Chapter 116: Vacant

Chapter 116: Vacant

The roads leading into Ahle-ho were mostly absent of travellers during the worst of turbulence, however whenever there was a gap in the chaos they would emerge from small roadside shelters to continue on their way. Farmers rode carts pulled by beasts of burden, their harvests having been completed in the leadup to the wild and largely unpredictable weather.

Needing neither sleep nor food, he made good time, but that was relative to the average human traveller. A hailstorm tore across the coast, pelting land and building with jagged chunks of ice, leaving the roads slippery and unable to be traversed. A day out from Ahle-ho, Leif was frustrated by the delay, taking shelter in a small town built next to a large open air quarry.

He wasn’t the only traveller to take shelter from the turbulent conditions, a large hall made out of carved stone housing over two dozen others in a similar situation. Conversation within the large shelter was quiet, partially muffled by the constant barrage of hail that struck the building's roof. Whenever the main door to the building was opened, the temperature dropped and a gale buffeted the interior, causing lanterns to flicker and the beasts who had been unlatched from their carts and wagons chuffing and grunting.

An adventurer with powers of earth and fire created glowing rocks that emitted heat, handing them out to the families of small children to better light up the darkness of the shelter's interior. A space was cleared and several people convinced the creator of the glowing rocks to construct a pile of the things, before long a small mountain of orange and red was placed in the centre of the makeshift gathering place.

The adventurer, a middle aged woman with sunkissed features was breathing heavily by the end, wincing slightly with her every movement. The men and women of the shelter let out a cheer for her effort, letting her settle down in a position of honour nearest to the stones. Children kept running around, gathering blankets and handing them to the adventurer, quickly burying her under a mound of cloth.

People told stories of their lives and travels, of boon harvests, hometown drama and monster sightings. They went around in a circle, relaying news and telling tails. When it was Leif’s turn, the scion sitting with his back against the wheel of a large cart, he told them of what had happened in Klos, and the troubles beyond the imperial cordon. His retelling of events was heavily abridged, not wanting to reveal his own secrets, nor bring the mood of the gathering down.

This ended the sharing of stories, and instead turned the topic of conversation into a round-table discussion of the frontier and everyone’s opinions of how it was being managed. The conversation was fascinating, Leif learning about the fall of Pherin, the exodus of refugees and the ultimately failed invasion of the enslavers and their legion, the army being defeated after a brief siege of Ahle-ho.

These events had taken place ten years ago, history older than several of the younger children who were nodding off to sleep now that the discussion had turned serious. Apparently the failed invasion prompted Ahle-ho to request aid from the empire, turning what was a small diplomatic garrison into something much larger. The political situation had been tense ever since, with certain factions being displeased with the Prince’s decision to allow imperial influence to grow within their city, while others used the opportunity to increase their relationship with a major regional power.

The guilds, the highest authority in the city if not for the prince, had been posturing and positioning ever since. It was ten years of strenuous peace, with tensions slowly increasing as guilds on opposite sides of the growing conflict engaged in proxy conflicts or sabotaged one another's interests. The republic was seen as an outside faction, with none of the traders, merchants or adventurers within the shelter having favourable views.

There was historic context that Leif was missing, and he didn’t feel comfortable asking a room of strangers. Gradually the glowing stones, apparently called ‘ember charges’ by the adventurer who had created them, faded away and people began to go their separate ways, melting into the shadowy enclaves of the shelter to go to sleep. Leif sat cross legged in the centre of the room, ignored by everyone as he focused on practising [Wood Manipulation]. Time passed, and before long the shelter's door was opened, the morning's light flooding into the room to muffled grumbling from its occupants.

One of the townsfolk, the same man who had guided Leif into the shelter the night before, spent a few minutes asking around and checking on everyone who had taken refuge from the turbulent weather. When he spoke to Leif, the man had stated there was food being cooked in the nearby inn, but the scion waved him away.

The town’s gutters were full of a seemingly endless flood of water, several buildings had chipped paint and what was a firm footpath was now puddles and mud. Leif eyed his surroundings dubiously, getting through this without ruining his boots wouldn’t be simple. A moment later his worries were proven prudent as two town guards and a haggard looking man with greying hair and a scarred lip awkwardly trudged through the mud.

“Hail!” The man called, stepping up onto the shelter's stone entrance with wet squelch, the guards following suit a moment later. “I heard there was an adventurer team within the shelter, are they still here?”

“There’s a pair, they should still be inside.” Leif said, stepping out of the doorway and letting the man pass. The two guards didn’t go inside, instead they did their best to clean their boots without making too much of a mess. He looked down at the muddy track the older man had left when he went inside. “Something urgent?”

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“Eh, kinda-sorta.” One of the guards said, using the shaft of their spear to clean the sole of their boot. “The quarry partially flooded and some of the... workers are acting strange. Manny,” They nodded at the door, “thought he saw something moving around in the water, so here we are.”

“I’m from Varan, it’s been... a while since I was home.”

“Oh wow.” said Nayet. “The northern kingdom? I heard they almost fell during the war, apparently you guys pushed one of the enslaved legions into the northern mountains and that’s what caused Pherin to capitulate.”

Leif suspected Pherin hadn’t been given the chance to capitulate, considering the destroyed state of their capital city, but he didn’t say anything. “Yes... those were hard times, I used to serve in the military.”

“You fought in the war? That’s pretty awesome, I bet you have some killer scars.” Tollumi said, clapping Leif on the back. The scion just grunted.

They rounded a house and walked along a winding path leading out of town, deep cart tracks had worn grooves into the stone, the water from last night’s storm filling the indents. A group of eight men marched up the road towards them, they had woven packs on their back, each filled to the brim with chunks of limestone. They marched in an oddly synchronous manner, completely silent as they approached Leif and the two adventurers.

Leif didn’t recognise any of the approaching men, but something about them was eerily familiar. Their rhythmic lockstep, their vacant expressions and sunkern features, the way they didn’t speak. The three of them paused, stepping to the side to let the men pass by. Tollumi spat to the side, muttering something that made Nayet slap his arm. Leif barely noticed, his amber gaze locked onto the retreating backs of the labourers.

“Those men...” He said darkly, mind racing as he tried and failed to place how he knew them.

“Enslaved.” Nayat said sadly. “Poor things, whatever those ants did to their minds it left them broken, they’re barely human at all now.”

“Enslaved?” Leif hissed. “What are they doing here? I thought they were killed during the war?”

Tollumi growled, then spoke. “Probably should have been, after their queen or whatever was killed after the siege, they all fell into a strange torpor.”

“We didn’t see it personally, but apparently they just stood there, completely despondent. The allied armies rounded them up into prison camps, and ultimately they decided to put them to work.” Nayat said softly.

“It’s a shit existence, but for some reason they only function at all when doing some task or another, they’re completely harmless though, never once hurt anyone from what I’ve heard.” Tollumi added. “Though they did all start acting strange about a year ago, remember the group that worked the mill in Laryus honey? How they fell to their knees and started shaking, super strange, whatever it was they got better a few days later.”

A year ago? Leif thought. That was when the undead enslaver queen attacked Far-reach, there’s no way it's a coincidence. The enslaved rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight, Leif let out a hissing breath, finally realising how tense his body was.

“Are you okay?” Nayat asked, looking at him with worry.

“Yes, I’m fine, seeing them brought up bad memories though.” He replied, then turned and motioned for them to continue.