"Tastes like water to me." Gar looked at the bottle in his hand with disappointed eyes, then drained it in a single swig and cast the empty bottle aside.
The captain shook his head in disapproval. "This is the finest wine the Imperium has to offer. Just one bottle can buy you a farm." He took a sip from his own bottle, then frowned. "Though it's more subtle than I would have expected."
They sat atop the wooden wagons they'd taken from the defeated Darians, some miles away from where the battle had taken place. And as the mercenaries around them feasted on the Darians' supplies, Arran could not help but frown in wonder at what they'd discovered.
He had expected to find simple supplies — food and drink for the troops, and whatever else a small army needed. Yet while the wagons held plenty of rations for the soldiers, they also carried large amounts of luxuries.
There were fine wines and brandies, sets of silken clothing, jewelry and gemstones, and many other valuable goods besides.
Arran wasn't the only one to wonder at this. Holding up a red silk dress, Lasha frowned deeply, then asked, "Why did they bring all this?"
"To bribe the borderlanders into joining them," Captain Kaleesh replied. "A few small luxuries are a small price for years of service from a Body Refiner or skilled craftsman."
"We didn't get anything for joining Kadun," Gar pointed out. He'd found another bottle of the supposedly exquisite wine, and after speaking, he drained half of it in a single gulp. This time, there was a hint of appreciation in his eyes, though Arran suspected this had more to do with the wine's value than its taste.
"I expect that our host brought some valuables, as well," the captain said. "Though nothing as grand as this — Lord Kadun cannot afford to waste his wealth so carelessly."
"You mean he's poor?" Lasha gave the captain a questioning look. "Of all the Lords we could have joined, you picked the poor one?"
"I wouldn't call him poor, exactly," Captain Kaleesh replied. "But it's true that Lord Kadun's wealth falls short of his peers'. Which is exactly the reason I chose him."
Lasha made an ugly face. "You don't like us having nice things?"
The captain shook his head. "A Lord like Rannoc would have showered us with trinkets," he explained, "but he would never have agreed to my terms. We would have spent years earning our freedom, rather than months. But Kadun…" A sly smile flashed across his face. "Kadun is a different matter. He cannot pass up an opportunity like this — even with a deal any other Lord would take as an insult."
Arran looked at the captain with curious eyes. While he understood the man's reasoning, the more he heard, the more he wondered how Captain Kaleesh knew so much about the Imperium.
"How did you learn all this?" he asked. "In the borderlands, people barely know anything about the Imperium. But you…" He did not finish the sentence, instead glancing at the captain with narrowed eyes.
"I spent a long time preparing this," the captain replied. "Even when I built the Wolfsblood Company, it was with the goal of one day learning the Imperium's most treasured methods and techniques. Naturally, I made sure to know anything that could aid me in my purpose."
"Captain likes planning ahead," Gar said. He paused to take another swig of wine, then continued, "Always has. Usually works out well enough."
Arran nodded, though he remained unconvinced. From what he knew, mere planning could not explain how the captain knew so much about the Imperium. Secretive as the Darians were, learning all this in the borderlands would be nigh impossible.
But whatever the explanation was, he knew he would not learn it tonight.
After a day filled with battle, the mercenaries were eager to celebrate their victory, and they feasted with abandon, laughing and jeering as they drank priceless wines and dressed in the Darians' fine silks.
Yet the soldiers, camped out several hundred paces away, showed little sign of joy. While a handful joined the mercenaries in their festivities, most of the soldiers merely watched with dark looks.
And no wonder. While the mercenaries had suffered only minor losses, the soldiers had not been nearly as fortunate. A good fifth of their number had fallen in battle, and that many again had been wounded.
Yet as Arran considered the soldiers' losses, another question emerged in his mind.
The soldiers were all Body Refiners, most of them every bit as strong as the mercenaries. And if the Darians had such forces at their command, it made no sense for them to value the borderlanders so highly.
He pondered the question for some time, but try as he might, he could not figure out the answer. Whichever way he looked at it, even the entire Wolfsblood Company should hold little value to the Imperium's Lords.
Curious for an answer, he approached Captain Kaleesh.
"I have a question," he said. "About the Imperium."
"Another one?" The captain faced him with a raised eyebrow. "What is it this time?"
