Chapter Twenty-Two
They were together, and that was all that mattered.
The gate was open. Beyond it, Seraphina could see moving torches, the swarm of bodies as men and women fought, and hear the sounds of blades, shouting, panic.
She, Rune, and Idris descended the hill.
There were two people flanking the gate, a man and a woman, and Seraphina advanced confidently toward them, daggers at the ready.
It was hard to see in the dark, but as far as she could tell, these were normal people.
Peasants. They weren’t in uniform, and the weapons they wielded weren’t army issued.
The man had an axe, and the woman had a makeshift spear. She pointed it at Seraphina’s face.
“Don’t make me do it,” the woman gritted out.
Seraphina merely cocked an eyebrow. Rune reached from behind her, grabbed the spear, and pulled it toward him so hard that the woman stumbled and fell face-first in the snow.
With a cry, the man raised the axe above his head and swung it at Rune.
Rune sidestepped and hit him in the back, sending him sprawling.
Seraphina took hold of Rune’s sleeve to get his attention.
When he looked down at her, she shook her head, eyes begging.
“I think she’s trying to say you shouldn’t hurt them,” Idris provided. “Too badly. They’re not experienced.”
He looked at Seraphina, and she nodded, letting him know he got it right.
Rune produced a roll of rope from the pocket of his cloak. He snatched both the man and the woman by their clothes, sat them back-to-back against the convent wall, and tied their hands together.
“Abomination,” the man spat. But Seraphina could see that he was frightened.
She leaned over the woman and gripped her chin, tilting her head back to make eye contact.
“Who are you?” Idris spoke for her.
“We’re the ones who will win this war for everyone. For you too, so you better release us.”
“Why attack the convent?” Idris asked.
“The good sisters are sitting on relics just like the Order at Kr?henstein. We don’t mean to harm, but we need those bones. If we must, we’ll spill blood to get them.”
Typical, Seraphina thought. This looked like a band of rebels that had heard about the warrior nuns raiding the roads to collect relics and had decided to rob them.
The gate had been opened from the inside, and Idris had said the attackers had climbed the walls.
They’d tried to be silent and failed. The sisters had heard them, and now they were fighting in front of the church. The vault was beneath, in the crypt.
Seraphina picked up the spear and handed it to Idris. He shook his head, horrified.
“I have a knife if I must protect myself,” he said. “But this… Absolutely not.”
She raised her eyes toward the sky. The moon was nearly full, and its silver light reflected in the show, making this night brighter than most.
“No.”
His decision was final, so Seraphina threw the spear in the woods, far from the man and woman who were struggling to get free. She did the same with the axe.
They walked into the courtyard, Rune first, Seraphina behind him, and Idris sticking to the shadows. She should’ve sent him away, but he seemed intent on being there.
The fight was on the church steps, where the sisters valiantly defended the doors.
Caught sleeping, they’d risen from their beds and grabbed the closest weapons, not even bothering to dress properly or put on shoes.
There were maybe twenty rebels. In normal circumstances, the nuns would’ve beaten their asses and kicked them out by now, but while they fought with daggers, short swords, and sticks, the attackers used relics.
Seraphina saw how a young man, skinny and rather sickly, gripped a nun’s arm and crushed it with ease. He took another’s sword and snapped it in two, as if it were a twig, not welded metal.
A woman with light hair was stabbed in the gut. She should’ve fallen, except the dagger didn’t penetrate her skin.
From the corner of her eye, she saw someone move fast, so fast that she couldn’t tell whether they were male or female. They wreaked havoc in a cluster of nuns fighting at the bottom of the stairs. They were simply too quick for the sisters to react.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Rune.
In the dark, his eyes glowed like that of a beast’s.
Seraphina hesitated. She knew that if she unleashed him on the rebels, Rune could tear them all apart in minutes.
The sisters who’d saved her life and nursed her back to health were on the ground, bleeding, crying in pain, many of them with fatal wounds and crushed limbs.
