Chapter 907: Generals and Legacy (Final Chapter of Mark of the Fool + Afterward)

Chapter 907: Generals and Legacy (Final Chapter of Mark of the Fool + Afterward)

“Shall we go?” Alex asked Theresa, offering his arm.

“Yes, let’s,” Theresa whispered, her hot breath on his ear.

Together, husband and wife linked arms and made their way toward the exit.

Only for the doors to abruptly burst open.

The music ended.

All dancing did too as the doors kept swinging, banging against the wall as though gripped by a scouring winter wind.

Loud footsteps came next, echoing from the hallway. A hallway that was in utter darkness.

Theresa reached for her blades, shouting, patting her empty scabbards. “Alex, my swords are gone!”

The archwizard prepared to channel his magics. “Don’t worry, whatever this is, I’ve got it.”

His mind raced.

What was it? All the enemies he was aware of were either dead or...dead. Was someone looking for him from the Irtyshenan Empire? Was some ally of Kaz-Mowang here to take his head?

The footsteps grew louder and a figure suddenly materialised from the dark.

A familiar one.

“What the hells?” Alex cried.

In the doorway was the familiar form of...

...Minervus.

“You didn’t even invite me to your wedding? How cruel, to think that you would have forgotten me so quickly!” Minervus snarled.

“What...you’re dead!” Alex cried.

“You foolish Fool.” The onetime employee of Shale’s sneered. “You weren’t able to see through my clever plan! So you didn’t see this coming either! Look who I freed from prison?”

Minervus gestured to the darkened hallway where a larger figure stood.

Leopold, the demon summoner and former friend to Amir, stalked into the room, his hands flexing like a monster’s claws. “Thank you for the save, Minervus. Faking both of our deaths has proven quite fruitful. Now, I’ll repay you for freeing me by doing what I do best!”

He extended his hands, summoning.

“Here come your greatest enemies!”

The air around him shimmered.

Terrible beings manifested.

First came Ezaliel, his demonic facets shining.

The Ravener followed, spawning monsters as it floated in place.

Aenflynn stepped from behind the construct with a sharp-toothed grin, rubbing his hands together, looking sinister.

The last being Leopold summoned was...

...Uldar himself, in all his treacherous glory.

“I live again,” the former god of Thameland declared. “And now we will have our vengeance.”

Slowly, the dark beings from Alex’s past advanced on the wedding guests.

“No!” the General of Thameland cried. “This can’t be! Not today! No, no, noooooo—”

Alex woke up.

It was morning, sunlight streamed in through a tall window.

The General of Thameland blinked blearily, trying to understand what was happening. “Where’s the Ravener...” he whispered. “Where’s the demon—”

He paused. “...it was a dream, just a dream.”

The young wizard turned his back to the window...

...and found his beautiful wife, fast asleep beside him in their bed.

Memories of their party, and what happened afterward were returning to him...

He smiled, stretching his muscular—but very sore—body like a contented cat.

‘You know, Uldar,’ he thought, slowly peeling himself off the bed. ‘I don’t think...certain acts were what you had in mind when you made the General good at mastering every skill quickly, but if you were still alive, I’d owe even a traitor like you a drink.’

Sighing, he let himself melt back into the pillows.

This was his life now.

His best friend, his lover, and eternity.

A good life, to say the least.

Now, there was the honeymoon to think about.

He turned his head, peering at the sky through small gaps in the shutters. Once he and Theresa got up, they’d be leaving.

...for the stars.

With a few spells from Baelin, and the Traveller’s power, Alex and his wife would be able to survive just about anywhere. And they were planning on using those abilities to visit different worlds. They could see sights beyond anything this planet had to offer, and bathe in the light of far-distant suns, while exploring realms and cultures across the universe.

Theresa had always wanted to travel.

She had followed him when he went to fulfil his dream.

Now he would fulfil hers.

‘Going among the stars with Theresa as my wife...quite a far cry from being an abused baker's assistant,’ he thought. ‘Oh, shoot, that reminds me.’

