The Dark Path (20 page)

Gen saw the officer emerge from the commander's tent and come walking quickly back to him. When he reached them, he was breathing a bit heavily and his face was flushed a light pink.

"I apologize. My commander has told me that we cannot allow you to pass. He has also told me I am to take you and your friend captive for questioning. Please come with us peacefully and we will not chain you."

"Will you treat my friend's wounds as best you can?"

"His injuries will be treated. You have my word."

"Very well. I must also speak to your commander. I have a complaint to put before him." Gen motioned over his shoulder for Thomas to come to him. Thomas walked slowly and painfully to where the group waited.

"We have been asked to stay with the soldiers in the encampment. They will treat your wounds, on the word of this young officer here. I will talk to the commander and see if I can convince him to let us into the Schola. Will you agree to come along?"

Thomas looked at Gen questioningly for a long moment then nodded. The officer turned and walked back to the encampment, one of his soldiers on either side of Gen and Thomas and two behind them. Gen helped Thomas to walk till they got inside the area of tents.

"Please help him," Gen asked the officer. The officer barked orders and the two soldiers walked forward and helped Thomas into the tent on the left, directly across from the commander's tent.

"May I have a word with you, Sir?" Gen asked the officer. The officer nodded and waited. Gen waited till the other two soldiers started to walk off and then said.

"That man there, the one on the left. You should watch him. He was filled with so much fear that his judgment was beginning to leave while you were gone. Now may I speak to the commander?"

The officer nodded and led the way into the tent. Before he entered, he turned to face Gen. "This isn't going to end well. I have that feeling. I ask only that you try and be merciful upon my men. They are all new to war and mostly a good lot. I would hate to see them killed." He paused for a moment then added, "I know who you are. I saw you from a distance in the war of Artoria. Though we were enemies, I just wanted you to know that you were a fearsome and noble opponent." With that, the officer bowed low before Gen then turned sharply and entered the tent. Gen followed. The commander's tent was quite large. A table was in the middle covered with a map of the Schola and surrounding woods. Gen noticed that the map was quite accurate. Two empty chairs were in front of Gen and across the table sat the commander. He was a tall man of around thirty five years of age. He had short black hair cut in the Eremian fashion. His helm sat on the table in front of him. His bronze armor was clean and polished but showed many dents and repairs. His face was clean shaven and squarish. His brows were bushy and thick and came together when he frowned. He motioned for them to sit down when they entered, his hands calloused and scarred as well. Gen walked up and sat in the chair to the left. The young officer sat in the one on the right.

"Who are you? What is your business here?" the commander asked roughly.

"As I told your young officer here, my name is not important. My business is to take my injured friend to his home in the Schola. I came to beg you to let us enter. I also have a complaint to set before you about the actions of some of your men a few nights ago," Gen replied calmly in Eremian.

"My orders are to let no one in or out of that place. I can not let you enter for any reason. Now what complaints do you have?" The commander seemed impatient.

"I do not know how long ago. Yesterday to a few days ago, my friend was out with young students to gather herbs for their class. They were assaulted by Eremian soldiers and my friend was injured near to death. Do you know of these actions?"

"I have heard nothing of this. Though your friend must have assaulted them or broken the law of magic use for them to have attacked him. Is that all?”

Gen nodded. "Thank you for your time. I apologize, but I must take my friend to his home. Please do not get in my way." With that said, Gen stood up and walked for the door.

"Stop him!" the commander ordered. The young officer jumped up and followed Gen out the door. He caught up to him half way across the path.

"Please Sir. I beg you. Do not make me stop you," the officer said in Eremian. Gen stopped and turned to face him.

"You have been kind and polite. I know you would make a good commander. You have choices to make here. I will enter the Schola. You can try to stop me, but know that every man that stands in my way, I will kill without mercy. You can tell your commander that." Gen bowed to the officer then turned back around and entered the tent where they had taken Thomas. The officer stood outside for a moment and hung his head. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had made up his mind. He ran back into his commander's tent. The commander had stood up and put his helm on. The young officer came to a stop and stood silent for a moment.

"What is it, Peleus? Did you stop him?"

