Book 3 Ch 20: Rightness

With the rift sealed Michael began going from person to person, making sure they were alright and healing them if they weren’t. Clyde was okay, as he’d been healed in the middle of the fight, but he was a bit pale, the specter of death hanging close by after he came so close to meeting it. Aside from psychological damage Michael was able to heal them of their worst injuries without trouble. He still felt strong, even after utilizing so much magic, sealing the rift, healing, and fighting. His already substantial recovery had grown to even more ridiculous levels. Still, they were intending to hit at least one more of the nearby rifts, so he made sure not to overexert himself by healing superficial injuries.

“Well, I don’t think you are exaggerating in your stories at all,” said Hu. “We never sealed a rift that quickly with Lukas and even with the reinforcements they got, you killed them easily.”

“I wouldn’t call it easy,” said Michael as he approached the corpses of the black-armored horned men. He was quite disturbed by their appearance. Looking closer at their armor he realized it wasn’t metal, but rather organic. He stripped a gauntlet off of one of his hands and ran it along it, finding that it felt familiar.

“Chitin,” he said.

Ollie raised an eyebrow. “Chitin? Like the centipede fucks?”

Michael nodded. It was very similar to what they’d seen before, but thicker. He peeled a bit of it off of the dead warrior and it came away with a chunk of skin and fur. He dropped it with a sickened expression on his face, but flipped the body over anyway. Just as with the other one he saw one of the lizardfolk sealed into the back of the armor. It had died, though there were no injuries on it. Perhaps it died with the horned man? The armor connecting their life-force somehow? He shook his head. He didn’t have all the answers, nor did he really have the means of obtaining them. It was clear though that these were some kind of elite force and they’d likely been sent specifically to counter him. He doubted they’d been created just for him. They were more likely a specialty to counter any particularly strong threats, but they were certainly after him this time.

He moved over to where the knights and squires had gathered. The horned men had brought a wooden table with them and across it were a number of clay slabs with markings on them. It seemed to be a kind of writing, but it wasn’t anything Michael recognized, and it seemed the knights were equally unable to translate it. It was all long lines, small dashes and odd symbols in the corners of each of them.

Bawn was staring at them for a few moments before stepping toward the table and holding out a hand to Hu who was examining one of them more closely.

“May I, sir?”

Hu nodded and Bawn took the square. He looked at it for a moment, then grabbed another square and laid it down next to it. Then he did so with another, and another, and very quickly they all realized exactly what it was the stone squares were.

“A map,” said Laird with a frown. “They were mapping the area. Bit by bit.” He looked at them. He pointed at one of them. “This is that small patch of woods to the south. They have elevations listed, paths marked out, and that means…” he moved his hand to another square and pointed. “That’s the village.”

They were all silent for just a moment, and Hu gestured to the squares. “Bawn, Clyde, pack those up and load them into the wagon. We’re going to need to send them up to the Knight-Captain.”

They nodded and began carefully assembling the stone squares. As they did that, everyone else began to prepare to move to the next closest rift which Michael identified as being a bit further to the East.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“You’ve told me a fair amount about your king,” started Michael as they began walking toward the next rift. “How would one go about actually meeting him?”