Chapter 252: Battlefield Encounter (2/2)
Three people were approaching him, passing through the horde of zombies without any apparent difficulty. Two of them were older men, both looking to be in their fifties at least, although one seemed to be rather sick. Yet, it was the third member that stole his attention.
Even cloaked and hooded, Mike recognized the assassin. A quick Appraise confirmed his suspicion. She didn't appear to be hostile at the moment, but he knew first hand how quickly and lethally she could move. Keeping an eye on her, he turned his attention back to the other two, and tried to determine their identities, focusing on the healthier looking one first.
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Faril Couthbotan
Age: 62
Race: Human
Class: Politician
Title: Royal Adviser
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Mike blinked, momentarily confused. He'd never met the Prime Minister before, but he recognized the name from the letter he'd received after he rescued Andrea. To see him in the company of that assassin was confusing to the extreme.
Hoping to get a better idea of what was going on, he used Appraise on the last of the three.
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Unknown
Age: ??
Race: ??
Class: ??
Title: ??
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[What the hell?]
They halted about three meters away, and the unknown person began speaking in a dry, raspy voice. ”Greetings, Sir Dragonknight. Although we haven't met before, I've heard a great deal about you.” The man paused, blue tinged lips grimacing in something that resembled a smile. ”Judging from your facial expression, I can see you are confused about why your supposed allies are consorting with the murderer who very nearly killed you. That is understandable, but I can promise you, everyone here is interested in bringing an end to this war and the aggressor that initiated it.”
Something about the way the man moved bothered Mike. Although he seemed to be reasonably mobile, there was something unnatural about the motions, almost as if his body wasn't quite responding as he desired.
”Who are you?” He asked while mentally signalling Red to hold himself nearby. If necessary, he wanted the dragon to be able to swoop in and catch them by surprise.
The strange man smiled again, displaying a mouthful of white teeth ringed by pale, bloodless gums. ”That depends. This body belongs to the former King of Almir, a reasonably competent man who had the misfortune of running afoul of a certain overly ambitious noble. But, I suppose you are more interested in the one that's currently speaking to you, right?”
Mike swallowed, not really sure of what to think about this information. He noticed that the Prime Minster's face twisted momentarily in a display of grief. While such a thing could have been faked, the emotion looked so raw that it would have required a gifted actor to pull off. Turning back to the apparently talking corpse, he nodded, prompting the dead man to continue.
”Well, to make a long story short, I'm am but a small piece of a powerful mage who took advantage of the King's slow decline into death to seize control of his body.”
”That doesn't explain who or what you actually are.”
For the first time since he'd arrived the corpse frowned. ”Ah, I suppose that's fair. After so long speaking in half truths, its hard to break the habit. I am what is known as a Soul Clone, a spiritual entity formed by breaking off a piece of someone's soul. Ordinarily, my kind are intangible and invisible, but we can possess sufficiently weakened bodies of the recently deceased. As to my originator, well...he goes by many names, but you most likely know him as the Archlich.”
Mike pondered that statement for a few moments, finding it utterly unbelievable. He promptly said as much. ”You expect me to believe that the most powerful figure in the Lacotian hierarchy wants to stop this invasion, and the only method he thought to use was sending some sort of ghost clone to posses a dead body? Are you crazy?”
”A little, yes. Its hard not to be after a millennia of existence, but then again that's not quite right either.” The corpse returned with another disturbing grin. ”To answer your question fully would require much more time than we have at the moment. I'd be willing to go into detail later, once the danger has passed. Let me summarize it all by saying that the political situation in Lacot is complicated, and despite being the ruler in name, the Archlich is bound by a number of restrictions. So, even though he wanted to prevent the Skull Lord from starting this invasion, he was rather helpless to do so.”
[Another statement that's hard to buy. I can't imagine a Tier 4 mage would be so completely powerless in this situation. Much more likely, he wasn't able to act overtly without harming his image or something to that effect. If he instead sends an expendable agent to act in his stead, then he could have plausible deniability.]
”You haven't explained why the Archlich wants to stop this war in the first place. Isn't this exactly the kind of thing he's known for?” Mike asked harshly, not bothering to hide the suspicion in his voice.
”While I only have access to the memories imparted by my creator, I can surmise that he thought the project too dangerous to our interests. It would likely lead to the kind of attention we've been trying to avoid. He learned from his encounter with your predecessors and the Archmage. Lacot is powerful, but not equal to the combined might of the Inland Sea Region. All of our military expeditions up to this point have been limited for this exact reason. Of course, Kultanis didn't care about that.”
When Mike cocked an eyebrow at that name, the Prime Minister helpfully supplied, ”The Skull Lord, who is leading the invasion. Think of him as the Lacotian equivalent of a Grand Marshal.”
”Indeed,” the corpse continued. ”He's talented, but a ruthlessly ambitious, even by our standards. He intends on making use of this confrontation to enhance his personal power.”
”Like in the sense of enhancing his influence or seizing control of resources?”
The corpse shook his head, ”No, quite literally. He's been stuck at the peak of Tier 3 for nearly a century now, and has been unable to break through. It usually requires a great deal of talent, hard work, and luck, but there exist a few shortcuts one can take.”
The thought of a Tier 4 undead, one who had no compunction about murdering the populace of an entire country, was slightly concerning. If he let this continue, it could only end badly.
”So, how do you intend to stop him?” He asked, still not trusting any of the three in front of him.
”Truth be told, its a little late to actually prevent him from accomplishing his task, since he's already completed the minimum requirements for breaking through by force. I can only assume he's trying to improve his chances by massacring the rest of the living beings on this continent. However, Kultanis could activate the ritual at any point, and there would be little we could do to stop it. While we can certainly hope he fails, I suspect his efforts will succeed.”
The corpse glanced back at the assassin, who had been hanging back for the duration of the conversation, a blank look on her face. ”That being said, there will be a brief moment of vulnerability when he breaks through which will be ideal for striking him down. Our killer over here can handle that part. We simply need someone to push him to the point of completing his ritual early. That's where you come in. No one else on this battlefield has the strength necessary to drive him into a corner.”
He paused to lend his next question some weight. ”So what do you say? Shall we put an end to this fight?”