Chapter 403: 403
Though Kaleesh's mansion was little more than a shack compared to Nisra's estate, it still held a good two dozen different rooms, and it didn't take Arran long to find a suitably comfortable chamber . He sat down in a large wooden chair with velvet padding, then took a moment to gather his thoughts .
He had no illusions that he would be able to fully unravel the seal before sunrise . It was far too complex for that, a hideously complicated puzzle, forged by someone whose skill and cunning far exceeded his own, and whose intentions were anything but benign .
Even thinking about how the seal might be broken was too great a step, Arran knew .
He was all but certain that carelessly damaging the seal would trigger some sort of backlash — a trap laid to ensnare and kill anyone who attempted to undo the seal . If the seal had been created to keep the Imperium's knowledge hidden and protected, after all, its creator would surely have considered the possibility of someone trying to break it .
But even if that wasn't the case, breaking the seal now would only place him in danger . Others would inevitably discover that they could no longer discuss the Imperium's secrets with him, and once word of that got out, he'd doubtless be hunted down by the church .
Thus, although he had some ideas on possible ways to attack the seal — his insight into severing and his Destruction Realm, to name but two — he quickly decided that his first step must be to study it as thoroughly as he could .
Only when he fully comprehended the seal could he start to think of the step beyond that .
He began the examination by observing the strands of Essence that formed the seal within his body . That would have to come first — to understand the power used to build the seal . He already knew that the thin threads were made out of Shadow Essence fused with another kind, and the question now was what that other kind might be .
An hour of observation and pondering yielded few useful answers . He saw that the Essence bore resemblances to other kinds he knew — Fire, Wind, and Earth, though not Force or Destruction — but he did not know of any single type of Essence that married them all together .
That the seal's Essence carried characteristics of all was undeniable, however . He clearly recognized the ferocity of Fire, the toughness of Earth, and the lightness of Air, along with several other qualities he could not place .
Finally, he had no choice but to conclude the obvious: that the thin strands within his body fused more than just two kinds of Essence together .
The discovery brought Arran no joy . Though it was a step forward in understanding the seal, it also meant that any attempt he made to remove the seal would involve manipulating Essence he did not fully understand .
And that, he knew, would make his task a great deal harder .
There was little point in lingering on the disappointment, however, and he turned his attention to the strands of Essence within his body that made up the second seal — the one created when he joined the Shadowflame society .
A quarter-hour was enough to confirm much of what he already expected . Both seals consisted of the same sort of fused Essence, the difference small enough that they were almost identical .
Yet he was surprised to find that as similar as the Essence in both seals was, there were still small differences to be found . If the Darian seal appeared to contain just a sliver more Fire Essence, then the Shadowflame seal was heavier on Wind and Earth .
This time, he did feel some excitement at what he had learned .
If the two seal discs had been created by the same person, the mix of Essence fused within both would have been so similar as to be indistinguishable . But with the difference Arran now saw, he knew that the two discs had been wrought by different hands .
Only a Sense as strong as Arran's, sharpened by countless years spent in a Shadow realm, could have found so subtle a distinction . But found it he had, and he knew the discovery was a major one .
He had no doubt that the two seals had been designed by the same person, and that person could only be an unparalleled master . But if the oath discs had been made by others — mages who were merely copying the original design — then there was a far better chance of the seals containing subtle flaws .
And that would give him a much better chance of breaking them .
The more he considered it, the more it made sense . Just like a master swordsmith would not equip an entire army by himself, a single seal master would not waste his time creating the hundreds — if not thousands — of oath discs the Imperium alone must hold .
In both cases, the work would be done by others — apprentices, most likely . And while Arran had no confidence in besting the seals' original designer, apprentices were a different matter .
He celebrated the discovery with a quick meal of dried meat and fruits, then stepped outside the mansion to take a brief glance at the goings-on on the practice fields .
As expected, he found the army in a state of near-chaos . More carts had appeared, with hundreds of merchants, porters, and soldiers moving like ants between them, loading and unloading supplies in a bustle of activity that showed little sign of purpose or organization .
Yet at the center of the disorderly scene stood Kaleesh, and although Arran could make little sense of his shouts and gestures, the captain did not seem to be overwhelmed by the ceaseless turmoil around him .
If anything, it seemed as if Kaleesh was somehow enjoying the frenzy, his appearance like that of a skilled commander directing an army through a chaotic battle that he was confident in winning .
Arran watched the spectacle for some minutes, then headed back into the mansion . Though he had some doubts about whether or not Kaleesh would have them ready by morning, he was certain that whatever help he could offer would do little to change the outcome .
