Shadows Reborn (2nd Book)

Chapter 5: Separation is Solution

Hmm.. yeah I'm having trouble thinking up chapter titles, sorry. =(

"And what are those two items?" Fendrel asked Althalos, and the latter stood before his accomplices, and in one of his hands, he held the Lich Blade, and in the other, the map. He had chosen beforehand to reveal everything the demon god had told him, apart from the black stone. That was a secret Althalos was willing to take to the grave, or at least until Merec orders him to do what he needed, which was place it on the absolute center of Summerset Isle. "I believe both came from Merec?"

Althalos noticed from the start the skeptical look everyone put on the moment he told his story, and the angry expression that was tainting Fendrel's aged face. They were sitting by the campfire, squatted down as they listened to the Champion of Merec.. Justin was putting Alianor to sleep in a nearby tent, and the Nightwalkers were leaning by a tree, looking at this young man who can  destroy Magnus with one hand tied behind his back.

"Yes," Althalos answered. He belted the Lich Blade back into his belt as he continued,"My lord has granted me this gifts to aid me in our crusade against our foes. The blade is my own now, as well as my other one, and the Dragon Blade is with you, I presume?" He looked at Fendrel, raising a solitary eyebrow.

Fendrel unsheathed the blade of Merec, and Althalos nodded. "Good, that weapon would do well in our case."

"What's the purpose of this Lich Blade, was it?" Katelyn asked, crossing her arms. "And can't you lend me that black blade? I'm weaponless at the moment, you know?"

Althalos stood still, reticent for a moment, before pulling out the sheathe with the sword, and giving Doombringer to Katelyn, who smirked in an inconspicuous fashion when she was handed it.

"The Lich Blade," Althalos began,"is a blade that Lord Merec told me could raise the fallen, and its mere touch is cold to the core."

Too poetic for your own good, my Champion.

Merec's goon did not need to guess that who he had just head was none other than his lord, the lord of shadowy death.

"The map?" Fendrel motioned to the scroll held tightly by Althalos. "What is its significance then?"

Tell him that it reveals the location of the orc encampment where your precious girl was taken away to.

Althalos heeded his lord's advice, for it would have been surely unwise to not do so, correct? He relayed the god's words, and once Fendrel and the others sat up with anticipation for his next words, Althalos was explaining what it was.

"It is a gift by my god. And he has enchanted it to in the way that only the path from here to the orc encampment is detailed."

"Can I see it?" Fendrel asked, still looking very much doubtful of what Althalos told them.

Althalos hung back, and when Fendrel unrolled the scroll, he heard of the collective gasp everyone did. He approached them, and looked at the map. He took note the differen directions the map took, the routes divert against each other, and the labels of the location spelled out four locations.

Three encampments, and one base.

But Althalos saw that the others, Katelyn, Fendrel, and the Nightwalkers, they were only focused on one location, the orc war camp far off the northern wastes, deep into the icy lands of the North. That alone would have been puzzling enough, but the fact that they didn't seem to notice the others was all too confusing, should Althalos have the emotion of confusion.

"Wh.."

Speak not!

He held his tongue, and luckily, none heard what Althalos was about to say. They discussed the fastest way to head to the camp, and once there, sneak in there and retrieve Ayleth.