2 – The Eastern Land

Tsukio was an island nation that sat off the southern coast of Cathaya, but calling it an island perhaps undersold the scale of the place. The crescent-shaped isle was massive, even not counting the archipelago of owned territory off their eastern edge.

In the end I had settled for being taken near the southern tip of the island. It had not been cheap getting Brazio, the smuggler, to bring me over. But a few rubies can make anybody open to most anything. He’d even given me a satchel of Tsukio’s silver coins for my trouble, along with a bag of seeds.

I had decided I’d become a farmer. Before all this, before the Wight, my family had been farming stock and it was something I had experience in. But, if I needed to, I could fish and hunt. Whatever it took to get by.

All eyes were on me as I walked the dirt road closest to the boardwalk, framed on my left side by a row of squat stone houses with sloping blue-tiled roofs. I suppose I had expected the stares. Even by western standards I was a big man, and that was without using my revenant abilities, while tallness was a rarity among the few easterners I’d ever seen.

Well, whatever. Foreigners coming to the east weren’t totally non-existent, and there was still a whole ocean between me and the Novos Empire. If he ever beat Rhonde, and turned his sights eastward, I’d ideally see him coming and have a chance to move.

As I walked along the Babel stone, worn around my neck as a lozenge-shaped pendant, translated the words of the locals through a haze of magic. Novos had first given it to me during the campaign in the Paarthia Mountains, to understand the dialect of the clans, but the magic translated any language. It could even do text, but I knew I’d need to study the local language too. In case anything happened to the damn stone.

‘… like some kind of ogre.’

‘Another foreigner?’

‘Keep an eye on that one.’

Alright, so I was turning heads. The thought alone made me heave a sigh. But it was better to live somewhere more rural than to risk going to one of the larger cities. For whatever reason, on Cathaya and Tsukio, the larger settlements were prone to monster attacks. And the local wizards also liked to cause trouble in the cities.

At least, that was what every story of the east told me.

I pressed on, winding my way uphill to the towering walled building that stood distinct from the rest of Tiode. The Iudex was, Brazio had told me, like a governor. Every village and town had one and it fell to them to manage a given settlement at the behest of their provincial governor. If you wanted to buy land, you went through them.

Two guards were posted at the gate, local yokels who had probably only gotten the job because they were thick-necked and broad-shouldered. They stood to attention, wide-eyed as I approached, both men lifting the broad metal hats they wore. They crossed their spears, a move they had clearly practised plenty of times, watching me intently.

“Who… who are you?” one asked, his voice low and hoarse.

“I need to speak to the iudex,” I replied, keeping it plain. When it came to hick guards in bumpkin villages, it helped to use small words.

“Well… do you got an appointment,” the other asked. And I could tell his roaming eyes were scanning me for any hint of a weapon. With my cloak parted, I was dressed only in a grey shirt, dark trousers, and well worn brown boots. I had no weapons, none that could be seen at least.

“No. But it’s important that I see him.”

“Well…” the first guard trailed off, and the two men stared uneasily at each other. “Usually the iudex doesn’t want to speak to people without an appointment.”

I dragged in a slow, calming breath through my nose. No murder, I told myself. No murder, no murder, do NOT kill them for inconveniencing you, normal people do NOT do that.

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And it would be counter-intuitive to my new desire for a quiet life.

Still… these two were bumpkins, likely naive as a newborn gnoll. And a man could get very far so long as they acted confident.

“Son,” I said firmly, “what I have to discuss with your iudex is of vital importance. It’s something that will impact the entire future of your village. But it’s secret, and only your iudex can hear what I have to say. Understand?”

I watched as the duo exchanged another uneasy glance. They leaned into each other, exchanging a few hushed whispers that the Babel stone could not pick up on. Eventually one of them pushed the steel gate open and pushed inside. The other stayed behind, his body covering the gap, and he offered me a sheepish smile.

I set my jaw tight as I waited. Gods.. I could have just walked clean through that wall, I could have flattened the whole damn village with a swing, I could have…

I snuffed those thoughts, another calming breath dispelling the anger that had been bubbling inside of me. I wasn’t that man anymore, I reminded myself, and giving into those impulses would be more trouble than they were worth.

Eventually the first guard returned and offered me a wan smile. “The iudex will see you now, Westerner.”