by Eric Ugland
I grabbed the knight by his collar and dragged him a little closer to make sure he wasn’t faking the extent of his injuries. Then I threw him over my other shoulder. I backed along the tunnel towards the gate, hoping my soldiers would see what was happening and open the door without me having to bang on it.
The rest of the Imperial Knights stayed in place on their horses. They seemed confused about the whole thing, no one exactly sure what to do, and no one willing to take charge. Or actually charge. I mean, they were knights — charging is what they did. But I guess seeing one of their own taken down with just a measly shield had robbed them of their confidence.
With a bit of a creak, which irked me because they were band-new, dammit, the heavy stone doors swung open behind me. I snuck a look over my shoulder and saw two guards coming through, weapons out.
“Are you in need assistance, my lord?” One of them asked.
“One of you,” I replied, continuing my backward walk into Coggeshall, “grab the horse. The other, run for a healer.”
I could have healed the little guy myself, at least to a certain extent, and yet, I had a moment where I tried to be a leader. In that moment, I realized there were healers who’d be much better at saving the little furry guy, and even the stupid knight, than I was. And, if it came to it, I would be more useful carving through the other knights currently glaring at me.
As soon as I saw the Coggeshall grass, I knelt down, and gently put the white furry dude on the ground. I may have been a little less gentle with the knight.
Seeing that I’d taken their buddy all the way into the town and that that gates were starting to close seemed to spur something in the other knights. They certainly spurred their horses, at least. And just like that, a small cavalry charge headed our way.
But the gates thudded to a close and we dropped the crossbar in place with plenty of time to spare, so I had little worries. Wooden lances weren’t exactly concerning versus stone. Still, the thundering of the horse hooves against the stone had an instinctive effect, and even I found the noise unnerving.
A woman in robes ran up with the guard, wiping her eyes. Her hair was an impressive mess.
“My lord, are you hurt?” She asked.
“No,” I replied, then pointed to the two down on the ground, “them.”
Chapter 121
While the healer did her magic, quite literally, I finished getting dressed. Then I headed to the cantina in hopes of a really early-morning breakfast, dutifully ignoring the shouting coming from the other side of the wall. The knights wanted their buddy back, and were threatening all sorts of impolite actions on my person, my peoples’ persons, and my mother’s person. Which, frankly, I’d like to see them try.
Breakfast was a limited affair, due to my rising time. Gruel. Porridge. Oatmeal. Call it what you will, it was hot slop from a pot. At least it was different hot slop from a pot than I’d had the previous night. Somewhere between beige and grey in color, and tasting like, well, I guess it did have a vague taste, but not something I’d recommend for anything other than a desperately empty stomach.
As I forced down the last spoonful, a guard escorted the little white furry dude in his little black robes into the cantina and brought him to my table. He scurried up onto the bench opposite me and stood there, still looking up to meet my eyes.
“I am told you are responsible for saving me,” the white thing said. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” I said. “Glad I could help.”
“Yes, well, if you might assist me with another matter, I am on a mission here—”
“I was going to ask why you were willing to brave the siege.”
“Because I am on a quest from my god. I had no choice but to come here and speak to the duke. Might you direct me to him?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I am short on time, sir knight. Where might I—”
“I’m not a knight,” I replied.
“Oh, I apologize. I am, I suppose I am new to the Empire, just—”
“Where are you from?”
“I dare not tarry,” the creature said. “I must speak with the duke.”
“You speak with him now,” came the chortling reply of the Thingman guard standing behind the white creature.
The white creature looked from the guard to me, to the guard, and finally back to me.
“I am so sorry—” he started.
“Nothing to worry about,” I said. “Happens all the time.”
“Least duke-looking duke in the whole Empire,” the Thingman said, sitting down at the other end of the table, next to some of his mates who were also about to go on duty, “right here in Coggeshall.”
I gave the man a slight nod, and he and his mates laughed. But it was a good natured ribbing —they seemed to be more proud of my lack of decorum than embarrassed by it.
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, how might I help you?” I asked.
The little white creature made a little bow. “Your grace, I have been tasked to assist you in removing the stain of corruption from this world.”
“Oh! You’re the priest Eona promised?” I asked.
“She has revealed herself to you?”
I smiled. “Perhaps not in the way I was hoping she might, but we’ve had a few chats.”
“Chats, my lord?”
“Yeah, conversations? She— look, it’s a long story, and I don’t exactly, I mean, I’m not overflowing with time here, either. But last night, she visited me, thanked me for helping some of her followers out, and then assigned me a quest to rid my valley, and maybe the whole damn world, of some specific corruption. She didn’t say what the corruption was, but she pointed to the general direction of it.” I pulled the rock from my pocket and set it on the table. “And she gave me a rock that glows in the direction of the nearest corrupted one.”
