Chapter 116: Digging up the Past
Simon did some further exploring on the deeper level of the tomb. He found a few inscriptions that talked about holding back the tide, and one said they would rise again to once more protect their homeland if it was ever threatened again. Unfortunately, there was no indication as to what they’d actually fought or what conditions would make them rise again.
It was clear to him, that whoever had buried these men had thought they were heroes, not villains. But if they were heroes, then why would they reek of unclean magics? Simon wondered. Was it that everyone thought that they were the hero in these sorts of situations, or was there another purpose?
In desperation to find out more, he used the lesser word of earth a few times to try to make the rusted-out shields give up more secrets. He found a few coats of arms that way and some inscriptions to specific knights, but there were no clues as to what terrible magic animated these corpses.
He sealed up the tomb just the way he’d found it when he left, and he walked back to the half-abandoned city of Kawsburl. They were no more helpful than before, and by the time he’d finished his second round of investigation that afternoon, he decided it was best to leave.
Normally he would have stayed one more night at the inn. A few coppers for a bed and a hot meal beat the hell out of shivering beneath the open sky. There was something here that made him think it was time to leave, though. It was like the opposite of the times he’d stayed in the first inn and the old woman had seen some darkness about him.
Though he couldn’t actually see any sort of miasma, he could feel it. The locals had a secret to keep or an axe to grind, and since he didn’t want this run to end prematurely, he left before someone decided he shouldn’t be allowed to.
That night he made camp well off the game trail he was following, and a little past midnight, he heard riders and saw torches. They didn’t see him, either on the ride down or back, but only because he’d expected this.
Simon considered stopping them and questioning them forcefully as to what they were up to but decided against it. That wasn’t because he was concerned about the morality of killing people who were obviously trying to kill him. It was because the temptation to drain their strength and make it his own was much too great.
He’d largely recovered from his earlier weakness, but the urge to do something terrible remained even after his lassitude had faded. Maybe if it had been goblins or a terrifying wild beast like a wyvern or a griffon, he could have justified it, but people… It was a bridge too far for him in his current state of mind.