The three of them reached the edge of the forest around midday. The sun had come out, burning away the frost of the night before. Rian was still cold. By the time they reached the forest, he had noticed a smell, like something rotting.
Ransey stopped. “What is that smell?”
“I don’t sense any dead nearby,” Halbert said.
Rian didn’t sense any either. The feeling of wrongness had gotten more intense. He caught sight of the back of his right hand. It was rotting. It wasn’t how it had been before he was fully undead, when his flesh had rotted away a little each time he used his magic. That hadn’t smelled, and it hadn’t looked like this. The skin on the back of his hand was reddish green, oozing some sort of yellowish fluid.
“That explains the smell,” Ransey said.
Halbert came closer, staring at Rian’s hand. “It doesn’t look like the effects of the amulet are wearing off.” He looked at Ransey.
“We’ll have to see,” Ransey said. “Maybe they’re wearing off slowly. For now, we should continue.”
By night they had reached Fiddle, on the plains of Caerulis. Rian was even more weary than before, and the smell had gotten worse.
“We need to stop by a graveyard,” Halbert said.
Ransey sighed, but he didn’t protest.
They made their way to the small graveyard at the edge of the village. Rian didn’t see anyone else out. The sun had already finished setting when they reached the village.
“Feel any better?” Halbert asked.
“No,” Rian said. “I feel the energy of the burial ground, but something is stopping it from going into me.”
Halbert put a bony hand on Rian’s shoulder. “I feel Mortua’s influence, but I can’t remove it.”
Ransey smiled. “Then she has given you a gift, a chance to no longer be forsaken.”
Halbert let go of Rian. “Whatever she’s done is killing him.”
“Yes,” Ransey said. “It has brought him back into her reach. A chance to—”
“I don’t want that chance,” Rian said, trying not to panic.
Ransey frowned hard, his face turning a little red. “Clearly you’ve spent too long with Halbert. He made an oath to Mortua, then turned against her, becoming that which opposes all she is.”
“Mortua took Beth!” Halbert said. “She didn’t tell me what she would do, and she didn’t give me a chance to refuse.”
“And you thought becoming undead was the right choice?” Ransey asked. “Your soul will be bound to those bones forever. I had lost all respect for you before, but I hadn’t thought you would lead another to the same fate.”
“It was my choice,” Rian said.
Ransey ignored Rian, still staring at Halbert, a surprising sadness in his eyes. “Do you know what happens to the souls Mortua takes before their time, those who have angered her?”
Halbert said nothing.
Ransey sighed. “I suggest you think about it.” His expression softened further when he looked at Rian. “Whether you appreciate it or not, Mortua has given you something you should be grateful for. I’ll be at the inn. I will meet the two of you here in the morning, though I don’t see why Rian should insist on sleeping here tonight.” He turned and walked away quickly.
Rian was glad to see him go, but they would see Ransey again in the morning. They didn’t have much choice. Just as Rian didn’t have any choice in what Mortua had done to him. Was he going to die slowly, rot away? How was that a gift?
“You don’t have to sleep here tonight,” Halbert said, breaking the silence.
“I want to,” Rian said. “Better than staying at the inn with Ransey.”
“I agree with that,” Halbert said. “I’ll find a way to undo this. Somehow.”
Rian wasn’t sure there was a way, but he didn’t want to consider that yet. “Maybe sleeping here will help.”
Rian slept above ground in the graveyard that night, under a tree. It was a cold night. His cloak did little against the cold that seemed to permeate all of him. Halbert had gone below ground. Rian closed his eyes, focusing on the energy of the burial ground all around him, energy that couldn’t reach him. When he did sleep, he woke up briefly to the musty cave, but could barely hear the voices of the dead. The cave faded away into darkness. What Mortua had done was preventing the voices of the dead from speaking to him.
Ransey met Rian and Halbert at the graveyard just after sunrise. The three of them left Fiddle, crossing the plains toward Chayer. Rian felt that thing from before, from the cult’s basement, stirring inside of him. What was it? It was strong and getting stronger. It felt different from the wrongness of what Mortua had done. It didn’t feel wrong, and in fact felt somehow familiar. He didn’t dare mention it to Halbert with Ransey there.