Sure enough, an edge of the round rock glowed a clean white. I spun the rock, and the glow stayed pointing the same direction no matter how fast the rock went or in what direction I turned the rock. The little white guy peered at the rock. Very reverently, he put his hand out and touched it. The moment its hand, or paw, hit the surface of the rock, I could see a sense of relaxation wash over the white furry thing.
“Not to be rude,” I said, “which, you know, means— ah fuck it. What are you and what’s your name?”
The relaxation was gone in an instant. The creature seemed to think it’d suffered some major breach of protocol.
“I am so sorry, my lord,” it said, “I have been remiss. I am Meikeljan Van Hoef, and I am an eleventh-level Monk.”
“A monk, huh? Don’t suppose that means you’re a badass hand-to-hand fighter?”
“No, it means I live with my brothers in an abbey as we worship the goddess Eona. We provide assistance to her and her followers as needed or directed.”
“Are you a Lutra?” I asked.
“Do I look like one?” He replied, a little touchy.
“I mean, yes?”
He leaned back as far as he could go until he managed to just barely look down his tiny snout at me.
“Duke Coggeshall,” he said, putting an enormous dose of attitude into those words. Impressive, coming from such a little guy. “Perhaps you have had little exposure to those of us who aren’t smooth skins, but—”
“Two of my best friends are Lutra,” I said, cringing as it said it. “I mean it’s true, I haven’t had that much exposure. But I do count two Lutra as members of my hirð, and there’s quite a large contingent of ursus who live here in Coggeshall. I just don’t know what you are.”
“I am of the Infreno.”
“Inferno?”
“In-Fre-no.”
“Okay. Meikeljan of the Infreno, a monk devoted to Eona.”
“That is correct.”
“Do you know what you’re doing here?”
“In specifics?”
“Or otherwise. I mean, what do you think is going on?”
“It would seem yo
u are under siege, at the very least, my lord.”
“From both sides, actually.”
“Are you not a member of the Empire?”
“We are.”
“Then I find myself confused.”
“You and me both, buddy.”
“Those were Imperial knights who chased me down, correct?”
“As far as I know.”
“Then—”
I held up my hands. “Dude, it’s a long story, and there’s a lot to do. TLDR: there’s a bunch of political trouble brewing in the Empire. I’m new to the power structure, so some assholes are trying to push me around. I don’t take kindly to that. So they’re sitting out front, restricting access to my dukedom. Big note, they hadn’t been violent until now. Which means I’m probably going to have to have a chat with them, which is fine because I was supposed to meet with them this morning, and blah blah blah, doesn’t really matter to you. I just have so much shit to do and so little time to do it. You ever feel like you need an assistant?”
“No. Never.”
“Well, I guess being a monk is at a slightly more relaxed pace?”
“There are fewer demands on my person, perhaps.”
“You guys make beer there?”
“Some of the brothers brew mead. We also make wine.”
“Sounds nice. Can anyone join?”
“Anyone may make the attempt, but ultimately, it is up to the goddess to decide if you are worthy of service.”
“I think I could make a case.”
“But my lord, you would need to give up all your—”
“I’m just looking at my options,” I said, putting a placating hand on the little guy’s shoulder. Which was rather difficult because he barely had shoulders. “Bare minimum, I have to complete Eona’s quest here before I go joining her order or something. Also, I think you should join in my party so you can be with me on this quest. That way I don’t have to explain everything to you, all that nonsense. Just makes it smoother.”
I sent a party invitation his way.
Meikeljan looked a little weirded out, then said, “I have never been in a party before.”
“From what I can tell, you just, you know, sorta go about your business. Just, well, focusing on finishing the shared quest. And get some food. Find me when you’ve eaten. Hopefully some more people will be awake, and we’ll kickstart this whole purge business.”
I swept the glowing rock off the table and marched out of the cantina.
Chapter 122
Now that I’d gotten some sleep and some food, my main priority was finding Nikolai so I might get his input on what I needed to do with Caticorix vis-a-vis the nine people I was supposed to deliver to him. Obviously, I couldn’t turn over nine people. I couldn’t turn over the nine Caticorix actually wanted, and I wouldn’t turn over a random nine. My secondary objective of the day? figuring out the damn purge. Third was Emeline, which made me feel bad because she was someone who’d been with me pretty long, and I had sworn to keep her safe, and all that shit, so the fact that she wasn’t on the front burner sucked. Fourth in line, in terms of goals at least, was finding the farmers and speaking to them. So after I’d determined Nikolai wasn’t in his office and while I was heading my way to look over the wall at the ursus and see if any of them were in bow distance, it didn’t surprise me that I found the farmers first. Or, rather, they found me. I was almost at the wall when Lee brought two men and a woman over to me.
“These are the farmers,” he said, and then he promptly walked away.
“Farmers,” I said, “I’m the Duke of Coggeshall. I am deeply sorry for the delay you’re facing as a result of this ridiculous siege.”
The younger of the men looked at the woman, who was scowling.
“You are the duke?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said, trying really hard to not be tired of that particular question. “The duke is me, I am the duke.”