When he returned to his room and sat down in the padded chair once more, he took some moments to clear his mind, then immediately set to work once more .
After investigating the raw material from which the seals were made — at least half a dozen types of Essence fused together, as it turned out — he would now turn his attention to the seal itself .
He began the work by taking a birds-eye view, examining the overall structure of the seal while ignoring its many details . Even this, however, was enough to make him sigh in discouragement .
A simple seal comprised dozens of strands of Essence, while a particularly complex one might involve thousands . Yet this seal made even the most complicated ones Arran knew look like the work of rank beginners by comparison .
Countless thousands of Essence filaments stretched throughout his body, each of them thin enough that only meticulous inspection would reveal them . And the more Arran searched, the more he found — enough that he began to wonder whether there was even an inch of his body that remained unaffected .
Several hours passed quickly, and by the end of them, Arran found that his understanding of the seal had not increased the slightest bit . If anything, he now found himself thinking that a seal this complicated should be utterly impossible .
Just managing thousands of strands of Essence should stretch the limits of even the greatest master, and this seal held that number many times over . And not just that — if his earlier suspicion was correct, then it wasn't even the seal master himself who had wrought the oath disc, but an apprentice or assistant .
Yet impossible though it seemed, there was no denying that the seal was both real and every bit as complex as it appeared .
Arran continued to ponder the matter for some time, but he found that his efforts were in vain . No matter how he looked at it, the seal could not have been created through any method he knew .
Daylight was already approaching when he finally decided to give up . Comprehending the seal wasn't a task that could be achieved in a single night, and he could tell that any more time he spent investigating it now would do little to ease his confusion .
Instead, he decided to head outside and see whether Kaleesh's efforts had been any more fruitful .
As he stood up from the comfortable chair, however, he felt a familiar weight at his side, and realized that he'd forgotten to hand Nisra's coin purse over to the captain .
At this, a grin crossed his face . After the long night of work Kaleesh was about to finish, the coin purse should do much to raise his spirits .
More out of curiosity than anything, he took the coin purse and emptied it on the wooden desk before him . Yet when he saw the black coins that spilled out, his eyes widened with surprise .
That the coins were black was no cause for shock, of course, as Arran had long since learned that the Darians used a black material called shadowmetal for their currency . Common gold, meanwhile, was worth less in the Imperium than silver elsewhere .
But where the normal Darian coins were a shiny jet-black, the ones that lay before him now were darker still . They were so completely devoid of color that Arran might have thought they were forged from raw Shadow Essence had his Sense not told him there was nothing magical about them .
With a thought, he dug up a common shadowmetal coin from his pockets, then laid it down next to the ones Nisra had given him . Then, he placed the Warlock's amulet beside the coins, and finally produced one of the black coins his void ring held — the ones of which he had taken thousands in the underground city .
With the coins and amulet laid out next to each other, the difference was impossible to dismiss .
While both the common Darian coin and the Warlock's amulet were black, Nisra's coins and the one from the underground city were a different shade of black altogether, their lack of color so complete it seemed like they had been wrought from condensed shadow .
Arran could not help but grimace as he considered the disaster he'd unwittingly escaped . Had he tried to pass off one of his coins as a common Darian one, there was no doubt any wily merchant or shopkeeper would have recognized the difference in an instant .
He gave a brief sigh, chastising himself for ignoring the coins in his void ring for so long . Though he had little use for wealth, that was a poor excuse for failing to recognize so obvious a truth .
But there was little point in lingering on the matter, and after a moment of frustration, he turned his attention back to the coins .
A cursory examination appeared to confirm what he already suspected — that the common Darian coins were made from the same material, except of a far lower purity .
Though he was no blacksmith, he guessed that if his own coins and Nisra's were both made from pure shadowmetal, then the common Darian coins contained only a hundredth of the material, with the bulk consisting of common iron . But even that was already enough to turn them black as night .
Other than its utter darkness, however, the shadowmetal appeared unremarkable . Some small tests on his own coin showed that it was both softer and heavier than gold, making it completely useless for anything but coins and jewelry .
After a quick glance at the Warlock's amulet, he decided to try another test, and he poured a sliver of Shadow Essence into the coin from the underground city .
This time, the result brought an intrigued expression to his face . Though the shadowmetal did not resist Essence, exactly — not the way that starmetal did — it was as if it settled the foreign energy, with the metal barely being affected by the magic .
With the memory of the oath disc still fresh in his mind, it didn't take him long to think of a possible use for such a quality . Perhaps the shadowmetal was useless for weapons and armor, but that didn't mean it was useless altogether .