They reached Chayer at sunset and went straight to the Sancta. Ransey handed the dagger over to another Sancta Knight, whispering to him. The two talked awhile, then the knight went off down the hallways and Ransey came back to where Rian and Halbert waited by the doors.
“We’ll stay here for the night and leave in the morning,” Ransey said.
Halbert said nothing. Rian didn’t say anything either, but he didn’t want to stay the night at the Sancta.
Ransey sighed. “Meet me here in the morning.” He walked away.
Rian followed Halbert out of the Sancta, to the larger of the two graveyards in Chayer. They stayed there for the night. When the sun was rising, the two of them went back to the Sancta. Ransey wasn’t among the Sancta Knights and priests roaming around. While they stood there, Rian heard more about the trial. It seemed most of the knights and priests believed Dow had been corrupted by the wild mages he continued to help.
Rian also heard about the objects meant to seal the way to the Bone Garden. The Sancta was still working on purifying the objects, as it was proving harder than they expected. Frida came over to Rian and Halbert. As a knight of the Sancta, she wore tan clothes and a well polished pale gray cuirass with the symbol of the Sancta on it.
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Her long blond hair was more streaked with dark gray than when Rian had last seen her. It was tied in its usual messy braid, hanging over her right shoulder. Frida looked exhausted.
“Ransey told me about Mortua’s amulet and what it did,” Frida said, looking at Rian. “He seems to think it’s a blessing and is rather irate that you don’t agree.” She frowned. “I don’t see why you would agree. I’ll try to find out a way to undo it.”
“Thank you,” Rian said.
“How goes the trial?” Halbert asked.
“Terribly,” Frida said. “I don’t know why they’re bothering with a trial. They all believe Dow is guilty.” She shook her head. “I’m to help you however I can, but without leaving the Sancta. The dagger Ransey brought wasn’t much help in finding out who is behind this, but we did manage to destroy it, so it won’t fall into the wrong hands again.”
“Whoever made it has powerful magic,” Halbert said.
Frida nodded. “We gathered that much, but nothing else.” She glanced at the knights and priests hurrying into and out of the hallways. She lowered her voice. “Be careful here. The Sancta is questioning allowing two known necromancers to live. They’re using it against Dow as well. Because he trusts you. So do I, and what they’re saying won’t change that. It’s mostly the events of Unris’s defeat that have the priests upset, even if we did help the gods reach Ivrua properly again and purify Divius.”
“Who else have they brought in for the trial?” Halbert asked.
Frida hesitated, glancing at Rian. “Ora has escorted Andred and Mae here. They arrived yesterday morning and are to be a part of the trial.” Her brows furrowed. “I think the Sancta just wanted an excuse to bring them here, to hold a trial against the two of them as well.”
Rian knew that wouldn’t end well.
“Focus on the cultists,” Frida said. “I know you want to stay for the trial, but the Sancta won’t allow that. Be wary of Ransey. I once trusted him, as he was my master, but he’s dangerous. He will do anything for Mortua, and I do mean anything. During the time of Unris’s defeat, Mortua sent him after Halbert. Ransey searched for him across all the countries. If Halbert hadn’t become fully undead, Ransey would have killed him.”
“He still would, if he knew how,” Halbert said.
Frida nodded. “And if he can make sure Rian stays in Mortua’s grasp, he will. The Sancta never should have allowed him back, but for some reason they don’t see he’s…”
“A fanatic,” Halbert said.
“Yes,” Frida said.
“He’s always been that way,” Halbert said. “If the Sancta hasn’t seen it by now, they never will.”
Frida glanced around again. “Ransey’s busy talking to the knights. I have to get to the trial.” She hesitated again. “You might have time to at least see part of it.”
Rian and Halbert went with Frida. She led them through the maze of halls, to two tall wooden doors. One door stood open, priests and knights streaming in. Inside, Rian and Halbert stayed near the doors with Frida. The room was vast and round. There were no chairs, but the floor was tiered, so everyone could see what was happening at the center of the room. Dow sat in a chair at the center of the room. Several priests stood in a half circle facing him, wearing various colors of robes.
