Chapter 947: Change of Plans

Harven shook his head, but his hand remained tight around the edge of his sword belt. He seemed to notice the tension in his fingers and forced them open, only to close them again a moment later. When he continued, the words came faster.

"He couldn’t do anything against the Demon King. Then something even more monstrous appeared afterward, and he was just as useless against that. All those promises, all that power, and someone else had to stand between us and the things trying to kill us."

He stopped to draw breath. His eyes had moved past Pedri, settling somewhere among the burned houses without appearing to see them.

"We kept expecting him to do something. Even after he fell, some of us were still waiting for him to get back up."

The square remained quiet around them. Farther away, a soldier called for help lifting a burned beam, and nobody answered until he called again. Two men eventually went to assist him, their boots grinding through the ash while the others continued listening.

Vlad understood Harven’s anger better now. The young knight had already stood beneath the protection of a supposed divine champion and discovered how little the promise meant when something powerful arrived. A rusty sword and an old priest’s assurance would do very little to persuade him to trust another.

Pedri lowered his head slightly. He allowed Harven time to finish, though the knight appeared to have said everything he intended to say. Beside the priest, Vask remained quiet, his expression giving Vlad no indication of what he thought about the account.

"I have heard Ludwig Hart’s name many times. Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to meet him. Perhaps I should pay him a visit, if circumstances allow it."

Vlad watched the old man for a moment before answering. Ludwig’s name offered a possibility worth pursuing. A man who had survived the events Harven described might be able to judge whether the boy possessed anything worth taking to Solania, and his territory lay conveniently closer to Vlad’s own headquarters.

"You may be in luck, then. Last I heard, he was back in Lamar, at the Bastos Marsh. People have been traveling there to settle, clear land, and claim plots in his territory."

Pedri looked toward him. There was no obvious excitement at the information, but neither did he dismiss it. Vlad continued before the priest could find another reason to insist upon the northern road.

"It isn’t particularly far from our headquarters. We could guide you there after you give your account at the garrison. If you want someone to look at the boy, you could certainly do worse."

The offer would bring everyone back under a roof where Vlad could organize proper reports, arrange reinforcements, and hand the idol to someone qualified to keep it from causing problems. His men could prepare for the sort of expedition this had become. They could learn whether other settlements had been attacked before following a suspected route into unfamiliar trouble.

He glanced toward the priest holding the wrapped idol. The man had shifted his grip several times without once allowing the bundle to rest against his robes. Vlad would even accept having Ludwig Hart examine the thing, provided the stories about him were accurate.

Pedri shook his head. The refusal came without hesitation, leaving Vlad with the unpleasant impression that the old man had merely been waiting for him to finish.

"I appreciate the offer, Captain, but we must continue to Solania. Whatever gifts Vask possesses, they require the Holy Order’s attention. So does the evidence recovered here. We cannot allow a personal visit to delay either matter."

"I wasn’t suggesting a holiday."

"Nor am I refusing merely to be difficult. We have found evidence of demonic activity along the road we intended to travel. By Imperial law, your force is obliged to assist the Holy Order in such matters."

Vlad’s eyes narrowed. Pedri had kept his voice polite, speaking at an ordinary volume despite having enough soldiers around him to make most witnesses nervous. The nearest men could hear every word, and several had stopped preparing to leave.

"We require an escort to Solania."

Harven stared at him. A mercenary standing nearby stopped scraping ash from his boot, leaving the knife motionless against the leather. Even the priests seemed to be waiting for Vlad’s answer now.

"An escort? You mean all the way to Solania?"

"All the way there."

Vlad clicked his tongue and looked toward the three priests. The oldest met his eyes, hesitated briefly, then gave a small nod. He did not appear particularly pleased about it either, which offered the captain very little comfort.

Pedri had found a lawful reason to turn the investigation into an escort. The same evidence that made Vlad reluctant to let either witness leave also made it difficult to send them onward without protection. A priest carrying proof of demonic activity could hardly be expected to travel exposed roads while the soldiers who had examined that proof returned to their barracks.

The reasoning was sound. Vlad could already imagine how his refusal would read in a report if something happened to them afterward. He could also imagine explaining it to Titania while she asked why her witnesses had been left to walk toward suspected demon worshippers alone.

That did not make his men prepared for the journey. It did not replace the supplies they would need, the patrols they would miss, or the information they still lacked. Pedri had invoked the law with a sentence. Vlad would have to handle everything required to obey it.

"He’s right."

Harven turned toward him so quickly that the movement drew several more eyes. For a moment, he appeared to be waiting for his captain to qualify the admission.

"Our orders were to investigate the attacks."

"We have investigated. We found evidence that places the matter under the Holy Order."

"And now we abandon the western roads to walk two people across the Empire?"

The question carried farther than Harven probably intended. A few infantrymen looked toward one another, and the mercenary who had been cleaning his boots rose. Another stepped away from the ruins to stand beside him.

"We were hired because we know these roads, Captain. Solania is a different arrangement." ℯ

Vlad turned toward the speaker. The man held his knife loosely at his side, apparently forgetting it was still in his hand until his companion glanced at it. He put it away before continuing.

"We agreed to help you find raiders. If this is becoming something else, we ought to know what we’re being asked to follow."

A second mercenary nodded toward Pedri.

"And if the attackers are moving north, taking the priest and the boy along the same route hardly sounds wise. We don’t even know how far ahead they are."

