19 The One That Could (1/2)
Judeau sat a few steps away from Viktor. The mercenary leader was still lie down with his hands as pillow, Judeau was watching the brothers' condition as he began to talk with the leader.
-”Back in the manor I found weird how easy was to kill the men on the second floor… I attacked quickly… but still, they seemed unable to defend themselves… they didn't even flinched” Said the enigmatic archer – ”A now this wind magic…” said him pausing for a moment.
-”The boy…” Said Judeau… - ”He is not who he says he is…” affirmed the archer.
Viktor listened to his words attentively… he was gazing the sky in a contemplative expression
-”He is connected to Maximilian…” Said Viktor after a moment of thinking, they were serious while discussing the subject.
-”Syldis would not have involved us if he weren't… and I do believe the boy is searching for him.” Viktor turned his head and looked to the Dracar corpse once more
-”The boy is powerful, but that can be explained by the Magus influence on him, he may really be his apprentice…” turning once more towards Judeau – ”But I agree… he is not telling us everything…” after saying that the mercenary leader smiled and relaxed his expression – ”But who can really blame the boy? He is smart to keep things to himself in this lands… Even more so when in company of mercenaries”.
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It didn't take long for Levi and Riou to reach the city, the big gates were open and they rushed through them.
Levi was in a hurry and quickly directed herself towards the mercenaries' camp entrance, she began to speak with Riou without looking back.
-”Let's go gather more men… it won't take long to get Viktor and Judeau, then we…” Noticing something wrong behind her, she suddenly stopped and looked, as nobody was there she quickly searched around for the he was nowhere to be seen.
Frowning her eyebrows she turned around and continue with her mission, as Viktor was waiting for her.
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Riou was going quickly through the streets towards the east side of the city. ”It was a mistake to take the mercenaries help… I could have investigated both places by now if I was alone…” Thought the boy rushing through a dark alley. The only activity in the city by this time was near taverns and Inns, aside of course from the eventual shady figures on the alleys. Riou was searching for the House of the Landgraves. And as he approached the east side, a bad feeling began to grow inside him. ”Something is wrong… I need to hurry” thought the boy.
The east side of the city seemed to be designed to some of the lords, as most of the houses there were mansions with big garden spaces. ”Great, how do I know where the Landgrave's live now?” Thought him looking around, trying to identify anything. ”I need directions…”
Riou kept going, now his target was the dark alleys, he wanted to find anyone who could point him in the right direction…
It didn't take long for him to find a group of 3 shady figures, leaned towards a wall between two houses. They were clearly monitoring the mains street.
Riou smiled and walked directly towards them.
It was a fat man and two women, the man wore the common folk clothes and had a dagger to the belt, he was ugly with double chin features and oversized head, he was wearing a small hat that covered his hair, and the characteristic odor that he hasn't washed in months could be smelled when the wind blew from his direction. He was about 40 years old Riou esteemed. He was just a bit taller than Riou.
The women were wearing small clothes, showing great extent of her legs and cleavage. They put some sort of makeup on their faces and body that poorly hid bad skin and some scars, it was a poor attempt to look prettier… They were not beautiful or young as all their features were saggy and mistreated. Both of them were shorter than the man.
The women showed no interest or reaction as the boy approached, they seemed very used to the job. Both had the usual dark hair and dark eyes combed in a similar fashion, in a wavy hairstyle.
The man step forward towards the boy going to his encounter.
-”It's 5 coins, 9 for both of them… payment upfront” Said the man with a sense of superiority, and clearly trying to intimidate the boy.
Riou ignored him and just asked what he wanted to know – ”Where is the Landgrave house?” Said him in a serious tone… He had no time to spare, something was bothering him and he felt he had to hurry.
The man showing contempt replied - ”If you don't have money get out of here boy… you don't wanna get hurt…”
Riou stepped forward, getting very near the fat smelly man, looking him straight to the eye – ”I won't ask you again… Where is the Landgrave's house?” Said him slowly in a menacing tone.
The fat man smiled with a sense of superiority… he slowly reached for his dagger… butbefore he could pull it, Riou protected his right hand with mana and quickly punched the man in the lower jaw, with a right hook… knocking him out cold. The fat man fell to the ground between the women who now acknowledged the boy, looking with a mixture of fear and surprise to him…
Riou looked at them seriously – ”So… where is it?” Asked again.
-”North of here, keep going until you reach the graveyard, his house is the one to the right, following the cemetery walls.” Quickly answered the one to the right.
Riou nodded and rushed to the direction, the women relieved stayed in the same position as he left… They didn't even try to help the fat man who was still down unconscious.
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The cemetery was massive and occupied great part of the north part of the city. It had stone walls all over its border, not too tall and Riou was able to climb it without too much effort. On its top he could see many mausoleums all over the graveyard land, they were far apart and seemed only entries, like doors to big underground tombs, no crosses or tombstones could be seen on the top. ”Lots of underground passages by the distance between them…” calculated Riou looking at the mausoleums, he also noticed a house to the east… The Landgraves clearly were the caretakers of the graveyard.
