The Hated Hero: Sigil-Powered Warrior-Chapter 34: Mercy for the Lepers

To say that Dean Peterson’s mount was an impressive combination of fortress and carriage would be, in Immanuel’s opinion, an understatement. Unlike fortresses that need to house hundreds to thousands of people to defend it, this construct only requires the Dean’s will and it would move accordingly.

By that point, Dean Peterson had explained to them the entirety of the mount and the basics of how it works. Immanuel also finally remembered the proper term for such things—construct.

And unlike carriages that are ideal only for smooth roads, this construct can move on any terrain!

Immanuel wanted to go around and take a look at the construct’s feet up close, curious to see how they looked, but Vicar Starseeker stopped him.

"Let’s go, Immanuel Maier! I’m hungry!" Vicar Starseeker had already taken a seat on one shoulder.

Shit. I was lost in thought for the entire time she climbed up the construct!

"Coming!"

With Justus’s axe strapped to his back with strips of cloth he had torn from the cleric’s robe, Immanuel stepped up the construct’s hand and ascended its forearm. At first, he took caution, believing the surface smooth and slippery. However, in no time, he learned that his boots gripped the surface well, and he proceeded up until he reached the rope ladder that hung from the vacant shoulder seat. He climbed the fastest he could to make up for lost time. Up there, he undid the knots on the strips of cloth that secured the axe to his person, dropped the weapon to the floor, and then took his seat.

Once seated, he could no longer hear the sound of his environment. Out of instinct, he picked his ear with a finger. But as he could still hear the finger’s movement in his ear, he ruled out sudden deafness.

"Hello?" Immanuel could hear his own voice.

"Hello!" It was Vicar Starseeker, and it sounded like the voice was coming from somewhere beneath, near his feet. What in the Crow God’s name is this?

Immanuel looked over to Vicar Starseeker’s side, but with the construct’s massive head in the way of his vision, he was unable to ascertain if she was looking at him or not.

Confused as to all that was happening, Immanuel reached his hand beyond the shoulder. There must be some kind of magical... shielding... allowing all this to happen.

But where Immanuel reached, there was nothing but air.

Immanuel heard a thud from below. It must be the rider slamming himself onto his seat. Another thud followed. And that’s the rider shutting his coffin-like chamber, perhaps.

"Welcome, guests of honor!" The voice from beneath Immanuel’s seat startled him into jumping. What the fuck!

"Thanks for the ride, Dean Peterson," said Vicar Starseeker.

"Always a pleasure to be of service to my superior."

Oh, so the Dean works for her, and she works for Hierophant Hawking.

"Immanuel? How are you up there?"

With wide eyes, he responded as though talking to the floor. "I nearly fell off of here with your welcoming, thank you very much."

And once again there was laughter among the three.

"Well, I guess now is the right time to explain—for Immanuel’s sake—how it’s like to be riding my mount. But first, please pull up the rope ladders if you haven’t done that yet. Thank you."

Immanuel did his part, and after a brief pause, Dean Peterson continued.

"You do remember what I said earlier about my mount being run by magical configurations all throughout, yes? Because even around your seats, there is magic."

Then he addressed Immanuel. "Immanuel, what was the first thing you noticed the moment you sat down?"

Looking down to the floor again, Immanuel responded. "Uhhh... I could not hear the sounds of nature anymore."

"There is a magical configuration suppressing sound from the outside as the sounds this makes when it moves can be quite irritating to others. As for me, I need to hear all of it so I know everything here is functional, but anyway... next."

There was a brief pause, then Dean Peterson continued. "I have also magically configured for us a way to communicate even if we are in separate spaces. Next..."

"WAIT!" It was Immanuel.

"Yes?" came the Dean.

"Would we not fall off of here while we’re moving?"

"I was about to talk about that next." The Dean chuckled. "Anyway, so, the seat has a belt to keep you in place, so don’t worry about it.".

"One other thing. My apologies," said Immanuel. He was met with silence, prompting him to continue. "I’m curious... how did this vehicle not become a sensation and toured with circuses?"

The Dean cleared his throat. "The short answer? This was assumed to have been a failed experiment and was destroyed. Also, I can turn this invisible if it need be."

But turning the construct invisible—even as it was passing through the thickest part of the woods—was not the only precaution Dean Peterson had set for the journey. Once they had reached a part of the wooded area where the high tree canopy blocked out most of the sun’s light, Dean Peterson stopped the construct and made it crouch down the ground. Then, the Dean whispered a passphrase to verbally activate a number of colorful crystals around them, lighting them up. Each crystal around them was set atop a boulder. Imagine an engagement ring with a bit of one of those for a stone.

"Please expect a sudden shift of scenery, my dear guests," the Dean announced. The crystals vibrated rapidly, and their colours shifted almost as fast as they were vibrating. And then, true to the Dean’s announcement, darkness fell all around them in a flash. Immanuel gripped the arm rests of his seat, expecting sharp movements while they were in the dark, but nothing of that sort happened.

The veil of darkness was gradually lifted, revealing before them a simple church building smaller than Hierophant Hawking’s Cathedral. Surrounding this respected structure were not greens and trees, but makeshift houses of varying sizes, each made of all sorts of found pieces of wood and straw.

A cobblestone plaza lay immediately in front of the church building. In the middle of this space was a circular outline that seemed to serve no purpose.

In front of the makeshift houses, children played and adults did their daily business to make it through the day. No eyes on us. I wonder why that is.

Also, why does it smell like the sea over here and how is it windy and yet the people’s clothes and hair are not blown away?

"We’re here," said the Dean. With the construct still crouched, its left arm descended, and its hand lay on the ground with open palm to let the rider and the guests descend.

Immanuel raised the question. "Why are none of them looking at us? Are we still invisible?"

"Well... it would take me forever to explain this, so it’s better if we get down from here so you can find out what this place is."

Immanuel threw the rope ladder down. But with the axe on his leg space, he could not get down just yet. The Dean was the first to descend. Vicar Starseeker got down next—it was at that moment Immanuel found out that another walkway led to the side where she sat—passing the rider’s chamber before descending the arm and hand.

"Hey, could any of you catch the axe?" Immanuel called out.

Vicar Starseeker walked back near the construct and raised her arms to help Immanuel with the axe. When Immanuel threw the axe down, she caught it and set it down for Immanuel to pick up upon his descent.

"Whatever this is you’re seeing here, Immanuel? None of those are true," said the Dean when all three were finally on the ground.

"Wha—"

The loudest finger snap Immanuel has ever heard in his life interrupted the question he was about to speak out. And then, like the veil of darkness earlier, the illusion gradually faded, revealing before them a massive white stone church building built in place of a cut portion of the massive rock wall before them.

Waves crashed onto rock below, and true enough, when Immanuel turned to the source of the sound, he confirmed that they were in an island in the middle of nowhere, and they stood on a cliff.

"What is this place?" Immanuel asked the Dean.

"The Island of Mercy for the Lepers. A place in no official map of the Kingdom. Here, the lepers during the epidemic were condemned to live out the rest of their lives."

"It was not true that they were housed in villages no one could find now, 500 years later. Indeed, those villages were built separate from the populace, and well... the lepers were indeed brought there, but they only stayed there for less than a week..." Vicar Starseeker said. "And then they disappeared. So did all Kingdom records of all efforts to contain the epidemic."

"Wait, how did you know about this place, then, Dean?"

"I was once part of a fishing crew of 20 men. We fished massive ones back then. A massive leviathan sunk us, and I was the only survivor. I made it here, living among the dead."

"Wait, then you’re actually years older than I am?" Immanuel asked with a raised eyebrow.