They didn’t know where they would go yet, only that the war against the Sancta had only just begun. The first night on the plains was a surprisingly cold one. Rian and Halbert could just stop feeling it, and Pine wasn’t shivering, but he still lit a small fire between them with some dry grass.
“Why did you come with us?” Rian asked.
Pine smiled with a quiet sigh. “Do you still doubt me, Rian of Fen?”
A massive presence filled the air, but Rian could feel that it wasn’t revealing all of itself. The pressure of the All-Keeper’s presence faded. Rian had still had doubts about who Pine was, or maybe he just hadn’t wanted to believe it. The doubts were gone now.
Quidvis frowned. “I made a mistake in leaving Ivrua to my children. I slept for a long time, waking in time to see Unris’s defeat and have a hand in it. My children argue among themselves and use mortals as pawns. They have gathered too much power, and I have lost too much.” He looked at Rian. “Trivius must not be brought back. Ivrua must take care of itself. Trivius and the other gods will be the destruction of Ivrua if nothing is done.”
“Why did you choose the form of an Ectu?” Halbert asked.
“So I would go unnoticed until I was ready to be noticed,” Quidvis said, amusement in his eyes.
“You’ll help us against the Sancta?” Rian asked.
Quidvis sighed. “The Sancta will not listen to me, not if I appear to be against them. Why would the All-Keeper not agree with their plans? No, you are the best chance of putting a stop to things.”
“What do you want us to do?” Halbert asked. “We alone cannot stop the Sancta, let alone the gods.”
“There is far more you can achieve than you realize,” Quidvis said. “You will need help of course, and I am far weaker than any of the gods at the moment. For now there are other things we must focus on, such as the state of you and Rian. Undead necromancers are cursed by Trivius. If he were free, he could control you, could take your will.”
“That’s a lie,” Ruari said in Rian’s mind.
“There’s nothing to be done about it,” Halbert said. “Unless you plan to kill us by removing our souls.”
Quidvis smiled. “I do not. There is something I can do.”
Rian felt a flicker of Quidvis’s presence, then Halbert screamed. Rian stood, Quidvis doing the same. Rian tried to move closer to Halbert, who was still screaming, but Quidvis held him back.
“He will be alright,” Quidvis said, entirely calm.
Rian could feel Ruari’s worry, fueling his own. Halbert stopped screaming. Rian heard him breathing hard, but neither he or Halbert breathed. Halbert’s cloak didn’t look as loose as it had before.
“What did you do?” Halbert asked quietly.
“You do not have to breathe,” Quidvis said, letting go of Rian.
Halbert stopped gasping for air. He reached up slowly with hands that were no longer just bone and lowered the hood of his cloak. He looked the same age as Ransey, after Ransey had become younger when he’d first eaten someone’s flesh. Rian shuddered at the memory. Halbert’s hair was black and messy. It looked long enough to tie back. His eyes were a light shade of brown.
“It is not much,” Quidvis said, “but I have brought you back from being undead as much as I can. You still aren’t fully alive. You will have to occasionally rest on burial ground, or you will become fully undead again. And of course, should you call on your magic, you will become fully undead again.” He looked at Rian.
Rian took a step away from Quidvis, recalling Halbert’s screams from the moment before and Ruari’s words. Was Quidvis lying?
Quidvis’s expression softened. “It will hurt, but not for long. If I can free you from Trivius’s magic, you will be free of him, no longer his Speaker.”
“Run!” Ruari said in Rian’s mind.
Halbert looked uncertain, but he seemed to be fine.
Quidvis reached out and put a hand on Rian’s shoulder. “Perhaps I can free you from Ruari as well.”
Ruari surged to the surface, along with Rian’s magic as the Speaker of the Dead. Red light flared to life in Rian’s bones, cracking them. The light burned. Ruari fought to take control, and Rian could barely hold him off. Quidvis frowned, but he didn’t let go of Rian’s shoulder. Halbert had gotten to his feet.
