LV.

LV.

While the workers of the city, those not yet succumbed to the plague of the epidemic tuberculosis, repaired the outer walls of the city and attempted to rebuild the many devastated houses, Jakob continued his efforts to make a horse construct, while using Heskels expertise in anatomy and the dismantled corpse of a real horse as the blueprint.

Ciana and the Wight had not left his side since the sudden attack two days prior, but it seemed that no additional ambush was to come, but, then again, the man they had faced had been an army by himself.

His name is Ngel, Ciana told Jakob, while he was finishing up one of the back legs of the construct, its tibia made to be twice as strong as that of a normal draft horse.

Jakob inclined his head slightly as a sign that he was listening, but in truth he cared little what the names of Grandfathers servants were.

The front part of the horse construct was mostly completed, though he was sure there would be some complications once all the parts were assembled and made to function as a whole. After all, he was very unfamiliar with equine anatomy and had several times been shown an error he had made by Heskels observant eye. For the most part though, the Wight had just let him work, only aiding when asked. It meant that the work would take longer, but the end result would be, for the most part, entirely Jakobs achievement.

He was a Rose-Gold Adventurer as well! Why would he attack us like that?

Heskel answered this time, perhaps sensing Jakobs need to focus on the construct.

Father wields many leashes, even now.

I did not expect your return so soon.

Spare me, Ngel told the Spider. I need to be fixed.

The Underking looked down at his crippled figure, though he himself was in a far worse state, seeming more dead than alive. To tamper with the Gift of a Great One would be sacrilege.

You hold nothing sacred! I told you what I required and you will deliver it to me!

One of the Underkings countless arms moved ponderously around before reaching the chin of the Fleshcrafter and tapping his thin lower lip in thought. It seems my apprentice has grown very strong indeed.

You did not tell me he was also accompanied by a Chosen of the Keening and your reborn Wight!

I would have thought that one with so illustrious and famous a reputation as yourself would find no equal in this world. But another Chosen, you say? Perhaps you have been abandoned by the Keening in favour of this new man?

It was not a man, nor even human. It was one of those disgusting demon half-breeds.

The Underking froze, his tapping halting at Ngels words. An Elphin?

Doth thy maw salivate to savour these earthly morsels?

Saint of Indulgence, taste these eight offerings brought to thee,

Doth thy tongue flick the air and wet thy lips?

Take these lives and their blood as toll,

Feast on these offerings plated for thee,

Give us thy buzzing horde for our simple task,

This is a Table of Plenty in exchange for a fee.

With a warm yellow-brown glow tinged with red and green, the linework set aflame and suddenly the two spellbound figures started writhing as their bodies began expanding from within. There followed a muffled buzzing of a million tiny wings, before both of the youths vomited forth a deluge of tiny flies, which circled the eight offerings, until they formed a dome that obscured the objects completely. After they lifted away, there remained not a single scrap within the circle and they quickly set to devouring the two youths next, reducing their bodies to nothingness in mere seconds, the buzzing of their wings so loud that Harmlig feared he would never heard anything but thatsound ever again.

After their meal was done, the flies began circling the vat of bacteria he had brought, and he could only watch anxiously as they formed a dome around it and then suddenly took to the air, leaving behind an empty vat as they flew across the city, ostensibly to deliver the waterborne bacteria to all they encountered.

I have no idea what I just watched, he confessed.

It is called The Table of Plenty Ritual and it invokes the Gluttony of the Fourth Saint and allows for the brief control of a horde of his Gorgeflies after giving him a feast of eight unique tastes and scents.

I am not sure how a horde of flies will accomplish my plan to spread my cure, he admitted.

Gorgeflies are no different to imps, Goddard told him. They will complete their given task, have no doubt about that. It is said that, once, a King built a city overnight by using this ritual.

I suppose I will have faith and see what the morrow brings.

Though he was surprised to receive the news, when he awoke the following morning, he still did not know if it was simply a coincidence or what, but overnight the new cases of the typhoid parasite had plummeted to none, from a steady few hundreds.

Day after day, he inquired the Mayor and his aides about new cases, but the answer remained the same.

Even two weeks later, there had not been another new case, and he had to admit by then that not only had his cure worked to halt the spread and new infections, the bizarre delivery method the Necromantic Summoner had developed had worked flawlessly.nove(l)bi(n.)com