us again with the same trick,” Joy said.

“I know we are all tired, but I’m even more tired of running. Let’s hunt this nutter down, then deal with Reynold as we see fit.”

Everyone took a minute to think it over.

“I’m only here for Reynold Kestev,” said a battered trooper. The other two verbally agreed with him.

“I understand the sentiment, believe me I do,” I said with a cracking voice. “No matter what, I will hunt that human refuse down to the ends of the wastes if I have to. That much I can promise you. But how do we know the warlock doesn’t already have him? Or hasn’t killed him?” I pointed out.

“Surely there would be a sign of a struggle,” the man countered.

“Which brings up my next point. When was the last time we saw burned corpses? This warlock is not a stupid person, while Reynold and company most definitely are. I’m confident they could have taken that entire group just like they almost did us.”

The man thought it over, looking back at the other two regulars for support. Eventually, he admitted, “It has been a while. What if Reynold broke through, though?”

“Where is he going to go? South would put him in Ergentein. There is no way through the mountains. His only choice is to head toward us or deeper into the wastes. Besides, I don’t like the idea of leaving an enemy behind us.”

“I agree,” Joy said. “How are we going to do this?”

“I have an idea,” I said, smiling.

After resting up, I led the party back through the dark of night toward our camp. To be sure we were headed in the right direction, we circled around the remains of the earlier attack, letting Ugz get a sense of the chemical. It was my assumption that the Warlock would keep his exploding minions near himself for protection. The idea was, we follow them, and they lead us to him.

Ugz flicked his tongue into the night air while we waited near the remains of our camp. None of us wanted to look at the blackened earth, or the melted corpse of the young lieutenant. My familiar could see well in the dark but did not have strong long distance vision. HIs sense of smell, though, was far beyond what any of us were capable of. It was a good thing the acidfog had a pungent smell.

“He thinks we should go northeast,” I said, looking toward the ominous Blacknails.

Dawn was approaching by the time we caught up to the back end of the pack. Knowing what awaited us, Joy and Raxx brough the group of 13 zombies down from a distance.

While they fought, I cast Detect Magic, searching for a sign of our ambusher. Unfortunately, there was no easy trail pointing toward our prey.

“Well, now what?” Raxx asked.

“Ugz says the smell continues north from here,” I said.

“Whoever they are, they are very good at traversing the land,” Joy said, after a quick patrol around the engagement area. “I could see signs of the undead everywhere, but not a solitary person.”

“Are you saying that this person is skilled?” asked a trooper.

“Well, duh,” Joy said laughing. “What, you thought they snuck up on sentry and cut their head off with no skills?”

The man looked at me, and I nodded to confirm I agreed with her.

“A man with no skills men can do it,” Raxx said, siding with the trooper. “I’ve done it before ascending myself.”

No one wanted to ask what he meant by that.

We continued onward, forsaking caution for speed. Ugz could no longer taste the acidfog in the air, so we continued heading in the same general direction as fast as we could. My ability to control the warhorse was subpar. Frequently one of the calvary men would have to help adjust or guide the creature on my behalf. The task was trying enough that I almost wished that I had placed my latest skill point in Horsemanship.

I was the first to spot the elusive warlock that had caused the death of so many people in Ergentein. A lithe black cloak shape flitted up the rocky land, leaping from and between rocks spryly like a mountain goat. From the top of a boulder, they turned to look back at us. I caught a pale-skinned face but could not make out their features from a distance.

“I see them!” I yelled, spurring my warhorse on with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

The others followed suit, but we quickly discovered that following on the rough terrain on horseback would not be possible.

“We can keep riding, we have skills that let us,” a trooper said.

“No, don’t,” I said firmly. It was far too dangerous for us to split up right now.

“Let’s leave the horses here,” Raxx said, jumping off the warhorse he shared.

I could not blame him for wanting to go on foot. Riding behind that man for so many days had to be uncomfortable for both.

One man volunteered to stay back with the horses. It was probably a good idea. As tired as he was, he probably would have been useless in a fight.

A shiver went down my spine as we moved deeper into the shadow of the mountain.