The pressure of Ruari and the power of the Speaker of the Dead inside of him was too much for Rian. He cried out. Ruari almost took control, but Rian forced him back with everything he had. He pulled free of Quidvis’s hand, the presence leaving him. The magic still burned in Rian’s bones. Rian turned and ran. He ran from the All-Keeper.
He ran through the night, the cracks in his bones aching. The sun was rising when Rian stopped in the graveyard just outside Rose village. He sat on the ground, with his bony hands touching the burial ground. The cracks in his bones healed as energy flowed into him. Rian let himself stop seeing for a moment, but a moment was all he could risk.
“Trivius cannot take our will,” Ruari said in his mind. “If he could, the part of him that was in you before would have taken over and freed himself from the Bone Garden. Even fully free, Trivius does not control us.”
Rian didn’t know what to believe. Why would Quidvis be lying? If he was lying, what had he done to Halbert?
“I do not know.” Ruari sounded worried. “His plans for Halbert can’t be good. You must stay out of Quidvis’s reach, so that he can’t do the same to you. With Trivius’s help, we could easily rescue Halbert from Quidvis.”
“We’ll find another way,” Rian thought.
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He felt Ruari’s irritation.
Rian stood, despite wanting to stay on burial ground longer. The cracks in his bones hadn’t fully healed. Quidvis and Halbert could be close behind, and there could be Sancta Knights or village guards around. Rian tensed when he looked out across the plains, back the way he came. They had already found him.
“They’re far off yet,” Ruari said. “You can still escape.”
Halbert and Quidvis, just close enough Rian could see it was them, sped up. They must have seen him. Rian turned and ran, not knowing if this was the right choice.
“It is,” Ruari said.
When Rian slowed and looked back, Rose was out of sight behind him, and he didn’t see Halbert and Quidvis. He walked as fast as he could, despite the cracks in his bones and his exhaustion. He needed a proper rest on burial ground, but he didn’t dare stop on the plains again.
Maybe he could find burial ground in the forest. It wouldn’t be as good as a graveyard, but it would help. Eventually he reached the forest, not stopping then either. By sunset, he was out of the forest, on the plains of Haren. The small village of Marl was up ahead. Rian went back into the forest and continued toward the mountains.
There was a layer of snow on the ground. The air had gotten brisk, but he just let himself stop feeling it. He stopped late at night, unable to make himself go further. The snow was deeper this far into the forest and mountains. More snow drifted down, but only lightly. Rian sat at the base of a tree and let himself stop seeing. He listened, but he seemed to be alone out there and to have lost Quidvis and Halbert for now.
“At least you have the sense to be wary of Quidvis,” Ruari said. “Take us to the Bone Garden and free Trivius.”
“No,” Rian thought.
He didn’t know what the truth was anymore, or who to trust. He wanted to talk to Halbert, but he didn’t dare go back to Quidvis. Ruari stirred, but he didn’t try to take over. Rian didn’t doubt he would. The sun was rising when Rian forced himself to stand and continue through the forest, not that he knew where to go that Quidvis wouldn’t find him.
Ruari stirred restlessly. How long could Rian hold him back when he tried to take over? Surprisingly, Ruari said nothing to that thought. Rian didn’t stop walking. The sun finished setting and the snow returned, though it was light snow for the moment. Rian stopped. The pine trees had gotten sparse, but he saw no end to the forest.
How far had he gone? All he knew was that he was somewhere in Haren. Was he going to walk forever, run from Quidvis forever? That might be possible, seeing as he wasn’t going to die by any natural means, and neither was Halbert. Quidvis wouldn’t either.
“Then stop running,” Ruari said in Rian’s mind, his voice more gentle than usual. “Go to the Bone Garden and free our god.”
Rian let himself feel the cold. He sank to his knees in the snow. A strong wind blew snow at him, blowing the hood of his cloak back. He left it like that. If there was someone out there, what did it matter if they ran away in fear when they saw him?
