Illegal Gods
Page 6
I hear Avison in the hallway, calling people to come into the commons room for a meeting. Swindle and I wait as he comes in. Most people are coming, including Chelsea, Tuk, Erich, and Mina.
“Everyone, listen to me!” Avison holds up his hands. “All palaces and temples have escape tunnels.”
“It’s too far,” Erich says from the dark corner of the room. “We already talked about that.” Morn stands beside Erich, passing out the weapons I’d enhanced to the people.
Avison replies, “Yes, but waiting here will not get us out of the city. And not all of us will escape. If we are to have a fighting chance, we need to act.”
“We’ll get eaten,” an old woman says.
"We'll get eaten if we stay. Furthermore, our odds are better than you might think. The ghouls are self-serving creatures with only loose ties to their god Anu. They want to live, so to speak, as much as you do.”
“And what if they all attack us on Anu’s command?” Mina asks.
“Bait,” Avison answers with cold confidence.
“Bait?” Chelsea tilts her head. Her eyes narrow, immediately not liking where this might be headed.
“We feed them that goblin that was put on trial, and the orc, Swindle. Keep in mind that their races give us little choice. They started this riot that the ghouls have exploited.”
Some laugh. They hate Tuk and Swindle because theirs were two of the lesser races that rioted. The worst part is that his plan makes perfect sense to the old me. But Swindle is not an enemy—at least not today. Anu and my parents are the enemies. If anything, Swindle has proven useful to me.
“The goblin and the orc aren’t the enemy,” I say, standing.
“Do you want to live?” Avison asks me.
“More than that, I want to raise the ire of my parents for failing me. One way to do that is not to fight the ghouls, but to have the gods fight each other.” Avison, you idiot, you force me to kill you in front of everyone.
“Sit down,” Avison says, waving his hand.
“You’re a paladin, right?”
“Yes, girl. Sit down.”
I walk toward Avison, taking Anu’s knife out. I glow white and everyone in the room gasps. Avison’s mouth drops open and he takes a few small steps back. I speak to no one in the room, but to my parents far away. “Father, Mother, I want you to hear this.”
“What is it, my daughter?” Avison’s voice sounds strange with my mother taking control. Even his face looks different. It scrunches and looks older. Both eyes are fixed on me, unblinking.
“Your boyfriend stabbed me with this.” I show the knife.
Avison’s face switched again, but this time the voice is deeper, “What are you talking about, child?” My father, Marduk, asks.
“Anu is angry at Mom because she stopped visiting him.” Then I say, “Avison, return to me.”
Avison says, “What happened?”
“My allies are not your bait.” I slit Avison’s throat and push him back. He falls on the floor like a pillar.
I turn around and face the crowd.
Several people gasp. One says, “You condemn us. The gods will hurtle their anger at us!”
“Knowing my father, the anger will be aimed at my mother, and then at Anu. They will be too distracted to kill us.”
“How long does that give us?” Swindle asks.
“How long does my father beat up my mom? It depends how angry he is. By now, every god will be focused on the fact that Anu had an affair with a god.”
“Are you sure?” Erich asks.
Pretty sure. “With Anu’s communication with a god being revealed, he’s now no longer just a nuisance, but a threat. If I am to get you out of the city, we need to run.”
Battle of King’s Gate
Mortal children run for the fun of it. They’re crazy. I hate running when existing as a mortal. It takes too much energy and it's painful.
We all run to the King's Gate. I take the front with Erich. Chelsea is right behind me. In the middle is Mina, with many of the city folk. Those too weak to run are on horseback. Swindle takes the rear position, ensuring nothing sneaks up behind us. I healed him before we left. I’m going to need him.
I hear the scraping of claws on stone from further in the city. Ghouls are scrambling to meet us. They will be here soon. “Hurry!” I call back to the people behind me.
The King’s Gate is two stories tall and closed by a metal portcullis. A single man stands at the gate. He turns to us. “Erich—you betray me.”
His skin is pale, as if the warmth of life rushed from it. Around the abdomen, his robe is reddened with dried blood, like he’d been stabbed hours ago. And his neck is lined like he’d been choked with twine.
