Serpents Rising (Eve of Redemption Book 3)

by Joe Jackson

  She decided to start simply. “The assassin is dead,” she confirmed. “She turned out to be a syrinthian-succubus hybrid, but her killings weren't random like we were told when BlackWing first came and spoke to us.” She held her hand up so they’d allow her to explain before anyone began sidetracking her with questions. “The killings were actually part of a plot to steal enough power to become a demon king or maybe even a minor goddess, just like I've been told Sheila Darkstorm did on Koryon.”

  There seemed to be doubt in the eyes of all of the priests before her, and Kari could well understand that: on the surface, Turillia’s plan seemed impossible. “You conferred with the priests of Lord Ambergaust on this?” Master Bennet ventured. Ambergaust was the head of the Koryon pantheon, to which Sheila Darkstorm belonged, and so his priests were the most familiar with the succubus-turned-deity’s schemes.

  “Yes. Master Belyakov of Lord Ambergaust’s church was helpful in explaining that this plot of Turillia’s had been done once before, like I said, by Sheila Darkstorm. Turillia wasn’t stealing power from the people she killed; she was committing the murders to feed a shadow demon that was in possession of BlackWing.”

  “And you say it was BlackWing who came to see us on the campus, not Lord Black?”

  Kari nodded and tried to keep her thoughts clear; this would be the most difficult part to explain. “That’s where this mission got really confusing,” she said. “I know our Order has believed BlackWing and Lord Black are the same person for a long time. It turns out that it’s true, but not quite the way we thought. When I spoke to Lord Black, he told me of an encounter he’d had with a demon here in DarkWind almost sixty years ago. After a lot of work, my friends and I figured out that the demon Lord Black had fought possessed him when he thought it was dead. And what’s stranger than that is that one of them has the ability to split into two…copies, I guess you’d say, of the same person. So the demon was splitting off this…copy of Lord Black – BlackWing – and using that copy to commit its evil.”

  “So Lord Black was innocent in all this?” Master van Holtzer asked. As the headmaster in charge of training, Kari understood he and Master Goldberg would be the most surprised by the finding: they had been teaching about Lord Kaelin Black’s alleged crimes for many years.

  “I wouldn’t say innocent, and neither would he,” Kari said. She knew that this revelation would at least exonerate Lord Black of the things that had been done since the demon took hold of him, but he had a reputation that extended further back than that. It was something that would come to light in due time, though, and she believed that for the time being, Lord Black was no longer a threat. “Lord Black is an interesting man with a very dark past, and even he said it was going to take him some time to figure out what he had done and what the demon had done through him, either by…manipulation or using the BlackWing duplicate. But when I finished my mission, he was very thankful, and he asked me to tell you that the Order is welcome to station hunters in his city and pass through it at their leisure. Oh, and the ‘church’ of the demon lord Achirun has also been burned out.”

  The priests regarded her, clearly impressed. “I see you were wise to insist on being the one to handle this matter,” Master Arinotte said. “But please, elaborate on how Turillia and this shadow demon interacted to try to make her into a demon king or a goddess.”

  “Turillia’s murders were feeding the shadow demon in BlackWing. I’m not sure if it was the fear or what, but every time she killed, the shadow demon grew stronger, and then she would feed off of the shadow demon. When we discovered what she was up to with the help of Master Belyakov, it turned out that Sheila Darkstorm had done essentially the same thing: she fed off of other demons and stole their power, and then she ‘sealed’ it in herself by feeding off of a demon king. Turillia didn’t have a king to feed off of, but she used me as bait to lure the mallasti sorceress ‘Emma’ to Barcon, because a mallasti's blood would, in theory, have the same effect.”

  “Fascinating,” Master Perez said, and by the expressions on the other priests’ faces, Kari could see the tale intrigued them as well. “So then, was Emma drawn to Barcon to exact revenge on you for foiling her plan on Tsalbrin? If that was a feint, as you and your companions thought, then such would not really fit. What was it about your presence that drew Emma to Barcon?”

