Chương 553: 583 - Scrambling to Catch Up

The remnants of the first shattered island struck Leon as surreal. The sixth island had certainly been destroyed when Penitent set off the volcanos in its interior, but what was left was a twisted warren of thin waterways and small saltwater lakes. Great spires and huge ridges of bare, black rock jutted out from the steaming sea like the mangled teeth of some fallen titan. Some were quite big, enough to almost be considered mountains. Others were much smaller, barely large enough to be seen above the waves.

There wasn't so much as a blade of grass to be seen anywhere upon them, though no small number of places to hide. There weren't even any birds around, nor even fish or seaweed that Leon could see—this place was well and truly lifeless.

Even with his magic senses, Leon could barely see anything as the fleet drew closer to the remains of the sixth island—and Anshu hadn't been this far with Jormun, so the information he'd given the Legion wasn't of much use in locating Jormun now that they had moved past the inhabited islands. The storm from the previous night had cleared up, but the sense of dread it had instilled in Leon had not, and neither had the thick cloud cover above.

More ominously, a deep, thick fog had descended upon the seas, though from where this fog had come from, Leon couldn't say. He could easily imagine that this fog was just a result of the gently steaming waves as they were heated by countless underwater volcanic vents that had been torn open by Penitent so many years ago. He didn't think that this fog was that natural, however.

Every time the thought occurred to him, he could only envision the look of terror that had still been frozen upon Octavius' face when the Prince had been found, and the deep gashes in his legs and arms through which all of his blood had been drained. No, Leon could feel that whatever ritual Jormun had performed over these islands was wrapping up. He was almost finished, and the world was responding to the magics he was weaving.

Despite the vociferous objections during the meeting the night before, it seemed that the rest of the crew aboard Sigebert's flagship felt the same way. As the fleet drew closer, Leon took his usual spot near the bow of the ship, a place where with his senses he'd usually be able to hear quite a bit of chatter amongst the crew, but on this day, he couldn't hear that same chatter. There were still a few people speaking, but their conversations were almost entirely work-related.

The ship, and from what Leon could tell from his place on the deck, the entire fleet, was subdued and dreadful. Leon's usual group was there with him at the bow, but they were all uncharacteristically quiet, as well. Even Maia was silent, though for her, that was hardly unusual. Only Gaius seemed brave enough to speak.

"Are we getting closer?"

"We should be," Leon replied. He'd long since given the tracking spell to the flagship's command staff so that he wouldn't have to constantly be giving them directions, but that also had the side effect that he couldn't just check it whenever he pleased. He and Maia still had their magic senses, but such powers were hardly infallible, and there was an entire broken island to cover—and that was discounting the possibility that Jormun had hidden himself somewhere that magic senses couldn't reach.

He'd already displayed the ability for his ship to submerge itself, so he could quite possibly be anywhere within those rocks. They had one saving grace, though, and that was that the waterways carved by the destruction of the island were, for the most part, wide and deep enough to admit even the two dreadnoughts. There wouldn't be a repeat of the battle at the fourth island, the Legion would be able to bring their full might to bear upon Jormun.

The flagship shuddered as Sigebert led the way into the narrows of the island. Leon knew him to be rather irate that he hadn't been able to do much during the last battle, and after having lost so many ships and people, he wanted to lead the way this time. Leon fully approved of this strategy, especially since it meant that he, given he was standing at the bow, would be the first even among them. A dangerous position, maybe, but one that Leon wouldn't give up.

Not when the weather was so strange, and Jormun still unaccounted for. The fleet slowly sailed into the fragmented husk of the island. Many other ships were spreading out to encircle the island as best as they could, while others started exploring the rocky maze from other angles. They pushed deeper and deeper into the watery passages, until all they could see was black stone, rough waves, and gray fog. Leon's eyes darted every which way, searching for anything that might indicate hostility.

