Chapter VII

Despite the condition of his expedition co-leader, and the undoubted sorrow he felt, even towards a man he had only known a short time, Edric knew that the work to be done on the expedition’s preparation was far from over. In fact, they had planned to leave in only one more week, and with the now-presumed loss of one of the expedition’s leaders, and his replacement by his no-doubt capable, but inexperienced pupil left Edric questioning, not for the first time, their possibility of success. Not only had they lost one of the most powerful sages in southern Menatir, they also lost their only guide to Guun-gehad and, almost more importantly, through Pasrial. 

Now, he reasoned, Philippe could take Laurence’s volumes of notes and writings on the area along with him, and give them a fighting chance, but even Laurence had privately confessed doubt in his, or anyone’s, ability to consistently navigate through the ever-changing magical land or the labyrinthine city.

Regardless of Edric’s doubts, Gallad had ordered the continuance of the expedition and their quest, reasoning that Laurence would still have wanted them to complete it and rid Menatir of whatever evil lay there.

“On the upside,” he thought to himself, “provisions have already been secured and accounted for, and we now don’t have an extra mouth to account for, still only five.”

The decision to add Philippe to the party had been a last second decision by Laurence, and while Edric would have liked more forewarning before adding another member to their expedition, and thereby more supply considerations, he could hardly fault the man from wanting to bring his protégé on such a momentous journey. If Edric had had a sufficiently trained and gifted pupil of his own, as Philippe was, then he himself surely would have brought his own apprentice along on the journey, so he did not truly mind Laurence inviting his.

Laurence and Edric had not yet fully agreed upon the final route to take to Guun-gehad, but he knew Laurence had been looking over maps and likely working on possible routes when he had collapsed, as Edric had seen some of them on the floor of the study when he had found Laurence there. Edric resolved to go back to study and see if Laurence had left any notes on a possible finalized route, or at least formulate his own best guess as to what had been Laurence’s possible thought process on the matter.

Winding his way through the castle towards the exit, Edric took careful note of its ornate fixtures, tapestries, paintings, and even the precision stonework that added to the beauty and craftsmanship of such a magnificent piece of architecture and masonry. He committed as much of the castle’s appearance to memory, because as he saw it, he had to prepare for the possibility that this might be one of the last times that he would ever lay eyes on it or the city of Ethril. If that were so, he wanted to remember as much as he could, so that when the time came his last thoughts could be of home and the kingdom and city he loved so much, and would have given everything for.

Finally, Edric made it to the castle’s main courtyard. While not visible, the sounds of clashing wood and shouting voices told him that the Royal Bodyguards were training nearby, likely in the small training yard behind the barracks. Despite this, everything else in the castle and its courtyard was quiet, and so he didn’t so much as pause before exiting through the castle’s gateway. He made his way through the streets of the Rosewood District, which held Castle Carneath, the Royal University, both the Bankers’ and Merchants’ Guilds, as well as many of Ethril’s wealthiest aristocrats and nobility, though at this time of year many of them had retreated to their summer villas and estates to better endure southern Menatir’s Summer heat than they would in the city.

Because of the more elite nature of the Rosewood District’s residents, being that they were generally the most powerful people in all of Arden, let alone Ethril itself, it was usually quieter and less crowded and busy than elsewhere in the city, however the last three kings of Arden had prided themselves on their accessibility to the common populace. Because of this, more commoners were seen walking the streets, marveling at the grand manors and townhouses of the wealthy and powerful, than would otherwise be found in the capitals of other kingdoms and realms. Today, however, no commoners walked the streets, and the whole of the district appeared to be abandoned and lifeless. After Laurence’s collapse and deterioration, the king in his grief had ordered the district closed to the populace to properly mourn, and Edric guessed that this would likely remain the case until Laurence recovered or, as was more likely to happen, he died.

This meant that outside of the occasional bird song, rustling of cloths in the breeze, and the sound of his boots on the cobbled street, Edric’s walk to the Royal University was nearly silent, allowing him to exist in his thoughts and simply enjoy the warm summer morning just after sunrise, before the sun began baking the city in its unrelenting heat.

“I’d better get used to it,” he thought to himself, “all the hottest days of the hottest summers are going to pale in comparison to crossing the Maraban.”

Crossing the desert would be a bit of a misnomer. Neither Edric nor Laurence had actually planned on setting out into the Maraban’s dry sands to cut straight across it, even if it would have been the most direct way, since that would just invite disaster for their food and water supplies. Instead, the party would be hugging the rim of the desert, along the Asfarid Mountains that bounded it to the west, where sources of drinking water and possibly even small settlements would be found to help keep the party’s supplies restocked. After all, the Jade Corridor was a well traveled trade route, and most people, especially merchants, didn’t take routes that were needlessly dangerous, preferring to mitigate risk with reward, so both Edric and Laurence had been confident that the corridor was the best way to cross and otherwise deadly obstacle, but even in the foothills of the mountains, the desert was still liable to be hot, dry, and miserable.

