Chapter 189: What Hector Brought With Him
General Hector Valen did not ask where Kael intended to take him the next morning.
That earned him the first point.
Kael had expected questions before they left Blackwood Manor.
Which ruin?
How far?
How many men?
What threat?
Instead Hector arrived in the courtyard before sunrise wearing field armor rather than the polished command plate from the previous day.
One sword.
One dagger.
No Imperial cloak.
No staff officers.
Only Sir Corren Valehart stood nearby, speaking quietly with Tomas Pell.
Kael came down the manor steps with Sir Darius beside him.
Hector looked past them.
Where is my escort?
There isn’t one.
Hector’s eyes moved to Kael.
You invited one of the Empire’s highest generals into unknown terrain without an escort.
Kael continued walking.
You said you wanted to know which man came to Blackwood.
Darius understood first.
Hector did a moment later.
His mouth tightened.
A test.
Kael mounted.
An observation.
Sir Corren smiled.
I believe that is what examiners call tests when they want to sound polite.
Hector looked at him.
You are enjoying this assignment too much.
Immensely.
Kael glanced toward Tomas.
The squire was trying not to react.
Again.
Kael was beginning to suspect squires developed facial discipline because knights constantly gave them reasons to laugh.
Hector approached his horse.
Who is coming?
Kael counted.
Me.
Darius.
You.
Sir Corren.
Damien Ravenmoor.
Tavian Merrow.
Hugo Stone.
Bram.
Hector stopped.
A gardener.
Bram was standing beside a mule near the outer gate.
He looked over.
Farmer.
Gardener.
Former soldier.
And currently the man who understands that field better than anyone else.
Hector studied him.
Bram stared back.
General.
Hector nodded.
Master Bram.
Bram’s eyebrows rose slightly.
Kael noticed.
Hector had done his homework.
Good.
Kael mounted.
Iris Hollow and Elias Thorn are already ahead.
Hector looked toward Darius.
Hidden security.
Darius answered.
Visible enough if needed.
Hector almost smiled.
There you are.
Darius ignored him.
They traveled south.
Blackwood’s central settlement gradually disappeared behind them.
Morning workers were already on the roads.
Farm carts moved toward the growing market.
A group of children walked beside an older woman carrying writing slates toward a temporary teaching room Kael had allowed one of the new settlers to open twice a week.
Hector noticed them.
School?
Not officially.
Kael answered.
One of the settlers used to assist a village tutor.
Children started gathering around her.
So we gave her a room.
Paid?
A little.
From where?
Kael looked at him.
Do you inspect everything?
Yes.
Lily found room in settlement expenses.
Hector nodded.
Good.
Kael glanced toward Darius.
Your brother is exhausting.
Darius answered.
I warned you.
Hector heard.
I have better hearing than both of you seem to believe.
Kael smiled.
They passed the closed public well farther south.
An iron chain blocked the approach.
A Black Dragon soldier stood nearby with a wooden sign warning residents not to draw water.
Hector slowed.
This is one of the contaminated sites?
One of the affected channels passes beneath it.
How many people became ill?
None confirmed.
Why close it?
Because none confirmed is preferable to twelve confirmed.
Hector looked toward Kael.
That answer seemed to satisfy him.
They continued.
The southern experimental field appeared shortly after sunrise.
The trench remained open but covered overnight with timber sheets and waxed cloth.
Damien Ravenmoor was already there with four Black Dragon soldiers.
Kael dismounted.
Damien approached.
My lord. Sir Darius. General Hector. Sir Corren.
Hector’s eyes lingered on him.
Ravenmoor.
General.
You are one of the endorsed candidates.
Yes, General.
Hector looked at Darius.
This is the leadership candidate?
Damien’s attention shifted slightly.
Darius answered.
Yes.
Hector looked back at Damien.
How many men here?
Four at the trench.
Two farther south.
Elias and Iris beyond them.
Total?
