Chapter 219: Black Tithe March

The next war was coming out of the dark waste to the east, and the Core Ledger showed it as black lines traveling toward every open freehold path and safe haven on the map. The lines didn’t follow the market roads, because the Black Tithe didn’t travel roads so much as burn them, and it didn’t purchase gate keys when it could tear the gates down instead and leave a tribute mark in the ashes of every road it crossed. That meant every path it touched would become a tribute demand, a choice between giving up lives and resources or going silent forever.

Marcus relayed the information to them first, his voice tight over the channel. "The Grand Meridian is putting the warning up on its boards. No closed paths, and every linked shelter will be given the route and the numbers traveling with it."

Elena came in right after him. "The Eastgate Refuge Chain will be hit first, with six shelters, two medical tents, and the wagon paths between them, and once the Black Tithe reaches them, it takes away the only safe way to travel west."

Austin Veyron could feel himself wanting to leave Ledgerdeep behind and go east alone, to take out the head of this army before it could reach anyone, using DEVOUR on every demon that stood in the way of keeping those people alive.

Veyra stood next to him. "Name it."

"I want to take them out by myself."

"What would that create?"

"It would make me the person who decides whether a war is a path or food."

The crown shard in Sable’s hands glowed a dim, pale light. "Then we help where we’re called to."

Tessa, Ceryn, and Petra copied the Black Tithe paths from the Core Ledger, making sure not to take the whole ledger with them, only the routes they needed to warn the east of what was coming, and they left the great book open on its stand for the people of Ledgerdeep to read.

As they exited Ledgerdeep, someone stepped out of the tunnel shadows with both hands raised, a female demon with black iron horns and a tattered gray cloak, a tribute brand burned raw across her throat.

"My name is Kethra," she said. "I broke away from the Tithe’s army."

Rin slid her claws out and held them level with the demon’s heart. "Why?"

"I watched them raid a shelter and call the people who lived there tribute," Kethra replied. "They don’t negotiate with you, they just use you as tribute."

"Do you want to give us information?" Austin Veyron asked.

"Yes. I want to warn Eastgate and help stop the front of the Tithe’s army before the rest of it arrives."

"What does the front have?" Petra asked.

"They have a Banner Commander named Varos, and he carries a tribute banner that brands people as tribute before they’re ever chained," Kethra said. "There’s something inside the banner that feeds off of it. It’s not a sovereign throne, but it’s enough to feed off people’s fear."

Nyra held the heart shard up to the brand on Kethra’s throat, and the blue-black light flickered across her skin. "She’s telling the truth. I can feel the banner on her."

They traveled through an open relay gate to reach the path heading east, and once they were through, they could see that the landscape was barren, scattered with destroyed forts and long scars where the earth had split apart. Refugee wagons were already traveling west beneath makeshift banners, carrying children, medical supplies, and water, and none of them knew whether the next road would be safe or not. The air was thick with dust, and they could smell the fires from miles away, while the wagon tracks sank deep into the dirt, children walked beside the wheels to help lighten the load, and old men leaned on walking sticks cut from broken fences.

The Black Tithe found them before they could make it to sunset, as scouts rode over the hill in black armor, each carrying a spear with a hook on the end and a burnt piece of cloth wrapped around one arm.

TRIBUTE BELONGS TO THE TITHE.

The scout leading the group pointed his spear at the refugees. "Leave half your resources and anyone who’s branded, and we may let you pass."

A woman from the medical tent stepped up, shaking but refusing to back down. "There’s no one here who’s branded."

The scout laughed. "There will be."

Black fire spread from his arm, and Tamsin stepped in front of the woman from the medical tent with her spear ready, while Rin went straight at the scout and cut his arm where the burnt cloth was wrapped. The cloth ripped away, but black fire spread across his skin and wove another piece that wrapped itself around his arm, and at the same moment Veyra met the next scout and blocked his spear before it could punch through a water barrel.

Austin Veyron could see what the words on the cloth meant to these scouts, because they didn’t truly own the people or the resources, and they were only using the banner to claim whatever they needed. That was how the Black Tithe traveled, taking what it wanted from the people who lived along its path.

"Target," Austin Veyron said. "The claim of owning tribute. Not the people, or what they’re carrying."

"Witnessed," Veyra said.

"Witnessed," Sable said.

Austin Veyron placed the white root chain on the lead scout’s arm, right where the cloth was wrapped.

DEVOUR opened, and he could taste the claim of owning a village the scout had never even been to.

TRIBUTE BELONGS TO THE TITHE.

He devoured belongs.

The black fire went out, and the scout stumbled back as every other scout’s cloth crumbled to ash on their arms, their hands letting go of their spears because they no longer had the claim to keep them standing.

Kethra walked over to them. "You can leave, or you can tell the refugees where Varos is heading."

One of the scouts dropped his spear in the dirt. "Eastgate. The front is already there, and the banner has made it to the outer barricades."

A path appeared on the ground where the scout’s cloth had crumbled into ash, tracing the route to where the front was heading.

EASTGATE REFUGE CHAIN: BREACH AT MOONRISE.

The wagons behind Austin Veyron began to travel faster, and Tessa calculated how long it would take them to reach Eastgate if they took the long road, then shook her head at the result.

"We won’t make it if we take this road."

"There’s an old fort road through the hills that we can take," Kethra said, pointing toward it. "It’ll be dangerous, but we can make it to Eastgate."

Austin Veyron could feel himself wanting to tell every wagon to take that road, because he knew they would have to make a decision soon, and it would be so much faster if he simply made it for them.

"What do you want?" Veyra asked him.

"I want to tell them what road to take."

"What would that create?"

"It would make me the owner of their risk."

Sable turned to the wagon leaders. "You know how much time you have, and you know which paths are available to you. Decide what you’ll take and which road you’ll travel."

The wagon leaders talked among themselves, and in the end some took the road west with their medical supplies while the others decided to take the hill road with the team, carrying water and barricade materials to Eastgate, and no one was forced to take the dangerous road.

Before they could leave, Kethra pointed to the path the scout had left behind. "Varos isn’t trying to take over Eastgate because it has the best barricades. He wants the names from the refuge chain, because the banner can learn who needs what from which shelter, and then it’ll try to take them as tribute."

Ceryn made a note on both of the route sheets. "The medical wagons should change their information on who they have with them. Just list family members who can witness that they have people needing medicine."

The woman from the medical tent nodded. "We can do that. We already have a list of the people who need medicine, so we just won’t give the banner our information."

Tessa wrote another note for Eastgate. "Make sure they know that the Black Tithe will offer them safety in exchange for their branded people, and they should announce how much they have out loud so the banner can’t claim they don’t have enough."

Marcus sent the note to Eastgate through the Grand Meridian’s open boards, and they responded a few minutes later. "We still have barricades on the outside, with enough water for one day and food for two. We have room for more people, but we won’t give anyone to them."

Austin Veyron wanted to tell them that the team would be there soon and get them out of their situation, but none of them knew how long the hill road would really take.

"What do you want?" Veyra asked.

"I want them to know that they’ll be okay."

"What would that create?"

"It would make me someone who can control them with promises."

Sable looked toward the black flare in the distance. "Then give them the information, and let them decide what to do."

"We’ll be coming through the hill road with water and barricade materials," Austin Veyron told them through the relay. "Don’t wait for us to make your decisions."

"We won’t."

It wasn’t what they wanted to hear, but it was what they needed to know, and as the team traveled up into the hills with the wagons rattling behind them, they could see the black flare growing in the distance, because the Black Tithe banner had already started to burn at Eastgate, and the front was already there.