Maledictus Terra Book 3: Vetitum Nemus Part 103

@lex-zaiya · 2025-09-30 16:41 · Freewriters

Greetings all

Sorry for the short update. I hope you all enjoy it. Be sure to follow up on @zakludick's update to see what our other characters are up to.

mortis_custos_divider.png “Did you really believe that I would send you, my daughter, and Mortis isn’t a situation I hadn’t scoped out myself?” asked Mary as she stepped into the crypt.

“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” demanded Letulah.

Mary took her time to ponder this as Ostia took up her shield once more, moving it to her back. The queen then looked her old friend in the eye and simply said.

“Do you trust me?”

Letty sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “Fair enough.”

“The point was that I didn’t have enough information to share with those I was sending out. This is regardless of any trust between the two of us. We already lost Johnathan, and I will not lose my heir.”

“Didn’t seem that worried about sending your boys from here.”

“My ‘boys’, as you put it, are far better equipped for their journey than my daughter is. I asked Ostia to look within the realms of the dead to see if anything strange was happening. Turns out, I was right to have some concerns.”

“The realm is in uproar. Spirits that have been slumbering for aeons are waking. Things that were meant to be left well enough alone are stirring. The dead are restless, and even corpses stir within their earthen blankets. A plague is coming.”

“I could have told you all of this.”

“Yet, you didn’t.” said Mary solemnly.

Letty opened her mouth to argue, but closed it. It was true. She hadn’t divulged too much. She touched her injured face, wondering what her husband would think of her if he were to see her now.

“I only know so much.” She admitted.

“Yet, they tried to kill you, so clearly, you know far more than what they want you sharing.”

“Location. Location. Location.” Said the Waith. “I can only go so far before wards get in my way. Helga would explore more, but harpies aren’t common to the area, so seeing one hanging around will be too obvious.”

“You have a harpy, too?”

“You’re deflecting.”

“Fine! I may have a way in, but if I were attacked, there is a chance that my contact may also have suffered the same fate.”

“Speak their name, and I will check beyond to see if they have joined the ranks of the aimlessly wandering spirits.”

“You trust her? She would be converted by the necromancers in the Death cult.” Demanded Letty as she looked at Mary.

“If that were even possible, don’t you think she and Mortis would have turned on us by now? Wouldn’t it have been easier to have used them to kill you, than bringing in an assassin? I find it somewhat amusing that you struggle to accept that we have those who have passed on assisting us when you were working with Barakus.”

“It was a necessity.” Defended Letty.

“And using a family resource isn’t?”

There was no way for Letulah to win this argument, and she knew it. Her own actions up until this point had painted her in a bad light. She needed help, but she had been burned so often before that she didn’t know that she could trust anyone.

“You will be hard-pressed to find any more loyal than those within this castle. Living or dead.” Said Ostia. “Now, that name?”

“Fine. Markus. Markus Fleetus.”

Ostia snorted, then recovered when she saw that Letty was serious. “I will never understand these modern names. Species?”

“Half-elf or something like that.”

“You don’t know?” asked Mary.

“I don’t exactly hang with the hoity toity people, you do, Mary. We don’t always show our faces.”

“That is fair. My apologies. Ostia, if you will.”

And like that, Ostia was gone. mortis_custos_divider.png And with that, back to you Zak

mortis_custos_divider.png

Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library

Mortis Custos

Start

Sanguifex

Start

Vetitum Nemus

by @lex-zaiya by @zakludick
Part 1 Part 2
Part 3 Part 4
Part 5 Part 6
Part 7 Part 8
Part 9 Part 10
Part 11 Part 12
Part 13 Part 14
Part 15 Part 16
Part 17 Part 18
Part 19 Part 20
Part 21 Part 22
Part 23 Part 24
Part 25 Part 26
Part 27 Part 28
Part 29 Part 30
Part 31 Part 32
Part 33 Part 34
Part 35 Part 36
Part 37 Part 38
Part 39 Part 40
Part 41 Part 42
Part 43 Part 44
Part 45 Part 46
Part 47 Part 48
Part 49 Part 50
Part 51 Part 52
Part 53 Part 54
Part 55 Part 56
Part 57 Part 58
Part 59 Part 60
Part 61 Part 62
Part 63 Part 64
Part 65 Part 66
Part 67 Part 68
Part 69 Part 70
Part 71 Part 72
Part 73 Part 74
Part 75 Part 76
Part 77 Part 78
Part 79 Part 80
Part 81 Part 82
Part 83 Part 84
Part 85 Part 86
Part 87 Part 88
Part 89 Part 90
Part 91 Part 92
Part 93 Part 94
Part 95 Part 96
Part 97 Part 98
Part 99 Part 100
Part 101 Part 102
Part 103 - You’re Here Part 104 - Incoming

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