Chapter 9 #2
I bolted down an alley, turned into another, and then jumped to the rooftop of a cobbler’s shop. Two paladins flickered across my peripheral vision. The seven of them had tracked my movements and maneuvered to surround me. That was annoying, but I wasn’t concerned about my ability to survive this.
Until a beam of golden light came down from the night sky, lighting up the town with an unnatural dawn.
The earth shook in tandem with a boom, the shock originating where the light ended.
That point was obscured by the city around me, so I didn’t know what had landed until it took to the sky.
A man carved from white marble flapped silver wings as he climbed.
His white hair was longer than he was tall, and it rippled from the wind of his flight.
This was an angeli, a being like Cici that had not been demoted to grigori and thus still had their wings.
As a slave, Cici was incredibly powerful.
How much stronger would a free angeli be?
No, not just free, but the kind of angeli that came to the material plane when paladins called for aid.
I had to assume this was a true celestial warrior.
I should run, I thought to myself, but then the bloodlust hit. I wanted to watch these paladins suffer, but 7 paladins and 1 celestial versus a single Byron wasn’t fighting fair.
I activated Shadows of Death, an ability that released the shades of my slain enemies so that they could fight once more, but this time on my behalf.
21 spirits of dead paladins poured forth, jumping off the cobbler’s roof in every direction to fight men who used to be their brothers in arms. Spikes of heat erupted around me as my enemies activated Turn Undead and other Holy magic to combat my shades.
Sending paladins to kill paladins was so deeply satisfying.
Good-aligned levels increased by 22.
One paladin down.
I jumped to the next roof, dodging the meteor of a celestial as he crashed into the spot where I had stood moments before.
He burst through the wall as he sped to pursue me.
This angeli didn’t give a shit about the innocent people living here, and the hypocrisy of these so-called “good” paladins destroying the homes and livelihoods of simple peasants fed a burning rage in whatever was left of my soul.
Good-aligned levels increased by 16.
A level 16 paladin was after me? That was almost insulting. Of course, he was going to die.
5 paladins and 1 celestial to go.
I dropped to the ground to dodge the angeli. He wasn’t wielding a weapon, I realized. The edges of his wings were like razors, and he seemed to use those in lieu of a sword or a spear.
With low expectations, I triggered Darkness.
Judging by the way the celestial dove, he could see through the illusion, but a paladin who had just come around the corner could not. He was confused and flatfooted. I cut off his head.
Good-aligned levels increased by 22.
I rolled through the dirt to dodge the celestial’s next pass. Goddamn, was he fast. He took to the air again and banked, preparing another attack. If he got a hit in, I wasn’t sure if I’d survive it.
The only way to outrun this angeli would be to make a break for my inn room to hit my teleporter out.
If I could get there in time, the angeli would no doubt destroy most of the inn, killing the people who happened to be inside.
Whether or not it was my fault, being associated with the deaths of civilians was bad for my goals.
Running was out, so I had to win.
I had a Podni bomb on my belt, but we had only just detonated a similar bomb in the paladin’s barracks the other day. If I used a bomb like that here, my connection with those murders would be confirmed.
Think. Think. Think.
I dove, and the celestial crashed through a hostel.
When I came back to my feet, four paladins surrounded me. In the air, the celestial was about to dive bomb me again.
I really wanted to save them, but I had 197 unspent Loyalty Pledges in my system. I dropped 50 into strength, 50 into dexterity, and 50 into constitution, bringing them to 101, 85, and 92, respectively.
Grabbing one paladin by the neck, I threw him into a second, and then my sword cut through the remaining two. I cleaved them in half at the stomach, but my weapon ignored armor, so their breastplates held their torsos together as they crumpled into the expanding lakes of their own blood.
Good-aligned levels increased by 83.
A wing flew in front of my eyes. I parried, the force of the blow spinning me in place, my arm feeling as if it might rip free from my shoulder.
Fighting this angeli one-on-one did not look promising, even with my god-like stats.
He was too fast. Too mobile. And too strong.
Worse yet, I wasn’t convinced he was even trying all that hard.
From what I had read, angeli could use magic, and most wielded weapons.
This celestial, meanwhile, was basically fist-fighting me while I threw everything I had back at him.
How would I fare when he gave it his all?
I triggered Shadows of Death again, loosing the shades of four newly dead paladins. I used Silk Walk to run into the air as I barreled toward the inn. I crashed through the window of my room and slapped the dresser where a silk noose hung.
I landed in my rectory in Flowst.
One celestial had me on the run with my tail between my legs. I wouldn’t survive a group of them hunting me down.
I had to get stronger. Much, much stronger.
“How certain are you that you aren’t a suspect in his disappearance?” Horpus asked, standing outside of a rundown cabin a ways outside of Minsic.
A carriage I provided was behind him, and I assured him that both the cabin and the carriage were warded for sound.
Unless someone was standing right here with us, no one inside the carriage or the cabin could hear us speaking.
Not Higcliff, bound to a chair and blindfolded, and not Horpus’ niece as she waited for her uncle to open the carriage door and explain where they were and why they had come here.
“Certain,” I answered. “I spent yesterday and the day before helping to look for him. My whereabouts were confirmed by a dozen witnesses, and no one is aware that any of my people ever came to the city. Given what’s at stake here, does that really matter, though?”
“No, I suppose not.”
I offered Horpus a wooden box. “Healing potions. In case you want to make it last longer.”
He nodded and took them, his eyes locked on the door to the cabin.
“Byron,” he said after a time. “I need one more favor.”
This fucking guy.
“Name it,” I replied.
“Come inside with me, and don’t let me kill him. Not yet. I’m not sure I have the self-control to keep my emotions steady on this one.”
“I can do that for you.”
“Thank you.”
I opened the door for Horpus and followed him in.
Knowing that Horpus would be visiting, I made sure that a succubus or other type of demon wasn’t here to spook him.
Four silk soldiers waited inside to subdue Higcliff if necessary, and Podni was with them to supervise. She sat in the corner reading a book.
Higcliff was tied to a chair, blindfolded and gagged, his arms bound to the armrests. His head lifted and jerked side to side as if hearing a little bit better would reveal who had just entered the room.
Podni looked up, saw Horpus, and offered a small, respectful nod.
He did the same in return, and she stood to quietly make her exit, picking up a sheathed sword leaning against the wall next to her as she did.
She handed it to me and ran her fingers along my waist as she passed, a reminder that she had earned several rewards for her efforts in Minsic and looked forward to the payout.
Horpus pulled the blindfold off of Higcliff.
As soon as the mage saw whose face stared down at him, he started to scream and jerk in his seat, a desperate attempt to free himself that he knew wouldn’t work.
But when death looked upon you and smiled, you knew you had to fight with everything you had left for there to be any hope of survival.
“The eyes can say so much without even a blink. One of life’s beautiful oddities.”
“It’s good that you understand,” Horpus said. “You hurt someone I deeply care about, and then you paraded around the city to celebrate getting away with it. Every time she saw your face, it was like she got hurt all over again. I’m glad I don’t have to explain it to you.”
Higcliff thrashed, his words muffled by the gag.