Chapter Sixty-Six: ‘Once the Light has arrived...’

Roman saw the solid bar of white shoot up into the sky and had to shield his eyes. It remained there for a long moment, and even after it was gone, the image of it was still burned into his vision for a few seconds.

As he drew near, he saw the aftermath of the fight from the air. The forest had been leveled all around Rathmore’s Gate, the odd chunk of metal or stone mixed in. Unable to see either Hector or Harper, he returned to the now wildly uneven ground for a closer look, knocking an upturned rock over with his rough landing.

‘Damn,’ he said. ‘I know the place wasn’t in such great shape when we left it, but now it just looks like a bomb went off.’

‘See anyone?’ said Voreese.

‘Looking.’

Harper appeared in a flash, standing right in front of Roman. But he didn’t attack. Instead, the light dimmed all around him, and he collapsed face-first into the mud.

Roman stared at him a moment. “Huh.”

Darsihm melted out of Harper’s back, a formless mass at first, then slowly becoming an ethereal crow again.

“You conscious?” said Roman. A beat passed. “You alive?”

Neither answered.

“Hmm. I suppose if you were dead, there wouldn’t be anything left of you.” He picked the reaper up with a soul-empowered hand and then hoisted Harper over his shoulder.

That only left Hector. And with all the rubble around, the kid could be just about anywhere.

‘Hey, is Hector even alive?’ he asked.

There was a pause, and then Voreese said, ‘Garovel can’t recreate him from scratch, so he must be there somewhere.’

‘Dammit, why’s that kid gotta be so resilient? I don’t wanna search through all this shit.’

‘What about Harper?’

‘Yeah. Already found him. Pretty sure he’s just unconscious. Darsihm, too.’ He flipped over a bisected tree trunk. ‘Aha, hey. Think I see Hector.’ He moved closer and pulled a pair of legs out of the ground. ‘Aw, shit. It’s just his legs. Hmm. Guess he’ll be wanting these pants, though.’

‘Y’know, you could try calling out to him.’

‘Good idea.’ Pants and belt draped over one arm, he started shouting. “Hector! Where are you, pal?! If your lungs still work, then say something!”

Rather than a voice, a sudden spire shot up on the other side of the rock formation. When Roman made his way over, he found Hector’s upper body in the midst of regeneration. Crumbled chunks of his helm remained around his head, and he had one-and-a-half of his arms, but his chest had yet to fully reform. Roman could see Hector blinking at him.

“Well, now,” said Roman. “This brings back memories. You managed to stay conscious this time, though.”

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

It took a while to reach the nearest rallying point. Karkash didn’t even know where it was. Because he didn’t need to. Hoyohté had all the fallback locations and contingency plans memorized. This one was a long-abandoned gas station, and it stood some fifty kilometers north of the Carthrace Nature Reserve.

Karkash was the first to arrive, of course. He took a seat on the roof, which groaned under his weight but held together.

Hoyohté floated behind him, her hulking orca’s body casting no shadow. ‘I knew this assignment would be terrible,’ she said in Vaelish. ‘What other result could there be when working with such fools?’

“I don’t understand how the Morgunovs ever accomplish anything at all,” said Karkash, also in Vaelish. “It could only be the Void’s will that has allowed them to last this long.”

‘I know what you mean, but I think it’s something of a testament to Morgunov’s abilities that he can organize and lead people like that.’

“Is he not as mad as people say?”

‘Mad, certainly. A fool? No. I’ve only met him once, but I’ve seen his work. He’s just as much a genius as he is insane.’

“Would you say he is smarter than Dozer?”

‘Of course not. Dozer is the true vessel of the Void’s will and power. There is no competing with him.’

“Unless your name happens to be Sermung, apparently.”

‘Let’s not turn this into an argument.’

Karkash rubbed his neck as he stretched it. “You know my faith in Dozer is strong. I wasn’t trying to argue anything. But regimes do change. Sooner or later. And there’s only so much we can do about it.”

‘Not this again. You don’t have the power to be speaking words such as those. As servants go, you’re still a child. I’d hope today has taught you that much, at least.’

“I understand the limits of my strength. It’s the limits of others that I question.”

‘Enough.’

They waited for a long while. Honestly, Karkash didn’t expect anyone else to have survived the fight. Waiting in this place seemed like a waste of time, but unsurprisingly, Hoyohté was adamant that they follow protocol. He occupied himself with meditation, and eventually, the reaper stirred him out of it.

‘I sense Ezmortig,’ she said.

He opened his eyes and looked out over the lowlands. A vast reach of grass stretched toward the horizon, and in the distance, he could just make out the shape of another reaper headed toward them. “Surprising.”

When Ezmortig was close enough, he started to recreate Desmond. The brain was the first thing to appear, growing out from a speck on the ground and from there, it only took a few minutes for the man’s body to regenerate fully.

Desmond took a deep breath, stretching his jaw muscles with one hand as he looked around at Karkash and the two reapers. He was nude, of course, but he didn’t seem to mind very much. He gave a loud sniff and cracked his neck. “So I guess things didn’t go very well for us, did they?”

‘I’m fairly certain that everyone else is dead,’ said Ezmortig. ‘Hanjir and Jupard might’ve gotten away, but I suspect Roman killed them.’

“Who’s Roman?” said Desmond.

‘The flying man that Karkash was fighting. We fought him, too, back when we tried to kill the Queen the first time. He told us his name at Belgrant Castle, though you probably don’t remember. His reaper’s name is Voreese.’

Desmond squinted. “That was the same guy? I don’t remember him flying around before.”

‘Seems his power has grown since then,’ said Ezmortig.

‘You should have killed him the first time, then,’ said Hoyohté. ‘If that man had not been present today, the fight might have gone very differently.’

