I leave for the airport in 4 hours and will get to work on 593 on the plane. Look forward to seeing some of you in Denver.

Chapter 592: The Last Ride

Ginger didn’t need any urging to gallop south. Her hooves clacked on the ancient cobblestones as I kept on alert for dire wolves. These woods were still not safe, especially traveling alone. Once Caelora was cleared and the trade route fully opened, I suspected the Empire would clear them deeply and open the wild lands to settlement. There were a number of ancient towns and villages in that nature had reclaimed.

It was nearly sixty miles to Sobral City, and Ginger felt my impatience and pushed herself. Or more likely she had the same prickly feeling I felt on the back of my neck. Maybe the essences I had fed her had helped her stamina. She did throw a shoe and split a hoof after a few hours of hard riding, but I had a farrier kit in my space.

While I worked on it, Ginger was drinking from a spring pool surging from two rocks. She jolted, pulling her leg from me. I was about to chastise her when I felt it too. I even saw ripples in the spring Ginger was drinking from. It felt like a tiny earthquake, but I knew it had originated in Caelora. Khrusos had arrived. The insects and animals went silent, as did the wind. I think Ginger was mimicking me and holding her breath. She craned her head back to look at me.

“I know. Let me finish this first,” I told her, grabbing her leg and locking it between my leather chaps. When nothing happened for minutes, the insects returned first, followed by the birds. Finished with the new shoe, I poured a lesser healing potion over the crack, closing and healing it. “See, that didn’t take long.” I was a bit out of practice, but did a fair job.

Just before I swung up into the saddle, rolling thunderous roars traveled over the trees. “Good luck, Hephaestus. Fortuna be with you,” I muttered a prayer and directed Ginger south once again. The sounds of the titans fighting got fainter and fainter with every additional mile we opened up. We were going to make it to Sobral before nightfall at this pace and even though Ginger was exhausting herself, I planned to leave her in the city anyway. She would have plenty of time to recover.

Before I reached the river, I encountered a hastily constructed watch tower on a hill just off the road. City guards in the duchess’s livery had their eyes focused to the north. “When did the others pass?” I yelled up to them to get their attention.

The sergeant finally noticed me. “You the one they waiting for? They passed mid-day. What is happening to the north?”

“A clash of titans,” I yelled back and rode past. Clusters of farms lined the road as the cobblestone pavers ended. I supposed the tower served as much as a watchtower against threats as it did to prevent scavenging any more of the road for houses.

At the river, the ride to Sobral was short. Men were along the river digging breakers to enlarge the docks. The outer wall had made significant progress since I passed through last, and the population seemed to have grown as well. “Took you long enough,” a man said gruffly, stepping out of the gatehouse.

“If this is the kind of greeting I am going to get, then I will just not visit any more.” I slid gracefully off Ginger and Linus, and I hugged. “Working the pudge off, I see,” I said good-naturedly. Our old company medic had taken service with the duchess.

“Aye, I have been training four companies of lads since you came through last time and warned us. I cannot let them show me up.” He leaned in close. “Were you successful?”

“Even better. I know where they are building it already,” I said conspiratorially.

His eyes widened, and he shook his head in disbelief. “Of all the men in the company, you are the last one I thought would be socializing with storm giants and saving the world. Thought you about shit you trousers in the griffin fight.”

“Love you too, Linus. And I might have actually shit my pants. The world isn’t saved yet, either. Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Waiting for you in the citadel. I have to go across the river and check on the foundations of the new fort. But I will be along shortly,” the medic said jovially.

“Fort?” I questioned.

“The duchess plans to build a bridge across the Aganterao River. Before she invests in the bridge, she wants a thousand of her people developing the land. Without protection close at hand, they won’t settle over there,” Linus explained.

“Hence the construction of the fort,” I finished. “The duchess always was an ambitious woman.”

“She has already sent five hundred conscripts to Nausis. I am training another two hundred, and I will be going with them,” Linus stated heavily.

“You will never make it before they sail,” I said.

“You haven’t heard? The Empress is taking her artificers with her. The ones that built the gate in the Heptarchy. She plans to build another gate in the Brotherhood of the Mitzra,” Linus said with severity.

“That is amazing. Reinforcements will be able to bypass sailing through the Belt of Storms,” I said.

Linus shook his head heavily. “You are missing the wider picture, Eryk. I could let Veronica tell you, but I want to see the look on your face. Empress Renna plans to expand the Empire into the Brotherhood of Mitzra. She has an army in front of her that will be wiping out the Nashasari city by city. She will be the only one capable of settling the lands vacated.”

“There are not enough people in the Empire…” I started to say. “The slaves…”

Linus nodded. “The slaves. The Empress will volunteer to handle the freed slaves. Special mage companies are being prepared to indoctrinate them into the glory of the Empire and servitude. The duchess knows more details.”

I didn’t know if I should be impressed, fearful, or disgusted. “That continent is massive. There have to be millions of Nashasari.”

