“All-Keeper?” A Sancta Knight, a young man, stared up at Quidvis with wonder.
“Yes,” Quidvis said, his voice as huge as Ilidu’s had been. “I will lead you. Kneel before me.”
To Rian’s horror, the Sancta Knights knelt. Thankfully the Ectu, the Knights of Derwen, and the knights from Caerulis didn’t kneel. Rian, Eiva, Halbert, and Ransey didn’t kneel either. Quidvis looked at those of them who were still standing, who were backing away from him and the Sancta Knights.
“Kneel before me,” Quidvis repeated, scowling at them.
“No!” Eiva said. “You were planning this all along, weren’t you? You were planning to take over as the only god!”
Quidvis laughed. It was chillingly similar to Ilidu’s. “There are no other gods left. I will lead the people of Ivrua, lest they be lost.”
“We wouldn’t be lost without you!” Blossom said. “You’re a trickster and a liar!”
The Sancta Knights had sheathed their sword, but they were reaching for them now. This was only going to get worse.
“I know what is best for you,” Quidvis said. “I will give you one chance to see reason, or I will destroy you. Leave this place, but consider my words.”
Rian, Halbert, Ransey, and Eiva left the grove with the Knights of Derwen and the Ectu. The knights from Caerulis left too, but they were heading toward Caerulis. What was going to happen now? Could they stop Quidvis? He had already been more powerful than he’d seemed, but now he had absorbed the power of the God of Destruction.
The group reached Scutch at night, continuing through the night. In the morning, they reached Derwen and went straight to the castle. The next morning, word came by bird from Chayer that Quidvis and the remaining Sancta Knights were at the Sancta. It was only a matter of time before Quidvis would make a move.
Rian and Halbert went to the graveyard that night. Halbert sat, putting his hands in the dirt, but only for a moment before he stood quickly, grimacing.
“I don’t recommend touching the ground,” Halbert said.
Rian hesitated. “What if the only thing that can help us is the magic of the Speaker of the Dead—”
“We’ll find another way,” Halbert said, but there was no conviction in his words.
“We don’t know how long we have,” Rian said. “We don’t know what Quidvis did or will do. I am still the Speaker of the Dead. The dead said the magic may not destroy me because of what Trivius did. He left a part of himself in me. That part is needed for the land of the dead to survive. I think I have to do this.”
Halbert shook his head. “If you call on that magic, there’s no going back. The dead said it might not destroy you, but that means there is a chance it will. There’s a chance it will consume you how it did Ruari.”
Rian didn’t know what to say. He knew he had to do this to protect the land of the dead, but he was afraid he would end up like Ruari.
Halbert was frowning hard. “We’ll find a way, somehow.”
A heavy silence settled over the two of them. Dark clouds moved in overhead, then rain poured down. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“Let’s go back inside,” Rian said. “I don’t think burial ground is going to help us.”
The two of them went back to the castle, back to the library. Ransey was there, talking to Eiva. Rian and Halbert joined the two in the circle of chairs. Ransey was paler than usual, staring hard at the floor.
“Did something happen?” Halbert asked.
“When I eat flesh, it gives Quidvis power,” Ransey said. “I felt it. It doesn’t matter that it was something from the butcher, it still gave Quidvis power.”
“You can’t avoid eating it,” Eiva said. “That would be worse.”
Ransey frowned. “I suppose it would be, but Quidvis is already strong.”
Rian barely slept that night. He was exhausted, in desperate need of burial ground, and his worries kept him awake. How long before Quidvis would make a move? Would he attack the countries that refused to kneel before him? Rian closed his eyes, trying to sleep. He could barely hear the voices of the dead in the distance.
They were trying to talk to him, but they couldn’t reach him. Rian tried as hard as he could to hear them. He pictured that musty cave in his mind until he could almost smell it. The voices were getting closer, enough he could barely hear what they were saying.
“Burial ground…” the raspy woman said.
Rian opened his eyes. The voices of the dead might be better able to reach him on burial ground. He left his room, not seeing anyone else in the halls on the way out of the castle. There was no one in the graveyard when he got there. At least the rain had stopped, leaving behind a warm night.
He stood there a moment, but he still couldn’t feel the energy of burial ground, or sense the buried dead. Rian hesitated, then he sat and put his hands in the dirt. A jolt of pain shot up through his arms, but he kept his hands there. He felt wrong, more than before, but at least he wasn’t thirsting for blood. The voices of the dead returned, clear in his head this time. He closed his eyes, focusing on the voices.