“Pfft, whatever. I seem to recall you not killing the metal kid on two separate occasions. Three, now. Oh, and let’s not forget about your little stunt with Stoker and Nize. If you’d just let them go--or better yet, let me handle it--then maybe you wouldn’t have ended up on television and put the entire fucking plan in jeopardy for no reason.”

‘In our sect, we make an example of treasonous cowards,’ said Hoyohté. ‘I do not expect you to understand.’

Ezmortig interjected. ‘Calm down. It’s no use complaining at this point. Anyway, the real problem was the man with the light powers. Even if Karkash had been free to attack more, I highly doubt it would have made a difference. No offense.’

Karkash merely gave a small shrug and folded his arms.

“Eh, fuck it,” said Desmond, shaking his head. “So what’s the plan now?”

‘We should return to headquarters,’ said Ezmortig.

‘Are you sure?’ said Hoyohté. ‘We can still fall back to our allies in Kahm, no?’

Ezmortig shook his huge head. ‘This operation is lost. We’d need to bring someone in who could kill that light bastard, but this mission just doesn’t have that kind of priority. Atreya isn’t important enough right now.’

‘I was told that this operation was critical for establishing Abolish’s dominance over the continent.’

‘Ah. Well. Our captain tends to exaggerate when she gets excited.’

Hoyohté swam up behind Karkash, and her voice bristled with irritation as she said, ‘We would not have come here if we had known that this was just some trivial fancy for your sect.’

‘Yeah,’ was all Ezmortig said.

Desmond snickered, drawing Karkash’s glare.

‘You waste our time,’ said Hoyohté. ‘I do not find that amusing.’

‘Oh, please. Your people knew this assignment was probably horseshit when they only sent two servants to assist. Simple risk-reward scheme. They wanted to send someone so that if things went well, they could claim to have helped, but they obviously didn’t want to devote any real resources to it. And all the while, both sides could dress it up as the spirit of cooperation, which is always good for morale.’

‘Hmph.’

‘But you knew that already,’ said Ezmortig. ‘C’mon. There’s no need to play dumb with me. I know you’re smarter than you would have me believe. The way you ferreted out those traitors of yours, led them right into a trap--and by pretending to be overeager and stupid, no less. You’re really quite calculating, aren’t you? No doubt, you were hoping this assignment would help you gain traction with your superiors, too.’

“You talk too much,” said Karkash.

Desmond laughed. “He does talk too much. There’s no stopping him once he gets going. But still, I’ve learned that he’s worth listening to. I’m sure you’ll understand that we’re pretty good friends to have, if you give us a chance.”

Karkash eyed them flatly. “You both talk too much.”

‘Look,’ said Ezmortig, ‘I understand. You’re upset. You think this has all been for naught. And maybe it has been. But how about we make it up to you?’

There was a long pause, and then Hoyohté said, ‘I’m listening.’

‘Before you return to Vaeland, come with us to Calthos.’

“Whoa, hey,” said Desmond. “Ez, please. We don’t need to--”

‘Shut up, Desmond. I’m negotiating.’

Hoyohté looked between them. ‘Why Calthos? Your headquarters is in Kavia, no?’

‘It is. We’d only stop in Calthos briefly. You see, a while back, Desmond came into some money. Which is in Calthos.’

‘Money?’ said Hoyohté.

Desmond frowned.

‘Compensation for your time,’ said Ezmortig. ‘I’m sure a smart woman like yourself could think of all kinds of uses for it.’

‘And you would simply give us this money freely,’ she said, more than a little doubtful.

‘Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for anything in return, but it’s completely up to you. Think of it as an extension of trust, an offer of good faith in hopes of fostering future partnership.’

‘Ah... I see. You’re one of the ambitious ones.’

‘Aren’t we all?’

‘Ha. Rather a bold investment, don’t you think? You hardly know us.’

‘Simple risk-reward scheme,’ he said again. ‘And it’s not that bold, really. We have a LOT of money.’

‘Will your captain not be upset that you are spending funds without her approval?’

‘Let me worry about that.’

‘Ah. She doesn’t know you have it, does she?’

Ezmortig chose not to answer.

‘If it is as much money as you say, then your captain would have taken it from you and used it elsewhere. You certainly would not be given such access to it as you claim to have.’

‘Maybe she just trusts me.’

‘If that were true, you would not be here. As you said, Atreya is not important right now. Is that what this is as all about, then? You feel you are being undervalued in your sect? Looking for a way to move up in the world, perhaps?’

“Now who talks too much?” said Desmond.

‘Our circumstances are not your problem,’ said Ezmortig. ‘Rather, they’re to your benefit. So what do you say? Will you come to Calthos with us?’

Karkash wasn’t certain what to make of this offer. He didn’t like Desmond very much, but Ezmortig at least seemed competent. He looked at Hoyohté as she deliberated. She didn’t ask his opinion, and he knew she would probably just ignore him if he gave it.

‘Very well,’ she eventually said. ‘We will go with you.’

‘Wonderful. Like-minded friends are a rare sort, you know. I’m sure our partnership will become the stuff of legends.’

‘Do not get ahead of yourself.’

‘Of course.’

Desmond scratched his bare ass as he turned around, facing the eastern horizon. “It’ll take a while to reach Calthos. Unless Sunshine over there can fly and carry me at the same time.”

Karkash glanced at Hoyohté. ‘Should I?’ he asked.

She gave him a small nod.

He pointed at the back of Desmond’s head. Lightning exploded through it.

Desmond’s body fell over, headless now as well as naked.

Ezmortig eyed the corpse and sighed. ‘You could have warned him, at least.’

“More fun this way,” said Karkash.

Hoyohté chuckled. ‘And they say we have no sense of humor.’