The Zombie Knight

Hector's brown eyes stuck on the message as he took a moment to process what he'd just read.

And then his body was moving. Without even thinking, he was already going somewhere. Where? Strange he had to ask himself that.

The Entry Tower, he realized. The tower that bottle-necked up to the surface.

He needed to warn everyone, though.

'Garovel,' he thought urgently, 'Abolish is already here.'

'What?!'

'I don't know who or how many, but they're here. Make sure everyone is in the Tower of Night.'

'Alright, but--'

Garovel had more questions, of course, none of which Hector had the answers for. He didn't want to just ignore the reaper, though, so he split his focus between that conversation and texting Pauline back.

How many? r u safe?

He waited impatiently for her response as he sprinted across the main courtyard, splitting his focus another time in order to catch whatever the Scarf of Amordiin could tell him about the space directly ahead of him. Empty so far.

He armored up, too. Full plate. Familiar and comfortable.

Her reply arrived.

27. Not including reapers. And yeah, I'm fine. I just got here, but they can't sense me. I'm in my roost. These guys aren't supposed to be here, I take it?

Twenty-fucking-seven? When had they arrived? If they'd been casing the place for a while, then Hector would have sensed them when he was up there earlier.

And if they were using Invisibility, then they must have been trying to be careful.

Goddammit. They were really already here in Atreya? Fuck. Agh. This was no time for incredulity. He had to focus on the problem in front of him. Explanations could come later.

prolly abolish. b careful

He didn't know how she managed to have such immaculate grammar when texting, but he wasn't about to try and match her when he had so much other shit to worry about.

That was where his mind was at as he was prepping to leave. The current plan was to seal off the Tower of Night as tightly as possible, then make for the Candle and speak to Abbas directly in order to figure out their next move. It was a bit early, but Abbas might have some tools that would come in handy.

Plus, Hahl Saqqaf constituted the majority of their fighting force now, so they would probably want to rethink how everyone was distributed. Having some extra fighters here at Warrenhold would definitely help give Hector peace of mind when heading out to fight on the front line, which would presumably be somewhere in eastern Lorent.

As he'd just about finished packing a bag full of clothes, however, Hector's phone beeped at him. It had taken quite a bit of wizardry from Gina and her team of tech savvy people in order for cell phones to get reception so deep underground like this, but he was quite thankful for it now.

The message was from Pauline Gaolanet. When she'd asked him for his number, he'd been a little surprised that a Sparrow could even use a phone, but apparently, she was quite an active texter. And she didn't take too kindly to it when he was slow to respond, which he almost always was, especially when compared against her speed.

Usually, she sent him weird memes. Or a message about how bored she was. Or a new demand for the "roost" that he was making for her here at Warrenhold. Or just random personal questions.

But none of those were the case this time. Instead, it read:

Hey, there's a bunch of invisible people hanging around outside your castle.

Food and water weren't concerns, either. Hector had been worried about the possibility of an attack ever since news of the war first broke, so he'd of course tasked Ms. Rogers with ensuring that they would have everything they needed in case anything happened. Hector checked on it just to be safe, but sure enough, he found the Tower of Night's storeroom filled to the rafters with non-perishable food and supplies. If they needed to, they'd be able to last months in here, no problem.

Assuming the walls weren't breached, that was.

Hector had to wonder how strong this nightrock really was. Thus far, he hadn't seen anyone actually break through it, despite multiple attempts from various Rainlords during construction, but that also wasn't quite the same thing as enduring an actual siege. Would Bloodeye or any of his men be able to break through?

Bloodeye had several notable names under his command. The biggest threats were Otto Konig, Banda Toro, Kyle Charge, Jonathan Smith, and Tomi Rika. They each had rather menacing monikers by which they were internationally infamous. On the bright side, though, Hector had plenty of intel on them, thanks to Hahl Saqqaf, the scouting efforts of Isaac's team, and also Gina.

Still, that was six big names right there. Any one of them could probably kill him in a one-on-one fight. Hector felt like the only reason he'd managed as well as he had in the fight against Bloodeye and the Man of Crows was because all his allies were around to help take the pressure off. He couldn't go into this with the same mindset.

The next fight would be far more dangerous, especially if Abbas didn't show up in time.

It was probably the latter, though. If Carl had that much power at his disposal, then he would have been able to take care of the Beast of Lorent all on his own. Sure, it was possible that the Vanguard had only very recently sent him more troops or something, but Hector doubted it.

It sure would've been nice if Jackson himself decided to show up to help, though. If the guy's reputation was anything to by, then Hector wouldn't mind meeting him. Plus, there weren't very many Rainlords around at the moment, so it might actually be safe to talk to him. Maybe.

The most recent rumors about Jackson weren't quite so pleasant, what with him supposedly having been gravely wounded by the Mad Demon, but that was a while ago. No matter what Morgunov's machines had done to him, Jackson had to have recovered by now.

