Chapter 29: Into the Swamps, Part I

The Southern Swamps were a rather mysterious area. Stretching for more than twice the length of the mountains separating Janaro and Klavan, the southern wetlands remained largely unexplored.

As to the reason, there were many.

Most of the time, expeditions from both Janaro and Klavan have entered its depths and were never heard from again. Others came back, but with far fewer members and the surviving bunch have all lost their sanity.

In an area deep within the swamps, a man sized hole was ripped open in the air. Very quickly, a disheveled young man with a large knapsack came through the rip in space. Taking a few steps forward, Kaz waited for his spirit minions and attached souls to come through the portal as well as he looked at his surroundings.

“We’re in some sort of swamp. Could this be the Southern Swamps? Why would the spatial gate point here?” Frowning, Kaz eyed the murky wet ground suspiciously.

“You damaged the damn thing, alright? The spatial gate was not supposed to take anybody here. When you disrupted the opening process you caused the final location of the spatial gate to change, but not by much.” Oddly, Ahriman seemed to be very chatty.

“Not by much? That doesn’t explain much.” Sending his reaper spirit up high, Kaz could observe through his creature’s eyes. “It looks like swamp as far as I can see, even several hundred feet up.”

“Send it higher. I’m sure we’re not that far off.”

“Can’t. Clouds.”

“Clouds?” Ahriman’s disbelief was evident. “What in the nine hells can clouds do to your reaper spirit? They’re not even living or magical.”

“Clouds block the reaper spirit’s vision if it flies any higher than the height it’s already at. Although, I do see a clearing with several lights a distance away. Could that be the original destination?” Kaz’s face lit up in excitement. “If the remaining Janaroian forces are there, they would have to have a map and more preserved food. I don’t think the amount of preserved food that I’m carrying is going to last long.”

“Food? Why are you even thinking about food? Forget about food, or even sleep for that matter. Didn’t I give you the Chant of the Novitiate?” If Ahriman still had eyes, they would be rolled all the way back into his skull.

“The Unnatural Resilience granted to me by the novice level of the Chant does severely reduce the need for food and rest, but I also like to eat.” Rubbing his stomach, Kaz sighed ruefully. “I haven’t had a really good meal in weeks. It’s just been preserved food and raw fruit.”

“How can you even think of eating at a time like this? Doesn’t the smell of decay in this swamp ruin your appetite? Look at me for a idol. Even before I turned into this wretched soul I barely ate anything. Food is for the weak, the pursuit of power is all that matters.” Smugly, Ahriman didn’t let up in his attempt to persuade Kaz to abandon eating.

“I’m sure you’ve been alive for nearly a hundred years at that point.”

“More like four hundred.”

“Isn’t it all the same after you pass that first hundred? I’m sure you stopped eating because your digestive system couldn’t keep up. I swear all I delivered to you was liquor when you pretended to be an apothecary.” Pulling out some jerky from his knapsack, Kaz started to make his way carefully towards the direction of the lights.

“On the contrary, when Unnatural Resilience has time to work on the body, you will find that the process of aging slows down. Initially by a bit, then more and more as you master more of the Chant.”

“Oh? Is that why you looked to be about sixty years old when you claim that you would actually be around four centuries old?” Frowning as his left leg sunk into the mud, Kaz extracted himself with some effort.

“Exactly. I managed to develop the Chant to the Arch Mage level. It’s very hard to develop a Chant to that level.”

Ugh. The man has absolutely no humbleness in him. I can just feel the pride dripping off of him. Nodding, Kaz grabbed a long branch from a nearby fallen tree. Using it to probe the ground in his path, Kaz carefully started to traverse the swamp again.

“You say ‘Arch Mage’ but you haven’t really explained the different levels of advancement yet.” Gingerly making his way around a rather dark puddle, Kaz’s nose wrinkled as he smelled the decaying material everywhere. “What level would you say that I’m at?”