"Why do the Darians need us?" Arran gestured at the soldiers in the distance, and continued, "They have plenty of Body Refiners. Why not send them into the mines?"
A small smile crossed the captain's face. "I'm glad to see that at least one of my commanders has a modicum of curiosity," he said. "But the answer to your question is simple. No self-respecting Darian would ever let himself be sent into the mines. Every single one of these soldiers would sooner face an army by himself than lift a pickaxe."
The answer did little to satisfy Arran's curiosity. "But why?" he asked. "With such numbers, there must be some who are willing to work in the mines."
The captain responded with a firm shake of his head. "Despite what the church says, this is an empire built on battle, not toil. Any true Darian is expected to prove himself on the battlefield. The weak remain soldiers, while the strong become Rangers, Knights, or even Lords. But to become a common laborer…" He sighed deeply, a dark expression crossing his face. "To Darians, there is no greater disgrace than that."
"Then what about the crafters' guilds?" Arran asked.
"Their leaders and soldiers may be Darians," the captain replied, "but the guilds rely on outsiders for labor. In that sense, they are much like the Imperium itself — the Darians rule and do battle, while outsiders do the work."
At this, Arran suddenly understood why the Imperium was so generous in accepting the borderlanders into its lands. And it wasn't out of kindness or charity, as he'd briefly believed.
Rather, the Imperium needed the outsiders' labor to function.
The thought caused Arran some pause. He'd thought the Imperium was like the Empire, where all but a few people were commoners — farmers, villagers, and others without any powers worth noting.
But if all true Darians were Body Refiners and soldiers, then the strength the Imperium commanded would be utterly terrifying.
Captain Kaleesh smirked as he saw Arran's dumbfounded expression. "Beginning to understand, are you? The Imperium holds strength that few forces in the world can match. You may be a decent fighter, but in the Imperium, we are like wolves in a forest full of dragons."
Arran nodded absently, his thoughts already turning to the conflict between the Ninth Valley and the Imperium. If what the captain said was true, then the Ninth Valley's situation was even more dire than he had imagined.
"But that's enough talk," the captain continued. "We won two victories today, and I will not let the night pass without celebration. Come, let's join the others!"
Arran reluctantly followed the captain as the man returned to the other mercenaries, where he loudly joined in with a bawdy song about a farmgirl and her horses.
The mercenaries' celebrations lasted well into the night. Although they had suffered only minor losses, all realized that they could easily have been among those few who had fallen. In battle, a single moment of bad luck was all it took to lose one's life.
And that they hadn't been among those unlucky few was cause enough for celebration.
But even as the mercenaries drank and feasted to their hearts' content, Arran's thoughts kept wandering to the Imperium. Even now, he found it difficult to believe that all true Darians could be Body Refiners.
In the Empire, Body Refiners were rarer than mages, and a commoner could go a lifetime without meeting a single one. Yet if Captain Kaleesh was right, the Imperium held untold numbers of them.
Night had long fallen when the sounds of celebration within the camp came to an end, but even so, Arran lay awake for several more hours. And even when sleep finally found him, his dreams were filled with endless armies of Body Refiners.
The next morning, the column departed in silence.
Although the tension of impending battle was gone, there was a gloomy mood among the soldiers, as beside the road now lay dozens of graves that held the bodies of their fallen comrades.
The mercenaries had been more fortunate, but most of them remained silent as well. Although they'd spent the night celebrating their victory, they could sense the soldiers' mourning, and few of them were so discourteous as to disturb it.
But more days of travel followed, and gradually, even the soldiers regained some of their spirits. They understood that they had only barely avoided a far greater catastrophe, and although they did not go so far as to celebrate, relief was plain in their eyes.
Meanwhile, as they traveled, Arran spent most of his time with his own group of mercenaries. Sometimes he practiced with them, and other times he merely listened as they spoke.
Any doubts they'd had about his leadership had disappeared when they watched him face a Ranger, and now, they shared their stories with him eagerly.
Arran found himself more surprised than he should have been at the paths that led them here. While some had been mercenaries or bandits, others had been members of obscure sects of Body Refiners, with others still whose path had been little more than a series of lucky coincidences.
Yet what they all had in common was that they'd seen plenty of battle and adventure. In the borderlands, at least, there was no other way for a Body Refiner to gain power.
