Paladin 4: Chapter 18

Cassandra was a handful on her own. Adding in the attention of the rest of his women, even Darren had his hands full. His only reprieve came when Callum finally woke up, recovered at last from his transition to archpaladin.

“Darren! When did we get back to Blackwind? The nurses told me I’ve been asleep here for a week!” Callum asked, voice full of worry.

“You had a reaction to the transition to Archpaladin. How do you feel?”

“Good. Very good, actually! I feel strong.” Callum curled his hand into a fist, thrusting it in the air. Wind whooshed through the room around him with the blow. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t think I can stand to look at that bed another minute, knowing how long I spent in it.”

“How about a flying lesson?” Darren asked.

“I already know how to fly, Darren.” Callum rolled his eyes.

“But now you’ve got wings. Come on, everyone’s waiting.”

Cassandra had gotten dressed for the first time in weeks to watch Callum fly. Morgana, Sasha, and Asuriel hadn’t been quite that bad, but they showed up as well, all eager to help Darren teach Callum. All of them had fond — or embarrassing — memories of their first flight, and they wanted to be present for Callum’s.

Unfortunately for them, Callum had already been flying for quite some time, thanks to his flight skill, so he took to the air like he’d been flying all the while.

“Not bad,” Callum said as he flapped his wings. They were a ruddy brown, like weathered bronze. While the feathers of Darren’s wings reflected the sins of those who gazed upon them, Callum’s wings bore shimmering images of his every battle. Darren saw his own figure flicker in the background more than once before Callum figured out how to dull the images. “These wings will make maneuvering in the air a lot easier! My flight skill is more like having an invisible hand surrounding my entire body that picks me up and moves me around, depending on what I’m thinking. It’s good for some things, but I can’t really do graceful swooping curves like you and Asuriel.”

“Boo! Fly without your skill!” Morgana yelled from the ground. “We wanted to see you crash!”

Callum chuckled. “Alright then, challenge accepted.”

Darren could sense the moment Callum deactivated his flight ability. He was bold enough to do it in the air, far from the ground. Being that far from the ground would have been terrifying for most humans, but Callum’s flight skill had long since eroded any semblance of fear he might once have had for heights. He plummeted downward, spreading his wings to slow himself. He spent the first few seconds tumbling, but quickly caught his balance. By the time he touched the ground, he was gliding gracefully.

“Lame...” Morgana muttered.

“I know. I really thought we were going to see him plant his face in the mud...” Asuriel sighed.

“Well done, Callum!” Sasha clapped politely.

Cassandra nodded along. “You’re pretty good at that, nephew! You should take that special lady of yours on a flight! It’s quite romantic...”

That, more than anything, set Callum’s cheeks to blushing. “You knew about that?”

“We all do!” Morgana laughed. “Now we’re betting on whether you have other sweethearts you’re hiding away from us!”

Callum ran his fingers through his hair, face red. “I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the man Darren is. Lady Turiel is woman enough for me.”

“Aww...” Morgana pouted. “That’s no fun. You’ll change your mind someday. If not, we’ll convince you!”

“Yeah!” Asuriel shouted. “We’ve got the Prime Saint of Corruption on our side! You’ll be surrounded by a bevy of beauties whether you like it or not!” She clapped an arm around Ashe’s waist and pulled her close.

That was the first time Ashe and Callum met, so another round of introductions was in order. Callum took the news that Ashe was the reformed Asmoth’Koteth surprisingly well, considering he’d almost died fighting her cult less than a year prior.

“Well, if Darren says you’re better now, then you’re better now.” Callum shook Ashe’s hand, and she returned the gesture.

The look of relief on Ashe’s face was palpable. Callum was the last member of Darren’s inner circle she’d been worried about. Now that he’d accepted her, she could lay her worries to rest at last.

“Thank you, Callum. I look forward to getting to know you,” Ashe nodded her head gracefully, for once looking like the ex-Prime Saint she was.

Callum spent the rest of the afternoon accepting every challenge Morgana and Asuriel could throw at him. The two were desperate to see Callum fall, and they’d nearly gotten him a few times. But he’d practiced his flight skill extensively, so he already had a very good idea about what it was like to fly. Darren figured he’d have to upgrade that skill for Callum one of these days. He was curious just what could become of it if it were enhanced once more.

But the fact that he couldn’t guess probably meant he didn’t yet know enough about Divine Aura to make it happen, so he left that mystery for another day. He did help Callum with some of his other skills though, as well as aid the rest of his companions.

Days turned to weeks, and with the quiet, Darren’s anticipation grew. He didn’t know what he was waiting for, just that he would have to be ready.

