Advent of Eternity - Chapter 58 (Patreon)

“Appearance is vital for influencing the public,” Knell explained on the way back to their ship. “Do not forget our first major goal. I am trying to make a name for us. That is how we will draw the strong to our cause. That means I need to play the part.”

They set sail shortly after visiting a few more shops for supplies, leaving the island behind to follow along the coast once more. He also got a map of the surrounding area, just for his own reference. As the sun slowly started to set overhead, Knell sat on the stairs and studied one of the blue crystals they’d taken from the bandit’s cave.

“Still not sure what that thing does?” Stix asked, looking up at him from the bottom of the steps.

“Unfortunately not,” Knell replied. He’d showed the crystal to several people including Greb trying to determine its origin or use, but none of them had ever seen something like it. A few offered to purchase them, but he’d declined.

Whatever the crystals were, the bandits had wanted them for a reason. It would have been convenient if one of them had survived, but Knell had cut off their only way to Brickvale. The mystery would have to wait until he found someone more versed in magical resources.

“What are we looking for now? More dungeons?” Cyll asked from the wheel.

“Exactly,” Knell said. “More dungeons. I’d like to do two or three more before we set sail toward Mount Bloodwater. The map I bought shows that it’s about a day’s trip away from Blackfoot Bay.”

“They’ve got it on there? I would have thought it would be a secret or something,” Stix said.

“Hard to hide a mountain,” Knell replied with a smirk. “And most sailors in the area should know where the major pirate ports are. That’s how they know to avoid them.”

“Makes sense,” Stix admitted. “Hey, have you thought about feeding one of those crystals to your skull thing? Maybe it would show us what they do.”

“That would be reckless,” Knell said. “We don’t know what effect they have. What if firing the bullet created blew us up? There’s no reason to take such a pointless risk until we figure out what the stones do. I’ve already got some ideas for bullets – there’s no reason to tempt fate to satisfy curiosity. That takes the control out of my hands.”

“Huh. Didn’t think about that,” Stix muttered. “I would have just messed around until something happened.”

“Leave that to Cyll – when he isn’t standing on our ship,” Knell said dryly. “For now, just focus on getting stronger. There isn’t that much time until Mount Bloodwater. We’ll need to spend every second of it preparing if we want to steal something right out from the noses of the pirates in Blackfoot Bay.”

***

They followed the coastline through the night. On the following morning, Stix spotted the telltale dungeon tower from the crow’s nest, and they threw they anchor over near the shore. As the three of them disembarked and swam – with assistance, in Knell’s case – to the shore, a figure watched them from the darkness.

Her clothing seemed to be made of pure shadow, and her eyes burned like faint, muted coals dying after burning for days. The Veil’s lieutenant, Emma, was not pleased. She’d been tracking this Knell for several days now, but he was never alone.

As far as she could tell, he’d only slept once the entire time as well. All the other time, he was in meditation. Normally, it would have been a simple matter to slide from the shadows and pull a blade across his throat. Unfortunately, there were two things in her way.

The first was Veil. He had instructed her to test Knell. That meant he had to have at least a small chance of success, and slicing his throat before he knew she was there would not fit. Killing the child might displease the Veil.

Emma suppressed a shudder. She remembered what happened to the last person that had displeased the Veil. He was still a part of their ship, embedded into the walls for all eternity. No, failure was simply not an option.

And then there was the other problem. A vision of Knell standing over the prone slave girl, ripping her out of Death’s greedy hands time and time again surfaced in her mind. The skin on Emma’s back prickled.

She’d been planning to test Knell that very day, but upon seeing it, she’d elected to follow the group in the darkness instead. There was always the very slight possibility that Veil was actually testing her.

Knell seemed to have some power over Death, which the Veil shared. What if they knew each other? Then raising her blade against him would be as good as driving it into her own throat.

Indecision and annoyance churned within the shadowy lieutenant. She courted it for an instant, then crushed it beneath the heel of her battle hardened mind. Fears were to be acknowledged, assessed, and then dismissed if they were illogical. Veil had given her an order. Today, she would execute the test.

Emma trailed the trio as they entered the dungeon, cutting through the kobolds that lived within it. The creatures weren’t particularly powerful, but they were clever and traps riddled the rooms.

None of them posed any problem for Emma, who simply watched from behind as the crew cleared the way for her. Knell seemed to know exactly where every single one of them was, which peeved Emma more than she cared to admit.

The traps were no threat to her, of course, but even she hadn’t seen where they all were. She continued to observe the three as they pressed deeper, cutting through the monsters like a ship crashing through waves.

In the few days that she’d trailed them, Knell’s crew had grown considerably in cooperation. The initial mismatch in fighting styles had bent before Knell’s commands, and the three were fighting nearly as well as some teams that had been working together for a year.

Knell’s head twitched out of the way as an arrow whistled past his ear, narrowly missing him. The shot had come from behind his head. Did he have some sort of observation skill? Emma’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. Even if he did, it wouldn’t help him.

Unaware of death watching over them, the trio made their way through the rest of the dungeon. They reached the end, where a wyvern awaited them. It was still a baby, but the monster was still considerably more powerful than the others in the dungeon.