“Where did we leave off yesterday?” a priest muttered to the one next to him, his voice carrying across the room. His black hair was neatly combed. He wore the same pale yellow robes Dow wore.
“The one with the yellow robes is Percival,” Frida whispered. “He’s the new High Priest of Vitir.”
“Ah, yes,” Percival said. “We were discussing your alliance with necromancers and other wild mages, including a half Ectu who made a pact with an animal through wild magic. You also aided the Speaker of Unris.”
Dow started to say something.
Percival raised a hand. “I know, it all turned out for the best, didn’t it?” His expression said he didn’t believe it had. “Unris was prevented from taking over the world, the gods can reach Ivrua again, and Unris’s Speaker is no longer claimed by her. We’ll be speaking to that former Speaker later today.” He looked around at the crowd. “It took some time to locate her, as Dow refused to tell us where she was, but we found Mae of Fen. Her husband, a known necromancer, was brought here as well.”
This definitely wasn’t going to go well.
“She is not the enemy of the Sancta,” Dow said before Percival could interrupt again. “Neither is Andred.”
“We shall see about that,” Percival said. “All of us gathered here recall what happened a year ago, when their son, Arwel, became a necromancer. He and another necromancer sought to bring back a being that blasphemously claimed to be a god. They even succeeded, leaving the Sancta to clean up the mess.”
“With the help of—” Dow began.
“With the help, as you call it, of two more necromancers,” Percival said.
Frida reached over slowly and raised the hood of Rian’s cloak.
“One of which was the prospective Speaker of the Dead,” Percival said. “You allowed him to become the Speaker of the Dead.”
“He was needed to stop the ritual to open the Bone Garden!” Dow said. “He was needed to stop Trivius. And he agreed to it.”
“He is the well known enemy of Mortua,” Percival said. “You have read the same records I have, Dow. You know what the last Speaker of the Dead did. He was Trivius’s most trusted knight, and he led many away from Mortua.”
Rian hadn’t known that. He hadn’t known there had been a previous Speaker of the Dead, let alone one allied with Trivius.
“That was why he was the only one who could stop Trivius,” Dow said, more quietly.
Rian glanced at Halbert, but now wasn’t the time to ask if he’d known.
“We will discuss that further later,” Percival said. “Today we will discuss your collusion with a Sancta Knight during the time of Unris’s defeat. Frida of Fen.”
Frida sighed. “Here we go.”
“She is not on trial today,” Percival said, “but she is certainly a part of your transgressions.”
“I’ll probably be on trial tomorrow,” Frida muttered.
Rian caught sight of two others he recognized in the crowded circular room. His parents. Andred and Mae were close to the center of the room, with Sancta Knights on either side and behind them. The two were pale, staring at the center of the room. What was the Sancta going to do if they decided Dow, Andred, Mae, and Frida were a threat?
“The two of you must continue to stop the cults,” Frida said to Rian and Halbert. “The cults have to be stopped. You shouldn’t linger here any longer.”
Rian and Halbert left the trial hall. The halls were mostly empty on the way back to the front doors.
“Did you know?” Rian asked.
“No,” Halbert said. “I didn’t know about the previous Speaker of the Dead. I didn’t know there was one. Dow didn’t mention those records.”
Neither of them said anything more. Rian didn’t want to leave with his parents on trial by the Sancta, but what could he do to help them? Rian and Halbert reached the front doors a moment later. The entry hall was empty other than Ransey, who was waiting by the doors and frowning.
“Where were you?” Ransey asked.
“At the trial,” Halbert said. “With Frida.”
Ransey’s expression softened. “I do hope Percival will understand that Frida was led astray by her friends.”
“She made her own choices and you know it,” Halbert said.
“I’m sure we can argue you were a bad influence, as you were on Andred.” Ransey shook his head. “There isn’t time for this. Frida has given us our next lead. The next cult is also in Haren, in a village near the Urvus border.”