Eight Black Dragon counting me.
Wrong.
Damien frowned.
Hector waited.
Damien reconsidered.
Nine if I include Sir Darius.
Hector’s face remained blank.
Wrong again.
Kael saw Damien beginning to understand.
Eleven combat-capable people if Lord Kael and Sir Corren are counted.
Hector nodded.
Better.
Damien looked toward Tavian.
Twelve if Master Merrow is combat capable.
Tavian looked offended.
I am a mage.
Hugo muttered.
Sometimes.
Tavian stared at him.
Hector’s mouth twitched.
Kael liked his brother more when he was annoying other people.
Hector stepped toward the trench.
Your commander should know every weapon available before danger starts.
Damien bowed his head.
Understood, General.
Darius added nothing.
That was probably worse for Damien.
Hugo removed the covering.
The ancient channel appeared beneath them.
Dark stone.
Pale veins.
Circular junctions.
The terminal plate at the end of the exposed section.
Hector climbed into the trench without being invited.
Kael looked at Darius.
He does that too?
Constantly.
Interesting.
Darius looked at him.
Do not treat it as permission.
Kael sighed and climbed down.
Sir Corren followed.
Tavian was already there.
Naturally.
Bram remained above.
He had no interest in squeezing into the trench again unless someone threatened his crops.
Hector crouched beside the first exposed plate.
He did not touch it.
Kael noticed.
You recognize anything?
No.
Kael frowned.
Yesterday you knew Dawnwarden.
A name.
Not their engineering.
Hector examined the pale veins.
But I have seen descriptions.
Tavian immediately moved closer.
Where?
Restricted operational records.
Which archive?
Hector looked at him.
You were expelled from the Imperial College for violating restricted excavation law.
Irrelevant.
Very relevant.
Tavian adjusted his lenses.
To bureaucrats.
Hector turned toward Kael.
You employ him voluntarily?
At the moment.
Tavian looked personally wounded.
Hector returned his attention to the channel.
There is a First War logistics fragment preserved in High Command.
Not complete.
Copied perhaps six centuries ago from an older military document.
Kael stepped closer.
What does it say?
Hector looked toward the terminal plate.
It mentions roads beneath the land.
Not roads for people.
Tavian’s attention sharpened.
What wording?
Hector thought.
Veins of provision.
Tavian became very still.
Hugo looked at him.
Meaning?
Tavian pointed toward the channel.
Distribution.
Hector continued.
The fragment describes a fortress surviving a siege after surface supply lines were destroyed.
It says the keepers beneath the walls continued feeding water, heat, and strength into the city.
Kael looked toward the crops.
Strength.
Could mean mana.
Could mean food.
Bram called down from above.
Could mean crops.
Hector looked up.
Could.
Tavian seemed almost irritated by the usefulness of the old gardener.
Kael smiled.
Hector continued.
There is another passage.
Short.
Damaged.
It warns commanders not to break what it calls balancing stones.
Tavian’s expression changed.
Say that again.
Balancing stones.
Where?
Hector looked at the circular plates.
I do not know.
Tavian immediately knelt beside one.
Hugo joined him.
Kael recognized the look.
He stepped back before either scholar accused him of touching anything.
Darius noticed.
Growth.
Kael looked at him.
Do not make this unpleasant.
Tavian spent fifteen minutes comparing the circular junctions.
Then twenty.
Then Bram came down into the trench despite claiming he would not.
After nearly an hour, Hugo spoke.
These aren’t identical.
Tavian looked irritated.
Obviously.
No.
Hugo pointed.
The carving depth.
Kael crouched nearby.
The first plate held three branching lines cut deeply into the stone.
The second held four.
The third possessed the same basic shape, but one line was shallower.
Kael looked toward Tavian.
Damage?
I thought so.
Hugo shook his head.
Too clean.
Hector crouched on the opposite side.
Wear?
No.
Hugo brushed soil away.
Designed that way.