Riou jumped down inside the land, and began to follow the wall to the east as he guessed that the big mansion in the distance should be the house he was searching for.
The cemetery gave an eerie atmosphere, as it was completely empty and silent, the dark entrances at the mausoleums gave a feeling that some monstrosity would crawl out of it at any moment… Riou shivered by the thought he could be in a thrash horror movie ”No matter the world you are… a cemetery at night is always spooky…” thought the boy while going in the house direction.
Reaching the 3 floor mansion, Riou looked around it, no light in any window ”Everyone inside could be sleeping” Realized the boy thinking Max was already gone and that he reached Eleanor's house too late… this one could be a normal house he would be trespassing now…
Aware of this he still followed his guts that urged him to search for a way in. Going around the house he found none, every window in the ground floor was tightly closed and the doors were all locked. Riou could only find one of the windows in the third floor opened. ”That's my way in…” thought the boy as he didn't want to break any window or door… he approached the house and got right below the open window.
Putting together his feet, and pointing his palms towards the ground he began to concentrate his mana through them, ”I need enough force to lift me to the window…” a jet of air began to blow towards the ground while a whirlwind formed around the boy's leg… both forces pushed him up, allowing him to adjust the direction as he moved the hands and feet.
Sound of the wind was not loud, but could be enough to alert someone nearby, he gave a few moments, but no one appeared.
Took a few tries to Riou get the hang of it, the control and the power needed to slow bring him up required a lot of concentration. But once he got it down, it was easy to reach the window… ”Maybe with this I could have jumped the cliff and gone after the escaping mages…” thought the boy remembering the castle attack.
Grabbing the window ledge he looked inside to make sure no one was there before coming in. It was dark but it was an empty bedroom, Riou quickly got inside dismissing the wind magic.
Inside, the room was barely illuminated by the light that came from the open window, but it was enough to show Riou that it was well adorned, paintings of landscapes and red sheets on a high quality bed ”Fancy…” Thought the boy looking at the bed.
Using his stealthy skills obtained by years of practice in many different games, he analyzed his surroundings after reaching the bedroom door. The upper floor seemed full of bedrooms connected by a large corridor in the center with a red carpet adorned with images of blue flowers and golden stripes. A stairway down could be seen down the corridor to the left of his position.
He could see nor feel anyone's presence in that house… he silently moved through the shadows reaching the stairs, they were wide and went straight to the ground level, and it had openings to access the second level. Riou looking to the design noticed that the space was poorly utilized… but it was clearly designed to impress visitors who came in by the front door, to be received under a big chandelier and a huge, detailed and decorated stairway.
The house was ostentatiously decorated as well, many valued objects like chandeliers, silver, golden cups and candle holders all over the place. Many paintings of a man with black hair and beard. Strangely the house seemed well cared, no dust or webs could be seen anywhere and still not a single light source could be found in the house interior. Luckily his eyes were used to the darkness by that time and the weak moon light that passed through the clouds was able to indirectly cast some light through the main window above the front door.
Riou began to go down the stairs, the second floor was very similar to the third, a corridor with many rooms… Riou felt an ominous feeling coming from the ground floor as he approached it, a vile stench assaulted his nose when he left the stairway at the ground floor.
”Smell of Death…”Thought the boy not liking it one bit… ”Oh shit… graveyard… empty house… foul stench… I know this pattern…”
Now on the ground floor, Riou noticed paying attention to a small section of the door, a strange faint red glow, approaching it he saw a small rune carved in the door… looking around he now noticed that it seemed to be present at every window he could see from there as well… Deciding to leave it aside he turned back to face the stairway, he needed to continue his search.
The ground floor had 2 ways, to the right and to the left of the stairway, to the right Riou could see through the open doors what seemed to be the servant quarters and kitchen… to the left, he noticed a closed door to the very end of the house and corridors that leaded to other rooms. But that closed door got his attention…
Nearing the closed door, the smell intensified, he approached his ears to the door, but nothing could be heard. He got down on the floor, looking through the door gap, but it was too dark inside to see anyone there… but to his amazement, he was able to notice a faint red glow shining on the floor.
”Really strange… a trap perhaps?” thought the boy getting up… He touched the door and poured his mana through it, feeling the rune magic power Riou involved it with his own mana, containing the magic on the rune trying to prevent it from activating.
Feeling confident, he put his hand in the door handle, slowly opening it… the light from the window at the entrance was able to disperse some of the shadows… allowing him to see a storeroom with some shelves and sacks on the floor… nothing of ordinary could be seen there, but the smell of rotten flesh increased even more… but uneasy and following his guts he put his finger up and called upon a flame, big as a candle light, seen a bit better now he stepped indide the store room… The stone floor squeaked as an old wood.
Riou quickly got down and searched for a hidden Trapdoor, it had a small cord attached to one of the sides, pulling it up he was able to open the trapdoor, it was a wood plank disguised as the stone floor.
When that door opened, the already strong and characteristic fetid odor, intensified, forcing him to cover his nose. The trapdoor had a small stairway to an underground passage, looking inside Riou could see a stone corridor lighted by torches on the walls.
