“You’re wounded.”
Normally, those words would have held a note of concern or panic. Catrin said them like it was sothing erotic. She stepped forward on light feet, heedless of the chira blood on the floor. She left one purplish footprint on the stone as she advanced.
“I’m fine,” I said, heart quickening in my chest. The young woman — was she truly young? — brushed my left arm with her fingers. The chira had left two deep, ugly gouges just above my elbow. The elven armor I’d received from the oradyn was of an archaic design, not a full set of plate, and there were parts of it didn’t protect. In this case, I only had tal covering my upper arm from the spaulders and short sleeves of the hauberk, then a gap until the vambrace strapped to my forearm. The monster had found that gap.
So did Catrin. Her fingers curled around my elbow, her red eyes fixing on the wound. They were unnaturally bright in the gloom, a feverish shade of crimson. She seed to be breathing quicker.
Then, before I had even quite realized what was happening, she brought her face down to nuzzle the wound. Her tongue ran across the slashes and her whole body shivered.
I shoved her. I did it harder than I ant to — the stress of the cave had us both not thinking straight, and I didn’t truly believe she’d ant to hurt . But there was still my lingering distrust of her, my instinct that part of her — a part as dark as any battle instinct in — did want to hurt , and I shouldn’t let my guard down. She’d already tried once.
Catrin slamd against the opposite wall of the hallway. She recovered instantly, glaring up at — her face had turned corpse-pale, her eyes into milky white spheres — and hissed like an animal, revealing needle-sharp teeth.
She lunged at , or tried to. With a furnace growl I summoned my aura again, filling the passageway with dim amber fla. Catrin recoiled from it just as the chira had, letting out a noise of frustration.
I kept it up until she got her breathing under control. With it ca her senses. She knelt against the wall, her corpse eyes unfocused, but I saw a hint of the mischievous spy I’d co to know over the past several days peek through the bloodlust. Her eyes, still empty, widened as she t mine.
“Alken…” She shuddered. “I’m so sorry. Bleeding Gates, I’m sorry, I didn’t… I can’t…”
“Are you in control?” I asked. I still burned my aura, not quite trusting she was in control of herself. This might be a trick, a vampire’s ploy to make let my guard down. I had no way to know how much influence that part of her had over her words as well as her actions.
Catrin considered a mont, then shook her head. “I haven’t fed in days. I think…” she shivered and grit her sharp teeth, hissing the words through them. “I think you should go on. Leave here.”
I considered doing just that. I didn’t much like the idea of heading into what ca next with a hungry dhampir at my side… but having that sa treacherous companion at my back wasn’t any more appealing.
I could only think of one thing to do, and it was a goring stupid idea.
I let the flas fade. “Fine,” I said, and held up my wounded left arm. “Take enough to keep your head. Not a drop more. I need to be able to fight.”
There was a second of hesitation. No more. She darted forward, fast enough to make flinch, and dug sharp nails into my arm. It took every ounce of my self control not to hurl her away again. She pressed her lips to the gashes — I feared for a mont she’d bite and make the injury worse — but she only suckled at it, a soft moan escaping in the act.
It felt… strange. Not as bad as I would have thought, though even that realization disturbed . I could feel my blood pumping through my arm, feel her warm tongue pressing against my flesh, soaking it up like a sponge. I tried to relax, knowing clenching my arm would only make the blood loss worse. I felt revulsion, and guilt at the revulsion.
I felt pity for her, that she’d been born this way. And anger, at whatever creature had been responsible.
When I knew she shouldn’t take anymore, I still didn’t pull away or shove her. I needed to know I could trust this… not creature. This woman, this person who’d been born with this dark hunger. I needed to know she could make the choice to pull away.
If she couldn’t… My fingers tightened on the oaken handle of the axe in my right hand. I didn’t want to do it, but I’d done worse.
“Catrin,” I said. Then, softer, “Cat.”
There was a mont where I didn’t think she’d pull away. Her eyes, previously that ghoulish empty white, had slowly filled with red as she fed. Her fingers tightened on my arm…
She dragged red lips away and stepped back. She clenched stained teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, and hugged herself. She shivered violently and said, “I’m alright. I’m..” She sighed in satisfaction. “I’m fine.”
Ruby eyes wide with disbelief t mine. “You really just let do that?”
I tore off a strip of my cloak and started tying it around the wound, turning my gaze away from hers. Her eyes had beco entirely red, no sclera or pupil to see, and I felt a subtle pull there I recognized from that night in the castle chamber. I didn’t want to get srized again. “I need you in your right mind,” I said. “We have work to do.”
“…Right.” Did I hear a note of disappointnt in her voice? “Well, anyway.” She wiped at her mouth with one arm, saring the blood more than cleaning it. “Thanks for that, then.”
I passed her another strip of my cloak. She accepted it and dabbed at her face, though it still did little to clean the blood. My blood, I thought.
Then, shocking , Catrin stood up on her toes and pecked on the cheek. When she’d lowered herself, her fiendish eyes were warm as they looked up into mine.
