The walls of Ashvale slowly appeared in the distance, making Norman smile. He was returning at the head of a victorious army, like some sort of conquering general. Which was not something he had ever expected to do.
The town looked much the same as it did when they left. This didn’t surprise him, it had been only about a month. They had also only left about three dozen non-combatants behind. The rest had joined the army for their bit of revenge.
Not everyone that came along survived the fighting though. Of those that had joined, three hundred of the non-death knights fell during the intense fighting. Norman was able to resurrect most of those people, but eighty-two still remained dead, their bodies too damaged to bring them back the normal way.
Then there were the death knights. With full sets of Norman’s armor, they had fared much better during the fighting. Only twelve of them fell during the battle. All but three were able to resurrect using their phylacteries as it had been their second death. The last three got extremely unlucky with their second life. Their bodies were too far gone to resurrect so they joined the civilians waiting for Norman to figure out how to modify his spell.
When Norman glanced back at the cleanly ordered line of troops, it brought a smile to his face. It was easy to tell which ones had died during the fighting due to their empty phylactery pouches. Only the one bound to the phylactery could handle the orb. If anyone else touched it, the magic would link to that person’s soul.
As they got closer to the city, Norman felt like something was off. He stopped. When he stopped, everyone else halted as well.
Eugene approached, “What’s up, Boss?”
“I don’t know. Doesn’t something seem strange to you?”
As Eugene was looking at the city, Grobert walked up. He must have overheard Norman’s concern. “Why isn’t there anyone here to greet us?”
“Yeah, now that you mention it, that is weird. I could understand if it was dark out, or raining, but it is a nice sunny day, they should have seen us coming from miles away. You think they are just working on something farther inside the city? Or maybe they didn’t immediately recognize us? It has been a month.”
Norman glanced back at the death knights. None of them were wearing their signature armor. “I suppose those are possibilities, but let's make sure. Eugene, pick a dozen knights to scout the city, then I want you and Grobert along with four knights to come with me to check the castle. The rest I want to stay here and create a defensive position.”
Eugene and Grobert both looked like they wanted to argue with Norman entering the city, but they held their tongues on that matter. Eugene issued his orders and the death knights quickly split into three groups of four, their signature armor appearing as soon as they received their instructions. The chosen twelve left their phylacteries behind in a secured area and quickly jogged toward the town in the distance as the fortification started to take shape.
Norman, Eugene, Grobert, and the four knights that were assigned to them, entered shortly behind the other knights. He didn’t want to wait until the other groups cleared the city before heading toward the castle. Was it dangerous and stupid, probably, but everyone in Norman’s group had also left behind phylacteries so the danger was minimal.
As the group crossed through the still-overgrown front gate, he could see a few signs that repairs had been started, and more cleanup had been completed. Signs of the city returning to its previous state only increased as they moved down the winding main street and deeper into the heart of the city.
When Ashvale had first been built, there had been no attempt at city planning or order. It left the city looking a bit haphazard but more natural looking than the rigidly straight lines of most contemporary cities. This suited Norman just fine, he liked the quaintness that this brought to his city. If the city ever grew too large, it would probably become an issue, but for now, it was fine. And he really didn’t want to force people to rebuild.
As they walked through the streets, only the echoes of their bone-clad feet ringing across the streets could be heard. It was a bit unnerving for Norman. But he wasn’t about to ask anyone to remove their armor because the sound of their footsteps echoing through the quiet streets unnerved him. That would just be stupid. If there was danger inside the city, the armor could save their lives or give them time to act.
The farther they got inside the city, the creepier it became. There were no signs of fighting as far as Norman could see, but it was hard to tell considering all the damage that still marked the buildings from the Brotherhood's attack. The thought that kept sticking in the back of Norman’s head was that stupid magical beast. What if it had somehow gotten past the fog lands and found Ashvale? He shook that thought away, it was silly. Nothing living had gotten past that wall of death, other than Norman. Plus the creature had no reason to go through it, it had plenty of prey to hunt in the jungle.
The group came to a stop at a street crossing. It was the first time they spotted signs that anything still inhabited the city. A cold fire pit and some drying leather on a rack nearby told the tale of a tanner, likely making clothing or other leather goods for the rest of the people.
Eugene walked over to the pot near the fire and looked inside. “It’s completely boiled off.”