...Right?

Hector tried not to linger on that particularly question too much. Hell, even if Jackson just sent some of his troops their way, that'd be great. The guy must've had tons of strong dudes working under him.

Eventually, Krigoth got back to him about Garovel's earlier question. Could the scouting team identify specific combatants in the enemy encampments?

'No,' was the reaper's unfortunate answer. 'Isaac's team has been looking for nearly an hour now, but none of the big names have appeared out in the open.'

'So the camps really could be decoys, then,' said Garovel. 'We have to assume that the major players are already on the move. Let's get everyone into the Tower of Night. It's the safest place for all non-combatants.'

Hector could only agree, and soon enough, everyone was moving. It was a bit overly cautious, he knew, since the attackers were almost certainly going to pop up in Lorent before Atreya, but if ever there was a time to be overly cautious, it was now. And besides, with so many people abroad, the Tower of Night had more than enough space. They wouldn't be cramped in here at all.

<"Hah! If there was, I wouldn't tell you,"> said Carl. <"It's far too early to be sharing privileged information like that with an outsider like you. We still don't even know if this attack is real. Zaman could be bullshitting us as part of some larger scheme. You shouldn't be so quick to trust that snake in the grass.">

Ah, that was more like it. "How about reinforcements from a private security firm, then? Last I checked, the Lorentian Security Council was talking about rehiring Greenworth for exactly this reason. Did that deal ever get approved?"

<"No, but I've advised the President to push it through using his emergency war powers.">

"Think he'll listen?"

<"Doubt it. And even if he does, I don't think Greenworth will be too eager to work with Lorent again. With the war on, mercenary groups will have their pick of clients, right now. And the last time Greenworth was here, our damn media raked them over the coals, which hurt their reputation internationally, no doubt. Other firms won't find that type of treatment too appealing, either, I'm sure.">

Damn.

<"Still, if we manage to land a new contract, I'll be sure to let you know.">

Hmm. That almost sounded nice of him. "Thanks."

Carl didn't have much more to tell him after that. Hector asked about how many he had available to defend P.J. and what their relative levels of strength were, but no matter how diplomatically he tried to phrase it, the man wouldn't provide him with details.

Hector hoped that was just because Carl was a stingy bastard and not because the guy was afraid to admit how weak they were.

He made the call to Carl Rondel next. He was relieved to hear that Ravi had kept his word.

<"Yeah, I just heard,"> said Carl. <"I'm mobilizing my forces now. How long until you can get here?">

"To Riverton, P.J.?" said Hector. "I'm not sure that's where I should be going."

<"Hmm? You have somewhere else in mind?">

"Not yet. But I doubt Abolish would hit the capital first. And if all our forces are consolidated there, then our response will be equally slow whenever they do show up."

<"You planning to just sit on your ass in your castle, then?">

More biting words as usual from Mr. Rondel. Hector almost wanted to retort immediately, but he caught himself.

He wasn't obligated to tell Mr. Rondel anything about his plans. And in fact, he didn't even trust the guy all that much. It might've been better to keep his own movements to himself. If Abolish somehow found out that Hector wasn't at Warrenhold and decided to attack it while he was gone...

Well, that was a worst-case scenario that needed to be avoided at all costs.

But he also didn't want to outright refuse to say anything, either. That'd be unnecessarily hostile towards a potential ally. Maybe a little white lie would be better, then. "Yes," said Hector. "For now, I'll continue to wait here and observe. If P.J. gets attacked, I promise I'll dispatch reinforcements immediately, but I expect the first place that needs help will be somewhere else."

<"Hmph,"> was all Carl said.

Which was a bit surprising, actually. Hector had expected the man to give him a piece of his mind. "Any word on extra reinforcements from your end? Like from Jackson?"

They certainly weren't looking at him like he was their peer, though. They were looking at him like he had all the answers, like he was above reproach or question.

The only outliers were Roman Fullister, Matteo Delaguna, Joana Cortes, Silvia Blackburn, and Nere Blackburn. For whatever reason, the Blackburns had decided not to take Nere with them to Vantalay, and with her being such an important figure in the family, Silvia had been chosen to stay behind and watch over her.

Joana, meanwhile, being the head of her own little House, had chosen to stay behind of her own volition. "Someone should be here to look after the children," she'd said.

Ostensibly, she'd been referring to all of the children from all of the Houses, but Hector had a suspicion that she was doing this especially for Zeff and his kids. He was her brother, after all, and she must have known how worried he would be to leave them here.

A part of Hector was still surprised by the fact that Zeff had elected to join the Vantalay rescue team. After everything that man had been through? Leaving Marcos and Ramira here where he couldn't protect them must have been a tough call to make, even for the sake of the other Houses.

