A fair-skinned woman walked into the balcony with a frown on her face. “I heard you are preparing to go visit that wretched, cursed place.”
Claude turned toward her. “You heard right.”
Creases formed on the woman’s forehead. “What could possibly be enticing in the small town of a cripple who Baron Tyre has sworn to kill if he somehow escapes death this winter?” The woman almost yelled as she stared at Claude with a red face.
“No beast has been spotted around my domain, and it’s the third month of winter. Winter is almost over, and not even a fly came out of the beyond into my territory. Last year, we recorded 100 deaths, and this year, which was supposed to be the worst as proclaimed by the soothsayers, we recorded no death, not even an injury.”
Claude averted his eyes from his wife toward the far north. “I have a feeling something has changed.”
“But Rutherford Tyre will surely visit that cripple’s territory with his troops because that cripple dared to cripple his daughter.” His wife retorted.
“That young man made a grave mistake, but I’m not going there to save him. Ash town is already a graveyard by now.”
Claude knew surviving winter with just one silver-ranked swordsman was almost impossible. He knew that the Ashbourne soldiers knew how to handle winter with other means, but they had run out of means, or else Thomas would not have been pleading for help before his death.
Two years had passed since he visited Ash Town, and then he could see that they were running out of resources. The small domain could not produce any meaningful export that would make them thrive. Depending on trading winter beast furs only kept them afloat.
Their farmlands yielded poor harvests, and the mines, which once gained the attention of all barons, had been hijacked by abyss creatures. No one wanted to go against abyss creatures, so they forgot about it till today.
“I’ll leave with Nicolas.”
Nicolas was one of the five gold knights serving Claude Flameheart. Known for his powerful talent that made him stronger than other gold knights, he was the right candidate for this journey.
…..
Three days passed by in a blink of an eye.
Asher, who, due to the fast healing rate of a knight and the administrations of the physician, was fully healed of his shallow wounds and now rode a horse. Behind him were the walls of Silverleaf Town, and before him was Silverleaf Forest.
On his right was Alex, and on his left, Alec. The vanguards were behind them, looking about as their horses walked toward the forest. They were heading for the mountains, and Asher had been expecting this day from the second he learned about his connection to the Ashbourne ancestors.
Neigh!
Alex controlled his horse and looked at his brother’s docile one. “Are you supposed to ride a horse? I’m certain that your weight is slowly killing that horse.”
The vanguards were about to laugh but shut their mouths when Alec glanced at them without a readable expression.
“It does its work just fine.” Alec said.
Alex snorted at his brother’s lack of humor.
Only the sound of their mounts and the clanking of their metal armor plates kept their ears busy until they reached the mouth of the tomb. Two stones that protruded from both sides of the tomb’s mouth were carved into mighty wolves that looked down.
To Asher and his men, the wolves were looking right at them.
Boom!
A dull sound came from the tomb. It was faint because what they heard was an echo.
“Mr. White didn’t hear wrong. There’s a disturbance in there.”
Alex first dismounted.
“It’s possible the cause might be a beast.”
Alec swiftly thought of the worst outcome and tightened his grip around his spear.
With furrowed brows, Asher walked through the entrance into the cold, dark pathway. His boot leaving reoccurring echoes the further he went.
After walking for a long while, they began to perceive a repulsive smell, which caused Alex to wrinkle his nose.
“Is that the smell of cor—”
Boom!
A sudden wave of heat that came from the small passage leading to the west hit them, and along came a bad stench that almost forced Asher to release all he ate for breakfast. He covered his mouth with his coat and fastened his pace.
They saw etchings on the wall above each tomb they passed, but none of them were able to gain Asher’s attention because they were of no use to him.
Therefore, he continued until he reached a massive cavern. Four huge human statues stood at different places, and right at the opposite end was a bigger statue. The heads of wolves that were connected to the wall were above the statues.
Asher recognized the one closest to him. It was Atticus Ashbourne!
Below his statue were words written in old Tenaria language. None of his men could read it, but Asher could.
The Old Tenaria language was rare in this era, but it was the famed language of mages. In this language lie the tricks to magi force.
Unfortunately, only mages had the ability to decipher the intricacies of the old tenaria language.
“What does it say?”
Alex asked softly. He felt oppressed by the gazes of these five figures.
“Grand Duke Atticus Ashbourne, great wolf of the north, lord of winter. Became a ruler at 19 and died at 65.”
Asher’s eyes went to the next sentence.
“His famous words were, “The insatiable devouring beast of this world that will never be slain is war.”
His eyes flickered.
“Your Lordship, this statue is a female. We had a duchess in the past?!”
A shura vanguard said in shock as he pointed at the statue opposite Atticus.
Asher walked over.
He looked at the statue of a woman who wore beautiful, lifelike armor.
“Duchess Ariel Ashbourne, dread knight of the north, conqueror of the emerald plains, war queen, the great blood knight. Became a ruler at 29 and died at 39.”
Her titles alone captured the attention of everyone in the room.
But her death age on the other hand…