A man scream echoed from the deeps of the corridor
-”Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!”
”Graveyard, empty house, incredible foul stench, underground passages and screams… great… just great…” Riou was cursing his luck at that moment.
He got down and walked through the small corridor cautiously, wary of traps and possible enemies in front. He also noticed the corridor was inclined. Each step brought him deeper into the earth.
As he approached the end of the corridor, he noticed that the ceiling was getting higher and higher. At the end of the corridor he saw a large room, connected to other 2 corridors at the right and left side adjacent walls from where he was coming. The room was bigger than the whole Drinking Bear tavern ground floor, and it had torches fixed to the walls which were made of big gray stone blocks put neatly together, the ceiling was high and forming a dome with the stones.
Many tables with alchemy apparatus, glasses and substances held by iron wire. Old books and parchments all over the place. In the center a wide round well filled with a red liquid almost to the top… in the ceiling, all over the dome many different red runes, very similar to the ones he found in the door but in a much larger scale and glow intensity. The runes were written all over the dome and some walls as well, it covered the entire room.
To Riou's left, near the corner of the room there was a pile of corpses, the top ones seemed fresh, but the ones on the bottom showed signs of advanced decay… ”Probably victims or bodies extracted from the cemetery for experiments” concluded Riou.
On the far side to the left, many iron cells, they were made of thick bars connected forming a square, enough to hold 2 persons inside, a door could be seen in each one of them. Almost all of the cells seemed empty, but Riou quickly noticed in one of them what seemed to be a person lying down in the cell floor. Right next to it 2 dead bodies on top of a table with many substances and tools near them, seemed as they were being used as experiments of necromancy, guessed the boy.
But what really caught the boy's attention, was the black hooded man. He was near a big green rock that resembled an emerald by the color and transparency, fixed to the wall at the end of the room. It had a palm of diameter and was lapidated skillfully like a beautiful jewel.
Below it, a gray haired man was chained to the wall by his hands and feet, unable to move and fighting to remain conscious.
”Max!” Recognized Riou as the Dark mage approached the prisoner once more.
-”You are surely resisting bravely, much more than she did…” Said an old man voice with a dark tone to it - ”Shall we continue old friend?” he said approaching Maximilian, and rising his hand touching the green stone that was right above the prisoner.
The green stone began to shine brightly, and with it the very wall itself in a glow of a light shaded green, revealing many runes that descended from the stone to where Maximilian was been held prisoner.
A green twisting light, as a string blown by the wind formed and began its way towards Maximilian's head…
As it touched him Max began twisting in pain and agony.
”Crap!” thought the boy as he noticed that Maximilian would not endure it any longer… without much thinking he rushed forward, trying another sneak attack as man in black robe was focused on Max.
As he entered the room the red runes at the ceiling lighted up brightly, making the Dark mage stop and turn around immediately. He was wearing the same robes used by the attackers in the castle. Beneath the hood Riou identified white hairs down the man face and a very short and trimmed white bear. He was an old man, probably over his 70 years old.
”A trap?” asked Riou readying himself for any attack from the runes…
-”Seems like we have an intruder…” – Said the dark mage pointing his hand towards Riou, he could clearly see a ring with a dark red stone on it, resembling a big ruby.
-”Riou!” Said Max when he noticed the boy… relief could be seen in the Magus eyes. Turning around, the mage could clearly notice the change on Maximilian, the dark mage got very intrigued by the boy and lowered his hand.
-”So you are acquaintances…” he said slowly – ”And by this old fool reaction… he clearly thinks you will save him… how curious!” Said the dark mage in a mocking tone looking to Maximilian – ”Is he, by any chance, your new disciple?”
The dark mage turned to Riou – ”How fortunate of me to meet a fellow apprentice, this shall be our reunion!” continued in a mocking tone.
”So he is the owner of the house and the last Apprentice of Max, Lord Landgrave…” concluded the boy.
His mocking expression suddenly became a morbid serious one, Riou understood he would make his move and readied himself against him.
-”I confess I don't know how you entered my house without me noticing, but it doesn't matter now… you are clearly alone and inside this room no one can stop me.” Said Lord Landgrave pointing his hand and ring to the dead bodies near the cell, Riou saw the big ruby briefly shining a faint red glow.
The 2 corpses on top of the table began to move, standing up and walking towards the boy… The advance decayed of the bodies were severe, ribs and part of the cranium could be seen, the flesh was rotten and had a dark brown color to it, many cuts and substances could be seen stuck to the flesh, they had no eyes and roamed slowly, mindlessly approaching the boy…
”Well… that confirms it… necromancy is a thing here… and oh my god, what is with this smell, I thought it couldn't get stronger… It's ten times worse now that they are moving…” thought the boy with a tense expression at his face as the vile stench assaulted his delicate nose…
Noticing the tense expression on the boy, the dark mage rejoiced
-”Hahaha! Did you just realize where you got yourself into boy? How will you deal with the undead?” Laughed the dark mage looking at the boy