114 Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen– Forever Marked (1/2)

It was late, and Captain Anton Markov was in his tent, the rough fabric of the military issue cloth flapping in the night wind. But he was not asleep, not now.

The Sage had Sung to him again. She had not done that... since the dream.

How many times had he died for her? How many times had she welcomed him back with the Salute to the Silver Queen, and the Salute to the Morning?

Thousands...

He pulled off his tunic, and stood in front of the crude mirror in his tent, little more than polished metal used to shave with.

Over his navel was his Fourth Mark, dark black ink with a white center that seemed to glow to his eyes, although he knew it didn't.

Constitution. A Champion is strong, but you're not a Champion, you're a Soldier. A soldier's job is to be tough, to endure. Endurance is from the gut. If you have the guts, nothing is impossible.

He could hear her voice as she had Marked him in Dream, as memories that faded from dream to dream now began to return in a rush.

People called him a prodigy, a commander of rare ability, a master of the Spear.

He was a novice and a fool who had followed the commands of his lady, and died a thousand times and more to learn the uncaring rules of the battlefield.

He was the Great Captain of the Ironblood, and he had a Fourth Mark to prove it.

He held up the Amulet around his neck. He'd had it made on a whim, the symbol for Iron on the silver side, of Blood on the other. A minor magical trinket giving him a small amount of resistance to fire and cold, enough for him to ignore any and all natural extremes of temperature without a problem.

An Ironblood Amulet. She had placed the one she wrought in Dream around his neck with her own hands. No matter where they fought, the hottest deserts to the highest icy plains, the Ironblood endured.

He had married, he had children, had a successful military career that could only climb higher... and had always felt he was missing something.

Sage Sama was up North, fighting an Evil that could end the world.

She had Sung to them once again.

And she had returned to him his Dreams. Looking upon his picture in The Book had shaken him down to his soul.

He would speak to his wife tomorrow. He had fought evil unending for years, underneath the greatest battlefield commander he could possibly imagine. He was going to resign his commission and head north.

The Ironblood would be coming to their Sage, and he, their Great Captain, was going to be there to greet them!

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-Sage Sama?- There was a pause from the /speaker. -Is it true that Mera is a doppelganger?!-

The half of my mind running what was this world's only chatroom server turned to the one speaking.

If Mera existed, that meant that Corporal Meers and the others actually came from That Place, the mansion in Nightmare. They had likely seen her image when I focused on Meers' image in The Book, as he was the giant who I always encountered first after killing the dop maid.

In very short order, I could likely find out exactly who my intended family was supposed to be, who Tremble had been. That could be quite important.

-Is there a maid called Mera at your place of residence, Sergeant Ombler?- I /asked calmly. I felt him swallow through the link as he abruptly had a very significant chunk of my attention.

-Yes, ma'am.- He /pictured the middle-aged woman, with dark curly hair and a stern expression in a senior maid's outfit perfectly.

-Is this a noble's residence?- I /inquired.

-I am a guard captain for the city estate of Duke Hartover, in the Duchy of Espenflow, ma'am,- he /relayed promptly.

I looked down at The Map, as his awareness of it permeated through and I automatically installed it into the greater image. Focusing on it, I could see the star where he was inside the mansion right now, on the second floor in his personal quarters in the guardsmen's wing, laying the residence out for all of us.

Rosencrux Empire, the westernmost area of the Kingdom of Ogredown, the Northmarch, northernmost of the Five Realms. Almost due south of where I'd woken up.

There it was. The mansion. The yard. The back yard. The stables. The gate to the cavalry. The pond, the statues, the great drive, the iron gates. I stared at it all for an eternity of three seconds, and then moved on to the business at hand.

-Did you lose a handsome, lady-killing member of the house guard or extended Ducal family approximately ten or so years ago?-