Heretic Spellblade 2 Read online

  Heretic Spellblade 2

  K.D. Robertson

  Copyright © 2021 by K.D. Robertson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Thanks for reading!

  Also by K.D. Robertson

  Chapter 1

  A vast hellscape lay before Nathan. It split into two separate valleys only a stone’s throw from where he stood. The sky glowed a hazy red, and purple light shined from within the many cracks that stretched across the volcanic wasteland.

  Other than Nathan, only two other people were present—both women. The three of them stood on a wooden palisade at the far end of the valley. Behind them, a solid stone wall rose into the clouds. A double door gate was the only visible exit from this strange world, and it remained closed for now.

  “It wasn’t like this when I patrolled last night,” one of the women said. Her name was Sen, and she hid her lithe, toned frame beneath a red cloak. Her brown hair held streaks of white, but her vivid red eyes were what drew most people’s attention.

  “So, it split into two overnight,” Nathan said.

  Sen winced and looked away. “When you put it that way…”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Nathan said. “We’re standing in a demonic portal. Anybody who says they understand how these worlds work is lying. They can change in an instant. This portal has been growing since we repelled the invasion in summer. Now the valley has split. That’s important.”

  Demonic portals dotted the world of Doumahr. They were a fact of life, and so were the demonic invasions they regularly caused.

  Nathan was a Bastion. That meant his job was to keep the portals under control. Both women here were his Champions—powerful warriors empowered with his magic that served him and helped him defeat the demons. As far as most people were concerned, Bastions like Nathan knew everything about the portals and how to stop the demons.

  Reality was a touch more complicated.

  “I don’t remember being taught anything about portals changing shape,” the other woman said. She was Jafeila, better known as Fei. A bushy black cat’s tail swished back and forth behind her, and a pair of cat ears twitched on her head. She wore the black and silver uniform of a Champion of the Anfang Empire, including a gleaming black breastplate.

  In Fei’s case, her breastplate lived up to its name. No amount of steel plate could hide her massive chest. Her figure was the opposite of Sen’s in many ways, with curves where Sen was lithe.

  “Nobody taught you anything because portals usually don’t change shape,” Nathan said.

  That was the problem.

  The world of a demonic portal was normally composed of two sections: the valley and the clearing. The clearing was a large open space where the rift to the demonic dimension opened during an invasion. The valley was the long descent to that clearing, with the exit to the world of Doumahr at the other end. Steep cliffs lined the sides of the world, preventing escape through any other means.

  In the simplest terms, Nathan’s job was to stop the demons from getting from one end to the other. Months ago, he had done exactly that and stopped a demonic invasion. The wall he stood on was a remnant of that defense.

  But now the portal had changed into a different shape. It had two valleys, each of which joined connected to the clearing and the exit to the Doumahr.

  On the face of it, nothing had changed. The valleys came together far enough from the exit that Nathan could still defend a single location if he chose to. But the fact that there were two valleys was disquieting.

  “You haven’t seen this before, have you?” Sen asked quietly, trying to prevent Fei from hearing.

  From the way Fei’s ears pricked up, it was a futile effort. Fei was a cat beastkin and had excellent hearing among her other enhanced physical traits.

  “I haven’t,” Nathan admitted, running a hand through his unkempt black hair. He hadn’t cleaned up properly this morning, as Fei had dragged him out of bed in a rush after her morning patrol.

  The admission that he didn’t know what was happening was more significant than it sounded. Most Bastions oversaw only one or two portals and never saw anything significant in their lives. Furthermore, Nathan had only officially become a Bastion less than a year ago. His real-world experience was low.

  On paper.

  Because Nathan was arguably one of the most experienced Bastions on Doumahr right now. He had seen the collapse of nearly every nation on the continent. Battled demons across almost every climate and in every situation. He had fought and defeated monsters who had slain legendary Bastions and Champions.

  Then Nathan had been defeated himself, only to be given the chance to go back in time and prevent the destruction of Doumahr. He had seen a timeline that nobody else knew about. That also meant he knew a lot more than he technically should.

  Sen knew the truth about Nathan’s past. Her personality had been carried over from Nathan’s timeline.

  But Fei didn’t know the truth. Hence why Sen tried to exclude the beastkin from the conversation.

  Fei continued to lean against the wooden spikes of the palisade. Her eyes were fixed on some point in the distance, but she remained alert. Sen glared at her fellow Champion. It became evident that Fei wasn’t going anywhere.

  “This is bad,” Nathan admitted, giving up on the idea of keeping Fei out of the loop. She was his Champion as well, so it didn’t hurt for her to know what was coming.