“You’re quite a ways off from anything remotely respectable. Oh sure, some of these peasants might think you’re a mighty mage but real mages would look upon you with contempt.”

“Yeah, alright. You’ve repeatedly said that many, many times now.” Rolling his eyes, Kaz narrowly missed slamming his head on a low hanging branch. “If you could just tell me what level I’m at compared to what you call ‘real’ mages, it would give me a better idea of what I need to improve.”

“You’re at the level of an Apprentice Mage, just barely better than a novice.” After a while, Ahriman spoke. “Which, to be honest, is not really great. Really, it’s about average considering that I’ve basically been spoon-feeding you spell forms since you first felt mana.”

“Never mind that. What determines the different levels of the mages? Is it the amount of spells learned? How powerful those spells are? How long they’ve been practicing magic?”

“You’re not too far off, brat.” After taking a couple of seconds to focus his thoughts, Ahriman continued. “The different levels and advancements of mages are dependent on the ranks of the spells that they have mastered.”

“Is that it? So I know a couple of Rank D spells, is that why I’m considered an Apprentice?” Squatting behind a shrub, Kaz’s eyes narrowed as he spotted something moving in the water in front of him.

A rather large animal started to slowly crawl out of the water onto the bank opposite Kaz. Without a sound, what appeared to be a large lizard crawled out of the water and onto the mushy ground.

“Huh. That’s a Grey Alligator. I didn’t think that those things were still around. The last time I saw one was about a hundred and fifty years ago.” Instantly identifying the creature, Ahriman’s voice was filled with smugness. “Those reptiles have an extremely dilute amount of dragon’s blood in them. Their blood lineage used to be of extreme interest in certain circles of magic.”

“Dilute? How large were the dragons of old? That thing is as large as a bear, except with natural body armor.” Eyeing the alligator’s thick scales curiously, Kaz took his notebook out of the knapsack and started to sketch the outer appearance of the reptile before it got too far away.

“Ignorant boy. Dragons never actually stop growing, for one thing. They can live for millennia with no problems. I’ve never heard of a dragon that died of old age alone.” Sighing, Ahriman thought about berating Kaz for taking notes in the middle of a swamp, but decided against it. The damned boy can probably take notes while being executed if his hands were free.

“If dragons live for so long, then why have I never heard anything substantial about them except from myths and stories?” Keeping his body low and trying his best to not make any noise, Kaz maneuvered himself closer to the alligator as his charcoal stick continued to fill his notebook.

“Oh, come on, you know why this is.” Ahriman scoffed. “Think about where the hell you came from. You’re not just some country bumpkin, your people are some of the most geographically sheltered of all time.”

“Klavan is indeed boxed on all sides by nearly impassable terrain, but wouldn’t Janaro have records of such creatures?” Finishing his sketch of the reptile, Kaz carefully made his way away from the giant alligator as it lay in a sunny patch of warm mud.

“You think the Janaroian leaders would allow any relevant information to pass through the mountains over to Klavan?”

“They’re not allowing anything at all.” Kaz frowned as he thought about the books from Janaro that he read. “Those books and scrolls were being smuggled into Klavan by criminals and refugees.”

“Bah. You’d believe that? Let me tell you right now, you shouldn’t ever believe anything that other people tell you unless you can verify the authenticity of the information for yourself.” If Ahriman had physical eyes, he’d be rolling them by now.

“Oh? And how can you of all people tell me whether or not the books and information that were smuggled weren’t in fact, authentic?” Feeling a bit uneasy about how far away the Janaroian’s swamp camp was, Kaz sent out his reaper spirit to scout while he crouched low near a fallen tree.

“What, did you just think that I stayed inside my house all day doing nothing?”

“Well….when you put it that way…”

“Bah. Forget it.” Sending a small jolt of mental energy into Kaz’s brain, Ahriman chuckled as Kaz hissed in pain clutching his head. “You don’t think those Janaroian refugees were actually refugees right?”

