Chapter 228 – King
“The ship approaches, your Majesty.”
King Fulco Mournaxe, first of his name, King of Deathwatch, and the High King of the Alliance of the Westlands, let out a breath, and nodded to his Seneschal, “I see it, Jasmine.”
Jasmine Brockhouse, a Lifesoul Warrior and his Seneschal and long-time aide, was one of the few halflings left alive after the Unmaking. It was not luck that had spared her, or her clan, but honest friendship. The Brockhouse clan had been friends and allies of Vacete, living in one of the villages nearby, and they’d always been reliable trading partners.
He thought back to the time when he was still Lord Mayor, before Khasta had picked up the broken remains of the Kingdom of Scaula, which had been shattered by the Demon King’s army. The Lich Queen of Risen Athelia had crossed Khasta with her army, and rescued Vacete as it was under siege. He was a mere fifteen years old, and newly promoted to Lord Mayor thanks to his father catching a demon’s arrow to the eye just two days prior. He had witnessed as the Army of the Damned descended upon the Demon King’s army, and gave them their first true defeat in the war, driving them back.
He had spoken with the Lich Queen, after the battle, and she had told him to ensure his city remained strong, for they might not always be able to borrow the power of undead armies and summoned heroes. Fulco had not squandered the warnings that the Lich Queen had given him. While other rulers had used the Army of the Damned as an excuse to relax, and turn their attention to their own desires, he had used the time to strengthen the defenses in his land, and lay in supplies for a siege, or an extended period of hardship. Twenty years, the war between the demons and the undead raged, but while other lands had grown soft in that time, Vacete had forged itself into a stronghold that would not easily fall.
Part of that forging had involved reaching out to those clans and peoples who were friends of the city, and passing along the warnings he’d been given, and offers of sanctuary in his city, if the worst should happen. A larger part had been investment in the city’s fortifications, armories, and storehouses, including creating great cisterns under the city, holding enough to ensure that, even in drought, the city could keep drinking for a year, possibly longer, with rationing. King Berolt Prideshard of Khasta had been concerned, at first, thinking that Fulco had been planning rebellion, but eventually joined in the other nobles of the kingdom in calling the heightened defenses of his city Mournaxe’s Folly.
Berolt had fallen, along with much of his line, when the slaves were suddenly freed, just as the feral undead descended upon the Confederacy, and western Khasta itself. Crown Prince Owayne had put down the undead creature that was once his father, but had not yet been crowned King before the Horde attacked from the south. He had the great misfortune to be captured alive, and the image of the Troll King feasting upon him while he screamed had been sent far and wide by goblin messengers, ensuring that no one had the stomach to go against the Hordelands. All that remained of that line was Princess Elizabeth, a woman fifteen years his junior. Taking her as his bride when he named himself King gave legitimacy to his claim. Not only did a firm respect and friendship exist between them, but she was also a powerful Sorceress with both the Light and Shadow elements.
Now, he stood upon the battlements of his city with his Seneschal and Queen beside him, and his eyes sharpened as he used his powers as a Lightsoul Warrior to gaze into the distance. A black ship, with full sails, and the animated bones of a dragon grafted to its hull. He did not need to see the skeletons crewing the ship, nor the standard atop the main mast, to know from whence that ship came. There was only one being who would so openly advertise that the dead were on the move, in this day and age. But the flag made it clear. The Lich Queen had returned.
The ship landed upon the skeleton’s four massive clawed feet, and the skeletal wings folded against its sides as it settled down until the keel kissed the soil, barely a thousand meters from the city gates. Far enough to be out of bowshot for any archer who was less than a Master warrior. It was a distance removed enough to show respect for the lord of the city, and his domain, but close enough that it did not show fear.
Stone rose up out of the earth, creating a ramp that curved lightly as it descended. Suitable to ride upon with a horse, or to haul goods up into the ship. And then a portal opened, and nineteen undead knights walked out, one of them holding the Lich Queen’s banner aloft as they formed an honor guard at the foot of the ramp. Nine more skeletal warhorses emerged from the portal, riderless, but the Lich Queen herself, and eight others, took to the saddle, and rode forth. But the eight were mortals! No, there were nine, for one of the mortals had a skeleton riding behind her, and a shadowy cat stalked next to one of the mortals. Familiars, then, like the undead raven that rode behind the Lich Queen.
“Open the gates,” he ordered. “I shall go and meet the Lich Queen myself.”
The captain of the gate watch balked, but only slightly. “Sire, is that wise? We will not be able to defend you outside the walls.”
Fulco laughed, and it was no affectation or sign of desperation. “Captain Moyse, if the Lich Queen wished me harm, then there is not a power in this city that could do more than bloodying her boots as she stepped over them. But she landed a respectful distance away, and rides openly, with only an honor guard. This is not an attack, but a visit, especially with mortals in her train. And Deathwatch will not fall short on hospitality.”
With that said, he went down to the gate, with Elizabeth and Jasmine at his side, and they mounted their horses. It would be unseemly for the king to be on foot, while the visitors were on horseback, after all. And, if they wished to speak at length, then they would need to head to the castle, anyways, and while the distance was walkable, especially for a Master warrior like himself, he did have an image to maintain for his people.
