Chapter 624 (1/2)

Shal stepped out of the teleporter and looked around. The buildings around him were solid and grey, and he stood in a small courtyard that was open to the sky. Yet when he looked up, his vision couldn't pierce past the thick mist that lay over the area. It was soft like cotton, and different banks of it moved in every direction, merging and separating in an endless dance.

It was the continent of the Death School, the land of muffled suffering.

“I never imagined that I would spend my retirement traveling,” Razland, the First Spear of Tomkat said, practically spitting out his words. Verynica, the third member of their team of musketeers, simply spared the other man a glance and shook her head.

Shal’s mouth twisted. “You being here… it is not necessary.”

“You owe me,” Razland replied bluntly. Then he grinned, but his eyes were tired. “Although it is a roundabout way… allowing me to accompany you and share in some of the military accomplishments will have to be enough. It is the only way for Tomkat to obtain the proper share of the remaining energy. In the Northern Domain… to have such a thing is becoming increasingly rare.”

After nodding, Shal moved forward. Razland put on a brave face, but Shal knew that everytime that man looked at him, he saw all the soldiers that Shal and Randidly had killed escaping from the jail. Each of the lives that they took was one of his friends and family. And yet… Razland’s spirit was truly generous. When Shal returned to fulfill his promise of returning to Tomkat, he had taken a long and hard look at Shal.

Instead of asking him to stay, he had an extremely strange request; that the two would go on a pilgrimage in order for Razland to polish his own Style. Perhaps it was Shal’s obvious unwillingness to stay or the vivacious point of life in Shal’s eyes that wasn’t there previously, but Shal believed the reason for Razland's change of heart was something much more practical.

At the time Shal returned to Tomkat to pay his debt, his strength had shot upwards to just below the Pontiff level. Combined with his already exploding Level…

Perhaps tying his boat to Shal would end up being a positive decision. After all, within the month he had truly become a Pontiff. So Razland had a surprising amount of insight to join Shal on the mad adventures he had stumbled through sense. All would be well. Or perhaps…

Shal spared Verynica a glance. She was the other Lieutenant of Ophelia Vade and was born and bred inside the deepest enclave of the Heart School. Ostensibly, Ophelia sent Verynica to provide assistance on a very dangerous mission, but Shal suspected that the woman’s unquestioned loyalty was more relevant. That, and Shal’s instincts were telling him there was a trap waiting for him on this continent.

That part of him that inherited his father’s Style shifted inside of him to the forefront. As they walked forward, two men in drab robes moved out of a nearby building to greet the trio. When they were only a few meters away, the two stopped and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

“Greetings. May your spears always find death, friends. Are you the group that comes seeking the Witch Kings?”

“Yes. Report,” Verynica said sharply.

The men began to explain sightings, and patterns, and strange movements among the wights that could possibly be used to interpret the Witch King’s movements. It was thoughtful stuff, sure, but Shal tired of hearing it only after a few minutes.

He waved his hand dismissively. “So there is nothing concrete? That is fine. Such methods are cumbersome.”

The two paused, their uncertainty clear in their eyes. Verynica gave Shal a look and he continued to speak. “It is simple. We find their biggest army and attack it. Eventually, they will move to stop us yes? And who would they send to stop spearmen such as us but a Witch King. It is simplicity itself.”

Razland sighed and shook his head. “Ah, my back is aching already.”

*****

After clearing another island, Randidly’s group gathered together without the need for words. As they four exchanged glances they nodded imperceptibly at Randidly, and he produced a small dome of biological matter for them to rest in and discuss for a while. This was a rocky island on the outskirts of the chain, so there was only moss. But it did make all the furniture Randidly inflated inside relatively comfortable.