He was keeping a careful eye on Whiteguard, and he tried sneaking one of his clone bodies past the border. But the moment he did so, he felt a deep agonizing pain in his soul, like an invisible knife rested right on the border, and the moment Darren crossed over his clone would be separated from him. Darren didn't know if the clone body would survive the process or not, but he feared that Kalaziel had installed these defenses especially for him. What would happen if Kalaziel got his hands on one of his living clone bodies?

In the end, the risk was too great, and he had to rely on more traditional means of figuring out what was going on.

Thalia had reformed the Blackwind Empire’s military as requested. Individually, the units weren’t as strong as the warriors from Limedeep, even those without sigils. Darren’s brutal training regimen ensured that every fighter who carried his banner was a monster who could send demons scurrying away with terror.

But that wasn’t the way of the army that had conquered far and wide across the Sacred Seas, building the largest single nation in the area and forging it from dozens of smaller kingdoms and disparate groups. The soldiers of the Blackwind Empire fought less as lone warriors and more as a cohesive unit.

They formed shield and spear walls, marching in unison to the beat of a single drum. When a commander called for the archers to fire, a rain of arrows came hurtling down all at once. When a commander called for a charge, the first two lines of warriors would run forth in unison. Their unity and coordination were a wonder to behold.

But most impressive of all was their supply lines. Darren learned more than he thought there was to know about getting spear points and biscuits from forges and farms all the way to the front lines. It was a skill Darren never needed to learn, thanks to his infinite Inventory, but it was one that was immensely important since even he couldn’t be everywhere.

“Distribute these bags of holding,” Darren said to the generals of the Blackwind Empire’s armies. “They will help with the logistics thing.”

“But sire! These bags of holding are each worth a fortune. Are you sure you want to spare so many?” A general asked with shock on his face.

Truthfully, Darren had hundreds of these bags of holding, thanks to his adventures in the Seven Hells. He knew they were valuable since the demons cherished them so much. Otherwise, why would so many demons lords be carrying them when he killed them?

“I’m sure.” After all, Darren had a lot more where those came from.

After speaking with the generals, Darren headed to the fields to train his own battalion of men. While the ways of the Blackwind Empire were fine for most of the army, he still wanted to have a small group of elite forces he could select new sigil-wielders from.

He’d expected maybe a dozen volunteers at most, but when Empress Thalia put out the word that her husband was forming a personal elite unit, the volunteers numbered in the thousands. There were so many that Darren had to form several units and pass them on to some of his followers from Limedeep.

He didn’t go too crazy with training these soldiers this time. They weren’t sigil-wielders, so they could only be expected to endure so much.

“Sir! We’re reporting for today’s training!” A young man said. He reminded Darren of Mimmons, who died when Limedeep’s walls fell. His brother Simmons joined Limedeep’s guard to honor his brother’s memory.

“Good. Today will be easier than yesterday. We will practice underwater knife fighting against live targets. I’ve captured several demons for you.” The scenario Darren planned to run the men through was fairly simple. He’d tie one of their legs to an anchor and toss them into the sea to be surrounded by fourth-order demons. The soldiers merely had to hack their way through the chains wrapped around their legs, fend off the demons trying to eat them, climb aboard the nearby ship, and then sail to shore without being spotted by the battalion of archers who were helping out by running through some scouting drills.

“Yes, sir!” the young man replied. The rest of the soldiers looked skeptical, but they wouldn’t still be in this program if they were the type to back out. Darren would make real warriors of them yet.

That was the first of several days of drills for them. The next day he had them sneak into the city wearing the armor of clothes of Whiteguard, then secretly lower the gate off schedule so another battalion of men in fake Whiteguard armor could march right in. Much to the chagrin of the city guard, they actually succeeded. The training exercise put a spotlight on several areas where the city guard had grown complacent as of late and even highlighted a few cases of corruption where guards on the payroll were still receiving pay, despite not having shown up to work for years.

With personal attention from Thalia and Cassandra on the topic, the issue was quickly cleared up. As were a dozen other issues in other branches of the army without Darren even needing to point them out. He made his will known. Blackwind’s army was to be a well-honed tool, and those getting in the way of that goal would be in serious trouble, for he wasn’t an arbiter they could influence with bribes or their family background.

Dozens of captains were proven unfit for command due to buying their position with bribes, and they were either demoted or dismissed. But hundreds of promising soldiers who’d had their careers suppressed because of a lack of connections and influence rose through the ranks with remarkable speed, thanks to how much the army was growing by the day. For most, it was a good day to be in the forces.

More than sneaking into the city to open the gates or learning to fight giant lobster demons underwater, Darren’s favorite drill involved throwing his trainees out of the sky to land deep in enemy territory. He couldn’t put them in his Inventory, but it turned out he could put them in Dagon’s Scale, another dimensional storage item he’d gotten during his adventures in the Fifth Hell.

