Together, Jentt, Stran, and the guards from the wall cleared away the dirt to expose a tangle of burnt bones and scorched metal—a fused-together mass made of the unnatural bodies of his constructs.
“He didn’t lie,” Stran said, shock in his voice.
But... he couldn’t have told the truth. Could he? He had to have a nefarious plan. Jentt refused to believe his murderer could be reformed. There had to be another explanation.
“He could have sacrificed these soldiers to hide the fact that the rest of his army lives,” Jentt said, but the words rang hollow. As mangled as they were, it was impossible to count the number of undead soldiers in this sunken tunnel, but given the size of the tangled mass... It would have been hundreds.
To destroy so many...
It was possible that Eklor had herded all his soldiers into one tunnel to crush and burn them—certainly that’s what thiswas supposed to look like, and he’d specifically said he’d gathered them before crushing them. But it was also possible that he’d only destroyed a portion of his forces. After all, the other tunnels had been empty.
“This could be a decoy,” Jentt said. “To throw us off the scent.”
“Then let’s find the scent,” Stran said.
They spent several hours with lanterns combing the area, looking for evidence of which way any potential remaining army could have marched—without luck. If Eklor had found another way out with any additional soldiers, he’d destroyed all trace of it.
Returning to the guards, Jentt and Stran found them piling the burnt bones of Vosian soldiers into the newly dug pits. They’d left the mangled mass of undead soldiers where it had been found and marked off the area with flags.
Under his breath, Stran said, “We proved the opposite of what we came here to prove.”
“Looks like we did,” Jentt said. Certainly the guards would testify that Eklor’s army had been destroyed, exactly as Eklor had claimed. Grand Master Lorn would feel even more justified in his trust of Eklor. Still...
He wished it were possible to tell exactly how many had been destroyed here. Was it truly hundreds in that mangled mass? Or was it a much smaller number?
“There has to be something we’re missing,” Jentt said. “I can’t believe he’s reformed.”
“The ache in my shoulder says he hasn’t,” Stran agreed.
This was a setback, though, undeniably. “Maybe Zera will have uncovered some useful information.” She was supposed to be looking into possible ways Eklor could be blackmailing the grand master.
“Kreya will have a plan,” Stran said, certainty in his voice.
“She will,” Jentt agreed. “And this time, we all survive. Together.” He clasped his hand on Stran’s shoulder. “Consider that a promise.”
Zera plopped onto the couch in the room she’d given to Kreya. Her many silk scarves fluffed out around her, and her jewelry clinked like wind chimes. She’d been to seven parties in six hours, and if she ever saw another rare, exotic shrimp wrapped in rare, exotic antelope steak, she might vomit all over someone’s rare, exotic rugs. “It’s his son,” she said.
Frowning in concentration at a bone she was affixing to a new cat-size mechanized construct, Kreya didn’t glance up. “Who?”
“He’s ten years old, and his name is Yarri. Cute as a fat rabbit. He likes to play ring ball, or whatever that ridiculous sport is called, you know, the one with the targets on sticks... Anyway, everyone agrees that he’s a bright, charming, and delectable child, and isn’t it so sad that he is oh-so-very sick.”
Kreya put down the construct. She twisted in her chair. “Grand Master Lorn has a child.”
“A very sick child. A few people I talked to believed he might already be dead, but they hadn’t been invited to view the pyre, so that was roundly dismissed as gossip.”
“Shit.”
“Yep.” Zera liked that she didn’t have to spell it out to Kreya.
Stretching her arms up, Zera felt the ache in her back ease. She twisted her torso and then her neck, rolling it around in a circle. Grand Master Lorn had a son who was likely to die. If Eklor had convinced Lorn that he’d conquered death—and the very fact that he was alive was convincing proof of that—itwould explain why Lorn was committed to protecting him. But it didn’t explain what Eklor wanted in exchange for a promise to save Lorn’s son. Or what Eklor’s plan was in lieu of saving the boy.
She didn’t for a second believe he planned to help anyone, least of all the son of his enemy.
We need proof that his army exists,Zera thought.If we can’t prove Eklor has nefarious plans, then Lorn will never believe us over hope for his son.
Without proof... all they had was their paranoid suspicions about Eklor. And a reason to distrust Grand Master Lorn. “Any word from Jentt and Stran?”
“Not yet.”
