Bone lord 2, p.15
Bone Lord 2, page 15
Rollar, it seemed, knew a lot more than I could have guessed. And, bizarrely enough, it appeared that we were, as he claimed, fighting against a common enemy.
“Why have so many of your troops deserted you if you’re such a good guy, Rollar? Answer me that.” I adjusted my stance so that I showed I was ready to talk but that I would still stab him if he made a move to attack.
“Because I’m a tightwad and a stickler for discipline. Nobody gets more pay than I promised at the beginning, and I do not permit looting and pillaging. Some of the men—the cowards, the greedy, evil, sniveling cowards—decided that this wasn’t what they had signed up for and went their own way. They sacked, looted, raped, murdered, and pillaged. Those that I could catch, I hanged, but many escaped from me. I could not veer too far from the purpose of my mission to chase after them. Time is running short. Very short. The more we waste, the stronger the Blood God becomes.”
“And what is the purpose of your mission?” I demanded.
“To find a living god,” he answered. “To find one of the old gods who still lives and to serve him or her so that I may become Fated. So that I might join the battle against the Blood God.”
“Well, you’re in luck, Rollar.” I lowered my dagger. “Because you’ve found what you were after. You’re looking at a god—a living, breathing god. And I can make you Fated. If you submit to me.”
Chapter Seventeen
“You… a god?” Rollar asked. “But I thought you were simply an assassin? And then, I heard rumors that you had become a powerful necromancer.”
“Yes, and now I’ve become a god. The God of Death, to be exact. Would you like me to kill you and then resurrect you to prove it?”
He threw down his sword and dropped to his knees.
“Then the prophecy is true,” he murmured, staring up at me with awe in his eyes. “The wise woman’s prophecy is true.”
It was a little strange to have a conversation while a battle was proceeding in earnest all around us.
“Tell your men to stop fighting so that we can talk,” I said.
Rollar cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed out a command.
“Cease fighting! Drop your weapons and surrender, all of you!”
I sent out a mental command to my undead troops to do the same but made sure they kept their weapons in their hands just in case this was some sort of trick.
Rollar’s troops, surprisingly enough, immediately obeyed. Every one of them threw down their weapons, stepped back from my troops, and raised their hands in the air. Even the bear backed away from Fang. There was not a murmur of protest, not from a single one of them. Rollar had said that he was a stickler for discipline, but this was just ridiculous. It was almost as if he exerted some form of mind control over his troops. Like I did. How was that possible?
“What did you mean about the wise woman’s prophecy?” I asked him.
“When I was a little boy, before the Church of Light forced my tribe to convert, we had a wise woman. She prophesied that my destiny would lie with a new god. A god who would be born at the time when a great danger was threatening the world. I would fight this new god, and I would lose. But he would show me mercy—”
“Let me stop you right there,” I interrupted. “This sounds like some ploy to make me spare you. I’m not so easily beguiled.”
Rollar laughed nervously as the rest of my companions gathered around me.
“What is this about?” Rami asked. “No more fighting? There are enemies who still breathe.” She shot a venomous look at Rollar.
“Do you mean to kill them?” Isu asked me. “There’s no shame in killing those who have surrendered. You are a god now, Vance. You don’t follow the foolish moral laws of mere mortals.”
I wasn’t sure where Drok had gotten to, but I looked around the bloody battlefield and saw him trawling through the corpses among the ruins. Was he looking for loot?
Elyse had fallen from Talon somewhere in the woods, and I hoped she wasn’t badly injured or worse. I took a brief moment to close my eyes and used my divine abilities to search for Talon and Elyse. I was about to pray that she wasn’t too badly hurt, but I was a god now, so who the fuck would I pray to? Myself? Shit, all I could really do was hope.
I located Talon, tangled in some branches, with Elyse still strapped into the “baby-bag” attached to the harpy’s torso. Both of them were upside down, and the harpy was struggling futilely to get free of the tangle of branches.
