Chapter 105

"Don't touch it!" Tobias called, stopping Riley in her tracks.

Her paw hovered inches above the magical item as she looked back, chastised.

"Analyze first, use your brain, use your power," he groaned, rubbing at his forehead with a sigh.

"Oh... right," Riley replied, casting analyze.

Ward of the Winter Knight

*Uncommon Legendary Artifact*

A legendary item lost during the Ashen Wars, this item imbues the wearer with a powered ward against magic scaled to their current level. This item is currently depleted and, thus, inert. It will feed on the ambient mana of the wearer. This item is currently unbound.

"It's clean. Nothing cursed or spooky, save for its name, 'Ward of the Winter Knight.'"

Tobias' eyes went wide as she spoke. Striding over towards her, he plucked it out of the ash pile and examined it more closely. The bracelet shimmered, turning to a muted silvery grey in his hands, as the once bronze crystal embedded into its center began to pulse and glow with an orange light.

"By the dead Gods, fae armor! How do you think he came by it?" Tobias turned it over in his hands, examining its artful filigree.

Groans from some of the last zombies approaching drew both of their attention. Tobias, with a jerk of his hand, stowed the bracelet in his inventory.

"Let's get this done and move to Brewster. I'm tired."

Riley yawned in solidarity. "I'm sleepy, too."

Carving through the remaining zombies proved a simple task as the first lights of dawn broke on the horizon, casting the cathedral spire of Brewster in dark silhouette.

"Svad!" Tobias whistled twice.

The well-disciplined beast began to charge down the hill in their direction, joining them as they pushed through the bush, emerging into the depopulated town.

Doors and unsecured shutters banged gently in the predawn breeze, the air possessed of a preternatural quiet, highlighting every sound. There were no signs of life or survivors, no lights in the windows, or the barest hints of a whispered word or prayer as they stalked through the streets.

Tobias moved with his hood down and his sword out while Riley's ears craned like radars. "Standard sweep, we clear the streets, check any open door, then end at the Cathedral at the center," he projected, gently opening an already cracked door as his blade glowed to life with flame.

"Together, right?" Every instinct honed from every horror movie Riley had seen told her Brewster was not a place to stay but rather, burn to the ground. Preferably while she was putting it behind her.

"Riley, you're a ranger," Tobias scolded.

"And? Backup is a thing, you know!" She replied.

"I'd do ok without you," Tobias turned in the predawn light and flashed a mad cheesy grin.

"That's what the sidekick always says before they get slaughtered," Riley skipped by on her paws, forgetting for a moment her fear, sticking her nose in the air as she passed.

"Sidekick?" Tobias' head cocked.

"My lackey, lackey." He could feel, in that moment, her sardonic grin that had no place on her muzzle but stood out proudly in their bond.

"Zombie, on your left!" Tobias cried.

Riley leapt up into the air and scurried to her right, hiding behind a trough, peering out warily, all as her front paws glowed with power.

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It was not the sound of groans that reached her ears, but shrieking laughter as Tobias set his hands on his knees, crouching with a wheeze, as he fought for control. "Lackey indeed."

"Of course you realize this means war," Riley intoned, her whiskers twitching.

Tobias straightened up. "Truce. We need to keep an eye out. The city isn't cleared yet."

"You say that now, but you fired the first shot, don't start what you can't finish," Riley emerged and returned to his side, taking the time to butt up against his legs.

"I'm doomed. I can see it all so clearly now," Tobias mused.

"You're just figuring this out? Laaaccckeeey," Riley teased.

"Goon," he chuckled, checking another door.

Yet there was no life or unlife to be found in Brewster, only the odd bone or bloated, partially devoured corpse. Not even the insects had found the place yet. The stench, though, seemingly rising with the dawn, would most likely change all of that soon.

"How many of the people that lived here did we kill out there?" Riley wondered as they finally came to the Cathedral. The sun was well on the way to rising now, the sky to the east blazing in a brilliant palette of oranges and reds.

"We didn't kill any of them. We set their bodies to rest," Tobias corrected, stalking up to the cathedral door, pushing it open. "That said, between us and the encampment, most of those that lived here are gone. I doubt any of the non-magical escaped."

