WW Chapter 107: Entering Ember (Patreon)

After over a week since he had reunited with the rest of the delegation, Ezra had made precious little progress in fully understanding what a shroud was and how it differed from anything else he had done so far. Each day, he stepped with one eye open and the other stretched inwards. Even so, he made no progress.

Fortunately, a few of the older veterans had taken it upon themselves to repair his, Dirk’s, and Luna’s armor. Telemachus’s hadn’t been nearly so damaged as the other three, and now, as the delegation stepped through the border between Brayton and Ember, every member wore their uniforms and their best armor.

Making their way through, Ezra wondered what the differences in each’s meant about how each Duchy differed from the other. The Brayton side of the border was less restrictive, with a dozen guards who only briefly searched through anybody who passed by. That wasn’t just the people who wore the Duke’s coat of arms, either. They searched quickly for contraband, collected a single silver per head, and gestured for the travelers to continue.

When the two Duke’s sons passed to the front of the line, Hector handed over the payment for his men, made quiet conversation, and then continued onward. It was that simple. Leaving the Duke’s land was strange for Ezra. He didn’t know why it felt that way for him, going into a land that looked much the same as where he had been, but it just was.

Then, on the other hand, along the borders of Ember, the military presence was at least five times that of what was on Brayton’s. Soldiers marched about as far as Ezra could see, making sure there were no undocumented people, and, given the fact that they had their weapons drawn, Ezra was pretty sure he knew what would happen to anybody who was caught.

Then, there were the rest of the soldiers who stood along the path. There was a small wall erected on the road, with a toll station manned by at least two dozen guards. The people who passed through on this side were searched rigorously, their packs and clothes as well as anything they carried being basically torn apart before the guards were satisfied. Even then, as they noted a few items that were carelessly taken, the guards didn’t care about how obvious they were about showing their thievery.

“Surround the wagons,” Basil commanded in a low voice. All of the soldiers, except for himself and Ezra, did as he commanded. Ezra walked along the right side of the carriage while Basil did the same on the left side. Instead of his bow, Basil had a small shield strapped to his left arm and a gladius still stowed but his right hand ready to draw it at any moment.

In no time at all, the delegation approached the toll station, and Basil stepped forward. Unlike his usual, relaxed demeanor, he purposefully strode forward with a marching step, the sound carrying surprisingly loudly. Ezra would have sworn that he used his aura to force more attention towards him as he spoke.

“As a representative of Duke Brayton, I present his heir, Hector Brayton, and his second son, Adonis Brayton. Under the Fidelius Accords, they are afforded safe passage to the Ember Duchy, under the care of their guards, as well as any representatives of Duke Ember.”

A handful of seconds passed before one of the guards came forward, swaggering like a run-of-the-mill bully. He had a simple metal cap on and metal armor, though it was lower quality than anything any of the delegation wore.

“Why should we believe that there’s anybody here deserving of such respect?” the guard demanded. “Anybody could paint something on the side of a carriage and some wagons. Obviously, you’re just looking to avoid the taxes that anybody passing into our borders needs to pay. Stop your lying and get back in line.”

“If you challenge my honor, you challenge the honor of my Lord,” Basil snapped, drawing on his aura and lunging forward. The dozen meters that separated him from the other soldier were closed in an instant. His sword flew from its sheath and was leveled at the other man’s throat. The sudden threat of violence brought soldiers bristling out of their little fortification, but as soon as it was obvious what Basil could have done, he used his shield to shove the other soldier back a step.

“I am a Pseudo-Knight in the employ of Duke Brayton,” he said as he sheathed his sword. “If I have the desire to, I could cut through every one of you without issue. We demand passage into the Ember Duchy under the Fidelius Accords, else you and your Lord be subjected to the judgment of the King. Now, choose if you’ll violate the law or allow us passage.”

The guards, who had been blustering with pompous arrogance, became sullen and withdrew at his words. Instead of continuing to run their mouths, the guard who had walked out retreated back to his allies, where angry but not quite audible arguments took place. After about a minute, a different guard came out, whose helmet was the only similarity in equipment between them. This one wore a full chain shirt that hung down nearly to her knees, with a chain coif and gorget that couldn’t quite hide the feminine curves underneath. Her legs were covered with more armor, and a faint presence of aura accompanied her steps as she drew closer with her halberd in hand.

“I apologize for the overzealous stance my subordinate took,” she said, inclining her head ever so slightly, though her grip on her polearm remained firm. “Please, don’t fault one of Ember’s soldiers for taking a hard stance against the increased presence of brigands and counterfeits we have experienced.”

“If there has been an increase in such people attempting to falsify their presence as our representatives,” Basil answered, “I’m sure Lord Hector will be more than willing to work towards silencing such lawless behavior. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. Now, may we pass?”

