Dungeon 42

Heavenly Body

Chapter 4

Rising from the earth for five stories, the Heaven's Tower was the tallest structure in all of the city of Lithus. Within the blue-grey stone of its walls was a pleasantly buzzing hive of astronomers and omen readers. Yet as the sun was still high, few eyes were turned toward the heavens.

Markus, the apprentice and personal assistant to the great Record Keeper, was one of the few. It wasn't required that anyone sit atop the tower during daylight, but he liked to at least look like he was busy. Laying listlessly on a bench with a book open on his stomach, he contemplated his future.

It was an uncommon line of thought for those residing in Heaven's Tower. As the recorders of the sky and its omens, they were usually concerned with others' futures rather than their own. Most of them didn't know where the great Record Keeper hid his flask or how much dust was on the record book.

The idea of working diligently for decades to wither into a spirits-soaked husk did not suit his personal ambitions. Rubbing his eyes in frustration, he removed his hands just in time to spot something strange. It was a pale but visible streak of green light descending from the heavens.

Sitting up, Markus immediately checked its direction. Once he confirmed it, he ran down the stairs to report the matter. The light had persisted too long to be a minor event, and no comets were due for a hundred years.

"Master! There was an omen!" Marcus shouted with the last of his breath as he reached his master's office. Jolted awake, Corin looked at his apprentice with irritated confusion.

"What!?" He demanded, not having heard the boy properly.

"I saw an omen!" Marcus reiterated. Corin looked at the boy suspiciously but got up to check the seeing pool. It was a large solid stone half-sphere with lines of latitude and longitude carved into it. As he looked inside, an illusion of the sky appeared.

He rolled back the record a few minutes with a gesture until the green streak of light was revealed. It disappeared from the range of the seeing pool's recording but looked intact.

"It's nothing," Corin said grumpily, dismissing the illusion completely.

"Master, it's a weak omen but an omen nonetheless," Marcus insisted with the last of his courage. No matter how experienced his teacher was, they had a clearly defined duty. Neglecting it, even in trivial issues, would only bring them trouble.

"Leave it be," Corin said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Go wash the tower steps to help clear your mind," Corin added. Marcus looked at him with hurt in his muddy brown eyes but did as he was told.

Watching the boy go, Corin felt a moment of guilt, but it passed. He'd be retiring soon and had no interest in being dragged into the brouhaha a new prophecy would stir up. That was the province of younger men who still thought they could change things.

The best he could do was change his state of sobriety when he finally found his flask. The damned thing seemed to have a mind of its own. It always managed to be in a different spot than he remembered leaving it in.

When it finally turned up, it was on top of the pile of correspondence he'd been neglecting. Corin felt his guts constrict; he wouldn't have left it there. Marcus must have found it. The boy must have been the one moving it the entire time.

"Fucking brat..." Corin muttered, throwing the flask across his office. It was pointless, but he couldn't shake the look of disappointment he'd seen. It wasn't the first time the boy had looked at him like that.

Getting out a ledger dusty with disuse, Corin began the process of documenting the omen. As he worked through the calculations, his heart fell, but he kept working. If it came down to it, he could retire early, but it was past time he stopped dishonoring the office.

On the sixth day of Elirin

Record Keeper Corin of Lithus

A green falling star began atmospheric descent at noon. Observer, apprentice Marcus, confirmed via seeing stone. Estimated point of impact, the coral sands of the Malthus desert. The nearest landmark, Lorel mountains.

Not within a currently recognized country. Nearest nations: Kingdom of Dredmar and Kingdom of Stromholt. Falls within borders of the historic nation of Isold, commonly known as the Mage Kingdom.

Meaning undetermined.

As Corin did his job for the first time in months and Marcus prepared to scrub steps, the green light continued its path, passing over land and sea as its arc continued to decay.

Few noticed the pale light in the bright sky. It wasn't until it passed over a column of soldiers that it caught the attention of a pair of blue eyes.

"Elim?" Sergeant Carver asked the young man. He'd approached with a purposeful look only to be distracted by something above.

"Is that a shooting star?" Elim asked in confusion. He'd seen a few at night, but they were minor things and gone in a blink. This one looked different to him, but he couldn't think of anything else to call it.

"Could be a comet..." Sergeant Carver offered after looking up. It was a strange sight in a daylit sky, but he didn't think much of it. He knew a little more about astronomy than most, but not enough to identify whatever they were looking at.