Peleus bowed down on one knee before his commander. "I beg you Sir. Let him and his friend pass. If you try and stop him, we will all die." He remained bowed with his head down.

"What is this nonsense! They are two men, one of them injured! We have our orders!"

"I know the man in black, Sir. I saw him in Artoria." He remained bowed.

"Then who is it? A friend of yours? This is beneath you Peleus!"

"He is the Nameless Necromancer, Sir. I saw him on the battlefield once in Artoria. I watched him send his hoards of undead to rip, kill, and slaughter our men. I beg you. Let him pass." At this, Peleus looked up at his commander. The commander's face went pale. He stood still a moment and removed his helm. Then he set his jaw and walked past Peleus and out the tent. Peleus moved so that he was on both knees. Tears ran down his cheeks. He clasped his hands together and prayed to his gods for mercy.

Outside, Gen had retrieved Thomas and they were walking slowly towards the gate. The commander came barging out of the tent, and thrusting the helm back upon his head, he pointed at Gen.

"Stop those men!" he ordered. Two soldiers shot to attention and ran over to stand before Gen and Thomas.

"Know this! Any man that tries to stop me or my friend will die," Gen said with that cold fire in his eyes and a deathly chill to his voice. The two soldiers before him stopped. One of them was the man that had been shaking earlier. He was definitely shaking now, the point of his gladius dancing all around. The man beside him was scared as well. Gen kept walking towards them at Thomas' slow pace. When he got within striking distance Gen stopped. "Move aside boys, and you will live." The one on the left that was shaking horribly suddenly screamed and ran. The other man set his jaw and stood up straighter. "I have my orders." He said.

"So be it." Gen's hand went to his cane and faster than anyone there could see. He drew the blade and cut the man from the middle of his jaw up through the top of his skull and placed it back in the scabbard. Then he started walking again. The soldier had seen the flash of movement but didn't know what had happened. He opened his mouth to shout for the man to stop and pain shot through him. His jaw separated along the cut and his head slid sickeningly apart. It didn't fall in half, just slid a bit out of place along the cut. The man's eyes rolled back and his limp body hit the ground. The commander took a step back. What the hell was that? He wasn't even able to see the man attack. Had he cast a spell? He felt his fear and grew angry at himself.

"Stop those men!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Where's that priest? You! Go fetch the priest." The soldier he had addressed ran off into the middle of camp. Finally his men were coming to attention. A group of five came running up and stood before Gen and Thomas. The two on the ends of the row carried spears, which they pointed at Gen.

"You won't let me leave quietly, will you?" Gen asked as he turned to look at the commander. "You will order every one of your men to their deaths?"

"You will be the one to die! Kill him!" the commander shouted. His face grew bright red with fury.

"Thomas, if you have the strength, protect yourself. This is going to get messy," Gen said quietly. He then turned to the five men before him and attacked. First he performed a lightning quick draw cut on the spearman to his left, then followed that with a downward stroke through the chest of the man to the right of him. The man in the center began a slow stab to where he had been. Gen ducked easily under it and cut him in half as he rose back up. He made a horizontal cut across the throat of the fourth man and thrust through armor, between ribs, and into the heart of the fifth man. He drew his blade back out of the man. Flipping it around quickly, he flicked the blood off of the blade and thrust it back in his scabbard. When the handle clicked into place, all five men fell dead at the same time.

The commander couldn't believe his eyes. Who was this devil! It couldn't be who Peleus said it was. Why would that man come here? Anyway, that man was a necromancer. A weak twisted man that used magic and the undead to do his killing for him. Gen looked back at Thomas to see tears running down his friend's cheeks. He only nodded and began walking forward again, stepping over the corpses that were still spewing blood upon the ground. He walked on toward the gate. Two more soldiers came from the tents and stood before him. Then they looked behind Gen and saw the bodies. One of them leaned over and vomited right on the spot. The other one stood his ground. He looked to be in his early thirties. He drew his gladius and stood ready. Gen walked slowly up to the two soldiers and stopped.

"Step aside, or I will kill you," Gen stated calmly.