So, they were both reasonably unharmed. It meant I could focus on the task at hand: deciding whether I should allow Rollar and his men to live.
I returned to my body to find the sergeant begging.
“Please, hear me out,” Rollar he said. “This isn’t a tale I made up. It’s true.”
“All right,” I said. “Let’s hear where this goes.”
“The wise woman said I would serve this living god faithfully thereafter,” Rollar continued. “And together, we would fight the darkness of the new, terrible threat. This is what was prophesied. Now I know it must be true. It has to be you. It all makes sense.”
“This god could be the Lord of Light,” I said.
“I never served the Lord of Light,” Rollar answered calmly. “Not in my heart. I only pretended to so that I could ascend to a position of power and obtain a suitable number of men under my command. As soon as I found men who would follow me, I promptly deserted with my entire division. The words of the wise woman are far more important than anything that false god needed me to do.”
“Prove it,” I said. “Command your soldiers to bow down to me as the God of Death.”
“All of you!” he roared, “get on your hands and knees and prostrate yourselves before Vance Chauzec, the God of Death!”
Every one of Rollar’s troops immediately turned to face me, dropped onto their hands and knees, and pressed their foreheads into the ground.
Each trembled with terror, and it seemed they weren’t actually giving true obeisance to me but were petrified of fighting yet more undead. I didn’t mind either way. It was incredible to have a living army bow to me.
“All hail Vance Chauzec, the new God of Death!” they chanted in unison. “All hail Vance Chauzec!”
I turned to Rollar and nodded slowly. “How do I know I can really trust you to serve me? How do I know that you won’t shove a dagger between my ribs the moment I turn my back?”
“You have one of the people of the Wastes in your ranks,” said Rollar. “Call him over here.”
“Drok!” I yelled. “Come here!”
From where he was pillaging the dead, Drok lifted his head and turned toward me. His axes, hands, and forearms were drenched with blood and gore, along with his chest and face and beard. He marched toward me, his eyes burning with contempt as he stared at Rollar.
“You want me take his head?” He asked me as he swung his axes loosely in his hands. “This traitor serve false god!”
“No, we’ll be keeping his head on his shoulders. For now. He wants to talk to you.”
“What traitor have to say to me? I no want listen to traitor.”
Rollar switched to the native tongue of the northern barbarians. He and Drok had a quick, somewhat heated exchange that became calmer toward the end. I didn’t understand a word of what they said to each other. Eventually, Drok turned to me and spoke.
“He want to serve you now, and to prove he loyal to you, he swear blood oath.”
“A blood oath?” I asked, not sure I liked the sound of it.
“He mix your blood with his blood. That way, if he ever hurt you, he hurt himself 10 times harder. If he kill you, his soul go to seventh hell.”
“And how exactly are we supposed to ‘mix our blood’?”
Rollar took over here. “We cut each other’s palms open, then shake hands, allowing our blood to mix. That way, I am bound to you, and my oath becomes sacred. As your comrade Drok here has explained, if I break this oath and visit harm upon you, harm will be visited upon me 10 times worse than whatever I do to you. And if I should kill you, my soul will be damned to the seventh level of hell. It is the most sacred oath we of the far north can swear.”
I looked at Rami and Isu, and neither seemed like they had opinions to share, which seemed strange given their penchant for putting in a word or two whenever the opportunity arose.
Maybe they knew more about blood oaths than I did? It certainly seemed like it was a very serious matter. I almost wanted to make a joke but figured this wasn’t the best time for one.
“You’re prepared to risk all of that—your very soul?” I asked Rollar.
“As I said, this is my fate, written since before I was born. The wise woman foretold this. I am simply a vessel carried by destiny. I must do this.”
“So be it,” I said with all the formality I could muster. Mixing blood wasn’t exactly the kind of exchange of fluids I enjoyed, but if this would bind Rollar to me, then I was happy to oblige. After all, he would likely prove a much more useful ally alive than as an undead minion.