“My apologies.” She raised her head. “If you’ll please wait for but a single minute more. Our sorcerer is currently actively reaching out to a representative from the capital. Somebody there will surely be able to verify your planned arrival. This would be, of course, a planned visit, would it not?”

Ezra had to fight to keep from sighing as the political posturing back-and-forth continued for a short while. Eventually, thankfully, the guards received word that, though two days ahead of schedule, this was a fully anticipated delegation and should be offered all of the rights that they claimed.

“Thank you for your patience,” the other soldier said as she stepped back and gestured for the gates to be opened. “Please, enjoy your time within the boundaries of the Ember Duchy.”

Nobody said anything more as Basil gestured for the delegation to continue onward. As soon as the carriage drew level with him, he resumed walking alongside the door, just as Ezra mirrored him on the other side. In a few short minutes, they were past the checkpoint and on the road on the other side.

“Everybody stay together,” Basil said softly. “There will be no hunting, and any time that somebody goes to collect water or anything else, you will go with at least one partner. The fact that the border required word to be sent ahead to the capital means that there might be some unrest here as well. There might be some people who are willing to do anything they can to weaken our stance.”

With that in mind, Ezra shook his head and continued to follow along the path. It still wasn’t even midday, and there would be plenty of journeying ahead of them in what was, apparently, just as dangerous of an area as the goblinoid-infested lands they had left behind.

***

“What kind of progress have you made?” Basil asked, his eyes never stopping their search of their surroundings. Since they’d arrived in Ember three days ago, he hadn’t stopped being so paranoid and twitchy.

“I think I’m relatively close,” Ezra shrugged. “I still don’t have a particularly solid grip on maintaining control of my aura once it’s outside of my body, and I think that I need to push my reserves further before I even give it an attempt.”

“Fuck,” Basil breathed. “The capital isn’t as far from the border here as it is for Brayton. You only have a couple more days before we are officially in the capital. At that point, you won’t really have any chance to actually attempt to ascend.”

Ezra didn’t say anything else in response, simply continuing forward on their path. This hadn’t been even close to the first time that he had somebody trying to push him like this, and he had to be careful to keep from having Basil start explaining concepts out of nowhere.

When Ezra didn’t say anything, the more experienced Pseudo-Knight simply continued walking away, and Ezra let out a long, frustrated breath. Adonis had warned Ezra that Hector was holding nothing back in trying to get Ezra to be able to fill the position sooner rather than later. Ezra didn’t mind the pressure, but the constant attempts to steal true moments for enlightenment from him weren’t welcome.

“Telling you to hurry up again?” Dirk grunted, the words more statement than a question as Ezra started taking measured breaths. They served both to calm him, as well as to continue to push his inner world to its limits. He was used to a constant discomfort from having overfilled his inner world, and Jormun had sworn to him that having deeper reserves would cover for any stumbling about he made while trying to ascend. Just like how he hadn’t been quite sure of what to do when he ascended to Adept, it would continue to draw on his resources as he figured out what he was doing.

For now, he could continue to push himself to his limits while also trying to understand what he needed to in order to ascend. According to Jormun, he wouldn’t need to worry too much about pushing his understanding of his inner world’s affinity. For now, the greatest barrier between where he stood now and his ability to ascend was just being able to create a shroud.

“Yeah,” Ezra sighed. “The problem is, if I try it before I’m ready, it’s going to push my progress back by at least a couple weeks. By then, I won’t be able to do what they want me to anyways, so them pressuring me so much is pretty fucking stupid.”

“Welcome to having to listen to other people,” Telemachus said with a smirk. “We won’t have that problem for too long, though.”

Ezra waved off his friend’s words, sick to death of having to hear them so often. Instead of continuing to talk to him, he just looked forward. It was nearly sundown, and they hadn’t seen any towns since they had entered Ember. That it was days along a main thoroughfare without seeing any real settlements was strange. There had been a few farms, but each homestead housed, at the most, a dozen people. It didn’t make sense for so much traffic to pass through here and have no towns to take advantage of that.

“Is there anything you want to try with me tonight?” Luna asked, Ezra’s frequent nightly sparring partner. “I’m stuck with my own magic and wouldn’t mind any insight you might share.”

“I don’t think I have anything I want you to reflect back at me today,” he shook his head. “More than that, I think I need to work on my control.”

The four of them continued their conversation for a short while, the subject at hand slowly turning towards Luna before Ezra went stock-still. His friends tried to ask him questions, but he raised a hand to silence them as he closed his eyes and continued to follow the path the carriage and wagons were leading.

A voice echoed in his head, one familiar to him.

You should be able to hear this, Ezra. I said I was working on it, and I think, finally, I’ve controlled the manner. You can respond to this message in the next thirty seconds. Don’t miss it.

Before Ezra could react to the words from Tilly, which somehow echoed in his head, shouts of warning rose up all around the camp.