The presence of Sergeant Corbin's Royal Guard patrol changed the fundamental nature of their journey. For the first time in months, the Company of the Serpent's Tooth was not alone. They had more food, a surplus of water, and the comforting presence of a dozen disciplined soldiers who looked at them with a mixture of awe and reverence. The constant, grinding fear of being wiped out by a random Ashen attack had lessened, replaced by the heavy, formal weight of their new mission.
From Commander Eva's perspective, the change was a mixed blessing. The physical burden of survival had eased, but the mental burden of command had increased tenfold. She looked at her original company, no longer just a band of survivors, but the strategic pillars of the kingdom's last hope.
Praxus, the Magister, was now their most precious asset, his mind holding the key to their entire ideology of defiance. Finnian, the starless navigator, possessed a skill that could save their entire civilization from isolation. And Hanna, the healer who had brushed against a divine spark, was the living proof that a new power was waiting to be born. The weight of protecting them, of getting them and their knowledge back to Aethelburg, was heavier than any pack or sword.
They rode north, their larger company now making better time. After a week, they left the desolate, rocky borderlands behind and crossed into the southern province of Aethel known as the Sunstone March. It was the domain of the late Duke Gareth.
Eva had expected to feel a sense of relief upon returning to the Heartland. Instead, a cold knot of unease began to form in her stomach. The land was still beautiful, with its rolling hills and golden fields, but the atmosphere was wrong. It was sullen, hostile. The few farmers they saw in the fields would stop their work to stare at their column, their faces not with curiosity, but with a flat, cold resentment. The King's sigil on Sergeant Corbin's banner, a symbol of protection, was now met with glares.
"Commander, be wary here," Corbin warned, riding up beside her. "We've been patrolling this March for a month. The Duke's death has curdled the people's loyalty to the Crown. They whisper that the King is a kinslayer. They see our armor and think of assassins, not guards."
Eva's internal dread sharpened. The political firestorm she had been warned of was now a reality she had to navigate.
Their path took them to a large, walled town that served as the region's trading hub. They needed to pass through it to make good time, but as they approached the gate, it was barred. A contingent of soldiers stood on the parapet, their armor bearing the crest of Duke Gareth's house, not the King's.
Their captain, a man with a hard, bitter face, hailed them from above. "This is the Duke's land. The King's Guard has no authority here. State your purpose or turn back."
"I am Commander Eva of the Aethelburg Wardens," Eva called back, her voice ringing with an authority she did not feel. "I carry a royal decree and travel on a mission of urgent importance to the entire kingdom. We require passage."
"The King's decrees feel very far from here," the captain sneered. "Especially to a people who have just buried their lord."
This was a standoff they could not afford. A skirmish here would ignite the entire province into open rebellion. Eva had to swallow her pride and her authority. She motioned for Corbin to present the King's Signet. The sergeant held up the intricate gold ring, its craftsmanship unmistakable.
"We travel to Aethelburg to prepare for the Council of the Sundered Sky," Eva announced, her voice carrying. "A council to which your new Duke will be summoned. To bar our path is to defy not just our King, but all the leaders of Aethelgard."
The captain on the wall hesitated. To defy a direct summons to a global council was a step too far, even for him. After a long, tense moment, he gave a reluctant, angry grunt. The gates were slowly opened.
As they rode through the town, the hostility was a palpable force. Every face was turned towards them, a sea of silent, accusing eyes. But it was Praxus who noticed the more horrifying detail. On the walls of the buildings, beside the black mourning banners bearing the Duke's crest, were other symbols, painted in crude, fresh strokes: the jagged, black sigil of the Covenanters.
"Eva, look," he whispered, his voice sickened.
She saw it, and the full, brilliant horror of Ouen's strategy became clear. He had not just assassinated a political rival. He had created a martyr and a power vacuum, and his own ideology was now seeping into that vacuum.
"This is his genius," Praxus murmured, his eyes wide with a terrible understanding. "He has murdered the Duke, a man of true, traditional faith. In the chaos that follows, his own monstrous faith merges with the people's grief and their anger at the King. He is turning their piety into a weapon against the Crown."
Eva realized the southern rebellion wasn't just a political problem. It was a fifth column, a backdoor through which Ouen's Covenanters could infest the heart of Aethel.
They left the hostile town behind them as dusk fell, the weight of their new knowledge a heavy burden. The journey to Qar-Teth had been a simple, linear mission against a clear enemy. This journey home, through their own fractured and hostile kingdom, was proving to be a far more complex and dangerous political minefield.
Eva now understood that she had to navigate not just a broken world, but a broken nation, all while protecting the fragile, vital hope that her strange company of heroes represented.
---
The Chronicle of the Fallen
Time Period Covered: Approximately Days 271 through 295 of the Age of Fear
Victims of The Reaping: 8
Victims of the Covenant: 201 (Ouen's missionaries, now working in the open in Zahram and covertly in the Sunstone March, are finding many new converts.)
Deaths from Ashen Attacks: 355
Deaths from Civil Unrest: 41 (Includes skirmishes between the King's patrols and resentful southern lords, as well as Covenanter-instigated assassinations of loyalist officials.)
Total Lives Lost: 605
Of Note Among the Fallen:
— A charismatic young lord in the Sunstone March who spoke out in support of King Valerius, killed by a "stray arrow" during a hunt.
— The last master river-navigator in Verdane, whose knowledge of the ancient waterways was legendary, reaped.