"Then they will benefit from having armed men with them."

Nobody seemed satisfied with that answer. Harven opened his mouth again, and a soldier behind him began speaking at almost the same time. Vlad raised a hand before either could finish.

"Enough."

The conversations stopped unevenly. One man continued for another word before noticing the silence around him, then lowered his eyes. Vlad waited until he had everyone’s attention. He would not have a debate conducted over his orders in the middle of a ruined village.

"We do not follow Imperial law only when it takes us somewhere convenient. Our investigation has uncovered a demonic threat. The Holy Order has been informed, and Father Pedri is carrying evidence they will need to examine."

He looked from Harven to the mercenaries, then across the soldiers who had gathered close enough to listen. Some held his gaze. Others looked toward the burial trench or the wrapped bundle in the priest’s hands.

"You may dislike the Church. You may dislike the journey. Neither changes our duty. We will provide the escort, and any necessary changes to your contracts will be addressed through the garrison."

The first mercenary drew breath as though considering another objection. Vlad kept looking at him until he let it out again.

"That does not mean we march north without preparing. It means you allow me to make those preparations instead of standing here arguing about whether the law applies to us."

Nobody looked pleased, but the objections stopped. Harven adjusted his sword belt and took a step back, leaving enough space between himself and the captain to make it clear that the discussion had ended. The mercenaries returned to checking their equipment.

Vlad waited another moment before turning toward one of his officers. He needed the men occupied with useful tasks before their imaginations supplied more reasons to resent the road ahead.

"Send word to headquarters. Include the idol, the possible connection between the settlements, and the fact that the Holy Order has already been contacted. They need to know why our route has changed."

The officer nodded, but Vlad stopped him before he could leave.

"Request a replacement patrol for this area. Our departure does not mean the investigation here is finished. I want the next garrisons along our route warned as well. If they have received reports of missing travelers or attacked settlements, we need those reports before we reach them."

The man went to find one of the battlemages. Vlad turned toward the soldiers still searching the houses and raised his voice enough to reach them.

"Finish gathering what can be transported. Mark anything that requires a proper examination later. I want the priests to inspect the northern road before we move, and the scouts will stay within support distance."

He pointed toward the mercenaries.

"If you find tracks leaving the road, you report them. Nobody follows anything into the trees alone. We have enough missing people to account for already."

The orders gave the men something to do with their unease. Packs were opened, provisions checked, and weapons returned to their proper places. One of the scouts approached the priests to ask what signs he should be looking for, a question Vlad would have preferred someone ask before they reached the next settlement.

He had no intention of marching blind simply because an old priest had won an argument. If demon worshippers waited ahead, he wanted warning before the column came within reach of them. Harven’s account had made it clear how much good official titles and religious promises did once preparations failed.

Pedri inclined his head. He had remained outside the argument, watching Vlad settle the objections without attempting to assist.

"Thank you, Captain."

"Save your thanks until we reach Solania. You and the boy remain with the column. If either of you remembers anything else about these attacks, I expect to hear it immediately."

"Of course."

Vlad held his gaze a moment longer. The priest had known exactly which authority to invoke when it became useful, and he had done so with enough certainty to silence three members of the local clergy. That might simply have been experience. Vlad had no evidence that it was anything else.

Still, he would have preferred a witness who seemed slightly less comfortable directing the course of an Imperial expedition.

Vask glanced toward the soldiers gathering their equipment, then toward the northern road. He had offered no further objection after Harven told him to be quiet. He had also shown very little relief when Vlad agreed to provide protection.

The captain watched him adjust the old sword at his side. The movement was small and practical, clearing the scabbard from the strap of his pack before he began walking. Nothing about it justified suspicion, yet Vlad found himself remembering how quickly the boy’s hand had moved when the soldiers raised their weapons earlier.

Harven returned to his horse and checked the saddle straps with unnecessary force. He stopped after tightening one, loosened it slightly, then went over the others more carefully. Vlad let him work. There would be time to address his conduct when they were away from the witnesses and the graves.

The mercenaries resumed their duties with considerably less enthusiasm. The priests secured the sealed idol for transport, taking longer over it than the size of the object should have required. Several soldiers checked the straps on their shields, then checked them again while watching the men assigned to scout ahead.

Their investigation had become a journey toward a place none of them particularly wanted to visit. Worse, they might be following the same people responsible for the village behind them, with little understanding of what those people could do.

Father Pedri adjusted the strap of his pack and waited beside Vask. His robes remained dusty, his staff worn smooth where his hands rested, and his shoulders slightly bent beneath the modest weight he carried. He looked like a man who ought to have been grateful for two soldiers willing to walk beside him.

Instead, nearly forty men were rearranging their orders around his destination.

Vlad mounted and looked back at him once more. Pedri offered a modest nod, apparently content now that everyone understood their obligations. The captain returned it without smiling, then turned his horse toward the head of the column.

By the time they left the village, the shadows of the burned houses stretched across the road. Knights rode ahead, infantry surrounded the priests, and the mercenaries watched the verges with their weapons ready. Father Pedri and Vask walked near the protected center as the expedition turned north, toward Letonia and the mountains of Solania beyond it.

Vlad waited until the last men cleared the ruined gate before urging his horse forward. The road ahead carried no sign of what had happened behind them, only old wheel ruts and footprints too numerous to separate. He kept watching it anyway. If Vask had read the pattern correctly, they were following the people who had left an entire village beneath a burial trench.