Chapter 72: Ulrich Vance (2)
When the order finally came for Encrid to appear at the Lord Commander’s office, he knew that his plan had worked.
He had never been foolish enough to leave a dangerous book inside an unlocked drawer by accident, and although he had allowed himself to wonder whether someone might discover it before Vess did, he had always known that Vess was clever enough to notice the book, curious enough to read it, and responsible enough to take it directly to the Lord Commander.
That had been the entire purpose of leaving it there.
Encrid had needed a reason to meet the man who commanded the Wall, but he could not simply ask for an audience with him, and so he had created a problem that would force the two of them into the same room.
He climbed the eastern stairs slowly, counting each step as he went, partly because counting gave his mind something to focus on and partly because he wanted to know exactly how many steps separated the ordinary world below from the room where the most powerful man on the Wall spent his days.
There were two hundred and six steps in total, and by the time Encrid reached the top, he had already gone over every possible version of the conversation in his head.
He knocked once before entering, and when he stepped inside, he immediately saw the man waiting for him.
Ulrich Vance, Lord Commander of the Wall, stood beside the long map that covered almost the entire wall of the room.
He was an older man, but there was nothing weak or fragile about him. His hair had gone almost completely grey, and his face carried the deep lines of someone who had spent decades living in cold weather and making decisions that other people were allowed to survive only because he had made them correctly.
His clothing was plain enough that Encrid would not have looked twice at him in a crowded corridor, but the moment Encrid stepped into the room, he understood that appearance had very little to do with the man’s presence.
Encrid instinctively used Appraisal.
[ Name: ??? ]
[ Age: ??? ]
[ Realm: ??? ]
[ Star Level: ??? ]
[ Talent: ??? ]
[ Condition: ??? ]
As expected, nothing useful came back.
Encrid had expected that result, but seeing it directly still made him more cautious. He stopped using the skill and studied Ulrich with his own eyes instead.
Ulrich Vance was an old man, but there was nothing weak about him.
The Lord Commander was not especially large, nor did he carry himself like a warrior trying to intimidate someone. There was no obvious threat in his posture, and yet the room felt heavy the moment Encrid entered it. The pressure was not physical, but it was strong enough that Encrid became painfully aware of every movement he made, from the way he stood to the way he breathed.
Encrid had felt something similar only once before.
From his father.
That comparison made Encrid look at Ulrich more carefully.
A man capable of producing that kind of pressure was not someone who had simply grown old while sitting behind a desk. There had to be a reason he had ended up at the Wall, and there had to be an even greater reason he had remained there for so many years.
Ulrich looked at him for several moments before finally speaking, and the first thing Encrid noticed was that the Lord Commander did not bother with the usual formalities.
"Sit."
Encrid sat.
Ulrich remained standing.
That small difference immediately established the balance between them.
"Do you know why I called you here?"
"Because of that book," Encrid said, looking at the book purposefully kept visible on his desk.
Ulrich’s expression did not change.
"Good. Then we can save some time."
He walked toward the table and placed one hand on the book.
"Do you know what this is?"
"A costing document."
"No."
Ulrich opened the book.
"This is a document written by a nobleman who has been on my Wall for four months, in his own hand, without anyone asking him to write it, and it assumes that the Wall will one day fall."
Encrid remained silent.
Ulrich continued.
"Do you know what the Empire calls such a document?"
He paused and let Encrid understand the situation. "A defeatist document."
He closed the book again.
"There is a procedure for documents like this. If I sent this to the capital with a report saying that a young nobleman stationed on the Wall had spent his nights planning for its destruction, you would probably never see the south of the span again."
He paused.
"Neither would Steward Vess."
Encrid’s expression remained calm, although his stomach had tightened.
Ulrich noticed.
"You’re nervous."
"Yes."
That answer seemed to amuse him. A small smile appeared on his face.
"Good. I was beginning to wonder whether you were an idiot."
Encrid allowed himself a faint smile.
"I have been called worse, Lord Commander."
Ulrich gave a quiet laugh.
"That is also good."
The next moment, the smile disappeared from Ulrich’s face.
The room became completely still for a second.
Then he looked directly at Encrid, and the amusement that had been in his eyes only moments earlier was gone. What remained was something far heavier, something that made the air in the room feel as though it had suddenly grown colder.
"Now tell me why you wrote it."
Encrid took a slow breath before answering.
"Because I believe the Wall can fall."
His eyes narrowed, and the pressure that had been hanging quietly in the room suddenly became overwhelming.
It was no longer the controlled presence of a commander examining a young clerk. It was anger.
Real anger.
The stone beneath Encrid’s feet seemed to become heavier as Ulrich’s presence filled the room. For the first time since entering the Commander’s office, Encrid understood that the pressure he had felt earlier had not been the full extent of the man’s strength. Ulrich had been restraining it.
Now, for just a moment, he stopped doing so.
The Lord Commander had stood on this Wall for thirty-eight years.
For thirty-eight years, he had watched the Great Green beyond the stone, listened to the sounds that came from it, buried men who had died defending the Wall, and stood between everything behind him and everything that lived beyond it. The Wall was not simply a fortress to him. It was the thing he had spent most of his life protecting.
And this young man had just looked him in the eyes and calmly said that it could fall.
Ulrich’s hand tightened against the edge of the table.
"You believe the Wall can fall?"
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