Mist clings low over the road, swallowing sound. The horses’ hooves make dull thuds in the packed dirt, and every breath comes with a hint of cold damp. The drops of mist make drops on Alexis’ hat that never seem to actually fall.
After a stretch of silence, Alexis speaks to Ca’armine—low enough that the words barely rise over the muffled creak of leather and the steady rhythm of hooves.
“Since we left the ferryman, I’ve been thinking.”
He turns his head just enough for Ca’armine to hear him clearly. “You said you didn’t want to interfere with Raiden’s plan for Morwraith to be undead.” Alexis’s tone isn’t challenging, just curious—careful, like a man testing thin ice. “But it was my understanding that all the gods stand against the undead. The mantle”—he jerks his chin toward Gustav—“makes it pretty clear how Raiden feels about undeath.”
Alexis turns the Collegium ring around his finger. “I’m not sure Raiden made Morwraith what he is.”
He glances sidelong at Ca’armine, waiting a beat for a reply. When none comes, Alexis adjusts his hat and looks forward again, pace unbroken. The road bends into deeper mist.
Ca’armine pauses to consider his words. “Sometimes I will tell you that Raiden spoke to me or gave me a vision. When I say that, it is true– and I am not saying that now. Raiden did not speak to me.
However, Raiden is the power that guides my wisdom and intuition. The wrong-ness of Mowraith, was palpable to me. A powerful undead creature, tasked with a purpose. Was that purpose, to pole the boat? To lure travelers? To communicate specifically with us? Or was it some other purpose beyond what we could see?
I sensed that he did have a purpose, and I sensed that he was not going to harm us if we did not engage him. This created a difficult choice. Attack a creature– undead and evil to be sure– who was not a threat to us?
Our battle with Verisimus helped me to clarify that, in my opinion, the team should not be exposing itself to unnecessary risk. Our survival is indispensable for our mission. We could not avoid the battle with Verisimus and his team, they were chasing us– but to attack Mowraith we would have been taking up a potentially deadly battle that could have been avoided.
If you had said you wanted me to attack the undead, I would have done it– but so long as it was not required of us, I felt it was safer for us to avoid a potentially costly battle, that was not necessary in the moment.
Time has passed and the group is looking out at the flooded village. The fog rolls thick over the drowned village, buildings half-sunken, roofs jutting like broken teeth from the water. The horses stand still, breath drifting white in the cold air. Alexis rests one hand on the flank of a horse and studies the flooded remains, eyes narrowed.
He speaks without looking away.
“Been turning something over,” he says. “Morwraith. I keep wondering how long he served Raiden… or how long he’s been on this river.” He adjusts the brim of his hat, the mist beading on the edge. “At first, I figured he was a recent arrival in all this. But from where?”
His gaze moves across the waterlogged rooftops.
“But with the mist… the way the dead hang on here… I’m feeling more confident he’s arrived with the rest of the undead. And maybe he goes back to whatever broke this place.”
He rolls the Collegium ring once with his thumb.
“He might’ve been from here,” Alexis says, voice low. “Someone who lived in this village before it drowned. Perhaps their ferryman decades ago.”
Alexis lets the thought sit with the mist.
Ca’armine hangs his head. “There is a great deal of evil in the world, terrible things done by blackhearts, to the innocent. Can we fix all of that? No we cannot.
If we come upon the undead army, we will have to do our best to defeat them, or- more likely- die trying. Preventing ourselves from joining them, will be our greater worry!
But I think we should not seek out the undead army, as frightening as they seem. We have a mission that is special to us, because most people do not know that the Dark Hand has subverted the king and the Raidensblud. Most people believe that those institutions are good, not evil. We have to attack the heart of that perversion, because we are the ones who kno.
Every living human, would know to resist the undead army. Maybe they do not know how? Even I would have a difficult time baring steel against the undead, since I am not carrying a magical weapon any longer. Maybe the humans will be destroyed in this land, I don’t know.
But my faith tells me that following our purpose is the greater calling, and I hope that in doing so, we may undermine and weaken other evil forces in the world.
Once Bandesingh’s plans are thwarted, and the Dark Hand exposed, and Aedelfred freed from subjugation, and the Raidensblud reformed– once that purpose has been fulfilled– I will go with you to destroy the undead army.
I mean, after we go get the sword for the Warder!”
Suddenly Ca’armine bursts out laughing! Alexis is taken aback, and looks at him. “I’m sorry, I know we’re contemplating dark thoughts, but when I think of the path in front of us, the difficulty of the tasks we are undertaking, it seems… well, ridiculous to think we will prevail!” He laughs again. “Oh, it is so funny to me! I’m insisting that we are morally bound to take on this overwhelming challenge, one that is very likely to result in our miserable death! All around us, death and dismemberment. And here I am saying, “let’s be prudent and pick our battles!” He laughs harder, shaking his head.