Edric did find it rather odd that Laurence and he had planned out so much of the latter portions of their journey, but had not really discussed their initial steps as heavily, at least together. Given the number of maps of southern Menatir found around where Laurence had collapsed, Edric was certain that’s what he had been planning before his illness, and Edric himself had been looking over similar maps just days before, planning on discussing it with Laurence later that same day. Edric had planned a route that would try to avert as much as possible the looming Maverian-Tahnian War by cutting through the Kingdom of Anull, then attempting to cross Tahne undetected to reach the outskirts of the Gallangir Forest along their northern border. He had assumed that crossing Maveria through the plains that ran through Arden and Maveria’s border would be suicide, as they would be caught out in the open by either kingdom’s soldiers and either robbed, ransomed, murdered, or some combination thereof.

“Of course, there is always the most direct route,” he thought to himself, “passing up through Gaulstone path and right along Maveria’s and Tahne’s frontiers.”

The thought of such a course of action almost made Edric laugh. It would be even more suicidal than crossing the eastern plains, as the full might of both kingdoms would be crashing through the frontier. And yet, it was the shortest route to Gallangir by far, shaving days or even weeks off of their journey, if only they could remain hidden from the watchful eyes of both armies. Not an easy feat, to be certain, but the foothills, valleys, and forests that ran through the frontier offered more protection and hiding spots than the plains, and would be much less populated than the route through Anull and Tahne, lessening their chance of detection or rumors being passed of a secretive, heavily armed Ardenese group seen traveling north. He would simply have to see what Laurence’s notes said, if he had left any, of which route he preferred.

The rest of the journey would be much simpler after that, simply going north and west to reach the Sea of Jade and cross the narrow strait between the continent of Menatir and Gashir, the land where Pasrial and Guun-gehad lay. Of course, there would still be the concern of replenishing their rations and the constant threat of bandits and wildlife along the road, but reports from Edric’s spies all agreed that there was currently peace in the northern and western kingdoms, with no indications of tensions like the ones brewing in the south.

Whether Gashir was simply an island, or a massive continent like Menatir was unknown to nearly every scholar, despite the relatively short distance between the two lands over water. If one strayed too far from the Straits of Hungal and attempted to sail the coasts of Gashir, they quickly found the seas to be unnaturally rough, with violent, raging storms commonly appearing out of a clear sky, and attempts at navigation became exceedingly difficult. Even the stars seemed to shift position from night to night, making navigation using star charts almost impossible. Factor in Pasrial’s magical nature making land exploration impossible, and Gashir remained an unexplored, and therefore extremely mysterious land, shrouded in myths and legends about what manners of creature, treasures, and wonders lay hidden there, just waiting to be uncovered after centuries or even millennia of isolation.

Edric snapped out of his thoughts as he realized he was standing in front of the Royal University, already having passed through the empty district. The doors that normally barred its gated courtyard were open, but two members of the Royal Guard stood at either side. However, recognizing the seal of the Inquisition on his brooch, neither guard stopped him nor questioned him, instead both stared rigidly ahead, almost as if they ignored his presence out of fear. Edric passed through the gate and into the inner courtyard, bustling with Sage Novitiates who walked in small groups and who, when they noticed his presence, looked at him and began whispering to themselves. 

He simply sighed and shook his head and kept walking towards the door leading into the west-most building. He understood why the Inquisition was feared. They themselves actually encouraged it as an organization, as it made investigations easier with their reputation and the mystery surrounding the organization meaning that most witnesses cooperated readily out of fear, even if most Inquisitors had no stomach for torturing or murdering anyone, let alone innocent peasants whose only crime was witnessing the horror of something unnatural. However, despite understanding why the Inquisition cultivated its aura of mystery and the fear towards it, Edric had to admit he sometimes wished he could avoid the looks and whispers when out in public. But at the end of the day, nothing about either his nor the Inquisition’s reputation mattered except for the fact that they were effective, and Ardel’s best line of defense against all things evil, unnatural, or unexplainable.

At long last, Edric stood outside the university’s main building, the Hall of Achievement, where the studies of the most senior Sages and largest libraries on campus lay, including Laurence’s private study. There, he hoped, he would find the final answers and plans of Laurence before he and the other four set off to uncover and eliminate whatever threat Laurence claims to have foreseen. Without a pause in his step, he opened the hall’s door, and went inside.