Chapter 388

Tenjo Tenghe, Heaven & Earth, concealed a frown behind a mask. The white tendrils of cloth that were perpetually wrapped around his forearms were dyed gray, while his red clothing was dyed the color of charcoal. His green hair pressed flat against his head beneath a helmet that was almost skin tight.

The unfamiliar route set the fine hairs on his body to standing on end. 'Danger… you'd think I'd be used to it by now.' He rebuked himself for the feeling of being cowardly as he ran after the others. His primary weapons, his fists, were clenched white knuckle tight and the fingers cracked with anticipation of violence.

The green grass swayed in the breeze, the trees did the same, and it was easy… so easy, to forget where they were. 'None of the others seem to feel this way, so why me? What's wrong with me? Why am I the one who is afraid?' The monk class fighter asked himself and stared intently at the back of the Divine Chant, she moved with the lithe grace of an elf ranger or assassin, one could forget that she was a magic caster of great power. Ahead over her was the loping pace of the third seat, the man who shouldn't be. A full blown Surshana worshiper who blended necromancy with the healing arts to create horrible deaths or almost godlike miracles on the battlefield. His purple robes dark enough that they needed no dye to visually obscure, he easily kept up the running pace, keeping his long wooden staff secured to his back as he raced ahead.

'I wouldn't feel this way if we were taking the usual route.' Tenjo told himself the lie, knowing it was a lie, but it was so comforting to the tension in his body that he kept telling himself the same thing and the land changed around them, open field to forest and back again, in any other circumstances he might have called this place beautiful.

But somewhere ahead… 'Who knows what these animals have done to the Captain! Have they tortured him? Healing magic hides wounds easily enough? Who knows what a traitor to humanity might do to a champion of it? Even if we rescue him, will he ever be the man he was, again?' Tenjo's recollection of the man came fast as their sprint, his charming, boyish smile, always whimsical, even playful.

Like he'd never lost the boy in himself when he'd become a man, last to volunteer for work, but the first to jump in to protect his friends, and first to celebrate them all making it back alive… 'A man like that doesn't rise to the top for nothing…' Tenjo could practically feel the hearty clap on his shoulder, and the squeeze that would catch the eyes of Heaven and Earth, the little nod of reassurance that came without words. 'It will be fine.' He seemed to say.

And Tenjo's heart burned with fury at the ones who took his Captain away… and at himself, for daring to think of himself. 'How could you? How can you think of yourself at a time like this, how can you think of turning back now…?' He hated those impulses, and judged himself guilty for having them. In the courtroom of his heart, Heaven and Earth cast on himself a judgment of 'guilty' and sentenced him to death by rescue. 'Rescue him or don't come back… that is all there is to it!' He resolved just as they broke out of the trees. Their next waypoint was close.

The distant Peace Trees were in view, and the burial mound of an ancient orc before it, the swaying of the trees were like beckoning hands, calling the Black Scripture to safety in a place that even today, few demihumans lived. 'But if we don't bring down Tovijar and the Kingdom of Demalbion, how long will that be the case? How long before they put up a wall of their own and forts to support it and sneaking over the border will be impossible?' The thought came to Tenjo late, 'The others probably already thought of it… that's probably why the Captain was sent to kill the Queen of Frost… and of course I'm the last to wonder… always the last…' He closed his eyes and clenched his already tight fists, tighter.

"Come on!" Alain said and stood outside the entrance of the burial mound. His right arm raised and finger pointed within, "Get inside, we can rest for the night."

The column slowed to a walk at last, Tenjo didn't need to look at Alain to know that their titular leader in the absence of the Captain would be the last one to enter. He wouldn't go in until the others did. 'At least I'm safe for the night.' Tenjo told himself when Alain followed behind him, watching for danger at their backs, and with his own selfish thought came a wave of loathing that remained with Heaven and Earth long after he stretched out amidst his comrades and stared up at the dirt roof meant to shelter the dead. It kept him awake and wide eyed and staring at nothing well after the rest of his friends began to snore.

So he was the first to respond when the shrill whistle and thunderous shout reached them all.

"Alright, come out and surrender, and you'll all stay alive!"

It was a woman's voice, clearly, but Tenjo knew right away that she wasn't alone.

He jumped to his feet and struck a combat pose with right foot back and his fists raised, one forward ready to block, one back and ready to strike. The others were rising to their feet, they were crowded in the little 'safe house' combat was all but impossible. They'd just get in each other's way.

Cedran jumped to the entrance and lay his shield in the way to block any incoming fire while those with longer weapons rushed to flank him, their magic casters went to the back of the formation, and Tenjo looked all over the ancient burial sight as if he'd never seen it before, searching for a way out.

'We could blow it up, I think. But if we did that we'd hurt each other a hell of a lot and then where would we be? We're trapped like rats!' Tenjo cursed himself and his situation, he cursed the Theocracy cardinals for their short sighted decisions… his eyes and head darting everywhere even down to his feet as if the world might open up and swallow them all… but no one spoke except for the one outside.

"We know who you are, you're the Black Scripture. And you're here to take back Captain Cenna Tachoni… and I'm afraid I can't bring myself to let you have him. Surrender and come out, and I personally guarantee your lives!" The woman's voice called out again.

"Who are you that we should surrender? Your mother should surrender!" Alain shouted into the dark corridor that led out to their unknown adversary. It was a play for time while his casters sought some magical solution, and a lame one, but it brought an unexpected response.

