Runeblade

Kaius stomped through the undergrowth, a small fern crunching beneath his armoured boots. A Father’s Gift was a comforting presence on his hip, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. After discovering that Adrian’s retainer had vanished, he’d decided against getting back in the saddle. Even if he’d been a master rider, he couldn’t exactly duel effectively sitting down.

The lords followed close behind him. They held their crossbows at the ready, watching every angle for the slightest hint of a threat. Kaius doubted they would find anything. He hadn’t, and he was blessed with Truesight.

Branches groaned, movement crashing through the canopy. Kaius’s hand was on his hilt before he recognised the chilling touch of the oncoming winter. It was just a breeze, rolling down the banks of the Crater.

Kaius pushed on. A minute later, he spotted the faintest haze of light pushing through the dark at the edge of his vision.

“I see something. Light,” he said, raising a hand for the lords behind him to halt. He heard them ready their crossbows. A moment later, the haze resolved into a gleaming knot of silver light bobbing between the trees.

Kaius relaxed. Ianmus, it had to be. The mage must have kept his lunar keyseals active after learning that something was lurking nearby. He’d known his friends were drawing close, but he wasn’t going to assume.

“It’s my team — let’s move.”

Julian sighed in relief behind him. “Thank the gods. Though at this point, I almost wish we were attacked. This darkness is bad enough without being hunted through it. I need a drink.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Adrian chuckled. “A good Karstvale vintage, maybe even a sixteen eighty-nine. The top notes of varnish and rust would pair nicely with the foreboding ambiance.”

“I was thinking a pint of Merrywell distillery’s brandy heads.”

“A wise choice,” Kel replied. “We wouldn’t even be able to tell we were going blind.”

Kaius listened in to the chatter as he wove through the trees, mildly scandalised that the party of lords were joking. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised. Despite everything, they were still people, and it wasn’t so strange for a party of combat-seasoned warriors to brush off discomfort with a little chatter. And yet, it was a mundanity that felt out of place from the mouths of men who breathed etiquette and intrigue; especially ones who had been betrayed by an ally so recently.

Maybe that was the reason in the first place. Kaius didn’t pretend to know what Julian’s relationship with his team was like. At the very least, there were additional complexities of allegiance and standing — Edmund's actions might have been less biting than if he were betrayed by Kenva or Ianmus.

The silhouettes of his friends loomed out of the shadows. Ianmus and Kanmost were clustered close to Porkchop’s side, while Kenva covered their rear. Some of the knotted tension unwound in Kaius’s stomach. All of them were okay. He’d known that, of course — but even with his bond, it wasn’t quite the same as confirming it with his own eyes.

Adjusting his course, Kaius led the nobles to his team, and mentally nudged his brother. Porkchop perked up, scanning his surroundings for a sign of their approach — and eventually honed in on the sound of their crashing footfalls.

The second he was close enough that everyone could see each other, he picked up the pace — and slammed faceforward into Porkchop’s chest.

“Glad you’re alright,” he said, the hard edges of Porkchop’s armour pressing into his face. It was a little sticky — but what was a bit more blood on top of what already covered him.

“As if we’d be bested by one man.”

Kaius grinned, and pulled back to check on the rest of his team. They were trailstained, and watched the surrounding shadows closely, but he couldn’t see any injuries. Kanmost was fine, too — if anything, he seemed to be in the best shape of all of them.

“We need to move,” Kaius said. “Something picked off one of the chargers, and it managed to nab one of Adrian’s retainers before the man could make a sound.”

Even with the sound-suppressing effects of the Crater, he should have heard a full volume scream. Though, he supposed it was possible it had been blocked.

“You didn't spot it?” Kenva asked, a deep frown on her face.

Kaius shook his head as Julian nudged his charger to step forward.

“My man lost a leg to that barbarian,” the lord said. “He stayed behind to watch our backs when we faced Brokenlight.”

“Hells,” Kenva cursed. “I had hoped you might have caught a glimpse, Kaius. Something nabbed Edmund’s body, even though I was looking right at it. Or in its direction, at least.”

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“What?!” Kaius said.

How in the hells had it managed to slip past Kenva. Even if she didn’t have Truesight, she was a damn Skilled ranger — practically a natural enemy to those who skulked in the dark.

Kenva nodded. “It should have been impossible. The corpse was between me and Porkchop when he was fighting the Barbarian. I remember noticing it a few times throughout the fight, but by the end it was just…gone.”

Clenching his jaw, Kaius met Porkchop’s eyes, an unspoken question hanging in his mind. Porkchop shook his head.

“I didn’t smell anything — it could be a spirit, or it could be a Skill.”

“All the more reason for us to get to those ruins then, isn’t it?” Kel said from the group of mounted nobles.