Bram grunted.
Farmer.
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed toward the channels.
Irrigation gate.
Tavian frowned.
This is not water.
I know.
Bram tapped the dirt beside the plate.
But if you’ve got four ditches and one field needs less water, you narrow the ditch.
Hugo looked back at the different groove depths.
Tavian stopped speaking.
That happened rarely enough to become significant.
Kael smiled.
Bram looked pleased.
Tavian finally said.
Possible.
Bram laughed.
From him that’s practically worship.
Hector looked toward Kael.
You keep useful people.
Kael nodded.
I am learning.
Darius said nothing.
Kael could feel the approval anyway.
They moved toward the terminal plate.
This was where the ancient channel spread energy into the field.
Hector studied it longer than the others.
Then he pointed.
There.
A symbol near the outer edge.
Kael saw a small carved shape.
A horizontal line beneath a divided circle.
You’ve seen that?
Not exactly.
Hector’s voice slowed.
But there is a mark in the military fragment associated with the phrase closed provision.
Tavian nearly climbed over Hugo.
Show me.
I don’t carry restricted military documents into provincial fields.
Tavian looked offended by the very concept of responsible archival handling.
Can you draw it?
Hector took Hugo’s chalk.
He drew the remembered symbol against a loose stone.
Not identical.
Close.
Very close.
Tavian compared them.
Darius watched.
What does that tell us?
Tavian looked toward the terminal.
There may be a shutoff.
Bram smiled.
Gate.
Tavian ignored him.
Hugo examined the stone.
Physical mechanism?
Possibly.
Kael looked around.
Where?
That took another hour.
They found it beneath the edge of the terminal plate.
Not a lever.
Not a switch.
A stone ring recessed beneath packed earth.
Hugo cleared it carefully.
Four hand-sized depressions surrounded the ring.
Tavian stared.
Do not move it.
Hugo looked at him.
I wasn’t.
Your hand was near it.
I have hands.
That is not a defense.
Kael looked toward Darius.
Now they’re doing it to each other.
Darius almost smiled.
Hector noticed.
You really have changed.
Darius looked at him.
No.
Yes.
Hector stood.
You used to look like you were considering murder whenever scholars argued.
I still am.
Tavian looked over.
We can hear you.
Darius answered.
Good.
They did not turn the ring.
Not yet.
Instead Tavian took readings.
Hugo measured the grooves.
Bram checked the crops.
Then the first genuinely alarming result arrived.
Tavian stared at his instrument.
Again.
Hugo frowned.
What?
The Earth saturation increased.
Kael’s expression hardened.
We didn’t activate anything.
Exactly.
How much?
Tavian recalibrated.
Three percent since sunrise.
Bram cursed.
Hector looked toward the field.
Previous increases?
Kael explained.
Eleven percent after his Light activated the channel.
Then another nine later.
Now three more without activation.
Hector’s face changed.
It is still running.
Tavian nodded.
Yes.
Kael looked at the ancient stone.
Keeper Ysara’s message returned immediately.
Do not activate it again.
She knew.
Darius spoke.
Can continued output become dangerous?
Bram answered before Tavian.
Yes.
Tavian looked at him.
For crops, certainly.
For the network itself?
Unknown.
Hector crouched beside the ring.
If that is the shutoff—
Tavian immediately said.
We don’t know what happens if we close it.
Kael looked toward him.
You think pressure builds behind it.
Exactly.
Hugo nodded.
Like blocking a water line without knowing where the pressure goes.
Bram smiled.
Now you’re speaking farmer.
Nobody laughed.
Because the implication was clear.
The western network was corrupted.
The southern line appeared clean.
If all of them connected somewhere deeper, changing one branch might affect another.
Kael looked toward Hector.
Your archive.
Any mention of closing sections?
Hector thought carefully.
There was a sentence.
What sentence?
I did not consider it important until now.
Kael waited.
Hector’s expression tightened.