“Corvinus?” Erich says with shock.
“Let us pass,” I say.
The undead wizard doesn’t look at me. His gaze remains on his comrade, Erich. “You betray me in death?”
“Betray you? How?” Erich asks.
“The goblin that killed me,” he replies, his long arm rising up to point behind him.
“Tuk?” Erich says. The goblin stands in the middle group of survivors, his expression neutral.
“Kill the goblin for me,” Corvinus says.
“Now is not the time,” Chelsea protests.
“You did this?” Erich’s face reddens as he marches towards the goblin and roars, “You killed my friends!”
“Erich, stop and think.” Chelsea puts her hand on his armored elbow.
“You harbored it!” He pokes at Chelsea’s chest.
The ghouls are out of view but very close. We have no time to argue. “We can deal with Tuk and Corvinus later.” I focus my powers and throw open the gate behind the undead wizard. It takes a great deal of power to do so. I’m certain that Anu didn’t want anyone to open that gate without cost.
A wave of blackish red ghouls pours down the street. Mina and Chelsea flick their wands, letting loose orbs of light. Several ghouls leap back with tongues of flame leaping from their bodies.
“I’ll kill the ghouls. Stop Corvinus!” I order as I run from the group to confront ghouls.
From both my hands I gush out a torrent of fire that leaps out at the ghouls yards away. The ghouls scramble to get out of the way, climbing and hopping to the sides of the road, crushing their undead comrades. Piles of half-roasted undead lie in the street with limbs twitching like half-crushed bugs. Their dry skin burns well with flames dancing over the growing piles.
Arrows stop short of the wizard, surrounded by a windstorm. He stands in the eye. His shield of wind will not be penetrated by arrows or wands. With a flick of the wizard’s white hand, he shuts the gate with a thud. “You will all join me in this city.”
I look to everyone and point at Corvinus. “Charge the wizard with your swords!” I turn back to the remaining ghouls. A few have tried to clamor for open windows or doors, only to be crushed by burning ghouls.
Behind me, the undead wizard growls, “Your efforts will be used against you when Anu decides how long to torment you in death.” Perhaps to Erich, he says, “Join me and you will be spared.”
Erich hasn’t done anything so far. He doesn’t want to kill his friend.
No ghoul reached the party of mortals. They’ve scattered. A smell of burnt death hovers in the air. This victory is not without cost. I feel like I have sprinted half a mile.
Stomping from a pair of heavy feet, on a side road, nearby pounds closer. I have other things to worry about. Something big is coming. I see long horns poking just above three-story buildings. Then the creature reaches the corner, turns, and looks at me. A giant minotaur.
The creature stands down King's Road, far behind the burning piles of dead ghouls. With its empty eyes set on me, it smiles from behind the burning mass of death. No life in either eye. They are level with the second-floor windows. But they are fathomless black sockets.
“Swindle, I’ll need your help.”
The orc looks scared. He’d been gu
arding the rear, but he peeled from the group of humans and stands beside me.
“Anu is in the minotaur,” I explain. “Whatever powers you have, I need.” Let's hope the minotaur burns on contact like that Exarch in the palace did.
The minotaur closed half the distance between us as I spoke those words to Swindle. The orc darts toward the giant beast with his coral ax in hand.
Though scared, this orc is a little too excited to fight the good fight.
I have to conserve my energy. My people hide the fact that we have limits to our powers. I’ll need to use them at the right moment.
Swindle closes in on the minotaur, but Anu swings a punch at the orc. I fire a shot at the minotaur’s hand. The monster snaps its fist back. Swindle may have strange abilities, but he’s an inexperienced fighter. I’ll need to protect him.
I glance back. Corvinus is spending most of his time blocking the dozen people hammering him with arrows or throwing knives. One man does as I said and swings his sword at the wizard, but he keeps just out of reach.
The minotaur swats at Swindle with its shovel of a hand, sending him flying toward me. Flames light up from the hand that swatted the orc. Just like with the Exarch, contact with the orc burns him. You’d think he’d learn.