“Quidvis will take the groves for his own,” a young boy said.
“It will be harder with Ilidu dead so recently,” an old man said. “He will not go after the Grove of Sacrifice first.”
“He will go to the Bone Garden first,” the raspy woman said. “If he takes it, he can reach the land of the dead and do what he wants with the souls.”
Rian didn’t like the sound of that.
“With a part of Trivius’s power in you,” the raspy woman said, “you will die when Quidvis claims the Bone Garden. Your soul will be separated from your body, and he will no doubt destroy your soul after.”
The voices faded away, leaving Rian to his thoughts again. He let go of the dirt and stood, the pain fading from his body again. He knew what he had to do. There was no choice. He went back to the castle, not sleeping much that night. Rian was the first one to the library in the morning. Halbert came next, but Rian said nothing until Eiva and Ransey were there too.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“The dead spoke to me last night,” Rian said. “Quidvis will try to take the groves for his own. It will be harder for him to take the Grove of Sacrifice so soon after Ilidu’s death.”
“Then he’ll go after the Bone Garden first,” Eiva said.
Rian nodded. “If he takes the Bone Garden, he can reach the land of the dead. I have to stop him, with the magic of the Speaker of the Dead.”
Halbert shook his head, frowning hard.
“I don’t have a choice,” Rian said. “There’s no knowing what Quidvis will do with the souls of the dead.” He hesitated.
“What else did they say?” Halbert asked.
“If Quidvis takes the Bone Garden, my soul will be separated from my body,” Rian said. “The dead said he would likely destroy my soul. If I don’t do this, he’ll have the land of the dead and even more power, he’ll do who knows what with the souls of the dead, and he’ll kill me.”
“We have to go to the Grove of Thorns,” Eiva said. “We can’t let Quidvis take the Bone Garden.”
“How do we know the dead aren’t lying?” Halbert asked. “What if they’re just manipulating you? We know they want you to call on the magic of the Speaker of the Dead.”
“They wouldn’t lie to me,” Rian said.
“We never would,” the raspy woman said, her words barely audible in the distance.
Halbert still looked uncertain.
“I don’t want to become like Ruari, but I have to do this,” Rian said. The idea of dying didn’t bother him so much as Quidvis being able to reach the land of the dead.
Halbert stared hard at the floor, tense all over.
“I know you want to protect him, to keep your word to Andred,” Eiva said quietly, “but Rian is the only one who can stop Quidvis from reaching the land of the dead.”
“There is no other way,” Ransey said. “None that we have a hope of finding before Quidvis gets what he’s after.”
Halbert nodded slowly, then he looked at Rian, a deep worry in his eyes. “I’ll go with you.”
“We’ll all go,” Eiva said, getting to her feet. “I’ll speak to the king and queen. I’m sure the Knights of Derwen won’t pass up a second round against Quidvis and the Sancta.”
Soon they were leaving the castle with the Knights of Derwen. The group stopped on the plains outside Brush that night, resting only briefly. Rian, Halbert, Eiva, and Ransey sat further from the knights on the plains. Ransey looked reluctant while he ate some of the meat he’d brought. He only ate a little of it.
“You should eat that,” Halbert said.
Ransey shook his head. “Just enough to stop me from attacking anyone. Quidvis has enough power as it is. Hopefully Quidvis’s defeat will free my soul.” He looked at Rian. “Should you call on the magic of the Speaker of the Dead before we get there?”
“It will be much easier in the Bone Garden,” Rian said. “I’ll be more likely to fight off what Quidvis did if I call on my magic there.”
Halbert still looked worried, but he didn’t protest.
Rian knew it would be more than him calling on the magic of the Speaker of the Dead. It was the part of Trivius in him that would allow him to claim the Bone Garden and keep it from Quidvis. The voices of the dead had managed a few more words to him on the way across the plains. Rian would have to become the Keeper of the Dead. He wouldn’t become a god, but he would have to replace Trivius as the guardian of the land of the dead.
The group moved on across the plains, walking through the night. In the morning, they reached the clearing that was the Grove of Thorns. Quidvis and the Sancta Knights were already there, standing at the center of the clearing. Quidvis was in the form of a human man, but his eyes glowed golden. He had already opened the way to the Bone Garden, a hole in the ground behind him. The ground had a deep crack in it, in a circle around Quidvis and his knights.