“Thank you for that,” she said, more genuinely this ti. “For trusting .”
I hadn’t trusted her. Swallowing my guilt, I just nodded, not sure what to say. “You ready to go?”
“I’ll lead,” she said. “I know the castle a bit better than you, big man.” Then she turned and started down the hallway, moving with a touch too much haste. She seed almost chipper.
I felt at the spot on my cheek where she’d kissed . When I pulled my hand away, my fingertips were stained red.
***
The halls of Castle Cael were far too quiet.
“When I was last here,” I said to Catrin, who padded along at my side, “I didn’t see any guards besides the Mistwalkers. No servants either, besides that one in the green cloak. Priska.” A lord with a holding as large as the Falconer estate should have servants, guards, even a reservoir of lower ranking knights in their service.
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“Couldn’t say,” Catrin said, speaking just as quietly. The cavernous halls had a disconcerting way of echoing even small noises. “It was like this when I arrived. Empty.”
After what I’d seen at the village chapel, I had a suspicion I knew the fate of the castle’s original inhabitants. Even still I kept myself alert, knowing more rcenary ghouls — and probably worse — likely lurked about. More chira? Or would I face the ogre from the council? I didn’t relish the thought of fighting him.
“Sothing ahead,” Catrin whispered. We both stopped.
I focused, but heard nothing. The changelings hearing must have been sharper than mine.
Considering the chira had attacked us in the lake caves beneath the fortress, even with Catrin present, I assud the Baron knew I was his enemy and had prepared for . I tightened my grip on the Axe of Hithlen and drew up power — it ca tiredly, my aura already winded from my exertions below.
A figure stepped out into the hall ahead of us. I went on guard. Catrin did not. She’d known who was approaching the mont she’d gotten their scent.
“Quinn.” The dhampir’s bloodstained lips pressed into a thin line.
The Mistwalker stepped into the light of the wall sconces, which flickered moodily on their ancient tal hands. His hand held a drawn gladius, and a neutral expression masked his handso features.
“Cat,” the rcenary said. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What I think’s right,” Catrin said, eyes narrowing. “Not playing part in mass slaughter.”
“You have no idea what you’re getting involved with,” Quinn said. He held up his weathered sword so its edge seed to burn orange in the torchlight. His corpse-blue eyes flickered down, and he noted the red on her lips. He noted my wrapped left arm too, and a sickly sort of smile spread across his lips. “Ah. So that’s how it is.”
Catrin’s expression wavered, a touch of worry splintering her confidence. “You bastard. This isn’t like that.”
Quinn ignored her and focused on . “I told you who she worked for — I didn’t tell you why.
“Quinn—”
The Mistwalker interrupted her. “She’s a whore. Entertains the Keeper’s guests. Gets them off while she’s taking their blood like a dirty, desperate leech.” He canted his head to one side and shrugged, still smiling. “Trust . I’d know.”
Catrin hissed at my side, closing her eyes. There was anger there, intense frustration. Perhaps sha as well.
I took the ti for a long inhalation through my nostrils, then began walking forward.
Quinn took a guard. “Don’t you step any—”
“Don’t move,” I said, hitting the ghoul with a lance of auratic command.
Compulsions aren’t very effective on non-humans, or any human with an awakened soul. But Quinn was a worm — his soul barely clutching his tired form, his life extended by a grueso appetite that had him sifting through grave dirt and gnawing on rancid, rotting bones. He didn’t have much control of his compulsions on the best of days.
He froze for a mont, stunned in place by my cant.
I punched him. Brittle yellow teeth shattered, brackish blood scattered, and the fop went down hard.
I flicked blood from my knuckles and glared down at the Mistwalker, who lay there in disbelieving pain. A boiling rage had risen up in before I’d even realized it myself.
I had been a knight once. I might not have much of a claim to chivalry anymore, but those customs were sothing very much like instinct. Perhaps they were instinct, the core values of knighthood wrought into my aura sa as my oaths were, compelling this response.
Or maybe the reason was more simple. Perhaps, I thought, I’d just co to respect the changeling woman and my anger was a more honest one.
Maybe it was a bit of both.
Who can say?
I glanced back at Catrin, a thought striking . She looked almost as stunned as Quinn was. “I’m sorry for the nas I called you before,” I told her. “Vampire, bloodsucker… all those. It was unworthy of .”
Catrin just nodded, the motion a bit stiff. “It’s fine. I’d already forgiven you.”
I turned back to the ghoul. “Where is the baron?”
“Go fuck a troll,” Quinn snarled. He reached for his fallen sword.
My axe ca down on his wrist, severing it. Amber-tinted fla erupted from stump and hand both, consuming the latter and scorching the rcenaries arm. He let out a wheezing, half-ford wail of pain and horror.
“I will not ask again,” I said quietly, feeling a strange calm. The mory of the slaughtered villagers a slow-running blood in my thoughts. “Where is Orson Falconer?”
Quinn cursed again, this ti less intelligibly. I showed him the burning edge of Faen Orgis and fear flickered in his too-pale eyes. “Above!” He hissed. “In his study. It’s a tower room.”
