Reborn As The Beggar Lord

009 The Warrior Ghost

Kingsley set out for the north border soon after the funeral, with Gina at his side.

Word had gone around in Thornmere about the baron's travel plans.

Five young men stood waiting at the crossroads with staffs and wood axes. Not one had an awakened talent, but they were broad in the shoulder.

"We'll walk with you, my lord," the boldest one said. "The roads aren't safe."

Kingsley could read the real reason on their faces. He had turned a white field green and summoned water from a dead well in front of the whole village. After a long drought, the villagers finally had hope.

A lord who could work miracles might stand between them and the capital's collector, and so the men wanted him alive.

Kingsley allowed them to escort him.

Gina kept her chin high, but her voice stayed low. "The men keep staring at me, my lord. Do they suspect my identity?"

"Let them stare. You're wearing my family's colors proudly. Nobody is looking at Ginny Finch. All they see is Gina Carmine. Never forget that."

She nodded. The red and white paint covered her eyes in clean, sharp lines. It made her features even prettier.

A year ago, the village had known a wild, cursed girl with bushy hair and a dirty face.

The young woman walking beside their baron was scrubbed and straight-backed. She wore black robes with the Carmine emblem at her collar.

Kingsley heard the whispers behind them and knew the rumor had worked.

"Lady Gina is a real mage, from the capital. She wears face paint like in the old days."

"They say the baron spent all his savings to buy her services. She must be powerful."

On the road, Kingsley told Gina what she needed to know.

"Your talent is called Iron Command. I have read about it."

Kingsley kept the comfortable lie beside the truth. Only the sacred Stone could measure grades and talents.

"You can control anything made of metal. Nobody let you practice magic, so there's much to learn. Start small, and don't go overboard or you will end up hurting yourself or others."

Gina opened her robe a hand's width. Six knives were tied inside it in a cloth roll.

"I won't use magic unless it is to protect you, my lord."

Kingsley pushed the robe closed for her. "What do you know about the north border? Why don't the mist monsters come through it?"

"Nothing much. People say it is haunted and stay away. I've heard stories about a warrior's spirit guarding it against invasion."

A new line of glowing text appeared in front of him.

[New Quest: Solve the mystery of the North Border]

Kingsley read the words once. "Then we're closer to the answer than I thought," he said quietly.

They reached the border at dusk.

The Mist Wall rose higher than any tower in the capital and ran from one end of the sky to the other. Up close it was thick grey matter rolling over itself in slow waves.

Staring too long made a man see live shadows moving inside it.

The five villagers stopped walking. One began to pray under his breath. Another gripped his wood axe until his knuckles went white.

Gina's face stayed smooth, but Kingsley saw her fingers curl into her sleeves and hold on.

Whatever power the girl carried, she was still eighteen. The monsters of the Mist were childhood stories she still remembered.

"Stay close to me," Kingsley said quietly, and Gina moved in until her shoulder was against his arm.

Old forest grew against the Mist along the whole northern border, the trunks packed so tight that even a goat couldn't squeeze through.

But one stretch right ahead lay open for three hundred yards. It looked like a road, and it was the only break in the treeline.

Kingsley studied the gap. The ground was beaten flat, and the trees at its edges leaned outward. This was not a path made by humans. Something monstrous had forced its way through.

This is what Mara meant, Kingsley thought.

Hordes of monsters could walk through the gap easily. So why had Thornmere never been attacked from the north?

Bones covered the ground all the way across the gap, and in some places they were piled waist-high. The freshest carcasses still stank. A horned skull lay near his boot, its jaw open.

Who or what had killed them?

The villagers refused to go closer, murmuring anxiously.

"It's the warrior's ghost protecting the village. The stories are true."

"My lord, we should leave. This place belongs to the dead."

Kingsley walked on. He had come here to solve the north border mystery. Gina stayed at his side.

They could see a small mud hut hidden behind the dry scrub. As they approached, something stirred inside it.

A tall figure ducked out through the low door, black against the evening sky, with a massive axe across one shoulder.

Behind Kingsley, the escort broke. One villager dropped his staff where he stood. Another hauled his friend backward by the collar, and the five of them went crashing away through the brush, shouting about ghosts.

Gina's hand flicked. Six knives slid out of her robe and floated around her, points forward.

"Shall I strike it down, my lord? Ghost or spirit, I will kill it."

Kingsley watched the figure, not the axe. Its steps were uneven. It swayed, caught itself, then tipped the other way.

"Wait, don't attack!" he said, and ran forward.

"My lord, it's dangerous—"

The figure tried to hurry too. It staggered, lost its footing, and went down hard. The axe rang off a stone.

Kingsley reached the fallen man, rolled him over, and raised his lantern.

The stranger was young, barely past twenty, and enormous. He stood a head taller than the tallest man in Thornmere, with the thick shoulders and long arms of a man who had swung an axe for years.

But grey-black patches covered his skin, and his lips were blue.

Kingsley helped the young man sit up. "Who are you? What is going on here?"

"Halbert." The giant's voice broke into pieces. "I keep the border."

"By yourself?"

"There is nobody else."

The giant studied Kingsley's good coat, then the paint on Gina's face. "I think you two travelled from the capital. Nobody out of Thornmere walks this far. Whatever you are looking for, it is not here. Run away."

"Tell us first what happened to you."

Halbert's breathing was slow and heavy. "I've been holding this gap against the monsters for years. The Mist is poisonous and staying close to it gradually infected my blood. I'm dying and there is no cure."

"Then let's get you to the village," Kingsley said.

Halbert's blue lips pulled back from his teeth. "No. The monsters have been waiting for me to weaken. When the full moon appears, they will come through this gap in a wave. It's almost time."

Kingsley raised his eyes. Above the Mist, the full moon had already risen.

"Then let us retreat," he said. "We'll warn the villagers and find a way to stop them."

Howls rolled out of the Mist. Then growls answered them, low and deep.

Kingsley stared into the dark under the grey wall. Points of yellow and green light opened there, two by two. The bodies stayed hidden, but some of those eyes sat low to the ground, and some at the height of a mounted man.

Then horns rose against the last of the daylight.

Halbert groaned and dragged himself upright on the handle of his axe.

"I can hold the gap for five minutes before they overwhelm me. Run, and don't stop for anything."

Kingsley did not argue, because the dying young man was right. A lord with no army could only get in the way. The trip to the border had been a mistake.

Gina grabbed his sleeve. "My lord, there's no time. We have to go."

Kingsley turned to follow her, and stopped. "I'll remember your sacrifice, Halbert. Tell me your last wish and I will carry it out."

The giant kept his eyes on the glowing pairs under the Mist.

"Build me a small stone grave on the Shields family land. Let the villagers remember that the last son of that house died defending Thornmere."

Kingsley froze.

The Shields family was the village's ancient protector clan. Its last son had kept the monsters at bay for years, and now was about to die for two strangers.

Gina pulled his sleeve harder. "My lord! We need to go!"

Kingsley turned back to face the Mist Wall.

"We are not going anywhere," he said. "Now I know why your grandmother mentioned the north border before dying. She wanted me to find him."