Chapter 5

Sovt was a diligent knight. As the duty of the Blue Paths prescribed, before going to sleep he offered a prayer to Existence for granting them the power that allowed members of the order, almost effortlessly, to use the thin boundary of reality to travel to any known world.

But among other things, Sovt was no fool. His rank would not allow it.

The Order of the Blue Paths, once famous throughout all of Existence, one of the legendary thirteen knightly orders of the past, was now living out its final days. And it served not the good, but the selfish and insane whims of its current patrons.

This whole story with the mage Zolotoros gave Sovt no peace. That was exactly why he had reached out through his acquaintances to Yan Di Wonderwalk, the well-known rogue and adventurer.

And, just as the knight had suspected, after hearing an outside point of view, the matter of the fallen mage turned out to be nowhere near as clear-cut as it may have seemed before.

Sovt looked at the clock hanging above the door. Eleven. He had stayed up too long, and tomorrow he would have to get up early.

The thought alone made goosebumps rise on the knight’s skin.

“I hate getting up early,” the knight grumbled, collapsing straight into bed in his leather traveling armor. “But who’s asking me?”

The methodical ticking of the clock hands lulled him to sleep. He dreamed of the flower-filled fields of Tsagat. And yet the rogue had been right: Existence never ceased to amaze. Even he, a master of the Order of the Blue Paths, had never seen anything like it before.

The sound of the ticking clock lulled him to sleep.

And what woke him was an oppressive silence in which the moans of the dead were drowning.

Sovt’s eyes snapped open. Their golden hue glowed in the darkness like the light of bright lanterns. He frowned and abruptly rose from the bed. His sword, standing beside the sideboard, was faintly vibrating, while a soft blue glow seeped from its scabbard.

The knight seized the weapon and quickly headed for the door.

He opened it.

Something black stood directly in front of him.

Either a shadow or a body. Bony, bare, dry and thin as a stalk. With arms reaching all the way to the floor, and a gaze of emptiness…

A foul breath washed over the knight.

“Hah.” A spirited grin flashed across Sovt’s face. “You think I’m going to be scared of something like you?”

He abruptly drew his sword from its scabbard, and, as it turned out, it was not the blade forged from steel and tempered with magic that had been glowing inside.

What glowed there was real, raging energy, illuminating the monster before the knight and revealing its hideous body in all its glory.

“I am a knight of the Blue Paths! Servant of the Wild Waters of Annarath, and Keeper of the Light of the Azure Stars!” At those words, Sovt’s blade flared even brighter.

The monster froze in place.

“Then fall before His countenance!” the knight roared, delivering a swift sweeping strike and cutting the creature in half.

A stream of black blood burst out, and the creature died.

At that same moment, a thunderous scream tore through the entire tavern. The guests woke in terror.

Sovt sharply turned his head. More monsters rushed at him from the darkness of the corridor.

And the blue energy of his blade burned even brighter. He ran the first monster straight through with his sword. He caught the second with an uppercut, then tore open its ribcage with the blade as he kept moving forward toward the stairs. Sovt threw his whole body into the third, knocking it backward, then hacked off its head, spilling black blood once again.

Next came the stairs. Down. Another bony black thing lashed out at him with its long claws. The knight chopped them off. The blue blade flashed through the darkness again. And then a black body, writhing in convulsions, went tumbling down.

The main hall. Screams. The bodies of guests. The unfortunate tavern owner was hiding inside a kitchen cupboard.

Suddenly, the wall nearest Sovt faded away. Two knights encased in armor and wearing blue cloaks burst through the opening. In their hands were enormous flamberges covered in blue runes.

Seeing their commander, Lekh and Mekh, as always, nodded in unison, then swung simultaneously in full 360-degree slashes.

Seven more hideous creatures dropped to the floor.

“What is happening here?!” Sovt tried to shout to the tavern owner, but it was useless. The unfortunate goblin had long since fainted from fear. “And where the hell is Yan?! Hey, you two!” he shouted to the adepts. “Hold the line! I’ll find Yan. We need to get out of here!”

Dran and Kran answered their commander by simultaneously turning another monster into a kebab.

“Damn, and I didn’t even want to bring them with me. Thought they’d only be a burden,” Sovt thought to himself as he hurried toward the rogue’s room.

It was locked tight. He had to kick the door in.

It was dark inside, but the light from Sovt’s blade illuminated everything well enough.

The rogue was lying on his bed.

And was dead asleep!

The knight simply froze in place, unable to believe his eyes. Snoring filled the entire room while the whole tavern—and, it seemed, the entire surrounding area—was shaking.

“Hey! YAN! WAKE UP!” Sovt rushed over to the rogue.

“I’m not Yan… I’m Sid…” the rogue answered from his sleep. “Five more minutes, Schenna.”

“Schenna...?” Sovt froze for a moment, staring at the sleeping rogue in surprise. “What the...? Ah, to hell with it, no time to think about that! WAKE UP, I’M TALKING TO YOU!” the knight roared and kicked the rogue straight out of bed.

Only then did he wake up.

“Huh? What’s happening?” Yan said in confusion, understanding absolutely nothing.

“We’re under attack! And these aren’t the Kvogens the innkeeper kept going on about!”

“Kvo-what?” Yan repeated, still barely understanding anything.

“These are beasts created from darkness and gloom! We’ve been attacked! And this was clearly done by some very powerful necromancer!”

“Necromancer?” Yan repeated, and at last the sleep completely cleared from his head. “Ah, I know one necromancer who threatened me yesterday evening. Sounds like his style.”

“We’re getting out of the village!” Sovt roared.

“Not a minute of peace,” the rogue replied in annoyance, pulling one of the daggers from his jacket. “All right, let’s get out of here. I have no desire to fight a horde of monsters right now. Especially for free.”

“You… ah, fine. Hard to argue with that. Let’s go!”