The soldiers jumped out one after another. Since they didn’t have wings, they had to hold on to woven bags of cloth to slow their fall. It seemed like a downright terrifying experience to most, but a few of the men had started to enjoy it. Darren was thinking that this drill might have even more combat applications than underwater knife fighting. He could imagine the damage a squadron of elite warriors dropped behind the lines in Whiteguard could do.

And as the days wore on, he was growing more and more tempted to do just that.

***

“Darren, that’s a brilliant idea!” Callum slapped his thigh and grinned. “I’ll do it.”

“Callum, no! It sounds incredibly dangerous,” Cassandra said.

“That’s why Darren’s not coming with me.” Callum nodded in Darren’s direction. “If it’s a trap, it’ll be sprung on me instead of Darren. Then you guys will know what it is and can come to rescue me without worry!”

“It might work,” Darren muttered.

“Not you too, Darren...” Cassandra pouted. “We’re perfectly safe sticking to our side of the border. By all accounts, Whiteguard is locked down tight. None of Thalia’s spies have gotten back to her, and not a single one of my merchant company’s inquiries has received a reply. Truthfully, I’m offended. Those were some very lucrative trade deals I was offering!”

“They must have their reasons,” Callum insisted. “And if I go there with Darren’s elite fighters, we can get eyes on the place.”

“They will sense your power,” Darren warned.

“Well, that’ll be what the soldiers are for. You’ve been training them for infiltration stuff. I’ll just be their transportation in and out and emergency backup in case things go south. Most likely, all I’ll do is a bit of flying in and out. Your specially trained elite forces will do most of the groundwork. And they’re all regular humans, so they’ll blend in fine.” Callum flashed a confident grin.

“It could work.” Darren stroked his chin.

Across the table, Sasha nodded her head as well. “Half of tactics is knowing what your enemy is doing. If we can’t even do that, we don’t know how to prepare properly.”

Thalia sighed. “And so far, my more traditional methods of peering into Whiteguard’s secrets have proven entirely futile.”

“I think it sounds like fun!” Asuriel thrust her fist into the air. “I’d go with you, but I’d be spotted. Kalaziel’s forces might overlook a human archpaladin, but a fifth-order seraph flying through Whiteguard would raise every alarm they have.”

“Then it’s settled!” Callum stood. “Darren, if you would?”

Darren tossed him Dagon’s Scale, and Callum grinned. The mission was approved.

That afternoon, Darren told his trainees that it was time for their first assignment. At the end of the week, they’d be leaving for Whiteguard. Callum’s mission would coincide with a religious holiday that wasn’t too popular in the Blackwind Empire but was practically a way of life in Whiteguard. There would be drinking, festivals, and religious ceremonies all over the country, which meant a few Blackwind elite soldiers in disguise would hopefully go unnoticed.

They had a week to make preparations and wish their loved one’s goodbye. Darren didn’t hide the fact that this would be a dangerous mission with little margin for error, and if things went sideways, the odds were that not all of them would make it back alive. He promised that any who died would have their families taken care of, and that was enough for everyone who signed on. They’d known this was coming from the moment they joined Darren’s special forces.

Surprisingly, Morgana, of all people, had the most to teach Darren’s forces when they were preparing for their mission.

“Listen up, maggots!” Morgana yelled. She giggled under her breath, turning to Darren with a whisper. “I always wanted to say that.”

He held in a snort of laughter and urged her to continue.

“I’m going to teach you how to sneak into a settlement without being noticed and how to pick up valuable intelligence just by standing around and listening. We’re also going to go over how to disguise your accent and hash out a few good cover stories for why you’re in town for the holidays. By the time we’re done, the locals will be inviting you into their homes with free beer!”

Morgana knew a lot about sneaking around while not looking too out of place. Her lectures were a lot less physically demanding than Darren’s, which was probably a good thing, since they needed to be in top form for their mission.

The week passed swiftly, and soon they were loading up into the pocket space inside Dagon’s Scale, which Callum hung around his neck.

“Good luck.” Darren shook Callum’s hand as he sealed the pocket dimension and took to the skies. “We will follow you to the border.”

As tensions with Whiteguard increased and the Blackwind Empire restored order, Thalia had ordered several temporary wooden fortresses constructed along likely invasion routes from Whiteguard. He’d flown by them several times for regular inspections and to drop off more resources. He’d even helped out with construction a few times. One swing of his sword could fell a tree, and he could move the entire trunk into position in a matter of moments, so part of the reason there were so many fortresses established so quickly was due to his own personal efforts.