Norman looked around but only saw a small stool that was tipped over. It could have been the wind, but maybe not. “Do you think they had to hide from someone?”
“Hard to say. But if they did, where is this threat? And where are the people? This fire is at least two days old, there isn’t even heat radiating off of it anymore and the ashes underneath are cold.”
Norman walked over to verify Eugene’s findings. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him, it was just that the greykin didn’t have the best sense of touch anymore. But Eugene was correct, the fire and ashes were completely cold. It also didn’t look like it had rained recently, otherwise, the ash would be wet.
Norman wiped the ash from his fingers onto the ground. “Let's keep moving and see if we can figure out what’s going on.”
As they approached the wall of the castle, they finally came upon something out of the ordinary. It was the corpse of a human male. It was clear from the man’s proportions that he was a physical classer like Eugene and he definitely wasn’t a citizen. The man was wearing a black suit, white shirt, black tie, and black shades.
“G-men?” Norman asked in confusion.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
“What are G-men,” Grobert asked.
As Eugene approached the corpse, Norman explained what a G-man was to Grobert, “It was a term used to describe secret federal agents from my old country.”
Eugene crouched down by the body. “Definitely not a g-man,” he said after a bit of poking around.
“How can you be certain?”
“The tattoos, G-men need to remain anonymous so there is no way they would get a defining tattoo. Plus, this is a prison tat, I recognize it.”
Norman got closer to see where Eugene was pointing. There was indeed a teardrop tattoo below one of the man’s eyes. He inspected the body himself, finding the man had died from a broken neck. Going by the position of the body and where it was laying, it looked like the man had fallen off the top of the wall and landed on his head. A fall from that height shouldn’t have normally killed a physical classer unless magic was involved somehow. He quickly cast Glimpse from Beyond on the corpse, trusting his guards along with Grobert and Eugene to keep him safe while he scanned the man’s last memories.
***
Norman was huffing and puffing as he raced through these strange ruined city streets. It was the one time he wished he had invested in speed over strength. He could hear the cries of the people ahead of him and he was determined to be the first to catch up with them. Maybe he would get a reward for being the first to catch them. The thought made him smile.
He spotted the people running up a set of stairs, but he was smarter. He leaped up to the top of the wall and leveled his grenade launcher at the fleeing people. “Stop and you will not be harmed!”
One of the people whipped around to face him, doing something strange with her hand. Before he knew what was happening, he was spinning through the air and off the wall. Something was wrong though and all he felt was pain. His muscles must have contracted in his hand as he heard the weapon bark out one of the 40mm grenades. There was an explosion in the distance and a few cries of pain before he crunched painfully into the ground.
The pain was intense as he lay there but it soon faded from most of his body, leaving only his head sore. He spotted more people in suits rushing up the stairs and lamented at not being able to be the first. He tried to wave at them to help him up but couldn’t feel his arm. That was fine, someone would be along to help him shortly. Soon his salvation came into view and he smiled.
The woman looked at him and frowned, the look made him think he had offended her somehow. He wanted to leap to his feet and show her he could continue, but his body just wouldn’t respond.
“God, you are so useless. At least this is a fitting end for a disgusting pig like yourself.”
He blinked as her radiant glow seemed to be ripped from him, leaving behind momentary confusion before his mind realized it was free. For the first time in years, he could think straight. Then he realized he was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it. This bitch had enslaved his mind and used him as she saw fit, throwing him into danger at every opportunity. He wanted to rail at her, curse her out, spit at her, and call her the useless whore that she was but only a garbled burble escaped his blood-coated lips.
With a disgusted sigh, she bent down near him. “While you were a useless piece of shit in life, at least you can be of use one last time. Norman, I know you will hear this, don’t keep me waiting.”
‘Who the fuck was Norman? What the fuck was this crazy bitch talking about? No, get back here, save me, you can’t leave me like this!’
With those last words, the woman turned around and walked up the stairs, leaving him to die alone and broken. Soon the light in his eyes faded away, leaving him confused and afraid.
***
When Norman came back to himself, he groaned and shook his head, “Fuck!”
Eugene quirked an eyebrow at him, “Problem, Boss?”
“Maybe, maybe not. You and Grobert come with me, you other four, stay here. I don’t want to spook our guest into doing anything rash.”
