Chương 37: The Bard’s Song

Cuthbert hopped off the roof and dropped into a dive. His wings opened gracefully, catching the air as he fell pulling and gliding towards Aaron. He swooped forwards steadily, flapping his wings for balance, circling around Aaron. He landed on Aaron's shoulder from the back, making him tense, but Cuthbert was surprisingly light and graceful. He expected the claws to at least pinch his skin. [Somatomancy talent improved] Dominion Over Undead: rank 3 Aaron didn't want to enforce his will on the crow.

He thought of him as a still living creature and respected his sentience and autonomy. Perhaps the skill was more of a line of communication with the undead rather than directly making them do things against their will. He felt that Cuthbert had a will of his own and he had chosen to follow them.

"He's not a monstrosity, he's not even fully undead!" Aaron said, squaring his shoulders and standing tall.

"I don't care what you think, that bird is not fully alive. Get rid of him!" Giddoen demanded. Paige and the bard sank into the background, avoiding any chances of becoming collateral damage. Tim hobbled over on his cane, looking very fatigued. He stood between the master and the novice.

"Cuthbert was the very first creature Aaron used his power on. And he's nothing like the other corrupted. We can learn from him. We even think that we can plug the missing parts of his soul with the help of an Ectomancer."

"Nonsense! There is no such thing as plugging a soul! Now get out of my way." Giddeon replied.

"Have you tried?" Tim asked.

"No, of course not, why would I try to fix one of these monstrosities?" He said.

"So you have no idea? Tim mocked. Giddeon grumbled. It clearly hit a nerve suggesting that there was a gap in his knowledge and power.

"I already know everything I need. Kill undead. It's that simple." He walked around Tim. Thankfully, he was just about honourable enough not to push over a disabled man. As he approached, he stopped in his tracks and looked over Aaron's shoulder at Alex.

"You brought someone with you? You idiot!" He shouted.

"We offered him transport east in exchange for a healing potion for Tim" Aaron said.

"Why would you do that? He could be anyone. He could be on Harrold's payroll, or any number of bounty hunters across the Northern Expanse. What were you thinking?" Giddeon replied.

"I was thinking about helping my brother," Aaron said. Giddeon got closer, "Well maybe you should stop being so selfish and start thinking about what's actually best for everyone."

"Your will isn't the law. We agreed to help you get to the farm, not to follow your orders." Aaron replied, practically face to face with the furious master. He could feel his sour breath on his nose.

"If I may, my name is Alex. I was born to the duke's sister and have lived here since birth. I only wish to travel to expand my horizons and gain insp…" Giddeon shot out a sphere of swirling wind towards the bard. It hit him in the face and wrapped around his mouth. Alex thrashed his hands around and grabbed at his mouth. He was choking and gasping for breath. Giddeon punted Aaron out of the way with his shoulder and approached the bard.

He put his hand around the bard's neck and lifted him into the air as if he was a roll of parchment. He must have had some sort of strength enhancing power as well.

"Why are you here?" He shouted. Alex thrashed around. The wind wrapped around his face, yet he still held his lute. Giddeon released the wind slightly, just enough for the bard to suck in some air. To Aaron's surprise, he reached for his lute and started to play and sing frantically. The music was nothing special, but Aaron couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him. Were they being too harsh to him?

"Psychic magic," Giddeon said as he collapsed the swirling vortex of wind around his mouth again. Alex continued to squirm and clasped Giddeon's hand.

"Weak as anything, though." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Paige rushed over and snatched the lute from his hands.

"I'll ask you again, bard. Why are you here?" Giddeon placed the man on the ground and relinquished the wind around his face. He froze in place, probably too afraid to run. And quite rightly. Aaron had seen Giddeon disintegrate a corrupted dog without breaking a sweat. He could have easily made a barbeque out of this bard. Alex gasped for air and held his neck, bent over double. He waved his hand up for mercy.

"Okay, okay. I was hired to follow you. The guy doesn't tell me his name, but he pays upfront and is reliable as long as I don't ask too many questions. They told me you were crossing the scar and I was to wait for you." Giddon scowled. Aaron was relieved that the anger was being directed towards Alex, rather than his bird who had flown back on top of the house.

"Search him!" Paige turned out all of his pockets. He wore a long fashionable but highly impractical cloak with many many pockets. She pulled out various items, such as pens, sheets of music, love letters and old bits of food.

"Tracking stones." Paige shouted, as she held up a pile of blue glowing rocks.