The gatehouse was a feat of engineering devised by the Bizzspan clan of gnomes, who had settled in Vacete after their lands of Gnomehome were overrun by the Demon King sixty years ago. The gatehouse was four times the width of what one would normally see, but the gate itself was a normal size, wide enough for two carts to pass side by side. The reason for the width was because the path did not go straight from one side of the wall to the other. Instead, once one passed the inner portcullis, one had to turn sharply to the right, before, not two cart-lengths later, you turned back to the left, to face the outer portcullis and the drawbridge over the deep moat outside the walls. The gate on either end was made of enchanted stone, so that a ram would be needed to break through, but the close quarters meant getting through the inner gate would be bloody work, especially with the murderholes above allowing the defenders to rain death upon invaders.
He was just about to ride through the gate when the clatter of hooves approached. Turning, he saw a delegation of three priests from the temple of Murena riding to meet him, led by Huntmaster Dain Deepbinder himself. “Huntmaster Deepbinder,” he nodded. “I assume you are here to pay your respects to the Lich Queen upon her return?”
The Huntmaster smiled. “Aye, your Majesty. When the temple in Khastalan sent word that the ship passed by without stopping or doing more than shifting course to take it around the city, rather than overflying it, I knew that the Arrow of Murena had returned to our world. And, as I said to you, Murena has revealed to her faithful that she now has a presence on the world her Arrow was taken from, the first and only of Onerth’s gods to boast such, so far.”
More hoofbeats sounded against the street’s stones. This time, it was another group of three priests, but from the temple of Taesis, God of Life, and twin brother to Murena. Fulco nodded to Lifebinder Lull Brockhouse, one of Jasmine’s clan, though not in direct relation to her. “Lifebinder Brockhouse. I should have guessed that, if the Huntmaster was roused to action, the Lifebinder would join him.”
Lifebinder Brockhouse laughed from the back of his pony, for he was too small for a horse, and said, “Your Majesty, the return of the Lich Queen of Risen Athelia to this world promises to be a boon for all life yet remaining. For she came of her own will, this time, not due to a summons. Lord Taesis tells me that, soon, the feral undead that roam Risen Athelia’s lands will be brought into order, and that the Hordelands will have greater worries than pressing against Khastalan and our western borders.”
“Well, in that case, let us go and see how the returning ‘Arrow of Murena’ is doing, and what she may want,” Fulco said as he turned his horse to the gate, and rode through it. However, as their horses walked across the drawbridge, something struck him as odd about the honor guard. He had seen the Lich Queen more than once, over the years of the Long War, and she’d always had at least one of her nineteen Death Knights of the Black Company at her side. He knew the look of them, and their armor. And that is why he was the first to realize something, “That isn’t the Black Company with her.”
Elizabeth focused her gaze on the death knights, and nodded slowly. She, too, had seen the Black Company before, and knew their strength. “The death knights are powerful, as one would expect of the Lich Queen’s forces, but they are ‘ordinary’ death knights, and do not possess the same presence that the Black Company once did.”
“The answer to that is simple, my King,” spoke Huntmaster Deepbinder. “Lady Murena safeguarded the souls of those who had been summoned with the Lich Queen when the Demon King’s assassins took their lives. When she was strong enough, the Lich Queen raised her comrades as undead, with the aura of summoned heroes about them. I expect that she released their souls to the afterlife of their world, once she returned. However, since she was known for always having an honor guard of nineteen death knights, only those who had seen her and the Black Company in person would know the difference. Especially with how much her own power has grown.”
“More than just being named the Arrow of Murena, her champion in the mortal realms?”
“Aye, your Majesty. While my Lady has not said much, she has hinted that her champion is far stronger than ever. But she is close enough to hail, now, and I expect her herald will give us an indication of how much she has grown, along with her titles.”
Indeed, the procession of undead halted just fifteen meters from them. From this distance, he could see that two of the mortals with the Lich Queen were elves, most likely from the refugees from Elthara who had passed through Deathwatch on their way to Athelia-that-was, on a pilgrimage to seek out the Queen of the Damned. Evidently, they found her.
However, it was the other mortals that interested him more. Six of them, all humans, including the one with the skeleton riding behind her, were dressed in the Lich Queen’s own livery, though their robes suggested that they were mages in training, who had not yet achieved their mastery. Had the Lich Queen taken mortal mages as her disciples? She’d never bothered training anyone during the Long War, but that could be explained away by the fact that she was busy fighting, and was far from enamored with this world’s people.
Then, the standard-bearer riding at the front spoke. “Her Royal Majesty, Queen Akagawa Kaori, First of Her Name, World Traveler, the Deathless, the Dragon Ascended, Heroine of the Elements Undivided, Conquerer of Haerth and its Minions, Mistress of the Dead and Ruler of the Damned, Archlich and High Contractor of Murena, Agent of the Goddess of Death, Chainbreaker, Archmage of the Elements Undivided, Destroyer of Athelia-That-Was, Demon’s Bane, Legend-crafter, Weaponmistress, She Who Wields Both Spell and Blade, the Lost Sleeper Returned, and Lich Queen of Risen Athelia offers her greetings to King Fulco Mournaxe, first of his name, King of Deathwatch, and the High King of the Alliance of the Westlands. Long may he reign, in both power and wisdom.”
“Well,” Fulco said, “you always did know how to make an entrance, Queen Akagawa.”