"I'm the Queen of Frost, Neia Baraja, and with me now is your comrade, Cenna Tachoni. Along with us are the most powerful demihumans in my Kingdom, you are surrounded on all sides, there is no escape, and I'm trying really hard not to kill you. Please, in his name, give yourselves up." Neia shouted within.

"Bullshit! How do we know he's with you!" Alain retorted and waved his hands up and down to still the bustle of dismayed voices from the other Scripture members.

"Because I'm talking to you, Alain! How's that for an answer! Come on out and give yourselves up, it'll be fine, I promise!" Cenna's voice came to them as a light in the darkness, and no amount of shushing gestures or noises could calm the team down.

"Don't worry! We're here to save you! We're going to find some way out of this… we're the Black Scripture, damn it! We won't fall to some ugly monster turncoat!" Cedran shouted down the hall.

"I'll thank you not to call my fiance ugly, you muscle headed mountain with mush for brains!" Cenna shouted back.

"Fiance?!" The burial mound shook with the force of their shouts and a cascade of dirt granules rained down on them all.

"It's a long story!" Cenna shouted back defensively. "Listen, I'm going to come in, we have to talk face to face. Just me! No one else!" He shouted back, "Everything will be alright as long as you don't lose your heads!"

"The hell you are! They'll kill you!" Neia shouted at him, certain that they heard her and not caring either way. She put her hands on his shoulders, her eyes wide and wild, "They can call me whatever they want! I don't care! You walked away from everything for me! Who knows what they'll do to you if you do convince them you're telling the truth!"

Her eyes were typically narrow, vicious looking, soft gazes and lingering devoted looks were all but beyond the fierce dragonid that looked up at him with wild urgency, her claws digging into his shoulders would have ripped a normal man to shreds, but to him they could not have been a more welcome touch.

"Neia." Cenna said and gently grabbed her wrists, drawing them away from their hold over his body, he shook his head. "They're trapped. Every spell they can use can only hurt themselves worse than anyone we send in. The hill is surrounded, and I'm Cenna, one of the strongest men in the world. Strongest of the Black Scripture's regular seats. Plus they're my comrades, I can talk them down… just trust me."

Neia relaxed, but only for a moment, she whirled on the entrance and bellowed within, "Saving your hides is my wedding gift to Cenna! If there's no wedding… there's no wedding gift!"

The dismay within that her words caused, made it impossible to understand what any within were actually saying, but doubt and disbelief were evident enough.

Cenna vanished into the long curved tunnel and Neia raised her hand to hold it beside her head, "I hate to deprive you of glory, my followers… but those who stand and wait, serve me just as much as those who lead the charge. I will never forget who came to me today. Never." Neia vowed as her eyes welled up.

"Send the message to Nazarick, if the Allfather's subordinates are as loyal as I think, we'll have just the right backup to ensure everything runs smoothly." The Frost Queen gave the order without hesitation, and behind her she could hear the noise of the scroll burning up.

The 'gate' spell was as impressive as she expected. The whorling vortex of energy and darkness, a beautiful and impossible sight, instant travel greater than any teleport magic her education informed her of. 'If this were used for armies… logistics would never be a problem again. There'd be no point in worrying about supply lines, your warehouse would be as close to the battlefield as anywhere.' The implications of that spell were not lost on her, 'If we'd continued to fight him, how long would we have lasted with just this spell alone at his disposal?' His withholding it as a trump card revealed more about the nature of the Allfather than she previously knew, and Neia's estimation of him as a King went up. 'Revealing it now that we are growing closer as nations friendly to demihumans was the right call too. Using it to help us now that we know he could have used it to hurt us and held back instead?'

The more she learned of the Allfather, the more she found his thoughts aligned with hers, as did his approach to international relations… he wanted to build. And as they were both building nations, it only made sense that they would be natural allies.

'So, whom did Lord Demiurge recommend, I wonder?' Neia pondered the question with detached mental curiosity even as her heart ran a marathon in her breast as if it were racing toward her throat. 'I negotiated for the best, so what will that get me?'

A young girl, no older than thirteen or fourteen from the look of her, stepped into view at the top of the burial mound. As young girl's went, she was quite out of the ordinary, pale skin and eyes that could only have been vampiric, clad in thick blood red armor and bearing a long strange looking lance with a bulbous crystal just above the grip.

"Hello." She gave a polite wave of her lance, "I am Shalltear Bloodfallen. The Allfather said there was a bargain struck for quite a rare prize. Now, what am I to do to gain My Lord's praise?" She asked, she could already feel the warmth of Lord Ainz's hand on her head.

"If no one emerges from there," Neia pointed to the mound entrance, "in the next few minutes on my signal you're to capture everyone alive. If you can."

Shalltear cocked her head to one side, at first she was expecting an undead, but down below, she could feel the living even through so many feet of earth, and the vibrations caused by the shouting was tingling at her skin even within her heavy armor. 'How interesting… and ironic.' She thought and then turned her lance down to stick the point into the earth.

"At your signal, then." She said and waved her hand dismissively before resting it on her hip. 'Lord Ainz is sure to praise me after this… but what in the world could Demiurge want with that one?' She pondered as she looked down at the hybrid of dragon and human that stared intently into the darkness, her heart bursting within a cool frame, her blood racing in an unmoving body… 'Oh well, it doesn't matter. As long as Lord Ainz pats my head and praises me, I'd bring Demiurge anything he likes.'