When one vein darkens, seal the branch only after the neighboring paths have been opened.
Tavian’s face went pale.
Darius saw it.
Explain.
Tavian pointed toward the map Hugo had brought.
The ancient network branches.
Redpine.
Western chamber.
Southern field.
Central settlement.
If energy was supposed to distribute across multiple lines—
Kael understood.
And some are blocked or corrupted—
Then this clean branch could be taking more than its share.
Hugo finished the thought.
Overloading because the network is trying to compensate.
Bram looked toward the crops.
That explains the growth.
Kael stared across the field.
Not a blessing.
A symptom.
Tavian nodded.
Possibly.
Nobody complained about the word this time.
Hector looked toward Kael.
Now you know why the Sanctum warned you not to activate it again.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
That does not explain how they knew.
No.
It did not.
But it proved the warning itself had value.
Kael hated useful enemies.
They complicated everything.
Hector stepped away from the trench.
Kael followed.
Darius remained behind with Tavian and Hugo.
Sir Corren stood near the edge taking notes.
Hector walked far enough that the others could not easily hear.
You chose this site deliberately.
Kael nodded.
Why?
Because it was the least dangerous one.
Hector looked at him.
Not the answer.
Kael smiled faintly.
You wanted to know whether I trusted General Hector or Darius’s brother.
And?
I still don’t.
Hector laughed once.
Good.
Kael continued.
But I wanted to see what you did after finding something valuable.
Hector looked back toward the trench.
Did I pass?
Kael considered.
You didn’t order my people aside.
You didn’t try to claim the site for Imperial High Command.
You shared restricted information before demanding mine.
Hector raised an eyebrow.
That sounds dangerously close to approval.
Don’t become excited.
Hector stared at him.
That was mine.
I liked it.
For a few seconds, the older general looked less like one of Aurelia’s highest commanders and more like Darius’s brother.
Then his expression settled.
I will tell the Emperor that Blackwood is investigating an ancient infrastructure system.
No exact sites.
No mention that your Light activates it.
No measurements.
Kael studied him.
Why?
Because you were correct yesterday.
Kael waited.
Hector looked toward the fields.
If Aurelia learns every detail now, the information will not remain in High Command.
Too many ministers.
Too many noble offices.
Too many clerks.
Too many heirs with their own intelligence people.
Kael thought immediately of Seraphine.
Cassian.
The others.
Hector continued.
And because if the Sanctum already knows this much, the Empire should not respond by creating a stampede toward Blackwood.
Kael nodded.
That earned Hector another point.
Perhaps two.
Then Hector added.
But I want copies of Tavian’s technical findings once the immediate danger is contained.
Kael’s expression changed.
There it is.
I am still an Imperial general.
Kael thought.
Then nodded.
Summary copies.
No exact locations outside Blackwood.
Hector considered.
Agreed.
That surprised Kael.
Hector saw it.
You negotiate like someone who expects everyone to cheat you.
My family has eleven other heirs.
Hector nodded.
Fair.
They returned to the trench.
Darius was waiting.
Hector looked at him.
We agreed on limited reporting.
Darius’s eyebrow rose.
You agreed?
Kael smiled.
Your brother is trainable.
Hector stared.
Darius looked toward Kael.
Do not encourage yourself.
Sir Corren laughed.
Damien, standing nearby, looked wisely toward the crops.
Hector noticed him.
Ravenmoor.
Damien straightened.
General.
If the terminal begins failing and Lord Kael is absent, who has authority here?
Damien answered.
Sir Darius.
If he is absent?
Captain Roland for Blackwood security.
Hector shook his head.
This is not the central settlement.
Damien reconsidered.
If I am assigned field command, then me.
And Tavian orders you to keep the structure open while Bram says continuing operation will destroy the harvest.
Damien looked between the mage and farmer.
Tavian looked pleased to be part of the scenario.
Bram did not.
Damien answered.