“I expected something more.”
“I suppose I could gain weight. The thing is, there’s not a ton I can do to get you to your homes and families faster. I can certainly compensate you for your time, but I know that doesn’t fix everything, you know?”
The farmers looked at each other, and nodded slightly. Had I actually said the right thing in the situation for once?
“Thank you, my lord,” the woman said.
“There is one more thing,” I said, “and this is just an ask, just a thing I have to do because Coggeshall is new and growing. But would any of you be interested in staying here, to farm?”
“No,” the woman said immediately. “I appreciate whatever offer you might think to extend, but I am not interested in braving whatever is on the other side of those walls after I have spent so long making my own farm safe within the Empire.”
“What she said,” the younger man said. Then the two of them walked away. The older man remained, looking at me rather intently.
“Timurlan,” I said. “Right?”
That surprised him. He backed up a little.
“You know of me?” He asked.
“My buddy Lee talked to me about you,” I said.
Timurlan nodded, and smiled a tiny smile. He had completely white hair, the start of scruff, also all white, and bushy white eyebrows. His skin was basically leather. Like someone had wrapped a human with a baseball mitt. Definitely the sort of man who’d spent every waking minute outdoors in every type of weather. And had never been introduced to moisturizer. He wore rough clothes, things that looked handmade and well-worn.
“You and he have a similar cadence to your speech,” Timurlan said. “You must have come from the same place.”
“Similar places,” I said, “but different enough.”
“You wish for me to become a follower of yours, your grace?” He asked.
“I mean, I think you’d be a good fit. As far as I can tell.”
“And if I am not a good fit?”
“Then you leave on your own recognizance or stay here and be miserable. Choice is yours.”
He nodded, and scratched his stubble. “You were heading to the wall earlier, yes?” He asked.
“Yep.”
“Would you mind if I joined you? I would like to look at the land beyond.”
“Sure. Just, you know, if any arrows or spears come our way—”
“I know how to duck, my lord,” he interrupted with a full smile, one showing that he wasn’t in possession of all his teeth. But those that remained were a rather shocking white.
We walked up the stairs and stood on the top of the wall. The guards there moved over enough to give us a bit of privacy.
A hint of fog remained on the cleared ground before the forest. The trees beyond were dark and creepy. I wondered if this was an effect the ursus had managed to make happen. If they had an ability that allowed them to make the forests emit feelings. Or if they had a skill to make the forest look sinister as fuck.
“You have enemies out there,” the old man said.
“Yep,” I replied.
“Many of them.”
“I hope not that many.”
“I fear it is more than you know.”
“Well that’s just peachy. Is this knowledge of enemies something you can teach me?”
“There is something I feel from the forests, a reading I can do from the lands. But I fear it is an ability I have earned, not something I am able to pass on easily.”
“Oh. Well, thanks for the heads up.”
“Are you at war with the ursus, or a type of ursus?”
“You could say that.”
“What is the tribe? Perhaps I might speak with them.”
“Have you spoken with them before?”
“If you venture into these mountains, you will come upon the ursus or they will come upon you.”
“Good relations?”
“I would not call any of them my friends, but we have never come to blows.”
“Yeah, these guys are, uh, different.”
/> “That is the feeling I get. But how?”
“They’re corrupted.”
“Ah, that would explain things.”
“Wait, that makes sense to you?”
“Yes.”
“Can you explain it to me?”
“Obviously, I cannot tell you the specifics of the corruption that has befallen these creatures, the means of corruption are nearly limitless. Demons, devils, outsiders — there are many beings who make promises of power that lead to corruption. Some more vile and insidious than others, but all are terrible in the end.”
“So this could be, like, possession? Like a demon possessed these ursus?”
“Perhaps. Or it could be that they made a deal with a devil, one that is not truly thought out, the details of the contract not followed and so on. Or one of the ursus reached out to the outsiders, a creature from the Beyond, and that creature manages to get its tendrils into this plane of existence. It spreads because it is so, well, other. Then there are creatures native to this plane who possess their own great evil and who spread corruption. The Wechuge, the Wendigo, the Vampyr, all well-known to have the ability to cause their vileness to spread.”
“Okay, I don’t know half of what you said.”
“If that is true, dear duke, you are in dire need of a teacher.”
“Yeah, I thought I had one. A mentor. But he got sucked into, well, working. Administrative shit.”
“Is now when you plan to ask me to be your teacher?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t really know what you’ve got to offer. No offense, just—”
He held his hands up and smiled. “I understand your reticence. Let us, instead, return to our initial conversation. You need farmers.”
“I do. Well, we do. Coggeshall needs its own sources of food. Beyond hunting and fishing. I want sustainability and reliability.”
“An admirable desire, if challenging to implement. Especially—”
“Yeah, winter. Winter is a shitshow, got it.”
“It is quite harsh. But not the end of growth, for those who truly know what they are doing.”