“You haven’t heard? The doctrine for the war is the genocide of the Nashasari people. It is what the serpent men had planned to do to us, so we are returning the favor,” the legionnaire said tersely. I didn’t know how I felt about wiping out an entire race, but I doubted it was feasible since they also infested the Endless Dark. I just nodded, watched my friend hop onto a skiff and cross the river.

I turned and walked Ginger through the gates, seeing citizens rushing through the streets with purpose. Dozens of buildings were being erected throughout the city, and small squares of soldiers were being drilled. Not soldiers, but boys. They all needed to ripen another year or two to become men, but war would speed the process. I brought Ginger to the stables and found one of the old stable boys, now a young man. He was fortunate to be in the duchess’s employ and not to get conscripted.

“Death Hunter Eryk,” he said reverently. “We had word you were coming back.”

“And here I am,” I said. I patted Ginger’s neck. “You remember Ginger?”

He looked Ginger over with an experienced eye. “You have taken remarkable care of her. She looks the same as I remember,” the stable hand said.

I coughed. “Yeah, well. I might be leaving her here for a while. I want to make sure she is exercised and not attached to any cavalry unit.”

“I manage all the stables, but…” he said reluctantly.

“Talk to Linus. He will confirm she is not to be assigned anywhere but here. She needs a rest,” I said, stroking her neck. We all needed a rest. “I will rub her down and you can send word to the citadel I will be there shortly.”

The young man left me, and I talked to Ginger as I bushed her coat. I knew she couldn’t understand, but hopefully there was enough empathy in my words that she wouldn’t worry too much when I didn’t return for her. “We had a good run, you and me. I don’t think you'll be needed for this leg of the journey, girl. You were an amazing steed and good friend along the way. If I do come back for you, I promise no more fighting and we will just enjoy some good runs.” She nudged me softly with her snout. I made an apple appear and held it out for her. She nudged me again, ignoring the apple, and I understood. I scratched the length from nose to between her eyes. The farewell took a few minutes, and eventually she nudged my hand for the apple and slobbered on all over my hand as she ate, but I didn’t mind. I was pretty sure she knew what was up.

I had reinforced all her physical attributes except power, but I didn’t have one of those essences at the moment. Hopefully she would live a long, healthy life if I never returned for her. I knew there would be massive battles as we fought our way to the center of the continent. Ginger wouldn’t make a difference in those battles, and my spell forms meant I would likely not need her. She didn’t need to be put in danger for no reason.

I turned my back and walked out of the stables, my throat a little tight and my eyes slightly irritated. When I reached the citadel entry, two guards escorted me to the dining hall. It was a bit early for dinner and only trays of snacks had been laid out. Evie and Lexi were here, but I was not worried about their safety. Duchess Veronica, Konstantin, Castile, and Blaze made up the table. They were looking at me to see if this was all worth it.

“I have the device and I know where the Demon World Gate is being constructed. It is not finished, but we probably only have a few months,” I said.

“Well where is it?” Konstantin barked when no one else said anything.

“It is as we thought. It is in the Endless Dark near the city of Koboru,” I said. “That is the eastern part of the continent.”

“I will have a message sending prepared. It will change plans,” the Duchess stood abruptly and left. It appeared she had sided with the new Empress and would back her in trying to conquer the Nashasari lands.

I came further in and sat across from Konstantin and Castile, taking some salted meat and cheese from the platter. “The girls?” I asked.

“Resting. I didn’t think they needed to be woken,” Castile replied quickly. “The Sentinels?”

“Waiting for the titans to finish catching up before finishing the job in Caelora. I don’t want the Empress backing out. Do you know what Empress Renna plans to do in the Brotherhood of Mitzra?” I asked the two.

The two looked at each other, and Konstantin answered for them. “She has equipped her Imperial legionnaires with the Nashasari Torment blades. She plans to liberate several cities across the continent as the allied army moves and gain a foothold. She is going to drag the Empire into another endless war.”

“At least this one will not be against other humans and elves,” Castile said bitterly. I couldn’t tell whether she supported the Empress’s plans. I doubted Castile would return to the Empire. She liked being able to decide her own fate.

“Where are you two going from here?” I asked.

“I am with you,” Konstantin affirmed. “And you promised Evie you would take her.”

“Lexi won’t leave Evie, and I won’t leave Lexi,” Castile added.

“What about Blaze, Benito, and Lesna?” I asked.

“They are with you as well and will do whatever you ask of them,” Konstantin affirmed.

I nodded slowly but didn’t like people blindly following me. “I am going to let Evie know I am here and then get a little sleep. In the morning, I will assemble the spell anchor to teleport.”

“The earliest the fleet will sail is eight days. We have time,” Castile informed me. Again, I nodded and wandered through the once-familiar halls.

Instead of going to see Evie right away, I climbed the alchemist tower, but it looked like he had moved, as there was now a sitting room here. I looked out the window at the spot where a forest once stood a few years ago. The trees were mostly gone, and the formation of a city sprawl began. It didn’t feel like this was Duchess Veronica’s initiative to grow her duchy, but as the start of the resurgence of the Telhian Empire.

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