I ask Hugo whether either action risks damaging the structure.
Hector’s eyes sharpened.
Why Hugo?
Because Tavian understands the magical function.
Bram understands the crops.
Hugo understands the physical construction.
Good.
And if they disagree?
Damien paused.
Then I protect people first.
Evacuate the field.
Restrict access.
Do not alter the mechanism unless failure becomes immediate.
Hector looked toward Darius.
He’s good.
Damien’s eyes flickered.
Darius answered.
I know.
Three words.
Damien stood a little straighter.
Kael noticed.
So did Hector.
By midday, they had decided on a temporary measure.
No Light activation.
No turning the terminal ring.
No harvesting from the experimental field.
Tavian would measure Earth saturation every six hours.
Bram would record plant growth, root changes, soil condition, and signs of nutrient depletion.
Hugo would construct a removable shelter over the exposed trench so rain could not interfere with measurements.
Damien would maintain a rotating guard.
Iris would survey the surrounding area for any second terminal.
Elias would accompany her.
Nobody would close the channel until the network branches around it were better mapped.
It was not dramatic.
No spell.
No sword.
No ancient door opening.
Kael preferred it.
For once, they had found something dangerous and decided not to poke it.
Darius looked suspiciously pleased.
Kael refused to acknowledge why.
Hector asked to see the Black Dragon training afterward.
Not the candidates.
The ordinary soldiers.
That distinction mattered.
Darius assembled twelve men currently off patrol.
No Damien.
No Leon.
No Victor.
No Marcus.
Hector frowned.
Where are the names from Sir Corren’s report?
Working.
Kael answered.
Hector looked toward Darius.
Intentional?
Yes.
I want to see your best.
Darius shook his head.
You want to see whether the unit exists beneath its best.
Hector became quiet.
Kael liked that answer.
The twelve soldiers formed in the yard.
Hector inspected them without ceremony.
Armor fit.
Weapon condition.
Boots.
Spacing.
Then he asked one soldier his name.
Tobin Grell, General.
Kael knew the name.
Barely.
Darius had made his point days ago.
Know the people under the banner.
Hector asked another.
Mikel Orrow.
Another.
Fenric Bale.
Another.
Sera Voss.
Kael noted each.
Names.
Not numbers.
Hector then ordered a simple formation drill.
Darius did not intervene.
Captain Roland commanded.
The Black Dragon shifted from marching column to defensive square.
Not perfectly.
Fast enough.
Hector walked around it.
Again.
They repeated it.
A little faster.
Again.
Third attempt.
Hector stopped.
Too much attention on the front.
Captain Roland nodded.
Rear?
Rear and right corner.
You expect attacks where you are looking.
Good enemies attack where you stopped looking.
Roland nodded.
Again.
They repeated the drill.
Hector corrected two soldiers personally.
No humiliation.
No yelling.
Just adjustment.
Kael watched Darius watching him.
There was respect there.
Buried under years of disagreement.
But present.
Kael began to understand why Darius had answered both when asked which brother he would want commanding.
Hector understood armies as systems.
Darius understood the moment systems broke.
Together, they would have been terrifying.
Perhaps that was why the Empire had valued both.
That evening, the brothers stood alone near the Black Dragon training yard.
Kael did not intend to overhear.
He was crossing toward the manor.
Then he heard Hector.
Mother still asks about you.
Darius stopped.
Kael stopped too.
Not their mother?
The phrasing suggested yes.
He considered leaving.
Then Hector spoke again.
You could write.
Darius answered.
So could she.
Hector sighed.
Still impossible.
Always.
A pause.
Then Hector’s voice changed.
I wasn’t talking about our mother yesterday.
Darius knew.
Kael remained still.
Hector continued.
I was talking about hers.
Kael’s attention sharpened immediately.
His mother.
Darius’s voice lowered.
Do not.
She asked you to protect him.
I know.
You made it your life.
Darius turned.
You think I regret that?