"If I step aside, my commander will kill me. I'm dead either way so I may as well die with honor." The soldier looked back at Gen sadly. Gen bowed slightly to the man then drew his blade. It was still as black as void and beyond razor sharp. Gen held it lightly in his right hand. He held the scabbard in the other. He motioned for the soldier to attack. The older soldier nodded and slowly closed the gap between them. He quickly thrust for Gen's chest. Gen quickly parried the attack and brought the scabbard around lightning quick and cracked it into the soldier's neck. The soldier stepped back choking on his own adam's apple. He dropped his gladius and grabbed for his neck. Gen brought his blade around and severed the mans head from his neck. He sighed sadly and then turned to the younger soldier who was vomiting anew now that his older companion was spraying his life blood all over him. Gen flipped his blade over and brought it down on the back of the young soldiers head. He fell unconscious instantly. Gen flipped the blade back over and resumed walking to the gate once more, Thomas right behind him. Thomas had tears running down his cheeks. What had happened to Gen? He killed so easily! He didn't seem to enjoy it, true, but he was so good at it! What had his friend been through these past seven years? Now he was, in a way, afraid to find out. The commander, meanwhile, was furious. He ran toward Gen and easily caught up to the slow moving mages. He placed his large frame between them and the gate.

"You will go no further!" the commander shouted. His face was blood red with rage and his eyes carried the fire of threatened pride. Gen squinted his eyes a bit and put his sword back in his sheath.

"Move aside or you will die very painfully," Gen said softly. His voice had been low but it carried through the encampment.

The commander's fury only grew. He started to scream a battle cry. Gen brought up his hand and chanted four arcane words. Thomas winced at the sound and had to quell the bile that rose into his throat. The commander's scream of rage instantly turned to one of excruciating pain. The man fell to his hands and knees in the dirt and continued screaming. Moments later, the cause of his torment became clear. The man's bones were growing spikes that pierced through his skin. They ripped through his entire body and suddenly the man's scream was silenced. His eyes became the glassy stare of the dead and he fell over. Gen looked up to the soldier to his left that stood in horror watching. Then he spoke.

"Learn from this foolish man's mistakes. Follow your orders yes, but when someone comes to you asking only for aid, relent. Now no more of you stand in my way or I will not stop till you are all members of my army!" This last bit he shouted roughly, his cold voice like a dagger through everyone's chest. Then he put his arm over Thomas' shoulder and helped him walk on to the gates. When they were no more than fifteen feet from the gate, a pillar of fire rose from the ground, roared high above their heads, then went out to reveal a priest standing there. He wore robes of blood red trimmed in gold. He had the dark hair of an Eremian but it was left long. In his hands, he held a war staff. He looked around at the bodies on the ground then nodded and raised his hands and began to chant a spell. Gen pushed Thomas, gently but forcefully away, then held his hands aloft as well. A second great pillar of fire rose from the feet of the priest then shot straight for Gen. Gen stood motionless and the flames wrapped around him. The fire seemed to go on and on. Finally the flames died and the priest leaned heavily upon his staff. When the smoke cleared Gen still stood where he had. His robes were smoking but otherwise he was unharmed.

"Is that all you have? I thought your god more powerful than that!"

"You will die from his great wrath!" the priest shouted once more and started to raise the staff to strike. He froze in place, a mixture of fear and panic upon his face, as Gen's counterspell took effect. Gen began chanting and slowly the sky grew dark. The ground underneath Gen seemed to disappear to be replaced by a void of pure black. He continued chanting and the darkness flowed from the void to spiral around him. The dark void lashed out with four tentacles of black energy and wrapped around each limb of the priest. They pulled slowly in four different directions and the priest screamed in horrible pain as his limbs were ripped from his torso. Gen's chanting changed and the priest's soul drifted, wraith-like, from his maimed body. The soul screamed in an agony unknown to the living and floated down into the void. The dark portal slowly closed and Gen lowered his arms. The entire camp was silent. Around thirty soldiers had gathered but had stood in place when the battle between the priest and the dark mage had began. Thomas looked at his old friend in fear. Who was this man? Could Gen really have just done that? What type of spell could do that to a man, let alone a priest? Gen turned and looked back at the Eremian soldiers.