Chapter Thirty-Two
Austin
Austin awoke to the smell of smoke. Burning oakwood, to be precise. He, unfortunately, was familiar with the smell. His body was pinched in an uncomfortable upright position. It wasn’t till he tried to move his wrists that he even realized he was tied. Hog tied. Roast pit. Oh, I do not taste good.
“Sorry guys, the meat’s a little spoiled,” Austin groaned as he blinked back into focus.
He was in some circular temple with no roof.
At least, no roof over him. He glanced left and right, trying to find any sense of direction.
They were on a rocky cliff side, which meant they were north of the city.
Plus, the trees were dusted with snow beyond the temple. Not good.
“Silence the beast,” the cleric from the fence grumbled.
Austin finally managed to look down at his body.
Two chains per arm, enchanted with glowing purple runes, one around his torso, two per leg.
Oh, that’s nice of them to think so highly of me…
too bad they’re trying to burn me. He grimaced as he glanced around the massive pyre of fire logs surrounding his ankles.
He smelled the first torch working its way from the outside in.
There was movement and his head snapped to the right. A cleric dropped an arm full of logs and skuttled back from the pyre. Austin arched a brow. “I’m not going to bite you.”
“Hush you! Viridian, hurry up with that fire. I want him sacrificed to our Lord before nightfall.”
“Why? What happens at nightfall?” Austin teased, glancing back at Marquis. That’s what Hyacinth called him.
Back in the clearing, there had been only one thing on his mind: Keep Hyacinth safe.
The clerics needed Marquis to complete their cleansing ritual.
Austin intended to just tackle him to the ground, maybe pummel him a little.
The easiest way to stop a spell is to break it before it’s cast. That’s something Sebastian taught him.
“None of your concern, heretic! Once I’ve burned your abomination from this world, the others will have subdued the witch and will bring her here to join you!”
Austin raised both his brows, finally focusing on Marquis.
That’s when he saw the man behind the illusion of divinity and power.
His face was covered in scars, little bites from locusts, he would presume.
That’s what Melody and Smith said came flying out of Hyacinth’s mouth.
Burns licked up his exposed arms and left most of his skin patchy.
His religious symbol dangling from a leather chord, broken. That’s probably my fault.
“Only, I don’t think that spell works without you, does it?” Austin sucked in a deep breath through his nose.
“And what would you know of magic,” Marquis stepped up to the base of his pyre.
He was dressed in loose fitting bottoms and a tunic style top, his sleeves rolled up and pinned at his shoulders.
Drenched in sweat, his face was pained as he threw another flaming stick into the pyre.
It’s not lighting like it’s supposed to…
which means they’re trying to use a magic fire. And someone’s all out of magic.
“My creator, Lord Rosemont, is a Lich.” Austin surveyed the temple. Empty. Nary a soul, minus the young acolyte that carted large logs over to the fire. Why so much? I’m big but I’m not that hunky.
“I’m aware of the undead sorcerer.” Marquis stood straight for once, finally locking eyes with Austin. “I’ve never been given this much back talk from a mindless undead beast.”
“Hey,” Austin huffed, furrowing his brows. “It’s pronounced hunk.”
Marquis’ left eye twitched. Austin smirked to himself.
He tried to tug at his hands, ignoring the pain of divine magic that burned at his wrists.
Damn; enchanted chains, good ones. He glanced at the acolyte who sank to their knees next to the pyre and tried to light a tiny stick.
Even with a whispered spell, they could only manage smoke.
“Play your games, but you are merely only wasting what precious little time you have left pretending not to be scared of divine retribution, wretched thing.”
Austin snorted. “That’s where you’re wrong Markus.”
“Marquis.”
“Gesundheit.”
Marquis’ face scrunched up in fury as he lurched forward.
Stopping mid cast, even Austin could see the man was in pain.
His eyes widened and his fingers were spread wide, curved a little at the joints.
Like a spider that was dying, all of him was starting to curl inward.
Marquis slapped his chest. He coughed up globs of mud and a wasp flew out of his mouth.
The acolyte yelped, racing from the pyre as the bug flew directly for him.
That’s…new.
“But you’re wrong, priest,” Austin continued, leveling his gaze on the man. Marquis swiped his lips with the back of his bump-riddled hand. Bug bites. Something stung and bit and shredded him. Austin almost felt sorry for him. “I’m not pretending. I am scared. Actually? I’m terrified.”
Marquis furrowed his brows, slinking backward till he was sat on one of the stone benches that circled his pyre.
“I’m terrified you’ll actually get this fire going,” Austin exhaled heavily.
“That Hyacinth will come all this way here and I’ll be nothing but ash.
That my family will arrive, hoping to be here in the nick of time, only to find embers.
Because, you see, I was made to be the protector of my family.
I was made to be the wall no one can get through, the barrier between the problem and my loved ones.
And I thought there for a while I wasn’t doing a good job because we came up against some impossible things.
I mean…who fights an eldritch god and wins? ”
Marquis threw a leg over his other, folding his hands over his knees. “This is intended to what? Make me empathetic of your plight, heretic?”
“No,” Austin laughed, shaking his head. “I know your type.”
“Oh, please, do tell.” Marquis motioned with a flippant motion for him to continue.
Only, when Austin opened his mouth to speak, Marquis started to cough.