“...Gods. Why would you jab me mentally without any warnings?” Eyes watering from pain, Kaz squinted as he massaged his temples. “And why wouldn’t they be refugees? Surely Janaro has better ways of sending spies to Klavan without our noticing? They climbed over the mountains to invade the Blood Citadel easily enough.”

As soon as Kaz finished speaking, Ahriman blasted him with another mental probe.

“Shit, can you please stop doing that?” Screwing his face in a rather anguished expression, Kaz held his head in his hands.

“As I was saying, the Klavans always executed those…’refugees’ that came from Janaro. Where would they be sent anyways? In the view of that old goat Zhakar, the supplies at the Citadel were for Klavan military use only.” Ahriman continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

“That doesn’t explain how the information given to the Citadel was false.”

“After the Klavans were done killing all of the supposed refugees, I ripped apart the souls of the refugees.”

“I suppose desecrating the dead...right. We’re necromancers.” Pain fading, Kaz cautiously viewed the swamp through the reaper spirit’s vision. “The Janaroian camp actually isn’t too far off. Their remaining mages appear to be in a panic, trying to figure out what went wrong with the spatial gate.”

“Keep walking towards them. Now, where was I? Ah yes, soul-searching.”

“Why did such a...great necromancer as yourself even stoop to snooping through the memories of a few dead refugees. Or spies, as you think they were.”

“I searched through their memories because I was bored.”

“...”

“Heh, finally shut up? That’s much better.”

“Surely you had better things to do than that? Didn’t you have to concoct batches and batches of healing salves and liquid medication for the soldiers?” Puzzled as to how Ahriman could have so much free time, Kaz scratched his head. After a thought, his face paled by several degrees. “Gods above, did you have your skeletal minions concoct the medicine in your stead?”

“Huh. I didn’t expect you to guess what I did. I guess you’re more devious than I thought.”

“Surely you didn’t animate the bodies of the dead refugees and use them as a source of free labor?” Gulping, Kaz’s back broke out in a cold sweat thinking about the quality of the medicine that was produced within Ahriman’s hut.

“How else did you think I made all of those batches of healing salves and other herbal junk?” Ahriman snorted. “The amount of medicine demanded by Zhakar wasn’t an ordinary amount, you know. I had to produce enough for what was basically a battlefield at least once a week.”

“Ugh. If I was like before I met you, I would have definitely vomited.” Even as he tried to put on a brave face, Kaz’s face was still slightly green due to disgust.

“Bah, it’s all trivial anyway. But when I soul-searched the memories of those dead ‘refugees,’ a lot more information than I expected was found.”

“Well, don’t keep me in the dark about it. You seem so awfully smug about whatever you found that proves they were actually spies.” Stopping just outside of the perimeter of the Janaroian camp, Kaz hid himself in some of the surrounding foliage in order to avoid detection by the sentries stationed to keep watch.

“Oh I found plenty of information that normal refugees wouldn’t know. Like how to avoid capture in forests, how to torture information out of hostages, how to send very specific Janaroian smoke signals.”

“You probably found this information only on one person. You can’t – AGH!” Another mental spike burning through his consciousness, Kaz quickly shut up.

“Let me finish. Devils below, why are you so talkative?” Annoyed, Ahriman sent a few more mental probes through Kaz just to make him quiet. “Of course it wasn’t every single refugee that popped out of the Pass on the Klavan side. You can’t possibly think that the Janaroians can throw away highly trained operatives like chicken bones?”

Grimacing in pain, eyes watering as he tried to make sure his body was concealed, Kaz didn’t respond.

“Heh, looks like you finally shut up. The vast majority of the refugees were actually normal peasants. However, there was something odd about their memories.”

“..And what was that?”

“It seems that several chunks of their memories were wiped. Most of it pertaining as to why they were fleeing Janaro in the first place. Nearly all of the normal peasants couldn’t think of a concrete reason as to why they wanted to flee. They just...felt that they had to get out of there as soon as possible, and to travel as far as possible.”

