Return of the Stormcriers

CHAPTER 46 - REMNANTS OF THE PAST

  Wiping sweat from his brow as they rode back into the plains of central Verden Matt gingerly adjusted his position in his saddle as he scanned his surroundings for landmarks. Since they had left The Empty Net they had ridden nearly nonstop and now the foothills which had dotted the horizon from the inn's front door had shrunk into the distance leaving no hills more than twenty feet tall in sight. Their only rest had been an hour after nightfall the previous day when they had made a very temporary camp to eat a cold, unfulfilling dinner before sleeping no more than a handful of hours; for Matt, it had been even less.

Every time he closed his eyes, Moonshadow's dark and leering face loomed before him, goading him, threatening him, then always, the surprise that had contorted his face as Matt drove the dagger into him. He could feel the blade piercing skin and muscle, the flesh giving way beneath his strike. He could remember and feel the sense of satisfaction that had come over him as he stole the man's life; and it scared him deeply. Was he a monster like Moonshadow had been? The assassin had killed countless people over the years, how many innocents were amongst that number? He had killed Jason, Derek, Nathan, and the High King, and his men had killed Clay, surely he had done a service to the world by removing the killer from existence. His heart flipped in his chest in uncertainty; he had killed someone, removed him from existence. How would his soul suffer in the afterlife for the actions that he and his friends had taken, for the actions they would have to take in the coming battles of this war? And if the gods could forgive him, could he forgive himself?

  Now as they rode, the sun had already passed its zenith, marking over twenty-four hours since they had begun their race back to the resistance. The idea that they were charging headlong into a potential large-scale siege made Matt's stomach turn with fear whenever it breached his thoughts, so he let his mind wander freely, searching for a distraction.

Perched atop a hill crest to his right, a crumbled collection of stones caught his eye. Curious, he focused on the break in terrain between the plains and the distant edge of the Schwarzwald Forest. It was a large structure, or at least it used to be at some point in the past, its once pure white stones greyed and cracked with age. Trees and shrubs grew freely through splits in the rock, slowly reclaiming the relic into the nature that once inhabited its spot on the map. Squinting to focus his vision he saw that it was not the ruins of a single building, but rather a collection of them. At least three different structures stood together, watched over by a once proud tower, now crumbled and brought low by age, its spire long since fallen leaving the insides open to the elements. It was far older than any building in Clearfield and appeared even older than Dragonfyre Keep where he had stayed in Riftwater. He had never seen anything like it in his, admittedly brief, travels of Verden.

  "What is that?" He asked, leaning towards Will and breaking the silence that had enveloped the party since they had left The Empty Net. His voice felt soft and raspy from disuse.

  "That is what is left of one of the oldest structures in Verden," Will said staring at the ruins wistfully. "I would love to have a chance to study one of them up close."

  "Is it from before the fall of the dragons?" Matt asked, his curiosity piqued. He remembered from the stories he had heard in his childhood that before Verden had come together under the combined leadership of the first human stormcriers the continent had been divided into several, often disagreeable, kingdoms that had eked out meager existences as they weathered the whims and tempers of their dragon overlords.

  Will laughed, "It is much, much older than that. It was built even before the dragons began their dominance over Verden. That is a relic of the Althelus Empire."

  "The Althelus Empire?" Matt asked, confused. He had never heard of any great power in Verden before the dragons and the old kingdoms. He had not even been aware that there had been a time before the dragons ruled Verden. These ruins had to have been built over a millennia ago he realized with wonder. It was hard to fathom a structure still standing, albeit in such a state of disrepair, that was so ancient. How much history had this place silently observed since it had been erected?