He drew a trickle of Shadow Essence, then quickly placed a small seal on the coin . It was a simple practice seal, but even so, he found himself surprised by how well the coin held it .
Yet before he could do any other tests, he saw that the first rays of daylight were beginning to peek through the window . He had thought there were still hours left before morning, but it seemed time had passed faster than he realized .
With a sigh, he put Nisra's coins back into the coin purse and returned the one from the underground city to his void ring . Though there was still much he wanted to investigate, that would have to wait .
First, he would travel to Sacrifice .
He headed toward the mansion's exit without any further delay, curious to see whether Kaleesh had succeeded in his seemingly impossible task . As much confidence as he had in Kaleesh's abilities, he suspected that to ready an army of three thousand for travel on such short notice was beyond even the captain's skills .
But then, he would welcome a few hours' delay, if only because it would give him the chance to take a closer look at the shadowmetal coins .
When he opened the door and stepped outside, however, his mouth nearly fell open at the sight .
There was no sign of the chaos and disorder that had filled the practice fields only hours early . Instead, well over three thousand soldiers stood in neat ranks, their numbers divided into groups of a hundred men or so, each of them led by a single Ranger .
When Arran first arrived in Knight's Watch, the Wolfsblood Army had looked little different from a rowdy group of brigands and bandits . But now, he could see that it was an army in earnest — organized and disciplined, if perhaps a bit rough in appearance .
There were more soldiers than he had realized, too . While he had witnessed the troops on the practice fields, he'd never seen them all gathered together before, and he could not help but feel a tremble of awe at Kaleesh's achievement .
In a short few months, the captain had turned a rough gathering of mercenaries, inexperienced Darians, and prisoners into an army no less than those commanded by the Darian lordlings . But unlike them, Kaleesh had done so without the wealth and powerful backers they relied on .
"Arran!" the captain's voice sounded as he stepped onto the practice fields . "Get over here! We're ready to leave!"
Some scattered cheers sounded as Arran made his way past the troops, which he answered with a half-hearted wave . Even now, the troops' admiration made him uncomfortable . He'd entered the Imperium with hopes of drawing as little attention as he could, but instead, he now found three thousand sets of eyes staring at him, not a one among them who didn't know who he was .
That the situation was one of his own choosing was of little comfort . While he knew that there was no way to learn the Darians' secrets without drawing attention, that did not mean he had to like it .
As Arran reached the captain, he cast a meaningful look at the army . "I'm impressed . "
"As you should be," Kaleesh replied . "Preparing a march with only half a day's notice is a fool's errand, but I succeeded all the same . " He made no effort to conceal his pride in completing the task, grinning broadly as he looked at the army .
"Don't encourage him," Sassun interjected . He cast a dour look at the captain, and added, "He's been insufferable all morning . "
Arran shrugged . To his mind, Kaleesh had some cause for being proud . "So what's the plan?"
"The plan," Kaleesh replied, "is to reach Sacrifice as quickly as possible . I've prepared a dozen scouting parties, but the fewer Blightspawn we encounter on the way, the better . "
"So you want me to take the lead?" Arran asked .
"That would be helpful . " Kaleesh gave him a small nod, then continued in a softer voice, "The troops have improved, but not so much that I wish to test them already . "
"Understood," Arran said . "I'll make sure the journey is a smooth one . "
It didn't take much to understand the captain's meaning . If Arran scouted ahead, he could ensure that the army would encounter not even a single Blightspawn during the march to Sacrifice . And the ambush they had faced on the road to Knight's Watch was still fresh in their minds — fresh enough that Kaleesh would not dare take any risks .
Moreover, with most of their troops still inexperienced and untested, another ambush could well be even more devastating . As strong as Blightspawn were outside the Desolation, even a small group of them could easily wreak havoc among the soldiers' ranks .
And if they lost a few hundred men to the Blightspawn before even reaching Sacrifice, it would be a devastating blow to the troops' morale .
After discussing the route they would take with Kaleesh and Sassun, Arran departed at a jog, making his way to the gates of Knight's Watch as the Wolfsblood Army slowly set in motion behind him .
He was disappointed to find that the Knight who had helped him wasn't at the gates . Although the Knight had acted on the Governor's orders, Arran still felt he owed the man a favor, as the help had saved him weeks if not months of effort .
Instead, Arran told the Knight who now stood watch to pass on his thanks, and then hurriedly made his way out of the city .
He felt a brief moment of relief as he left the city's tall walls behind him . Though the road ahead was a perilous one, he couldn't help but feel that the dangers of the wilderness suited him more than those of the city .
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