No.
Hector answered immediately.
I think you fear failing her enough that you may one day stop seeing him clearly.
Silence.
Kael felt suddenly uncomfortable.
This was not politics.
Not really.
Darius spoke.
I see him clearly enough to correct him constantly.
That is not what I mean.
I know.
Hector lowered his voice.
He is becoming important.
Not because he is Augustus’s son.
Not only that.
Blackwood is changing.
The Guild.
The soldiers.
The oath.
Nonhumans under an Imperial banner.
Ancient structures answering his magic.
The Sanctum approaching him.
Hector paused.
Sooner or later, protecting Kael will mean choosing which dangers you protect him from.
Darius answered.
That is already true.
And if one of those dangers is himself?
A longer silence.
Kael nearly walked away.
Then Darius answered.
Then I remind him of who he intended to become.
Hector said nothing.
Darius continued.
And if that fails...
Kael held still.
I stop him.
The words should have offended him.
They did not.
Because of the oath.
Because of Elias.
Because of everything they had spent days discussing.
Loyalty that could not survive disagreement was not loyalty.
It was obedience.
Hector’s voice came quieter.
Good.
Darius sounded annoyed.
You came all this way to ask me that?
No.
Why then?
Hector looked toward the manor.
Because I wanted to know whether the boy was worth the trouble.
Kael stepped into view.
Both brothers turned.
Kael folded his arms.
And?
Hector stared at him.
How long were you standing there?
Long enough.
Darius closed his eyes briefly.
Kael looked toward Hector.
Well?
General Hector Valen considered him for several seconds.
Then he looked toward the unfinished Adventure Guild.
The Black Dragon Banner.
The new homes being built beyond the road.
Finally back to Kael.
Too early to tell.
Kael stared.
Darius’s mouth moved.
Kael pointed.
You almost laughed.
I did not.
Hector smiled.
Then he started toward the manor.
Kael followed.
That was a terrible answer.
It was an accurate answer.
You could have said yes.
I could have lied.
Kael looked toward Darius.
Your entire family is exhausting.
Darius nodded.
Finally, something we all agree on.
Hector stayed three more days.
Not as an inspector.
Not officially.
He reviewed Blackwood’s supply routes with Osric.
He spent an afternoon with Captain Roland discussing patrol depth.
He observed Galahad Charney’s Guild preparations and argued with him about whether adventurers could be trusted during military emergencies.
Galahad answered that soldiers could not always be trusted during military emergencies either.
Hector did not disagree.
He watched Marcus fight the candle.
He watched Elias answer another oath question.
He watched Leon teach.
He watched Damien command a patrol rotation.
And before leaving, he requested a private conversation with Sir Corren.
Kael did not hear it.
For once.
When General Hector finally rode out of Blackwood, he left with twenty-four Imperial soldiers.
And one sealed document remained behind.
Darius found it on Kael’s desk.
Hector’s personal seal.
Kael opened it.
Inside was a hand-copied fragment.
No official archive marks.
No classification stamp.
No indication where it had come from.
Only several lines Hector had apparently memorized.
Kael read them.
Where the Dawnwardens built their veins, the land endured.
Where the veins were wounded, corruption followed the wound.
Do not mistake the road for the poison carried through it.
And where one branch blackens, seek first the heart that feeds it.
Kael read the final line again.
The heart that feeds it.
Darius stood beside him.
Western crystal.
Kael looked toward the map.
Maybe.
Darius glanced at him.
You are learning.
Kael smiled faintly.
I hate that word now.
They looked toward the western forest.
For weeks, Blackwood had been studying branches.
Wells.
Fields.
Ruins.
Hosts.
Channels.
But if Hector’s ancient fragment was correct, then the corrupted branches were not the true problem.
Something was feeding them.
And Blackwood had already found one enormous purple heart beneath the earth.
Now they needed to determine whether it was the source—
or merely another branch connected to something deeper.