XXIV.
In the end, it had been quite a simple matter of obtaining transport to Rooskeld. They did not even have to ask for guidance, as, before they neared the caravan market within Westgate, dozens of drivers yelled out destinations and fares. A few of the more cunning caravanners yelled out to the crowds of prospective passengers with foreboding warnings of staying in such a dangerous city as what Helmsgarten had beco.
Ride to Rooskeld! Ride to Rooskeld! Escape the danger and worry of the big city! Only forty-two Novarins!
It was not long before Jakob, Heskel, and undead Sig were seated within the tight stow of a wooden carriage. Rusted tal strips were secured carelessly with thin nails to the wooden fra, giving off the impression of structural stability, though Jakob knew it would not hold against even modest winds, let alone provide any aningful cover should they co under attack during transit. The canopy was likewise not in the greatest shape, but their trip would only last a day and a half at most, so he did not care. Besides, having lived in the frigid sewers made even such shoddy transport seem like overindulgent luxury to him.
A few other passengers had been about to board, when they saw the trio and promptly left to find a different carriage. The driver glared daggers at them, until Heskel, with a nudge from Jakob, handed him the paynt for their trip: a golden orb that had once been an eyeball. Afterwards, they were treated like royalty, though the driver still waited around a while longer, perhaps hoping so senseless passengers would board regardless.
Waste ti, grumbled Heskel.
Sig stared blankly into the air, as though a puppet with her strings cut. Jakob was looking at her, once again satisfied with himself at how he had reduced such a proud heretic to this, and did not bother respond to his impatient Lifeward. At last he had found a punishnt for her Eyeless faith that he thought fitting.
Then Sig turned her black-eyed head slowly to look out the opening at the back of the carriage. The sudden animation surprised Jakob and he followed her gaze despite himself, managing to catch the exact mont a passenger boarded.
A ruffled bush of crimson hair was the first thing that caught his attention, then he recognised the face and the dimpled smile, but he quickly rose from his seat when he noticed the eyes that mirrored Sigs own.
Jakobwe et again
Guillau. What are you doing here?
I was drawnto her
You want her for your collection?
yes
The way the body of the Daemons puppet stood completely motionless, his mouth and eyes not moving a hairs breadth when he spoke. The way he was so clearly just a facsimile of the living. It unnerved Jakob no small amount. Heskel quickly got in front of him, misunderstanding the situation.
I have forgotten to introduce you, Jakob said flatly. Heskel, you may treat him as a neutral party, for now. Guillau is an Undying Daemon whose service I summoned, on behalf of the Crown, to return to them an inconsequential Prince.
Heskel looked wrongfooted by this and only relaxed his threatening posture slightly. Why help?
They would have slain if I refused. Besides, I deed it a decent way to get them off our backs, though it seed not to have lasted long
the Princenow a Kingit has been amusingto watch
Why are you here?
when I sensed Herwhen I saw your Divine WorkI felt myself drawnto youonce again
Mister, are you getting on or not?? asked the driver from behind Guillau suddenly.
He is with , Jakob answered the man.
Very well, get seated, well be leaving shortly.
As the driver went around the carriage and hopped into his seat up front, Jakob returned to his seat and Guillau sat opposite Sig. Heskel however remained standing. It was strange to see him so disard and unsure.
Heskel, sit down.
The Wight grunted disobediently, but Jakob quickly tightened the leash to quash his mutiny in its infancy.
Now.
Heskel grumbled but sat down, so that he faced both Jakob and Guillau from the side. Monts later, the carriage took off, bumbling across the paved streets of Westgate.
Why are you being so difficult?
Suffer not the Daemons, for they lack the sensible restraints of True Demons.
we have a similarsayingabout humans Guillau remarked.
You may quote Grandfather as much as you desire, but would that he had entreated with a Daemon such as Guillau and perhaps he would not have been buried within the bowels of the city to save his own life.
Heskel was struck mute by this degrading reduction of his Master and Creator. In the end, he had no retort however, as Jakob spoke only the truth.