Quidvis spread his hands wide. “I will cleanse the Bone Garden and claim it as my own.” His voice rang out across the clearing. “No more false gods will take root in Virida!”
The Sancta Knights drew their swords, running at the Knights of Derwen. Quidvis turned and jumped down the hole. While the Knights of Derwen fought those from the Sancta, Rian, Halbert, Eiva, and Ransey jumped across the cracks in the ground and down the hole. The smell of rot and death rushed in. Rian and the others were standing in the vast cave of the Bone Garden.
Rian wanted to stop smelling, but he couldn’t. The four of them hurried among the piles of bones to the center of the cave. The cave looked empty without Trivius’s skull there. Quidvis was there, still in the form of a human. He frowned at them, then light that looked like tentacles came out of his back, reaching throughout the cave.
Light gathered around Quidvis and spread, growing taller until he had retaken his true form as a giant made of light. This was it. They had to stop him now. Ransey, Halbert, and Eiva drew their swords, running at Quidvis, but his light threw them back. Rian could feel Quidvis’s power grasping at the Bone Garden.
Rian stumbled back, Quidvis’s presence becoming a deep pressure inside of him. He couldn’t wait another moment, or it would be too late. Rian closed his eyes, focusing on the magic of the Speaker of the Dead. He brought it to the surface, barely pulling it free of Quidvis’s power. If he hadn’t been in the Bone Garden, he wasn’t sure he could have done it.
Now he felt the part of Trivius in him clearly, could feel it destroying Quidvis’s magic in him. The magic of the Speaker of the Dead and the part of Trivius became one, a part of him. At first the magic burned all over and through him, a horrible presence he thought might destroy him, then it settled into his bones.
Rian opened his eyes, though really he was just letting himself see. He was again fully undead, entirely skeletal. His magic glowed red in his bones, but his bones weren’t cracked. He could feel the horns Ruari had before that mirrored Trivius’s.
The power of the Bone Garden was all around him, waiting for him to claim it and become the Keeper of the Dead. Rian reached out with his power, making the Bone Garden his own. Quidvis cried out, the sound rising to a scream. The tentacles of light pulled back suddenly, melting into the light that was the rest of him. He glared at Rian, a deep hatred burning in his golden eyes.
“Now you can’t take it,” Rian said.
Quidvis let out an incoherent roar. His already strong presence became even stronger. Rian and the others stumbled back. Balls of light came at them. Rian moved to the side, a ball of light rushing past. He felt the heat as it went. It struck the ground behind him, leaving a scorch mark on the stone of the cave floor.
Another ball of light rushed at Rian, but it was stopped just in front of him with a barrier of red light. His magic. The ball of light sputtered out into smoke. Rian ran at Quidvis, into the light that made up Quidvis’s leg. He forced his magic into that light, reaching out at the same time to free Halbert from Quidvis’s magic.
Eiva and Ransey struck at Quidvis with their swords, but this time the blades cut into Quidvis. Halbert’s magic joined Rian’s, flowing into Quidvis. The All-Keeper screamed, the cave shaking, but giving no sign of collapsing. His light broke apart, then faded away into nothing. The last god of Ivrua was gone.
The moment Quidvis’s light was gone, Ransey smiled, then fell to the ground. Rian saw Ransey’s soul, no longer dark or twisted, then Ransey was gone, to the land of the dead.
-- --
Few Sancta Knights had remained after their fight with the Knights of Derwen. The Sancta was officially disbanded. Rian, Halbert, and Eiva returned to Derwen, where they gave Ransey a proper burial. Rian could always feel the Bone Garden if he reached out to it with his magic. Now it was his Sanctum.
He could also feel the land of the dead. All the souls who had been in Mortua’s false land of the dead when Ilidu absorbed her, had gone to the true land of the dead. Rian and Halbert would stay in Ivrua for now. Quidvis hadn’t lied that their souls could move on whenever they wanted to.
At least, Halbert’s could. Rian no longer could. Now that he had become the Keeper of the Dead, he could go to the land of the dead whenever he wanted, but he would never truly be at rest there. Halbert insisted on staying with Rian in Ivrua for now.
Most of the Ectu returned to Tarthala, including Leaf and Blossom. Eiva decided to travel, to see the world both on foot and with the wings of a raven. Rian and Halbert would travel as well, to help the dead how necromancers were meant to.