I glanced at Catrin, and she nodded. “I know where it is.”
I turned back to Quinn. He was clutching at his burnt wrist stub, breathing heavily. The breaths looked forced, almost theatrical, like a bad actor trying to mimic distress.
He’s pretending to be more alive, I thought. It was a way he could keep his soul tethered — my weapon’s hallowed bite could exorcise his ghost. “Where are the others?” I asked. “The Baron’s guests.”
Quinn’s eyes moved back to , narrowing. “Gone,” he said. “They have what they ca for.”
I frowned, not understanding. “What do you an? When did they leave?”
“After,” Quinn spat. “After the Baron’s ritual.”
I began to understand, in the sa way I might begin to take note of a cut artery and realize, even as I felt very little pain, that it was a lethal wound.
Quinn saw my dawning realization and laughed, revealing macabre yellow teeth in a too-dry mouth. “You’re too late, paladin.”
“What?” Catrin asked from behind . “What does he an?”
Quinn and I both ignored her. The ghoul was too busy gloating, and I was too preoccupied with the coiling tendril of horror in my gut.
“What did you think this was going to be?” Quinn hissed, corpse eyes going wide with fury. “So heroic tale where you’d slay the monster and stop the evil sorcerer? This was never about Orson Falconer.” He winced in pain, a shudder rippling through his body as the holy fire I’d struck him with scalded his spirit. “He was just an interdiary. No more than a rchant.”
“What are you babbling about!?” Catrin’s voice had turned frustrated.
“The demon,” I said. To my own ears my voice sounded more tired than angry. “I was wrong about all of this. I thought he was going to bind the spirit to him and use it as a weapon against the Church. That was never his plan.”
“Falconer knew you could stop him,” Quinn chortled. “He knew who you were an hour after he t you here in the castle. You really thought he was going to just take your word? He consulted with that old hag, Lillian, and they interrogated so lesser fiends called up from the Wend. I had orders to kill you that day we rode out, then you went and wandered into an Irkwood all on your own… I didn’t figure you’d co out. Guess I should have known the elves would kiss your holy ass, paladin.” His eyes went to my new armor.
I should have killed the baron that first night. I tried to be clever, but I’m a damned fool who can’t tell a lie from a song. It was just like before. Just like ten years before. I was a gullible fool.
The only thing I’d ever been good at was swinging a blade. I should have cut my way to my enemy from the start, my own life be damned.
That’s what was expected of .
“Look at you,” Quinn laughed. It was an ugly, wheezing sound, half pained and half maliciously cheerful. “Ah, that’s a fine expression. So hero you found yourself, Cat. Then again, you always did like the big, dumb ones.” He returned his attention to and his voice turned conspiratorial. “She let you fuck her yet? She will. It’s the blood, turns her into a loose—”
He never finished whatever ugly thing he’d been about to say. My axe ca down on his skull, splitting it and sinking an inch into the stone beneath. There was a low rumble of fire, and the body imdiately began to disintegrate as hallowed aura tore through it.
I stood, planting a boot on the dead rcenaries breastplate to rip my weapon from the floor. I spent a minute watching the body burn. I didn’t really see it. My mind wasn’t in that hall.
“Alken…” Catrin’s voice drew from my stupor. She had a sad look, though whether it was for our situation or for the death of the Mistwalker she’d forrly been acquainted with, I couldn’t say. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“Orson Falconer never intended to use the demon as his own personal minion,” I said. “He was just a rchant. A trader. All those Recusants who were here…” I cursed savagely. “I should have seen it! A backwater sorcerer gathering so many allies. He prepared the fiend for them. They’re all gone… and they have one of the nightmares that helped destroy the elves for their own uses.”
I’d failed to stop the calamity Lady Eanor had feared.
“Damn.” Catrin bowed her head. “I’m sorry, Alken. Really. If I’d known… I swear if I’d known what he was planning, I would have tried to stop it. I think Quinn played too, letting know where you’d gone so I’d go off and not be there to stall the ritual. He knew I wanted the villagers left out of all this.”
I turned to her and nodded. “I believe you.”
Catrin shuffled, averting her eyes. They were still red, I noted, not having darkened to their usual soft brown. “You…” she licked her lips, wetting so of the drying blood still there. “What he said about , it—”
“Doesn’t matter,” I told her.
“But it’s true,” Catrin said, squeezing her eyes shut and folding her arms. “I work for the Keeper of the Backroad Inn, and… that’s how I get most of my blood.”
“And I should prefer you prey on unsuspecting villagers?” I asked. “I’ve no right to judge you, Catrin. I saw you weep for the people Orson Falconer slaughtered. I’ve seen real monsters many tis in my life…” My voice hardened. “You are not one.”
A tear fell from the dhampir’s ruby eye. She closed those eyes and shuddered.
“We don’t have ti to waste,” I said. “I still have a job to do.”
Even if I’d failed to stop a tragedy in Caelfall, its mad lord still needed to die.
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