He saw both far too much, and barely anything at all. His magic senses could cover a significant percentage of the broken archipelago, so much that he couldn't possibly keep his attention on all of it at once. Making matters worse, the fog wasn't still; it billowed and flowed with the strong winds that blew through the channels, constantly tricking Leon's brain into thinking he was seeing something of note moving out of the corner of his eyes, when it was only a few wisps of fog.

They kept pushing, slowly working their way through these many saltwater passages, flanked on all sides by tall, oppressive, dark-as-night stone. There were a few lakes around, including about half a dozen that Leon, after some examination, guessed to be the old calderas of the volcanos that Penitent had set off to destroy the island.

He didn't think that much of them at first, but as the fleet pushed further in, and the places where Jormun might be hiding seemed to be getting rarer and rarer, Leon began looking more and more at those lakes. They were near the center of the broken island, with so many channels cut between them by the island's destruction that they were almost one large sea. They were the reminders of what had happened here, of how the island had been obliterated and its people killed.

To Leon, these lakes seemed like the perfect place for Jormun to go, if he were even here at all. They were so symbolic of the destruction that the Bull had wrought here that Leon didn't think it could be passed up. Jormun had exactly that kind of flair for the dramatic.

"Gaius," Leon murmured.

"Hm?"

"Send word to Sigebert. Have us make for the interior of the island as fast as is practical."

"Uh, I'll pass that along," Gaius said as he started to signal to the command tower. Leon was more than a little gratified when Sigebert's response was a simple acknowledgment and agreement. He wasn't up to trying to phrase his suspicions in plain, rational words. As they sailed on, the tense atmosphere grew even more so. Something was going to happen here, everyone could feel it—Leon most of all.

He could feel the familiar power in the air of another incoming storm, this one more powerful than the one before, and he started to grow restless. He tapped his fingers on the bow's guardrail, he shifted his weight around, and his eyes darted around with increasing frequency. After several minutes, Leon took a deep breath and forced himself to relax as best as he could. He closed his eyes and relied entirely on his other senses to perceive the world.

He needed to be on top of his game, and mentally exhausting himself before even reaching the battle just wouldn't do. Slowly, Leon began to calm down. However, almost as soon as his mind began to relax, a bright golden bolt of lightning fell from the clouds in the sky and hit one of the lakes. It was so far away that the thunder hadn't even reached the ship before Leon's eyes slammed open and turned in the direction of the lake.

He couldn't physically see it with so many cliffs and rocky spires in the way, but his magic senses were more than keen enough to notice it.

'That's it…' Leon thought, taking the lightning bolt as a sign of Jormun's presence. This was seemingly confirmed when a second bolt of gold lightning struck the surface of the lake, ignoring completely the many rocky peaks that surrounded it. Leon scanned the lake in as much detail as he could. He already had a good idea of what was around it from his previous scans, but this time he went in for as much detail as he could see. Immediately, this paid off as he detected a cave on the jagged edge of the crater-lake.

This was hardly unusual for such a broken place, but what made this cave stand out was that it was right off the water, was large enough to just barely fit Jormun's ship by Leon's estimation, and had been warded against magic senses. It was fairly subtle, with the wards located a fair ways past the cave's mouth, but Leon felt it when his magic senses were scattered after brushing up against those defenses. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

There was no doubt in Leon's mind, now. Even if Jormun wasn't there right this very instant, it was more than likely a place that he used.

"Gaius," Leon said as he turned around, "I'm going scouting."

"You're… what?" the Legion knight responded with confusion. Leon just walked right past him and nimbly climbed onto the back of the waiting Anzu, who happily chirped and spread his wings. The griffin was more than ready to head out into the sky.

"I can't stand this waiting, and I'm pretty sure I just saw Jormun's hideout," Leon explained.

"We're already on the path there, so there isn't much of a need to change course, but Jormun's pirates will have more than ample opportunity to launch ambushes or hit-and-run attacks between here and there."

"You're not… going to be attacking them alone, are you?" Gaius asked. Silently, Maia whispered the same question to Leon.

"I'm not intending on attacking anyone," Leon said as he quickly strapped himself into Anzu's saddle.