“Put your dagger in your left hand and show me your right palm,” Rollar said, “and I will do the same.”
“Maybe not this dagger,” I said. While it might have been interesting to hoodwink Rollar and cut his palm with Grave Oath, I figured he might be useful on my side and didn’t want to remove his soul. At least not quite yet.
I went to one of Rollar’s soldiers. “Mind if I borrow this?” I gestured at the knife attached to his belt.
“N-n-no,” he stammered as he took the dagger and thrust it handle-first into my palm.
“Much appreciated,” I said before I returned to Rollar. “This one will work better. Will it be fine for the blood oath?”
Rollar shrugged. “The dagger used to cut doesn’t matter. It’s the person wielding it who swears the oath.”
We stood in front of each other, daggers in our left hands and our palms open.
“Now, we cut,” he said.
We each leaned across and cut open the other’s palm. Blood began to flow from each of the wounds.
“Now we shake, and I swear my oath to you.” Rollar gripped my hand tightly and dropped down onto one knee. “By the eternal light of the Celestial Bear, and by your blood in my veins, and my blood in your veins, I swear an oath on my soul. I will serve you faithfully, Vance Chauzec, God of Death, from this day until the end of my days. Should I ever break this oath, my soul will be forfeit and damned to the seventh level of hell. Any harm that I visit upon you will be returned to me tenfold. By my blood and your blood, I swear this.”
“I, uh, accept this oath,” I said, not really knowing what else to say.
Rollar pumped my hand one last time, smiled, and stood up.
“My remaining troops and I are now yours to command, Vance Chauzec, God of Death. From this day until the end of their days too.”
“How is it that they’re so loyal to you?” I asked. “It’s almost like, well, like you’re exerting some sort of mind control over them.”
“I have been using something that perhaps some would consider… unethical,” Rollar admitted. “I purchased a magical potion that allows a degree of mind control over others. Initially, it worked wonders. When I first planned my desertion from the Splendorous Army, I slipped a hefty dose in the soldiers’ food. They all deserted alongside me without question. They didn’t care that my quest seemed like a fool’s errand. Their loyalty to me was the only thing that counted. But as time passed, I began to run out of the potion. I had to lower the dose, and when I did, the effect started to wear off. That’s when the more strong-willed soldiers were able to overcome the potion’s effect. They deserted me to go off raiding and pillaging. These were doubtless the troops of mine you encountered before.”
“That does explain a few things,” I said. “You used a map to locate relics. Do you still have it?”
He nodded. “Yes, but all I’ve found so far are empty crypts and abandoned temples. A few relics still have traces of power in them, though. But such items have been few and far between.”
“Your helm and that hammer: they still have power, it would seem.”
“Yes. The helmet I found in the temple of the God of Beasts. When I wear it, I am able to communicate with animals. That’s how I captured my dire bear.”
“He put up a good fight against my lizard.” I paused to admire the huge bear. While it was bruised and bloody, with chunks of its fur ripped out, it was still standing. An admirable feat considering the bear had gone toe-to-toe with a zombie lizard.
“Your lizard is an impressive beast in itself,” Rollar said. “But for some reason, my helm does not work on it.”
“That’s because Fang, my lizard, is dead. Well, undead, technically speaking. He obeys only me because he’s a creature of Death, not Life. And the hammer—what’s the story with that?”
“It is a relic from the God of Thunder. As you discovered when you attacked my camp, it still holds some power. Not as much as it should, though.”
“This means that somewhere, the God of Thunder and the God of Beasts still live,” I said. “Their souls are alive, at least. If I could find their bodies, I could resurrect them. Although first, I made a promise to one of my companions to resurrect her chosen goddess.”
“Which god?”
“Xayon, Goddess of Wind,” Rami put in.