He slammed his fist against his chest, more damp soil falling out of his mouth in clumps.
That time, a writhing worm dropped into his lap. He swatted it away.
Cursed? By who? Sabine?
Austin sighed, “Long ago, I ran into this village. They’d been visited by a pack of paladins. Sonmyr’s favorite warriors. They picked a fight with the local Old Fae, he was seen as somewhat of a minor god to the village.”
Marquis huffed, spitting out to the side. His saliva was stained brown, and Austin could see him trying to rid himself of clumps building up behind his teeth.
“Well, they decided to turn him into a giant pillar and attach all the villagers around him. Burned every last one of them.” Austin narrowed his eyes as Marquis’s gaze returned to the undead man’s face. “Except for one.”
“That was their mistake,” Marquis wheezed.
He pounded his fist against his chest again, trying and failing to clear the infection.
More clumps fell past his lips, and that time, he reached into his mouth.
Tugging at something long and slender, he pulled out a wiry root.
It was drenched in saliva and pale white except for the edges.
The tip of each tendril of root was dripping crimson. He dropped it with a gasp.
It’s got to be Sabine, but it’s not working fast enough. I gotta keep him distracted. I can probably dislodge myself if I can keep him from lighting the fires for real.
“I thought so too!” Austin blurted out, making the cleric forget about the vine for a moment.
“They left her there, marked by Sonmyr as some sort of lesson. But that was their downfall, because she found me. She wanted revenge. You know, I used to think it was a noble quest. To get revenge on your murdered loved ones. To slay those who cut down your village, no one would dare judge her for wanting something like that.”
Marquis’ body slouched a little. He nodded. “I just…I just wanted Janus back. He was an acolyte. He was still learning discipline.”
Gotcha. Austin clutched onto that empathetic tone and pressed into it hard. “Right? And it’s not his fault that he liked a pretty girl. I mean, Sabine was gorgeous.”
“Beautiful,” Marquis sighed dreamily, gaze drifting off. A great well of sadness filled his face as he whispered, “Janus was always a fool for a pretty face.”
Austin glanced around subtly, trying to find the acolyte and felt his heart skip a beat.
The young man was lying flat beyond the courtyard ring of pillars.
Just within the shadows of the actual temple, his robes flitted in a soft breeze.
Oh, that’s not good. He jerked his attention back to Marquis, staring off into the distance.
“But, uh,” he blurted out, bringing them both back to the story. “She wouldn’t settle for anything less than blood. So, I helped her. I brought her to the paladins who were camped not too far away.”
Marquis’ eyes widened. “You brute.”
“Her village was burned at the stake!” Austin rolled his eyes. “They killed innocent children, for what? Because of an old man in the woods?”
Marquis squinted at Austin, his lips twisting into a soured expression. Damn. Too much. Too soon. Rein it in, Big Guy.
“You’re right. I was brutish. I dragged each of those paladins out into the field.
I broke their legs so they couldn’t run away.
I destroyed their hands so they couldn’t cast. And I left them defenseless for her.
And you know what she did? After she ripped them to shreds with a rusty knife?
After she inflicted all the pain and suffering they’d done to the people of her village? ” Austin arched a brow.
Marquis pushed to his wobbly feet, trying to clear his throat. No! No, they’re not here yet. Stop! “I don’t care what a heretic did—”
Austin needed to think fast. Unfortunately, the only solution was the truth. No sugar coating this one. “She killed herself.”
Marquis dropped back down to the stone bench.
Austin took sudden, ragged breaths in as he tried his best not to cry again.
He’d already spilled those tears for the marked woman ages ago.
Knelt beside her, begging her not to be gone, he found her with her neck snapped a day after Sebastian was reformed.
Austin did everything he told Marquis, but he didn’t mention dragging the leftover bodies that the woman couldn’t brutalize back to Sebastian.
He helped his maker regain his strength, and when he returned with the Lich to collect the woman…
there she was. Dangling from a tree, eyes glassy, and life gone.
Austin cut her down and held her for a long time.
Then he buried her and all the burned dead in the woods near the Old Fae’s cottage so that the spirit of him could still watch over them.
“She couldn’t bear the thought of going on past her revenge.
It didn’t fix the hurt. It made it worse.
It consumed her till she was nothing but a husk.
” Austin pleaded with Marquis to see the reason.
Revenge was the tale as old as time. He’d read so many stories of adventurers who withered away under the pressure to exact revenge.
And those who did accomplish it? The heartbreak of realizing that it never fixed anything.
He’d known so many people from the Badlands who ended the same way as the marked woman.
Their grief consumed them till there was nothing left and they were just stories.
Reminders that revenge is a poisoned dream.
“That’s the difference between you heretics and I,” Marquis growled. No. Austin’s stomach clenched up as Marquis’ fists ignited into two balls of swirling black fire. “My Lord and I do not want the hurt fixed…”
Marquis launched two fireballs at the center, igniting the pyre with a roar.
Austin howled. Thrashing, he tried his best to free himself, but the chains only burned harder.
No! No! They’re not here yet! They don’t know I’m here!
Marquis lumbered forward, his fists covered in flames once more.
He pointed them at the logs directly beneath Austin.
“I wish to let it fester…until it consumes me and renders me clean once more by His most holy flames.”
Heavy, necromantic smog filled the air around them as Austin was ignited.