The General glanced across the room where a large table, heaped with wedding gifts and letters, stood. They’d read some, snuggled together and exhausted, before they’d fallen asleep last night. There was one note in particular that reminded him of his life under the abusive McHarris.

Its contents read:

Congratulations to you two on being wedded! We have a gift for you that we hope we can give you before you go off on your honeymoon. It won’t be ready until the afternoon of your wedding. Sorry we couldn’t get it to you sooner! We hope you can maybe visit and pick it up before you go off on your honeymoon?

Sincerely, Peter and Paul.

Alex definitely wanted to see what their gift was, but he also had a dilemma. He didn’t want to wake Theresa up, and he didn’t want to leave the comfort of his marital bed...but, at the same time, he really wanted to have that gift in hand to show her when she woke up.

‘Should I get up, or should I stay?’ Alex wondered. Then he smirked. ‘Thank the Traveller, I don’t have to choose.’

Concentrating on Hannah’s power, he stayed in bed...and also appeared outside the bedroom in their suite at the Royal Griffon hotel.

He quickly washed—an army of Wizard’s Hands washing him from head to toe—then he teleported some comfortable clothes onto his body.

Giving the situation a second thought, he also teleported the aeld staff into his hand.

It gave off waves of excitement.

“Hello, friend,” he whispered to the staff, making sure he couldn’t hear himself by being loud enough to wake Theresa. “Let’s go on a little trip, shall we? I bet Peter and Paul are at the fountain this time of day.”

With a single thought, he teleported to Alric.

Images from across space blurred past him as he hurtled toward his old hometown, appearing beside the fountain...to a flurry of curses.

“What th—” Peter cried, stumbling back.

The young archwizard had appeared only a few feet away from him.

“Aaaaaaarg-Alex?” Paul paused, partway through drawing his sword. “Is that you?”

Alex shook his head, then teleported to where McHarris kept his ingredients. The young archwizard’s eyes scanned the open pantry, looking and sniffing.

‘Eggs are fine this time, fruit jam looks fine too...ah. Here we are,’ he thought, grinning.

He slowly looked at the apprentice, pointing to the salted beef for meat pies. “That looks old, doesn’t it?” The archwizard inhaled deeply. “Yes it’s definitely off.”

The apprentice looked from Alex to the meat, slowly nodding.

Alex’s eyes twinkled. “You know the nice thing about fools? Actual fools, I mean? They never learn lessons. Stay there for a moment.”

He teleported back to the fountain.

Paul yelped when the archwizard reappeared...as did Peter, who was now holding something.

“You gotta stop doing that,” Peter said. “Nearly made me drop your gift. Here you are, by the way.”

Before Alex could say anything, he was presented with the gift.

“Oh...oh wow!” the young archwizard cried.

He’d been handed a small, wooden, carved replica of the fountain in the centre of Alric that the three of them were currently standing beside...the one noticeable difference was that the figures represented on it were different.

There were only three of them.

On the left stood Theresa, complete with death stalker face, the twinblade raised in her hands. On the right was Brutus, sheathed in his bone armour with all three heads snarling. And in the middle...a perfect replica of Alex was standing there in triumph, holding his sword-staff high.

On the base, a simple inscription was written:

The True Heroes of Alric.

“There’s space on it, right in front of you,” Peter pointed out. “A place for your little sister, when she grows up a bit more. She’s going to do great things, I’m sure.”

“Do...do you like it?” Paul asked.

Alex stared at the sculpture, transfixed, memories playing through his mind.

Memories of a young Fool, a huntress, her dog, and a young girl, travelling beyond Alric’s walls.

Ahead of them waited...unimaginable possibilities.

“It’s wonderful,” Alex said, clutching the sculpture close. “I’m going to cherish it forever.”

Peter and Paul smiled.

“Very glad about that,” Peter said.

“Aye, very glad,” Paul said. “And listen, we still owe you. You saved both our lives. That’s a high debt of gratitude to pay.”

“Funny you should bring that up,” Alex said. “Uhm, can you two do me a little favour?”

“Oh, anything!” Peter said quickly.