“Ah, yes, Xayon,” Rollar said. “Well, if you’re looking for her body, I know where it is.”
“Where?” I asked, to test whether he truly knew the answer.
“Your uncle’s castle in Brakith.”
“Right.” I nodded. It seemed he did know the location and was willing to tell me. It seemed he would be loyal and truthful.
I took a few moments to survey the battlefield. Rollar’s troops were still on their hands and knees, kowtowing to me. My troops, including Rami and Isu, were waiting for my signal, their weapons still at the ready.
“These men will obey me from now on, as their supreme commander, yes?” I asked Rollar.
“I am your subordinate now,” he answered, “and these men are now yours. They will obey you, and they will only take orders from me if those orders come from you first.”
I decided to test this out to see if he was telling the truth.
“Men!” I barked, “get up and stand to attention!”
All of Rollar’s troops scrambled to their feet, standing to attention, their arms stiff at their sides, their backs ramrod straight, and their eyes staring straight ahead. Not one of them moved a muscle; indeed, they hardly even breathed.
“Stand on your right foot only!”
All of them immediately complied, raising their left feet off the ground. I had to chuckle; this was quite amusing.
“Wave your left arms around like windmills!”
Again they obeyed right away.
“Cluck like chickens!”
This command was followed by about a hundred soldiers clucking like a flock of chickens. I roared with laughter. This was brilliant. However, as fun as it was, I had more important things to do.
“Stand at ease, gentlemen.”
The chorus of clucking stopped, and the men stood at ease.
“Get them back into their groups,” I said to Rollar. “And wait here for me. I still have a lot of questions to ask you, and I want to explore the crypt. I suspect danger lurks there. After all, something happened to the people of Kroth, who all vanished from this place. But first, I need to locate my cleric companion. You blew her out of the sky with that fucking thunder hammer of yours.”
Rollar blanched, and his face turned white, as though my mention of what he had done to Elyse might mean punishment.
I shrugged. “She’s all right, which is the main thing. All’s fair in war, right?”
“Correct.” Rollar bolted upright.
“Rami, Isu, Drok,” I said, “stay here and have a look around these ruins. See if there’s anything of interest. I’m going into the woods to find Elyse and the harpy.”
I returned to the spot where I’d seen Talon and Elyse earlier with my mind-vision. They were still tangled up in the tree.
I scrambled up the tree and clambered out onto the limb closest to Elyse. She and the harpy were hopelessly tangled in a mesh of broken, twisted branches, but this makeshift net had obviously broken their fall and saved Elyse from a fatal injury.
“Vance?” she murmured as I made my way along the bough toward her. “Why am I up here? What happened?”
“Just relax, Elyse. I’ll get you out of there in a minute.”
I went to work cutting some of the straps of the harness. After I’d sliced through a few, I was able to pull Elyse free. Talon would take a whole lot more work to free, as its wings were tangled up in the branches. I sent a command to the creature to calm down.
“I’ll send some of Rollar’s men”—well, they were my men now—”up here to cut you down.”
For the moment, I wanted to get Elyse down and make sure she was all right. I slung her over my shoulders and climbed down the tree, then laid her down on a bed of soft leaves near the trunk.
“Are you injured at all?” I asked. “Can you move your hands, feet, fingers, toes, arms, and legs?”
She tried all of these appendages and found that they were all fine. She had a few scratches on her arms and legs from the branches, but they were very minor.
“I’m fine,” she said, sitting up. “It’s all coming back to me now. I was about to blast that soldier with my holy fire, when there was this… this sound, like thunder, but louder than any thunder I’ve ever heard. Then, I was spinning—everything was spinning—and I was falling. Then, everything went black.”
“You’re all right then.” I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Praise the… uh, praise myself.”
Chapter Eighteen
I helped Elyse to her feet, but, to tell the truth, she didn’t seem to need much assistance now. She was almost back to normal after crashing through the trees while strapped to my zombie-harpy.