“You sure?” Eugene whispered, making sure the others didn’t hear.
Norman just nodded. “I know who is here waiting for me but they have grenade launchers.”
Eugene didn’t seem worried about that, in fact, Norman was pretty sure he saw the man perk up when he heard the words.
The three climbed the stairs to the plateau and headed toward the castle. It was clear the people left behind had repaired the entire exterior of the building. Maybe as a gift or a surprise for Norman, he wasn’t sure. While it was a lovely gesture, it was wasted on him at the moment. He was trying to keep his anger in check. If she had hurt his people, she wasn’t getting out of there alive.
Norman peeked his head inside the wide-open front door. The hallway was clear of debris and looked to have been remodeled a bit. It was pretty dark inside but Norman could make out the shapes of at least six people in the main room.
Not wanting to drag this out any longer than he had to, Norman stepped into the hallway with Grobert and Eugene trailing behind him. He made sure to remove his helmet to ensure they knew who was walking in.
It was abundantly clear that their visitors had known they were coming. Three men stood to either side of a wooden throne that had replaced the old bone throne. All six of the men leveled weapons at the trio as they entered. Norman glanced around the room, not seeing the other four men he saw in the vision. There could be more he hadn’t seen but he had to work with what he knew.
After scanning the room, his eyes landed on the woman seated on the throne. “Anna.”
“Norman.”
“Where are my people?”
“Safe. They barricaded themselves in a room toward the back of this lovely home you have. Although it could use some work. But don’t worry, I have some of my men watching them. Any harm comes to me and they know what to do.”
Norman just nodded.
There was a tense atmosphere as Eugene and Grobert entered behind Norman.
Anna held up her hand, “That’s far enough.”
Both men stopped as barrels were aimed toward them.
“It’s been quite some time, Norman. You are a hard man to find.”
“Apparently not hard enough,” he mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Uh, nothing,” He looked around at the guards' faces, “I don’t see Toby, he’s not here is he?”
Anna’s face took on a sad cast for a moment before it vanished again. “My brother was murdered over eight years ago. Beaten and then stabbed through the heart in broad daylight. They never did find the killer.”
Something about that felt oddly familiar to Norman, then it clicked. He had been stabbed through the heart by the Brotherhood General, a little over eight years ago after being partially crushed by a chunk of rock. He couldn’t overlook the coincidence, had Toby really not been able to remove his blood oath? Norman decided it would not be a good idea to bring up the possibility that their deaths could have been related.
He decided to change the topic. “Ahem, well, you seem to have grown.” The way the math worked out, Anna was actually older than Norman now by like three or four years. He still wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed.
Anna smiled coyly, and Norman could feel the creeping sensation of her magic worming its way into his mind. He managed to shake it off. “And you haven’t aged hardly a day, how is that?”
“I spent a few years dead for tax reasons,” he replied without thinking.
“…Huh?”
Norman sighed internally, the classics were wasted on the young. “Nevermind, it's not important. Who are your friends, and why are you here, Anna?” he nodded to the men holding the weapons. He had a pretty good guess of who they were but wanted her to confirm it for him.
She waved nonchalantly at the men. “People who wronged me or thought they could own me. But they found out that I couldn’t be theirs, so I simply made them mine. But they are insignificant.”
Anna stood from the chair and the tension in the room ratcheted up another notch as everyone tensed for violence. Norman remained where he was standing but waved for Eugene and Grobert to relax, he didn’t take his eyes off Anna. He couldn’t. He could feel her power growing as she got closer, and his mind was trying hard to fight it off.
“Don’t do this, Anna.”
“Oh, and why not, Norman?” she asked seductively as she took another step forward. “You were the worst offender, the first to wrong me. Why wouldn’t I have you join my little entourage?”
“It won’t end the way you think it will,” he struggled to get the words out as he fought against her mental manipulations. God damn, she had gotten stronger over the years.
“Well,” she smiled brightly, “we will see shortly, won’t we?”
Then there was a pop and everyone froze. Anna’s coy smile disappeared, only to be replaced by a look of utter horror.
Norman glanced down at his chest to find a gaping hole where his heart used to be. He groaned, “You broke my heart, Anna.” As he fell over and drew his last breath, he heard Anna screaming hysterically. If it wasn’t for the pain, he might have even smiled.