But Anu laughs and stomps toward Swin, who lies flat on the road, the ax a few feet away. Anu doesn’t care if it burns to touch Swindle, as long as he kills the orc. To Anu, the minotaur’s body is like an old shoe, something to wear and then throw away.
I summon energy and leap to the minotaur’s face, punching with the force of a falling meteorite. The monster’s head explodes, with a blast of maggots and flesh spitting out on impact. Only a fraction of its face remains intact, but what remains of the head falls to the ground with a splat.
You will pay for that, Anu says wordlessly, his face falling to the ground.
The headless minotaur picks up one of his fallen horns and hurls it toward me. The swing carries a rush of wind, and when the horn hits my shoulder and side, the impact sends me flying to the ground.
The shadow of Anu’s body hovers over me. I hear him speak.
I made you an offer.
With a moan, Swindle sits up and snatches his ax. Snapping to his feet, the orc roars, bashing the minotaur at the back of the knee. The orc is covered in blood from new wounds and old. A white swish surges toward Swin. Blood sprays everywhere as the orc falls to the ground.
It was a mistake to call for Swindle.
“Swin!” Chelsea screams, spitting out an arrow from her bow. She doesn’t miss. The arrow explodes into the minotaur's chest.
The wizard sees Chelsea firing an arrow, and he stretches out his own hand. Before I can do anything, Erich swings a long sword through the wizard’s shielding wind, slashing his arm off. Being undead, he does not scream.
“Is it enough that I am dead, Erich?” the wizard asks.
Erich's voice is sad and tired but determined. “Get out of my way.” Erich slashes, and the head of Corvinus falls. Arrows captured from the wind plunk on the road.
With the last of my energy, I open the gate and drag the orc to his feet.
People almost push Erich over trying to get to the gate. The fighter only stares at his fallen friend.
Swindle is unconscious. I carry most of his weight as I drag him out of the city. But soon he starts to run under his own power. A black shadow covers us as the headless minotaur stomps our way.
It swings its one remaining horn at us. I gather wind and push the headless monster away, but doing that has sapped my power. I fall as my consciousness ebbs away.
The last thing I remember is Erich snatching me up as arrows fly into the city over his head.
The Green Lady
The first face I see is an unfamiliar one. She’s part childlike, yet womanly at the same time. Her skin is the color of green pond water. Wearing a dress made of large leaves, she smiles at me. “What are you?” she asks, her voice pleasant despite the question.
“A friend of Chelsea and Swindle,” I say. “How long have I been out?” I sit up under the shade of an old tree. Apparently, I am in the woods just outside the city. Far away under the shade of trees, I see a group of kids.
“Two hours,” she says, kneeling beside me. “This is Morella’s Forest, my home.”
“You’re a forest nymph.” I feel energy growing within me.
“Yes. Like me, you are made of energy. I gave you some so that you would recover faster,” says the pretty green lady.
I struggled to stand, but my legs feel like pillars of gel.
“Don’t.”
I sit.
Footfalls thump toward us from the direction of the orphans. Chelsea comes with the orc, Swin. He wears a bandage that is red with blood.
“You’re awake,” Chelsea says with a smile. “Thanks for saving Swindle.”
Swindle repeats the thank you.
“Yes.”
“Do you think your family is going to be angry with you?” Chelsea asks.
“I don’t know, and I’m not sure I care. I’m not a goddess. I think now I’ll find out just what I am.”
To Be Continued…
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
It’s Darkest Near the Gallows
City of Stone
The Smoke Still Rises
The Young and the Conspiring
A Plan
Why Swindle?
Streets of Pazurish
Spying Hope
Atheist Priest
Lost Wizards
Palace
Run from the Black Mass
Adventurer’s Inn
New Clothes and More Strange Friends
Searching for Swindle
A Lesser God
Killing Swindle
Death with Many Offers
Dagger Fall. Swin an Ally?
A New God
Battle of King’s Gate
The Green Lady
Children of Nod
Night Side of Nature