Callum waved as Darren veered off course, settling down on the ramparts of the nearest wooden castle. The soldiers guarding their position greeted him with salutes of respect and words of admiration. When he first started showing up at these border fortresses, they’d been either terrified or in awe, but his continued presence and a few reminders had gotten them to where they stayed standing and went back to their duties relatively quickly.

Darren kept his eyes trained on Callum’s back. With all the common-grade vision-enhancing skills he’d picked up and combined, his eyesight made the keenest of eagles green with envy. The new telescope that Thalia was so proud of was of little use to him when he could do just as well without it. No doubt she was watching Callum from afar as well.

There were only a few true forests in Whiteguard, all of them carefully managed. Their lands were undoubtedly the best settled of the Sacred Seas, and many claimed they were the first territories settled by humans. Others said it was simply their high population density that ensured all territories were put to full use. Whiteguard’s villages would be considered towns in most other nations, and the pastures and farms of one settlement frequently butted right up against those of their neighbors.

The lack of wilderness meant there was nothing to block Darren’s line of sight until Callum dipped low. They picked a town far enough from the border with the Blackwind Empire that the locals wouldn’t be too suspicious of infiltrators. And between his flight skill and his new wings, Callum made it there quickly.

Darren let out the breath he’d been holding all the while. He’d been waiting for a dozen fifth-order seraphim to pop down from the sky or hidden among the wandering farmland cows to attack Callum all at once. He’d half expected he’d need to race over and recover Callum’s corpse for later resurrection.

But the mission went off without a hitch. He saw Callum open Dagon’s Scale just outside the settlement, and Darren’s elite forces drifted down with silk sheets outstretched to slow their fall.

They touched down on the road, already wearing their disguises. They separated from Callum after a few brief words exchanged and went on their way. For his part, Callum settled down to wait, but not before flashing Darren a smile and a big thumbs up.

Darren returned the gesture, though he knew Callum couldn’t see him. Callum’s senses were keener than a normal human’s, but to him, Darren would still just be a distant speck on the horizon. He’d be lucky to make out the castle Darren was standing on.

And so Darren waited on that castle rampart. The sun rose, and Callum had to retract his wings and conceal himself as a simple traveler pacing back and forth along the cobblestone road. He was wearing armor recovered from one of the Whiteguard paladin zombies in Eastwood, so while he would still draw attention, he would blend in more than an unmarked paladin would. There was no hiding his large and sculpted physique, so there weren’t any other options for him. It was the reason why he wasn’t following the others into town. He’d draw too much attention no matter what he did.

Morning turned to afternoon and then to evening.

When night fell, Callum waited for the elite troops to return for their ride home, where they’d rendezvous with Darren and tell him what they had learned.

But they never made the return journey. Callum waited well into the night, and soon it was closer to dawn than dusk.

“Come on, Callum. Return.” Darren was waiting for Callum to fly back whether he could recover the soldiers or not. But, of course, Callum had other ideas. Darren could only sigh, for he knew he would do the same thing in Callum’s position.

Callum set a course for the settlement. He was going to take a look himself. Darren followed him all the way to the town gates, which were still open from the previous day. A walled city like this one usually locked up at night, but perhaps the countryside of Whiteguard was safe enough to leave the doors wide open.

Unlike the rest of the Sacred Seas, Whiteguard never had to deal with constant demon attacks. Perhaps that was why they had so many more people than neighboring nations. They’d faced the same threats of cultists and portals to the Seven Hells that everyone else struggled with, but their strong attachment to the Golden Temple had given them a martial culture that encouraged the best sons and daughters of their kingdom to train as paladins, not just the wayward second or third children of noble lines. Completing quests for their sigils was practically a way of life for them. Though there were many things about Whiteguard that had caused trouble for the rest of the Sacred Seas, Darren had to admire that, at least.

Callum entered the town without issue or challenge from the guards. And that was the last Darren saw of him.

Darren tried looking through Callum's sigil, but the same issue that caused interference with his clone bodies was interrupting his connection to Callum's sigil. The connection was there, but it was like looking through a pool of muddy water. He knew Callum was still alive, but not much else.

He waited until dawn, and still, there was no sign of Callum.

Face grim, Darren eyed the settlement from afar. Not a soul stood on those walls. In fact, the entire countryside seemed eerily quiet, if not for the animals.

Darren came to a decision. He turned. The commander of the castle stood nearby, ready to receive orders all the while.

“We now have no other options. Prepare your forces to march into Whiteguard.”


<Note>

Sorry for the delay! Things have been a bit hectic for me, and I don't have as much of a backlog to preschedule chapters weeks ahead of time right now. I had to edit this one like an hour before posting, which delayed the usual release by a bit! Once writing starts going smoothly again I will be able to schedule them further in advance and nail the usual release time exactly.