  Kari wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to spring such a revelation on the Council or her friend Lord Allerius without warning, but she shrugged; it had to be said. “I thought Master Surallis would have spread the word, but I guess he's still discussing it with the other high priests,” she said. “Emma came to Barcon because…I’m Salvation’s Dawn.” She waited a minute while the Council spoke quickly and quietly among themselves, and Kari glanced at Lord Allerius. He had been a close friend to her over the previous three years, but the way he looked at her in light of this revelation made it obvious he was in awe of her. She’d always believed there was a level of mutual respect between them, but now she could see that Allerius viewed her in much the same way as many of the awe-struck cadets: she was a hero to him.

  “Gods and angels,” Master van Holtzer said when the priests finished their impromptu conference. “Lady Vanador, this is most exciting news, but I must ask: how do you know this?”

  “A wizard in Barcon named Dominick Harrington – who helped with my hunt – used a spell called an ‘arcane seal,’ and apparently it told him that I carried this power or whatever you want to call it,” she said. “I’m not even sure anyone else would’ve known what it was they’d detected, but Mr. Harrington said he’s studied the Temple of Archons for years, and so he was already familiar with the enchantment or power or whatever it is.”

  “This is distressing, though,” Master Perez said. “If Emma knows that Lady Vanador is Salvation’s Dawn, then we do not know how many other denizens of the underworld also know. You discussed this with Master Surallis when you spoke with him in Sarchelete?”

  “Yes, Master,” Kari said. “I thought maybe I would have to stay on campus to stay safe from the demons, but Master Surallis told me that I shouldn’t change anything about how I live or work. He said I’m supposed to be a light to the world, and I think he also meant that if the demons know I’m Salvation’s Dawn, and they need me, it puts them at a disadvantage if I’m the one who goes out to hunt them.”

  “She raises a good point,” Master Arinotte said. “Perhaps now that Lady Vanador knows she is Salvation’s Dawn, she can manipulate Emma, instead of the other way around.”

  “I’m worried about the other keys, though,” Master van Holtzer said. “If this Emma knows that Lady Vanador is Salvation’s Dawn, she may already be searching for the other six seals. If we don’t find them first or at least know who holds them, we have no way to protect the Temple other than by keeping our hunters and the military there to watch over it.”

  “Let us not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Master Bennet said, gesturing for calm. “We know that the other seals are guarded by powerful beings; have we reason to believe that Emma poses a threat to those beings?”

  “Well, from what Dominick said when his arcane seal passed over Emma…,” Kari began. “He said that calling her an archmage was an understatement. I don’t really know a lot about wizards or wizardry, or how much more powerful they can get than an archmage, but based on the look on his face when he told me that…she’s definitely very, very powerful.”

  “Did Turillia or the shadow demon recognize you were Salvation’s Dawn?” Master Franklin asked.

  “I don’t think so. Turillia was trying very hard to kill me because she wanted to…,” Kari paused as she remembered her encounter with Turillia in the town hall. “Oh, wait! Maybe she did…she was going to try to steal the power of the Blood Oath from me, but maybe she also wanted to steal the power of Salvation’s Dawn, if that’s even possible. I guess I’m not really sure, Masters; if the shadow demon knew, it never said or did anything to make that apparent. I’m afraid I don�
��t know.”

  “I think perhaps it is time we sought the counsel of Lord Kaelariel on this matter,” Master Bennet said. “Lord Allerius, would you please go to Kaelariel’s temple and bring Kyrie Kyleah to us if she is available? Kaelariel may be the only member of the pantheon who knows the location of the other six seals, and if Ms. Kyleah imparts the importance of our inquiry to Lord Kaelariel, then perhaps he will reveal their locations, if he knows.”

  “Do we have any idea what’s in the Temple?” Kari asked, and Lord Allerius hesitated to hear the answer of the Council before he left.

  “Only speculation, Lady Vanador,” Master Bennet said. “We believe it is the place Gori Sensullu brought those heroes he exalted as deities. It is possible the demons seek to become gods by some means within the Temple, but again, this is speculation and nothing more.”

  Lord Allerius nodded, patted Kari on the shoulder, and left to do as he was asked. Kari turned back to the Council. “Masters, I didn’t want to ask in front of Albrecht, but something came to my attention when I was working in Barcon that I simply have to know the truth. Elias Sorivar told me that there’s a succubus living here in DarkWind, and that Jason Bosimar knew about it and allowed her to stay here to use her for information. Is that true?”