Decades prior, Grandfather had fought the Crown and lost. In the final fight, he had suffered trendously, leading him down a desperate path to prolong his own life and stave off the encroaching shadow of Death. Jakob was not simply made an apprentice to ensure the Old Spiders legacy and craft lived on, no, he was Grandfathers last hope: a hope of salvation from the limbo he had ensured on himself. But there was doubtlessly little about his self-induced internt that Jakob could fix, after all, Grandfather himself could not solve his conundrum and he wielded an arsenal of magic far greater than Jakob and was possessed of a cunning and intellect unmatched in all of the world.
But it was clear that he was slipping, given how irresponsible and unhinged his behaviour had beco when he learnt of the tos Jakob had obtained. Sothing that Grandfather had never said, but which Jakob had learnt, was that he valued freedom above all else; above knowledge, power, and even the reverence for the Great Ones. He wished to obtain the ability to leave his laboratorium and survive, but it seed such would never co to pass.
Though Grandfather would not reveal which Great One he had prayed to, begged to, sacrificed to, and supplicated before, in order to obtain salvation, Jakob had a fairly good idea. He had prayed and a Great One had responded, but the salvation ca in the form of a Faustian Bargain, one so devious that no one but the Flayed Lady could have devised it.
Grandfather had been saved from what to all mortals was inevitable, but, he could never leave his laboratorium. Within the narrow space where Jakob had been summoned so many years ago, his ntor existed, never straying beyond its stone walls. He lived vicariously through his servants, chiras, monsters, and his apprentice.
One ti, Jakob was unsure when, the Old Spider had tried to leave, believing his internnt a ntal one made to fool him, but the mont he crossed the boundary, half his body turned to ash, thus reducing him to the husk he now was.
And Heskel knew this truth well. He had to have seen through the veneer of his Creator. He had to have seen the whimpering and pathetic old man who hid there, hoping that creating monsters would protect him from the one monster all n fear.
Guillau, Jakob started. If you agree to aid , you may have Sig.
what aid do youseek
We are summoning Nharlla.
There was a pause before the petrified undead facsimile responded, but then it ca, building like encroaching thunder in the dark, a drawn-out and maniacal laughter.
I will aid youif I get to witness Nharlladescend to this mortal plane
Jakob smiled beneath his scent-mask. It seed that he needed not have been so cautious of the Daemon.
You revere the Great Ones?
they are the primogenitorsof us all
Jakob nodded enthusiastically. Indeed.
you must knowI will dedicate myselffully to aiding you
Thats good.
to that endI will inform you thatthe King seeks your imprisonnt
I am aware, Jakob replied indifferently.
Heskel looked between them uneasily. Jakob knew he must have guessed as much already, but the confirmation was no doubt still troubling to him. Particularly given the fact they had already succeeded once.
I will utilise myother vesselsto stall them
You can consciously operate more than one of your corpse puppets? Jakob asked, the prospect seed impossible to him, but then he also did not know the limits of the Daemons powers. After all, despite Demons and Daemons following prescribed formulas, in terms of power and temperant, they yet retained manifold quirks and powers that oftentis were unique to the individual creature.
yesI currently possess eighteenmy power multiplies with their numbers
It was little wonder that an Undying Daemon could decimate a nation in days if allowed to run rampant, Jakob considered darkly.
Will they notice the absence of one?
due to my gripon the lifeof their Kingthey allow muchfreedom
And they cannot track you?
no
Very well. We are going to Rooskeld, a township to the west where we hope to find one of the Tolls of the summoning rite.
may I seethe instructions
No, Heskel replied adamantly. He was clutching the Tungsten Scroll jealously, as though begging the Daemon to take it from him.
Guillau. You may be an ally, but you have not earnt that right. Talk is talk, and though your kin are not known to boldly lie, there are things we cannot trust you with, even if we bind you with a thousand contracts and oaths.
I understandI simply desire to witnessthe Avatar of a Great One
The child-like sincerity of the Daemons desire made Jakob grin deviously beneath his mask as an idea ford in his mind. Through the opening at the back of the carriage, he saw the gate that Westgate was nad after shrink into the horizon.
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