Alex glanced at McHarris’ bakery. “Did you know that McHarris is using old meat? It’s definitely rotten, he’s been trying to cover it up with salt and spices. I don’t think the baker’s guild or butcher’s guild would be too happy about that. Neither would the mayor if...” He remembered their conversation from long ago, when he pointed out McHarris’ rotten eggs. “...ifsome bigwigturned all green in the face and keeled over... You might want to investigate.”

Peter and Paul stared at him.

“Really? You’re the General of Thameland and you’re asking us to investigate and arrest the same bloody baker you used to work for?” Paul asked.

“Yes,” Alex said with almost the same conviction he’d had when he was saying his wedding vows.

“What, no bad bribe this time?” Peter snorted.

Alex reached for his coin purse.

“Wait, wait, stop!” Peter waved his hands. “Can’t have the bloody General bribing a couple of town guards. We’ll go check things out.”

“Aye, we’d best,” Paul grumbled. “Let’s go. Enjoy your honeymoon, Alex.”

“Oh I will, and I’ll buy you both drinks when I get back!”

“We’ll look forward to it, and we’ll buy you some in return,” Peter said.

Alex watched the guards march away, then stop in front of McHarris’ front door and pound on it.

As soon as the outraged baker opened up, they pushed past him, entering the shop.

“Wait, what are you doing?” McHarris cried, rushing after the two guards. “No, stop! Not again!”

Alex chuckled as McHarris’ cries of dismay echoed through the doorway.

When the crashing began, he outright cackled.

Revenge was still the best food he’d ever tasted from McHarris’.

He was glad he had the chance to savour seconds.

As the crashing and cursing escalated, the young assistant rushed out the door, looking wild-eyed.

He froze when he caught Alex’s eye.

The General smiled and winked. The assistant shyly smiled back.

Alex waved him over, and the young man winced, but quickly hurried to him.

“Listen, I-I can’t thank you enough,” the now formerassistant stammered.

“Oh, no need to thank me,” Alex laughed, digging into his coin purse. “Thanks to me, you’re probably out of a job. What’s your name?”

“Martin,” the assistant said quickly.

“Right, Martin.” Alex dug a couple of coins from his purse. Martin’s eyes grew wide at the shining, golden disks. “Here’s a couple of gold to tide you over. When I get back from my honeymoon, I’ll find you, and we can chat about you coming to work in the first Alric branch of the Roth Family Bakery, which I’ll be opening soon.” He grinned. “You’ll see how proper food’s made, and hey, together we can make sure McHarris stays out of business when he finally gets out of jail. Poisoning people is serious business.”

The assistant gulped, nodding vigorously, then bowed. “You’re even kinder than the rumours tell. Thank you, thank you sir!”

With that, Martin scurried off, leaving Alex alone at the fountain.

Humming to himself, the young archwizard dug out a couple more coins and tossed them in the fountain.

He closed his eyes.

To the hulking figure of the Champion, he thanked him for bravery. To the bespectacled, stern Sage, he thanked her for the wits she’d shown. To the kind figure of the Saint, he thanked her for the generosity he’d received. And to the handsome form of the Chosen, he gave much appreciation for good luck and blessings.

To the General, he offered his gratitude for turning him into the man he was today.

And finally, to the Fool...Alex gave his sympathies and gratitude.

“Thank you,” he whispered to the statue. “Thank you for helping me get to where I am.”

Grinning up at the stone image, he recalled the dream that had woken him up that morning. Despite how horrible the dream had been, the day was already shaping up to be pretty terrific.

He remembered an old expression.

“The worst days tend to start with good mornings,” he said, listening to the wonderful music that was McHarris’ torment. “Well after that nightmare this morning, I think this is shaping up to be one of the best days of my life!”

With another laugh, the General of Thameland teleported away from Alric.

Soon, he would join his wife, and together, they would walk among the stars.

Under the early morning sunlight, not a soul had seen him depart, but if they had, they might have noticed something curious. If one didn’t know better; the bulging eyes of the Fool’s statue and the wise eyes of the General’s seemed to linger on the spot where Alexander Roth had been.

Where a former baker’s assistant had been.

Where a Hero had been.

Where an archwizard had been.

And looking at that spot, one might have even said that the stone statues smiled.