“But why wipe out those particular memories? Wouldn’t it be more convincing if they could clearly state the reasons that they were trying to flee their mother country and go into what should be their mortal enemies’ lands?” Looking up at the sky, Kaz could see that the moon was high in the sky. The moonlight is too bright right now. I should stage my attack on the camp when the moon passes into the clouds so that the cover of darkness benefits me the most.

“Because those refugees don’t really matter. Why did the Klavan soldiers take them within the Citadel to debrief anyways? Zhakar wasn’t planning on letting any of them live in the first place, so why care about whether or not they could give the soldiers a cohesive story anyways?”

“Okay, that explains why they were killed, but what about the spies you’re so proud of finding?” Carefully shifting his body around a large stump, Kaz managed to avoid being detected by a Janaroian sentry patrolling the edge of the camp. With a thought, Kaz positioned his almost invisible reaper spirit behind a tree right on the camp edge. Hmm, the reaper spirit is actually really hard to notice in the dead of night if it’s not wielding its mana sword. The blood spirit on the other hand is always glowing a dark red. I guess it can’t be helped.

“About one in...oh I forget, about one in fifty refugees were actually spies. Trained in close quarters combat, infiltration, covert operations, that sort of thing. But these people had no memory gaps.”

“Continue.”

“Heh, I like your new attitude. Pain does bring benefits, doesn’t it? Not to you, of course, but for me.” Watching as Kaz pulled a face, Ahriman savored the silence before continuing. “These people knew that they were bringing in false information. You can’t really think that Janaro has made less progress than Klavan in the last two hundred years, do you?”

“What do you mean by that? I thought the two countries had about the same military strength, and that’s why we’ve been at a stalemate all of these years.”

Sighing, Ahriman took a moment to compose his thoughts.

“Think geography. Janaro is about the same size if we talk total land mass, but what about the borders?”

“Janaro should be surrounded by oceans on two sides, the swamps to the south, and the mountains between Janaro and Klavan to its east. So that means that two sides are open to the oceans. Well maritime trade is how Janaro makes most of its wealth, but you can’t use a navy on land.”

“That’s not the point.” Exasperated, Ahriman didn’t even shock Kaz mentally this time. “What comes with trade? Information. And what is information?”

With a glint in his eyes, Kaz finally understood. “Information is knowledge, and knowledge is power. So you’re saying that the Janaroians have advanced much more than the Klavans have these past two hundred years?”

“Yes, finally, you get it. The spatial gate is but one example of the advances that the Janaroians have made in the past two hundred years. Although those little potions that the Klavans carry are indeed interesting, how could they compare to a device that allows the nearly instantaneous transport of people and materials?”

“Mm. Even though it’s easily damaged and disrupted by magical means, I do see the huge benefits of the spatial gate.” With a sudden frown, Kaz’s suspicion increased. “How do you know this spatial gate is of Janaroian make? They could have easily found it somewhere else.”

“Because nearly all of the best methods of infiltrating enemy territory was given to these spies. In order to set up the spatial gate, a corresponding spatial gate must be placed in the target location. This is also how I suspect the Janaroian special forces invaded the Blood Citadel. Those hooks that were thrown willy nilly around the mountain peaks is just nonsense.”

“How do you know it’s nonsense? You don’t seem to be much of mountain climber yourself.” Kaz snorted as he thought about how Ahriman would have even attempted to climb the mountains when the old necromancer still had his skeletal body.

“Impudent!” Slamming a particularly sharp mental spike into Kaz’s mind, Ahriman huffed. “I don’t feel like explaining this anymore to you. Just rip apart the minds of some of those mage souls that you have enslaved when you have time. You’ll find out that I’m right. Now go kill all the Janaroians in this camp. Treat this as a test of your skills.” Leaving Kaz with a challenge, Ahriman’s voice faded.

Looking up, Kaz realized that the clouds above have obscured the majority of the moonlight. A deep darkness filled the swamp, and the only lights were the flickering flames of the campfires and the glowing eyes of Kaz’s spirit minions.