Deus Necros

His master regarded him for a moment before answering. ”You have already found the source and secured Bastos. Remain there while Kaiser and I identify what was buried beneath your field.”

”That thing affected my territory. Someone carried it here, chose a field connected to several farms, and buried it where nobody would notice until the damage had spread. I am not staying behind while you decide why.”

Van Dijk released a tired breath. ”Technically it’s mine. Still, Necros ordered you to rest because you had spent too long moving from one disaster to the next. You finally managed to stop for several weeks, and the first sign of trouble has you preparing to leave again.”

”I didn’t go looking for this. Gluttony’s Authority appeared beneath land where people are trying to rebuild their lives, and pretending it belongs to someone else will not make Bastos safer.”

”It is not being ignored. Kaiser is bringing the carcass to me, and the academy has better resources for identifying it than anything available there.”

”That is why I am coming to the academy instead of wandering across Ikos in search of Gluttony.” Ludwig rested both hands against the desk and lowered his voice. ”I understand why Necros wanted me to stop. I know the difference between chasing the next enemy because I have nothing else and dealing with a threat that reached my home.”

The final word entered the room quietly. Ludwig heard it only after he had spoken, and for a moment, Van Dijk said nothing.

Celine’s hand stopped above the report she had been closing. She looked at Ludwig, though she made no attempt to draw attention to what he had said. Even Kaiser’s amusement faded as he watched from across the office.

Ludwig kept his eyes on the crystal. ”It harmed livestock, destroyed the first proper harvest this land had grown in centuries, and nearly made several people drink themselves unconscious. Someone wanted that to happen. I intend to learn who. It could be gluttony and it could be worse. Someone else.”

Van Dijk rubbed his forehead before allowing his hand to fall. ”That is almost reasonable, which makes arguing with you considerably more difficult. Come if you must, but you will stay inside the academy until we understand what the carcass is. You are not using this investigation as an excuse to begin searching for Tibari.”

”I wasn’t planning to leave the academy.”

”Rare are things you plan for tend to happen as you want.”

”Fine. I will remain at the academy until we finish examining the carcass.”

”That is the closest thing to cooperation I expect from you. Bring Kaiser before he finds another bottle to evaluate. Or pocket.”

Van Dijk ended the connection before Ludwig could answer. The crystal darkened, leaving Ludwig staring at his own faint reflection.

Kaiser retrieved the wine and held it toward the light. ”That went better than I expected. He surrendered after only a few minutes.”

”He recognized that I was right.”

”He recognized that preventing you from coming would require considerably more effort than supervising you once you arrived. The outcome is the same, though the reasoning is less flattering.”

Celine gathered the remaining reports into a single stack. ”How long do you expect the examination to take?”

”However long we need to determine what the carcass is and how someone transferred Gluttony’s Authority into it,” Ludwig said. ”If the records match what Kaiser finds, we may have an answer tonight.”

Kaiser laughed softly. ”You have a very optimistic understanding of research. Tonight will be spent establishing containment, documenting the carcass in its current state, and arguing with Van Dijk about which tests are least likely to destroy the evidence.”

”I’ve spent time in laboratories before.”

”You have spent time breaking things inside laboratories. Actual research involves repeating an experiment because one result differed slightly from the others, cataloguing samples that appear identical, and cross-referencing handwritten records created by people who considered legibility a weakness.”

Ludwig thought about another evening spent discussing irrigation rights, livestock numbers, and disputed property lines. ”That still sounds better than listening to two farmers argue over which side of a fence owns a tree.”

”You say that now,” Kaiser replied. ”Wait until the tree has better handwriting than the researcher whose records we need.”

They left the office and crossed the manor grounds toward the restored teleportation gate. Ludwig had not changed out of the plain dark trousers and rolled-sleeve shirt he had worn during the search. The choice was deliberate. He was going to investigate a threat, not march into another campaign.

