“It is quite a sight, is it not, my lord?” Rollar commented as he rode over to me on the back of his direbear. “Never did I imagine that I would one day be serving with an undead army under the God of Death... but never have I been a prouder member of a fighting force.”
I smiled at him. “I’m glad you feel that way, my friend. I’m damned proud of this army too.”
The last of my troops marched out of Aith, and the enormous city gates closed behind them. Our time in the city of the Arachne was officially over.
As soon as we set out from Aith, I sent out scouts—skeletal cavalrymen who could ride far and fast on their skeletal horses—in all directions as we traveled onwards, and I flew Talon great distances on a daily basis, but nowhere did I see any signs of a Crusader Army. I could only imagine that the small Crusader Army Elandriel sent against us near the Temple of Blood had been some sort of test to gauge my strength. What I knew of Elandriel was that he was a cautious man, not prone to taking risks or making a move before he was sure that the outcome of a particular action would work out in his favor. In a game of mental chess, regardless of the intellectual prowess of his opponent, Elandriel was likely to be the one saying “checkmate” at the end. His keen intelligence, guile, and propensity for backstabbing had gotten him to the peak of the Church of Light’s hierarchy. As Seraphim, he was only one step away from the Lord of Light himself, the Lord’s official mouthpiece in Prand. He had as much power as any king or emperor, and he had a bigger army than any kingdom in the world. It wouldn’t be preposterous to call him the most powerful person on the planet. Not someone you’d take on as an enemy if it could be avoided. Unfortunately, my very existence was an affront to the Church of Light, so there wasn’t much I could do to stop Elandriel coming after me. Well, there was one way to end this Crusade: Elandriel’s head on a stick, and his soul sucked into Grave Oath.
That was one enemy. Coming at me from another angle with just as much force was the Blood God and his lackey, the Hooded Man. All along, I’d thought that my uncle had been the Blood God’s main man in Prand, but it turned out he had only been second-in-command in this twisted cult that hunted down virgin maidens.
As we moved toward Lough Harbor, we stopped in villages and towns but found no reports of missing girls or anyone that sounded like the Hooded Man. Perhaps he’d crossed the ocean to summon Blood Demons and Demogorgons and do whatever other foul things he wanted to without worrying about me interfering with his nefarious plans.
Yeah, that would have been a fortune too great even for a god like me.
Most of the country we passed through was open plains but with some hilly terrain here and there and a few scattered forests.
The night before we would reach Lough Harbor, I broached the subject with Rollar.
“It is strange indeed, my lord,” Rollar said as he and I drank some ale around a campfire. “But, hmm... Come to think of it, Lord Vance, maybe we’re not at our most vulnerable out here in the open country. He’s already gauged our fighting strength, with the ambush in the mountains. He’s going to be hesitant to attack us, even if he has a force that greatly outnumbers ours.”
“But he’s not going to just let us prance around like this, is he? He’s going to attack us sometime; he wouldn’t be able to stand the loss of face that would come with his calling off his crusade.”
“That’s true. But he is going to make sure we are at our absolute weakest and most vulnerable before he attacks. And I think I know where that will be.”
“Where is that?”
Rollar shrugged. “Perhaps when we return from Yeng. He may have an army waiting in Lough Harbor. Perhaps cannons stationed at the docks, waiting to fire out us before we can make the port.”
“What are you two talking about?” Rami-Xayon asked as she walked up to the campfire, dressed in her figure-hugging black enjarta suit..
I brought her up to speed.
“We can deal with that problem when we return,” Rami-Xayon said. “For now, we have to worry about being able to reach Yeng in the first place. We need a ship. My powers can provide assistance with sailing, so we should make good time on the journey across the Sea of Storms. You have also developed some Wind powers of your own, have you not? Perhaps we can reach Yeng and return before Elandriel is able to muster his forces.”
“Let us pray that is the case,” Rollar said.
“I will do my share of praying tonight,” Rami said as her eyes locked onto me, and she elevated her eyebrows with erotic intent.
“Then I’ll take my leave, if you don’t mind, Lord Vance?” Rollar asked, clearly uncomfortable.
“Not a problem,”
