EdgarFig

67. A New Age

The days following Mark’s escape from the battlefield were tense. He half expected dozens of throne ships to fly over the horizon and bombard Fort Winterclaw, but they never came.

He briefed Callum carefully, making sure the boy wouldn’t say anything about what happened. Creating a panic was the last thing they needed. 

He had planned to take the suit back from Callum after arriving in the fort, but with such an important secret looming over his head, he decided to let hi...

66. Spoils of War

Charging into the command center of World’s Edge Citadel, a bald, square-jawed Imperator made his way up to the planning map that Legate Athriel and his lieutenants craned over, spurring onlookers to turn in his direction.

“Imperator?” The Legate’s bushy brows perked as his head rose, with a figurine he was about to place on the map still in his hand.

“Legate,” the man saluted and waited for a reply.

“Speak.”

 “The heretic, we faced him. Near the...

65. Battle in the South

Once the pieces were set in place, Mark took his throne ship south. Venjimin had provided a map of the barbarian federation camp and the temple. 

After scouting out the battle or potentially what was left of it, Mark planned to head to the temple and loot whatever they could find.

With him, he took several mercenaries, a couple of Venjimin’s students, whom the old priest had briefed on where to find everything of value in the temple and Callum. 

Mark had been sur...

64. Plans in Action

Once the ship was loaded, Mark ferried his people across to the mine. He filled the entire rear of the ship and managed to load twelve people. Four guards, six miners, one cook, and an Imperial miner with some basic smelting and metallurgy skills who was selected by Payon to act as the team’s chief. The two had worked together in the past, and Payon knew him to be fairly capable.

Since they had secured a relationship with Alzuz, Mark hoped that would mean the tunnels of the mine itsel...

63. Manpower

Awkwardly untying the hovlings, Mark sent them on their way. Luckily, the meek little creatures didn’t seem interested in a fight.  

He couldn’t help but be curious over who wore down the stones if not the hovlings. However, he wasn’t too interested in pressing Alzuz for a history lesson, and he figured that the creature would have known if other threats had existed down in the mine, so he decided to leave it.

After filling several bags with ore samples and staying...

62. The Mine

Once the mercenary arrived at the camp, Mark and Elowen delved deeper into the cave. Mark decided to leave the smithy apprentice to test ore samples in the cavern while the mercenary guarded the camp.

They had attempted to talk to the weird creatures when they awoke from Mark’s lightning, but quickly realized that neither of them understood the other and gave up.

The heavily walked path zigzagged down the chamber before reaching an underground chasm with a simple rope bridge acr...

61. Delve

“Master Henric,” an acolyte saluted at the door to the Arms-Master’s cabin. 

“Come in,” he waved, barely taking notice of the acolyte with his nose buried in papers at his desk.

“It’s the new arrivals… and the ferals,” he swallowed.

“And?” Henric rose from the papers with a raised brow.

“It’s getting heated. A few mercenaries have stepped in to separate them–but you know.”

Henric bounced up from his chair, grabbed his coat, and ...

60. Mine in the Distance

Venjimin’s maps proved imperfect—as expected—and resulted in a lot of back-and-forth flying across the land before Mark spotted the mine’s entrance. 

Set on the side of a mountain overlooking the remains of a settlement, the mine’s mouth was a small clearing with a couple of abandoned mine carts almost entirely buried by snow. 

Mark had almost missed the site at first, only just spotting the former settlement’s foundations and a crumbling stone temple through...

59. New Power

“Hand me those herbs,” Mira snapped, jolting Erald from his musing.

“Here,” he said, passing the stack of mixed herbs across the crowded benchtop.

Huffing, Mira snatched them from his hand and ground them into a mortar and pestle, grunting angrily with each movement.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Erald.”

“You don’t look fine,” Erald grimaced.

Swinging around, Mira grabbed a ladle, scooped broth from the bubbling pot behind her, and pour...

58. Fast Movers

When scouts returned with news that no wargs or cultists had been spotted in the surrounding lands, Mark sent out his people. There could be no telling how long his enemies and rivals would remain distracted fighting one another, and he needed to make the most of the power vacuum growing across the Frontier.

First, he sent people to reestablish control over the outposts they had started construction on and increased patrols across the land. 

The patrols had two goals: one, to...

57. Birth of a Nation

Two men stood on ladders and held up a newly carved sign over a large cabin at the center of the Low District as Reida looked up and directed them.

“There, perfect,” she said, and the two men pulled hammers from their belts and began nailing it down. “Reida’s Bows and Arrows,” she read, and a smile formed across her face.

“Finally, you have a real store,” Mark said, strolling toward her. He wasn’t about to miss the grand opening of the first proper storefront in Fo...

56. Aftermath

After hours of waiting, the throne ship's lights flickered back on, and Mark pounded the button, opening the hatch.

Three acolytes waited for him and stiffened into a salute as the door opened.

“Good to see people alive,” Mark huffed as he exited. "So, we won then?"

“Yes, Imperator. The enemy broke shortly after your ship fell.”

“That's it?”

“Well, not exactly. There are still a few pockets of the cultists around, but they are greatly wea...

55. Final Show Down

Somewhat orderly formations marched forward until volleys of arrows shot out toward them. When the first few cultists fell to the arrows, their lines broke ranks into a wild charge at the fort.

Mark felt his conviction tested as he watched the blanketing army charging from all directions. They had killed many, but there were still thousands of cultists in this final force bearing down on them.

The arrows dropping men as they charged stirred the enemy into a frenzy, but they wouldn...