"So it's worse than Landon." Riley scanned around again before they both entered. Pews were pushed to the edges of the walls, but the altar and Cathedral were otherwise strangely intact. Its heavy stone walls and barred windows were unblemished, as if it had passed the storm without concern.

"Looks clear," Tobias said, pulling the door closed before barricading it, dropping the huge wooden bar bolted into the wall on a swiveling hinge.

It groaned, falling closed with a thud.

"You realize you just locked us in with whatever might be in here?" Riley asked.

"Look around. No zombie made it this far, and we've seen no sign of the lynchpin entity. Unless it's hiding in the spire, it's one large room here. We're safe; you can relax," Tobias, as if in demonstration, sheathed his sword.

"Set up camp and have some dinner?" Riley asked, mollified by logic.

Tobias held out his hands over the floor, and the air shimmered as his bedroll appeared from his inventory, neat and prepared. Riley, taking the hint, joined him, setting up camp, popping her bedroll next to his, falling into a comfortable routine. With a focus of his power, stones in the floor began glowing red, putting off heat.

Scanning around, satisfied with his handiwork, a large sandwich appeared in Tobias' hand that he chewed meditatively.

"Don't forget about me!" She complained.

"Adapt," Tobias grinned.

Riley's ears flattened.

"I'm giving you a bad review," she quipped, sitting up on her hind paws, holding her front paws over the stone. Clover and grasses in a wooden bowl appeared, allowing her to nibble.

"So what started the Ashen Wars?" She asked, making conversation.

"The same thing all wars are fought over. Power and territory. Human kingdoms in the Ashenrealm are untrusting of the other races. There's a lot of bad history, but the Ashen Wars were especially bad," Tobias paused to munch on some tenganut he had pulled, pausing only to set some in Riley's bowl.

"What made it so bad?" She asked.

"It was especially vicious and bloody. The war made no distinctions between villagers or soldiers; whole towns and tribes were wiped out.

The human kingdom at that time was called Damar, led by King Cadomedd. He was deposed by one of his generals, Oswiu, who became the first King of Ashes and started the war," Tobias gazed off into the distance, chewing meditatively.

"The name alone tells me everything I need to know," Riley replied dryly.

Tobias chuckled. "Even though I am of his kingdom, I can't look back on what he did and think he was anything more than a brutal tyrant. He killed the generals that would not submit to him and then waged a campaign against the fae so brutal the survivors committed ritual suicide. They wiped themselves out instead of surrendering. Our history hides it in flowery terms, but there's no way to look at that war honestly and not realize it was a horror," Tobias looked down. Riley felt his unease and his qualms bubbling in his soul.

"But you're a soldier of the King of Ashes now too. We both are," she observed, lumping herself in with the guilty.

"Not like that, not even if ordered. I only hope I'm strong enough to keep my word if I'm ever called to. The common people don't know anything beyond a happy mythologized view of the conflict, but we were taught the history, taught to view it as a necessary sacrifice, the cost of duty and victory," Tobias continued, the words spilling out of him now.

"Yet you don't see it that way?" Riley pressed, trying to make sense of what she was feeling.

"I was bullied my entire life as a student, was always the commoner kid, often on the outs save for Justinian. I know how bullies justify their actions, and I will never be a bully," Tobias stared at her, convicted.

"That seems a fine line you're walking," Riley challenged absently.

It hit Tobias like a stone. Riley stopped eating, looking up at him with concern.

"It was two thousand years ago, ancient history I can do nothing about, but even ancient history holds lessons. It's one thing to stand up for the law and the people, it's quite another to become a monster in the name of duty. Tell me, do you think I'd ever willingly serve under Chadrick?" He asked.

She could feel his anger, constrained under logic and care. "No, never."

"Exactly. I'll fight for my family, I'll fight for my kingdom, but I won't do it blindly. You don't think I don't see it? I was born into a commoner family, Riley, my family is one of the lucky ones, and my grandpa saved his whole life to scrape together half of what we make in a month. I'm not a patriot, but I am a soldier," he said with surprising conviction.

Riley dragged her bowl with her teeth over to his side and flopped against him. "You're a better man than you realize."