That it was. They needed somewhere defensible, with far less places to hide than this forest. The courtyard inside of the ruin was totally open, and he refused to believe that whatever was lurking could defeat his Truesight if he stared right at it. Plus, if anything else came sniffing around it would be funnelled through the easily defensible gate. He’d just need a bit of time to reinscribe Warhaven, and they would have a veritable bunker.

“Let's move,” Kaius said. “I have the best vision, so I’ll take the rear. Porkchop can head our formation, and the nobles can take the flanks. Kanmost, you’re in the middle.”

Julian frowned, watching him for a long moment. It was clear the man wasn’t partial to listening to someone else's orders, but right now Kaius couldn’t bring himself to care. Without him, the lord would have inevitably failed in his quest to retake the Wellspring from Brokenlight.

Eventually, the man seemed to think better of protesting, and nodded at his men.

Falling into formation, they set off. Kaius constantly scanned around them, searching for any sign of movement — even just a shadow that was a little too deep. He found nothing but the slow rustle of leaves and a foreboding anxiety that wallowed in the dark.

Swinging wide, they punched out of the trees, and into the small clearing that surrounded the ruins. He kept his blade firm in his grip despite the lack of places to hide. Whatever stalked them, it clearly didn’t need cover if it had stolen a body right under Kenva’s nose.

The ruins rose to their right, ancient and resplendent. The weight of time was obvious on its skin. Little more than knee high piles of rubble remained from what must have once been towering pillars, and vines and moss choked the life from the clean hewn stone. Like liver spots on an aged, but once-beautiful crone, they could not hide the bones of what had once been.

Ancient, lingering magic pumped through the mortar like they were capillaries, suffusing every block with a swirling, dull radiance. The power shifted in a constant churn, snapping into hazy, ever-shifting patterns of geometry before dissolving away. It was closer to a spell than any enchantment he knew; magic unbound by runes. There was a purity to it, untouched by even trace aspects. Weak as the magic was, it made it almost blinding compared to the thick molasses of dark and blood affinities that choked everything else.

As they circled the wall, Kaius could not help but feel a strange melancholy. This place was a slow-dying totem to days that would never come again. A time untouched by the system; of wild spells, left to grow fae in the many ages since.

Considering the age of the place, it was a miracle it survived at all. Sure, the ceiling of the rear keep had largely collapsed, and the wall was in disrepair — but whatever old magic lived here must have been potent for it to survive so many millennia without maintenance.

He longed to let his eyes linger, but he couldn’t when danger lurked.

Reaching the crumbling hole in the wall that had once served as a front gate, they entered the courtyard. Dozens of metal pillars erupted from its centre, each one a dull, oxidized grey. They weren’t steel, or bronze, then — likely some sort of mildly magical alloy if they had survived exposure to the elements for so long. Beyond them lay a small keep — or perhaps a gatehouse was a better word. It was a massive arch, leading to an equally large metal door set into the bedrock of the Crater. A cowled figure had been carved into the grey metal, their head bowed over a bubbling spring.

It had to be the way into the entrance — opened when the pillars had been set and the moon of winter was high in the sky. Kaius turned his attention back to the pillars. Three littered bodies lay cold at the outside of the array, thick blood pooling in recessed tracks that had been cut into the stone of the courtyard. Those must have been how the pillars were set in the right place.

“There,” Julian said softly, pointing to the closest body — a mage in blood-soaked robes. The corpse was missing a head. “That one had the journal.”

Kaius nodded. He’d fetch it in a moment. For now, they needed to get set up somewhere defensible. The corner of the courtyard to their right looked the best by his measure. They’d be covered by two angles, and nothing could drop on them from above like if they set up near the keep and the cliff above it.

They moved quickly, every one of them scouring over their surroundings as they did their best to watch one another. After a warning, Kaius summoned the Pegleg. Unless their enemy could phase through solid walls, it was their best bet at security until he could reinscribe Warhaven. The nobles stared at the multi-legged vessel with naked jealousy, while Kanmost nearly clapped in glee when Kaius asked him to board.

“Go with him?” Kaius asked his back line. “I don’t want anyone going off alone until we know whats out there. Just until I can lay down a few Warhavens.”

Ianmus nodded immediately. “I would have done it anyway. Besides, we can always go above deck if you get engaged.”

With the Archivist onboard the Pegleg, he was about as safe as Kaius could make him considering where they were. Patting his blade for reassurance, he turned to approach the central pillars — he wanted that journal before it was soaked through entirely by blood.

Kel yelled in alarm before he’d made three steps. Kaius drew his blade in an instant, rushing towards the nobles.

“What is it?” he asked.

The lord looked back to him, his expression grave. “Another one of the chargers is missing.”