“I’ll stop them without killing them,” he said, reading her thoughts.
Seraphina nodded. She didn’t want him to become a mass murderer, like Nine. Had she had her tongue, she would’ve stopped this with a few well-placed commands. No bloodshed. She would’ve simply told them to leave.
Rune walked toward the church, arms spread wide as he let out a roar. It had the desired effect, as the rebels turned on him. Seraphina saw recognition and fear on their faces. They knew what he was. A man’s voice rose in their midst.
“Take him down!”
He must’ve been their leader, because the men and women let out battle cries and attacked Rune from all directions.
Nuns forgotten, he was their only target.
Rune flung them off like flies. They stabbed him, cut him – he didn’t flinch.
An axe lodged into his shoulder, and he simply pulled it out and threw it so hard that it landed outside the convent walls.
Seraphina spotted Briar helping a woman to her feet. She ran to them, gripped Briar by the arm, and was almost stabbed in the stomach. Seraphina avoided Briar’s knife at the last moment. Her friend’s brown eyes widened.
“Sera…”
Seraphina smiled and pulled Briar in a tight hug. Briar was confused at first. The last time they’d seen each other, they’d fought by a lake and Seraphina had injured her badly and thrown away her daggers. By the way Seraphina held her, she understood it was all forgiven.
“I’ve missed you,” Briar whispered in her friend’s blond hair.
Seraphina nodded.
Briar drew back and placed her hands on her face, her eyes falling to her lips.
“They shouldn’t have done that,” she said. “Idris told me about the thrall relic. You can easily stop this, can’t you? We need to find Mother Superior.”
Briar took her hand, then motioned at the sister she’d been helping.
“Can you walk, Mom?”
Seraphina looked at the woman with new eyes. She’d never seen her before, and now it made sense. This was Sister Margaret, Briar’s mother. They had the same eyes, the same elegantly arched eyebrows, and the same nose, with a slight bump on the bridge.
They didn’t manage more than a few steps. First, it was the howling. It echoed through the trees, carried by the wind. Then there was the barking. A pack of wolves burst through the gate, crossed the courtyard and jumped right onto Rune’s back.
Seraphina let go of Briar’s hand and ran toward Rune.
He was overwhelmed, on his knees, trying to shake the beasts off.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, but the wolves ignored her.
The rebels who were still standing stepped aside and watched.
It was a coordinated attack. Someone was controlling the wolves. But who?
She looked around and finally spotted him.
The man who’d yelled at the others to take Rune down.
Their leader. He was tall and broad, with bright blond hair and gray eyes, but not dressed better than the others.
She flexed her fingers around the hilts of her daggers.
Briar followed her gaze and joined her. They ran toward him, spreading out to approach him from opposite directions, but they were intercepted by his people.
Seraphina and Briar slashed left and right, a common purpose in mind – Rune.
But before they could reach him, the man flung himself in the midst of the wolf pack. Seraphina froze.
The wolves did nothing to him. They stepped back, forming a circle around him and Rune, their fangs bared, their mouths salivating. Their snouts were painted red.
Rune rose to his feet. Next to him, the blond man stood ramrod straight, looking into the revenant’s eyes.
Seraphina didn’t understand what was happening.
She saw the man’s lips move, but she couldn’t hear what he said.
Why was Rune not doing anything? She saw his clothes were torn to pieces and every inch of his skin was stained with blood, some his, some others’.
His fists clenched and unclenched. Then the rebel leader reached up, patted his shoulder, and said in a clear, loud voice:
“Good man.”
The fighting stopped.
Another thrall relic? Seraphina tried to find Idris, but there were too many people, rebels and nuns, all staring at the revenant. His eyes glowed the same, but when he met Seraphina’s gaze, she saw that something had changed.
“Turn around,” the man instructed.