"Still, Alix, want to come with?"

"Me?" the young former-knightess asked.

"You're my best archer," Leon replied with a smile.

"Wait, huh, what?" Marcus sputtered, acting like he'd just been slapped awake. His eyes went wide and the smile of someone profoundly surprised and a little offended appeared on his face. He clearly objected to Leon's statement, but he didn't want to immediately start something with Alix.

"If Alix doesn't want to come with, you can very well take her place," Leon baited.

"Oh, no, I'm not sitting this out!" Alix shot back as she hopped onto Anzu's back right behind Leon and began to strap herself in and check her bow and quiver.

"I'll… humbly refrain from issuing a challenge, then," Marcus said as his eyes drifted toward Anzu. Leon smiled, knowing that if it didn't mean riding the griffin, Marcus may well have argued that he was the better archer—Leon knew that his skills were nothing to scoff at, but he needed someone who could fly and shoot, and that wasn't Marcus. Maia, on the other hand, stared at him, her face frozen. Leon could feel her dislike for this plan like she was hitting him over the head with it, but he needed her here.

[Just like last time,] he whispered to her. [I need you here. I'm not attacking anyone, but I need to stay in contact with the ship.] [Then stay here,] Maia insisted. [These people have their own scouts. Let them risk themselves. Stay here.] [No can do,] Leon replied. [I can't just sit and wait. I'll be fine, I'll stay near the ship.] Leon could see the muscles in Maia's cheeks flexing as she clenched her jaw several times in frustration.

But she agreed, and Gaius began to hurriedly signal Leon's plan to the command tower. He could fly ahead, marking their path with bright yellow flares, while any hostiles he might see would be marked with red flares. Only a few minutes later, Leon was flying over the broken island, Anzu able to effortlessly carry Leon and Alix through the air. That greater perspective, though, wasn't much greater than from the deck of the ship. The fog was just as thick several hundred feet in the air as it was down below.

It made for a rather unsettling sight, as if just about anything could be hiding within that swirling fog. Still, Leon began to scout out the nearby remnants of the island, getting close enough to visually clear them before Sigebert and the fleet could sail past and possibly spring a trap. This wasn't perfect by any means, as the first island had shown quite well that Jormun had the capacity to hide within rock if he needed to, but it was better than going in blind.

Leon popped off a few yellow flares as he flew, ensuring Sigebert knew which way to go even in this thick fog. About ten minutes after taking off, Leon finally found someone: a single man, crouching near the edge of a cliff, mostly hidden from view by a rocky protuberance from the wall of the cliff. Leon pointed him out to Alix, then fired off a red flare. The man, seeming to realize that he'd been seen, jerked himself away from the edge of the cliff and began to run away.

But he was a fourth-tier mage, he had no chance of escaping from Anzu while the griffin was in the air, and soon enough, Leon had ridden him down. He wasn't even able to fight back before Anzu had knocked him over and held him down with his claws digging into the man's back. Leon lightly leaped down from Anzu's back and strolled over, telling Maia what he found as he did so that she could then tell Gaius, who could then pass it on to Sigebert.

"Who are you?" Leon asked, letting his aura and killing intent soar over the man. The man paled and shivered, but after taking a few deep breaths, he turned his head to look over his shoulder in Leon's direction—just from the way Anzu was restraining him, he couldn't look Leon in the eye.

"I am one of the men who will rule this plane!" he declared, but his voice was strained as he tried and only partially succeeded in drawing in enough breath to get the words out with a griffin standing on his back.

"Funny," Leon drily stated.

"Where's Jormun and the rest of your people?" The man choked out a few chuckles.

"Gone," he sputtered as Anzu shifted his weight.

"My captain has succeeded, Bull Slave. The Great Horned Serpent's release is inevitable, now! Before the week is done, you and your entire Kingdom will drown with its coming!"

"Where have they gone?" Leon asked, his eyes narrowing as his body began to fill with lightning.

"Onward," the man said with a smile of triumph.