54. Herald

It doesn’t look like I get much of a choice in this. Mark thought as he felt his new powers securing their hold on him.

The imprisoned god had forced itself upon him, and it was obvious why. It seemed the mage hearts had provided a necessary link. He was likely the only person to have ever donned one without going through the brainwashing that all other Imperators and Legates had, making him not just the perfect candidate but the only one. This made him wonder if it had just ...

53. Lightning Lord

“What do you think you're doing?”

Callum turned to Erin who stood in the doorway; he had wanted to be quick so nobody saw him. But that was never going to work. Erin wasn’t the kind to be restricted to her watch on the wall just because it was an order.

“Nothing.”

“That doesn’t look like nothing.”

Callum pulled his cloak’s gray hood over his head and tightened its strings around his leather garments. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, looping his ...

52. Another Wave

Shooting into the sky above the fort, Mark scanned the forest for the glowing signal he had spotted when he had fought the priest previously.

Come on, where are you? 

Swooping just above the trees, Mark sped past in search of the priest. But there was no sign of him. It was more than that. He was fairly certain the man was intentionally concealing himself.

I know you're here, just show yourself.

Roaring in frustration, unable to spot the figure w...

51. Crafty Enemies

“What are the numbers, feral born?” Said a hunched-over, white-haired man as two armored cultists entered the hide tent he sat in.

“Five hundred and sixty dead–eighty-seven injured, High Priest,” the dirty man fell to a knee.

“Bah!” The High Priest shot up from his chair and swung around, throwing a fist through the air, almost causing himself to fall over as he stammered to find his footing.

“Be careful, High Priest,” a nearby cultist said. “Ye still rec...

50. Defense of the Fort

Mark almost felt sick as he watched arrows cutting into the already wounded men, stubbornly trying to pull themselves through the barbed wires.

Driven by religious fervor, the cultists pushed on, ignoring the wounds opening up across their bodies until they could no more and sunk into the deathly grasp of the trenches.

But those behind them saw an opportunity, climbing over the bodies of the fallen to avoid the wire and charging into the icy trenches—only to lose their footing a...

49. Beginning of the End

Mark and Henric stood on the wall, watching as the cultist army marched to the surrounding tree line. 

His heart threatened to thump straight out of his chest, and Mark did his best to calm it, reminding himself that their preparations and tests had been successful. If these stubborn people managed to push through the wire, his imitation Greek fire would melt them away.

“There’s more than I expected,” Henric muttered in disbelief.

“They’re men,” Mark said re...

48. Final Preparations

“Dober, what are the numbers for thrower fuel? The Imperator needs an update," Elowen said, pacing the storeroom.

“It’s a-a—hmmm… twelve barrels,” Dober said, finger running down the ledger.

“Faster, farm boy,” Elowen snapped her fingers as she mechanically made her way through the room. “That won’t do. I’m going to have to request they make more.”

“Sounds like a lot to me. Have you seen the barrels?”

“Thankfully, I’m not coming to you f...

47. Return to the Front

“Arms Master,” an acolyte saluted as he stepped to Henric's side on the wall.

“Do you have news from our barbarian scouts?”

“Yes, several groups have returned from our surroundings,” the boy nodded.

“Out with it.”

“It’s not good... there's more than just the bodies they found earlier. Ferals keep talking about sightings–giant, man-sized furred creatures stalking in the woods. Watching. And that's just the cautious ones. Most openly claim they've s...

46. Seat of Power

Mark had to admit he was impressed as they flew into Deloise. The city was what he imagined a great Mediterranean capital of the Middle Ages or Classical Antiquity would have looked like. 

Columned buildings perched atop a crowded mesa overlooking the giant river at its side, which was as wide as the city itself. Narrow roads split the city into neat square blocks. This was not the disorganized chaos he had seen everywhere else since arriving. 

The pegasus knights led Ma...

45. Into the Archbishopric

After restocking supplies and waiting for the Lord Librarian’s people to inform them of their contact’s whereabouts, the party took off again.

Bishop Rayleigh lived in a villa surrounded by orchids some distance from the Archbishopric’s capital, Deloise.

While the Archbishopric was quite large, much of it was arid and barren, with the capital straddling the one major river that cut through the vast land.

Deloise had become one of the region's largest cities thanks to i...

44. Growing Storm

Soldiers marched from the snow-capped mountains in the thousands. They brought with them horses, wagons, and even a detachment of wargs. They wore armor, both leather and metal, with shields and spears on their backs and the flags of the Seven-Headed Wolf God flattering in the blizzarding weather above.

“You did well, Captain,” the bald priest said with his scarf pulled high up his face. “I had my doubts you would have them ready in time.”

“We’re prepared to fight, Hig...

43. Winter

The howling winds and constant downpours of snow picked up as the last days of winter counted down. The line between winter proper and the constant cold of the Frontier might have seemed arbitrary to many but not to the gods of the north and those that followed them.

Within the great hall lit by hundreds of flicking torches, thousands of wargs gathered for the final countdown as they waited for the day that the Seven-Headed Wolf God called winter. The countdown had reached the final hou...

42. Sign on the Dotted line

“Come now, Imperator, can’t we find a civil agreement?" Edarn Donez said, watching the harbor from his window. He swung back toward where Mark was sitting in the room filled with plush red satins and golden trim. 

“Agreement? What did you have in mind?” Mark said, sipping from the surprisingly good tea he had been offered—a product similar to milk-boiled chai.

“I have decided that I will give you passage through Xaarn, but I do ask something in return. This 2024-08-11 21:28:32 +0000 UTC View Post