The First Lich Lord - Chapter 123

Maxwell, Raven, this is Friar Brown,” I said, still reeling from the sudden shifting of events. “Brown, these are my friends, Maxwell and Raven.”

The serious frown darkening Friar Brown’s face, which seemed completely out of place on the normally jovial man, faded and he smiled. “Ezekiel, it is good to see you again, and it is quite nice to meet your friends. I have heard some interesting things about you.”

“By the fact that you saved my life instead of letting him end it, I’m assuming you’re not here to fix your mistake of letting me go,” I said, holding out my hand.

Brown shook it. “Far from it. I met a friend of yours, someone who is a kind of disciple of my own. She told me a wild story about you attacking and killing a good priest who was just doing his job.”

“That bastard deserved it!” Raven huffed. “He made Ezekiel do terrible things.”

“Ah, the werecat.” Friar Brown turned to Raven. “Your kind is often misunderstood, especially when aligned with people like Ezekiel. I know you have your role in this world.” Friar Brown nodded. “Yes, Father Mathis was not the person Rhea thought he was.”

“So, is Rhea, all that…” I looked out to where the disturbance in the camp had already settled down. Whatever the fight had been, it’d been one-sided.

“Indeed.” Friar Brown stepped to the edge of the pergola, where he sat down, swinging his legs over the edge. Maxwell, Raven, and I joined him. “She came and found me after she found something that made her question everything. I think you know what I’m talking about, she said you were there.”

“We sure were,” Maxwell snorted. “She would have been screwed without us.”

“So she says,” Friar Brown agreed. “When she tracked me down, I couldn’t quite believe the story she told. From there we did some investigating. I figured you were safe. These marshes are known to be treacherous, though I had faith in your ability.”

“Yeah, as it turns out this was a ziggurat, as you can see.” I patted the pergola. “It was the source of the blood magic, with a terrible forge deep underneath. I assure you it has been dealt with quite thoroughly. I don’t know what the asshole was looking for here, but if it was that terrible forge, well, it will never serve that purpose again.”

“We shall have to discuss this later,” Friar Brown said. “Unfortunately, I do know what he was looking for. Through a lot of digging in a hidden archive that we found, based on information gathered from where you first encountered the strange beings, I have uncovered some very disconcerting information.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“We should wait until Rhea joins us. While we do, tell me about everything that led you to this point.”

Though Friar Brown wasn’t a close friend, I knew he was someone I could trust. And lying to him would never work. I told him my story, picking up at where I left him and headed for Omark. My recounting of the slaughter of the demon-ling village had a frown clouding Friar Brown’s face, but he did not interrupt.

“I know I’ve killed a lot of people,” I said, having glossed over the portions about the forge since we would no doubt be visiting it later. “But I hold no regrets. When it came down to it, it was me or them, and I have every right to exist as anyone else.”

Friar Brown was quiet for a long moment, then he nodded. “You of course are right. It speaks volumes that Ekwin personally recruited you into the Order of Equinox. Even if that were not the case, it appears to me that while you are a form of evil, you are no more evil than a wolf killing sheep. Whether or not you are evil depends on the perspective. No doubt from your perspective Olattee is the true evil, at least the portion of it that has been chasing you.”

“I won’t call Olattee evil, at least not the religion,” I said. “There are good people in it, people like you and Rhea, but there’s also a lot of bad. Based on the claims I’ve heard, should they prove correct, then I have some serious questions about the god you follow.”

Friar Brown let out a long sigh. “You and me both.”

I looked at him in surprise. I was about to say something when my attention was drawn to the base of the ziggurat, where two figures climbed the stairs. I recognized them both, one was Rhea and the other was Tyler. Raven saw Tyler and hissed.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Easy, I won’t let him hurt you.”

“I didn’t believe they ever actually managed to hurt the three of you,” Friar Brown said in confusion.

That gave me pause, until it occurred to me I hadn’t explained well enough exactly who Raven was. “Tyler killed Raven when she was just a lynx.”

“Oh really.” Friar Brown looked at Raven with increased interest. “And you are not a kind of living dead creature. That ritual you used must’ve been something else.”

“It wasn’t.” I shrugged. “That’s just the thing about it. I think we got very, very lucky. The most that ritual should’ve done was turn her into a living dead, not bring her back as a completely new life.”

“There is a reason why werecats are rare,” Friar Brown said. “Even in regions with more magic and power, werecat’s are a bit of an enigma. I doubt if you did that exact same spell, within the exact same space, at the exact same time that it would work again.”

Raven sat up and beamed. “What you’re saying is I am unique and special, and everyone should worship me.”

“Once a cat always a cat.” Maxwell laughed.

I tried not to chuckle, but as Friar Brown’s deep laughter came out, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little myself. Raven glared in indignation up at me before huffing and turning into her lynx form.

When Rhea and Tyler reached the top, all of us hopped down. I was surprised when Raven cautiously approached Rhea. She’d liked Rhea before everything happened. And when the priestess went down and scratched her behind the ears, Raven began to rub on her legs, all while keeping a cautious eye on Tyler.

“Rhea,” I said quietly. “It’s good to see you.”

“You as well, Zeke,” she said. “Before we begin, I just want to say you are right, and I was wrong. I don’t fully understand it all, but Friar Brown has taught me a lot.”