"What did you come over for? Or was that it?" He asked once he lost interest in the streak of light.

"No, Sir, Sergeant. I came because I think we're on the wrong road," Elim explained. He gave a surreptitious glance toward the higher-ranking officers a few yards away. Carver did on reflex as well. Neither one of them was inclined to get near Captain Yonag if they weren't called on first. At least not if it wasn't an emergency.

"Why's that?" Captain Yonag called, diverting his horse over to their side. Both men were startled by how good his hearing was, but didn't say anything. He would have heard it eventually. They just would have preferred to pass it up the chain than report directly.

"I'm on point, Sir. The roads have been getting narrow, and the trees aren't cut back properly," Elim explained. Captain Yonag nodded, then turned to leave without saying anything further. After discussing the matter with the other officers, a break was called.

It wasn't long before scouts were sent out. They returned quickly, confirming Elim's suspicion about the road. The soldiers took it in stride. It wasn't unusual to end up on the wrong route once or twice in the hinterlands. Most were relieved to find out they weren't so off course that the trip would be longer.

The column resumed its travel, but not before a hawk with a message arrived. A search and destroy order for a band of bandits with a longbowman had come. A collective groan was shared by the soldiers on point. It would likely fall to them to carry it out if the targets were discovered along the way.

They were accustomed to dealing with the trouble they found along the way. A search and destroy order was a different matter altogether. It meant they had to pursue the targets if encountered.

"I hope we do cross those bandits, I'm bored to-" Kell, one of the youngest on point, whined, only to be cut off by a punch in the guts. Anders, who'd punched him, and no shortage of others, spat to ward off the unlucky words.

"What!?" Kell demanded, almost breathless from the blow. Anders wasn't a light touch when it came to matters of luck.

"If you jinxed us, I'll punch you in the dick," Elim offered by way of explanation. Kell wasn't new, but this was his first time assigned outside of a fortress's relative safety. He was excited to do something other than walk along a wall. Everyone else just wanted to get home in one piece.

"Oh come on, what's-" Kell started but stopped as Anders held up his fist as a warning.

"Not another fucking word, understood?" Anders growled. Whether he did or not, Kell nodded.

As if some malevolent force had been waiting for an invitation, a horse was heard approaching. Sergeant Carver was riding over with a grim expression. In tow was a soldier on a lighter horse wearing the insignia of the scouts. Seeing the pair, the soldiers on point felt a creeping dread.

A scout wouldn't be needed if the chance of actually coming across the bandits was low. Assigning one was as good as saying the encounter was expected.

"Since the paths are going to turn narrow, we're going to have to lengthen the column. We'll regroup in some farm fields ahead before course-correcting. You lot get to secure the site," Sergeant Carver explained. It was unwelcome but not unexpected news. Kell got some hard looks, but no one moved to hit him again. Not even once Sergeant Carver left.

Doing as they were told, the unit accepted Tiller into their ranks without comment. It was half an hour before the road narrowed to the point where only two horsemen could advance at a time. The column had already reorganized in anticipation, but it still slowed things.

The point team came out of the forest to a cleared field an hour later. It belonged to a modest farm cut into the land and wasn't far from the farmyard itself. With enough space to rally, the only thing left to do was set up a perimeter and wait for the rest of the column to join them.

"You have to be fucking joking," Anders swore as something caught his attention in the distance. Elim looked over and noticed a flurry of activity in the farmyard. It was a little far to make out details but too disorganized to be regular work. Farmers didn't stuff chickens in sacks.

"Do any of them-" Elim started only to fall silent as a pale streak shot through the air. One of the bandits had taken offense at a circling black hawk and fired at it.

"FUCK!" Went up a collective roar of misery. The bandits had condemned themselves and the soldiers to an unavoidable confrontation.

"This is complete bullshit," Anders complained as he glared daggers at the farm.

"Bullshit that's spotted us," Elim observed. For a brief moment, the farm had gone still as someone spotted them, only then to boil once more with activity. They were running for it.

"Tiller takes the lead. You lot, follow him and get to it," Sergeant Carver ordered. He'd arrived along with men to replace them in securing the rally site, which left them no reason to dawdle. Tiller set off immediately, and the rest followed him.

Elim fell in immediately but was glancing at the sky. He was the only one of the group to notice they seemed to be following the path the light in the sky had traced earlier. He considered mentioning it to the others but thought better of it.

They had their orders and couldn't disobey. The only thing he'd get for his troubles was a punch from Anders. Elim could live without that.