The Ice Lands

by William Dickey

  Lilith felt the weight of the world turned against her. All that she had believed in, the honor of the Lord Satan and the great society that he ruled, that hard work would inevitably lead one to greatness, and her pride as a mighty succubus all failed her. Lilith gave into despair.

  “The king requested my presence,” Warren told one of the two resplendently armored guards who stood before the large metal-braced door of the king’s private study.

  “Are you the immortal Deathgod from the front?” the guard asked. From all the stories, the guard expected the Deathgod to be a giant not the ordinary looking lean man who didn’t even look particularly strong much less capable of the grand feats he’d supposedly done. Of course, the guard knew none of the immortals looked as powerful as they were and surmised the Deathgod was no different.

  “That’s me,” Warren replied.

  “Go ahead,” said the guard as he pushed open the door.

  Warren entered the king’s private study. He was expecting something grand and flamboyant like the elaborately sculpted and decorated palace halls and throne room, but the room was rather plain. Instead of paintings and tapestries, the walls were covered in shelves of dusty old books. Unlike the other rooms of the palace, people rarely were received in the king’s private study so this place wasn’t built to impress onlookers but to function. In the center of the room was a couple chairs and a large mahogany desk behind which the king sat, deeply engrossed in a thick volume titled: The Sixth Serf Rebellion.

  As Warren entered, the king looked up and realizing his visitor had arrived set the book aside.

  “Finally,” said the king as Warren slowly approached. “Come in and have a seat. You are probably wondering why I called you here.”

  “Yes,” Warren nodded as he took his seat. In truth, despite spending all this time along Xebra’s southern edge where the fighting was fiercest, Warren made sure to keep up with the goings on in the capital and he was pretty sure what the king wanted.

  “I asked you here first to offer my thanks for all the work you and the other immortals have done in protecting Xebrya from the necromancer threat. We would have been crushed long ago, our bodies conscripted into the army of the dead, if not for your intervention,” the king began.

  “Not a problem, it’s not as if we immortals are truly at risk. Even if we die, we just come back. We might as well have some good come from this peculiar talent,” said Warren.

  “I see your virtue matches all the reports I’ve received. You are a hero who puts everything on the line for the sake of the people. Noble in nature if not in name, at least until now.”

  “My king?” Warren pretended to be confused but it was proceeding exactly as he expected.

  “Until now the immortals have been treated as guests, allowed to stay in this land but not given any official status. I plan on changing that. As a reward for services rendered I plan to declare all the immortals fighting on the front be given the status of knight, the lowest level of nobility to be sure but a place to start. For a few outstanding individuals like yourself, I am immediately making barons with the hope that you will continue to see Xebrya grow and prosper. In the future, you can earn even greater status if you prove yourself worthy,” said the king.

  Congratulations. Your heroic deeds have earned you the title of nobility: †Xebryan Baron†

  †Xebryan Baron†

  A title possessed by nobility of third rank, positioned above the ranks of gentlemen and knights, but below lord and all of the higher echelons of Xebryan nobility.

  Effects:

  . Gain access to all government buildings

  . Can request meetings with other nobles

  . Immunity from most minor crimes in Xebrya (can only be held by order of betters)

  . 10% bonus to all quest rewards in Xebrya

  . Capable of commanding all military personnel below the rank of knight

  “Thank you, my king. It is an honor to be the first immortal to be granted a title of nobility. I’m sure this action will inspire the immortals on the frontlines to work even harder for the crown and its citizens,” Warren stood up and gave a deep bow in preparation for his excusal.

  “I’m glad of your appreciation, though I suppose you aren’t the first immortal to receive a title of nobility,” the king mused.

  “What do you mean?” Warren asked.

  “The Archlord of Crystalpeak granted a barony to some immortal named Isaac up there for some services he rendered. I really would have preferred Quewel ask me first but an Archlord is well within his rights to name an occasional Baron or two,” said the king.

  “Isaac?” said Warren, the name was familiar and it took him a few seconds to realize why.

  “You know him?” the king asked, spotting Warren’s reaction.

  “The name is familiar, but I very much doubt it’s who I’m thinking of. Thousands of my people arrived in this land, there are probably a dozen named Isaac.”

  Author’s Note

  Thanks for reading. Writing and editing this all in a year was a lot of work. I hope it turned out okay and you enjoyed it. If you liked the book I humbly ask you take a moment to rate or review it. This can be done on:

  Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KDKGBN9/

  And Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42764513

  If you didn’t like the book, I would say I’m sorry. But if you didn’t like it and yet you read to this point, you must be a masochist and deserve what you got.

  If you would like to be kept up to date on my releases, the surest way is by joining my mailing list at: wddickey.com

  I won’t spam you with a bunch of progress updates but see it as an efficient way to get the word out when new releases are ready.

  Hope to see you again for book 3, tentatively titled: The Apocalypse.