Chapter 68

Year 163 – Fall – Quintus Mensis – 44th day

Avem, town of House Kalator, land of the Vale

The night was quiet and most souls were asleep, yet a man was walking with a lantern, leaving footsteps in the snow. As he arrived at his destination, he knocked on the door. Atilos opened it while holding a candle.

Amund – “This better not be a waste of my time.”

Atilos – “Judge by yourself. Everyone’s here.”

Following Atilos, the two of them entered the house. Atilos opened a trap on the ground that led to a large underground storage area. Seven other members of the war council were downstairs.

Atilos – “After you.”

Amund looked at him, perplexed, and walked down the stairs. Atilos then extinguished his candle with his fingers before joining the group and closing the trap behind him.

A small table had been installed, but the room wasn’t large enough to add chairs so each general and lieutenant was standing in a circle around three large candles.

Amund – “Where’s Ian and Domhnall?”

Ludger – “They can’t keep secrets. It’s better not to have them here.”

Trygve – “What is this all about Ludger?”

Ludger – “Atilos, tell them what you saw.”

Atilos – “Egmond asked for Lanaya’s hand.”

Trygve – “What?”

Defyd – “Of course he did. He’s a king, and her beauty is one of a kind.”

Meic – “Wouldn’t you want to fuck her as well?”

Amund – “Is this a joke? Did you really make us come for this?”

Varok – “I have to say I expected something less . . . trivial.”

Ludger – “Since when have all of you began to believe she is one of us?”

Amund – “Isn’t she?”

Varok – “She isn’t, but with a wedding, she could become one for sure.”

Atilos – “Maybe . . . Maybe she’ll join him and become his lapdog. But what would she gain by doing so?”

Defyd – “If she doesn’t want to, she might refuse, and if the rumours spread, it would tarnish the reputation of our king. He could always call it slander and kill the one who leaked the words.”

Atilos – “Where have you heard the name Lanaya?”

Amund – “She isn’t the sixth angel of Aya. She doesn’t have wings, and her hair isn’t made of sunlight.”

Atilos – “And yet, she clearly isn’t human.”

Varok – “You don’t know that for sure.”

Ludger – “You know many girls who could have defeated that preacher of Ira Arcum? Her silver eyes aren’t natural and neither is her hair.”

Varok – “No, but that preacher had a giant hole in the chest. She didn’t make that with her spear. It was most likely their witch who defeated him.”

Atilos – “Precisely.”

Amund – “I’m not following what you trying to say. Why does this discussion need to be private and hidden from Egmond?”

Atilos – “What if we are wrong? Do you want to be the one who will mislead our king into breaking a potentially strong ally? Me neither, but if we are correct, we need to keep our eyes open so that we can act in time.”

Varok – “I agree with Atilos. The last thing we want is our king to feel betrayed by his own. Mundric seeded doubt among us, and next year, we are going to war. It isn’t the time for internal conflict! We must not act on speculation. This meeting must be kept between us.”

Amund – “Even if she’s an unnatural being, what kind of threat could she be?”

Atilos – “I think the witch is lurking in the shadows. I think Lanaya has been summoned to do his dirty work and to receive the attention. Why is she so beautiful and so unnaturally strong?”

Trygve – “You’re saying she’s some kind of evil spirit?”

Ludger – “A succubae.”

Amund – “How would a man be able to order a daemon around? It doesn’t add up.”

Atilos – “He isn’t any man. He is a witch. You saw the fire he made.”

Amund – “It wasn’t magic. I saw a Celestial Trader use something similar in the past.”

Maec – “What made you think that Celestial Trader wasn’t a sorcerer of some sort himself?”

Defyd – “The day right after we took the town, I was walking near their home, and I saw a strange light coming out of the window. It was really intense. I thought there was a crazy fire, but then it completely disappeared. It was gone. I thought it was a phantasm due to my fatigue, so I didn’t mention it.”

Atilos – “I bet it was another summon.”

Trygve – “You think he’s hiding another daemon in his house?”

Atilos – “No, she followed him once. Ludger saw her.”

Ludger – “I did. But if she was his summon, then it must have failed.”

Atilos – “Where would she have come from? She’s clearly not from Avem or the Vale.”

Amund – “Who?”

Varok – “A girl with a burned arm. She looks like she’s from the East, but she speaks our tongue like it’s her own.”

Atilos – “You saw her?”

Varok – “I did, but she was injured. She could have been among the slaves Lanaya bought.”

Trygve – “Or she got injured during the failure of her summon.”

Varok – “I don’t know. It all seems too farfetched for me.”

Amund – “I agree with Varok. If they were our enemy, they wouldn’t have fought so vigorously with us.”

Ludger – “On the contrary. In my youth, when the cult of Nocna Mora was still running wild in the Union, out of curiosity, I found myself reading on their rituals and how they summoned their daemon. They didn’t pray like us. They were making offerings through the sacrifices of both animals and humans. If the witch tried to summon an evil spirit who’s not bound to any deity, it wouldn’t surprise me if they’d used a similar method.”

Atilos – “And what better sacrifice than a thousand dead soldiers?”

Amund – “And yet it would have failed?”

Atilos – “When did Lanaya appear?”

Varok – “After the great war in the East.”

Trygve – “Hundreds of thousands of deaths. Isn’t that too much for one spirit?”

Ludger – “I don’t know. If a spirit isn’t bound to a god, then it isn’t bound to anything. It could get greedy in a pact.”

Amund – “And what do you suggest that we do? She helped us and if she marries Egmond, she’ll help us even more.”

Atilos – “And I hope it will be the case. But if I’m right, then she wouldn’t seek to help us. She would seek to create a larger war so her master can summon another minion.”

Varok – “And since our last fight wasn’t enough to make a successful one, he’ll be voracious of more death.”

Amund – “Then let’s observe and see what happens. Will he be seeking death, or are you all overreacting because you dislike her?”

Atilos – “He could also be trying the opposite, saving people and acting kind to avoid any suspicion. I mean, we are slowly heading into a war against the Union. If he betrays us during the siege of Rock Eden, it could go really bad.”

Trygve – “So, we just wait?”

Ludger – “We wait, yet we keep our eyes open so that our king may sleep in peace.”

Atilos – “As long as she is on our side, we will stay quiet and focus on the success of our campaign, but if she shows a sign of her betrayal, do not miss it.”