Kaiser’s constructs responded the moment he approached the courtyard. Red light returned to their faces, and both enormous bodies began moving toward the gate.

Ludwig stopped. ”Those things are staying in Bastos.”

Kaiser turned toward him. ”They belong to me, and they are useful for containment, excavation, transport, and defense. The academy will survive the sight of them.”

”The academy might. Bastos has endured enough for one week, and every ordinary person within a mile believes the apocalypse follows you around on four enormous feet.”

”They walk on two.”

”That was not the important part of the sentence.”

Kaiser looked toward the nearest houses. Several faces vanished from windows as soon as he noticed them, while a farmer beside the road became intensely interested in repairing a section of fence that had not been damaged.

”Their intimidation appears effective,” Kaiser said. ”Leaving them here could discourage whoever planted the carcass from returning.”

”They can remain as guards if they stay motionless and do not stare at everyone who walks past. I am not taking them through the Imperial network and explaining at every gate why two nightmares are following us.”

”You are remarkably judgmental about their appearance for someone who spent years as a skeleton.”

Ludwig stared at him. Celine turned her head, though not before he heard the laugh she tried to hide.

”My former lack of skin has nothing to do with your terrible design choices.”

”I could improve them by adding exposed bone.”

”You will do no such thing.”

Kaiser sighed as though forced into an unreasonable compromise, then snapped his fingers. The red lights inside both constructs dimmed, and their enormous bodies locked into place beside the courtyard wall. Without movement, they resembled grotesque statues guarding the approach to the gate.

Thomas floated around the nearest one before keeping a careful distance from its hands. ”They are slightly less frightening this way.”

”They are worth more than most of the buildings in Bastos,” Kaiser said.

”That does not make them pleasant to look at,” Celine replied. ”They can remain here until you return, provided they continue behaving like statues.”

Kaiser appeared wounded by the collective criticism but offered no further argument. He walked toward the gate while Ludwig remained with Celine near the edge of the courtyard.

”Will you be back tonight?” she asked.

”That depends on the records and how long Kaiser spends arguing with Van Dijk. I will return as soon as we know whether the carcass points toward a larger threat.”

”He will not be back tonight,” Kaiser called from beside the gate. ”The first examination alone will take several hours, and Van Dijk will insist upon repeating anything interesting.”

Celine smiled faintly. ”Come back before they convince you to move into the academy permanently.”

”I have no intention of staying somewhere I was kicked out from before.”

”I know.” She stepped closer and adjusted a fold in his collar that had shifted during the search. Her fingers remained against the fabric only long enough to straighten it. ”There. That was bothering me.”

Ludwig looked down at the collar, then back at her. ”You could have mentioned it earlier.”

”I noticed it several minutes ago, and fixing it was easier than listening to you complain about being inspected.”

”That assumes I would have complained.”

Celine raised an eyebrow. They both knew better, and Ludwig allowed the argument to die before it began.

”I’ll be back,” he said.

”I know you will. Just try to return with answers instead of another dead animal.”

Thomas’s flames brightened beside her. ”If you do bring something back, make sure it smells better than the pig.”

”I will add that to the investigation criteria.”

The teleportation gate awakened behind Kaiser. Magic Sigils brightened across its stone frame, and the air within folded into a shimmering surface that revealed the academy courtyard on the other side.

Ludwig moved toward it, then glanced back at Bastos. Workers had returned to the surviving fields, while priests continued moving between affected families and collecting reports. Kaiser’s constructs stood motionless beside the courtyard wall, Celine remained near the gate, and Thomas floated at her shoulder.

There had been a time when leaving Bastos would have felt like escaping a place where Necros had forced him to remain. Now he was leaving because something had threatened it, and the thought of returning already existed before he took the first step away.

Kaiser crossed through the gate. Ludwig followed him a moment later, carrying the certainty that whatever waited inside the academy mattered because Bastos would still be waiting when he came back.