Chapter 130

Chapter 130

Chapter 130

The trees had begun to turn from vibrant green to a dark gray and black, many of them losing their leaves entirely or illuminating deathly teal light. The grass had gone from a healthy look to a gray-silver, and unnerving fogs blocked their sight even though it was midday. Though the accumulation of dark clouds in the sky that seemed to settle in ever-more without signs of leaving any time soon didn’t help their vision problems either - and it’d been this way for the past ten miles.

Despite the sightings of skeletal undead wolves or pitch-black deer with ghostly outlines that’d mutated into unholy versions of their previous selves, the very small trade caravan traveling northwards through the last stretch of forest was in hopeful spirits. The guard unit at the front was hacking and slashing away, creating pathways through the underbrush for the other men and women - mostly being merchants that were using mules for carrying luggage.

Cade was one of these merchants. As a younger and adventurous man he’d been far more excited than most about the prospect of the worlds merging than most. He saw it as an opportunity for growth, rather than an opportunity to be feared, and he’d been among the first to volunteer for his uncle’s quest to depart from the town of Bradshire westwards, across the plains to seek out trading partners with the undead of this ‘Brightsville’ rumors talked of. Some people called his uncle stupid for even attempting it, being fearful that he and his caravan would be turned into corpses and used as fodder to create even more of the unliving, but these were desperate times and the war with the elves was cutting food back drastically. If they didn’t get more of it, their people would starve - and his uncle had a bleeding heart. Both Cade and his uncle felt that this was not only an opportunity to become rich, but was also a civic duty to keep their people fed.

So they’d begun their journey with whatever goods they’d had. They’d carried various textiles, pottery, basic weapons and armor, as well as some minor totems. They’d even brought along carts of corpses from the war effort, courtesy of a captain in the army they knew that’d urged them to keep the bodies as a gift to increase chances of success. Now that all the Kingdom of Dawn had been mix-and-matched across the new landscape, or at least what was left of their kingdom after half of the cities and towns had likely been sent to the opposite side of their new world Panu, new pathways had to be carved out, mapped and routed. Not only that but the natural resources supplied by each of the settlements left in Dawn were now vastly different from how they’d been before, trading partners from other kingdoms were now long gone, and the people of Dawn had monster problems to deal with.

Not to mention these blasphemous world quests the system had endangered everyone with.

Regardless, Cade was excited and smiled while brushing his hands through his short black hair. With his other hand he kept his donkey Horus close by, making sure to lead it on by giving the grumpy animal occasional carrots so it wouldn’t just refuse to keep moving. The reason Cade was excited was news from a runner who’d caught up to their caravan not even an hour ago.

More specifically, it was news that Allie Thane of the Thane Necropolis had sent word: she was going to meet with Theodore Munchamp, Court Wizard to the king, for official negotiations. This was a huge deal, not only for their kingdom - but it also meant their little voyage northwards was a lot more likely to be met with positive interactions rather than outright hostility. The risk had just dropped off.

Contact had been made with the Thane Necropolis north of the forest and adjacent plains just days ago, or so said some of the hunters from Maringrad. The future negotiations were now being celebrated as a potential victory in the rumors across their remnant kingdom, and the feeling had been a warm and welcome one. No doubt it was being pushed as a measure to keep moral high by the nobles and the king himself, but it was a much needed thing. Perhaps, just maybe, the Kingdom of Dawn wouldn’t be so isolated any more. Even help from the undead was a very welcome thing, because they could use the help from anybody at this point.

He sighed, thinking silently to himself about how his last relationship with Alexa hadn’t worked out. That cheating bitch had gone behind his back and slept with his best friend, or the man who he’d used to call a best friend anyways. It was one of the reasons he’d come aside from the money - to get his mind off things, and if Cade could get rich by trading while doing it then great. Better yet, if he could find himself a hot undead girlfriend... that’d make Alexa jealous beyond Cade’s wildest dreams.

He snickered at the very thought of it. How sweet a vengeance that would be.

Twigs cracked underfoot and sweat dripped down his chin, splattering against his linen shirt when the voice of his uncle called out at the front of the column. “HALT!”

The caravan came to a dead stop, with donkeys braying and the men in the back trying to look over the shoulders of those in front to see what was going on up ahead.

The donkey Cade was leading nipped at his ass and the young man swore, swatting the donkey’s nose and causing it to headbutt him into a nearby tree with other men snickering at him as he picked himself up.

“Gods damned unappreciative animal...” Cade muttered, clutching his bleeding nose and trying to nurse his wounded pride by not giving the other men the satisfaction of recognizing their laughter. He swat an insect that landed on his brown linen shirt and grumbled to himself, trying to get a better look ahead, but nodded in silence when the caravan started moving forward again.