Rune did as he was told, and that was when Seraphina saw it. An Obedience Lattice pinned to the back of his cloak.
She stumbled backward and sheathed her daggers. Unlike her, the sisters were confused. Briar shot her a questioning glance. She and Idris were the only ones who knew what the Obedience Lattice looked like. Where was Idris?
“Now that I have your attention, let me introduce myself,” the man said, bowing mockingly.
“My name is Michael, and these are my faithful men and women, my warriors. And yes, that is what we call ourselves. The Faithful. Because we still have faith that this war can be ended easily – mark my words! – easily. It’s been going on for too long because those who own sacred bones that could bring the High Harvester to heel have chosen to not use them.
The Order at Kr?henstein Academy, the resistance that sends its men to die armed with muskets, not bones, and you, esteemed sisters, who have amassed, I heard, quite the collection in your vault.
All we ask is that you do the right thing.
Give us your relics, and we will go out there and fight, win this war for all of us, bring peace to Bavaria before the High Harvester becomes powerful enough to spread his poison beyond the borders.
Already, there are leaders in Europe who are sympathetic to his cause.
Kings and queens, princes and princesses who want relics to be confiscated from the families and churches that have owned them for centuries, so they can be given to the few in power, born with the right name and status.
They agree that relics should be harvested in controlled environments.
After all, they are so rare considering how many die every day.
We, the Faithful, can put an end to this.
Now. Not next year, not in a few years. Now.
Hand over your bones, and we will leave peacefully.
We don’t want to harm anyone. I myself would rather not spill blood if it’s not my enemies’.
This is why we won’t force those doors open. ”
He pointed at the church doors.
“We won’t force our way into the vault because we respect the house of God and the sisters who’ve vowed to serve it and protect it. However…”
He brushed his fingers over the lattice pinned to Rune’s back.
“The revenant is ours. This is an Obedience Lattice, and he will do as the Faithful say. I must confess, I did not expect to encounter one of the Harvester’s creatures outside of the territory he controls.
What a boon he will be to our cause. You have one hour to tend to your wounded and bring us the key to the vault. ”
“Take the revenant and leave,” the Mother Superior shouted.
“That is what we intend to do. After you give us your bones.”
“Never.”
The Mother Superior descended the church stairs, but the sisters held her back, not wanting her to expose herself. Her habit was stained. She’d fought by their side, and Seraphina had to commend her for that.
“You will have to kill us all to get to the vault,” she said. “One by one, you will have to crush us into the mud and walk over our bodies. Are you willing to do that? If not, take the abomination and leave.”
Michael breathed in sharply, lips pursed and head held high. He looked close to losing his patience. It only lasted a moment, then he released the breath slowly and inclined his head.
“Very well. Creature, choose the one person here who is the most important. Whose life and well-being are crucial. Take her. She will come with us.”
The sisters gasped and huddled around the Mother Superior, but Rune went straight for Seraphina. The Mother Superior understood what was about to happen, and she batted them away so as to not betray themselves.
Seraphina stared into his golden eyes and shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
He lifted her gently. She didn’t fight him. She pressed her ear to his chest as he carried her across the courtyard, listening to his erratic heartbeat. From now on, and until the lattice was deactivated, all he’d do would be against his will.
The rebels followed them through the gate and into the woods. Their leader stayed behind with his pack of wolves, and she heard him say:
“One hour, or she dies.”
Seraphina could’ve laughed. The last person to care if she lived or died was the Mother Superior.
Michael had given Rune the wrong order. She looked up at him.
Tears ran down his cheeks. She wiped them with her fingers, and he leaned into her touch.
She wanted to tell him that it was going to be all right.
They were together, and that was all that mattered. They’d find a way.
She’d find a way.
She clung to him and lifted herself up in his arms, so she could look over his shoulder. There he was, bringing in the rear of his band of rebels. Michael.
It was a good thing she knew exactly how to turn off an Obedience Lattice.