I nodded in acceptance of her apology. It felt good to be vindicated in her eyes. “Friar Brown said you found some interesting information.”

“That we did,” Tyler agreed. “And I would also like to express my sincere apologies. Not only for my actions, but for not believing you.”

“Believing us?” Maxwell asked. “You don’t mean…”

Tyler nodded. “That is exactly what I mean. But we can discuss that later. I have my own convictions and a request for you.”

I frowned at his words, but my attention was on Friar Brown and Rhea. “What did you find?” I had my suspicions from what I’d begun to piece together, hoping it was wrong.

“To my immense shame, I do not know how I did not suspect or know this,” Friar Brown said. “But as it turns out, Olattee and the Blood Sultanate were not diametrically opposed as I assumed. The Blood Sultanate of Slatar was founded by a sect of Olattee. What made them shift so wide from their initial purpose is unknown, but from the texts we read, it drew the attention of Olattee himself.”

“But it was not anger,” Rhea said. “It was in interest. He saw the power of the blood magic they were using and wanted it.”

“This was not universally accepted by his followers,” Friar Brown said. “When we invaded, it was indeed the purpose of destroying what we saw as an abomination. And we did, yet a small influence remained inside of Olattee. The influence grew over time and has spread like cancer. Olattee appears to have become obsessed with gaining more power. The being you saw come from another universe? He wishes to bring a mighty one here and use it to create what he sees as a perfectly pure nation. You would be either light or dark, there would be no in between.”

“How does that come from blood magic?” I asked. This unfortunately lined up with my own theories, but I didn’t see the connection.

“The blood magic itself was not what Olattee found fascinating,” Friar Brown said. “It was merely the power it could bring to bear. In a way, blood magic followed a perverted form of purity, being the absolute worship of power at all cost. What I suspected was they were here for the knowledge contained within this ziggurat. Knowledge that would have sped up the process of opening a portal by allowing them to harness huge amounts of energy from a massive sacrifice.”

“So… what does this mean for your church?” Maxwell asked. “If your god has gone crazy, where does that leave you?”

“I do not know,” Friar Brown said, uncertainty in his voice. “I hope and pray that there is more to it, but if everything is as it appears, then we must walk that path.”

“We can only walk the path laid before us,” Rhea agreed. “No matter—” she winced looking at me, “whether or not other people will see us as heretics.”

I kept the smug smile off my face. “What’s next then? What brought you here in the first place?”

“I would like to see the forge and the archives,” Friar Brown said. “As to what brought us here, once we heard what had been found here, we realized where you had gone and what Theonis was likely after. This particular ziggurat was one of the more important ones that we missed, or what I now suspect was purposefully kept from us.”

“We also need to make sure that the knowledge is either destroyed, or this place is so heavily defended that they will never get it,” Rhea said.

“I don’t know that you can actually destroy it,” I said. “This is now an instanced dungeon. True destruction of anything inside is rather difficult.”

“Are you not the master?” Friar Brown asked. “Would you not be able to destroy it?”

“Possibly,” I said. “I don’t know how well you understand what these places are, but they break a lot of rules about how the world should work. Yes, I’m the master, but the dungeon in a way has a life of its own.”

“I have heard such things before,” Friar Brown said. “Well, if we cannot remove the information, we shall help make it so this place is impervious. Can you take us to the forge?”

I was just turning to the door to lead the way when Vito was standing there. His dark red blade was raised, and he wore pitch-black armor with a closed faceplate shaped to look like a dragon. “My lord, step away,” Vito snarled, his sword pointed straight at Friar Brown.

I was thankful I recognized his armor. “Wait, Vito, this is Friar Brown, he is not our enemy.”

“I felt power coursing into your phylactery and knew you were in trouble from some despicable priest.” The anger in his voice made his words sharp.

“This is not the one who was attacking me,” I tried to assure Vito. “In fact, he saved me.”

Those words reached him, and after a moment he lowered his sword. Vito was powerful, and he’d only grown in strength since I’d been resurrected as a Lich. Still, I doubted he could take on Friar Brown. The fight would’ve been spectacular for sure, but Friar Brown was quite a bit stronger than even I had been.

“He’s a vampire,” Rhea hissed, summoning magic to her staff.

Before anything could escalate further, Friar Brown grabbed her and threw her to the ground. “Think before you act,” he scolded and then turned to Vito. “Peace, vampire, we are not here as your enemies but your allies.”

To my surprise, Friar Brown laid his staff on the ground.

In response, Vito sheathed his sword and took off his helmet. “You speak truth when you say this is Friar Brown?” he asked me stiffly. When I nodded, Vito gave Friar Brown a short bow. “Then I apologize. You deserve my thanks not my scorn. You’ve saved my master twice now.”

Rhea got to her feet with a thunderous expression. “I get Ezekiel, but he is a vampire.”

“Who would’ve killed you in the next instant if Friar Brown had not stopped you,” Vito snapped. “Listen to your better, and think before you act. A mouse should not threaten the dragon.”

“He is right,” Friar Brown said. “Besides, the way Ezekiel is talking to him, this is clearly one of his allies.”

Rhea smoothed her ruffled red hair before she sunnily lowered her head. “You have my apologies,” she ground out.

“You know, if I could grow gray hair here, I’m pretty sure these last few minutes would’ve made me go gray,” Maxwell said.