Man. If Zeff knew what was happening right now, the news that Hector had just received... it would tear him apart.

He absolutely could not let Zeff down here, Hector thought. Or any of the other Houses, for that matter. There were dozens of very young children here in Warrenhold now, their parents having all gone off to fight in a war and rescue their kin.

Hector was determined. No matter what happened, as long as he was still alive, nothing was going hurt these little Rainlords.

How could the Candle have even been aware of someone like Bloodeye? Sure, the guy had been around for a long time, but compared to the Candle, 133 years was nothing. As far as Hector could recall, Bloodeye had never personally visited the Candle, so where the hell did this information come from?

There was something about the nature of memory that he wasn't understanding here. Something about the nature of aura. The nature of souls and ardor, too, perhaps.

Well. That wasn't such a surprise, at least. There were tons of things that he didn't understand.

Regardless, the next thing on his to-do list was to inform Abbas Saqqaf of the news. A simple phone call probably would have done the trick, but because Ravi had chosen to come all the way out here to Warrenhold instead of doing that, Hector felt he should avoid phones, too.

Much of Hahl Saqqaf was already in Lorent, holed up at a few different locations, but thankfully, there were a handful of Saqqaf reapers hanging around here who could pass on a message.

After that, it was a matter of handing out Amir-9s for as many warriors to use as possible. Most of the stock that he'd been building up had gone into lining the castle walls--including that of the cavern in which Warrenhold stood--to help make the place even more difficult to break into, but obviously, that would only prove helpful if Abolish came here. He made sure that everyone coming to Lorent with him had a shield at their disposal, too.

As for who he actually intended to bring along, well... he'd hardly seen any of them in actual combat yet. All of the Rainlords' most seasoned warriors were in Vantalay at the moment, and even most of their intermediate warriors were abroad on missions. Which left him with a group that wasn't much older than himself.

His actual peers, in terms of age.

Hopefully, the progress they'd made with their respective hunts wouldn't be totally lost. With any luck, they would be able to pick up where they left off once this whole mess was sorted out.

Hmm. Sorted out? A spare thought process wondered about that sentiment. Wasn't it a bit assumptive on his part to think that way? So casually? This was a fucking war. The sovereignty of Lorent and probably also Atreya were on the line here, as were the lives of everyone in both countries.

And yet...

He was not afraid. He wasn't even all that worried, actually. He felt exceptionally calm.

He hoped he wasn't becoming arrogant. There was no reason to think that he could defeat Bloodeye in a normal fight. And for all they knew, Morgunov could show up, too. By all metrics, Hector should've been nervous as fuck, right now.

But he wasn't. His head was clear. Seemingly clear, at least.

He hardly felt like himself, though. Hell, he hardly even knew what "himself" was supposed to feel like.

All the crazy shit that he'd been through lately made this situation feel somehow smaller. Less terrifying. But it was that last trip through the Fusion Forge that had really messed with him. He wondered if he was even the same person, now.

Bloodeye. Also known as the Red Devil of Horsht. Full name: Neville Cornelius Roy. Born in Horsht 133 years ago. Regarded as one of the most dangerous men in the world.

How in the world had Hector learned all of that? He looked the guy up on the internet, only to discover those little details were indeed accurate.

There was so much information rolling around in his head now. Taken from the Candle itself. But it seemed incredibly strange that the Candle would know something like that despite having been half-broken and dormant for eons.

Perhaps the best strategy was to try and draw Abolish's attention to him, but that, too, could cause problems. Where exactly would he wish to draw their attention to? He didn't have a fortress in Lorent yet, and he certainly didn't want them to go anywhere near the Candle.

As that internal debate raged in a background thought process, Hector also remained focused on the conversation with Krigoth. "Does Isaac's team have an eye on any Abolish encampments, right now?"

Krigoth took a moment to check. 'Yes. Three. And they're all still on the other side of the Callum-Sair border. But they're close. If they wanted to invade Callum, they could cross the border in under an hour and be halfway to Lorent in under a day.'

'Assuming those encampments are not decoys, that is,' said Garovel. 'Can Isaac's team see activity in them? Can they still identify specific combatants like Smith, Konig, or Toro? Or Bloodeye himself, ideally?'

'I'll have them check again,' said Krigoth. 'Give us some time.'

'Alright.'

Instead of just waiting around for Krigoth to get back to them with an answer, however, Hector moved on to the other rooms where the other teams' reapers were waiting.

"Call everyone back to Warrenhold," he told both groups. The reapers had questions, of course, but Voreese and Garovel were ready to field them in Hector's stead.

Those two teams had been dispatched to Qhenghis and Ardora, so the return trip wouldn't be very quick, especially with so much of Eloa at war now. When they'd first departed, the continent was still at peace, and air travel hadn't been so heavily monitored--or even outright banned--in so many locations.

