With the rift sealed Michael began going from person to person, making sure they were alright and healing them if they weren't. Clyde was okay, as he’d been healed in the middle of the fight, but he was a bit pale, the specter of death hanging close by after he came so close to meeting it. Aside from psychological damage Michael was able to heal them of their worst injuries without trouble. He still felt strong, even after utilizing so much magic, sealing the rift, healing, and fighting. His already substantial recovery had grown to even more ridiculous levels. Still, they were intending to hit at least one more of the nearby rifts, so he made sure not to overexert himself by healing superficial injuries.

  “Well, I don’t think you are exaggerating in your stories at all,” said Hu. “We never sealed a rift that quickly with Lukas and even with the reinforcements they got, you killed them easily.”

  “I wouldn’t call it easy,” said Michael as he approached the corpses of the black-armored horned men. He was quite disturbed by their appearance. Looking closer at their armor he realized it wasn’t metal, but rather organic. He stripped a gauntlet off of one of his hands and ran it along it, finding that it felt familiar.

  “Chitin,” he said.

  Ollie raised an eyebrow. “Chitin? Like the centipede fucks?”

  Michael nodded. It was very similar to what they’d seen before, but thicker. He peeled a bit of it off of the dead warrior and it came away with a chunk of skin and fur. He dropped it with a sickened expression on his face, but flipped the body over anyway. Just as with the other one he saw one of the lizardfolk sealed into the back of the armor. It had died, though there were no injuries on it. Perhaps it died with the horned man? The armor connecting their life-force somehow? He shook his head. He didn’t have all the answers, nor did he really have the means of obtaining them. It was clear though that these were some kind of elite force and they’d likely been sent specifically to counter him. He doubted they’d been created just for him. They were more likely a specialty to counter any particularly strong threats, but they were certainly after him this time.

  He moved over to where the knights and squires had gathered. The horned men had brought a wooden table with them and across it were a number of clay slabs with markings on them. It seemed to be a kind of writing, but it wasn’t anything Michael recognized, and it seemed the knights were equally unable to translate it. It was all long lines, small dashes and odd symbols in the corners of each of them.

  Bawn was staring at them for a few moments before stepping toward the table and holding out a hand to Hu who was examining one of them more closely.

  “May I, sir?”

  Hu nodded and Bawn took the square. He looked at it for a moment, then grabbed another square and laid it down next to it. Then he did so with another, and another, and very quickly they all realized exactly what it was the stone squares were.

  “A map,” said Laird with a frown. “They were mapping the area. Bit by bit.” He looked at them. He pointed at one of them. “This is that small patch of woods to the south. They have elevations listed, paths marked out, and that means..." he moved his hand to another square and pointed. “That’s the village.”

  They were all silent for just a moment, and Hu gestured to the squares. “Bawn, Clyde, pack those up and load them into the wagon. We’re going to need to send them up to the Knight-Captain.”

  They nodded and began carefully assembling the stone squares. As they did that, everyone else began to prepare to move to the next closest rift which Michael identified as being a bit further to the East.

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  “You’ve told me a fair amount about your king,” started Michael as they began walking toward the next rift. “How would one go about actually meeting him?”

  Hu opened his mouth to answer, but Laird interrupted him.

  “Audiences with the king are rarely granted. Only the Knight Captain, the General and some members of the nobility may freely access him. He does not meet with the common-folk except during the festival of the crescents. He used to personally knight each member who joins the knighthood, though in times such as these he has been forced to delegate that responsibility. You will never have cause to meet him.”

  Michael smiled simply. “I’ll meet him.”

  “It may be possible outside what Laird listed,” offered Hu. “King Marlo is not exactly traditional. He’s invited citizens that distinguished themselves to meet him on multiple occasions. He even had a farmer that managed a particularly impressive harvest dine with him around when he was first crowned. Though, things have obviously changed recently.”

  He nodded along as Hu spoke. It was clear that he’d need to make a name for himself in Old Hume in order to get the meeting he desired with the king. He’d considered simply arriving at the capital and insisting, maybe being able to heal his affliction somehow. That was risky though. He wasn’t certain he could cure a genetic condition which was what it seemed the king was suffering. Luckily, if the king was willing to see those who had proved themselves in some way, he had a number of rifts that he’d be able to close between the village and Hume’s capital.

  Michael ruminated on that for some time as they approached the next rift. Laird and Hu had expected some grumbling from the militia about pushing to do two rifts, but they all seemed to be in high spirits. Having no losses or injuries to deal with was always good for morale. Michael could feel a number of eyes on him as he walked, and would turn around to see people turn away from him. They’d been more than willing to talk to him and ask him questions before they’d sealed the rift, but now they seemed a bit hesitant. He supposed if he’d seen someone smite a bunch of monsters with a sword imbued in divine flame he may have a bit of a shift in his opinion of them as well.

  When Michael felt like they were close to the next rift, the two squires gave fresh lances to the knights before riding forward to scout it as they had before. This time they were gone for less than a half hour when they all heard a whistle and the sound of horses approaching.

  Laird yelled even as he threw himself onto his horse and started to move it at a quick trot around the men. “Archers on the wagon, the rest encircle it. Enemies incoming!”

  Michael was looking in the direction of the whistling and could see Bawn and Clyde returning with their horses running at full gallop.

  Hot on their heels were a number of creatures that Michael could only describe as giant hairless rats. They weren’t quite as quick as the horses, but there had to be three dozen of them with pink skin and sharp teeth surging behind the squires.

  The squires began to pivot to head to the left of the wagon, and the group shifted to stand in an irregular column with their spears at the ready. Michael placed himself in the center of them, and Ollie began preparing a spell from the wagon.

  The squires thundered past the wagon, and the rats deviated to surge toward them. Before they could reach however, Hu and Laird charged through the center of their swarm, trampling a number of the rats to death and skewering a few more on their lances. That slowed them down, as did the fact that the uninjured among them immediately began to cannibalize those that the charge had injured.

  Once they were done, they closed in more, and those few archers up on the wagon began picking them off. When they were nearly to Michael, Ollie unleashed two bolts of lightning, one from each hand, that seemed to dance from rat to rat until very suddenly, a third of them were dead.

  Michael and the other melee focused troops charged forward among the crispy rats and began cutting them down. Michael bashed one to death with his shield, carved two more up with his sword, and then shifted it into a mace crushing the skull of another. It was over almost as suddenly as it had begun.

  Michael gave a burst of healing to the group and they charged forward when the squires told them that that had been most of the rift monsters following them. They found only a few of them left, and one more emerging from a sickly, flesh-colored rift that was barely large enough to allow two of the creatures out at a time. Michael quickly sealed it, setting the world just a bit more right for the second time that day.