  “You mean Amastri?” Master Arinotte asked, and he waved a hand dismissively in response to Kari’s nod. “There is truth to what you’ve been told, but Amastri is not a succubus. Frankly, we don’t know exactly what she is. She is not a demon, but we do know that she is a servant of King Koursturaux S’Bakthra, and that killing her would be very, very dangerous. You’ve never heard mention of Amastri before you spoke to Eli?”

  “No, Master; that was the first I’d heard of her.”

  “And there’s a reason for that. Keep your distance from her, Lady Vanador. A time will come when we are at liberty to dispose of Amastri, but for now, we’re best served allowing her to stay here where we can monitor her as much as she monitors us,” the priest explained. “Also, she does manage to make herself useful from time to time when we need information regarding the underworld. Her price is just…absurdly high.”

  Kari found the priests’ attitude confusing, and she wondered if they would change if the priests knew that Koursturaux had once set foot on Citaria. “Masters, I’ll write you a full report on my findings in Barcon, but there’s something else very important I need to talk to you about,” Kari said. She folded her hands behind her back nervously. “Eli told me of the work he did for Jason before the War; are any of you familiar with what Jason had Eli and his friends doing?”

  “We aren’t aware of most of the specifics,” Master Arinotte answered. “I know that he had them investigate some dark elf troubles out in the Barrier Mountains, and that they tracked down some items stolen from Turik Jalar’s tomb at Jason’s command. And they also served him in some minor hunts that he decided didn’t require the attention of actual hunters.”

  Gods, how do I explain this in less than a week? Kari thought. She really didn’t want to be the one to break Bosimar’s trust, even when she wasn’t one of the people who’d sworn to keep the secret in the first place. Eli insisted he’d told her so that she could use the information to her advantage, and as Kari thought about it, she realized the fact that Emma was Tor’s mother may have had a lot more to do with the “gnoll” keeping the secret than any loyalty to Bosimar. She realized in those moments that she had a choice: she could either lead the Demonhunter Order while operating in the shadows like Jason Bosimar, or she could lead the Order by taking the fight to the demons and not being shy about it, like Turik Jalar had done.

  Kari made her choice. “One of the things I came across in Jason’s journals was a mission Eli, Tor, and their friends did for him…involving syrinthians,” she said. The priests all sat forward in their seats, giving her their full attention. It was just the reaction Kari had hoped for: if they were already aware or they simply didn’t consider the syrinthians a threat, she would never convince them of her need to visit the underworld. “I’m not sure if this is something you already know and are supposed to pretend you don’t, so forgive me if I overstep my rank in telling you about this. Apparently, in the years before the War, there was an attempted invasion by the syrinthians, headed by a priestess named Se’ceria.”

  “Se’ceria! Of course,” Master Arinotte said, and Kari paused to let him speak. The youngest of the priests turned to the others. “If you recall the incident that one summer when Tor’s team was assaulted by syrinthians outside the city, that name – Se’ceria – came up in conversation with Amastri. She tried to cover it up, but I remember that name in the reports we received on the incident. They weren’t sure whether the syrinthians attacked them at Amastri’s command or that of this…Se’ceria, but Jason Bosimar took over handling the matter directly.”

  Master Bennet nodded. “We had come to suspect there was more to the situation than Jason formally reported to us, but once the situation was resolved, we let the matter pass.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t have,” Kari said. She marked well the surprised faces of the men before her but didn’t back down from her declaration. If she wanted to be a good head of the Order, she knew she had to stick to her convictions and be assertive. It would take time and work, but Kari figured now was as good a time as any to start. “Jason put his trust in a syrinthian priestess, and King Koursturaux was able to set foot on our world because of it. We’re pretty lucky that Se’ceria and Koursturaux were both more interested in humiliating Sekassus, or we might’ve ended up fighting more than just Seril in the Apocalypse.”

  “Wait a moment, Lady Vanador,” Master Bennet said. “How do you know this, and do you also know how Koursturaux came to set foot on Citaria?”

