Page 74 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
“Large circular platforms of black stone, each inscribed with runes that pulse with green light after sunset,” Norkon explained. “I risked closer observation of one such platform. The workers who construct them change.”
“How?” Kitsuki asked, his suspicions growing.
“Their skin grays, and green veins become visible beneath the surface. Their movements resemble manipulated puppets.” Norkon’s voice remained professional, but Kitsuki noted a subtle tremor in his hands. “They no longer speak or rest. They work until they collapse, and then they rise again to continue.”
Kitsuki exchanged a grave look with Jaega. “The Hollowed?”
“That would be my assessment, Your Majesty,” Norkon confirmed, “based on the historical accounts I studied in the past. Though the process seems sped up compared to those records. Instead of changing over time, these civilians transform as soon as they’re within range of the platforms.”
“What of Nasume himself?”
“I did not see him, but the castle has transformed as well,” Norkon replied. “The obsidian walls now bear strange runes that glow with a green light. Nasume remains within, but he is not alone.”
Kitsuki felt a chill that had nothing to do with his ice magic. “You saw someone else?”
Norkon grew uneasy. “I observed a figure unlike any I have ever encountered. A presence in black robes adorned with the same green runes, moving between the ritual sites. It was a void where a person should be, as if the night itself had been folded into human shape and bound by those glowing symbols.”
“What did it do?” Kitsuki asked.
“It inspected the ritual sites, adjusting the rune patterns, directing the Hollowed workers with gestures that required no words.” Norkon shuddered at the memory. “The air grew colder in its presence. Plants withered as it passed. Even in raven form, I felt an instinctive revulsion, a primal need to flee.”
“And the purpose of these sites?” Kitsuki pressed.
Norkon hesitated. “I believe they form a network, Your Majesty. A web of power with the castle at its center. Each completed platform strengthens the whole.”
“Where are the platforms placed?” Jaega asked.
He reached into his uniform pocket and withdrew a folded parchment, which he spread across the table. It revealed a sketched map of Norello, with circular markings illustrating the positions of the ritual sites around and within the castle.“There are twenty-three completed, with seven more under construction.”
“The Deathward Constellation,” Jaega murmured, tracing the connections between the points. “I have not seen this arrangement since the fall of Milvlar.”
Kitsuki frowned. “What is the Deathward Constellation?”
“A necromantic barrier of immense power,” Jaega explained. “When completed, it creates an impenetrable shield around its focal point. Nothing living can pass through without dying and becoming enslaved to the will of the necromancer who controls the ward.”
Kitsuki studied the map. “There seem to be uncompleted gaps in the southern and western quadrants.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Norkon said. “The platforms in those areas are still under construction. Based on their current pace of work, I estimate completion within a week or two.”
Jaega frowned. “That is a problem when we are over a month away from reaching Norello with our army at the rate of these skirmishes. If the Deathward is completed, a direct assault on the Norello castle becomes impossible.”
“There is more, Your Majesty,” Norkon continued. “There is a cemetery at the eastern edge of the city, where I discovered something that forced my hasty retreat.”
“What did you find?” Kitsuki asked.
“It has been desecrated by excavating the ground and breaking open the ancestral tombs. In its place stands a vast field of bones, arranged in patterns that mirror the runes on the platforms.”
“The preparations are unmistakable,” Jaega said, dread filling his voice. “They await only the final ritual to rise as an army of the dead.”
The implications settled on Kitsuki’s shoulders. Nasume had always been ambitious, but his venture into necromancy represented a threat beyond mere territorial conquest. It was an assault on the natural order itself.
Norkon hesitated. “Among the remains, I discovered bones of enormous size. Ancient and weathered, yet unmistakable in their origin.”
“Dragons,” Kitsuki stated, the word bitter on his tongue.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Though I do not know where they would have found them in Kunushi, so far away from dragon territories. But their purpose seems clear, given necromantic practices.”
“Necrowings,” Jaega said, the single word heavy with dread. “Nasume intends to create necrowings.”