This time though the pace was much slower, and Cade her whispers from further up the line as he trudged through the fog. “What’s the deal? Why have we slowed?”

He wasn’t answered, but he got the answer himself when he came into the clearing where his uncle and all the others were lining up in a row. They were all facing another group of people not far off, and Cade’s heart froze in terror when he saw a dead man hanging from the branch of a tree in the dark forest ahead.

The woman started walking forward again, only stopping twenty seconds later to stand in front of the man. She glanced around, keeping eye contact with Cade and winking at him briefly to cause him to blush - before turning back to Cade’s uncle Gibry. “Ranking officer... I suppose you could call me that.”

She smiled, giving off a perfect white gleam with fangs that gave Cade mixed emotions of both attraction and terror. “I suppose I should give you my name as well. I am Allie Thane, co-leader of the Thane Necropolis, and I have come to offer my protection to your town at the request of your kingdom.”

Gibry straightened up in surprise and brushed his fingers across his mustache again, gesturing to the guards and merchants who still held their two-dozen donkeys still and quiet other than the occasional bray. Then he abruptly realized who he was talking to, paled, and slammed to the ground in a prostrated position. Many of the others quickly did the same when they realized that she was essentially the queen of this undead faction. “My lady! I-I was not aware that you’d already agreed to terms! You’ve decided to help us?”

“Perhaps. What does it look like to you?” Allie asked, gesturing over to where her soldiers and minions were ripping bodies apart. She stepped forward, past Gibry, and continued on to where Cade was kneeling with his head bowed. She leaned down, all eyes on her, and used one slender finger to bring Cade’s chin up along with the rest of this face. She grinned and gave an amused grunt, letting her fingers trace along his left cheek and causing him to shudder. “I have not come to terms with your kingdom’s court wizard just yet... but that doesn’t mean I will allow these pointy-eared fairies to trespass on my lands. Especially when it involves caravans that I’d very much like to trade with; trade, after all, is the lifeblood of civilizations. But can I trust you? That is the question I must ask myself. Will allowing you into our borders benefit us, or will it endanger my citizens?”

She straightened and put on her mask again, turning from the surprised young man and walking back to the front of the column.

Gibry blinked rapidly with a growing smile that he immediately suppressed, trying to figure out what was going on, and cleared his throat nervously while exchanging a glance with his nephew. “We are no threat! We merely seek fortune for both our sides! My lady, if I may ask... have you heard news of our passage? Were you tracking us? Is that why you are here?”

Allie took her time to answer that.

Cade’s heart pounded in his chest, and it was all he could do not to stare at the beautiful woman who’d just grazed his cheek. He did manage a few quick glances though, but his excited smile turned into somewhat of a frown as the demeanor of the undead behind Allie stayed stoic. He was getting an odd vibe from them, a feeling of pressure or ominous foreboding like he wanted to walk away just because he was near them. He couldn’t see any of their eyes from underneath the dark hoods they wore, and they stood a little further back from the other armored skeletons up front.

The caravan guards became wary at the awkward silence between the two groups, nervously shuffling and palming the hilts of their shortswords, maces and buckler shields as they eyed the silently staring ghouls, abominations, flesh golems and skeletons on the other side who were silently evaluating the trading company

“What is your name?” The vampiric woman eventually asked.

Cade’s uncle stuttered. “G-Gibry is the name!”

She slowly tapped her bone-made boot on the forest floor.

“Gibry it is then. Yes, I have been tracking your caravan for some time now.” The woman paused, then twirled a small wand in one hand with mana flaring along its body again. “You see, Gibry, I am at somewhat of a crossroads concerning whether or not to let your people into the necropolis. We have had many problems with others in the area trying to come in and kill us, enslave us, or steal from us. Recently, many of those people have actually been of your own race.”

“We would never!” Gibry stated, aghast at the very idea of violence. He had never been a violent man to begin with, and truly was a merchant through and through. That's why he started kissing ass. “Gaining early access to your great necropolis would be a boon far beyond anything that could be gained by attacking you! The idea that we, a weak and humble group of humans, could win out or succeed in attacks against your kind is foolishness. I would not attack you merely because of past grudges between our races, the idea is absurd! Meanwhile my family grows rich if I establish trade routes with your city before others of my kingdom can jump on the opportunity, it would be madness to do anything but maintain a standing in your good graces!”

Gibry’s unashamed greed was showing through, and this in turn caused others in the caravan to wince - but got an amused chuckle from the female vampire.

Her eyes glowed a bright crimson when she turned, staring back out at them with a calculating gaze that settled on Gibry, then eventually drifted back to Cade. “Hmmm... And what price, I wonder, are you willing to pay... if I do let you in?”