The Third Kingdom

The glowing spirit leaned toward him. “Now that I am risen from the dead, and my spirit has joined us here, is there really any purpose for an abbot who schemes behind your back with occult conjuring of his own? For an abbot who has designs on your rule?

“What possible service could he provide you that would be worth the risk?” He gestured behind. “You have all you need to carry out any order. These half people and all the dead you can use are yours to command. You will have the world kneeling at your feet, begging to do your bidding. Why tolerate a potential threat from within?” He smiled again. “Why worry about a knife in your back?”

“Why indeed,” Hannis Arc said through gritted teeth.

He had always thought of Ludwig Dreier as a loyal subject with no interest other than to assist his master. He had thought him a man without any personal designs on ruling anything more than his abbey.

Hannis Arc was furious to learn that after giving Ludwig Dreier his position and trusting him with responsibilities such as going to the People’s Palace in his place and with speaking to leaders of other lands, the man would scheme to usurp rule. Hannis Arc wondered just how much his abbot had already done to undermine him.

Dark thoughts of what he wanted to do to Ludwig Dreier drifted through his mind. He reminded himself that it was still possible that it wasn’t true. Sulachan could be wrong.

But what difference did it make? Ludwig Dreier wasn’t needed any longer, and Sulachan was right that it made sense to eliminate the threat, or the potential for it to become one.

The spirit king gestured back to the legions of half people blanketing the landscape, moving like a silent shadow on their march.

“For your purpose, you don’t need all of these here with us. Having most of them with us is more than enough. Once we get to where we’re going, we will raise all the dead we need from the catacombs, the crypts, tombs, and graves. We will have all the dead we could ever need to accomplish what you wish to accomplish. It is impossible for such a force to be disloyal. You shall have a virtually endless army that will follow your commands without question or delay. You will rule without opposition.”

Hannis Arc glanced back at the half people amassed behind.

“Besides sending some behind to feast on the captives, we should send others to the abbey.”

The spirit king nodded. “So be it.” He turned a little and lifted a hand, using two fingers to summon a contingent of the half people to receive their orders.

Hannis Arc knew from experience that they would be only too eager to be let off their leash to hunt the abbey, as well as feed on the captives down in the caves.

The risen spirit king was proving to be useful beyond Hannis Arc’s wildest imagination. He had never before had the companionship of such an equal in determination, purpose, and ruthlessness.

Soon, they would shape the world to their will.

CHAPTER

72

Richard paced the length of his cell, going back and forth in the light from the soft green luminescence of the veil over the opening where he had come in. He could do nothing other than pace in frustration.

When Vika had taken him to the cell after they had cut him and used his blood to resurrect Emperor Sulachan, Richard had asked her what they were going to do with him. She had smiled in that profoundly disturbing way that only a Mord-Sith could and told him that she would be spending time with him while the others would likely be given to the half people, who were eager to devour them for their souls.

He supposed that after that, the unholy half dead would be coming for him as well. He had imagined it a thousand times over, and then another thousand. He had tried to come up with some way he might escape once they lifted the veil and came for him. He could think of nothing that had even the remotest chance to work. He knew that they would flood in and overwhelm him.

He was beyond distressed and upset waiting for the unknown. He wanted out. If he was going to die, he at least wished he could somehow recover his sword and die fighting. Better that than the end they had planned for him.

If he could get to his sword, he might be able to at least kill the newly risen dead king. He thought that, if he could get to his sword, he might even have a chance to kill Hannis Arc. He spent a lot of time trying to decide which one he would rather kill, if he could only kill one. Without his gift working, at least with his sword he wouldn’t die helpless.

But he couldn’t do anything—including trying to get to his sword—unless he could find a way to get out of the prison cell. He had thought for a time that maybe Vika would choose to help him, in some little way, at least. But he had not seen her since she had left him after the ceremony.