“I doubt you can freeze to death.”
Rian looked up. He hadn’t heard anyone approaching, hadn’t even heard snow crunching. Ransey stood not far off, staring at him. He looked no better than the last time Rian had seen him, no less filthy. His cuirass was gone, but he still wore the tan clothes and cloak of a Santa Knight, not that they were tan anymore with the dried blood and dirt all over him.
Ransey still looked too thin, like the flesh of the living and the dead weren’t enough to keep him alive. Mortua would have made sure it was. Rian didn’t know what to say. He didn’t move from where he sat in the snow, and he didn’t let himself stop feeling the biting cold all around him.
“I couldn’t freeze to death either,” Ransey said without expression, his voice still dry and raspy. “I tried.” There was a bit of anger in his strange eyes, all dark brown iris with no visible white.
An uncomfortable silence settled over them.
“Why are you out here?” Rian asked.
“I’ve been staying away from people,” Ransey said, “so I won’t hurt them.” Now he was definitely glaring. “Why did you stop Mortua?”
“She was going to take your soul to her Sanctum,” Rian said.
Ransey frowned harder somehow, then his shoulders slumped, as though all the strength had gone out of him. “I suppose none of the options were good ones.” He moved closer suddenly, fast and silent.
Rian flinched, but all Ransey did was hold out a hand. Rian hesitated, then he let Ransey help him to his feet.
“If we’re going to talk, we may as well go somewhere warm,” Ransey said, shivering a little.
Rian followed Ransey a little further, to crumbling ruins. The ruins were hardly recognizable as having been a village at any point. The flickering light of a small fire came from around the corner of a half fallen wall. Rian sat across from Ransey. The warmth of the fire pushed back the cold. Rian didn’t let himself stop feeling that either.
Ransey stared at the fire for a moment, then he looked at Rian. “I would either be trapped in Mortua’s Sanctum or how I am now.” He sighed. “I suppose how I am now is preferable to being eternally tormented directly by Mortua, even if I am still what she made me. What I let her make me.”
Rian hesitated. “Do you still eat…”
“I still hunger for flesh,” Ransey said. “Raw animal flesh helps the hunger, enough that I won’t attack humans and give Mortua more power.” He frowned again. “Why are you here alone? Are Halbert and Eiva nearby?”
“I don’t know,” Rian said, then he kept going, surprising himself by telling Ransey what had happened. “An Ectu was traveling with us, but he’s not an Ectu, he’s the All-Keeper.”
Ransey raised a brow. “Are you certain?”
“He revealed his power to us,” Rian said. “Just a small part of it, but he was telling the truth.”
“Why did he come to Ivrua, and in the shape of an Ectu?” Ransey asked.
“He said the gods would be the end of the world, that they must be stopped,” Rian said. “And that undead necromancers are cursed, that Trivius can control us.” He told Ransey what Quidvis had done to Halbert and told him about Ruari.
Ransey blinked, staring at Rian. Then his expression hardened. “Ruari wants you to free Trivius and he can take over?”
Rian nodded. “I don’t know how long I can hold him back if he tries to take over.”
“I wouldn’t have to try if you would go to the Bone Garden,” Ruari said quietly in Rian’s mind.
Ransey sighed. “He wants to control you, force you to do things you don’t want to do.” He seemed deep in thought. Maybe he was thinking about what Mortua had done to him. “Perhaps we should travel together for a time. I want to avoid people, you want to avoid Quidvis, might as well do so together.”
“Thank you,” Rian said.
Ransey grimaced. “Don’t thank me.”
The two of them said nothing more that night. Rian kept watch while Ransey slept. Rian felt worse than ever, in desperate need of burial ground, but there wasn’t any nearby. In the morning, the fire had gone out, but the light snow of the night before had stopped. Rian and Ransey continued through the forest together in silence.