The tree on the black plane was calling out to me again, so after everyone had gone to sleep, I sat by the campfire, closed my eyes, and transported myself there.
Getting to this place was becoming easier and easier. I could get here in the blink of an eye now, and the unsettling lurching sensation of having my soul yanked out of my body was becoming a lot less forceful. I walked across the glass-smooth black floor toward the huge gray tree. There were many boughs still obscured by fog, which meant that I still had plenty of skills to obtain, some of which would be potent enough to fight something like the Demogorgon, I hoped. The fog was already clearing around one of the branches. A new skill was ready, ripe like a fruit waiting to be plucked.
The previous skills I’d obtained had been represented by the image of a corpse exploding, and the other had been a laughing skull. This one was much more like the first rather than the latter.The only difference was that it was three corpses exploding instead of one. Multiple corpse explosions? This could be fun.
I clambered up the tree, plucked the glowing “fruit” from the branch, and felt the familiar jolt of energy zap through my body, filling me with a fresh, invigorating strength. I jumped off the high bough and did a couple of backflips before landing on the rubbery surface.
“All right!” I said. “Multiple corpse explosions. Rodrick’s army won’t know what hit them, if it comes to battle, anyway.”
I zipped back to the physical world in an instant and felt a little of the lurching sensation of being sucked into my body. Fresh power crackled through me, and I was itching to try out this new ability, which would wreak glorious havoc on any battlefield. But multiple corpse explosions would have to wait, as there weren’t any corpses lying around at the moment, and I couldn’t go and kill a bunch of Rollar’s troops just for the sake of testing out my new power, as tempted as I was to do so.
Instead, I sat by the campfire for most of the night, getting my two hours of sleep in the early hours of the morning.
After I woke up, I felt as refreshed and energized as if I’d had a good 10 hours of sleep, and I woke the camp as the sky was graying with the coming dawn so that we could set off at first light and hopefully reach the woods around Brakith by evening.
I kept to myself the whole ride; I didn’t need to be distracted by the women or have my concentration disrupted by chatting to Rollar. Again, we kept up a good pace throughout the day, and by nightfall, my hometown of Brakith, with its familiar castle on the hill, was silhouetted in front of the last fiery rays of the setting sun.
The woods here were as beautiful as I remembered, and the thought that all of this rightfully belonged to me but had been ripped away by my uncle’s lies made me both sad and furious. Still, it didn’t matter that much; these lands wouldn’t belong to my uncle much longer. Not if I could help it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
That night after dinner, I gathered everyone around the campfire to talk strategy.
“Obviously,” I began, “we want to get into the castle with as little bloodshed as possible. My uncle’s soldiers are fair game as targets, of course, but I don’t want any of the townsfolk hurt or killed. These are my people, and I need to win their hearts and minds back after everything my uncle has done to poison them against me. Hurting, killing, or intimidating them will just make the damage he’s done to my reputation even worse.”
“I agree,” Elyse said. “We need the people of Brakith on our side, behind Vance. He needs to be a ruler who is loved, not feared.”
“A little bit of fear goes a long way when it comes to maintaining power and authority,” Isu said, cracking her knuckles.
“And defeating my uncle, forcing him to confess his crimes in front of everyone, then publicly executing him and his toadies will show the people that I’m both strong and just,” I countered. “Without me having to intimidate or bully any civilians.”
“We need to get you into the city without being recognized,” Rami said. “This is our primary concern now. Worry about your uncle later. Right now, as I understand it, the whole town hates you, Vance, and should your identity be discovered by the townsfolk before your uncle’s treachery is revealed to the people, they’ll be baying for your blood. And no amount of reason can swing the opinion of a mob.”
“That’s where the Beauty Mirror comes in,” Rollar said, “if we can find it. If Lord Vance is able to get his hands on that, he could waltz through the town without a single person recognizing him.”
“Unless they’re Fated or have very strong magic resistance,” Isu said. “In which case, the Charm Goddess’ little trinket will be next to useless.”
“Even so, it’ll get the wearer past most people,” Rollar countered.
“So, how do we find it?” Rami asked.
“The way I see it,” I said, “there’s only one person among us who can get into Brakith and walk around in the open and talk to people without drawing any unwanted attention. I’m obviously out, being number one on Brakith’s most wanted list, and Rollar is pretty high up on the Church of Light’s most wanted list too, and there are plenty of Church of Light troops in Brakith. Isu’s going to have a bit of a problem walking around unnoticed with those horns of hers, and a Yengishwoman is also going to draw a few stares.”
There was only one person whose name I had
