"Oh, Avarice, thou art truly despicable in thy nature. Lo, thou doth burden the weak, enrich the strong, and cast down the hopes of those who would seek to live plainly. Hast thou not had thine fill of dreams, nor thy tastes altered throughout thine covetous existence?" she began to read, tracing along the text with her index finger.
"Nay, I say. For I have seen with mine own eyes the quarrels unjust thou hast wrought upon the land, and I would seek to bring thine existence to an end; an abrupt and decisive victory for those whom thou hast serpented underneath. Verily, I challenge thee to grind thine teeth against mine bones until the last river hath run dry and the final realm been conquered, for thou shalt see that I am not yet defeated, even in death," she continued, exchanging a momentary glance with Anwill, who merely shrugged.
"For heavy is the hand that beareth the Ring. Through it, great suffering may be borne when in the hands of the self-serving. Be thou warned, O' Bearer Mine: The Heart of Benevolence hath never forgotten the Cry of the Voiceless, but therein it awaiteth to be acknowledged by its savior," she concluded, taking a step away from the scrolls with her eyes widened.
The two stood in silence momentarily, desperately trying to digest what Aurae had just finished reading. "What is that supposed to mean? What is this Cry of the Voiceless?" Anwill asked, but Aurae seemed lost in thought. She stepped back from the scrolls and began to pace, crossing her arms and tapping her chin with her index finger.
"If there is something that powerful hidden within the depths of the artifact, then it's only a matter of time before they try to take it again. The question is: Why would they need it? What could it be used for?" she asked, but Anwill could only shrug in response.
"I-I don't know. I, for one, have never heard of that, let alone what it might be capable of," he replied, prompting her to elicit a sigh.
"We need to speak with my father as soon as possible. Maybe he can answer some of the questions we have," she suggested, starting to gather the scrolls and tuck each one beneath her arm. "For all our sakes, I hope you're right," Anwill said, helping her to gather the last few scrolls and following her lead out of the Antiquary.
Meanwhile, in Odensby, Taegin, Ardrin, and Thorn's arrival was not met with the same nervousness as before. In fact, they were hailed as heroes as they passed beneath the gate, rather than unknown visitors.
A fact Ardrin struggled to get used to, though he never admitted it openly.
Since their arrival a few days prior, they'd noticed a large influx of merchants and onlookers wherever they went. While it was nice to see Odensby thriving, the newcomers almost certainly got in the way of their tour.
"These walls are nearly twice as thick as those of Coltend Castle. They should be able to withstand almost any onslaught of creatures, though it's the gates we should be worrying about," Trina said as they walked down the main street, pointing out toward the gate while the others and Anders followed behind.
"I doubt whatever new threats are coming our way will be met with much challenge to break these down," Ardrin said, putting a finger on his chin pensively, which caused the others to look at him with concern.
"W-What do you mean? Are you saying there are creatures that could?" Anders asked, eliciting a scoff from Ardrin. "I guarantee it. We will need to fortify them with mana if we hope to survive a level and quantity of beasts not even I've been able to muster," he replied, shifting his line of sight from one part of the wall to the next as innumerable considerations ran through his mind.
Has he been able to muster a horde before? That sounds a lot… like… Anders' mind ground to a halt, a sense of both fear and awe wracking him to his core. N-No, that's impossible. Why would he be helping us? I must be mistaken, he thought with a shake of his head.
"You aren't," Taegin said, having understood where Anders' mind had gone. "Y-You can't be serious! He's the…?" halting the moment Ardrin turned to face him. "If my brother has already confirmed your conjecture, then why bother asking the same question again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow that made Anders' mouth move without emitting a sound.
"I-I was just confused, is all. After all this time, I didn't know that you were behind the letters and the strange creatures from back then," he finally managed to respond. "Then what of it? I am here to assist, not to conquer. Besides, I already got what I needed from your takeover," Ardrin said, taking a step forward.
Please don't kill him, brother, Taegin mentally sighed.
"A-And what might that be?" Anders asked, a hint of nervousness forcing him to take a step back. "I needed someone who knew this town inside and out, one who would die if it meant they could defend their homeland. It seems I made a good choice, after all," Ardrin began with a smirk, allowing Anders to take a sigh of relief.
"Besides, there is something here that I doubt any of you were aware of, but I needed that idiot of a king to be removed before I could do anything about it," Ardrin continued, prompting his brother to curl an eyebrow. "You mean the relay?" Taegin asked with a sly grin that caused Ardrin to stare at him curiously.
"How did you…?" he began, but Taegin raised a hand. "I've known about it since my fight with the Mother Ochelon. How do you think she'd grown so large? She was feeding on animals that had ingested plants that were all but pickled in mana," Taegin shrugged, making Trina's eyes widen.
"Th-That makes a lot of sense to me now, but how did you know it was a relay?" she asked with unbridled curiosity. "I didn't know what it was until you know who told us about them. I pieced it together later on, of course, but I am curious to see if it's still there," Taegin replied, looking off somewhere into the distance.
"Well, in that case, what can we do in the meantime? Are there any means of protection you would recommend?" Anders asked with no small amount of humility, prompting Ardrin to turn to him.
"Have your druids reinforce the walls with as much stone as they can manage. In the meantime, I will head to Valdis to gather my forces," he said plainly, which prompted Anders to look at him with concern.
He means to use the same horde as he did when he attacked Coltend, but now he wants to use it for defense? Fy faen, I don't know if I can trust that, Anders thought in what he hoped was the privacy of his own mind.
I did what I had to do. If you only knew the horrors coming our way, and the things we have all had to do to reach this pivotal moment, you would bite down on your own tongue in shame, Ardrin scowled, using his mana to burrow deep into Anders' mind.
"I-I'm sorry. I meant no offense," he replied with widened eyes, but his attention was immediately shifted to Trina, who understood his thoughts with a single glance and gave him a solemn nod.
"If Taegin trusts him, then I do as well. They would not have come all this way if they didn't have a good reason to. I know it may be difficult to do so after Unni's betrayal, but you must trust me. More importantly, you should trust them," she said, gesturing with her eyes toward the brothers.
And so my fate is in the hands of others once more, Anders mentally sighed.
"Very well. I will have my druids follow your instructions, and while I don't fully understand the so-called relay, I will leave it to your better judgment, Master Taegin. Thorn, would you mind assisting my druids?" he asked.
"Of course. After all, I was beginning to wonder if I should perhaps help train some of your men, as well," Thorn replied with a smirk. "Wonderful. I'll see to it that you have everything you need," Anders extended a hand for Thorn to shake hesitantly.
See? That wasn't so hard, was it, brother? Taegin sent him with a wink, prompting his mood to lighten a little more, though he only verbally replied with a huff.