A week of travel passed slowly and quietly, with the column following the road through the hills and forests of the Darian countryside. Occasionally, they passed by towns and villages, but they stopped at none of those.
And as they advanced, Arran gradually grew more comfortable with the idea of leading the group of borderlanders. Perhaps he wasn't as experienced in leading troops as the other commanders, but when it came to experience in battle, few could match him.
But then, a week after the battle, Arran suddenly Sensed something through the bond he shared with his concealed sword — three other pieces of Living Shadow, moving along the road toward their group.
A shiver went down Arran's spine as he Sensed the distant power. He understood that these would be Lord Kadun's reinforcements, but he hadn't expected there to be a Knight among them, much less three of them.
Still, there was nothing for it but to continue. His Living Shadow sword — still shaped like an iron bracelet, much to its dismay — had no concerns about Arran's wards holding up, and so far, its judgment had been flawless.
Moreover, Arran had spent months maintaining the wards, with his sword's Sense constantly alerting him to any weaknesses they held. That constant practice had improved his skill greatly, and by now, even his own sword had difficulty seeing through the wards.
The column came to a halt some minutes later, and as it did, Captain Kaleesh motioned for his commanders to join him.
His expression unusually serious, he said, "We'll be summoned in a minute or two. When that happens, follow my lead. And don't say anything — not unless you're spoken to. Understood?"
Arran and the other commanders nodded without objection. From the look in the captain's eyes, this situation was a more dangerous one than the battle against Rannoc's forces had been.
As the captain had predicted, a soldier came hurrying toward them barely a minute later.
"Captain," the man said, his voice unexpectedly respectful, "Lord Kadun requests your presence."
The captain gave the man a friendly nod, apparently not the least bit surprised that Lord Kadun himself had appeared. "Lead the way," he said in a calm voice.
Yet although the captain seemed unconcerned, a tremble of unease went through Arran's body at the soldier's words. Suddenly, he realized he would be facing a Lord rather than Knights.
It was a test he knew he would have to face sooner or later, but he hadn't expected to face it quite as soon as this.
Still, he was as prepared as he could be. His wards should conceal his Realms, and while he might not be able to hide all his physical strength, it was a normal thing for a Body Refiner to conceal part of his power.
If all went well, Lord Kadun would barely even notice his existence.
Arran took a deep breath, then set his jaw and suppressed his concerns as he followed behind Captain Kaleesh.
They reached the front of the column only moments later, and as they arrived, Arran could not help but marvel at the sheer power that stood before him.
Two Knights stood at Lord Kadun's sides, clad in dark armor and with starmetal swords and Living Shadow daggers on their belts. Both of them radiated power, and although neither of them moved, Arran could see with a single glance that both were every bit as powerful as the Knight he'd met months earlier.
But the two Knights were only part of the Lord's company, as behind him stood a group of roughly fifty men and women. And while Arran could not be certain, he thought all of them were Rangers. Many of them had starmetal weapons, and even those who didn't exuded the confidence of powerful warriors.
But neither the Knights nor the Rangers could compare to their master.
Lord Kadun was a plain-looking man, with long dark hair and a face that was neither ugly nor handsome. His height was only barely above average, and although he was muscular, he wasn't overly large.
And yet, when Arran laid eyes on the man, he felt something very close to terror surge through his body.
With a single look, he could tell that the Lord's body held a terrifying amount of power. Despite the man's unremarkable appearance, there was something about him that suggested that he had a strength that dwarfed even Crassus in his full draconic form.
Arran had long wondered whether he could match a Knight, but he had no such questions about Lord Kadun. In an instant, he knew that this was someone who could kill him without effort.
And at the man's side, there was a full-sized Living Shadow sword.
The only thing that kept Arran from panicking was his own sword's disdain at the Lord's weapon. Whatever power it might hold, the executioner's blade thought it only barely worth noticing.
Arran regained his composure just in time to see Captain Kaleesh kneel before Lord Kadun. Without hesitation, he followed the captain's example — as much as he disliked bending the knee, this Lord was someone he would not dare offend. Not before his strength increased greatly, at least.
Lord Kadun looked at the newcomers for several moments, not a word leaving his lips as he studied them the way a farmer might appraise a horse. Then, at a calm pace, he walked toward the captain and his commanders.
"My new subjects," he said in a cold voice. "Already, you have caused me no small amount of trouble."