  “How bad?” Sen asked.

  “I think a Messenger is coming.”

  “What?” Sen blurted out.

  “What’s a Messenger?” Fei asked, turning her head toward the two of them.

  Pretending that they both asked the same question, Nathan explained, “Messengers are demonic generals. They are tremendously powerful and control magic that is only partially understood. Where we use magic that uses the natural elements such as fire and wind, they can manipulate space, time, and even the currents of magic.”

  “Time…” Fei mumbled. She shook her head and asked, “How come I haven’t learned anything about this? The academy taught me about different types of demons, but I never learned about their generals.”

  Sen remained silent. She already knew about Messengers, after all.

  “Because the idea of demons as powerful as Bastions terrifies people,” Nathan
said. “More powerful, even. They’re the stuff of myth and legend. The worst of them are monsters capable of defeating trigem Champions or destroying entire countries. At least one appeared when the Kurai Peninsula fell. By all accounts, they have the same power over demonic portals that Bastions have over binding stones.”

  Or at least, that’s what Nathan had believed. Recent occurrences made him doubt that wisdom.

  “That’s why nobody talks about Kurai,” Sen muttered.

  “Pretty much. It’s easier to pretend that Kurai was corrupt and incompetent than admit that something more powerful invaded them than we’re prepared for,” Nathan said.

  He looked out at the wasteland around him. The split valleys brought back memories he preferred not to dwell on. Memories of the last time he saw a demonic portal do things he had never seen before.

  His life had been turned upside down on that night. A Messenger had emerged from a portal and destroyed his life’s work, killed everybody he loved, and brought him back here.

  Nathan wasn’t about to let history repeat itself. This new Messenger wasn’t going to defeat him.

  The three of them left the portal, exiting through the gate in the stone wall behind them. They found themselves in the great hall of Gharrick Pass, Nathan’s main fortress.

  Gray limestone walls surrounded them, broken up by gleaming statues, vivid rugs, and elaborate tapestries. The keep was lavishly decorated, and the upper level of the hall contained enough precious metals in its decorations to buy a whole other keep. Snow piled up against the windows, and ice coated the exterior of the glass.

  Not all the statues were inanimate, however. Beside the gate he had walked through were two imposing knights that turned to face him. Each stood nearly three meters tall and wielded halberds the size of a draft horse. There was nothing but air inside their armor, but the knights moved and glared at Nathan regardless.

  A moment later, they decided that he, Fei, and Sen weren’t a threat and became still once again.

  These knights were some of Nathan’s summons. He animated them using his magical power as a Bastion, and they served as some of his most powerful warriors. Their armor was over an inch thick and imbued with magic. Even demons would struggle to harm them, and a single return blow could cleave through a dozen monsters in return.

  It was this same power that let Nathan decorate Gharrick Pass with so much wealth. He could create whatever metals he wanted using magic.

  Although he had to be careful about selling too much of his “fake” gold and other creations, Nathan also used this power to keep his finances afloat. As did most Bastions. Nasty letters tended to flow from nobles if a Bastion crashed the precious metal market by selling too much, however. Nathan even knew of one Bastion in his timeline that was executed for selling reproductions of extremely rare artwork.

  Only a couple of people wandered around the hall at this early hour. The lamps were still on, lit by magic, and no light streamed in through the windows. One of those present was a young wolfgirl who saluted Nathan from a distance, her tail wagging violently. She wore the uniform of Fei’s knights, and she was one of the beastkin he was training to be an elite warrior.

  He saluted back. Moments later, the wolfgirl’s eyes widened, and she turned away to resume her patrol. Nathan spotted Fei making shooing motions and gave her a look.

  “She can flirt with you when I think she’s good enough,” Fei said with a pout.

  “Since when has a salute counted as flirting?” Nathan asked.

  “Since she wagged her tail like a dog about to receive a treat.”

  Nathan left out the fact that the wolfgirl was a dog, in a way. Beastkin weren’t just humans with animal ears and tails, but also shared animalistic traits. Wolf beastkin were highly social animals and showed their emotions as openly as actual dogs.

  Besides, Fei wasn’t much better. Nathan ruffled her hair and her tail wagged back and forth in response. A moment later, she squawked and jumped away. Her eyes darted around the hall, looking for anybody watching them. She relaxed once she confirmed that nobody had seen them.

  Sen rolled her eyes at their antics. “So, what are we doing about this Messenger?”

  “For one thing, we’re not talking about it in the open.” Nathan glared at Sen, who winced. “Otherwise, we have time to build up our response. It’s winter, so we don’t need to worry about war with the Federation. That means I can focus all my power on reinforcing the portal.”