"Damn it. You've led them right to us. You fools!" Aaron felt ashamed and naïve. It seemed like a good deal to take a seemingly harmless bard on a short trip in exchange for a healing potion. It would cost them nothing, or so he thought. But hearing he had psychic magic, perhaps he had been influenced somehow to agree to this. Maybe he was manipulating Grenda and the staff at the infirmary too. Alex still looked pathetic and helpless, but Aaron doubted his judgement.

Psychic magic was extremely highly regulated in the city. It was feared and stigmatised. Some of these mages worked for the king, but if you were caught using it in public or anyone knew you were a psychic, you would be shunned.

"Since you're so smart for bringing him here, Aaron, you can kill him. If we ditch the stones now, we can get a few hours head start if we're lucky." A funnel of wind appeared above Alex's head and wrapped around his neck like a scarf. It pushed down hard on his shoulders, and he fell onto his knees with a loud thump. He knelt there looking up at Aaron helplessly. Bits of dirt blew outwards in a circle around him. Aaron reached into his bag and brought out the claw he harvested from one of the corrupted dogs.

It was about the size of a dagger. And just as sharp. Alex's eyes widened in fear.

"Wait, wait! I can help you." Aaron took a couple of slow steps towards the cowering bard.

"I have a magic lute, I can help you on your journey. I'm useful!"

"Why should I believe you?" He replied coldly.

"Th… the stones! If they see they have stopped moving, they will suspect I am in danger and will come for me. You need to keep moving with them." The bard trembled as he spoke. Aaron took the claw and placed it right up against the bard's neck, being careful not to scratch him. If he was right, a scrape from the claw risked seeding corruption into the victim, causing the host of symptoms described by Grenda. The bard was breathing rapidly. His long hair was sticking to the sweat on his forehead.

"STOP," he shouted, "they told me to drop them as I travel to leave a trail. If you spread them out, they won't know which direction you went!"

"Who is with them, how many are there?" Aaron demanded.

"I don't know. They had black armour with bronze hawks on," he said frantically.

"The blackguard," Aaron muttered. He stepped back and took the dagger away. Alex took a few rapid deep breaths. The wind pressing on him had stopped, but his hands were still pressed against the floor.

"What are you doing?" Giddeon said, "Kill the bastard." Alex looked up at them helplessly, clasping his hands together in a begging motion.

"No, no, no, please. I can help you. I have psychic magic. I can detect other spies, I can influence people."

"He can't be trusted," Paige weighed in, "and we can't set him free. He will run right back to them and tell them which direction we went."

"There's no decision to be made, he has to be killed." Giddeon said.

"Hang on, I agreed to take you to the farm, not murder someone," Tim said.

"We'll bring him with us," Aaron said. Paige looked at Giddeon as if waiting for him to double down on his decision, but he just stood there with his arms folded.

"If I kill him, Harrold will owe a blood debt. His son told me that he takes it very seriously. At the moment, he is only after us for my help. He doesn't want anything from you three. If we kill this bard, he might take it personally and that drags all of you into this. I won't put you in the firing line of that psycho any more than you need to be."

"And what happens when Alex betrays us and sends all of Harrold's men our way?" Giddeon asked?

"I'll take that risk," Aaron replied. Giddeon grunted disapprovingly, although Aaron knew that if he was truly confident in his decision, he would have killed the bard on the spot.

"Thank you, thank you!" Alex said, "I won't let you down. I'm not on their side anymore, I promise." He jumped to his feet and ran over to Paige for his lute. She quickly spun it out of his reach.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I just wanted to play a song to raise our spirits," he said.

"Do you think we're idiots?" Paige shouted.

"No, mam, sorry!" He said, crouching down on his knees in a cowardly pose again.

"Let me explain, my lute is enchanted with a psychic Boonstone, but it's only a common one. It lets me influence mood, but it's not very effective if you know it's happening, and it certainly wouldn't work on such intelligent and astute people such as yourselves." Giddeon scowled at the bard and it was enough to make him flinch and shut up.

"We need to leave now," Giddeon said, "pack the cart. Fast!"

"What about the tracking stones? Paige asked.

"Can we destroy them?" Tim asked.

"No," Alex said, "they will send a signal to the creators and it will only alert them sooner. You need to spread them out to confuse them."

"No time," Giddeon said, "we will take them north, out of reach of my friend's farm, dump them and then keep moving east."

"I have a better idea," Aaron said, "pass them here." Aaron raised his arm and Cuthbert flew down to land on his shoulder, as if he was waiting for the cue.