"To the end. To the doors of the Great Horned Serpent's cage. There, they will greet our God upon its return, and usher in a new age!" Anzu shrieked threateningly and snapped his beak at the man below his claws, but the man just began to laugh hysterically.

"It's too late!" he shouted in between guffaws.

"You've already lost! It's over!" Leon scowled as he glanced back toward the lake. Another bolt of lightning had fallen into its waves in the exact same spot that the previous two had, and the power in the air he felt was only getting stronger. The storm that had rocked the Isles the day before was only a harbinger of something worse. Another storm was building, and it could quite literally brush all of civilization off the face of Aeterna.

Leon ended the man's laughter with a quick blast of lightning, knocking him out. Sigebert might have a use for him, but Leon was done with his rantings, even as brief as they were. He hauled the man onto Anzu's back, made a quick flight back to Sigebert's flagship to drop him off, and then got back to scouting.

It took only a couple hours for Sigebert's fleet to begin spilling into the lake that had attracted those lightning bolts, and Leon had wasted no time in getting an expedition of marines organized to assault the cave that had been warded against magic senses. It was essentially a long tunnel that bored into one of the larger cliffs that bordered the lake, with a sizable waterway to allow a ship the size of Jormun's to sail through—much like the underground river by the Serpent's temple, Leon noted.

Much like the temple, they found a small harbor and a few tunnels that led to more caves not too far in. Their progress had not been contested even once. It seemed like the man that Leon had taken prisoner was the only living person on the shattered island that wasn't part of their fleet. Not a single pirate was found within the cave, though they found some evidence that it had been inhabited only recently, and that whoever had been here had evacuated rather quickly.

The biggest surprise, however, was in one of the tunnels furthest from the dock. Unlike the rest of the caverns, this one wasn't largely empty save for a few bits of detritus left behind by the evacuated residents, but filled with runic glyphs. Every surface in the cavern had been covered in thousands of deeply-carved runes, spiraling and weaving through each other for some purpose that Leon hadn't been able to immediately discern.

That purpose soon became clear, however, as the runes flashed with light, and another bolt of lightning fell from the sky outside. After not too much longer, Leon was forced to conclude that the prisoner he'd taken hadn't been lying; there was no one here, they'd all moved on. When Leon checked in with the tracking spell, it showed that while they'd reached the lake, Jormun was still further south—probably at one of the last two shattered islands.

'Probably the last one…' Leon thought to himself, though he couldn't be sure, not until they sailed there. With some disappointment, Sigebert ordered the fleet to move on, not wanting to waste any more time on this place. However, before he left, he ordered the Legion engineers to destroy the enchantments that had been left behind, and in the course of collapsing the cave, a discovery was made.

Below the waves, in the very center of the lakebed, were three ships, sunk fairly recently, though likely before the Bull Kingdom's first expedition sent to the Isles more than a year ago. The lightning bolts that periodically fell upon the lake were not doing what lightning usually did and spreading across the surface of the lake, but instead was cutting straight through the water and striking these ships.

Upon closer inspection, it was found that hundreds of bodies filled their hull, and it looked the ships had been burned by something other than the lightning. These bodies had been wrapped and carefully placed, so that ruled out the ships being violently sunk; it seemed clear to Leon that this was just another sacrifice, another blood ritual for Jormun to complete his plan. These ships were old enough that there was still some doubt among others in the fleet, but not in Leon's mind.

There wasn't anything they could do about it, now, though, other than sending down more Legion engineers to shift those ships around and remove the bodies. They couldn't burn too much time on it, though, not with how clear it was becoming how little time they had. They had to catch up to Jormun, and fast.

At Leon's urging, and with vastly fewer complaints than after they'd found Octavius the day before, the fleet moved on, making a beeline for the eighth island, the last of the islands in the chain, the island that had once been the tip of the Serpent's Tail and the last that Penitent had destroyed during his campaign. They'd make a quick pass at the seventh island, but Leon knew they'd not turn up anything.

Jormun was at that last island, and they needed to find him and put an end to this as soon as they possibly could.