  “Are we sure the Federation won’t attack during winter? It’s not that far from their borders, and we can’t easily cross the Gharrick Mountains,” Sen said.

  This was Nathan’s other responsibility as Bastion. With the power at his disposal, he didn’t merely fight off demons. He fought other nations.

  Until last summer, this fortress had marked the eastern border of the Anfang Empire, which Nathan served. The Gharrick Mountains separated the Anfang Empire from the Amica Federation, and Gharrick Pass was the southern-most land route through the mountains.

  While the Empire had been distracted, the Federation had invaded. Nathan fought them off and counterattacked. The result had been that he seized a significant portion of Federation territory on the eastern side of the mountain range. Part of that had included Fort Taubrum, a Federation fortress.

  “The pass may be snowed in, but the Federation suspects that we have a way to cross anyway. We proved that when they attacked Vera’s tower,” Nathan said. “Besides, winter is hell on logistics at the best of times. There’s no food to forage, no crops being grown that armies can pillage, and many villages will be running lean over winter. That means you need to supply everything yourself when attacking.”

  Nathan continued, “Even if the Federation is willing to do that, winter is still awful. Snow makes travel slower. Wagons get stuck. Animals became vulnerable to freezing weather, and a caravan of draft animals can be worth more than the supplies. And if it rains, everything grinds to a halt.”

  “So, they’d be stupid to attack,” Sen said.

  “Nobody starts a campaign in winter. Even continuing one over winter is difficult. We’re learning that up north.” Nathan shook his head. The Empire was bogged down in a war with its northern neighbor, Trafaumh, which had carried on into winter.

  “So, we’re spending the next couple of months preparing for the demons?” Fei asked.

  “No, we’re preparing for both war with the Federation and a demonic invasion,” Nathan corrected. “Once winter ends, we need to be ready for both. But right now, we can focus everything on the demons. Which means I can use the reserves in my binding stones.”

  Both women nodded at Nathan. The sapphire implanted in Fei’s collarbone glimmered in the light of the hall.

  Nathan was a Bastion, and the heart of a Bastion’s power was their binding stone. Or stones, in Nathan’s case. He had captured a second when he had counterattacked the Federation.

  Reaching into his mind, Nathan found a monolithic entity lurking in the back of it. When he got close to it, it expanded out into a complex web of magical connections. Two nodes of magic stood out from the rest and tethers linked them together in Nathan’s mental world.

  Compared to Nathan’s magical presence, each of these nodes eclipsed him by several orders of magnitude. These were binding stones, and each possessed magical power capable of altering reality.

  A glowing orb of stone hovered in the basement of Gharrick Pass and represented the physical presence of the binding stone. But Nathan had bound the binding stone to his mind and could access its power at any time and from any place. The catch was that the farther away from a binding stone he was, the weaker the power became.

  Nobody knew how the binding stones had been created or what they did. But Nathan had been trained to control them, using techniques passed down from Bastions over millennia. Supposedly, the Watcher Omria, the goddess of the world, had taught the first Bastions how to claim and use the binding stones.

  Nathan tapped into
his binding stones and confirmed that they had a substantial reserve. Neither was close to full yet, but he hadn’t used either one for some time. Both of his fortresses had magical generators that powered them, and those ran directly off the leylines rather than the binding stones. Although Nathan used the binding stones as a backup, should the leylines ever become unstable.

  Technically, the leylines connected to the binding stones, but the power drain was miniscule. Every time Nathan cast a spell using the binding stone, he used enough energy to power the keep for a year. Altering the fabric of reality was horrendously inefficient.

  Returning to the real world, Nathan saw that no time had passed. While he was in his mental world, the binding stone slowed the passage of time. It often enabled him to strategize or think through plans that otherwise required more time than he had.

  “I’ll use the binding stones to upgrade the defenses of the portal,” Nathan said. “Although I don’t know if we’ll only defend the gate, or each valley separately. Splitting our forces may be dangerous, but it’s possible that allowing the enemy to combine their strength may be more dangerous.”

  Although he wasn’t admitting it to the girls, Nathan knew a little more about the threat than he let on. There was somebody he needed to meet with to confirm his theory with, however.

  Sen nodded, although she gave him a suspicious look. “I’ll contact Fort Taubrum and have them check if anything is wrong with their portal. Fei—”

  “I’ll increase the intensity of the training for the knights,” Fei chirped, pointedly ignoring Sen. “Maybe I can get some new recruits, too. You can make more enchanted weapons if we find more knight candidates, right?”