Chapter 45: The barrier
73 0 5
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Karl Lambert had left him the cemetery to work with, and so Edwin made good use of it. All the lingering souls in the cemetery were woven into a barrier that crisscrossed Duria.

Should people see it, they will go into a panic. It was a malevolent thing, that barrier. But he kept it invisible and silent. He rested on a grave. A blanket under him was keeping him warm, and Hadrian next to him was keeping him from darker thoughts.

“And then I said: Maybe I stole it, maybe I didn’t! Where is your proof? And the lady threw me out of the castle like I was a dirty puppy. She didn’t even check in my boot!” Laughed Hadrian and he wiggled his foot.

“And how did you go around with a statuette in your boot?” Edwin’s curiosity was having the best of him. Hadrian’s stories were each more outlandish than the last.

“It was this big,” said Hadrian, holding his two fingers about a centimeter apart from each other. “I walked wrong for weeks. You see, I decided to get to the forest and away from the archers’ shooting range before I took it out.”

“A statuette out of an opal. Do you still have it?” Edwin expected Hadrian to rummage in his pocket and take it out. Instead, the vampire shook his head.

“It was a prepaid job, Eddy. Possibly, I can draw it for you. I still remember it,” Hadrian leaned against the tombstone and pillowed his head on his hands.

“So, after old Lambert dies, we go to the Surian Theocracy?” There was a hint of sadness in Hadrian’s voice. That made Edwin curious.

“Have you had dealings with him before these past few days?” Hadrian stared off into the distance and nodded.

“A couple of times. You know how we vampires have the immune system of a newborn, right?” Asked Hadrian as he turned to look at Edwin.

“Worse than some newborn’s. You practically don’t have an immune system. Which makes you not getting sick since I have known you a mystery,” Edwin took out a glass bottle and took a few gulps of peach juice from it. There was a little whiskey mixed in.

He was above getting drunk, but someone was going to die tonight. People drank on a funeral. He had drunk on Helena’s and the children the first time around. He took some more of the juice. Furthermore, he should have drunk the second time too.

But maybe it was for the best that he had not. It would have been a poor example for the children. Currently, he was alone with Hadrian. The vampire wouldn’t judge him if he finished the entire bottle.

“Yes, well, I have you to thank for that. Now, don’t think I stalked you when you were still in Mitestone. I mean, I knew there was a Boliarin inside, but until the king called you that, I thought you were just a necromancer,” hastily said Hadrian.

“You don’t have it in yourself to plot, Harry,” Hadrian raised a finger and Edwin corrected himself with a chuckle. “Well, apart from heists. But, go on.”

“I suppose any necromancer’s blood would have kept me healthy, but yours is special. You were injected with sap from the World tree when you took the office. That changed your mana. It is the reason Karl can have a phylactery without being a Lich. Which is something you…”

“No!” Snapped Edwin. “Death is the natural conclusion of life. I will not be robbed from it.”

“Well, neither is Karl, to be honest. He will die by the end of the month regardless of what happens tonight,” Hadrian shuddered at that. The legend, Karl Lambert, the Eye eater, was going to die and he, Harry, would continue to darken the world with his presence.

Thunder broke them both from their musings. A lightning hit the air above their heads soon after and the barrier was exposed. The souls of the dead were heard, now, and their moans of pain filled the night air.

“When people recognize their family members, I am so getting blacklisted from Duria as a whole,” chuckled Edwin. Before, something like this, something bordering on being a crime, wouldn’t have taken a root in his brain. But now, after time spend with Hadrian, he found himself crossing lines left and right.

“King Valyr will bail you out. You are Eli’s babysitter,” said the vampire with a smirk. They shared a laugh and Edwin extended his wrist to Hadrian’s mouth.

“You haven’t fed this morning before I went to work. And making you eat pig blood is like pulling teeth. So, just because I want the best for you, I will bow to your whining.”

“I didn’t whine,” said Hadrian as he took the offered hand. “And you try to live off something as bland as pig blood.”

Hadrian bit down and the numbness spread through Edwin. He sighed and placed the bottle with his juice down. He would not get himself drunk tonight. There would be damage control to be done in the morning, in case Lambert died.

When the vampire was done, he took a look at Edwin’s wrist. Normally, it was bandaged, but it had healed from all the biting and Edwin had taken the bandages off.

There were two angry bite marks where his fangs had broken the skin, and the whole hand was cold to the touch. Suddenly, Hadrian felt guilty of not eating pig blood like he should have.

“I’ll eat the pig blood jelly,” he said with a defeated sigh. “I am sorry for causing you this.”

He pointed at the wrist and Edwin snorted.

“You said it yourself, my blood is practically your immunity system,” Edwin leaned over and rested his head on Hadrian’s shoulder.

“I am happy you jumped down that tree when you did,” murmured the hedge healer quietly. With a bit of concentration, another corpse was turn to ash and the barrier became invisible again.

“I am happy you got kicked out of the academy the day that you did,” said Hadrian, and he smiled when Edwin chuckled.

“You know that is another thing I am happy about,” said Edwin and they remained huddled together in silence.

5