  “Eli witnessed it all, and he told me the entire story after our work in Barcon,” she answered. “He said he saw Koursturaux with his own eyes, and the look on his face when he described her was all the proof I needed. From what Eli said, Se’ceria was supposed to summon Sekassus to our world using a massive portal the syrinthians built in the mountains. But she betrayed Sekassus and summoned Koursturaux instead. Eli said that Koursturaux just left once Sekassus’ servants were dead and the portal was…dismantled.”

  “That’s a relief,” Master van Holtzer said.

  Kari wasn’t sure what he meant, and as she looked from face to face, it was Master Perez who addressed her confusion. “Demons and their kings cannot simply come to Citaria at will, Lady Vanador. Our world is protected by barriers between the dimensions, and there are only three ways for a demon to cross them: thaumaturgic summoning, a portal such as your friend Eli described, or use of inter-dimensional travel if a direct blood relation is already here.”

  Kari hid her surprise as best she could; she now knew how Emma was able to get to and from Citaria so easily. With her son living in DarkWind, she could cross the barriers anytime she pleased, and no one would ever be the wiser for it. Kari wondered if it had been Emma who’d summoned Ressallk to Tsalbrin, and how often or how many other demons the mallasti girl had or could summon. Kari also remembered Eli’s words regarding the syrinthians, and she understood that if the inter-dimensional barriers only stopped demons from coming across, then syrinthians could come across at will so long as they possessed the means to jump from world to world. That simply left Kari to wonder how they accomplished those jumps.

  “This would seem to make more sense now,” Master Arinotte said, turning to his fellow priests. “Amastri serves Koursturaux; now her involvement in the incident with the syrinthians makes more sense. Se’ceria must also have been a servant of Koursturaux, and the two must have been working together to see this plot of their master’s through. While it is alarming that a being as powerful as Koursturaux set foot upon Citaria, it is somewhat encouraging that she is more interested in fighting Sekassus than our own pantheon.”

  “Se’ceria served Koursturaux,” Kari confirmed, “but she also served a deity. Her holy symbol was t
hat amulet I sent here for study before I left. Has anyone been able to figure out whose symbol that is?”

  “No, but we have several of our staff busy cross-referencing it with any and all holy texts we can find,” Master Bennet said.

  “There’s one other important detail about Tor and Eli’s work that I need to talk to you about,” Kari said, trying to get back to her point. “Se’ceria had a daughter who stayed in the underworld while Se’ceria worked for Sekassus here. When Se’ceria was killed in the fight with Sekassus’ servants, she asked Eli and his friends to go into the underworld and find her daughter, to rescue her from Sekassus. They swore they would, but they never fulfilled that oath. Masters, I plan to go with them to the underworld and find this girl, to bring her back here.”

  Kari expected immediate protest or denials, but strangely, the priests all kept silent until, one by one, each turned his head to Master Perez. Perez considered Kari for several long and uncomfortable minutes. Kari did her best not to fidget or lose her nerve under his intense gaze. After those minutes, however, he glanced at Master van Holtzer and then at Master Arinotte. “You believe this girl could be a valuable source of information?” he stated more than asked. “I assume you already understand the danger that such an undertaking represents, but have you considered that it is entirely possible this girl will not even accompany you, much less tell you anything regarding her people or homeland?”

  “Yes, I have. That’s not really…relevant to the promise that was made.” Kari began to pace the floor before the priests’ long table. “I know this may sound selfish, Masters, but I was nearly murdered in my own home just a few hours ago, I have a mallasti sorceress apparently following my every move, and I have a demon king that’s very angry with me for killing his son. But what I also have is a bunch of syrinthians in prison, a…creature who may or may not be a demon who sells information right in the city, and a handful of friends and family who could likely get me into and out of the underworld without anyone noticing. I’m not planning to walk up to the Overking and throw down a list of demands like Turik Jalar did; I’m looking to go and find this girl, steal her away or negotiate her release, and bring her back here. I feel like I can’t just sit back and wait for things to happen anymore. I…no, we need some idea of what we’re up against, and aside from trying to capture Emma, I think this syrinthian priestess – Se’sasha – may be our best hope. My first instinct was to do this behind your backs, Masters, but I don't want to lead this Order the way Jason Bosimar did. I want to lead it the way Turik Jalar did.”