But it was the right move, Hector felt. Everyone not in Vantalay needed to be here now. Treasure had to come second.

The reapers for the various teams around the world had their own floor in the Tower of Night. Generally, they just stayed there, reading books or watching television while they waited for updates from their deployed servants. They had a rotating group of young servants and even non-servants to do the channel surfing and page turning for them.

Hector checked in with the scouting team in Callum first.

"Any updates on Abolish's movements?" he asked.

The lead reaper's name was Krigoth, partnered to Isaac Sebolt. It took him a moment to retrieve an answer for Hector. 'Everything's quiet. Why? Something wrong?' The entourage of visitors and urgency on their faces must have tipped the reaper off.

"We have it on good authority that they'll be launching an attack on Lorent soon," said Hector. "We'd like confirmation on that, if possible."

'I see,' said Krigoth gravely. 'Well, there's been no reported change. I'd like to say that we would have noticed any major troop movements, but if they're using Invisibility again, then I have to acknowledge the possibility that they could have slipped through Callum unnoticed.'

Hector was afraid of that possibility, too, but from what he understood, the Sandlords had come up with a few countermeasures to that tactic. And while Hector had been in his little coma, Hahl Saqqaf had been kind enough to share their tech with the Rainlords. Isaac's team shouldn't have been totally blind, but that was far from a guarantee.

They had to prepare for the worst, Hector knew.

Problem was, how to go about that? Lorent was huge. If Abolish slipped into the country, they could launch surprise attacks anywhere they pleased. It all depended on what their objective was. If they just wanted to terrorize the populace, that was one thing, but if they wanted another very public conquest like they'd done to Sair, then they might not care about stealth at all.

It wasn't at the forefront of his thoughts at the moment, but Hector was impressed by Ravi's apparent skill with materialization. The ability to fly like that wasn't easy and required great mastery over velocity states and possibly also temperature states, depending on what his element was.

That alone wasn't enough information to truly judge from, of course, but if he had to hazard a guess, Hector would place the man somewhere around Zeff's strength tier.

After he was gone, everyone started back toward the door to the Entry Tower. It was a bit harder to locate these days, thanks to all of the iron buildings that Hector had been materializing as part of Warrenhold's aboveground "decoy" castle, but thanks to the Scarf of Amordiin, Hector had no trouble finding it.

Maybe that was why everyone was following so closely behind him. This decoy castle may still have been relatively small, but it was already something of a maze. One day, when his volume limit allowed, he wanted it to become a full blown labyrinth up here, but maybe that would be taking things a little too far.

'We have to call back the Rainlords immediately,' said Voreese.

'Can't,' said Garovel. 'Not the ones in Vantalay, at least. Their mission there is too important to them. They'll never agree to return until its complete.'

"First things first," said Hector. He was using an iron platform behind everyone in order to bring their collected pile of Amir-9s with them. "We need the scouting team to confirm what Ravi told us."

"You think he was lying?" said Roman.

"No, but I've been wrong before," said Hector. "And I don't want to walk into a trap."

'You should probably also call Rondel yourself,' said Garovel. 'But give it a few hours and see if Ravi actually tells him first like he said he would.'

The timing couldn't possibly have been worse, Hector felt. It was so bad, in fact, that a part of him had to wonder if Bloodeye somehow knew about their current lack of manpower here at Warrenhold.

Most likely not, Hector decided, but it was still quite the troublesome and nagging thought.

'Well, thanks for the warning,' said Voreese. 'If that's all you've got for us, then you can go now.'

Beldorix gave her a look but said nothing. A silent exchange seemed to take place between him and Ravi, and then the two of them turned to leave.

Hector felt a little bad about how curt she was being, but he could also understand why Voreese was in a rush to get rid of them. If this attack was imminent, then there was no time to waste. They would need to begin strategizing immediately, and having two Abolishers present for that meeting wasn't necessarily a wise idea.

But he had one more question for them before they left. "Have you told Mr. Rondel about this yet?"

Ravi and Beldorix both paused.

Carl Rondel was the Vanguardian advisor to the Lorentian President, much like Ravi was the Abolish advisor to him. Hector knew that there wasn't much love lost between these two men, but if the fate of Lorent was suddenly on the line here, then none of that should've mattered at the moment.

Right?

Ravi was hesitating quite a bit, though. "...Not yet," he finally admitted.

"Ravi," said Hector, trying not to sound too disappointed in him.

"I will tell him as soon as I return to Riverton Hall."

"Can't you just call him?" said Roman.

"This is not information that can be shared over the phone," said Ravi.

"Sure, but time is of the essence here," said Roman.

"Then I will go fast." And without another word, Ravi grabbed his reaper and blasted off on a metallic platform, high into the sky. From there, he surged off into the distance within some kind of liquid jet stream.

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